I pretended to glance at Jackson, who had his eyes firmly on Liza, before turning back to Henry. “I think you may be right,” I leaned in to whisper to him, making the encounter more intimate.
My heart was going a mile a minute but on the outside I seemed calm and collected.
“Tell me about yourself, Nicolette,” Henry asked, raising the glass of amber liquid to his mouth and taking a sip.
“I’m a junior executive at a marketing firm in the city, but my passion is fashion,” the last few words slipped out before I could stop them. I was pretty sure that was the first time I had ever uttered them out loud.
“Fashion? I used to work in fashion until a month ago when my cousin and my mother kicked me off the board of their company,” Henry said the words bitterly, spitting them out with a sideways glance at his cousin. Jackson gave him a small, curt nod, his eyes so dark they were like molten lava, before turning back to Liza.
“Oh, uh, I’m sorry to hear that,” the conversation was getting off track and I wasn’t sure what else to say.
An awkward silence fell over the table. The waiter appeared just in time, taking our orders before walking away. I glanced at Liza again, who was staring past Jackson, trying to avoid eye contact. For the second time I asked if she wanted to go to the ladies room. I needed a moment away to regroup and clearly she did too. This time she accepted. The both of us made our way to the back of the restaurant, pushing into an empty bathroom as I pulled Liza behind me.
“What is going on, Liza? I know you hate blind dates but can you be a little less rude, please?” I said because even though things had gone off the rails with Henry for a bit, I still wanted to get to know him. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had to know him.
She gave me a heavy sigh before admitting that she met Jackson before. After much talking in circles and much questioning, and a brief interruption from some rude women who noticed our dates in the restaurant, Liza finally told me that she slept with Jackson the night I stood her up at the club. Guilt gripped my chest, because though I told her I went home with a guy, I never told her the details. I abandoned my best friend to have sex with a guy to numb my pain and here she was on this awkward blind date because of me.
I was a terrible friend.
And on top of being a terrible friend, some disgusting women in the bathroom made me feel like any hope I had of anything with Henry was shot.
“I think we should leave,” Liza said, her face set in a mask of exasperation.
I sighed, because even though I didn’t like hearing about how much of a womanizer the guy I was on a date with was from some hoochies in a bathroom, I didn’t want to leave.
“I don’t want to leave. I don’t care what some hoochies in the bathroom said about Henry. I really like him, Liza,” I made myself admit.
Liza sighed, the irritation that was painting her face from the moment we walked into this place fell away. After an additional plea, she finally caved, the same way she had when I asked her to come with me on this date. Because Liza was a better friend to me than I was to her.
I told myself I would do my best to make it up to her later as we walked back to the table. I also made her promise to give me all of the details about Jackson, though she ignored me.
When we reached the table again, our food had arrived. Henry and Jackson pulled our chairs out for us and we both sat, exchanging a look. The men seemed to notice, exchanging their own look before they both picked up their forks to eat.
For a while, there was silence at the table. I never cared for awkward silences, feeling the need to fill them, so I turned to Henry again.
“What was your position on the board of the company?” I asked him as I pushed a forkful of Caesar salad into my mouth.
Henry turned to me, setting his knife and fork down on his plate. “I was in charge of marketing for the fashion line. But our sales began tanking this year so mother decided to hire someone new to ‘pick up the slack’.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said, looking down at my plate.
Henry seemed bitter about his relationship with his mother and their company. The urge to try to fix whatever was wrong overtook me. I was a fixer, a problem solver, and I wanted to help him but I didn’t want to press him further either. My mind was blank on something else to say, though. Instead, I turned to Liza, bringing up her job as a kindergarten teacher. She shot me a death stare, which seemed to set Jackson off.
While the two of them bantered, I turned back to Henry who was brooding silently into his glass of scotch.
“I’m sorry I brought up the company again,” I felt the need to apologize since he looked so dejected.
Henry sighed, turning those stunning eyes back to me with a smirk on his face. “No, you don’t have to apologize. I was being a dick. How about we talk about something else?”
“Okay, what do you want to talk about?” I asked the question with a smirk of my own. The figurative ball was solidly in his court.
He wagged a finger at me, setting his glass down with a chuckle. Leaning back against his chair, he glanced over at his cousin and Liza, before he leaned forward toward me again.
“What do you think is up with those two?” He asked the question in a conspiratorial whisper.
I shrugged, mimicking his movements of leaning in. “I can’t tell you. It’s a secret,” I said in an even quieter voice, my eyes darting to them as if I were afraid they would hear me, my hand up by my mouth to cover my words.
Henry laughed, loudly, the sound echoing inside of the small dining room. Several people turned to look at us and my face heated at the attention. But Henry didn’t notice or if he did, he didn’t seem to care. His attitude helped me relax and I paid no attention to the other patrons as well.
