Dinner was a terrifying affair because every place setting had three different plates, five different forks, and two different spoons; I’d never eaten like this before. I knew I was supposed to start out and work my way in, but even that simple rule seemed daunting in the face of such extravagance. I felt woefully under-dressed, too. While Adrian had said that my outfit was acceptable, he'd chosen to wear a tuxedo, which was a far cry from my jeans and button-up. Joan was dressed in a black cocktail dress, elaborately decorated with at least ten pounds of Swarovski crystals. Even Angelica's dress, a sky-blue creation with what looked like hand-sewn sequins, looked like it cost more than any article of clothing I had ever owned. I didn't belong here.

It was still so beautiful, though. The restaurant was a magnificently gilded room. The floors were a polished purple stone; they looked like amethyst, although I knew the floors couldn't possibly be made of pure gemstone. It must have been made from some sort of dyed marble. Either way, it looked stunning beneath the massive crystal chandeliers.

“Hi!” Angelica exclaimed. “You look nice!”

Not overly, but to be fair, she’d never seen me in anything except a pirate costume and swimming trunks. She was also only ten-years-old. “It's a pleasure to meet you,” Joan said. “Angelica has talked so much about you.”

“Only pleasant things I hope,” I replied.

I knew how to be polite when the situation required it.

“Of course,” Joan said.

Unfortunately, Angelica hadn't mentioned anything about Joan.

“Do you like white wine?” Adrian asked. “Or red?”

“Primarily, red,” I replied. “But I won't refuse a good glass of chardonnay.”

“Ugh. Chardonnay,” Adrian said. “Let's get a nice glass of roscato for you. It's a sweet red. Best of both worlds.”

Adrian grabbed the bottle already at the table and poured it into my wine glass. “Cheers,” I said, raising my glass in a mock-toast.

Angelica raised her glass, too; it looked to be filled with some kind of sparkling water.

“So what do you think? This is a lovely place, isn't it?” Adrian asked.

Certainly. It was beautiful beyond words, and despite my uneasiness at being in such an expensive, posh place, I couldn't deny that some part of me liked it. Some part of me was dazzled by the chandeliers and marble floors, the gleaming silver cutlery, and the men and women, most of them dressed in their absolute best. “It's beautiful,” I admitted. “Absolutely gorgeous.”

Adrian smiled, pleased. “I knew you'd like it,” he said. “Of course, who wouldn't?”

Truly, he was the epitome of modesty.

Our waiter arrived, seemingly from thin air, to take our drink orders.

“I like that they have a band playing. Mozart, isn’t it?” I asked.

“Beethoven,” Adrian answered.

Oh.

“But you're forgiven for thinking otherwise,” Joan said. “It's a common mistake to make. Some of their pieces sound very similar to the casual listener.”

I doubted she would've made the same mistake, but I appreciated her kind words all the same. “So how long have you two known each other?” I asked. “Or perhaps I should say you three?”

“Oh, gosh,” Joan said. “It's been ten years. I've known Angelica her whole life.”

“Ten and a half,” Angelica announced proudly.

I nodded solemnly. “You're getting old,” I replied. “Next thing we know, you'll be on the road driving.”

“Yeah, but Dad won't teach me.”

“Oh, why not?” I asked.

“Because I've seen her ride a bicycle. It's a terrible sight,” Adrian answered. “I shudder to think of her in a car.”

“Oh you,” Joan said, playfully swatting the air.

Angelica crossed her arms. “You're just jealous because you can't ride one as good as me,” she said.

“That's exactly what it is,” I replied, leaning closer to her. “He'll deny it, of course, but…”

“How would you know?” Adrian asked.

“Because you do not walk with the gait of a man who knows how to ride a bicycle,” I replied.

That was, of course, entirely untrue. As far as I was aware, there was no way to tell by a man's walk whether or not he could ride a bicycle.

Adrian glared at me, and I smiled cheekily as I took a sip of wine.

“I think I ride just fine,” Adrian replied. “You should know that.”

I shrugged. “It doesn't matter what I know. She's cuter than you, so I agree with her.”

“Losing out to my own daughter,” Adrian said. “For shame.”

Adrian opened his menu with an exaggerated flourish, while I gazed at mine in complete horror. I’d never even heard of half the items on the menu, and several of the descriptions were in French. Where was the normal food? The easily pronounceable food? And why didn’t any of the food have prices?

“They have an excellent filet mignon,” Adrian said, “if I might make a suggestion.”

“Sounds great,” I said. “I’ve never had filet mignon.”

“You’ll want to choose a soup, too,” Adrian said. “This restaurant asks that the table order a minimum of four courses.”

