I could imagine him working up the bartender. She might have seemed his type, dark and edgy. Then again, anything with a pulse and that responded to Graham was his type. “So, what brings you to the beach?” he asked.
My view of Graham and the bartender was obscured by the large column as I listened to their conversation.
“I just decided to take a drive. I needed to get away.”
I could feel the puzzled look scroll across my face. She took a drive and decided to become a bartender?
“Well, I’m glad you did. So how long are you here for? Maybe we can do dinner or you know, something else?” He chuckled and I almost laughed, myself. That was his big game.
“I’m not quite sure of my plans,” she said. “I was considering just taking some time to myself.”
It clicked that Graham wasn’t talking to the bartender and I wanted, no needed, to see who he was actually talking to. I got up and made my way to the bar, reaching over the counter and grabbing a few napkins when I saw her.
The gorgeous brunette was sitting at the bar, a stool between her and Graham. She quickly gazed in my direction and I froze. Her dark brown eyes were locked on me and all I could do was nod. Graham quickly looked over. “Oh hey, Caden, thought you were going to do some work?”
“Yeah, I am. Thought you were going to get some sleep after your late night,” I said, my eyes darting over to the girl and then back at him.
“I’m working on that right now,” he laughed, looking back over at the girl at the bar. “So, dinner? Maybe we can go upstairs and make some plans now?”
I watched as he reached his hand over in her direction, only for her to pull it away. “No thanks. I only came down for that drink, but I’m beginning to think that it was a bad idea.”
Snubbed. I hadn’t seen Graham rejected before, and I actually enjoyed it.
“Well, if you change your mind, I’m on the top floor, the entire top floor.” He smiled at her, looked back at me, and then barked an order to the bartender. “Just charge these drinks to my room…and hopefully I’ll see you later.” He patted the brunette on the hand and walked away.
The brunette and I stared at one another, speechless at what we were both a witness of.
“You’re welcome.”
“For what?” she asked.
“For saving you from having to listen to the same pick-up lines he uses on every woman he’s ever met.” I willed my body to move closer to her side of the bar, while not losing the eye contact we had established.
“I could have handled him. Seems he’s not used to being rejected.”
“No, he’s not and I’m sure you could have handled him, but he’s relentless. The only reason he gave up was because he likely didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of me.”
“And you are?” she asked.
“I’m Caden.” I extended my hand and took hers, shaking it gently. Her soft skin was warm against my hand and I could feel my stomach sink as she smiled at me.
“I’m Cara. Nice to meet you, Caden.”
Chapter 3
Cara
Caden. A friend of Graham, the pick-up guy who had lured me down from my balcony. Probably the same as Graham, though. They all were. They came to their work retreats at the beach, away from their girlfriends or their wives, and spent their time trying to show off how many women they could still pick up.
“Working at the beach on the weekend, huh?” I asked, not really caring about the answer.
“Graham insists on coming here to work, and I guess you can tell why. I don't mind sitting in the warm sun with a strong coffee while getting stuff done. Besides, it's Friday, so it's technically still a work day. For a few more hours at least,” he responded, looking at his watch. I followed his gaze down to the watch. Nothing too pretentious, but nice, and the stainless steel sure did look good on his tanned forearm. My gaze followed the veins up toward his bicep. Yep, he definitely worked out. He had that perfect look of taking care of himself, without overdoing it.
“Well, my knight in shining armor who hath saved me, I will let you get back to your work,” I teased. I was actually flirting, who was I kidding? Something sweet about this man made me loosen up and smile.
“Well, my lady, I do have to get some stuff done for this meeting, but I should be finished up well before the five p.m. workday ends for most. We actually have scheduled ‘off time’ for the remainder of the weekend once we wrap up the meeting. Maybe we’ll run in to each other again?” It was more of a question than a statement.
“Yeah, maybe. Enjoy your weekend if not,” I said, without much hope. Yes, he was nice looking, obviously had a successful career, and had self-proclaimed “saved” me from his friend. But, I was not ready to hang out with a stranger on my weekend of dwelling on what had just happened in my last relationship.
As he retreated back to his table at the far corner of the outside patio, I turned back to the bartender.
“Sweetie, these guys come in here all the time to work,” she said with a conspiratorial smile. “That first one you met, Graham, he’s the worst. Always trying to take someone to his room. I can’t believe it, but it always works. The one in the corner; he’s a looker. If I could have my choice, I’d much rather have that man on top of me. How about a drink on the house? I can charge it to Graham’s room.”
“Why not? You only live once, right? Make me something fruity.” I smiled and took my seat on the stool. Glancing around, seeing all of the families, listening to the kids squealing, I couldn’t help but remember how I used to think I was becoming one of those families. I didn’t need the marriage part because my parents had been divorced too many times for me to believe in marriage any longer, but I wanted the commitment and the kids. At 34, I worried that I was past my prime to have to start over at finding someone new and building something that would lead to that again. LJ was supposed to be the one. He had promised me.
