by Emma Salah
It looked like every romantic date night scene from movies so it definitely ticked all the right boxes. But... Reagan didn’t want to whine. She had hoped that being somewhere like this would mean that Zac would loosen up, not go the opposite way.
He smiled. “Good.”
Simmons returned.
“We’ll have one steak and one lemon cockerel. And a bottle of pinot noir,” Zac told him as he handed back his menu.
She held out hers and Simmons took it.
“Very good choices, sir. They will take a few minutes to prepare.”
“Not a problem,” Zac said.
Simmons disappeared before coming back a second later to pour them their drinks and leave them the bottle and then left again.
“Not going for red meat tonight? Feeling sick, Zac?”
“I’m on a strict diet.”
Zac sat straight up in his chair, taking a sip of his wine.
“I didn’t know you liked wine,” she said, intrigued.
“I only drink it in places like this.”
“You could have ordered beer. I’m sure they wouldn’t have minded. I’m kind of tempted to get beer myself.” She said the last few words in a low voice as if she was confiding in him a secret.
Reagan expected him to raise an eyebrow at that and give her a mock-lecture about what a place like this would do if they ordered beer instead of vintage wine.
“Would you like me to get you one?” Zac asked instead.
“Um, no, it’s okay.” She took a sip of her wine and wished desperately it was beer. Or something stronger, like vodka or tequila.
“So...” she started.
He didn’t say anything, just watched her.
“How was practice?”
“It was good. Normal,” he answered.
Okay. Great. Reagan’s eyes narrowed. If it wasn’t work, then what the hell was going on? She wanted to shake the boy and ask him what was with all the awkward silences. They never ran out of things to say to each other, which was why she considered him to be one of her closest friends.
“How was work?”
She smiled gratefully. “It was good. I really enjoy working at Mitchells. The people are great and working with some of the biggest names in sports is really exciting. It’s taking a lot longer to build my own client list of course, but I’m getting there.”
“How’s it going with your new client? Trent?”
“Yeah! I just started working with him! He’s great. There’s this shoe brand that wants him, but I don’t think it’s a good idea. I’m trying to find one that would be a better fit for him, except... Daniel, he wants Trent to take the deal. He’s really not listening to me when I say it’s a bad plan—what do you think?” she asked.
Zac shrugged. “I don’t really have an opinion.”
“Nothing? Do you think I should listen to Daniel, since you know he’s been doing this for a lot longer than me, or should I listen to my instincts?”
“I think that it’s your decision.”
Reagan stared at him in disbelief. Well, that was helpful—not! The waiter interrupted them at that moment—thank god—to bring them their food. He placed their plates before them.
She cut into her steak and took a small bite. She groaned.
“Holy shit,” she sighed. “This is really good. I don’t think I’ve ever had steak that’s tasted this amazing.”
“Yes, it is really good.”
“How’s yours?”
“Good,” he answered, looking down at his own dish as he cut into his vegetables.
And that was the end of all conversation. They ate their food in silence. Once their plates were devoid of food and they were cleared away, they both sat there. Oh shit, oh shit. Reagan racked her brain desperately, trying to search for something to talk about. This whole dating thing was on her and she did not want Zac already getting bored with it all.
“Should we get some dessert? Their chocolate cake looked to die for,” she finally settled on.
“Sounds good. I can’t eat too much, since I’m in the middle of conditioning,” Zac said, tapping his fingers on the table.
“We could share it.” She smiled.
“I’d prefer getting the lemon cheesecake actually.”
“Oh, okay.”
They ordered their individual cakes and ate them, while continuing on with their small talk. Eventually, they asked for the bill, picked up Reagan’s coat at the front desk and left. The valet gave Zac his keys and they got into his car. During that whole time, a feeling swirled around in the pit of her stomach and her chest. She had no idea what it was, had no name for it, but it made her feel itchy beneath her skin.
As they were driving back home, Reagan turned and looked at Zac.
“That was nice,” she said.
“It was.”
“You had a good time?” she pressed.
“What was not to like?” he asked back. “You looked beautiful. The restaurant was good. The food was good. The conversation was good. And everything ran smoothly.”
She gripped the top of her seat belt. Shit, everything had run smoothly. Everything had been great. No, everything had been perfect. But wait—the date wasn’t over yet.
“You heard me. If we’re feeling it at the zoo to have sex in one of the stalls, we’ll do it. If I tell you to bend over and let me fuck you, we do it. If we’re going to date then you’re going to let me try out every single fantasy I’ve ever had over the years of you and me.” Zac had said that to her last night and remembering that promise had her shifting in her seat in anticipation for some sexy time. She peeked at him from the corner of her eye.
Zac gripped the steering wheel with his right hand, his left lying on his powerful thigh. She didn’t understand fully her fascination with his arms but watching his forearm flex made her pussy clench.
She was so deep in her fantasy world she didn’t notice when they parked outside of her apartment. Not until he took off his seat belt and got out of his Lexus. Zac came to her side door and helped her out. Her fingers tingled, hypersensitive to every touch and movement of his.
