by Holt, Layla
Lillian held out a wooden spoon for him to taste and when a little of the stew splashed down his cheek, she wiped it off with her thumb and leaned forward to kiss him.
Like her parents, George and Lillian Anderson were in their early sixties and were the most loving couple Ariana had ever met. A sigh escaped her mouth and the Andersons whipped around.
“You look gorgeous,” Lillian said.
“You look very pretty,” George added. “He’s a lucky young man.”
“Thanks,” Ariana said and stopped herself from commenting that it meant nothing. It was just a night out. Instead, she told them about her plans to return to Asencia in a week’s time.
“We shall miss you so much,” Lillian said and closed the distance between them. She took Ariana’s hands into her. “You are the daughter that we never had and it’s been a pleasure having you here with us.”
Ariana’s eyes became wet. “You gave me refuge when I needed it. Thank you so much.”
Lillian fanned her eyes. “Look at us getting all teary and you still have a week. We’ll make use of that week. As much as we don’t want you to go back, I know how much your mother misses you.”
She decided an Uber would be faster than taking her own car. By the time Ariana got into the car, she was already late for her date with Jaime. She hated lateness. She hoped that he wouldn’t be upset or, even worse, she hoped he hadn’t left.
The Uber deposited her at the entrance of the restaurant. She paid the driver and sprinted in, her breath coming out in gasps from the effort of running in high heels.
The hostess showed her to the table and Jaime stood up when he saw her.
“I’m so sorry,” she told him, taking in his impossibly handsome features.
The TV had not captured his real looks. Jaime was the kind of man that women described as devastatingly handsome. A man who could easily break your heart.
“It’s fine,” he said, a smile pulling at the corners of his lips. He pulled out a chair for her.
“My mother called me when I was just about to leave.” She was rambling and she couldn’t seem to stop herself. “Her calls are never short.”
Jaime laughed. “She sounds like she could be my mother’s twin.”
“Yes,” Ariana said and laughed. “Your mother does remind me of mine. She’s a bulldozer.” The minute the words were out, Ariana clamped her mouth with her hand. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
Jaime laughed again. “That’s the closest description of my mother that I’ve ever heard. What was yours bulldozing you about?”
Ariana’s shoulders fell. “She wants me to go back home in a week’s time.”
The waiter came to their table then and handed each of them a drink menu. “Is a red wine okay with you?”
“It’s fine, thanks,” Ariana said.
After Jaime gave their order and the waiter withdrew, he trained his gorgeous dark eyes on her again. “Where are you from?”
“Asencia. It’s a small kingdom, neighboring France, Italy—”
“And Spain,” Jaime said.
Few Americans had heard of Asencia and she usually had to pull out a map on her phone and point out the small kingdom. She grinned at Jaime. “I’m surprised that you’ve heard of it.”
“It’s one of the places I want to visit,” Jaime said.
“Now you have a friend there,” Ariana said and then stiffened. She was moving too fast. Because they’d laughed together and talked about their moms did not make them friends.
“I’m glad for that,” Jaime said and she let out a breath that she hadn’t known she’d been holding.
The waiter chose that moment to return with food menus. Ariana’s heart was pounding like mad in her chest. She was glad for something else to do besides stare at Jaime Cohan.
She scanned the menu unseeingly. The words swum before her eyes and she couldn’t bring herself to concentrate enough to pick something.
Jaime rattled off his order and then spoke to her. “Are you having problems picking something?”
Great. Now he would think she was an idiot. “Uh, a little.”
“Do you like shrimp?” Jaime asked.
She nodded. She really needed to get her act together before she made a total fool of herself. Jaime certainly was not the first handsome man that she had ever met, but he was the only man she knew who literally exuded such male potency that it made her weak in the knees just to be close to him.
“Tell me about Asencia, it sounds like a wonderful place. It’s a monarchy, isn’t it?”
Ariana inhaled deeply. “Yes, King Ramona, Queen Christia and their children.”
“I recall seeing a photograph once of the royal family. They seemed so dignified, especially the king.”
At the mention of her father, Ariana’s heart squeezed with pain, which was quickly followed by worry. Her heart dropped to her knees. Would he recognize her? She prayed not.
She was having so much fun with Jaime Cohan and if he found out who she was, that would come to a stop. The moment that people found out that she was Princess Ariana of Asencia, an instant change came over them.
For this one date, she would simply be Ariana.
“So how come you don’t want to go back home? If I lived in Asencia, I wouldn’t need to be asked to return home. I’d already be there,” Jaime said with a smile that made his dark eyes gleam.
At first, she’d thought his eyes were black, but they had shades of grey in them. When he trained them on her, it felt as if he could see right into her soul.
“Asencia is a wonderful place to live,” Ariana said, panicking as she scrambled to come up with an answer to his other question.
There was only one reason why she did not want to go back home. Kyan and Evalla, her once best friend. She would have to see them. Kyan was a duke and he ran in her circles. She’d faced enough humiliation when he dumped her for her best friend. She couldn’t bear a repeat.
