by Gabbi Wright
“That sounds great,” she replied. Good, no pressure. Maybe she could survive this.
As he pulled away, he added with a wink, “Besides, I need to come up with some creative things to have you try.”
CHAPTER 9 – ANTHONY
Anthony felt a little bad teasing her, but Brooke was so quick to blush, he found it kind of cute. She fidgeted with her fingers and stared out the side window, sometimes glancing at him out of the corner of her eyes, or straight ahead, but mainly out that window.
He wasn’t quite sure what to say to break the awkward silence, but she spoke first.
“Roads slick?”
“Not too bad,” he replied.
The snow was falling harder, turning lawns white, but the streets were just wet, as though after a rain. It might not stay that way for long though. It wasn’t supposed to get very warm. He hoped it didn’t affect his flight.
“I’m not much of a winter person, though,” he said, “If I had my way, I’d move the business south. Mike really enjoys it here, though. And of course, our families are close, so it’s a no win argument.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “It would kinda’ suck if you did. I would have to go back to waitressing, probably.”
He opened his mouth to make a comment about how she needed to work harder anyway, even with the business not leaving, but thought better of it. I’m not her boss today, just a friend. And what was he going to do, anyway, if he had to fire her in the near future? This date would make that difficult. This could very well turn out to be a bad idea.
Brooke caught the break in his train of thought and glanced at him quizzically. It was the first real look she’d given him since they’d left her parents’ house. Fortunately, she couldn’t read his mind. He hoped she couldn’t. That wouldn’t be good at all. Especially if she ever caught a glimpse of what thoughts her note had given him. Whoo, boy, she’d open the door and do a tuck and roll.
“I don’t mind the winter,” she said, “I like sitting next to a fire, drinking hot cocoa, watching the snow come down. I don’t like driving in it, though. And I’m thankful I don’t have to work outside in it.”
Definitely,” he replied, “I definitely mostly agree.”
“Mostly?”
“Yes, I don’t mind the snow either, but give me a warm sandy beach any day.”
“Not a lot of those here in Idaho.”
They left the suburban neighborhood behind and joined the heavy traffic as he headed downtown. The close proximity of traffic threw dirty droplets from the road slush across the window.
“So, are you hungry?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, nodding, “I was just about to have breakfast when you called.”
“well, I hope what I’ve got in mind is better than what you were having.”
“Depends.”
He drove downtown, drove a couple blocks until he found a parking spot and pulled over. “After talking with you on Friday, I did some research. There’s a vegan bistro nearby I thought we’d try.”
“I know exactly what you’re talking about.”
She climbed out the door and walked around the vehicle, meeting him as he glanced up and down the street.
He offered her his arm, briefly wondering if she might not take it. When she did, he couldn’t help smiling. She was very attractive, and her pink nose and cheeks made him want to warm her up.
I shouldn’t be thinking about warming her up at all, he mused, but when she smiled at him, he felt a bit of pride, having her on his arm.
“You’ll like this place,” she said, “It might be difficult for you to get meat and dairy out of your diet, but trust me, you won’t miss it.”
“Wait a sec, no dairy either?”
“Nope.”
“No cheese?”
“Not real cheese. But I can introduce you to some plant-based ones.”
He let out a deep breath. “Okay, I’m thinking it’s time for me to abuse my power with your note. I know another place nearby…”
“Not a chance. Don’t ruin the moment.”
He couldn’t argue with that, or at least he chose not to. He could sacrifice his taste buds for at least one meal. If he wanted her company, he wasn’t going to make her miserable.
As they walked the two blocks to the bistro, he realized how lonely and isolated he’d become. He really had shut himself away from Sheryl. He deserved her leaving. In the end, they hadn’t really known each other at all. It took having another lovely lady on his arm to make hi realize that.
Maybe it was time to start over…
Brooke knew right where they were going. She hadn’t said a word to him as they walked, but after the first block, she nuzzled against his arm like they were good friends, seeming to forget the boss and employee relationship.
He was thankful for that. He didn’t need the power dynamics of their work relationship ruining what could otherwise be a nice date.
The bistro was packed. They wiggled through the crowded room until they found a table just barely vacated. The server wiped it down while they looked over the menu.
“hi Brooke,” the server said, “How’ve you been? Did you have a good Christmas?”
She smiled warmly at Brooke as though they were old friends.
“Hey, Tasha. Yes, it was wonderful. Yours?”
Anthony smiled through their conversation as the server, despite being busy, made time for small talk with Brooke.
When the server slipped away, he watched as Brooke looked around the place, smiling at strangers. It was almost foreign to him.
Sheryl had been different. She had been an independent and firm woman. If she’d been sitting here, she would have instantly dismissed the room. She would have been blunt with the server. Sheryl measured her success against that of others.
Brooke saw the room as equals. As fellow human beings.
Maybe he needed to stop comparing Brooke to Sheryl.
“Is Tasha a friend of yours?” he asked.
“Sure, I guess. I don’t really know her, except from here. She’s usually here on Sundays.”