“Maybe you’ll tell me another time then,” he said with a wink.
My stomach turned over, butterflies attacking it. He wanted to see me again.
“It’s a date,” I answered him boldly.
Henry cocked an eyebrow at me but didn’t say a word. The rest of the dinner we chatted casually. He told me about his love of sailing and formula one cars and I told him about my love of fashion, shopping and all things designer related.
“I’d tell you to speak to my mother about the fashion thing, but as I’m not even speaking to her right now I’m not sure that would be a good idea,” he said that same sexy smirk, the one that made a dimple crease in his right cheek, on his face again.
“Well, if you two decide to get back on good terms, I’d love to pick her brain about the industry.” I didn’t tell him about how much I regretted getting into marketing and having a business degree. It was my father’s doing and to appease his fears I went along with it. As I did with everything.
Henry reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out. “Give me your number so I can contact you when Mother and I start speaking again.” He winked at me and my stomach somersaulted again.
I rattled off my phone number, feeling my phone vibrate inside my purse on my lap.
“I sent you a text so you could save me in your contacts.” Confidence radiated off of him in waves, as if sending a girl he just met his number and insisting she save it was something he did regularly.
Maybe it was.
I nodded, pulled my phone from my clutch and went through the motions of saving his number, though I was under no delusions that he would actually call me. For the first time, I really liked a guy in a way that had nothing to do with my emotional scars and I didn’t even have the confidence to think he would call me. Figured.
“Are we ready for dessert? An after dinner latte or espresso?” The waiter asked.
Liza frowned at me and I gave her a slight shake of my head to tell her not to ruin this evening.
“No, thank you,” she said quickly before anyone else at the table could speak.
I scowled at her but she refused to look at me. Jackson asked to see the dessert tray but Liza cut him off again.
“Do
n’t you have that event tomorrow morning? For the children’s hospital?” She asked me.
I let out a heavy breath, because she was right. Even if I wanted to stay longer, I had to go. My dad would have my head if I didn’t show up tomorrow on time.
“I do, actually. I completely forgot about it. I’m going to have to pass on dessert as well,” I sighed again, but knew Liza was relieved.
“How about we have our driver give you a ride back to your apartment?” Henry said to me.
I nodded with a wide smile on my face. “That would be great!”
“We can catch a cab. Right, Nic?” Liza said, shooting daggers my way again.
I ignored her, feeling a slight stab of guilt again but ignored that too. She would be fine for a twenty minute car ride up town. What if I never saw Henry again? What if he didn’t call? This would be my only chance and I wasn’t going to waste what little time we had to talk and get to know one another. Liza of course stalled, not standing up right away and I said her name like a threat. She stood with her own sigh, murder in her eyes, but I didn’t wait around to see if she was behind me. I followed Henry from the restaurant and out to the car that was waiting for us.
I owed myself this little bit of time with Henry because I knew tomorrow I would be back to my old habits of self-sabotage. It was only a matter of time.
Acknowledgments
This is always the hardest part for me because I want to thank everyone.
Thank you Jenn Wood at All About the Edits for polishing all of my words and helping to make my book the best version of what it could be.
Thank you to all of you who have continued to support me with my writing career by purchasing my first book, especially my family and friends.
Thank you to all of my new fans and readers! Without you I wouldn’t be able to keep doing what I am doing.
And of course, as always, thanks to my wonderful husband for always being there with encouragement, reading my books even though romance novels aren’t your thing, and never being afraid to tell me when you think something doesn’t work. Love you now and always.
About the Author
I have always been a voracious reader. I love thrillers, contemporary, historical but most of all, romance. Romance is where my heart has always been, pun intended.
In addition to my love of reading, I developed a desire to write. I knew when I started writing again as an adult, five years ago, that romance was what I wanted to write.
I started as a ghostwriter and did that for four years, while also writing on my own and hoping to publish something of my own someday. Finally, in summer 2019, I decided to jump in with both feet and start the process of writing and publishing my own novel. I hope you’ll come along for the ride and fall in love along the way, just as I have with writing.
Connect with me!
Victoriajbest.com
Other books by Victoria J. Best
One Series
One Night (book 1)
One Song (book 2)
Playlist for One Song
“Ocean”—Martin Garrix and Khalid
“What a Time”—Julia Michaels and Niall Horace
“When the Party’s Over”—Billie Eilish
“Stay”--Khalid
“Waves”—Dean Lewis
“Talk”—Khalid
“Love Me Now”—John Legend
“I Don’t Wanna Live Forever”—ZAYN and Taylor Swift
“Blame”—Calvin Harris feat. John Newman
“Sure Thing”—Miguel
“Better”—Khalid
Find One Song playlist on Spotify
One Song: book two in the one series Page 28