She settled for a half truth. “My mother has lined up a string of suitable men she thinks I should date and marry.”
His mouth curved into a smile. “What’s wrong with that? You’re a beautiful woman and I’m sure that wasn’t very difficult for her to arrange.”
Did he just call her beautiful? “Thanks, but I’m not interested in relationships. Trouble is, my mother won’t rest until she’s married me off.” She laughed but there was no humor in it.
Just the thought of what awaited her back home exhausted her. She wasn’t lying when she said that her mother had lined up a string of men for her to date. That was another reason why she had fled Asencia. The pressure from her mother to date again.
Added to the humiliation of being publicly dumped, her mother had to find dates for her. Pathetic.
“I know what you mean. I’m not interested in relationships at all. I have too much to resolve at the moment,” Jaime said. “Try telling that to my mother.”
Ariana laughed. How had she gotten so comfortable with Jaime Cohan that she felt as if he was an old friend? An old friend who happened to have seriously sensual lips. She wondered how it would feel to press her mouth against his. Shocked at her line of thought, Ariana shifted her gaze away from his face.
“We should just do what our mothers want and get them off our backs,” Jaime said.
She looked at him. “What? Date.”
“We should do one better. Get engaged.” He had laughter in his voice.
The waiter brought their food. Ariana’s stomach rumbled as the delicious scent of the shrimp dish wafted up her nostrils. She loved American food. The dishes were similar to the food in Asencia except for the method of cooking. A lot of their meals were steamed rather than fried of baked.
She bit into her food and shut her eyes to savor the taste. “Mmmm, lovely.”
Jaime laughed. “There’s nothing like a woman who enjoys her food.”
For some reason she could not understand, Ariana felt a wisp of disappointment that Jaime was not interested in re
lationships. He could easily convince her to date again, if they lived in the same country and if he was open to dating. Those were too many ifs.
She had to stop thinking about that. She’d promised herself to enjoy her date without thinking of the future.
“How long have you been in the states?” Jaime asked.
“Four months,” she said and let out a dramatic sigh. “A glorious four months.”
He stared at her for a moment before his gaze dropped to her lips. Ariana’s heart rate kicked up a notch. She swallowed hard. Was he thinking about kissing her? Her hand shot out to grab her glass of water. She managed to wrap her hand around it but as she made to take a sip, she missed her mouth.
Half the glass of water soaked the front of her dress. Horrified, Ariana glanced down and groaned.
In a heartbeat, Jaime shot to his feet and came to her side. He grabbed a napkin and dabbed at her chest trying to soak up most of the water. In other circumstances, it would have been an erotic gesture but in the present case, it was plain embarrassing.
The hostess sidled up to Ariana. “There’s a drier in the ladies’ washroom.”
Ariana scrambled to her feet too fast and came up against Jaime’s hard chest. Her hands shot out and rested on his arms and, for a few seconds, all she could think was how good the hard mounds of his biceps felt.
“This way please,” the hostess said, snapping Ariana out of her trance. Embarrassed at her blatant show of attraction for him, she snatched her hands away and side-stepped Jaime.
Grateful for the training she had received while growing up on how to walk like a lady no matter how nervous she was, she strolled after the hostess with her head held high in the air, as if she had not just made a fool of herself.
Chapter Three
Jaime’s heart skipped a beat when Ariana emerged from the washroom and made her way back to their table. She moved as though she was floating rather than pushing one leg after another.
He stood up and pulled out the chair for her. Her scent of exotic fruit reached him first and an image of her dabbing perfume behind her ears formed in his mind.
His gaze lowered to the front of her dress where the water had poured. “Better?” He quickly shifted his gaze to her face when he found his gaze lingering on the splash on her chest for longer than necessary.
“Much,” she said and sat down. She waited until he sat down. “What is it like to work in a chocolate factory?”
Jaime chuckled at the unexpected question. “It smells of chocolate all day.”
Her arresting sapphire blue eyes widened and she leaned forward in her seat. He had never met a woman as beautiful as Ariana and he couldn’t believe that she had agreed to go on a blind date with him.
She had the kind of exotic looks you only saw in magazines and on runways. High cheekbones, a perfect heart-shaped face and thick wavy dark hair that cascaded to her back. Then there was her manner which could only be described as regal.
He owed his mother one. No, two. Heck, make that ten.
“Really?” Ariana said.
“Believe me, after more than a decade of working there, it’s not that impressive.”
“But I love chocolate!” Ariana exclaimed.
Jaime laughed. He hadn’t laughed so much in months and definitely not in a single setting. Ariana had succeeded where his family, work, therapist and even himself, had failed. She had made him the Jaime he knew. She had brought him back to himself.
“Do you want to come on a tour of Candin Inc?”
“Yes!” she said so loudly that other diners turned to stare. “I would love that! I’ll be honest, I’ve thought several times about asking your mom but I lost my nerve each time.”
“You should have, mother would have organized it with one of us.”
She smiled gently at him. “I know there’s a few of you?”
“I have four brothers and a sister,” Jaime said. “What about you?”
