I'm All Yours (10 page)

“A few dates?”

“Please
,
Evie, just give it a try
,
and if you don’t think I’m the right guy
for you
then you’re free to have Perfect Pairing try
to
match you up with someone else.”

“Okay,
but I’ll hold you to your word.”

Chapter Seven

Evie rested her back on the chair as the waiter entered the room. She couldn’t believe that Kyle had gone to all this trouble. She wanted to believe him about them getting to know one another
,
but still part of her worried that he was setting her up for something
awful and embarrassing
as revenge for the
martini
-
throwing incident
. After all, it had happened in this very restaurant. If that wasn’t poetic justice, what was?
And yes, although she’d never apologized to him, after s
he’d done the deed she’d been sorry
and mortified at herself. Her irrational behavior that night had been so unlike her. She’d cried
after she resorted to making a follow up phone call to him, boasting about her victory
,
and then
wish
ed
she could take it back. And she couldn’t
even blame it on her
PMS because it hadn’t been anyw
here near her time of the month when it
had
happened.

“Can I get you something to drink?” asked the waiter.

“I’ll have a glass of white wine,” said Evie.

“Mineral water for me,” said Kyle.

“I’ll be right back with those
,
and I’ll let you study the menu while I’m gone. Our
special tonight is lobster ling
uine.”

He walked out of
the room as Evie studied Kyle and not the menu.

“You driving home or something?” she asked him.

“I never drink. Haven’t f
or about, oh
,
eighteen months now.”

“AA?” asked Evie.

“Nope, don’t have a drinking problem but just woke up one day thinking I was probably better off without it.”

Evie
shrugged her shoulders and
turned her attention to the menu. Everything looked s
o damn good that
it was hard to narrow
it
down
to
one choice. And the lobster ling
uine sounded mouthwatering.
The restaurant did have the reputation of having the best homemade pasta in
Southern California
.

The waiter returned with the
drinks, placed them in front of them along with a basket of bread and lit the two candles on the table,
suddenly
casting the room into a low romantic glow.
Evie picked up the rose again and took in its scent. This really was one of the most romantic dates she’d been on in years.

“Do you need more
time to look over the menu?” asked the waiter.

“I’m ready,” said Kyle.

“Me
,
too,” said Evie.

“So what can I get you folks?”

“The lobster ling
uine,” they both said at the same time.

“Sorry, I guess that should have been ladies first,” said Kyle.

“No problem if you both picked the same thing,”
said the waiter. “I’ll get this
order in straight away.
”
They both watched as he left the room and closed the door. Neither of them said another
word
for a few seconds.

Evie glanced over at Kyle
,
who was pushing
his middle finger around the rim of his glass.
If she didn’t know better she’d say he was nervous.

“See we already have one thing in common,” he said.

“Yeah, that was sort of strange.
Don’t think I’ve ever dined with someone who’s ordered the same meal as me.
So how’s work? I heard
that
you start your new movie next week?”

Kyle nodded. “In
Montana
, just outside of
Missoula
.”

“Nice
place. I have few friends who live on
Flathead
Lake
.
T
hat’s
not too far from there
.” She took a sip of her wine.

“I hope it is
b
ecause I’ll be there for a month, maybe
more
,
depending on how the weather cooperates for shooting.”

“You might
get some skiing in. That is if you ski?”

Although he was a public figure, it dawned on Evie that she really didn’t know that much about Kyle. Guess t
hat’s what first dates are for
.

“Love it.”

“Me
,
too.”

“Hey, that’s two things
we have in common
,
and we’re only fifteen minutes into our date,” said Kyle
,
checking his watch.

“Okay, tell me about whe
re you grew up
and
your family
,
”
said
Evie. She’d give
him credit that he
was giving this
whole date
thing
and the Perfect Pairing service
a try
,
so she should put in the effort
,
too.

He pulled on his tie and tugged at his shirt collar but hadn’t responded to her question. Evie
interviewed lots of people and knew when someone was avoiding things. Her
question had
obviously
probed into an area of his life he wasn’t happy about opening up to a stranger.
Now that’s interesting.

“I grew up in lots of places,” he finally said.

He picked the lemon out of his mineral water and s
queezed it so the juice zigzagged down the edge of the glass.

“Was your
dad in the armed forces?”

“Sort of.”

Evie,
top
-
notch interviewer
,
usually
wouldn’t settle for that sort of
response
.
B
ut
the cameras weren’t rolling
,
so
she wouldn’t press the issue.

“Siblings?”
she asked.

He shook his head.

“Me
,
too
.
I mean I’m an only child. And
,
yes, three things we have in common.”

“So you grew up in
L
.
A
.
?”
asked Kyle.

“
Portland
,
Oregon
.”

“It’s a nice place.”

“Very nice.
I go back as often as I can because my parents still live there.”

“How about you? Do you
spend time with your folks?”

“My father’s dead
,
and yes, I try and spend as
much time with my mom as possible.”

“Sorry to hear th
at
.
I mean about your dad, not
the
spending time with your mom
part
.”

“So
,
Evie Winters
,
is there anything about you that I’d
be surprised to hear? Some hidden talent maybe?”

He took a sip of his mineral water.
She noted how he’d guided th
e conversation away from family
,
which intrigued her more.

“Let me think. Well, I paint in my spare time although I’m not very good at it.”

“Really. My mom paints
,
too. They thought…”

He st
opped in mid-
sentence.

“Thought what?”

“It would be good for her. I mean now that she’s a widow and all on her own.”

“It can be therapeutic.” Evie reached for a slice of bread and spread butter on it.

“Wow, the first wo
man I’ve been on a date with who
actually eats
bread and isn’t shy with the butter.
I though
t they were off limits to just about everyone
in this town.”

“I’m a fat and carbs type of girl
.
W
hat
can I say
?
Although I suppose
I could do with losing five pounds
,
maybe more.”

“
I wouldn’t say that because you
fe
lt pretty good in the elevator. I’m not a guy who likes holding skin and bones.”

Evie felt herself getting
flushed again. “Yeah, about what happened in the elevator
. I hope you don’t think I go around doing that sort of thing all the time.”

“Didn’t even enter my mind. It was great
,
wasn’t it?”

Evie
had to admit it was pretty
fantastic.