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“He doesn’t even laugh.”
“It’s your first night together. Of course he wouldn’t find your humor likeable.”
“I think my humor’s pretty okay. It’s his that ain’t.”
Lynne rolled her eyes as she stopped in front of Mikaela’s apartment building. “Look, Milly,” she said, using a nickname only few knew about. “Just date him. What harm could it do? And if he does something stupid, slap him with a lawsuit, then we’ll both live the rest of our lives bathing in milk and rose water or something.”
They both laughed aloud.
Chapter3
She didn’t send her “no” immediately. In fact, she didn’t send it at all. She had waited for a full hour and had thought he was probably asleep when she sent her message that she agreed to go to dinner with him.
He replied after five minutes. Did he wait? She wouldn’t know. But here she was, trying to look her best with the most decent after-work outfit she could find, jeans and a plain white shirt. No one could go wrong with that, right? Except she began to wonder if she looked too plain. She didn’t look haggard, which was a good thing. And Lynne told her to look her best half-naked.
She had asked what it meant. It meant to bring spare lingerie, just in case.
“I’m not down for that on the first date!”
“You haven’t been laid in so long,” Lynne insisted over the phone as they had their lunch break in opposite ends of the city.
In the end, she did, but she didn’t tell Lynne. Yeah, it was for good measure. Besides, she sort of knew when a guy was attracted to her. Justin insisted on picking her up. She didn’t want him to at first. If he saw where she lived, he’d totally get turned off. Well, if he really was the billionaire that Lynne had said he was, he wouldn’t be too happy to see where she lived. She had gotten off of work at past three and he had said he’d pick her up by six.
He was prompt. He called her, just to make sure he was on the right street. She waved from her window, four floors up, and he saw him wave back. There was no smile. She began to wonder if her decision was all right. They could have met at the restaurant, but he was being all gentlemanly, or maybe he was being a huge showoff. His car was a sleek silver Mercedes Benz, and people ogled at him as he waited by the curb.
Dinner was in some fancy Italian restaurant where she felt severely undressed. She saw how the women wore dresses at least and here she was in ripped jeans.
“Would you care for some wine?” Justin asked her, seeing how selfconscious she was becoming. Her eyes kept darting around, unsure of herself in a place like that. “Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m-I’m just not used to this.”
“Mikaela, this isn’t even a five-star restaurant or anything. It’s just a bit classier than your usual bistro. You don’t stand out, so don’t worry about it.”
She grinned at him, embarrassed. “Yeah, I guess.”
“So, wine?”
“I don’t drink. Like I said yesterday.”
“Too bad, they serve excellent vintage wine here.”
She bit her lower lip, worried that she might upset Justin. “Maybe after we’ve eaten.”
He was observing her observing everyone else, observing even the servers. It was a far cry from her café and he wondered if she had ever eaten in an Italian restaurant that wasn’t the Olive Garden.
“You liking your food?” he asked her.
She nodded. The risotto was pretty good, seeing this risotto didn’t come from a microwaveable pack. She made good on her word to drink wine after the main course had been served, so she did. The wine was sweet and sour at the same time. There was a term for this. Tart. It was tart, right?
He had ordered one whole bottle of wine and she had drunk two glasses by the time tiramisu was being served. She was finding it difficult to focus and she felt pretty warm.
“Are you okay?” he asked her, amused that someone would get that drunk with two glasses that weren’t even filled halfway.
“A little tired,” she replied. “Well tired-sleepy, but not too tired to do other stuff.”
“What other stuff?” he asked as the waiter cleared their plates away.
“I dunno. Walk around guess. I haven’t had a good walk on the beach in months.”
