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“So,what’s going on round here tonight?” Ridge asked as he brought the car to a smooth halt outside Maggie and Wes’s place.
“I think it’s date night,” she answered. “It’s their way of softening the impact of an unwelcome Monday, Wes told me.”
“There’s nowhere in the world that Mondays are welcome,” Ridge agreed, laughing. “But what about you?”
Raven shrugged. If anything, she would work a little on her novel and maybe watch a movie. “Not much.”
“Well,” Ridge began, “if you’re not busy, maybe we could take ‘date night’ as our cue?” Raven stared at him, sure she had just been asked out, but somehow unsure what to say next. “I mean, we could grab some dinner and...”
“Yes,” she said simply.
Ridge smiled broadly, as entertained by her quirky reply as he was relieved it was in the affirmative. “Great! May I pick you up at seven?”
You can do absolutely anything you want. “Sure. Seven.”
“OK, see you then?” he said, amused that Raven was suddenly, hilariously dumbstruck.
“Yup.”
“Great.” Ridge found himself grinning all the way back to his place.
Raven had left the car, entered the house, undressed and was in the shower before her mind had become even slightly present. “I’m going on a date with Ridge,” she said to herself, testing the notion against the stiff criteria of reality. “A date,” she repeated. “With Ridge.” As the concept sank in, a flutter of excitement became an anxiety surrounding what she might wear, what she should do with her hair, whether or not she should shave...
She reached for the razor and decided that it was simply neatness and comfort to tidy things up down there, not a prediction that anyone would be seeing her naked. “I’m going on a date,” she repeated. “With Ridge.” She set down the razor, its task complete. “Holyshit.”
Gettingready to go out was a series of tasks which would, she knew for certain, fill all of the available time, plus ten percent. Having spent far too long applying makeup to cover the fading bruise, trying on everything in her closet, and then far,fartoo long on her hair, she was up against it as the clock read 6:45. By the top of the hour, she was very stressed but looked fabulous in her favorite purple strappy dress, just provocative enough without giving too much away. Her long auburn hair was beautifully smooth, framing her pale face like a protective cloak. She fastened to her wrist a gold bracelet from her mother and then wound up endlessly dithering between her black lace panties or the purple thong, so that when the car horn sounded outside, she was still commando. Hurriedly pulling on the black panties, she checked herself in the mirror once more, took three deep breaths and headed outside.
It was a cooler evening than the last few, perhaps sixty degrees as the sun set. Locking the door and turning, she found Ridge leaning proudly against the gleaming hood of a silver 1960 Pontiac Bonneville, a stretched coupe which oozed glamor, its gorgeous, sleek lines glorified by swathes of impossibly lustrous chrome.
“Your carriage awaits,” he murmured, with a polite bow.
Hold on to it, girl,cautioned Raven’s inner voice.I know he’s smokin’ hot, worldly, muscular and ... oh, hang it, he’s perfect... just don’t go leaping before you look.Part of Raven knew it to be true, that discretion was the better part of valor, but other parts couldn’t wait to be as passionately indiscrete as any smitten girl ever had.
“Good evening,” she purred. “This issomechariot!”
He closed the door for her as Raven got comfortable in the roomy leather interior. Ridge took his place behind the almost comically giant steering wheel and confessed, “It’s not mine, just borrowed from Flynn’s dealership down the highway. But Ilovethis car. If I ever make some money, I’ll have it sitting in my garage with the greatest of pride.”
“Excellent taste,” she said, without sarcasm. “I bet you show up to all your first dates in a classic car, though, right?”
Ridge raised an eyebrow, popped the car into gear and slid onto the main street, heading out of town.Did I just accuse him of being a serial womanizer?Raven hated silence after she’d said something she feared might have been dumb. “So, erm...”
“You like Thai food?” he asked brightly. “There’s a new place about half way to San Antonio, it’s in this place that’s just a little backwater town like here,” he said, his haste revealing some date-night nerves. “Buddy of mine recommended it, and he’d know. His wife’s Thai.” He paused. “Or is she from Laos? Anyway, he says they have a great selection, so...”
“Perfect,” Raven said, happy to cut off Ridge’s endearingly nervous chatter. “And... Ridge?” He turned to her. “You can... you know, relax. I’m not going to bite.”
Ridge dropped his shoulders with a little sigh and then laughed at his own edginess. “Good to know.” The countryside looked as pretty as rural Texas ever did, the fields bathed in a pre-twilight orange. “Say, I don’t want to talk about this any more than you do, but... have you heard anything from your brother?”
Raven stiffened slightly but remembered that Ridge only wanted to help. “No, nothing,” she answered, and he nodded slowly. “Do you think that’s good news, or bad?”
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Ridge advised. “Corbett is looking into things, and I’d trust him with my life if I had to. We just need to put the two of them in a room, and Corbett will be able to make some things happen.” Raven felt another wave of reassurance calm her nerves. It was like an extra-sensory ability; she heard his voice and she immediately felt better, safer, more protected. She looked across at him, his hair waving in the breeze, a wonderfully fitted white button-down shirt accentuating the best parts of his physique. She tried not to glance at his dark blue jeans, remembering the warm thrill she’d felt at the impressive bulge under his towel…down girl!
“Here’s our turn,” he said, pulling the Pontiac off to the right and slowing for a stop sign. He copied Raven’s sideways glance, turning to take in her outfit. “You look great,” he said quietly, and immediately wanted a do-over, to frame it more articulately, with a touch of romance if at all possible, but she grinned happily and he considered the compliment well-delivered after all.
“Thanks, you do too. It must be hard to find shirts that fit as well as that.”Crap, too much?
Ridge loved it. “Well, that’s twenty agonizing minutes in front of my mirror well spent.”
“I see your twenty and raise you ten more,” she said, and the two laughed together at the unavoidable conventions of ‘date night.’ “And that was just my hair.”Fishing now, are we?Raven shushed her avid self-critic and tried to relax.
