Fuck.

 With practiced ease, Jon took the earring from her, inspected it briefly, and shrugged. “Huh, never seen it before. Must be my sister’s.” He smiled with a confidence he didn’t feel and leaned across her legs to open the glove compartment and toss it inside. “So, how does seafood sound?”

She didn’t know if she bought the sister excuse, but it was their first date and they weren’t exactly an item. It left Patti feeling torn. The string of bad relationships and equally bad boyfriends had made her wary of men and their tactics. Never again did she want to be reduced to just another notch in some man’s bedpost. But, as she looked into Jon’s eyes, all she saw was sincerity and kindness, so she decided to play it by ear. If things between them went no further than tonight, she’d be okay with it, and if it progressed into something more, than she would see it through to wherever it ended up.

 Setting her concerns aside, Patti vowed to enjoy the evening ahead. “Seafood sounds wonderful,” she told Jon. He slanted a dizzying smile at her and eased into traffic.

 He took her to a nice steak house with an African Savannah theme. The hostess seated them in a corner booth made to resemble a train caboose with prop luggage stored on a shelf overhead. It was a very casual yet elegant environment.

 The menu itself was large and consisted of just about every type of meat available to man. Patti had a hard time choosing what to eat, but eventually settled on a light meal of pasta and shrimp with a fruity cocktail laced in rum to wash it down. She hadn’t been treated to a meal this nice in some time, which only made her realize the type of men she had subjected herself to before.

 She really needed to up her qualifications.

 Good thing Jon seemed to fit the bill.

 “I’ve never been here before,” Patti confessed. She sipped her drink and cast her eyes around the room. Rattan paddles that swayed back and forth, gently stirring the air, decorated the ceiling. There were amber-colored sconces mounted on the walls and colorful modern artwork sprinkled in between. At the rear of the room, she could watch the chefs put together the food, but she found the view of the man across the table from her far more appealing.

 Selecting a coconut crusted shrimp skewer from his plate, Jon dipped it in a small bowl of sweet orange sauce and raised his eyebrow to her as he brought it to his lips. “It’s one of my favorite places to come,” he said, “but tonight the company is far more interesting and infinitely more attractive.”

 Taking a moment to mull over his words, Patti took her time twisting the pasta around her fork. “Are you saying you bring your dates here often?”

 “I guess that depends on what you consider a date,” he said cryptically.

 Stuffing a huge mound of noodles into her mouth, Patti used her food as an excuse not to answer. Frankly, it concerned her that she might have read him wrong. Maybe her first impression of him wasn’t as accurate as she’d assumed.

 “Oh boy,” Jon laughed, shaking his head as he went in for another skewer. “I know that look.” Patti lifted a questioning brow. “My mother and sister always have that look when my dad or I say something to piss them off,” he explained. “Maybe I should clarify.”

 He didn’t rush to clarify anything, much to Patti’s consternation, but she waited, certain he would present her with some lame excuse that would hold about as much water as a bucket full of holes. She ate slowly, watching Jon as he tucked into his dinner with casual indifference.

 “I only come here for business,” he began. “Sometimes I meet with new clients, or with some of the members on the board to discuss finances. It’s never for leisure.” His eyes flicked up to meet hers. “Until tonight. This is the first time I’ve enjoyed a meal with someone who wasn’t sporting a pot belly and a penis between their legs.”

 Patti’s quick intake of breath caused her to choke on a partially chewed noodle. Doubling over, she coughed into her napkin so hard her eyes began to tear up.

 “Are you okay?” Jon asked, suddenly standing by her side. He pounded on her back, but his efforts only succeeded in making her feel as though her spine were about to snap in two.

 “I’m fine,” she croaked, coughing a couple more times. Picking up her glass of water, she gulped half of it before she felt recovered enough to speak clearly.

 Jon took his seat again, eying her cautiously.

 “Just to be clear. Did you just tell me you’ve never been on a date with a woman before?” She found that notion impossible to believe. Jon was gorgeous. With his dark hair, blue eyes, and strong build, he was every woman’s Adonis. Just walking into the place she’d caught several women, most already seated with their own man, sneaking covert glances at him.

 Jon chuckled. The deep sound of it made tendrils of warmth curl in Patti’s belly and settle between her legs. “Not at all. I’m saying that I don’t date often. I’m very selective,” he said, staring at her now.

 Patti shifted under his scrutiny. Somehow, he managed to make her feel shy and bold with a single look. On one hand, she wanted to hide her face with her hands, and on the other, she wanted to climb over the table and suck on his lips.

 Instead, Patti chose to direct the topic toward something a little safer. “So you said you normally do business here. What kind of work do you do, Jon?”

 Dropping his fork on the plate, Jon picked up his glass of dark beer and sat back in his chair. “What do I do?” he pondered, and took a drink. “I own my own business, so I guess you could say that I’m an entrepreneur.”

 “Impressive,” Patti praised him. “And what kind of business do you own?”

 “A publishing company,” he said. “Ever heard of Bookish Temptations?”

 Had she ever! Her friend, Piper, and Piper’s husband, Tate, both worked for the company and if she wasn’t mistaken, the new girl in their entourage, Poppy, also worked there. Didn’t she recall something about Poppy’s boyfriend working there too? Jesus, was this man trying to take over all of Chicago, beginning with her group of friends? Sometimes the world was just too small for her taste. “I think I might’ve heard of it before,” she said flippantly.

 A knowing smirk tugged at the corners of his full lips. “Maybe in passing. It’s a growing business and overall pretty successful. What do you do, Patricia?” he asked, turning the tables on her.

 Patti fidgeted. It was embarrassing to know she was fired from her job, worse still to have to tell her date that she was fired. She had to let the cat out of the bag sometime. She figured now was as good a time as any. At least she’d get some practice before spilling the news to her mother, who was bound to flip out. She was not looking forward to that conversation one bit.

 Sucking in a deep breath, Patti let the words spill out before she could consider burying them in her alcoholic slushy. “I’m unemployed at the moment.” She looked at him then, studying his face for signs of acceptance, or maybe disgust. All she found was understanding.

 “Layoff?”

 “More like selfish business tactics,” she corrected him. It was a bitter pill to swallow, knowing she’d been cut loose in favor of a bigger profit margin.

 “I’m sorry to hear that. What did you do?”

 As Patti explained the details of her former job, she couldn’t help feeling bolstered by his interest and understanding. Not many men she’d dated bothered to learn about who she was, and what she was all about, but Jon was listening to her, and that was something so new to her. She was more tempted than ever to lay him out on the floor and strip him naked right there in the middle of the restaurant to show her gratitude.

 “It’s funny,” Jon said as he filled out the receipt and signed off on it. “It just so happens that I’m in the market for a new accountant.”