“More wine?”

I stared at him from across the linen-covered table, with just a candle and two glasses between us. My subtle grin set his signal to the server in motion, our eyes never leaving the other.

“Will I be the first to learn of your great secret?” I asked, slipping my hand into his by the burning flame. He squeezed gently, then stroked the back of my hand with his thumb.

“Ah, that.” And I thought you were different from the others.”

We both laughed as the server, a tall woman dressed in blacks and whites, poured the Cabernet. If either of us had the ability to turn our eyes to her, we would have noticed the grin she shared with us.

“The truth is, my story is unbelievable. I’m unbelievable. If I were a fiction character in some story, the reader would drop the book in disgust and label me as a DNR on Goodreads.”

“DNF.”

“Of course,” he said, as we clinked glasses and drank. “Nearly the same thing, wouldn’t you say?”

We were enjoying our third glass of wine, and I could feel the blush begin as my inhibitions diminished.

“Well, here’s something you don’t know about me.”

He raised his right brow and encouraged me to continue.

How could I not?

“Unlike most - all? - of my friends, I don’t have a TBR shelf, or a DNF hate list of books I found unbelievable. I am loyal to the end, a keeper of secrets, a believer in the unbelievable. Tell me the secret to your wealth, and I am yours forever.”

He finished his wine, put down his glass, and took my other hand. His eyes were unblinking, his stare turned my blush to the cover of our wine.

“If what you say is true, then you will learn the secret of my fortune by night’s end, and I will be as committed to you as you are to me.”

He leaned in, raised my hand, and kissed it gently.

“But if you are lying to me,” he said, finding my eyes as I remained speechless, “you will be dead before midnight.”