“Yes, I heard she set up Hutch with the daughter of a family friend,” Nina allowed. “They’re getting married, so Charlotte’s on a high.”
“Hutch? The young guy who hooks up with women in closets and plays video games for a living?” JT whistled. “No wonder Michael was in a bad mood. I think he’s starting to feel like a wallflower. I keep telling him no one is calling him a spinster behind his back.”
“No, you say it to his front,” Nina accused. “He’s sensitive about it, you jerk. And I did hear Charlotte mention she had recently met a few single men she thought would make lovely partners. You were probably right to run.”
Charlotte tended to set up people she knew, and she mostly knew people who worked at McKay-Taggart or the investigative company run by Adam Miles and Jake Dean.
The last thing she wanted was to date anyone connected to her work. Not again. And definitely not anyone who lived in the lofty world of Dallas’s elite. She’d tried, and it hadn’t been a good place for her. She hadn’t fit in there, and she didn’t want to.
“I’m sorry about missing the party. I got caught up in talking to him. He’s a professor and he knows all this interesting stuff,” she admitted.
“And he’s cute,” Nina prompted. “Did he ask you out?”
She felt a smile slide over her face. “He might have.”
Maybe she wouldn’t volunteer for an out-of-town assignment right away. She’d been out of the country for weeks, and her boss liked to spread those assignments out. Wade Rycroft ran the bodyguard unit, and if she asked to work in Dallas for a couple of months, he would likely honor her request.
It would be good to be home. She could spend some time with her mom, finally get around to decorating her apartment. All the boxes were unpacked, but the place still didn’t feel like home.
She could explore this thing with Professor Hottie.
He’d gotten hotter over the course of the night. He had a real Superman thing going. He seemed blandly handsome until he smiled and talked about things he was passionate about, and then he was flat-out sexy as hell.
And it was nice that his mom worked at Top. Tessa wondered if she was a server or one of the cooks. If she’d been the one to make that burger, then kudos to David’s mom because it had been excellent.
It had been better because he’d shared it with her.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so glowy,” Nina said with a smile. “I’m glad you came because I’m happy you met someone.”
“Well, I mean it was just a couple of hours in a bar.” She felt the need to tap the brakes a bit. At least with her friends. Nina had already seen one of her relationships fizzle and die.
“Did you say he’s a professor?” JT asked as he sped up to get on the freeway that would take her to her one-bedroom apartment.
It was in a nice part of town, but it was bland and colorless. She would bet the professor’s place was full of books. “Yes. He teaches history at UTD. David Hawthorne.”
Nina snapped her fingers. “I thought he looked vaguely familiar. Isn’t he a Taggart?”
“No. His last name is Hawthorne.” And her brain finally made the connection it should have hours and hours before. It wasn’t like Hawthorne was a common last name. She felt dumb she hadn’t put it together, especially since Kyle had been working the party. “He’s Kyle’s brother, and Kyle is Sean Taggart’s stepson. Kyle Hawthorne joined my unit a couple of months ago, but I haven’t worked with him. I’ve been out of the country most of the time since he hired on.”
“I’d heard he was back from his stint in the Navy,” JT said. “I’ve never met his brother though. So the two of you got along?”
David’s mom didn’t work in the kitchen. His mom owned the kitchen and the building, and at least four other restaurants in the DFW area, not to mention the fact that his stepdad regularly showed up on national cooking shows. And he had a connection to the big boss at McKay-Taggart.
JT had asked a question, and if she didn’t reply they would know something was wrong. “He seemed nice. Like I said, he knew my mom.”
“So you’re going to go out with him,” Nina prompted.
“I don’t know.” He hadn’t mentioned that his stepdad owned the place. That seemed odd. He definitely hadn’t mentioned his brother worked for McKay-Taggart. Kyle had been in the restaurant, and David had merely mentioned him in passing. “I’ve got a heavy workload for the next month or so. I’ll have to see if I have the time.”
The car went quiet, and she wished she’d grabbed a cab instead.
“Darling, he’s not really a Taggart, you know,” Nina began. “He’s a professor. I don’t think he runs in those circles if that’s what you’re afraid of.”
“I’m not afraid of anything.” It explained the Mustang. Even a shell of that car would be expensive. The full restoration would yield a car that was worth a small house. “It was a nice night, that’s all.”
The fact that he hadn’t mentioned his stepfather bugged her. Why was he trying to hide the connection? Had he known exactly who she was? Not that she thought he was targeting her for something. Why would he? But also, why wouldn’t he have mentioned that he was in a place his family owned?
JT started talking about something the kids had done and Tess sat back, all of the sparkle of the evening washed away. She knew it shouldn’t matter who the man’s family was, but it did. It mattered that he hadn’t mentioned them. It mattered that she worked with his brother.
It mattered that he lived in a world she didn’t belong in.
She was quiet the rest of the drive.
* * * *
David turned back to the bar. He’d watched Tessa until she’d disappeared from sight.
He would text her in the morning to thank her for tonight and ask if she had any time this weekend. He wanted to get at least one date in before he had to leave for South America. It wasn’t a long trip, but he also didn’t want a couple of weeks to go by without seeing her. He wasn’t going to be that asshole who went by some rule that it wasn’t masculine to contact a woman unless he’d left her hanging for a couple of days.
“Hey, bro. I’m surprised you’re still here.” Kyle strode behind the bar and picked up two longnecks. He was dressed in a suit, though he’d obviously shed the tie at some point in the evening. He nodded Leslie’s way. “I’m taking one of them to Chef, and this one is my tax for grabbing it for him. You got my mom’s wine? She’s had a day.”
The only time Kyle would call their stepdad Chef was here at Top, but then Sean tended to go into “chef” mode the minute he stepped inside the doors. It was like “general” mode except with food.
Leslie passed him a big glass of Cab. “Always. Let Grace know we’ve got it all handled tonight. She should put her feet up and relax.”
Kyle chuckled as he grabbed a tray and placed all three drinks on it. “I doubt she’ll do that, but I appreciate it.” He turned back to David. “You want to join us? I’ve been told there are plenty of leftovers. They’re doing family dinner, but I think Sean’s setting up a private room for us. I think they want to talk.”