I looked at my phone. There were still no messages. I stalked LJ and his friend’s Facebook pages to see that LJ had finally blocked me. Not that he used Facebook more than once a month. Still no indication of what had happened from his friend’s pages. I sent another, futile, message to him, “Please, I just need to know why you left. We never even had a fight. If you can just tell me, then I won’t bother you anymore.”
The bartender brought me my drink, and I turned off my phone, but not my ringer. Surely, he would get back to me this time. The first sip of the concoction she made warmed my insides immediately. How could something so strong taste so sweet? This was going to be a good day. I would just drink and soak up this warmth….and maybe stalk Facebook for a little while longer. I unlocked my phone with my fingerprint again, and began scrolling. Admiring other people’s loving couple “selfies” and looking for clues as to why I was no longer one of those couples. I continued to sip my drink and obsess about my previous life.
“Cara?” A voice behind me startled me by almost whispering.
I looked up from my phone browsing to see him again. My savior, what was his name?
“Hello, again! I see you’re done working,” I said, eyeing his backpack.
“They called off the meeting for now. I guess Graham must have found something better to do,” he rolled his eyes to indicate what he thought. “I thought that I would come say hello again before I went back to my room to figure out what I should do with my first non-working Friday afternoon in a long time.”
He paused, but looked like he wanted to say more, so I just stared at him, looking past my now empty glass and wondering if I was making this up.
I looked directly in to his eyes, closer now than they had been before and noticed that they were a blue more beautiful than the ocean, with little white circles that filled the irises. How had I not noticed them earlier? His hair was brown, just barely speckled with some early gray, though he couldn’t have been more than a year or two older than me. He had that distinguished look men get when a few gray hairs start to appear. And, the eyes
. I kept getting drawn back to those beautiful eyes. There was something so kind and warm in them.
“Now that I am here saying hello, well, I’ll just ask. Would you like to go to dinner tonight? Not at the hotel, but somewhere nice just a ten-minute drive away. You probably have a boyfriend, but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity…”
He was stumbling over his words, and in an effort to save him, I responded with, “A real date? Like, you drive me there and we get dressed up?”
“Yes, a real date. Does that mean you don’t have a boyfriend?” he asked, hopeful.
“I don’t anymore. I just got dumped,” I responded, too fast, and immediately blushed.
“Great! I mean, sorry. But not that sorry.” He grinned. “Do you want to meet in the lobby, or should I come to your door?”
“Lobby, please. I don’t give out my room number on a first date.” I smiled, feeling goofy.
“Your chariot will be awaiting you at 5:30, my lady,” he joked. Maybe I was too much of a romantic, but he really reminded me of a chivalrous knight. My insides tingled as he walked back into the hotel.
I pull a five-dollar bill from my purse and waved goodbye to the bartender, then grabbed my phone and purse and walked toward the street. Where in the hell was I going to find something to wear for tonight so quickly? All I knew was that I needed to find out where this was going. I didn’t even know if he was from the beach area, or anything else about him. I didn’t want to get my hopes up for a one-night fling. That was never my style, even for the sake of helping me forget why I had driven here in the first place.
I walked about two blocks down Atlantic Avenue, trying to see if a clothing store would appear with something appropriate to wear. A sign outside of the cheap tourist gift shop, Sunsations, had a sign that read, Sundresses for $14. I made a mental note and turned on to the next street, where another store, Meg’s, had sundresses that looked a bit dressier, but could be played off as casual. I decided that was the way to go. I mean, really, of course I wanted him to think I was pretty, but I also didn't know that this was anything more than a free dinner for me.
The dress on the mannequin at the front was on sale for $35. Perfect. Sleeveless to show off my arms, which were toned by the yoga I had been doing lately, but flowy to cover my less-than-perfect mid-section that I’d been working hard at expanding with the restaurant food that LJ and I had loved to binge eat.
Trying on the dress, it hung just right. Making a mental note to maybe begin working out more seriously again in case I really did need to find another partner, I bought the dress. I had always been fit, more of the athletic build than ever a “skinny girl,” but even now continued to get compliments on my shape. I knew I had let myself go a bit since not teaching classes or training clients as much, but I had gotten comfortable with LJ. I worked out enough, and was tall enough, to pull off the extra weight gain that had slowly been adding on.
What if Caden saw me in a bathing suit this weekend? What if he saw me outside of my dress in some other way? Shaking my head, I again told myself that this was just dinner with a nice stranger. It was going nowhere.
Chapter 4
Caden
What the fuck was I thinking? A date? It had been forever since I had even considered going out with another woman. But there was something about Cara that just pulled me out of my comfort zone.
Her smile was absolutely perfect and it further drew me into her deep brown eyes. We hadn’t really talked much other than the few pleasantries we’d exchanged in between saving her from Graham and my impulsive invitation for dinner.
I picked through the small bag of clothes I had packed for the weekend trip. A few pairs of shorts, jeans, t-shirts. Nothing fancy or that I’d even consider the least bit dressy. A nice dinner had been the last thing on my mind when I left the other day.
Decisions. Shop for something new or make do with what I had and hope that I had already made a somewhat decent first impression.
