CADEN ARRIVED AT the restaurant early. Under no circumstances did he want Mia to show up and have to wait even one second for him. He hoped she understood he really was looking forward to meeting her. It surprised him how much now that he’d gone to all this trouble to apologize. He’d never put this much effort into a date. Probably why none of his dates turned into girlfriends. Not since work took over his life and he put the personal stuff on hold. At the time, it was what he wanted. He’d worked hard to rise in the ranks and achieve success. Now that he had it, it felt empty with no one to share it with. He didn’t know if this thing with Mia would lead anywhere, but he intended to give it one hell of a shot, because he wanted something more in his life than bad guys and paperwork.
The restaurant host led him to the table he requested when he made the reservation. Tucked in the corner in back, he’d have the privacy and quiet he needed to beg Mia’s forgiveness and a safe place to keep his back to the wall. Training. Necessity. Especially when the last bad guy he took down threatened to kill him and his family. Marco didn’t know his connection to Trigger. In jail, he didn’t pose much of a threat. But Guzman did if he decided to go after the DEA agents who cost him millions in that damn blast that messed up more than Beck’s body.
Caden set aside worries about his brother’s mental collapse into a quiet, dark brooding that disturbed him. Tonight, he wanted to focus on dinner with a beautiful woman. God, he hoped she was at least pretty. And smart. Funny would be good. He could use some levity in his life.
He really should have gotten more details from Aunt Taffy. All he knew was that she was a blonde and a chef. He hoped she wasn’t one of those women who ordered a salad. He liked a girl who liked to eat.
A white van drove down the street on his left past the restaurant windows. Both men in the front seat wore black baseball caps and dark glasses. As the van turned the corner, it nearly clipped the pedestrian in the crosswalk, a beautiful woman in a blue dress, her long blond hair blowing in the breeze as she dashed to the curb. She raised her hand in a what the hell? gesture and shouted, “Hey, I’m walking here.” Caleb read her lips, mesmerized by the gorgeous blonde.
Please be my date.
Then again, if she was, it proved what a colossal idiot he’d been for standing up such a beautiful woman and a shot at getting to know her.
She walked along the sidewalk and front windows.
Come inside.
She pushed open the front door and stepped into the entry and up to the host waiting at the small counter. She smiled at the guy and exchanged polite pleasantries. This place really was one of her favorites. His name fell from her lips, and the host promptly turned and waved toward Caden at the back. Caden stood but didn’t move forward to greet her. He couldn’t. From afar, she caught his attention—every man’s, judging by the number of pairs of eyes that turned her way as she made her way to their table—but up close, she took his breath away.
Golden waves cascaded down her shoulders and back nearly to her hips. Pale blue eyes dominated her heart-shaped face, framed in long lashes, and set off by the subtle pink shadow that matched her tinted lips. Flawless pale skin held a hint of freckles across her flushed cheeks. Not embarrassment, but pinked from the crisp breeze outside and her rush to escape getting run over by the van.
The blue dress hugged her curves and flared out at her waist to a fluttering skirt. The material looked soft, but not as soft as her skin. He wanted to run his fingers down her bare arm or over her beautiful face.
It took a second when she stopped in front of him for her scent to hit him, but when the soft floral smell filled his senses and drew him in, he took a step closer to breathe in more of the intoxicating fragrance.
“Payback is a bitch,” he whispered, not realizing he said the thought out loud until she put her hands behind her back in a pretty pose that showed off the dress, her breasts rising and falling with every breath she took and a seductive gotcha smile touching her lips. He didn’t normally ogle women, but his gaze roamed over her and landed on her killer legs and pretty feet encased in strappy heels that were sexy as hell.
“Damn.” This time he meant to say it. The woman deserved to know all her efforts to prove him unworthy hit the mark.
“I have one question before this date starts.”
At the sound of her warm-as-whiskey voice, his head snapped up and he locked eyes with her, completely lost in her and one thought: I want her.
“Uh, what?” You sound like a dumbshit, fool. Pull it together. He wished his mind and body hadn’t gone haywire.
“Do you want to be here?”
“Hell yes.”
She held her hand out.
He took it and held on. Did her breath hitch like his did when they touched? Or was that just him?
“Mia Martin.”
“Caden Cooke.”
“Well, we have one thing in common. First and last names that start with the same letter.”
“I’m sure we can find more than that to talk about.” Finding the manners his sister ordered him to use, and the will he didn’t really feel to let her go, he held out the chair for her, praying she stayed and sat down.