What? I was supposed to choose four courses from this mostly French menu? Adrian’s lips quirked into a smile, and he turned his menu towards me. That son of a gun was using Google Translate from his phone. I gawked at him, while he shook with barely contained laughter.

“My phone doesn’t have that,” I said.

“What?”

“It’s a Motorola Razr.”

“The original Razr?” Adrian asked. “Dear God.”

The waiter returned with our drinks and took our orders. After too much time awkwardly rambling, I managed to get my order across.

“Motorola Razr,” Adrian muttered, once our waiter had vanished again. “From the nineties?”

“I don’t judge you for selling your soul to Apple,” I retorted.

“Selling his soul is right,” Joan said. “I’ve never seen him without that phone.”

“Except for the week when he dropped it in the toilet!” Angelica cut in.

Adrian wrinkled his nose and shot his daughter a melodramatic glare.

“What were you doing with your phone on the toilet?” I asked.

“Writing to my agent,” Adrian replied shamelessly. “You need a new phone, Lancelot.”

“Why? I don’t have anyone to call anyway.”

“No friends?” Adrian asked.

“Not besides Sherri.”

“Well, I’d advise you to try online friend-searching,” Joan replied, “But I can’t even tell you how many creeps I’ve met.”

I nodded sympathetically.

“I’ll be your friend!” Angelica declared.

“One friend,” I amended.

The look on Adrian’s face was indecipherable.

The waiter arrived with our soup, and Adrian tactfully tapped the soup spoon for me. I’d ordered potato soup which looked delicious and creamy, but I’d never had soup before that didn’t come from a can. And when I ate that soup, I typically put an entire sleeve of crackers in it.

“Worried the soup will bite you?” Adrian asked.

“No,” I replied.

I just wasn’t sure how to eat it without looking like a slob. I took a careful spoonful and indeed, it was much better than anything I’d ever eaten from a can. Joan began talking about her various adventures with online dating, and I listened intently. She was a funny woman and could tell a good story. I could see why she and Adrian would get along as well as why Angelica would like her.

The second and third courses came accompanied by a dessert menu. I wasn’t sure how I’d manage to eat dessert after so much food, but the promise of sugary goodness was too much of an allure. “The problem,” our waiter said, after allowing us time to eat and mull the choice over. “Is that we only have three pieces of chocolate cake left.”

That was a problem considering all their desserts for the night were cakes. Allegedly. Adrian had told me that’s what the fork over my plate meant, so I took his word for it.

“I’ll take the strawberry, then,” I offered.

The waiter smiled gratefully at me, and minutes later, he returned with our desserts. I took a bite of my strawberry cake. Admittedly, I wasn’t wild about strawberry cake, but this was easily the best dessert I’d ever had in my life. “It’s amazing,” I said, once I’d finished chewing.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” Angelica said.

“Oh!” Joan stood and herded Angelica towards the restrooms.

“This always happens at the same time. We’ll almost make it all the way through a meal, and then, this will happen. Every time,” Adrian said, clearly bemused. “I’ll never understand why.”

“You say that like it’s some sort of magical power,” I replied.

“Are you so sure it isn’t? Maybe we all have little, banal bits of magic. Hers is going to the bathroom in the middle of dinner.”

“What’s yours?”

“Being able to charm anyone I meet,” Adrian replied huskily.

“I doubt that,” I said.

“But it worked on you, didn’t it?”

“I don’t know that it takes much to charm me,” I replied. “You’re intelligent, handsome, wealthy, great at sex…how could I resist? You’re right when you say I’m not on your level because you’re so far out of my league, you might as well be on another planet.”

“Try the chocolate cake,” Adrian said, holding a piece of it on his fork.

“And I’m so talkative that you’re trying to shut me up,” I added.

As I ate the bite of cake from his fork, I met his gaze, and in that moment, the world seemed to stop spinning. We were stuck in a single moment in time where everything else was absent, save for the beating of my heart and Adrian's intense green eyes. My heart beat a little faster as I cleaned the fork of icing. “Good?” Adrian asked.

“Wonderful,” I answered.

I licked my lips, removing any trace of chocolate that might've lingered. Adrian’s eyes darted down, seemingly caught by the gesture. “You missed a spot,” Adrian whispered.

Adrian’s thumb swiped across my chin, although I wasn’t certain he’d actually removed anything from my face. He cupped my cheek and leaned forward. My heart beat faster. We were inches apart, and I waited for him to close the space and kiss me. I felt his breath on my mouth, and I dared to edge forward just an inch. He backed off. I averted my eyes, suddenly shy at the attention and worried I might have misunderstood the gesture. Maybe he hadn’t been thinking about kissing me. “Maybe I should write a character like you,” Adrian said, as he traced a finger over the underside of my wrist. “Someone with your enthusiasm and energy. With those sad, grey eyes.”

