"Thank you again for the wonderful lunch," Dakota said. The car door stood open behind him as he said his goodbyes to Marianna. The restaurant he'd seen her dutifully preparing to establish stood behind her. There was something about it that bugged him but he couldn't place what it was exactly.

The surrounding neighborhood was perfect, ready for the new influx of business the restaurant would bring. After hearing her sing its praises he was even excited to give it a try. Though, he felt she could talk him into anything if she showed the same passion for it that she had for the restaurant.

Marianna dug her toes at the ground. The tip of her shoe knocked a pebble loose and she watched it bounce away. "It was sort of fun, you're not bad company," she admitted.

"Does that mean you might be rethinking dinner?" The question had been at the tip of his tongue all day but he'd been so worried about scaring her off. It'd been too long since he'd had to woo a woman. Liz hadn't been easy to win over by any means, but she was much more vocal about what she wanted.

At least she was until what she wanted was someone else.

"Actually, I am," she mumbled. A burst of pink colored her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. Marianna finally lifted her head and looked him directly in the eyes. The light hit her eyelashes and cast her eyes in half shadow. "If it wouldn't be too much, you could meet me back here tonight."

Dakota bit his inner cheek to keep his excitement in check. Shouting would definitely scare her off. "I can call and make a reservation when I get to the office." He offered.

"That would be perfect," she said. Her hand awkwardly shot forward as if to shake his. After a moment she reconsidered and dropped it back to her side. "Is this a high five situation or do we hug or something?"

"Either is fine," Dakota chuckled. He gladly slapped his palm to hers. A hug would have been his preference but her hesitation was too adorable to ignore. He watched her run inside after waving to an approaching car. The urge to stay and see who had caused her so much heartache was strong. He knew if he saw him though he'd berate him, or worse, begin comparing himself to what she'd longed for for so long.

The office was calm as usual. Some days he wondered why he came in at all. His team knew the ins and outs well enough to function without him. The only real thing they ever seemed to need him for was signing off on acquisitions. That was all fine with him just then as it gave him ample time to scout out the perfect restaurant.

Hours later he'd caught up on his paperwork and scheduled the usual meetings. A stack of papers hit his desk and he looked up to see Marlene looking down at him smugly. "I found an in."

Dakota raised an eyebrow and nudged the first sheet of paper off the stack with his finger. It slid off and his eyes widened when he saw Liz's new last name stamped across the top. "What did you find?"

"They have two more inspections before the building is officially theirs. I was able to delay the closest one and get the realtor to consider a better option," Marlene explained, sounding smug. "If you can put in a good enough bid I think you can buy the building outright. Even if you don't, the delay in profits could make the bank reconsider their loan."

"They barely have the funds for it as it is," Dakota said gleefully. In her desperate bid to get his help, Liz had emailed him often. Some of them were about as informative as the blabbering in blog posts before the recipes. The attempts to guilt trip were consistently narcissistic and pitiable and he looked forward to posting them online for the world to see. That was for later.

The smaller bit of her emails contained her financial woes. She hadn't gone into great detail but it was enough to give him a clear view of how little they'd planned. Losing the loan wouldn't bankrupt them but it would essentially ruin any of their plans. It would be good to humble Liz a bit.

"Make a good bid, shake them up a bit," Dakota told Marlene. He scooped up his jacket after checking the time.

"Leaving the hard work to me while you run off for a bit of fun? How am I not surprised?" she joked.

"I know I can count on you," he said. She let him go with a few more teasing jabs about hot dates. The sun was low in the sky when he pulled up in front of the soon-to-be restaurant and called Marianna to let her know he was there. She apologized about a small delay and he settled back to wait.

A man stepped out with Mariana and stopped her before she could just leave. He knew this must be the friend she was helping. The same one who was clearly using her. Dakota sat up straight when he saw his face. Brown hair was common enough and he could have convinced himself it was any other man.

The glasses brought it home. Dakota could still remember lifting them from the bedside table and wondering when his wife had gotten such thick glasses. He'd come home early from a trip and found his wife curled up in bed with the shower running. It didn't take a genius to figure things out from there.

Now, staring at Liz's new fiancé with his hands on Marianna's shoulders, Dakota felt his blood boil. He wanted to rip him off her and take her away. They'd spent so long talking about how despicable he was, she would understand.

A thought popped into his head before he could stop it. Marianna, even if she had been drunk when she admitted it, hated that man's guts. She would be happy to see him suffer after everything he'd done to both of them. At first she would be resistant. Marianna was too kind a person to directly ruin someone's life without hesitating.

Dakota would only need her to talk about the insider knowledge she had tucked away in her binder and brain. There wasn't time to slowly ease her into the idea. Every second wasted was another he could use to sway her back to him.

The passenger door opened and Marianna slipped inside wearing very different clothes from what she'd been wearing that morning. The tight jeans and loose green sweater still smelled like a department store.

"Did you go shopping for our date?" Dakota asked teasingly. His pulse wavered as he looked her over. He hadn't expected her to dress up for him but here she was. At least, he hoped it was for him. That prick had been around her most of the day. Had he gone with her to choose the outfit?

Mariana fanned her cheeks and shrugged. "I wasn't expecting to go on a date while I was here. I only brought one good outfit with me," she explained. The car rolled forward as he joined the growing rush of traffic. It didn't take long for Marianna to relax enough to begin regaling Dakota with her day, especially the ins and outs of Sawyer's blundering attempts to mend their relationship.

The occasional well-time question kept her talking well through dinner. It wasn't until they were sitting back with hot cups of coffee in front of them that she fully paused to let him speak. "I wish I could say my day was as eventful as yours, but it was just catching up on paperwork." Dakota ran his thumb over the edge of his cup.

"I wouldn't have minded some quiet paperwork if it meant escaping Sawyer's awkward tiptoeing around me all day. I've already signed the contract and I'm a professional who wouldn't drop him as a client just because my feelings were hurt," she said, the rant beginning to creep back to the forefront of her mind. "Not to mention he's been so stressed because the realtor is asking for additional paperwork and compensation."

At this, Dakota raised an eyebrow. He had to take a sip of his drink to hide his excitement. He'd only just begun applying pressure to the man and he was already squirming. All he needed now was a solid reason to take the property and a way to keep Marianna oblivious to his plans. "I'm sure everything will turn out just fine, don't stress yourself about it," he said softly. Her grateful smile made his heart clench uncomfortably.