by Parker, Ali
“Have you decided what you’re going to wear yet?” Tiffany demanded, sounding like she had just asked me the most important question in the whole world.
I shook my head. “Last night, I went in my work clothes and he still asked me out again. Somehow, I don’t think anything I’d wear tomorrow could be as boring as this.”
I ran my hand up and down the black pants suit I was wearing. Obviously, it wasn’t the same outfit I was wearing the day before, but she got my point. She made her opinion known immediately. “There is no way I’m letting you meet him in the same clothes you wore for work.”
“I did last night.” I pointed out again.
Tiffany shrugged, then grabbed my wrist and dragged me towards the exit. “That’s because last night, I didn’t know about it. Today, I do. We’re finding you something proper to wear. Leave it to me. He’s not going to know what hit him.”
An hour later, Tiffany was on a mission at the mall closest to the hotel. All around us, shop assistants were carrying mannequins into their stores in preparation to close down for the night. We’d been dashing in and out of stores since we arrived, but we scanned through them so fast I was in a bit of a daze.
Tiffany frowned when we got to the doors of a shop she hoped we’d find a dress in. “Damn, it’s already closed.”
“Does this mean we can go home? I’m sure I can find something to wear at home.” It was late. The shops were closing down or already closed. We were going around in circles, not finding anything. “It’s a lost cause. We’re wasting our time.”
“It’s your fault,” she pouted, crossing her arms and staring longingly into the closed shop. “You should have told me about your date much earlier.”
“We were working earlier.”
She shrugged. “We could have left. This is much more important.”
“Finding me a dress for a date is more important than our jobs?” I lifted my eyebrow, shaking my head. “I’d rather have a job than a date. Plus, I already told you he’d be fine with whatever I was wearing.”
“Fine is not wowed. A guy like that, you want to wow him.”
I cocked my head. “Yeah? Why is that? Shouldn’t he be wowing me?”
“He should.” She nodded. “But it’s a two way street. He has to wow with the plans, you have to wow with the dress. It’s like an unwritten rule.”
“There’s a rule stating the girl only has to look pretty?” Sure, I knew people dressed up for dates, but this was getting ridiculous. “Let’s just admit defeat and go home. If there’s a next date, I’ll throw in a little extra make up to excuse wearing something I already owned to this one.”
“That’s not how it works.” She pouted some more, but then reluctantly followed me when I started for the exit.
We wound our way past the trash cans, fake plants and other last minute shoppers until we got back to Tiffany’s car. She paused as she was getting in. “We’re not giving up yet, you know.”
I nearly started crying in frustration. “Every place is closed Tiff, come on. Please, let’s just go.”
“We’re going all right, but you’re not going home. We’ll find something for you to wear at my place. I have some killer dresses.”
“Okay.” I groaned. Going to her house beat wandering around in malls. Besides, I wasn’t going to change her mind. I would be home and crawling into bed much earlier if I played along. And honestly, I really did want to look nice tomorrow, despite all my protests about finding something to wear.
I thought I looked good in the clothes I wore to work and happened to think the dress I wore to our first dinner was a knock out, but now Tiffany had the idea of wowing him stuck in my head. Nothing I owned was exactly ‘wow’ material.
Going through Tiffany’s closet would be a lot more fun after a long day than trudging around the mall. I hated malls anyway.
Traffic was light on the way to her apartment, a studio that always looked like the aftermath of a hurricane inside. I stepped over a scarf, surveying the bits and pieces she had covering almost every surface.
“Hurricane Tiffany was out in full force again this morning.”
She laughed, lifting her hands in front of her. “What can I say? I didn’t have time to clean up and I couldn’t find an outfit last night.”
Walking to her small kitchen, she looked at me over her shoulder. “Water? I have some wine in the fridge if you’d prefer that and maybe some coffee somewhere, but those are your choices.”
“Water is fine.” Tiffany slept at her apartment, but she hardly ever ate here and she practically lived on the streets. Being cooped up indoors at work all day, I knew she preferred to be outside the rest of the time. Even if she was just sipping coffee at a sidewalk cafe or chatting with the street vendors she walked past.
After filling two glasses of water, she led me to her bedroom. “Sit anywhere.”
I cleared a space on her bed and sat down, holding my glass in my lap with both hands. “Okay, do your worst.”
“You’re going to regret that.” She said gleefully, and started rifling through her closet. I would have thought it would be empty with the amount of clothes strewn everywhere, but it was still bursting at the seams.
Muttering under her breath, she yanked a blue dress out and draped it over her arm. “Voila! What do you think?”
I choked on my water when I realized the neck line dipped all the way to where my belly button would be. “No. Absolutely not. Hopefully, he’s not planning on taking me stripping on our date.”
She narrowed her eyes at the dress, thinking. “It’s not that revealing.”
“What?” I scoffed. “It only just covers the basics, and that’s if you don’t move too fast.”
She laughed, dropping the dress on the floor and stepping over it. “Fine, be a prude. For the record, that dress has gotten me laid more than once.”
“I’m not trying to get laid.” I pointed out. “I’m not sure he’s the right guy for that.”
