“Good, because I do too. It’s still weird to see it black, though,” I tell her, eyeing it speculatively. Even before we met, she was dying her hair an assortment of colors. One time I even saw her with a neon rainbow effect.
“Dude, I know! Sometimes I look in the mirror and freak out like ‘Who’s that?’” I laugh, knowing that’s totally something she would do.
Before I can say anything, I feel Brayden’s arms wrap around me from behind. “We’ve got a table now,” he says, loud enough for Ro to hear too. We jump up and follow him to a dark booth in the corner.
We all sit down, Brayden and I on one side with Ro and Carlos on the other. Looking across the table at Carlos, I place my face in my hands and smile widely. “So, how did you feel about Ro and your mom meeting?”
He pouts dramatically, crossing his arms as he says, “Mama likes her more than me.” The rest of us burst out laughing; knowing Carlos, it’s probably true.
The music changes and Ro jumps out of the booth. “This is my favorite song, like ever!” she screams, pulling Carlos after her toward the dance floor. The poor guy is stumbling the entire way there, trying to make his overeager girlfriend happy.
“You’ve kinda gotta love her,” Brayden says, smiling widely.
“You definitely do . . . just not as much as me,” I tease.
Wrapping his arm around my shoulders, he pulls me toward him until I’m cuddled up to his side. “Of course not, love.”
“You know, if you said that with a British accent, we’d be on our way to city hall right now,” I say, giggling. He chuckles and repeats it with a very convincing accent. I have no choice but to pull his lips down to mine.
After a few minutes, I pull away feeling completely disoriented. I don’t know if all guys are as good at kissing as Brayden, since he’s the only person I’ve ever kissed, but if every girl in the world could have a moment like I just did, everybody would be much happier. “What brought that on?” he asks, clearly pleased with what just happened. I rarely initiate a kiss, let alone one in public, or one like that.
“British accents are possibly the biggest turn on in the world,” I tell him matter-of-factly.
Brayden smirks and wriggles his eyebrows at me before leaning to whisper in my ear. I’m not sure if it’s the way his breath feels on my skin or what he actually says that makes me shudder, but I find myself resisting attacking him again. “Let’s dance,” I tell him, struggling to stand up.
“Us?” he asks, shocked as he takes the hand I’m offering him.
I nod, a little nervous. “Yeah.”
I turn toward him so we’re facing each other. The strobe lights are flashing quickly, making everything look like a jumpy movie. Brayden takes my hands and pulls me closer before resting them around his neck. I feel his fingers trail lightly down my sides until they settle on my hips, making me shiver all over. He’s grinding into me and I’m stuck between trying not to giggle and being so incredibly turned on that I can’t speak. I never would have made us come here tonight if I’d known he’d be this sexy.
“I’m thirsty,” I call out to him after a long time of dancing. He nods and begins pulling us toward the bar where he orders us a couple of waters. Once we have our drinks, the two of us walk outside. The freezing air is startling on our hot skin.
“That was awesome,” he says, grinning like a kid as we lean against the building.
I smile and nod my head. “I liked that a lot,” I tell him.
“Do you want to do it again?” he asks, nodding toward the doors.
I shake my head and bite my lip. He looks so confused that I giggle a little bit. “I want to go home,” I tell him.
He frowns. “What? Are you sure you don’t want to stay to watch the ball drop? You know they put it on that huge screen in there, right?”
I shake my head and grab his hand as I begin walking backward. “Brayden,” I add a syrupy note to my tone. “I want to go home,” I say, giving him a pointedly lusty look. His eyes widen as realization finally dawns on him.
I send a text to Ro, explaining that we left early so Brayden and I could go home to celebrate the New Year just the two of us.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Valentine’s Day
“Happy Valentine’s day, Cutie!” Brayden practically yells as he marches into Starbucks. His arms are full of balloons, a huge teddy bear, and a heart-shaped box of chocolates. I burst out laughing; I can’t help smiling like an idiot.
“Oh my god,” I giggle, running around the counter to pull him into a hug. Well, almost a hug, since it’s awkward with all the stuff between us.