She set her small purse on the table, turned her back to him, and sat. He helped her scoot the chair in, then walked to his seat and sat in front of her. He really couldn’t take his eyes off her, but he’d come with a plan and he owed her an apology, so he got his head together and picked up the small stone pot stamped with a daisy pattern and held it up to Mia across the table.
“Thank you for agreeing to meet me tonight—and showing up. I hope you’ll give me thyme to make things up to you.” Corny, yeah. But he wanted to show her he did know something about her and tried to make the gift unique to her. She smiled at the potted herb, and his gut tightened.
Her fingers brushed his when she took the gift. “Thank you. I’ll put this to good use.”
“Maybe I’ll get you to cook for me one of these days.”
One eyebrow shot up and her head tilted as she eyed him, but then her face softened. “Maybe.”
“Thank you.”
“For what? You gave me the gift.”
“You have every right and justification to be royally pissed about what I did to you. I actually expected you to stand me up tonight. A dose of my own medicine, so to speak. But you showed up, put me in my place with that killer dress, and you’re actually trying to be open to this date, instead of going off on me like I deserve.”
“I am kind of enjoying the look on your face a little more than I should. It was well worth not wearing a coat.”
“Honestly, the only reason I don’t shoot myself in the foot for missing not one, but two dates with you is that I’d have to go to the hospital and miss spending the evening with you.”
Her lips dipped into a frown. “Sorry to hear about your brother. How is he?”
“Better and worse, but what happened is no excuse for my not calling to reschedule our date.” He reached down to the chair beside him again and came up with the bouquet of white chrysanthemums.
She sucked in a surprised breath. “They’re gorgeous. Thank you again.”
“I’m sorry about missing date number one.”
She took the flowers and buried her face in the blooms, inhaling their spicy scent, then looking up and smiling at him. “Most guys would have gone with roses. These are my favorites.”
Thank you, Aunt Taffy, for finding that out for me.
He picked up the other surprise he had for her, smiling at her earlier words. “These are for missing date two.” He handed over the pink roses.
This time she laughed, full and from the heart, her joy easing the knot in his gut that maybe she wouldn’t actually forgive him. “They’re lovely. But this is too much, Caden. Really. I was upset you didn’t show, but your aunt did warn me that your job tends to take over your life.”
“No excuse for not calling you, or at the very least sending you a text that I couldn’t make it. Normally, I’m not that kind of guy.”
One side of her mouth drew back in a sardonic grin. “If you brought me chocolate, I might have believed you,” she teased.
He laughed and handed over the box of chocolate-covered salted caramels. Another of her favorites, according to his aunt.
Arms filled with flowers, the potted herbs in front of her, and the box of chocolates in his hand extended to her, she leaned back. Her face went blank, and she just stared at him.
“Mia?”
“Are you for real?” Mia thought she’d give Caden a taste of what he’d missed. She’d sit through boring chitchat and a good meal, and then say, “See ya.” She could tell her aunt and his that they’d met, but it wasn’t going to work out. The guy liked his job far more than he wanted a date. She never expected him to go this far to make it up to her. His sincerity touched her deeply.
And the guy looked damn good in a suit, his shirt left open at the collar, no tie. Elegant and laid-back at the same time.
“I’m doing this wrong. You just came because the aunts set this up.”
She reached across the table and put her hand over his. “No. Well, kinda. But after all this”—she indicated the flowers and chocolates—“I’m glad I came. Whatever kept you away before, I’m happy you showed up tonight. This is our first date. Let’s forget the rest.”
“You mean that?”
She really did. How could she not when the handsome man leaned in, his gorgeous face and piercing gray-blue eyes filled with earnestness?
“How about you buy me a drink and tell me something unexpected about you?”
Caden held his hand up to the waiter who’d hovered nearby since Mia sat down.
The waiter stepped up to the table, his hands behind his back. “What can I get you?”
“I’ll take an old-fashioned,” she said, smiling at her hot date.
He smiled back. “I’ll have a Heineken.”
The waiter stepped away, but Mia called him back. “Wait. I’ll have what he’s having.”
The waiter left with a nod. Caden’s phone buzzed in his pocket for the seventh time since she sat down.
“Aren’t you going to get that? Someone obviously wants to talk to you.”
“If I answer it, it will be important, and I’ll probably have to leave.”
“If it’s important, maybe you should answer it.”
