Lynda Sandoval - Daddy on Demand / Déjà You - Daddy on Demand / Déjà You

Collin nodded and murmured, “Thank you. Pick you up at 7:00.”

In less than an hour, Collin escorted Sabrina to the blissfully dark hotel restaurant. He still wore the black T-shirt he’d had on earlier, but added a matching sports jacket that he’d brought along in his usual “expect the unexpected” way. With delight and even amusement, he discovered that Sabrina not only didn’t need help from his plastic, but she’d been delightfully creative. Responding to his soft knock, she emerged from her room wearing the same tunic sweater, but now it was worn over sexy black leggings that she’d picked up in a shop in the lobby. She’d cinched her trim waist with a black leather belt and had slipped into sparkly slides, things also picked up there. There were no glittery earrings, just the delicate hoops that seemed to be a staple with her; however, the added mascara and lip gloss had her looking absolutely glamorous and sexier than ever.

“My, you’ll spawn several thoughts among diners this evening, but none of them will have anything to do with bag ladies.”

“Thank you…I think.” She self-consciously ducked her head, and tucked her hair behind her right ear. “Isn’t the decor nice? That hunter green on the walls is cool and soothing.”

“I honestly hadn’t noticed.”

Sabrina continued noting the decor until they reached the restaurant where they were greeted warmly by the maître d’.

“We have your table ready, Mr. Masters.”

As they approached it, a handsomely dark waiter eagerly pulled out a chair for Sabrina, who demurely thanked him. Collin was seated by the maître d’. He couldn’t fault the younger man for his admiring study of Sabrina, but if it continued through dinner, it was going to get on his nerves.

“A cocktail before dinner, sir?” the maître d’ asked. “Or may I show you the wine list?”

“Both, please,” Colin replied. “A cosmopolitan for the lady, a double Chivas on the rocks for me. Perhaps you can recommend your most mellow Cabernet with dinner?”

“Excellent. I will see that our wine steward finds exactly what you desire. Thank you, sir.”

As he and the waiter left them for the moment, Collin glanced up to see Sabrina’s wide-eyed stare. “Yes?”

“You remembered.”

Soon after he’d hired her, she’d mentioned having watched Sex and the City on reruns and listening to them go on about drinking cosmopolitans. She’d yet to taste one. “I hope it proves worth the wait,” he said, pleased to surprise her.

Leaning closer she whispered, “But you’re ordering wine, too?”

“I promise to get you to your room with dignity intact.”

“What’s the special occasion? Your birthday isn’t until July and mine is in August.”

“How about a salute to your own loss of freedom? Well, at least until nearly spring?”

“I’m getting paid. Your sister is taking all of the risks.”

Collin could see he was not making himself clear. “After watching you with Cass and the girls today, I realized all that we’re asking of you. You won’t have much opportunity for a night life—or any form of personal life.”

“In all honesty, I didn’t have much of one anyway.” Sabrina looked everywhere but at him. “I worked. That was it.”

It was disconcerting to feel something akin to relief. What a rat to not want her to have someone special in her life when he knew perfectly well he could never have her. “What about your parents? Won’t they and your brothers be disappointed if you don’t come home for at least one holiday?”

“I wouldn’t have been able to if I’d stayed at the warehouse job, either. From Thanksgiving to Christmas is the busiest time. No one gets time off. Oh!”

“What?”

She gave him a sickly smile. “I need to tell my parents that I moved and give them your number.”

Collin could almost imagine their reaction. Seismic waves would probably be recorded as far south as Galveston. “Thanks for the warning. I should check in with my health-care provider and beef up my policy.” Where were their drinks?

“I just turned twenty-eight, not eighteen.”

“That still makes me thirty-eight and the single man you’re living with.”

Thankfully, the waiter arrived with their drinks, then took their order. Collin didn’t wait for him to get more than a step away before taking a needful sip of Scotch. The burning down his throat was nothing compared to how his stomach would feel as he worried about the entire Sinclair clan appearing in the lobby.

“I am not living with you.”

“They might buy that if I was seventy.” As she opened her mouth to speak, he raised his hand entreating her to wait. “Please don’t point out yet again how completely resistible I am.”

Instead Sabrina took a second sip of her cosmo.

“Do you at least approve of it?” he grumbled.

A smile pulled at Sabrina’s lips. “It’s not on the level of a margarita, but it’s interesting.” When their waiter returned with their salads, she made eye contact with him and her smile was as flirty as his.

“He’s not an hour over twenty-one,” Collin said when they were again alone.

“Maybe I like them that way.”

Collin narrowed his eyes. “You did that to get at me.”

“Did it work?”

“No.”

She threw back her head and laughed. “This is kind of fun.”

“What other unpleasant characteristics don’t I know about you besides your sadistic streak?”

“If you want to be rid of me, all you have to do is suggest to Cassie that I move into her place. This way the girls stay put in familiar surroundings and with their friends. Come to think of it, I might even get a social life with all of those soldiers around.”

“Yes, but you wouldn’t be making the salary that you are.” He was not enjoying this conversation one bit. He should never have confessed his interest in her. He should have thought up some other story; he was in the business of lies, for pity’s sake.

“You’ve got me there.” Sighing, Sabrina picked up her salad fork. “Okay, I’ll quit teasing. I don’t know how you do it, though. Being a flirt is work. Were you like that as a boy?”

He didn’t want to talk about his childhood any more than he wanted her to torment him, but at least the past was the past. “Hardly. My parents didn’t divorce pleasantly, didn’t my sister tell you? Mother kept Cass here and my father took me back to England.”

“That much I picked up from office gossip the first time I was your employee.” Intercepting his dark look, she grinned, but said, “Sorry. Go on.”

“There’s not much to tell. It wasn’t a month before he shipped me off to an academy—a fancy rendition of a boarding school. You see, he didn’t have any use for me, he was merely getting back at my mother.”

“That was small of him. I’m sorry.”

“I’m hungry.” Stabbing an olive in his Mediterranean salad, Collin thought the subject was done. He was wrong.

“So you eventually developed the ‘I’m a catch’ persona due to a need to prove your father wrong for pushing you away? Or your mother not fighting harder to keep you?”

“Neither. I was starving for attention and discovered people gave it to me if I flattered them enough. But it also helped to keep people from asking too many questions.” He pointed his fork at her. “Until you.”

“Hint taken. New subject.” Sabrina nodded out the window at the tree-lit canal where a barge was passing full with tourists listening to a guitarist playing for them. “Can we walk off dinner down there?”

“I suppose. I’m certainly not going to leave you on your own.”

“It’s not like I can lose this hotel.”