Mitch only wanted her in his bed, she reminded herself as they pulled into another Italian restaurant. This one was a bit fancier, but still dark inside and, since it was getting a bit later in the evening, there were more patrons in the entry way.
As soon as they entered, Claire surveyed the hostess stand and was relieved that the person behind the podium was male. She definitely didn’t want a repeat of that last horrible female.
Mitch, despicable man that he was, knew exactly what she’d been thinking and when she sighed with relief and looked up to see his reaction to the gender, he was already looking down at her with amusement, and the absolute knowledge in his eyes of why she’d been so relieved.
Claire ignored him and strode confidently up to the hostess table, smiling sweetly at the man. Taking the picture out of Mitch’s hand, she asked this new host, “Have you seen this man?”
The name tag on this guy’s shirt said his name was “Don”. He looked at the picture, looked up at Mitch, then at Claire, a worried expression in his eyes. “Are you cops?” he asked, swallowing hard.
Claire reached out and touched his hand slightly but as soon as her fingertips touched the host’s, her hand was yanked back. It didn’t hurt, but looking up at Mitch, she could see the fury in his eyes. “What are you doing?”
“I could ask you the same question.”
“I’m trying to get some answers.”
“Get them some other way. No need to offer yourself up as dessert for the correct answer.”
She gasped and stepped back, hands on hips as she confronted him with fury. “How dare you suggest that I was offering myself up as anything! I was only being friendly! You’re being outrageous.”
Mitch moved in closer so there was barely an inch between their bodies. “You don’t touch other men, Claire. If you’re going to touch anyone, you can damn well touch me,” he said and slapped her hand onto the middle of his chest.
For a long moment, neither of them moved. Claire’s hand itched to move, Mitch’s eyes dared her to do so. In the end, Claire gave in and took a step back, the tension still crackling between them and she sighed. Mitch seemed to take that as acquiescence and was satisfied but he was still fuming at the idea of her touching any other man but him. Rationally, he understood that Claire wasn’t flirting. Her gesture was simply her open hearted way of connecting with other people. Irrationally, he didn’t care. There were just some things that he couldn’t deal with when it came to his little bombshell. She was his, even if she wouldn’t admit it out loud. Yet.
He turned back to the man standing behind the podium, ignoring the man’s wide eyed, curious stare as he looked back and forth between the two of them. The man was obviously terrified of offending Mitch who was easily twice as big as the host, but his eyes kept moving back to Claire, a startled hunger lurking there.
To ensure that the man knew Claire was off limits, Mitch pulled her closer as he showed the man the picture once again. “We’re looking for this man. Have you seen him? Or maybe he’s worked here in the past?” Mitch asked softly, trying to reassure the other man that there was no threat, while at the same time, wrapping his large, muscle bound arm around Claire’s waist and keeping her pinned up against the front of his body despite her subtle attempt to move away.
The host, who’s name tag identified him as James, swallowed painfully before looking at the picture, back up at Mitch, the picture, a quick glance at Claire and then back up at Mitch to see if he’d been caught, then back at the picture. “No. I’m sorry, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this man. I wish I could be more help,” he said, another glance at Claire, then Mitch once again.
Claire left the restaurant in a fit. “You did that on purpose, Mitch!” she said, stomping to her side of the car. Spinning around, she spun right into his chest, unaware that he’d moved up behind her.
“I didn’t touch her.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“You touched that other guy.”
“So?”
“So?” he asked, furious. “So…don’t touch other men, Claire!”
She waved that aside. “I touch people all the time.”
“You don’t touch me,” he countered, leaning in slightly, putting his hands on the roof of the Jaguar, trapping her body and pinning her in place with only his eyes.
She swallowed and leaned away. “That’s because…” she started to say it was because she wanted to touch him too much but that would be disloyal to Gary so she didn’t finish the sentence.
“That’s because you know that when we do touch, we are going to light the sheets on fire, right?” he said, all the anger gone from his voice, which had now become soft and husky, his eyes lighting up at the idea of touching her everywhere. “Soon Claire, there will be a time when we touch, and kiss and you’re going to scream with the pleasure of it.”
He pushed away from the car and opened her door, waiting until she slipped inside. Claire watched as he walked around the front and took the driver’s side, feeling both tingly and frustrated. She wasn’t sure why the frustration was rearing its ugly head but she wanted these sexual needs to diminish.
They visited four more Italian restaurants until they finally found someone who knew of Gary. Apparently he had been a waiter at the last one at some point in time but was no longer employed there. They got another lead though. The manager of that restaurant said he’d heard Gary had taken a job at a smaller, more exclusive restaurant further out the highway heading west.
Out in the parking lot, Claire hesitated. It was already dark and they were about an hour outside of the city. The drive to this next place would be at least another half hour’s drive which would make them pretty late getting back.
“Maybe we should check this one out tomorrow. Or better yet, I could look into it myself.”
“Get in the car, Claire. We’re getting to the bottom of this tonight.”
Claire bit her lip and wouldn’t get in. He stopped and looked at her. “Are you afraid that we’ll actually find this guy? And he turns out to be a waiter instead of some glorified private detective or espionage guru? What then, Claire?”
She hesitated. “I’m not interested in Gary because of his occupation. I’m interested in him because he’s kind and considerate.”