“I don’t really want to. I’m trying not to spoil this date and disappoint you. If I have to leave, I will be damn disappointed.”
“I’m sure the aunts will fix you up with me again.”
“Definitely. But will you show?”
The phone went off again. “Answer your phone.”
Caden pulled out his cell, swiped the screen, frowned and shook his head, and barked, “What?” He listened for several minutes without saying a word. His mouth drew back in a grim line, and his eyes turned dark with worry. “Got it. Keep me posted. Let me know if the roadblocks turn up anything, though he’s not stupid enough to get caught in that trap. He’s probably on a private plane to Mexico by now.” Caden listened for another long moment.
Mia set her flowers on the empty chair beside her, picked up one of the beers the waiter set in front of them, and took a sip, but never took her eyes off Caden’s face. Man, she could look at him all day. She wanted to run her fingers through the soft waves in his short dark hair. But his mouth really had her attention. Soft lips, not too full, just enough to be sensual but not overpowering to his other sturdy features. Like that square jaw with the muscle ticking with his impatience and frustration.
“I’m busy,” Caden snapped. “It’s personal. I’m not coming in. If he knows who I am and where I live, I’m at the last place he’ll look for me right now.” Caden’s grim eyes darkened with anger. “Keep up the search. Get men on Guzman and his men. Scoop one up and ride him for answers. Let me know what you find out.” Caden hung up, but his phone buzzed again immediately. He rolled his eyes and picked up. “Beck,” he said, his voice filled with exasperation. “I’m on a date. We just sat down. I’m not leaving.”
Concerned the DEA needed him somewhere else for an emergency, she said the one thing she didn’t want to say. “Caden, if you need to go, it’s okay. I understand.”
“I’m not leaving,” he repeated to her. He held the phone in front of him and said, “I’ll call you later.” He hung up and didn’t answer again when the phone buzzed. “I think you are the most understanding and beautiful woman I’ve ever met.”
Mia’s mouth actually dropped open.
“How’s that for unexpected? There it is.” Caden picked up his beer and took a deep pull, then set it down. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’ll take the compliment.” She liked him and his direct manner. She’d been told she was beautiful before, but never with that kind of honest declaration that made her believe it wasn’t some line. He really meant it.
“I’m going to kiss you good night.” She blurted out the unexpected truth.
Caden held his beer aloft, inches from his lips, and stared at her over the glass. “Right now.”
“Later. I don’t usually kiss guys on the first date. You, I’m kissing.”
“Okay. Well, that takes some of the pressure off.” He tilted his glass toward her. “To kissing on the first date.”
She clinked her glass to his and they drank, then smiled at each other.
The giddiness fluttering in her belly lasted all through ordering their dinner. For some odd reason, her order for a medium-rare steak, loaded mashed potatoes with cheddar, chives, and bacon, and fresh-steamed broccoli made Caden laugh under his breath.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. I’m just glad you ordered something other than a salad. I like a woman who eats.”
“Well, it is a steakhouse, so one should order steak. I’m also a chef. I enjoy someone else doing the cooking for once, so I indulge.”
“Tell me about your restaurant.”
“Tell me about that call. What’s going on? You keep watching the door and out the windows. Either you’ve completely lost interest in me, or something is bothering you.”
“My interest in you grows by the second. And the call was work stuff. You don’t want to hear about it.”
“Yes, I do. Work is a huge part of who you are, so share.”
“I don’t want to scare you.”
She cocked up one eyebrow. “Now you have to tell me. Besides, I don’t scare easily.”
Caden nodded toward the other side of the bar and the TV. “News just broke that a couple of hours ago the guy who nearly killed my brother escaped police custody during transport from court back to jail. My office called me because when we arrested him, he swore he’d kill my brother. He doesn’t have any idea who Beck is, but he knows he’s connected to me.”
“So the DEA believes he’ll come after you to get to your brother?”
“That’s what they think, but it’s more likely that his cousin who heads the drug trafficking ring put him on a plane to Mexico until this all dies down.”
“You’re still concerned he will come after you. That’s why your guard came back up.”
“Anyone ever tell you you’re too observant for your own good sometimes?”
“I’ve been scolded for a lot worse.” She smiled, trying to ease the growing tension she sensed in him. “If you need to go . . . ”
“If you keep saying that, I’ll think you actually want me to go.”
She changed the subject back to getting-to-know-you talk and not leaving talk. “Do you live in the city?”
