I looked at my watch. I was twenty minutes early. I made a face at myself in my mirror and just got out of the car, wobbling a little on my heels. They weren't even that high. I was just nervous for the first date that I'd had in a while. I didn't know the guy's name or phone number, and I had no idea how I was going to find him.

As soon as I got inside, I figured it out quickly. The restaurant was empty and quiet besides the host at the front.

"Ma'am, if you'll come this way, please."

I followed him into the restaurant. There was light classical music playing in the background. And sitting next to the white knight was another man. They stood as I approached.

I felt like I'd taken a punch straight to my gut. I'd been hoping that whatever spark had ignited would pan out. And he was apparently gay.

"Ah, our mysterious..." the new guy said before the white knight elbowed him.

"Such a pleasure to see you," the white knight said. "Please sit down."

I smoothed my skirt as I sat down, my eyes bouncing between the two of them. "Is this is the surprise you were talking about? Your gay partner?"

Both of them burst into a fit of laughter. The white knight literally howled with powerful laughter that shook his whole body. I just stared at them and was grateful that the restaurant was empty.

"Sugar, I have nothing against gay people. But I'm not one." The second man gave me a wink and touched my hand. "I prefer something else."

I could feel the heat of his gaze like a tangible touch. Florida was hot, but the temperature inside of this air-conditioned restaurant just got hotter. I cleared my throat and looked at the white knight. He was still wiping tears from his eyes.

"Oh man, I needed that today." He smiled at me and something melted inside of my chest.

"What's your name?" I blurted, then I blushed hard. I was the opposite of smooth.

"Jasper Wolfe,” the white knight said. "And I brought Blue with me."

I turned to look at the second guy. He was a little bit shorter than Jasper, but he had blonde hair and this air of easy confidence about him that made him appealing. I could see myself dating him and relaxing on the couch while trying to find a movie we both wanted to watch. I thought that my first date with him would be something simple and easy, like grabbing freshly made ice cream and having a tickle fight.

"What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?" I asked. I blushed hard since I Just blurted something out without considering it beforehand.

"Blueberry," Blue said as if random strangers asked him questions like that every day.

"Mine is pineapple."

"I've never had those flavors of ice cream. Or frozen yogurt, even." I touched the back of my neck.

"We'll go for ice cream right after this," Jasper promised. "I already put in our dinner order."

"Excuse me, don't I get a menu or something?"

"Not when Jasper is around," Blue replied.

I frowned. I didn't like it when guys were too forceful and Jasper had alpha male written all over him. "I'd prefer to order my own food."

"Tough," Jasper said. "The chef is already bringing it out."

I watched as he rolled out a big cart. He had a lot of mysterious stains on his apron that looked new. When he pulled the silver cover off of the platter, I stared at it, unable to figure out what it was. It resembled a deformed chicken. I wasn’t really on board with eating some Franken-chicken.

Seeing the expression, Blue said, “It's duck!"

I made a face. This weird surprise double date was going south fast. I needed to get out of here.

"I'm gonna hit the bathroom," I said. It was time to bail on this weird date. Two guys? No ordering? Nobody else in the restaurant?

I was getting freaked out by all the money and attention. It was over the top. I wanted to order my own food and make my own decisions, not get railroaded by two random guys, no matter how hot they were. They seemed to be in sync, which made me feel like an outsider. They belonged here, in a restaurant that they’d bought out. I didn’t.

When I went into the bathroom, I touched up my eyeliner. I stared at the window in the ladies' room. It was too small for me to climb out of. I was going to have to escape via the back door and hope the staff didn't see me and nobody was on a smoke break.

I got out of the bathroom and immediately ran into Blue.

"Oh no!" I yelped. I had a bottle of black liquid liner that came hurling out of my purse and splashed on Blue's khaki pants. "That's going to leave a mark."

Blue brushed at it, which just succeeded in spreading the stain. "It's fine."

"It's not!" I was almost hyperventilating. "That eyeliner doesn't come out of clothing. Ask me how I know." There'd been an unfortunate incident with my favorite ivory sheath and a few errant drops of liner. I bought a huge amount of stain remover to attempt to remove the eyeliner, but the damage to my sheath was irreversible. "Let me buy you a new pair."

"Right now? Jasper's getting impatient."

If I were in an old cartoon, steam would be shooting out of my ears. "Let's ditch him and go shopping."

Blue raised his eyebrows at me. "You have no idea what he'll do if he realizes that you ran out on a date with him."

"Let's not tell him." I gestured towards the back door. "Let's have an adventure."

Blue looked at me for a moment, then I saw a beautiful mischievous light enter his eyes. "Let's see how long it lasts." He pulled open the back door. "Ladies first."

I stepped through and immediately felt lighter. Sure, I was ditching my date, but he was being a dick. Now I was with his buddy, the surprise other part of the date, and I couldn't be happier. There weren't that many stores to pick from, so I just jumped into the nearest one that looked like it might sell men's clothing.

"Hi!" I walked up to a teenager who was folding jeans.

"Hello," she said, not looking up. "How can I help you?"

"I'm afraid that my pants are stained," Blue said. "We'd like to buy a replacement."

"Yeah, sure," she said without an ounce of enthusiasm. "Wait here."

She shuffled like a geriatric towards a rack in the back, then she pulled it to the middle of the store. "What kind of pants do you want?"

"I'd like to replace the ones that I ruined," I told her.

"I don't need new khaki pants. Maybe we should go for black or navy." He looked at his shirt. "Navy."

The teenager rolled her eyes. "Navy pants coming right up."

"Are you sure you want to be in this store?" I whispered to Blue. "I mean, the teenage saleswoman doesn't seem that enthusiastic."

"Is any teenager enthusiastic about working? She's probably mad that we took her away from folding jeans." We both looked at the display. The jeans were artistically arranged, but I was afraid of actually picking one up to buy since it would ruin the pattern. Blue put a light hand on my shoulder and squeezed. "We'll be fine."

The teenager came back with a stack of navy pants and had apparently gotten a giant gob of gum, because she was noisily blowing giant pink bubbles. I got the impression that she was trying to get us to leave her alone. We were the only customers in the store, and it was obvious she was not paid any kind of commission.

"Here," she said, shoving the stack into my arms before spinning on her heel and marching into the back room.

"Okay, that was borderline hostile," I said quietly to Blue.

"It's an adventure," he said. He took the pants out of my arms and went to a dressing room. The curtains didn't close all the way, so I watched as he shed his pants and stood in his boxers. He had really muscular legs, the kind that you'd see on an ancient Greek statue. I fanned myself a little while he couldn't look at me. I didn't mind leaving behind alpha Jasper at all. Blue was a lot nicer to me and I wasn't going to complain about seeing a little more of his skin.

I averted my eyes before I passed the line into creeper territory.

"What do you think?" Blue said, shoving the curtain open. "Ugh, sorry." He'd forgotten to unfasten it, so he had to unhook it before trying again.

"Not right," I said. The thighs looked too tight. "Turn around."

Blue spun so I could get a good view of his ass. It was toned, but the pants were just too tight on him. "Can you even walk?"

Blue walked out of the changing stall experimentally. "That'd be a no."

I shoved the curtain closed again. "Next time, try walking before anything else." I could hear the sounds of him taking off his clothes.

Suddenly, the front door of the shop slammed open. The glass pane in the center shattered. Jasper Wolfe was coming into the store.