In The Safety Of A Lie - COMPLETED!

Chapter 7

The week had gone by slowly for Evelina. She had hoped that Joey would make another surprise visit to the café, but to her dismay that never happened.

With a bit of bribery, she was able to patch things up with Nakita. It was harder than she'd imagined. Joey hadn't been kidding when he had said Nakita was the most stubborn person he had met.

For nearly two days, Nakita had been more than quiet and had avoided any conversation with her. It had been brutal. They never not talked. Silence was not golden at that moment. She had finally bribed her with some ice cream and was able to ask for forgiveness. Thankfully, their lives were pretty much back to normal. Perhaps that's why Joey had been giving her some space.

Ev thought about all of this as she drove to the restaurant where she had first met Joey. Why ruin a good thing, after all, if that same place was available to recreate the enjoyment they had already created? She thought about what they would talk about and what she thought he'd say. He had told her a bit about his parents, but he had never mentioned anything about siblings. Evelina figured that she should ask him about them and, maybe, a bit more about his job. Being a senator's bodyguard was an important job, not to mention, impressive. She understood that he couldn't probably talk a lot about it, but filling her in a little bit more about what he did would be nice. At the very least, it had to be an interesting conversation.

With careful precision, she parked her car and headed over to the restaurant. She wore a shorter dress that went just above her knees. It had an aqua blue flower pattern scattered around a black base. She pulled up at the spaghetti straps, realizing that the dress revealed a little bit more than she had anticipated. It was such a silky, soft material that it didn't really stay in the places that she would have preferred. She quickly pulled her hair up into a messy bun on top of her head as she got out of the vehicle.

As she neared the restaurant entrance, she noticed Joey out front waiting for her. When he saw her a big smile lit up his face. She couldn't help but return the smile. "I'm not late this time." Her eyes twinkled at her self-observation.

"And not trying to go out with a different man." He laughed, closing the distance between them.

Ev wrinkled up her nose and lightly punched his arm. "That wasn't my fault."

"This is true." He agreed and extended out his arm for her to grab. "You look beautiful."

Ev felt her face grow slightly red. "Thank you." She eyed up his casual suit outfit and smiled. "You're looking quite nice yourself."

"Not as stunning as you, my dear." He tried to outwit her remarks and keep the focus on her. It was safer that way.

"Stop it." She laughed, lightly tapping his shoulder.

He smiled at her joyfulness. "I have a table already reserved for us."

"Wow! How early did you get here?" She eyed him up, clearly impressed.

"Actually not much earlier then you. I called ahead." He winked at her.

"Well, that was smart thinking." She complimented him, stealing a glance up at him. A smile teased the edges of his lips, but didn't quite turn into one.

"It comes with the territory of being a gentleman." Joey reminded her, looking pointblank at her yet still not allowing a full smile to grace his face.

"Oh, is that where it came from?" Evelina's brows shot up, mocking him. "I didn't know that!"

"Make fun of me if it pleases you, but I inform you that it is very true." He said seriously, but his relaxed facial muscles painted a different story.