He bends his neck past the bear and I meet him for a sweet kiss. Obviously it’s nothing too romantic since we’re in the middle of Starbucks and Ernie—I’ve already decided that’s the bear’s name—is kind of blocking us from getting closer.
“What on earth are you doing here?” I ask, pulling back and taking Ernie into my arms, hugging him like I wish I could hug Brayden.
He smiles his cheeky grin. “Well, I figured that since this is the first Valentine’s Day where you’ve actually had a boyfriend, I would make it the best one ever.” I can’t help blushing a bit at the mention of my lack of previous boyfriends to celebrate with. To be honest, I used to hate being single on this holiday. In fact, I was one of those people who complain about it.
“You are the sweetest guy in the world, do you know that?” I ask him, going up on my toes to kiss him lightly again.
He places one more kiss on my forehead before I pass Ernie back to him and head behind the counter again. Brayden bids me one last good-bye before leaving to stuff my gifts into my car and go home. Liz and Ro are staring at us with their hands cupped under their chins, looking like total idiots. I smile at them and apologize to the customer I was serving before Brayden walked in. He just grins at me and nods, showing me that, despite the good twenty years he’s got on me, he understands what young love feels like.
I asked Jon weeks ago for the day off but ended getting called in last minute. I only have to work for a couple of hours, though. Then Brayden and I are going out on a date. He won’t tell me where we’re going, despite my many pleas and various attempts to seduce it from him. For once in his life, Brayden wouldn’t say a word.
Finally, after what feels like years, I untie the apron from my waist and give a small wave to the girls. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Ro, have fun on your adventure,” I snicker as she groans. It seems as though Carlos is just as sneaky as Brayden. He planned a treasure hunt or something for them to go on, but refused to give actual details. She’s going crazy because she can’t stand surprises.
“Have fun tonight!” Liz says with a smirk, making me blush despite my attempts to stay calm.
I drive home, smiling every time I look in the rearview mirror and see those balloons filling the back seat. In my bedroom, I pull out the outfit Ro and I picked out the other day. She’s convinced that it’s perfect, and I hope she’s right. The dress is strapless with a tight bodice and flowing bottom that ends just above my knees. The red high heels may be a very bad idea, but they were on sale and matched my coat, so Ro convinced me to buy them. The only accessory I’m wearing is a bronze bracelet with a stone the same color as my dress in the middle.
I use the technique that Ro taught me to curl my hair and I pin it off to the side, making it fall over my right shoulder without the bulging of a hair band. Ro basically gave me a list of things to do and how to do it. Apparently I’m useless without her. She also did my makeup for me before we started work so, even though it’s a bit smudged, at least that’s already done.
The doorbell rings and I feel a rush of butterflies in my stomach. I’m not nervous, I’m excited. In the past few weeks, Brayden and I have been so busy that we’ve barely had any time together. This is the first decent date we’ve had in what feels like ages. I’ve actually missed him a lot, so tonight is even more special than just Valentine’s Day.
I grab his gift
s before going downstairs. Brayden’s sitting in the kitchen with my parents, bonding over something weird. He always talks to them and it still surprises me how close they’ve all grown. “Hey there, Handsome,” I say, grinning as I lean against the entryway.
He jumps up and turns around to look at me, his smile widening immediately. When he gives me that look, I can’t help but fall in love with him all over again. It’s like he sees me and takes away all of my insecurities. Well, mostly. I still have horrible moments when I feel like I’m not good enough or like our feelings aren’t really mutual, but I’ve been trying to control those. He’s been undyingly understanding.
“You look so beautiful,” he says softly. His eyes are staring at me so intently that I can’t help the blush that takes over my cheeks. Maybe I’ve been blushing a lot today, but he’s so incredible!
“Thank you,” I whisper when he’s so close that I can feel his breath against my forehead. He leans down slightly and covers my lips with his. I smile into the kiss and pull back to see that he’s happy too. “We should get going,” I murmur, looking over his shoulder to wave at my parents.
