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The restaurant Silus chose is one of the fancier ones downtown, the kind you need a reservation for, with cloth napkins and no prices on the menu. Of course, I don’t get to see the menu because Silus already put our orders in before we even got there.
Oh, and the entire restaurant is empty, save for us, a single waiter, and the chef in the kitchen. He literally reserved the entire space just for us, a show of his money.
I don’t know who he thinks I am, but I won’t be so easily impressed. So what? I don’t care that he wasted a bunch of money doing this for me all to try to prove a point. He’s out of his goddamned mind if he thinks I’m going to be dripping wet for him because I can’t think about anything other than his stupid dick.
I’m not a sex maniac. I can think of other things even in the face of temptation. Yep. I’ll just spend all night focusing on how much this restaurant isn’t my style, how much I hate the food, and how much I wish I was literally anywhere else. By the end of the night, maybe Silus will get so annoyed with me he’ll just let me go.
Yeah, right. How’s that for a daydream?
Silus and I sit in the middle of the restaurant, a wide-open space with rows and rows of tables. Even though the rest of the place is empty, each table is lined with a black table cloth and silverware. Silus sits across from me, watching me take in the scenery with a half-smirk on his face.
My lips pucker into a frown when we meet eyes, and I tell him, “You match the table.” He does. The tables are black, and he’s wearing all black as well, every single layer of his suit and everything underneath. It’s like I’m sitting across from the devil.
The waiter brings out two glasses, which he then fills with some kind of red wine. He bows his head and says, “Your appetizer will be on its way shortly.” Without saying anything else, he hustles away, disappearing into the kitchen.
Silus and I are alone. I can safely assume he has a gun on him, though I don’t know if he’d use it on me. It’d be a short sprint to the door of the restaurant, but I doubt I’d be able to get that far before he caught me. Plus, I can’t forget he has Max somewhere.
I’m stuck. I’m stuck at this date even though I don’t have any chains keeping me here.
Silus picks up his wineglass and takes a small sip before he says, “You match the table, too.”
I look down at my chest, at the dress I wear, and then I shrug. “You picked out the dress, so that’s not surprising.” I say it as an insult, making fun of him—his favorite color is obviously black, with no runners-up.
He shrugs his wide shoulders. “I want my girl to match me.”
I wasn’t going to go for the wine, but after hearing him say that, I chuckle and reach for it. “I’m not your girl,” I mutter before taking a sip. I’ve never had wine before, so the taste is… not exactly bad, but definitely not a favorite, either.
Silus sets his elbows on the table and weaves his fingers together, his hands before his mouth to hide his smirk. “Oh, but you are. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t.”
I have to roll my eyes at that. Just because I intrigued him by being blissfully unaware of who he was the night I asked him to pretend to be my boyfriend doesn’t give him the right to say those sorts of things.
I might be his prisoner, but I don’t belong to him or anything like that.
Our appetizer comes, and I instantly forget what the waiter says it is. Some kind of rolled-up pasta with lots of cheese. I’m not normally a big pasta fan, but I’ll eat anything with loads of cheese.
I reach for one of the cheesy pasta balls first. They’re steaming hot, so I use a fork. I’m the kind of person who needs to eat their food while it’s piping hot, otherwise it just doesn’t taste as good. Pizza? Disgusting unless it’s hot enough to burn the roof of my mouth.
Silus watches me as I cut into it and stuff one half in my mouth. It’s hot enough that I have to do some crazy breathing techniques to cool the inside of my mouth, but that doesn’t stop me from starting to chew. When I notice he’s staring, I ask with my mouth full, “What?”
“You are the epitome of grace,” he deadpans.
“Shut up,” I say—and I make sure I say it before I swallow, just to prove to him that he’s dumb and I don’t think he’s funny at all. He has looks, sure. His body is practically sculpted by a higher power, yes. And his dick…
Where am I going with that thought?
All the man does is chuckle as he takes one of the cheesy balls for himself. “Tell me, Thea, if you could do anything in the world, what would it be?”
Ah, I see we’re skipping the silly questions involving favorite colors, bands, and movies, and getting to the good stuff—note the sarcasm, please. I stick the other half of the piece I grabbed into my mouth.
I don’t want to talk to him. The last thing I want to do is get to know this asshole and have him get to know me. It’s all fake, anyway. He wants to fuck me, that’s all. It isn’t like he really wants to get to know me. A man like that… let’s just say a girl like me doesn’t have a real chance with someone like Silus, kidnapping mishap aside.
Come on. The man could have anyone he wants—man or woman, let’s be real. Why the fuck would he want me? It just doesn’t make sense.
“If I could do anything in the world,” Silus says once it’s clear I’m not feeling very talkative, “I’d climb Mount Everest.”
“So then why don’t you do it?”
“I have no interest in the cold. What about you? Come on, love. We’re going to be here a while. Time will move faster if you join in on the conversation.” He takes another sip of wine, although his gaze never leaves me.