They walked together to the front of her building. She was slightly unsteady on her feet but tried to shake it off. Breathe, Reagan, you are going to need every breath during all the hot sex you’re about to have.
They paused outside of her door, facing each other. He stared down at her and she saw a flicker of something in his eyes. Yes, yes. He was going to kiss her. He stepped closer to her, but he didn’t touch her. His face descended towards hers slowly.
Reagan leaned in, her eyes already fluttering shut with anticipation. But the kiss to her lips never came. Instead, she felt a slight brush against her cheek. Her eyes flew open. Zac stared down at her, with a smirk.
“See you later, Reagan.”
And then he sauntered off, hands in his pockets. Reagan stood there, one hand on her cheek. What the fuck just happened?
Chapter Twelve
Three days after their first date, Reagan slid her phone into her pocket.
“Sorry,” she said as she sat down at the corner table in the small, quaint coffee shop opposite their agency.
“It’s cool,” Letty said. “I know you have to always take your dad’s call.”
“Not always.” She took a sip of her hot cinnamon latte.
The shop was half-full, but it was only the beginning of the lunch hour. Soon people would be coming by the truckload to feed their caffeine addiction.
Letty rolled her eyes. “Come on, I have never seen you reject a call from anybody in your family and if they ever need you to do something, you’re down for it no matter what.”
Reagan shifted uneasily in her chair. “That’s not true.”
“Last year, you helped Callum decorate his house even though you were in the
middle of juggling three clients and that boy could have done it himself. You flew four hours to help Dean break up with his stalker girlfriend! Admit it, girl, you got a problem.”
Do I have a problem? She shook her head. This was just what families did. So maybe her dad was more protective than others and maybe she spent a lot of time cleaning up her brothers’ messes. How else was she supposed to show them she loved them and that she was grateful for everything they’ve done for her?
“Enough about your family, give me the true deets. How did your date go last night? Was it better or worse than the one you had with him the night before last?” Letty leaned forward, her golden eyes bright with excitement.
A few days had passed since she had propositioned Zachariah and they had already been on two dates. Both had taken place at different expensive and upscale restaurants and had ended with Zac leaving her in front of her apartment with nothing more than a kiss on her cheek. And he kept giving her flowers—what was up with that? The first time it was sweet, but now it was just getting annoying. What was she supposed to do with all of them? Make a shrine? Reagan had a sinking feeling that tonight was going to be much of the same.
“It was perfect.” She thought back over the night. Over every gesture, every word spoken, every move made and it just left her feeling bewildered. What had happened to the boy who wouldn’t shut up about hockey stats or wouldn’t let her make comments about the gaming world without a teasing reply? And I can’t believe I’m about to quote Charlie Puth, but: “we don’t talk anymore.” What was worse than feeling bewildered though was feeling horny. Knowing how much pleasure Zac could give her was making the sexual tension between them worse than normal.
“If I had to rank it on a scale of one to ten, I would definitely say it was a ten. Hands down one of the most perfect dates I’ve ever been on. Both of them were...absolutely perfect.”
“If they’re perfect, why do you look like someone’s just ran over your imaginary dog?”
Reagan sighed. She didn’t feel as if someone had run over her imaginary dog. Maybe just scared it a little.
“I can’t explain it to myself, explaining it to you might just give me an ulcer. All I know is that it was...perfect.”
“You’re going to have to give me more than that.”
“Everything went perfectly. The food was perfect. The conversation was perfect. Hell, last night is a perfect example of why romantic clichés are such clichés.”
Letty crossed one leg over the other, her black work skirt riding up a little to expose the tops of her tights-clad thighs. “All clichés have to start somewhere, right? And you got to experience the clichéd dream: the romantic candlelit dinner that every girl wants.”
“But this is me.” Reagan pointed to herself for extra emphasis. “Nothing ever goes that perfect when I’m involved. High school graduation? I tripped and fell on top of my principal. First time I tried alcohol? I threw up on my date and ended up in the hospital. I accidentally fed my date last month strawberries, even though he had told me he was allergic! We ended up in the ER for six hours. Are you sensing a theme here? Do you really want me to keep going, Letty? Because there are so many more awkward and embarrassing stories in my arsenal.”
“So, what you are saying is that you would have been more comfortable if something had gone wrong?”
“Yes. No. Yes!”
Letty laughed.
“Look.” Reagan breathed. “Nothing between me and Zac has ever gone perfect or easy and last night and the other night everything was. The candlelight. The flowers he gave me. The way he opened doors for me and tucked me into my chair. He was the perfect date and I’m...”
“Dissatisfied?” Letty nodded. “Have you ever thought Zac might be fucking with you?”
Reagan blinked.
“Maybe there is a reason why your dates have been going so perfectly?”
