Act of Surrender: An Immortal Ops World Novel (PSI-Ops / Immortal Ops Book 2) by Mandy M. Roth

Stew’s Diner .”
    “If you don’t show, I’ll assume you’re a statistic,” reminded Harmony before she practically shoved Laney into the bathroom. “And no one wants to be a statistic.

Chapter Seven

    James stood outside the small, neighborhood coffee shop. It was lit to a point one could see all the customers within through the windows this time of night. Most customers were on varying electronic devices, paying little mind to one another. He couldn’t help but reflect on how much the world had changed since he’d been alive. There used to be people having conversations with one another in person.
    Not anymore.
    Everyone had their noses in something that plugged in.
    He leaned against a lamppost, his leg throbbing from the burn of standing so long. Nervous he’d somehow miss out on meeting Laney face-to-face, he’d arrived nearly an hour early. He’d showered, shaved and changed at work in the bathroom off his office, installed in the event James pulled an all-nighter, which he’d been known to do a lot in the past and old habits did indeed die-hard.
    A group of women approached. They were walking so close together he wondered how they didn’t trip over one another. A stacked blonde left the group and stepped in his direction. She had full lips and actually made a kissy face at him, batting her long lashes. “What are you doing out here all alone?”
    James put his hands in his pockets and took a small step away from her. She wasn’t Laney. He knew by her voice and his gut instincts that this was not the woman he was meeting tonight.
    The woman who blew him the kiss wasn’t bad on the eyes at all. Some would say she was hot. And she was what he normally went for, but the shiny had worn off what he used to want. All he wanted now was for his little hacker to arrive. He didn’t care what she looked like.
    “Waiting for my date,” he said with a slight incline of his head.
    “She stand you up?” asked the woman, her friends forming a half circle behind her, looking a lot like a posse in Prada.
    James grinned. “No. I got here an hour early. I didn’t want her to think I was standing her up.”  
    The woman eyed him and then shook her head. “You’ve got it bad for her, huh?”
    “I think so,” he said. He knew he had it bad . Admitting it was half the battle.
    Her friends laughed and she waved a hand in the air. “Any man who arrives an hour early for a date has it bad for the girl.”
    James knew she was right. He merely shrugged, giving a sheepish grin. It was against his manly code to offer anything more. That was enough. It said what he wouldn’t.
    The woman winked as if she fully understood where he was coming from. “Good luck. I hope she’s worth it.”
    “She is,” he said with conviction.
    The women walked away and James began to obsess about his appearance once more. He wasn’t even sure what to wear on a date, he’d not been on one in so long. Boomer had gone with him a week after his return to work to replenish his wardrobe. James had decided to keep a portion of it at the office. He spent most of his time there rather than his home—a place that had been handed to him along with his position. He had enough money to buy his own place. PSI paid ridiculously well. So much so that he could have stopped working centuries ago.
    When he had more time, he’d get some more relaxed articles of clothing. Currently he only owned two pairs of jeans and two t-shirts, not counting the Team Edward one he’d grabbed to shut Boomer up. Though, he’d left the shirt on his desk.
    James had decided on black dress pants, black boots because he felt comfortable in them, and a blue, silk dress shirt. Duke had tried to talk him into jeans. He’d refused. Now he wasn’t sure he’d made the right choice. He continued to fidget with his shirt, wondering if he should have gone with a t-shirt and jeans, if this get-up was too much for coffee.  
    James took out his phone and texted the number Laney