“Have fun, guys! And be safe!” Dad says, waving back.
“We will! Bye,” Brayden shouts over his shoulder as I pull him to the door. He laughs as we both stumble outside, me almost slipping in my high heels. He catches me and helps me to the car, “You a bit eager to get out?” he taunts playfully as he gets in the other side.
I wrinkle my nose at him. “Don’t tease me!”
He sticks his tongue out and I shake my head when I realize that he’s still completely gorgeous. How can he do something that makes most people look so silly, and make it look sexy? I suddenly wanted to do things with that tongue.
We drive into the city and park in front of a restaurant I’ve heard about a few times in passing. Apparently, the second floor is more of a night club while the ground floor is where the food is served. “Fancy,” I say, smiling at Brayden. A few months ago, I would have hated this. Now, I’m only mildly cautious.
We walk inside and the maître d’ brings us to our seat almost immediately. It’s much fancier than I expected, with dark wood floors, pristine white tablecloths, and chandeliers dangling from the ceiling. Candles create a wonderfully romantic atmosphere and, when the man pulls out my chair for me, I have to suppress the urge to giggle. People like me don’t come to places like this. I’m a bit surprised that Brayden brought us here. It doesn’t really seem like his kind of place.
“So, do you like it?” Brayden asks as soon as the maître d’ is gone.
I nod and take a sip of the water already on the table. “It’s beautiful, but why here? Don’t get me wrong, I love it, I just didn’t imagine this,” I say, looking around the room.
I can see his pleased grin in the corner of my eye. “I wanted to surprise you and I figured this would do it.”
I laugh. “Mission accomplished.”
We chat for a bit and order our meals. The food wasn’t all that great, but Brayden made up for it by keeping me smiling the entire time. Afterward, while we’re waiting for dessert to arrive, we decide to exchange our gifts. I force him to open his first. As soon as he unwraps the first gift, he starts laughing, and I know I chose the right thing.
Months ago now, my mom took a picture of Brayden and me right before we left for the benefit where he kissed me. I got the picture printed out ages ago but never thought of showing it to him. The other day I was cleaning out my bedroom and I found it again. I knew immediately that I needed to include it in his gifts. In the picture, I pretty much purposely made it look like I was about to sneeze, with my eyes squeezed shut and my lips parted to show all of my teeth. Brayden, however, steals the spotlight. I remember feeling his hand move from my back right before Mom snapped the picture and now I know why. With his cheeks puffed out and his eyes crossed, Brayden used both of his hands to pull his ears out. He’s the cutest monkey I’ve ever seen.
“Oh god, I forgot about this!” he exclaims, looking up at me with excited eyes. “Next year this really will be our Christmas card. No joke.”
I grin and nod, agreeing wholeheartedly. “Now the next one,” I demand, looking at the other gift. It’s actually more of an envelope than anything, but it counts.
He pulls out the two plane tickets and looks at me questioningly. “Helena called me the other day to see if we’d be interested in doing another shoot. I talked to your boss and he said you could have the time off. Now I just need to know if you’re willing to go to Acapulco with me.” I offer a hopeful smile.
Brayden just kind of stares at me for a while and I start getting nervous. Had I crossed a line by talking to his boss and asking for time off without permission? Was he upset that I didn’t consult him before agreeing to do the shoot? I really should have thought this through better. I should—My thoughts are cut off by Brayden standing suddenly and leaning over the table, pulling my face to his in a fierce kiss. I’m startled for a moment and don’t react, but when I do, I’m kissing him back hard and I’m sure we’re making a scene in this fancy place. Before things can get too heated, I push on Brayden’s shoulders. His eyes are smoldering as they gaze into mine.
“You are perfect,” he murmurs just loud enough for me to hear. I pull him to me for one more quick kiss before playfully shoving him back into his seat. There are people looking at us, some with disgusted looks and others with amused smiles. “Your turn,” he says, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a medium-length thin, black velvet box.
