by Ellie Danes
I cringed. I hated that question. “I have a love-hate relationship with it,” I answered, before bringing my glass of water to my lips.
“That means what, exactly?” His brows were set, determined even, and his look was almost intimidating.
“I can tell you’re used to getting what you want,” I said with a grin. “New York is fine. It’s just time for a change.” I wanted to leave it at that, no matter how much fun I was having at the cat and mouse game he’d started. I could tell he understood, because immediately, he changed the subject.
“So those pork tostadas on the menu,” he said. “Now that I can actually think about food and not about how pretty you look. You know, since you’ve already ruined it multiple times, I can’t help but wish that we’d gotten them.”
I hated to admit, as soon as he’d said the word ‘tostada,’ I instantly got hungry again. “Oh, god,” I moaned. “I love tostadas.”
“Not as much as I do,” he said. “It’s too bad we’ve already eaten so much.”
“I don’t know, I’m a fat kid at heart,” I said. “I love tostadas.”
“Little lady, I could eat fifty of them before you were even able to delicately wipe your mouth from the first bite.”
I gasped melodramatically, my mouth opening as wide as I could muster. I smacked my hands down onto the table and leaned forward.
“Doubtful!” I said as he continued to smirk what seemed to be his signature cocky smirk.
He waved his hand in the air, and as soon as he did, the waitress appeared. I was almost impressed.
“Bring us an order of pork tostadas, please,” he said.
“Coming right up,” the waitress said, grinning. I had to wonder if people were listening in on our ridiculous conversation, and if they were as intrigued by it as I was. I’d never been challenged like this before, and I wasn’t exactly sure I’d challenged anyone like this before, either.
He was fun. There was absolutely no denying it. So much fun, in fact, that I hadn’t known any time at all had passed since placing the appetizer order.
“First one to the center wins!” he said as soon as the waitress put the food on the table.
I should have cared how we were behaving in such a nice restaurant. I should have cared about my manners, and getting kicked out. But I didn’t. And it wasn’t as if I was unmerited in it — because it seemed that all the waitress, waiters, and even the manager were looking at us, grinning from ear to ear, clearly interested in our little game.
“Bring it on!” I chuckled, not even waiting before I grabbed one of the gorgeous — and delicious looking — pork tostadas.
He slapped my hand away, quickly and playfully, so that he could grab his first, but that didn’t matter. I was used to eating food quickly. I had to. I was always on the go. I was a master at it at this point.
So it wasn’t a surprise when I reached the center before he did. At least, it wasn’t a surprise to me. To him, though, that was a different story.
“You cheated!” he laughed, his mouth still full.
“I did no such thing!” I said, trying to keep my voice down, after realizing how much noise we must have been making. I didn’t exactly want to get thrown out. I was having too much fun.
"Excuse me for being talented.” I cleared my throat and sat up straight, trying to gain my composure again. But it was too late to put on the whole lady-like costume that I usually donned on a first date.
“Talented at shoving this big delicious thing in your mouth…that’s a good talent,” he quipped.
“Can’t forget the chewing them up part. Chewing, and chewing and chewing.” I knew where his mind was going, and I wanted to knock him down a few pegs. Not only was it fun, but it was necessary.
“Wow, you took a friendly competition and made it dark!” he said, holding both of his hands up with his palms facing me as if he was trying to move away. “I was just trying to be friendly, not scarred for life!”
“Now, now,” I began, my brow cocking upwards. “Let’s not be dramatic.”
I could tell by his grin that he loved the game just as much as I was. “I can’t help that you’re a cheater, and a sore winner,” he grumbled.
“Sore winner maybe, but not a cheater.” I laughed. “But you’re not so innocent yourself, you know?”
His eyebrows rose as he looked at me. “Oh?”
“You totally smacked my hand at the beginning. That’s assault.” I grinned.
“Self-defense,” he said.
I threw my hands up, defeated. He had an answer and comment for everything. There was almost no winning with this man. “Sure, sure,” I said. “If you feel like you have to defend yourself against little-old-me, then fine, I’ll let you have it.”
His mouth fell open in an amused sort of shock. “Holy shit, you actually just turned the tables by jabbing me right in the ego.” He reached for his chest, and gripped right over his heart and groaned slightly. “I mean, ouch.”
I laughed at his huge production.
He continued, “First I thought you were getting flustered by me, but turns out, you are totally against me!”
“Flustered!” I said with a laugh. “Flustered? Ha!”
“By all means, keep jabbing me!”
We both couldn’t stop laughing.
“You should be flattered!” he said.
“Oh?” I crossed my arms in front of me. “How so?”
I really, really wanted to hear this.
“Well, I mean, you know the old saying, ‘if a boy teases you, it means he likes you’,” he said as he reached over and poked my hand.
“Well, damn, I guess I didn’t realize that I was supposed to be smitten with every man who picked on me,” I joked. “I guess next time someone with a swinging appendage between their legs hits me, I’ll remember that I’m supposed to feel flattered by it.”
My eyes narrowed into a joking sort of anger.