“And here I thought I was surprising you.”
Brooke laughed. “There’s not a lot of places to go out to eat when you’re vegan. You can’t even order a salad anywhere without getting eggs and cheese dumped into it. Boise’s got a lot of places I can comfortably eat, but not like what you get. The choices are still limited. This place is one of the best.”
“Well, at least I got that right.”
Breakfast wasn’t bad, and he even let his guard down and tried a breakfast sandwich with tofu. To his credit, he didn’t make any disgusted faces, and he didn’t die.
Through the meal, they made small talk. He learned that her family had moved to Boise when she had been just a baby, that she had a younger sister, and that her favorite color was red. She blushed and stared away from him when she mentioned that she still lived at home with her parents, but mainly because she was saving money, and had no reason not to, especially when it was so expensive to rent in Boise anymore.
As their meal ended, she asked, “What now?”
Her comfort during the breakfast slipped a little, as though she suddenly remembered the terms of her note.
A part of him thought about torturing her a bit, maybe making a few, mostly innocent demands. He wondered if she would play along.
Staring across the table at her, it surprised him that he’d never really noticed just how attractive he found her. He wanted to run his fingers through her golden hair. He wanted to feel the softness of those cheeks, and stare into those blue eyes without scaring her away.
It’s just lust, he told himself, but he was starting to wonder if there wasn’t something more.
CHAPTER 10 – BROOKE
Anthony drove around Boise, pulling over in a mostly empty parking lot. Though the city was as busy as ever, people weren’t really out enjoying the weather. It was probably too cold. The snow fell harder, turning the park into a winter
wonderland.
“What are we doing here?” she asked.
“C’mon,” he said. Before she could argue, he’d already exited.
As she stepped out into the snow, a chilly breeze ruffled her hair, and she pulled her stocking cap down tightly over her ears.
He gestured for her to follow.
“What, you want to go for a walk?”
“Yes,” he replied, “I thought we could walk along the Greenbelt for a while.
The Greenbelt was a river that ran through Boise, lined with trees and parks and whatnot, stretching for miles. Normally she would have loved to walk some of it, but not today.
“I wore the wrong shoes for a walk,” she said.
He glanced down at her tennis shoes already a bit more wet than she found comfortable.
“Shoot,” he murmured, “A walk is out then?”
Brooke reached down and grabbed a handful of snow, packing it into a ball. He watched her cautiously, which was unfortunate, because it barely clipped his shoulder when she threw it at him.
He immediately retaliated, quickly creating a snowball of his own and returning fire. Laughing, she ducked behind the far side of his car and prepared her assault.
“Oh, you’re in trouble now,” he laughed, lobbing a shot at her when she peeked out.
He was a better shot than her, and almost took her stocking cap off.
For the better part of fifteen minutes, the snow war played out with no real winner. They both got in a few good shots, her best and last shot being when she gave him a mouthful of snow.
“Okay, okay, you win,” he declared, “C’mon, let’s go get warm.”
She climbed in next to him and shivered.
“Your hands are frozen,” he said, “Here, let me warm them up.”
Her took her hands in his.
“Yours are as cold as mine,” she laughed.
“I’m afraid so. He brought her fingers to his mouth and breathed on them.
The silly gestured made her feel a little warm inside. His lips were so close to her fingertips she could reach out and touch them. And though his hands were cold, she found herself warming up rather quickly.
Anthony started the car.
“Where to now?” she asked.
“I’m going to make you some hot coca.”
“That sounds wonderful,” she replied.
But as he drove, her heart fluttered as she realized that he meant they were now heading to his house.
So far, he’d taken her out for breakfast and played in the snow. He hadn’t made any demands of her at all. Was he just getting her defenses down?
CHAPTER 11 – BROOKE
As he pulled into his driveway, Brooke tried to act casual, as though she was just visiting a friend. The Boise foothills provided a beautiful snow-covered backdrop to his two-story home. She didn’t really know this neighborhood, and though the place was still somewhat modest, it was a testament to his business success.
They entered the home through the garage, and into the kitchen.
“Make yourself at home,” he said.
She sat down as he grabbed the coca mix. He started to pull milk out of the fridge when she stopped him. “Can you make mine with hot water?”
He paused as he realized his mistake. “Of course. I keep forgetting. Isn’t it hard to be a vegan?”
“Not nearly as hard as you think it is,” she replied.
Brooke kicked her wet shoes off and tucked her wet socks into them. As he prepared the kettle, she glanced around, taking in his living choices. Though not quite minimalistic, he didn’t have a lot of things crammed into the house. He had, if anything, a lot of space. The things that caught her eye was the acoustic guitar leaning against the wall, and the spaced house plants adding a bit of color to the bright and roomy home. A fairly impressive bookshelf filled most of one wall, filled with a surprising amount of contemporary fiction, interspersed with a few horror and science fiction authors.
She felt something brush against her legs and looked down. A bright orange cat looked up at her and meowed.
“Who’s this?” she asked, reaching down.