“One. A brother. He’s the—” she started to say.
“The what?” Jaime prompted.
She smiled. “The older one. He and his wife Sala have the loveliest daughters. Iyana and Cerie.” A soft look came over her features. “I can’t wait o see them when I go back home.”
“See, you are looking forward to going back home,” Jaime said.
“I am and am not,” she said but the playful atmosphere had disappeared.
Something had probably happened back home that made her not want to go back. Something unrelated to her family. Maybe an ex-boyfriend.
The thought of Ariana with a boyfriend made his chest feel like it was burning. Insane. He had only just met her and they’d both laid their cards on the table.
Neither of them was interested in a relationship.
“It’s getting late,” Ariana said.
He wondered how she had figured that out considering that she hadn’t glanced at her watch. Her guess was right though. He called for the check, a feeling of regret coming over him that the dinner was over.
Jaime couldn’t remember the last time he had enjoyed himself so much, even before he’d left for Afghanistan. Usually he couldn’t wait for the dinner to be over after another disappointment of a date.
After paying for their dinner, they made their way out.
“I’d like to drop you home,” he said outside the restaurant.
“I don’t mind getting an Uber,” Ariana said. “It’s a novelty and I can’t believe that all I need to do is tap a request on my phone.” She laughed.
“Are there no Ubers in Asencia?” Jaime asked.
She looked startled for a moment but she smiled and he thought he must have misread her facial expression. “I don’t know.”
Puzzled, Jaime left it alone. “I insist on taking you home. I’m being selfish I’m afraid. I enjoyed your company and I want more of it.”
He placed his hand in the small of her back as they made their way to the parking at the rear of the restaurant. Her body felt soft underneath her dress. He wished there was no material between him and her skin.
Jaime was pleasantly surprised when she did not comment on his car. Most of the women he dated noticed all the expensive things he had from his car to what he wore. It screamed materialistic even if it was probably not the case.
She recited her address while he inputted it into the GPS.
“George and Lillian are family friends. They visit Asencia every year,” Ariana explained as he drove her home.
“How nice for you that you had somewhere to stay for the last four months,” Jaime said. There was so much he wanted to ask but was afraid of invading her privacy. She had been considerate enough not to ask about his kidnapping and he wanted to give her the same respect.
“Oh yes, it was nice to have a family to stay with. Much better than a hotel.” She seemed deep in thought on the way home and Jaime refrained from making conversation.
He was glad that he was not seeing the last of Ariana. Fifteen minutes later, Jaime pulled up next to a stately house set back from the road. “You’re home!”
“Thank you,” Ariana said. “I had a wonderful evening.”
“So did I,” Jaime said. He got out of the car and went around to open the door for her.
It wasn’t his imagination or fancy thinking. Ariana had a regal manner about her. An aura of grace and dignity and something else he could not pinpoint. As if she was cut from a different cloth. Jaime shook his head. His thoughts did not make any sense.
He’d hoped that she would invite him in to meet her family friends, but at the front door, she turned to face him. She seemed conflicted for a few seconds, then she went on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.
The brush of her lips on his cheek was so soft and featherlight, it felt like he had imagined it.
“Is four in the evening a good time for the tour of the factory?” Ariana said, one hand holding the door knob.
“It’s perfect,” Jaime said. You’re perfect.
“Good night,” she
said and pushed the door open. She turned back once, gave him a smile and the entered the house and shut the door.
Jaime was whistling as he returned to his car.
HIS GOOD MOOD FOLLOWED him to the following day at work. Every time he thought about Ariana, he found himself smiling for no reason. He even went to the café at lunchtime, something he’d avoided doing since his return to work.
He joined the queue for lunch and chatted to a few people before grabbing a grilled chicken sandwich and a bottle of water for his lunch. He made for his usual table, all the while aware of the curious stares following him.
“Welcome back,” Lance said, flashing him a smile.
Maisie, his sister-in-law and Sean’s wife, stood up and kissed his cheek. “Nice to see you here.” She was the social media manager at Candin Inc and she did a superb job with it.
Greetings were echoed all around the table from his brothers and senior managers.
“Hey,” Maisie said when he had settled down. “I was thinking, you’ve never agreed to a profile in the past, how about now? People are curious about you, especially the ladies. They’ll be interested to know that you’re single.”
“I don’t like social media” Jaime mumbled. There was no way he was getting his picture on the social media pages of Candin Inc. “I’m not a chocolate or a gum.”
Maisie laughed. “That’s stupid and you know it. We feature people, not products.”
Trust his sassy sister-in-law to say exactly what she thought. They had more or less grown up together as her father, Henry Jacobs, had worked for the family since Jaime and his siblings were kids. Maisie had drifted in and out of their lives and when she started working at Candin Inc, she and Sean had fallen in love.
They were as different as two people could be, at least on the surface, but on a closer look, they were wired from the same DNA.
“Maybe,” Jaime said. “But I’m not single either.”
“You’re not?” Jaime hadn’t thought that Adrian, seated on the other side of the table, was listening to his and Maisie’s conversation.