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Her eyes widened but she didn’t dare pull her hand out of his; that contact with the warm flesh there was the only way she could keep telling herself that this day was real, and that she’d actually heard his words.
This has to be a dream.
“Or maybe you’re not into sushi?” he asked, his tone jovial but there was real worry in his eyes as they darted back and forth over her own.
“I love it, but is… Pardon me, Jamsheed, but would this be a date? I thought you might need a planning session to help with the arrangements to be made on the penthouse closing down. I don’t need dinner to do that.”
He shocked her yet again that morning by leaning down and kissing her cheek. “It’s assuredly a date, Brenda, and I have some other things to discuss with you and hopefully you’ll understand.”
She blinked at him as they parted. “I don’t mean to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I honestly do have to ask. Yesterday, I was just ‘the help’ when you were explaining me away to those other women. Now, you want to date me. Is this only because of your father’s ill health?”
Jamsheed stood taller and almost seemed to loom over her even as his piercing amber eyes never faltered in their gaze. “It’s about so many things, my fiery phoenix. Now, will you meet me tomorrow at seven or not?”
“I’d love to,” she said, even as her heart raced wildly, dragging all of her hopes with it.
***
“You have either work clothes or ones that scream ‘sexless nun,’” Anne said.
After she’d been let off work early that afternoon, Brenda went home and raided her closet, only to come to the conclusion she needed massive sartorial help. Even if Anne was a bit thinner than she was, the other woman was also around five-foot-eight and had excellent taste in clothes. On their level of salary, Anne had to be creative, and she combed every vintage and thrift shop in London a dozen times over. It led to an amazing cache of clothes.
But this was Jamsheed, and thus a DefCon 1 Dating Emergency. After all, Brenda had sworn off dating until Haley had gone off to college and she, herself, had moved to London. She didn’t want to have a parade of random men in and out of her daughter’s life. While she’d had a few lovers since coming to England, no one had been special or lasted more than a month or so.
Maybe because she’d been waiting for something bigger, for more.
Jamsheed was all of that, but she had no idea what he saw in her, not when she was just a plain redheaded maid and he could date any model, heiress, or actress he wanted.
“You are so lucky, darling, that you have a friend like me.” Anne tossed her a short red dress with coloring that matched her own fiery locks perfectly. “You need to try that on.”
She blushed. “I’ve seen you wear that. It doesn’t leave much to the imagination!”
“I think that’s exactly the look you need for Mr. Tall, Dark, and Regal,” her friend trilled.
Brenda rolled her eyes but headed into her bathroom. She couldn’t fault her friend for encouraging her to try something daring. After all, if she wanted to stay single and sexless, Brenda would have stuck to her usual wardrobe. This was the chance of a lifetime, and it deservedthe dress of a lifetime.
Shoving the red silk over her head, she adjusted it and then groaned. It hugged her curves a bit more tightly than it did on Anne, so close that it fit like a second skin. The low neckline dipped provocatively over her cleavage, while the hem came to just mid-thigh. Spinning around, she caught a glimpse in the bathroom mirror and even noticed how pert it made her ass look.
The last thing Brenda looked like was herself; she just wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
“I shouldn’t be out having a good time right now; I have to figure out everything with Haley.”
Anne knocked on the door. “You have to come out sometime, love. Besides, I can hear you talking to yourself in there so I’m betting you’re done. Also, if Sheikh Rahal sweeps you off your feet, then your money troubles are over!”
She yanked the door open even as she glared at her friend. “I wouldn’t use him like that. I don’t care about the money.”
“I was just saying.”
“Anne, I know you want me to try and not worry for a night, but I am. I have so much weighing on me, and the last thing I want to do is feel like a gold-digger!”
Anne’s facial expression froze, a cool look that told Brenda she’d gone too far. Her friend was different than she was, more brash, but that didn’t make her views wrong. Anne wasn’t a gold-digger, but she also wasn’t a wallflower like Brenda. She was willing and able to grab her chances at happiness and, while she stumbled, Anne was out there and living her life. Brenda could barely remember the last time she had a date, let alone recall the touch of a man.
“I never said that, Bren. You know I wouldn’t. I’m just saying that sometimes it’s okay not to feel like you have to support everything, that you have to be brave. It could be nice to think about it like a Cinderella story. Maybe he wants to whisk you off your feet after the other day. Maybe he realized he wants more from you.”
“Or maybe he’s going to do something really nice for me before he fires me.”
“You don’t really believe that, do you?” Anne asked, even as she handed Brenda a gorgeous faux-emerald costume-jewelry caliber necklace. Brenda’s idea to call her friend over for a fashion emergency had been correct. After all, Anne had an amazing eye and that necklace was perfect, not just for setting off her dress but also her dark green eyes. “If he wanted to make you redundant, he’d have done it by now. This is something else,” she continued, smiling as Brenda clasped the necklace around her throat.
“Is it too much?” Brenda asked, hoping desperately it wasn’t.
