I swallow. “Why?”
“I can’t give you answers I don’t have, Valentina. I saw you, and I want you. That’s all I know.”
“Everyone calls me Tina,” I say, when nothing else seems to come out of my mouth.
“Valentina is such a pretty name, though.”
“So is Ardan,” I fire back. “But the twins were calling you Irish. Why?”
“Everyone calls me Irish. Not many people know my real name,” he explains. “Everyone in the club knows me as Irish.”
“I like calling you Ardan.”
“And I like calling you Valentina.”
“Then I guess that’s what we’re both calling each other,” I say, shrugging my shoulders.
We finish the rest of our meal in silence, pretending that I don’t notice him watching me. Ardan hands me the dessert menu, and I look over it briefly while asking, “What are you getting?”
“What are you doing Friday night?” he asks in that sexy voice of his.
I lower the menu and look at him. “Why?”
“I want to see you is fuckin’ why.”
“I’m getting the cookies-and-cream cheesecake,” I say, putting down the menu without looking over the other options. I love cheesecake. “What are you getting?”
“Valentina—”
“Ardan,” I say, cutting him off. “I googled the Wind Dragons MC, you know.”
“For fuck’s sake, seriously?” he mutters, scrubbing his hand down his face. “Well, you’re still here, so it couldn’t have scared you off too much.”
The waitress comes over, and he orders my cheesecake and a chocolate sundae for himself.
“I’m apartment hunting this weekend,” I tell him.
“Why are you moving?” he asks, checking his phone before looking up and waiting for my answer.
“I’m new in town, so I’m staying at a motel until I find an apartment,” I explain. “This weekend I’m going to check a few out.”
He stares at me like I’ve grown a second head. “You’re living at a fuckin’ motel right now? A motel?”
I nod slowly, wishing I had never opened my big mouth to say anything at all. “Yeah, what’s the big deal? It’s just until I get a place, and it’s not actually a motel, it’s more like a self-catering short-stay accommodation.
“What’s the big fuckin’ deal? You’re alone, looking like you do, in a motel,” he pauses. “Or self-catering whatever, in a city you don’t even know. Yeah, what’s the big deal, right?” he says, a muscle ticking in his jaw.
I roll my eyes. “It’s fine.”
“I have a place you can stay,” he says, looking around the restaurant. “You can move in this weekend.”
“Yeah, no,” I tell him. “Look, no offense, but I don’t even know you. If you keep being this controlling, this is the last time you will ever see me.”
Like I need another controlling asshole in my life.
His lips tighten, but he says nothing.
Our desserts arrive, and to lighten the mood I offer him some of mine. He did take me out to an expensive dinner and has been a gentleman all night. I don’t want us to end the evening on a bad note. His eyes turn heavy-lidded as he leans over the table and I feed him a spoonful of the delicious cheesecake.
“So good,” he murmurs, looking right at me. “Perfect.”
I look down at my dessert, feeling my cheeks heat. It looks delicious, but so is he. What am I doing here? Why am I so attracted to him? I should be going for a quiet, gentle man, not an alpha biker, but here I am.
“Open,” he says, holding a spoonful of ice cream at my lips.
I grin and open my mouth, letting the creaminess melt on my tongue. “It’s good, but I think mine is better.”
“So do I,” he admits, eyeing my cheesecake.
I grin and ask while scooping more onto the spoon, “Do you want another bite?”
All of a sudden, my mouth and throat start tingling. I drop the spoon onto my plate and look up at him.
“Fuck,” I groan.
“What?” he asks, instantly alert.
“Are there peanuts in that?”
He looks down at his sundae. “Yeah, why?”
I grab my throat. “Oh, nothing, I’m just kind of allergic.”
He stands up, his chair falling over behind him, and he steps over to me and pulls me out of my chair. “What do I do? What the fuck do I do?”
“It’s not life threatening,” I say, grimacing. “I might break out in hives, though.” I pause. “Or get nauseous.”
“We’re going to the fuckin’ hospital,” he grits out, pulling out his phone in one hand, pulling me by my upper arm with the other.
So much for not ending the night on a bad note.
“You’ve been lecturing me for over an hour; can you just stop, please?” I groan, watching him pace up and down my hospital room. “I’m fine.”
“Don’t you think having an allergy like that is something you should mention when a man takes you out to eat?” he says for the second or third time.
I expel a deep sigh. “This shit could only happen to me.”