Page 90 of Reckless Vengeance

“You can charm the dress right off me later,” I chuckled, eyeing our surroundings. “I should have brought a gun.”

“Where would you put it? Strap it to your thigh?” he joked, groaning a second later. “Actually, that would be hot.”

I rolled my eyes, thankful when we made it through Rawson Grove and Stoneleigh safely.

Lightning Cove was beautiful. It was full of fancy beach homes along the coast, and the restaurant strip was lit up with lights and nightlife.

“I could live here,” I sighed, rolling the window down to enjoy the seaside air.

“Not too fancy for you?” he teased, putting both hands on the steering wheel as he slowed and parked in front of the restaurant.

“I’d want one of the old houses.”

“Of course you would,” he smiled, climbing out and running around to my side to open the door. I took his hand, letting him lead me towards the valet. I tried taking my jacket from him, but he kept a tight grip on it, not letting me carry anything.

“Mr. Johnson,” the valet greeted, catching the keys with ease as Tyler tossed them towards him without a word.

“Thank you,” I blurted out on the way past, seeming to surprise the valet, but he nodded and headed towards the BMW to park it.

We were ushered to a table at the window without having to say anything, and once we were seated, I glanced across the table at Tyler.

“How often do you terrorize these people with your privileged rich boy attitudes?” I asked, his mouth curving into an amused smirk.

“Not that often these days. Josie loves it here so we usually come here for her birthday. A lot of business deals happen here, and most of our families have been coming here forever. I ran into the window once as a kid. Fuckers keep them squeaky clean and I thought it was the way out to the garden.”

I laughed, reaching for the menu to have a look and frowning when I noticed there were no prices listed.

“How do we know what it costs?”

“You don’t need to know, and I don’t care,” he answered, not bothering to look at his. “Want the seafood platter and some steak? We can share.”

“That depends what it costs.”

He huffed, flagging the waiter down with the click of his fingers.

The man hurried over, and I gave Tyler a dirty look. “Click your fingers like they’re dogs again, and I’ll call Skeet to pick me up and leave you here, Ty. I mean it.”

The waiter looked worried but Tyler sighed. “Sorry. Can we order the seafood platter, steak, and a bottle of whiskey?”

“Of course, sir.” The waiter bowed and took our menus before scuttling off to the kitchen, my eyes trailing after him.

“They didn’t check your age?” I questioned, making him shrug as he brushed his foot against my leg under the table.

“Nah. Like I said, we’ve been coming here forever, so they know how old we are. They wouldn’t dare tell me no.”

“Why not? It’s illegal.”

He studied my face for a moment before wincing. “I kind of own it. The second I turned eighteen, I spent a lot of my trust fund and bought a bunch of businesses and properties to set myself up. Means I don’t have to touch the accounts my parents keep stocked up for me.”

“Wait, you own the restaurant?”

“I wanted Josie to come here whenever she wanted,” he mumbled awkwardly, a soft smile forming on my face.

“That’s why you bought it?”

“Well, that, and if I owned it, Josie could come without running into Tristan. He’d eat here to spite her. I kind of banned him.”

I laughed, reaching across the table to take his hand. “That’s the kind of petty privilege I can support.”