He couldn’t help but snicker in return. “Woo… no, no,” he said. “You misunderstand me. Only when I do it, is it appropriate.”
“Oh, I see.” I laughed, my eyes falling on his smile. It was perfect. It revealed stark white teeth, and even the way his cheeks dimpled around his mouth when he smiled was the cutest thing I had ever seen.
I placed my head in my hand and leaned on the table. I was totally consumed by him and everything he had to say. I really liked this guy. It scared me how much I liked him.
Just as he was about to speak again, a ringing sound blared from his suit’s inside pocket. His eyes widened, and he stiffened, clearly realizing that it was his phone.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, just before reaching into his jacket. “I have to keep my phone on at all times for work.”
He really did seem apologetic. Adorably so.
“You’re fine,” I said with a smile. “Go ahead.”
He smiled gratefully before he scooted his chair back and whispered to me, “I’ll be right back.”
His eyes were still regretful when he pulled his phone to his ear and stood. His back hunched over, and he moved quickly away from the table and toward the hostess stand. His head was down, and he was nodding quickly over and over again. I giggled. He was an animated talker. I had noticed that days ago. He always told stories with tons of hand gestures, and he spoke with clear facial expressions. It was cute. And it actually helped him, I thought. It took away from his intimidating I-need-coffee look.
Ian was the most gorgeous man I had ever laid eyes on. And if that wasn’t intimidating enough, his stature and the way he carried himself was a lot like a man who wielded a fair amount of power. It was confident beyond anything that I had ever seen before, and I knew confident men.
It was sort of the way that my dad carried himself — but only with a little more oomph. Ian was younger. Being a young gun fighting his way to the top of what clearly was a demanding company was probably a lot harder than being a seasoned business owner. He probably had a lot to prove. At least, that’s
what it seemed like to me.
I tried to look away from him. I tried to not be rude by staring at him, but I couldn’t help it. The way he moved, the way he spoke with power and energy — it did so much more than just intrigue me.
I had no idea what he was saying or what he was talking about, but he was talking quickly and as if he was aggravated. I wasn’t sure if something was wrong, or if he was just trying to get back to me and our date.
Either way, though, he didn’t look happy.
He had either gotten bad news, or the VP was riding him once again. But whatever it was, it would probably be enough to cut our date a little short.
I was surprised we had gotten as much time as we had before a crazy emergency call. I wasn’t sure how busy or how big his company was, but I knew how busy certain levels of business could be. My dad was always on the phone, on a Skype call, or at the office. There was hardly ever any downtime.
I sighed. Lately, the only downtime my dad had was spent bitching about me and my life choices.
But that didn’t matter. Not right now. The only thing that mattered at the moment was Ian.
I watched as he ended his call and tucked the phone back into his jacket pocket before turning on his heel toward me. His pace was quick, and his focus was on me. But he didn’t have the face of a man who was on the date. Instead, it had been replaced with the face of a man who had to break some sort of news to me, and I knew before he even reached me that my instinct was right.
The date was about to end.
No matter how much I really didn’t want it to.
When he reached his chair and pulled it out to sit, I took in all the details of his appearance, memorizing them to keep my imagination company for the rest of my now-lonely Saturday. His tie was loosened, and the top button of his crisp white shirt was undone. His sandy blond hair even seemed messier than it had when he’d accepted the call. I would have wondered why if he hadn’t nervously combed his fingers through it as he sat back down.
“I’m so sorry about that,” he said, smoothing his hand back through his hair to fix it.
“You’re absolutely fine,” I said with a giggle. And with double-meaning. His hair was cute when it was messy. He didn’t have to fix it.
He gave me a wry smile. “Thanks.”
“So, your work seems a little…” I trailed off for effect. “Stressful.”
I still wondered what he did for a living. We hadn’t gotten that far yet.
He blew out a huff of breath and rolled his eyes dramatically. “I’m probably going to have a stroke before my next birthday.” He chuckled and reached for the large water goblet and brought it to his lips. I watched, almost mesmerized, as his lips pursed and he took a sip of water. I wondered what those lips felt like, what they tasted like…
He pulled the glass away and looked at me curiously. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” I could feel the heat of a blush coating my cheeks. Damn my fair skin—my blushes were epic.
His tone was light, and I could tell that he was trying to get the conversation back into a carefree zone. But there was something in his eyes that made me think that his mind was somewhere else — somewhere a little more serious.
In fact, as polite as he was trying to be, he seemed preoccupied. He wasn’t the smooth talking, light-hearted man that I had just been conversing with. We were on a lunch date, but I couldn’t fault him. I had known from the very beginning that Ian was a businessman. I knew better than anyone what that meant. Every man in my family was built exactly the same way.
Big business was more than just a nine to five. It was more than a clock in, sit at a desk, clock out sort of thing.
I understood the passion, and I understood the commitment.
I understood it all.
I wondered when he was going to excuse himself as I looked at him curiously. He had nervously been sipping from his water glass, and I could tell that he was trying to either find the courage or the words to tell me he had to take off.
“What’s on your mind?” I finally asked. I wasn’t a sadist, so I wasn’t going to make him stew in his own regret.