“I’ve got a place not so far out. I like my space and the quiet when I’m home. You’d probably like it. Ten acres. A barn. A couple of horses. A small orchard, plus a large space that used to be a garden.”
“Used to be?”
“I work. A lot. I tend to kill anything that requires my constant attention.”
She frowned and shook her head. “Those poor horses.”
Caden laughed off her teasing. “I pay someone to take care of them. You should be more worried about the fact I kill off all my prospects for relationships because they require my constant attention.”
Her eyebrow shot up again. “Warning me off already?”
“This thing with Marco, it’s a real threat,” he admitted. “Maybe it’s true—who I am and what I do will always keep me from having the other things I want.”
“If you want them, you need to work just as hard to have them as you do at putting the bad guys away. If you find something worth that to you, you’ll have no trouble making the effort.”
“You sound like my sister.”
“Tell me about her. And Beck. You’re the oldest, right?”
The waiter set their dinners in front of them.
Mia forked up creamy mashed potatoes and slid the bite into her mouth.
Caden eyed her across the table. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“You watch the door. I’ll watch your back.” With his back to the wall, no threat could come from that way, but her assurance relaxed his wide stiff shoulders.
He picked up his fork and knife, cut a thick slice of his steak, and stuffed the piece in his mouth and chewed, a thoughtful expression filling his eyes. “You would like Alina. She’s tough but sweet.”
“With two big brothers, I’d imagine she knows how to handle herself and you guys.”
“Absolutely. She and Mom are a great balance for Beck and me. Work tends to come home with us. We aren’t always the best company. Right now, Beck is in a bad place, but Alina has a way of drawing him out of his head.”
“You’re worried about your brother.”
“He’s safe where he is. We’ve taken precautions knowing the risks, but I can’t protect him from the nightmares and experiences he’s stored up inside him. I sent him on those assignments. I’m partly responsible for what’s happened to him.”
“He volunteered for the job. He does it for his own reasons. If you hadn’t sent him, someone else would have, but the outcome would still be the same. He wanted to do it.”
“I get that in my head, but seeing Beck the way he is . . . ” Caden shook his head and sat back heavily in his seat.
“Silliest thing you’ve ever done?” she asked to change the subject and make him smile again.
“Dressed up as a cancan girl for a Halloween party in college, got drunk, and did the dance on a bar, fell off, and broke my wrist.”
She couldn’t picture the staid man doing something so ridiculous. “Please tell me there is video on the internet somewhere.”
“You wish.”
“Oh, I do.” She laughed. “I’d like to see those long legs kicking.”
“All you have to do is ask, sweetheart.”
“Really? You’d do the dance for me?”
“If you’re a really good girl,” he flirted. “And I’m drunk off my ass.”
The way he sipped at his beer, making it last, told her he didn’t often let loose and get his drink on. “If the last silly thing you did was in college, then you’re overdue for some fun.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“I don’t know. Something to think about for our second date.”
“Got it. Date one, dinner. Date two, fun. Date three, you cook for me.”
“We’ll see. I don’t cook for just anyone.”
He laughed under his breath. “Isn’t that your job?”
“You pay for me to cook for you at the restaurant. You want me to do it for free, you have to earn it.”
“Fair enough. How am I doing so far?”
She touched her fingertips to the flowers. “Really good.”
“Girls are suckers for flowers.”
She took offense, even though he teased. “No we’re not. We like sincerity.”
“Well, I’m sincerely glad you gave me another chance.”
She believed that more than she believed he thought woman gullible enough to forgive all because of a bunch of flowers. “So am I.”
The rest of the evening flew by with easy conversation about her passion for cooking with locally grown organic produce and buying her meat from local ranches. She impressed him with her many award-winning recipes and took her own pleasure in recounting some of the reviews she’d received, even the bad ones. Some people couldn’t be pleased, no matter how hard you tried.
She coaxed Caden to talk about his work. He spoke with such passion for what he did and helping the people affected by drugs in their life. He truly believed in ridding the streets and the world of the kind of drugs that destroyed people’s lives. His frustration for the lack of funding and manpower shined through, as did his resignation that there would always be a need for people like him to keep fighting the good fight.
As the night wore on and the restaurant grew quiet, she lost herself in Caden’s deep voice and the easy way they talked to each other. She’d vowed to go into this date with an open mind, but she never expected the night to go so well.
Hands down, Caden turned out to be the best first date ever.