“That doesn’t even make any sense. I know he doesn’t think us dating would be a good idea, but what would be the point in making the date so wonderful when he could have sabotaged it...?” She trailed off as she started to think. “Because he knows me. He knows that if the date had started to go wrong, I would have guessed he was doing things to fuck it up and I would have dug my heels in. Instead, he did the opposite.”
Letty snapped her fingers. “Bingo.”
“That devious, crazy son of a bitch!” Reagan banged her fist against the table.
People around her jumped. Some gave her looks like bitch, you cray cray or who let the mad person with the really expensive shoes in here? Damn right, she was. And she was getting crazier by the second thinking over everything that had happened the night before now with this new information in mind. The way he smirked at her at the end when he leaned in and kissed her cheek? He was most definitely fucking with her!
“What are you going to do about it?”
Reagan glared. “What do you think I’m going to do about it? I’m going to nail his balls to the wall.”
Letty grinned. “I want to say I feel sorry for him, but... I really don’t.”
“Don’t feel sorry for him. By the time I’m done with the boy, you best believe there’ll barely be anything left.”
“Now, now,” Letty said. “Do remember you love his dumb ass. The aim is not to cause any permanent damage or to even maim him. Just destroy his ego and make him remember who’s boss.”
No, the aim was to make him love her and look how well that was turning out. She guessed it was too much to hope for Zac to actually “date” her without coming up with some plan to ruin it all. She thought he had said yes too quickly to her proposition, but then he put his mouth between her legs and it was bye-bye to her brain cells. Had he done that on purpose? To make sure she didn’t think too deeply on why he had agreed? God, she was so stupid! And to think, she’d actually been excited!
“Make him love me, my ass,” she said softly to Letty. “As soon as we stop having sex, he remembers exactly why he doesn’t want to be with me again.”
She couldn’t help the hurt that leaked into her voice. Letty grabbed her hand and interlaced their fingers.
“I know it hurts, Reagan,” she said. “But if you really want to be with Zac, you got to think beyond that and think about why he doesn’t want to be with you.”
Why he doesn’t want to be with me? Reagan snorted. She knew exactly why: he was scared, because... Her eyes widened. The only relationship he had ever known growing up was his parents’ own dysfunctional and abusive one. And the only family he had was her family. Why would he want to jeopardize that when he didn’t believe love could last or that love between a man and a woman didn’t even really exist?
“I think you’re starting to get it,” Letty murmured.
Yeah, she was starting to get it. Of course, Zac was going to be wary. It was up to her to stop letting him push her away, to stop doubts from creeping in and making her forget her objective: him.
“I’m going to show Zac,” Reagan said, determined. “I’m going to show him that we are meant to be together. No matter what it takes.”
“You go get him, girl!”
She stood up and was about to throw away her coffee and head back to the agency when she remembered something. She sat back down and pointed a finger at her best friend.
Letty took a calm sip of her mocha.
“Don’t think I’ve forgotten,” Reagan accused. “What was that shit you said about my brother not going for someone like you?”
Letty sighed. “Let it go.”
“Nuh-uh, we’ve just spent all this time talking about me, Letty. Now we’re going to talk about you.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.” Letty set down her drink.
Reagan stared her down. If Letty thought she was going to let this go, then she had another thing coming.
Letty sighed again.
“Okay, okay, don’t get your panties in a bunch. I just think...love isn’t for someone like me.”
“Someone like you?” Reagan asked slowly. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Come on, Reagan. You don’t need to pretend. I know exactly what kind of girl I am,” Letty said with a sad smile.
“And what kind of girl are you?”
She shrugged. “The party girl. The easy girl. The girl a boy wants to fuck but doesn’t want to take home to his mother. A girl who can be a mistress, the sidepiece, but never a wife. I’m the girl people call if they want to have a good time but won’t remember to call if they need a date for a charity gala. I’m the girl who has a body like a porn star, which is why boys want to fuck me and exactly why mothers hate me. But I’m not competition, not truly. ’Cause they know it and I know it that I’ll never truly occupy their world. I’ll always be on the outside looking in.”
“I’m really getting pissed off at the way you’re insulting my friend,” Reagan said, mildly.
“I don’t mean—”
“I know what you mean,” she cut her off.
Reagan leaned forward over the table. She cupped Letty’s cheeks and looked her right in those brown eyes of hers.
“Are you listening, Letty?” She waited for Letty to nod between her palms. “You deserve love. You are the most beautiful person I know. And I’m not just talking about your looks, but, god knows, if I was a guy or a lesbian I would totally fuck you and take you home to meet my dad, proudly. I’m talking about you as a person. You are giving, kind and unbelievably smart. I grew up with all boys and when I met you, I knew you weren’t just going to be my closest friend, but you were...you are my sister. And I know it’s going to take more than this to make you believe that, but I’ll be here for the day you realize that you deserve more than just love: you deserve it all.”
Letty stared at her. Tears filled her eyes.
“You’re going to make me cry,” she whispered hoarsely, before clearing her throat.
A few of those tears trickled down her cheeks. Reagan rubbed them away with her thumb. Letty knocked her hands away.