“Surely, you can think of an adjective besides sad.”

“For you?” Adrian asked. “Maybe soft. Silvery. Elizabeth’s eyes were grey.”

I took a deep breath. “I would use the same description you used,” I replied. “For your eyes. A true emerald-green. The sort of eyes that belong to fairies and feisty Irish heroines.”

Adrian’s lips quirked into a smile. “You’ve been reading, then. What part are you at?”

“The part where the witch abducts Jóhannes. If you write people you know, who was he? You must’ve thought he was beautiful.”

“I suppose he’s a bit like me,” Adrian mused. “Or maybe he’s half of me, and Clarisa is the other half. Elisabeth, in the book, is a lot like my omega. Kind, discerning, brilliant. My parents both adored her. Hell, everyone who met her adored her.”

“She sounds like a remarkable woman.”

“She really was. What about you? Anyone like that in your life?”

I shook my head. “Not an alpha, if that’s what you mean. I have friends, of course. Sherri is one of them. She’s my boss, but we also grew up together. And my mom, of course, until she died.”

“And your dad?”

“Dad died when I was a kid. I was ten, twelve, somewhere around there. He was in the military, but I don’t remember what he did. I never asked.”

“Interesting,” Adrian replied, although he didn’t sound very interested. “You are just…I like how you’re able to win Angelica over so easily. She lights up when she’s around you, but when it’s just me, she isn’t like that.”

“You’re her family. It’s different.”

“I suppose so.”

Angelica and Joan returned, and with a sort of half-smile, Adrian pulled his hand back. His eyes remained on me, even as he took a sip of his wine. The tip of his tongue teased the rim of the glass. I shivered and swirled the wine in my own glass.

I liked him. I liked him a lot.

After we returned to the ship, Adrian walked me to my cabin. Joan had gone to put Angelica to bed. I held my hands together and resisted the urge to fidget with my shirt. We were alone, and maybe that meant something would happen. I moved a bit closer to him, so our arms brushed when we walked. It was a nice night; the wind blew and brought with it a soothing coolness. “That was fun,” I said. “Thank you so much for inviting me.”

“Look. I want to make it clear that this wasn't a date,” Adrian said. “Admittedly, I like talking to you. I like having sex with you. But I think that's enough. Things are just too complicated right now for me to even consider adding one more thing, and I've never cared much for romance anyway.”

I took a deep breath. But he’d been married. Maybe that was it. It’d only been a year, and he wasn’t ready to consider having another omega. I probably wouldn’t have been either.

“Oh.”

“I thought you'd have got that impression already, but I just wanted to make sure you weren't making this into some big romantic mess in your head.”

Oh, God. That was exactly what I'd been doing.

“This was just making amends for snapping at you. That's all it was,” Adrian added.

Okay. This was fine. I just needed to keep it together until I was alone.

“Hey, no worries!” I insisted, adding a dismissive wave to sell it better. “We're good.”

“Really?”

I nodded. “Absolutely. Don't sweat it,” I said. “You have a lot to figure out.”

“I wouldn't sweat it. If you thought otherwise, that would be your problem.”

God, couldn't he just let it go and drop it?

“And I know you had fun, but I also want you to know that my world isn't always like that. You'll get to the top, and you'll realize we're all cold and dispassionate. Selfish. It's mostly posturing, and you wouldn't like that. I promise it's not like you think it is,” Adrian added.

No, of course not. I’d guessed it wouldn't be, but that still didn't mean I didn't want the chance to experience that world.

“Yeah. I mean, I'm still game if you want a casual fuck or something, but that's really the only interest I have in you,” Adrian said.

He didn't have any interest in me outside of sex. That wasn't…that wasn't what I wanted. We’d reached my room, and I put all my effort into trying desperately not fidget. “So that’s it, then?” I asked.

“It is. See you around, Lance.”

“Yeah.”

We were on a ship together in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. I would certainly see him around. It wasn't as if I could avoid him, even if I wanted to. I watched his retreating back. When I pulled my keys from my pocket, it was with a sort of detached interest. I fumbled putting them in the lock and entered my cabin slowly. I didn’t understand.

Hadn’t Adrian and I been getting somewhere? When he gave me his phone number, hadn’t he been inviting a relationship? That’s what I’d thought, but maybe I’d misunderstood everything. I pulled the door closed behind me and dropped my keys on the counter. Part of me wondered if I should even care; after all, he was rude and cold, but I’d really thought he’d been thawing out, softening. Maybe I’d been wrong and foolishly thought I could bring out something better in him. I placed my elbows on the counter, buried my face in my hands, and took a deep breath. It would all be fine. I just needed a night to think it over; I’d get up in the morning and go to work as usual. Everything would be fine.