“That’s Hobbes,” he replied, “My roommate. This place is actually his, but he tolerates me. As long as I feed him and scoop his undesirables, he lets me stay.”
“Well, isn’t that nice of you,” she said to the cat, picking him up. Hobbes purred loudly as she scratched his head.
“Hey now, you too don’t get too friendly. I don’t want him to replace me. I’m always nervous he’s going to find somebody better than me.”
The cat let out a meow as though he agreed.
“We could trade,” she replied, “I move in with the cat, and you move in with my parents.”
“Do they cook?”
She snorted. “Yes, and they give great advice on how to live your life.”
It was almost impossible to picture him as her bods. She watched him move around the kitchen with a comfortable familiarity, a man that was used to living alone. She wondered why. The house showed no signs of a woman’s presence. She supposed he could be gay, but she didn’t think so. The place didn’t show signs of any other companion.
“Take your coat off,” he said, “I don’t think we’re playing outside anymore.”
“Your first order,” she said, slipping off her coat. She started to drape it over a chair, but he came over and took it from her, and took it to the closet.
“I’m just testing the waters,” he replied, and his grin held a mischievousness that turned her cheeks red, “To see if you meant what you said.”
“If I’m anything I’m a woman of my word.” She didn’t quite manage the same smile as his.
Oh geez, don’t encourage him.
But she wanted to. Wasn’t this what she’d always dreamt of? Having him all to herself? No office separated them, he had no performance expectations from her, and he hadn’t even brought up work, really, at all.
A few minutes later, he led her to a couch by an electric fireplace and brought her the hot cocoa. She was happy to see he’d used water instead of milk in his drink as well. Anthony was trying to make her comfortable, and she appreciated that. He opened the curtains for them to watch the snow from the warmth of his living room, and then sat down beside her.
She’d never been so close to him before, certainly never this close at work. His leg bumped hers, innocently, nothing more than a brief touch.
Brooke took a sip of the coca and was suddenly very warm. Between the cocoa and the fire and the heavy sweater… she felt way too warm.
She found herself staring at him, staring into his soft and deep brown eyes. He held her gaze, but she couldn’t read his thoughts at all.
This was as bad at work. She looked away, suddenly unsure what to stare at, when all she wanted to do was sink into his eyes. She stared at the cocoa in her hands, then the fire, then out the window. The snow had slowed but showed no signs of melting. It looked so cold outside, increasing the coziness of his living room, of his presence.
She wondered what he intended. Would he push the boundaries of the note? She wanted him to, she realized. Maybe not anything to crazy. If he didn’t, did that mean he wasn’t attracted to her?
She shouldn’t ask about the note. It would only encourage him. But her mouth had a mind of its own.
“What’s your next order?” she asked.
“well,” he said pausing in thought, “It certainly does open up a lot of possibilities. I mean, the sky’s the limit, right?”
She gulped. He noticed and smiled.
“I mean,” he continued, “I haven’t vacuumed this week. The house really needs a deep cleaning.”
Oh boy. That was entirely the kind of thing she’d meant, but around the office, doing jobs. Thanks to Dina, however, that kind of thought had been quickly replaced with… other ideas.
His grin was bigger as hers disappeared.
“But that doesn’t sound like fun, does it? It ruins the pleasure of yo
ur company. Want to do dishes together?”
“Umm, okay?”
“No, can’t do that. Other than these mugs, the dishes are all caught up.”
She brought the coca to her lips to distract herself. He was toying with her.
“Or I could have you dance for me.”
She coughed, spitting out hot cocoa down her sweater, and sloshing the mug on her lap.
“Oh, god, I’m so sorry,” Brooke said around a coughing fit, “that joke caught me off guard.”
“I don’t joke,” he replied, “I don’t even have a sense of humor. I could never afford one. Come on, let’s get you a change of clothes.”
“No,” she argued, “I just need to wipe it up, it’s not that bad.”
But it was that bad.
“It looks like you wet your pants,” he stated.
She looked down. It certainly did. She’d sloshed the hot coca over her crotch. Fortunately, the heat faded before it made skin contact.
“Umm, okay, but I don’t think your clothes will fit me.”
“I have a robe. Now you’re stuck here while I do laundry. C’mon.”
He took her now half-full mug and set it down on a side table. She glanced down, happy to see she hadn’t spilled anything on his couch. Lucky her for catching it all. On her clothing. That he was insisting she strip out of.
Now everything was taking the Dina turn. But was it for better or worse?
Anthony was being very cautious about his word choices and plans for her, aside from the dancing, of course.
Anthony led her down the hall to his bedroom, and her cheeks grew even hotter.
What have I gotten myself into?
His room was almost as minimalist and clean as the living room, except he’d not made his bed. A smaller bookshelf than the one in his living room held a collection of business and success books… obviously his light reading before bed. Scattered amongst them were a few popular authors, such as King and Grisham, but not many. This was the serious reading room, apparently.
Just like the rest of the house, she didn’t see any signs of any companionship.