“Pity,” she sighed. “Doesn’t mean I’m giving up on you yet. You like him enough to have agreed to a second date, so there must be something there.”
“He’s great,” I agreed. “Things are so easy with him, but I don’t know him that well. I just really hope he isn’t pretending to be someone he’s not.”
She nodded, pulling out another dress. This one was a deep red with a sweetheart neckline and a skirt flaring out from the waist. It was about knee-length. There was something almost whimsical about it, with the flowing material and lacy bodice.
“That is beautiful.” The words came out of their own accord, but they needed to be said. The dress deserved as much.
“Victory!” Tiffany smiled and handed it over. “That one will wow him for sure. Try it on.”
Standing up from the bed, I took the dress and ran my hands over the smooth fabric. “I agree. If this doesn’t wow him, it’s because he’s too used to being wowed by supermodels and socialites.”
“You’re overthinking this date,” she told me. “Stop worrying about who he might be used to dating or whether or not he’s the right guy to pop your cherry. He’s sweet, gorgeous and interested. Just have fun with him and see how it works out.”
I sighed, carrying the dress into her bathroom to try it on. She was right. Whatever happened, I was going to focus on nothing but enjoying myself. I was going to just have fun.
Chapter 13
Blake
Waiting for Aston in the lobby, my palms were slightly sweaty and my heart was beating too fast. It surprised me that I was nervous. I didn’t get nervous. Not anymore. I certainly hadn’t been nervous before a date since high school.
Still, I wasn’t even sure that this was a date. I kept telling myself that I was getting to know Aston because that’s what I’d promised Dad I would do. But deep inside, I knew asking her out again had nothing to do with my promise to my father.
I asked her out again because I wanted to spend more time with her, but I didn’t know what th
at meant. I was determined not to worry about it tonight. I was leaving it at two people who enjoyed spending time together.
Exactly at 7, Aston walked into the lobby. I’d thought my heart was beating fast before I saw her, but that was nothing compared to what happened when she finally appeared.
She was wearing a dress that seemed like it must have been designed to test the strength of my heart and the control I had over my dick. She was breathtaking. A vision.
The dress fit her like a glove, but in an effortless way. It didn‘t look like she was trying too hard the way many women did. She was sexy and beautiful, but with an understated elegance that was a cut above.
Her hair was loose and fell in waves to her waist. She wasn’t wearing so much make-up that she looked drastically different, but it was still more than I was used to seeing on her. Her eyes were done up to look smoky and her lips were painted to match the red dress.
I had never seen her looking anything like this. If she had been intentionally trying to give me a cardiac episode, she had damn near succeeded.
Smiling shyly, she walked up to me. “Right on time. You ready to go?”
I cleared my dry throat and commanded my cock to calm down. “Ready when you are. You look amazing, by the way.”
Red tinged her cheeks, and her eyes dropped to the ground momentarily before lifting back up to meet mine. “Thank you. So do you.”
Seeing her, I couldn’t even remember what I was wearing. I might as well have been naked. “Unless there was something specific you felt like doing or eating, I wanted to take you somewhere.”
“Let’s go. The last time we had dinner was my turn for a show and tell. It’s up to you now. I’m curious to see where you take me.”
“Nowhere you’ve already been—I hope.” I’d racked my brains to come up with somewhere new for a native Californian. I really hadn’t wanted to take her somewhere she’d been with other dates.
Aston’s eyebrows pushed together. “You think I wouldn’t have been there before? Born and bred around here, remember?”
I winked playfully. “I remember everything about you, but I would be very surprised if you know this place.” Actually, it was lucky I’d even remembered it.
Aston nodded, “If you say so, but now I’m really curious. Should we go?”
Without thinking about it, I reached for her hand and folded it in mine. Aston tensed and I nearly drew back, but then she laced her fingers between mine. My cock twitched at the feel of her soft skin against mine. Ignoring the hit of pure lust shooting like a drug through my system, I grinned. “Let’s go.”
The place I had in mind was walking distance from the hotel. That was how my mom found it years ago. She told us she went for a walk and stumbled onto it. I found out years later it was a walk she took after a massive fight with my father because he’d worked through the night again.
In his defense, it was two nights before the grand opening of the California property. Dad insisted on personally overseeing everything about our openings back then. Nowadays, he let me and Danny handle most of it, but he still kept close tabs.
First impressions last, he always said. To this day it was vitally important to him that those impressions be nothing short of incredible. I didn’t tell Aston any of this as we walked down the street. I knew I was going to have to tell her who I was soon, but I was still enjoying the anonymity.
Things would change between us as soon as she knew my last name. I wasn’t ready for that. I was enjoying my time with her too much.
“Penny for your thoughts?” She asked, nudging my shoulder with hers.
I gently squeezed her hand. “I was just thinking about my family.”
Just because I wasn’t ready to tell her who that family was didn’t mean I wanted to lie to her. She peered up at me. “Is everything okay with them? You looked a little sad there for a second.”
I grinned. “Everything’s fine. The place I’m taking you to reminds me of my mom. I used to go there with her all the time while we were here.”