I frown, hoping that he didn’t get me jewelry. As awful as it is to hope something like that, the honest truth is that I rarely wear accessories. Don’t get me wrong, I love the one he gave me at Christmas, especially because of what it meant, but I can’t imagine what would cause him to give me something like that. I scowl when I realize that my thoughts are sounding like the kind of girls I hate. The ones who are too superficial to appreciate that somebody put time and effort into getting them something. I’m sure that no matter what is in that box, I will treasure it forever simply because it came from Brayden.
“Don’t look at me like that, you haven’t even seen it,” Brayden teases, putting my mind at ease.
I grin and take the box from his hand, brushing our fingers together in the process. I slowly crack the lid off and gasp at what I see. Yes, he did get me jewelry, but it seems that Brayden knows me better than I know myself. “Oh it’s beautiful,” I say, looking with wide eyes at the necklace in front of me. Attached to a gold chain is a locket studded with multicolored jewels. They all come together to create a flower at the center of the oval pendant. I struggle a bit with the latch but soon enough I’m opening it to see two pictures that make me smile widely. On one side is a picture of me and Brayden on New Year’s. We both look completely happy and in love. On the other is Ro flipping the camera off. It’s one of my favorite pictures of her.
“I’m glad you like it,” Brayden says, standing up and walking behind me to clasp it around my neck. It hangs to the middle of my chest and I brush my fingers against it. I’ve never liked any gift more than this. “My mom knows a woman from Israel who sells jewelry. She was looking through some of her stuff online and I saw this over her shoulder. I knew instantly it was made for you.”
I smile and shake my head. Here’s another moment where my heart literally warms at the thought of how great he is.
Our dessert comes and we eat it slowly, enjoying each other’s company more than the cake between us. When we’re done, Brayden runs out to the car and I stand in the entryway, waiting. A stick thin girl with light blonde hair and bright blue eyes walks up and stands beside me. I give her a polite smile and shift to the side a little, trying to put some space between us.
“Beautiful night, huh?” she says, looking at the parking lot. Despite there being snow everywhere and the weather being far too cold to be enjoyable, she’s right. It is a beautiful night.
“Yeah, it is,” I say, smiling dreamily.
My eyes wrinkle. “What?”
“That smile. It’s only there the first time. Before your heart’s been broken.” I frown. Why is she telling me this on Valentine’s Day? Isn’t there like a girl code somewhere the strictly prohibits harshing somebody’s love mellow?
“Well, hopefully I’ll be able to smile like this for a long time then” I reply, crossing my arms in front of myself. I’m suddenly feeling very self-conscious standing next to this girl. She’s the type of girl that makes me hate my large body. She’s petite and stick thin with a skintight dress on that makes her look like a sex symbol.
Brayden runs up to the door and rushes in. “Sorry, Baby, I dropped the keys in the snow,” he says, putting an arm around my waist. We’re turning to walk back inside when the girl next to me exclaims, “Oh my god, Brayden Carter?”
We both spin to see her staring at Brayden like he’s her last meal. My stomach sinks faster than I’d like to admit. “Candi?” he asks, surprised. Clearly these two know each other.
“Gosh, I haven’t seen you in forever,” she purrs, moving forward and pressing her body against his. I step back and watch this take place.
“About six months,” he agrees, stepping away from her. She doesn’t seem to get it, though.
“How have you been?” she asks, blinking her eyes a few extra times as she gazes up at him, running her finger up and down his chest.
Brayden gulps uncomfortably and takes yet another step back. “Uh, good. Really good, actually. You should meet my girlfriend, Anna,” he says, pointing to me. Candi, as Brayden called her, turns to look at me and snorts.
“You can’t be serious,” she says in a bored tone. I feel my bottom lip quiver and I bite it to keep from crying. How can one person so easily ruin my night?
“Candi,” Brayden growls, his eyes turning a shade darker. They begin to argue but I block them out and stare at the wall. Soon enough, Brayden is beside me and taking my hand in his as he leads us outside and to the car. I’m glad, since I’m definitely not in the mood for dancing anymore. We’re silent as we walk to the truck and I can’t seem to do anything but stare blankly in front of me, seeing but not really taking anything in.
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