Realistically, where was this really going to go anyway? Dinner? Maybe a hookup? I laughed at the thought. A hookup. If that was what Cara was after, she would have surely taken Graham up on his offer. He was younger, better looking, and had more money, although he was a complete tool. Besides, I was far from being anyone’s one-night stand.
Protein shakes and daily five-mile runs had been replaced by high calorie fancy coffee drinks and hours sitting in front of a laptop screen blocking out life.
I closed my eyes and remembered the look in her eyes and that smile when she’d said yes. A nervousness filled my stomach and I knew exactly what I needed to do. I wasn’t going to blow this opportunity, no matter what came of it.
* * * * *
I went through my mental checklist as I clutched the cellophane wrapped bouquet of flowers. I had spent the afternoon attempting to plan the perfect evening for a woman I barely knew. Reservations at Terrapin, flowers, car washed and cleaned, new clothes. Nothing was over the top, but it was definitely more than I’d ever normally do on any other first date, but then again, I could barely remember what a first date was like.
The elevator doors opened and I weaved through the crowd and made my way toward the bar where we had met several hours earlier. I was thirty minutes early. Enough time to take a shot and calm my nerves.
The same bartender from the morning was still working and now had help from a few others. The bar had started to fill from all of the tourists looking to get their happy hour specials. I felt out of place and way overdressed in my black pants and white button-down shirt. I’d gone shopping and, four hundred dollars later, now sported a new outfit and new shoes.
“Fireball and whatever IPA you have on tap please,” I said to the bartender from earlier.
“Sure thing.” A few moments later she returned with the shot and frozen pint glass filled to the top. “First date jitters, huh?”
I laughed and nodded. “It’s that obvious?”
“You’ll do fine,” she said and turned to fill the other requests from patrons at the bar.
I took the shot and quickly drank down the beer, hoping it would quell the butterflies in my stomach. No such luck.
I slapped down a twenty, nodded at the bartender, and made my way for the lobby waiting for my date.
So, where are you from? Do you like seafood? Why are you here at the beach? Really? No boyfriend? I scrolled through the list of questions in my head that I wanted to ask her. I was terrible at small talk.
Every ding of the elevator sent another flip to my stomach as I looked up, waiting for her. Nothing. Maybe she had changed her mind. Maybe she really did have a boyfriend. Nervousness had changed to disappointment as I looked at my watch. 5:32.
“There you are,” the familiar voice said as I looked up, following her long perfect legs to her fit body.
The sundress she wore clung to her body, highlighting her curves. I could immediately feel both a sense of relief that she had shown up and the wave of nervousness taking over again.
“Um, here I am,” I managed to mumble as my eyes finally met hers. “You look amazing. That dress is gorgeous on you.”
“Oh this? Thanks.” She smiled and for the first time I noticed her dimples, accentuating the rest of her flawless features. “Are those for me?”
“They are,” I said with a laugh. “I promised you a real date. Those come with flowers, don’t they?”
“Not any of the first dates I’ve been on recently…or ever for that matter.”
“Well, here’s to something new then.” I handed her the flowers and extended my arm for her to take. “Shall we? I hope you like seafood; I made reservations at Terrapin. I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard it’s amazing.”
As she looped her arm through mine, hanging on to the flowers in her other hand, she reached up, holding on to my bicep and gently squeezing, as she allowed me to lead her toward the waiting car in the valet lane. Suddenly I had become even more aware of how gorgeous and how out of my league she was.
/> Chapter 5
Cara
Pinch me, I thought. I had barely been able to breathe when I saw him, standing with flowers in hand, in a crisp button-down shirt. Classic look, and on him it was more than classic. It made him look like what I imagined in the romantic books I read. His blue eyes were even brighter than before.
I regretted not putting more effort in to my dress. Especially my choice on leather flip flops instead of heels. And, flowers? When was the last time someone showed up with flowers? Never.
This really was a real date. I wasn’t even sure that those existed in the world of internet dating and meeting at a bar. The butterflies in my stomach felt more like spastic bees. I knew that my hands had started to sweat, so I had grabbed on to his arm, rather than his hand. His bicep. I remembered how his arms had looked earlier, and I could feel the strength and width of them now. I closed my eyes for a moment to take it in, hoping he didn’t notice that I was squeezing him or holding my breath, and allowed him to lead me to the car.
His car was a dark blue Audi A5 convertible, with the top already down and everything shiny and clean, although the car didn’t look as though it was brand new.
“Are you okay with the top down, or would you rather not get your hair messed up?” he cordially asked.
I dug out a hair tie from my purse, always a must-have while working at a gym, and smiled as I held it up. “I’m always prepared for windy adventures,” I said in a flirtatious voice, and threw my hair back in the messy bun I had always used as my go-to. So much for straightening my hair.
Opening my door for me, his eyes danced as he motioned for me to step in. “My lady,” he said with a smile.
I stepped in, holding my dress until I sat down. I looked at the gear shift as he gently closed my door and walked around to his side. A manual transmission. I loved to drive, and there was something very manly about a man who still drove stick shift with all of the fast cars that had automatic transmissions nowadays.
Torn_An Alpha Billionaire Romance Page 2