“Do you still go there with her?” It was such an innocent question with such a damn complicated answer.
I shook my head. “No, not anymore.”
Stopping in front of the non-descript door, I gestured toward it. “Here we are.”
She looked at the door dubiously, then back at me. “What is this place?”
“Wait and see.” I reached for the handle and opened the door, motioning for her to precede me.
Stepping inside, Aston gasped quietly. Her head swiveled as she took in the interior. It was a hole in the wall Taco place with no sign out front. The owner told us years ago he didn’t advertise. He got by on word of mouth and apparently, getting by was enough for him.
The dining room was dark, with only old Moroccan style lamps providing dim light. A worn, red carpet was beneath our feet. The walls were dark wood paneling with rugs and Mexican paintings hanging from them.
An odd assortment of tables were scattered unevenly around the space. Like the décor, the tables were a mixture of whatever the owner’s wife found interesting. Some were round, some square and some rectangular.
There were antiques, plain looking chairs and tables and a few newer ones I didn’t remember from the last time I was here. There were only a few other diners. A few of them looked up when we entered, but almost immediately went back to their own conversations.
A young man wearing a baggy white button up shirt approached us. “Party of two?”
“Yes,” I told him. I hadn’t bothered to make a reservation. I knew there would be a table available for us. “Just the two of us.”
Aston beamed up at me. “I adore this place. It’s so cute. I can’t believe I didn’t even know it was here. You were right, I haven’t been here before.”
The waiter showed us to a small, round table near the only window in the place. “Please, have a seat. I’ll be right back to take your order for drinks.”
He placed two square menus down on the table, then left to fetch the complimentary plate of nachos they put on the table. “You like it?”
Aston nodded, her eyes darting around as she took it all in. “It’s adorable. I love it. How did you know it was here?”
“I told you, I used to come here with my mom.”
“So she told you about it?”
I nodded. “She found it one night while she was taking a walk. We never ate tacos anywhere else if we were in California.”
“Where is your mom now? Does she live around here?” It made sense that only someone who lived in the area would find a place like this, but my mom had been lucky enough to see people leaving when she walked past.
I wondered if that kind of luck was still on her side. “Honestly? I don’t know where she is. She could live around here, but I wouldn’t know. I haven’t seen her or spoken to her in years.”
Aston’s gaze broke away from mine. “I’m sorry, Blake. I shouldn’t have pried.”
“You didn’t pry,” I told her. “It was a perfectly reasonable question.”
There was sadness in her eyes when she brought them back to mine. “I suppose, but I’m still sorry. It must be shitty to be reminded of someone who abandoned you.”
I hadn’t told Aston about my mom abandoning us. There could have been a hundred other reasons why I hadn’t spoken to the woman for so long. It was uncanny how accurately Aston read the situation. It made me wonder if she was in a similar situation. “What about your parents? Do you talk to them often?”
She shrugged. “Not that often. We’re not close.”
It didn’t look like she wanted to keep talking about her parents either. I was curious about why, but I didn’t push it. I hadn’t exactly volunteered much detail, I couldn’t expect her to. Instead, I changed the topic.
“If you could eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?”
Her lips curled into a vaguely relieved smile before she pressed her lips together as she thought. “After toni
ght, I think I’m going to say tacos if they taste half as good as they smell.”
I laughed, breathing in a whiff of the spicy scented air. “Good answer, because they do taste as good as they smell.”
Any lingering awkwardness from the conversation we didn’t have about why we didn’t want to talk about our parents dissipated after that. We fell back into the easy rhythm of the other night and didn’t stop talking except to practically inhale our food when it came.
Aston completely relaxed was a sight I could get used to. Her eyes sparkled in the soft light and laughter was like music to my ears. She had an easygoing manner to her, and before I knew it, the waiter approached us with the check. “We’re going to be closing soon. I hope you enjoyed your dinner and that you’ll be back soon?”
“Absolutely,” Aston said. “You’ll be seeing a whole lot more of me. I’m definitely going to be making up for what I’ve been missing out on.”
The waiter broke out into a wide smile. “This is good news. You will tell your friends about us, yes?”
“Yes,” she agreed enthusiastically. “You’ll be seeing me again soon. Unfortunately, Blake doesn’t live around here. I’ll have to mail him some tacos once he’s gone.”
Gone. I didn’t even want to think about leaving her yet. “I’ll be around for another couple of days at least. I’m sure we’ll come back before I leave.”
Surprise flooded Aston’s features before she lit up with a smile. “We will?”
“We will,” I told her, handing my credit card over to the waiter. After I paid, Aston and I started walking back to the hotel. “Do you sleep in your office or can I give you a lift home?”
“Sometimes I do sleep in my office,” she admitted. “But I won’t tonight. Don’t worry about me, my car is parked in the staff lot.”
“It doesn’t feel right not to see you safely home.” I wanted to kiss her so badly it physically hurt. An added benefit of walking her to her door would be to see if she felt it too. Saying goodbye in a hotel lobby wouldn’t present the same kind of opportunity.