He sighed and looked down at the tablecloth.
“I really don’t want to do this,” he started, apologetically.
“But you have to go?” I asked in an all-knowing sort of tone and smiled. I knew exactly what his expression meant. I had seen it a lot growing up.
I couldn’t blame Ian, though. Not even a little bit, because he really, really did look sorry. My dad had never given me that sort of courtesy.
He looked down, and a mix of sadness and shame played over his face. “Yeah.”
“It’s okay,” I said, touching his forearm. “But I do want to see you again soon.”
Did I just ask him out? Wow, look how brazen I was getting. Claire would be proud.
“That would be great,” he said.
I swallowed hard, emotion starting to tighten in my throat. “I had a really amazing time tonight,” I said. “I never knew first dates could be so fun.”
“Clearly, because you've never been on a date with me before,” he told me, cockily. I couldn’t blame him for being cocky, though. He had every right to be. He was probably the hottest man I’d ever seen.
“Very true.” I couldn’t help but nod, agreeing with him. The date was pretty fun, and I could only assume that it was because he was one of a kind.
I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that he was just that good with women, or if something else entirely was happening. But I started to not worry about it. All reservations on that front just sort of…seeped away. Like they didn’t exist at all, for some reason. There was just something about looking him in the eye, and seeing his gorgeous and completely cocky smirk. It was enough to make me melt all over him.
“Guess I’ll just have to break that habit,” I managed to whisper, in an almost seductive tone that I was damned proud of. Who knew I could be so alluring on the spot like that? If my earlier request for another date wasn’t enough, my new sex kitten voice sure as hell was. I was being forward as hell, and he didn’t seem the least bit put off by it. In fact, he seemed to be eating it up.
He was smiling with what seemed like both a sense of cockiness as well as a bit of relief. “I’d love that. You can see me whenever you’d like.”
I felt a chill roll down my spine at the notion. I wasn’t sure exactly what sort of power this man had over me, but it was something pretty damn intense.
He gestured for the waitress to come over with the check. His movements were so smooth, and so incredibly refined. I could tell that he came from class. All of that confidence was so strong. Masculine. Firm. Sexy beyond belief. It was so present that it was staggering.
It was there in his wave to the waitress, in the way that he signed the bill, and in the way he led me out of the restaurant with his arm draped over my shoulders. And it was definitely there when he shifted his body to look at me as we stood on the sidewalk outside the doors.
He reached out and grabbed my chin with his index finger and tilted my face to look up at him.
I immediately wished he hadn’t, and I wished that I hadn’t complied, because looking at him was dangerous…so very dangerous.
His piercing brown eyes were intense, and they were staring right into mine.
“I really do think we might have something here,” he whispered as he stepped a couple of inches closer and ran his fingers through my hair. His touch was gentle, graceful even.
I shivered and clenched my thighs together as desire pooled between them. A million emotions were shaking my stomach to its core. This connection with him was all so unplanned. I’d known he was cute — sexy as all hell, even. I’d known that he was charming. I’d known that he was a lot of things, but I hadn’t expected him to make me feel quite like I felt, wanting to be captured in his embrace.
My heart thumped so loudly and roughly against my chest that I could hear it in my ears. I knew what was about to happen, and no
matter how ready I thought I was earlier when it almost happened, I was nervous.
So fucking nervous now that it was actually happening.
I felt my breath quicken and my stomach whirl. It felt like butterflies were doing some crazy mating dance inside me. I was shaking all over, shivering from the cold, but also from the fear of what I didn’t understand.
I clenched my hands to halt their quivering, and followed his movements. I leaned in, too, only to realize that he’d halted. I felt my entire body tingle, and it was like we were in slow motion as we moved closer and closer to one another.
I couldn’t believe that we were standing smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk, with the snow falling down around us. Dozens of people were passing us as we stood there, just an inch or so from each other’s lips.
I didn’t care about those people, either. It didn’t matter. I didn’t care if the whole world saw us kiss.
What I experienced in that moment, the want, the absolute desire, was something that I couldn’t explain even if I tried. It was something I’d only read about in books, or saw in the movies. It wasn’t real.
At least, I hadn’t thought it was real. Not before this, with Ian.
“Kate,” he whispered, his breath hot against my cheek.
I closed my eyes and relished the sound of my name on those lips. It took all the power that I had not to lunge at him right then and there. Just hearing my name and feeling it vibrate off his lips was almost enough to send me into a trance.
“Is this okay?” he asked.
The question turned me on even as it broke the spell. This was okay. Kissing him was the most okay thing in the world.
At the same time, I was worried. I wanted it so bad, but I wasn’t sure how Ian or this kiss or even the snow on the sidewalk around us fit into my plan. I had everything lined up, a whole timeline of my next few months, and meeting a man who did what Ian did to me was not anywhere in that timeline.
I wasn’t sure what any of this meant, but I wanted him to kiss me so I could at least find out.
His fingers played with my hair, and I knew then that I hadn’t scared him off. He was waiting for me to come the rest of the way. He was waiting for me to kiss him.