"Oh yeah. Sorry. I don't dine out often." Sara returned the glass to the table.
"No need to apologize, Sara. You never have to apologize to me, ever."
"Hmmm... you might have to take those words back some day," Sara said. “I can be mean sometimes.”
Nick looked at her keenly. Did she just allude to the possibility of something more than this dinner for them? He didn't want to think too much about her words, but he felt a sense of lightness. Maybe she did care for him as much as he cared for her.
"So, let's toast to..." Nick’s voice trailed off. His voice never waned when he talked to women, but Sara was not a regular girl.
"Friendship?" Sara completed his sentence.
"Friendship. The future. Us,” Nick said.
"Yes," Sara said. "To friendship and the future."
“Cheers,” they said as they clinked their glasses.
Nick noticed she didn’t say us, but he didn’t let it bother him. He had sensed she was overly cautious about their budding relationship, and he wanted her to come around in her own time.
"What would you like to order?" Nick asked when they put their wine glasses down.
"I'll try the house special," Sara said. “Whatever that may be.”
"Playing it safe?” he joked.
"I don't play it safe, which is why I ordered something I don't even know about."
"That's true. I didn't think about it that way. Let's see if you can handle the suspense." He signaled to the waiter to come take their orders. "I'll have the house special as well."
"Have you been to this restaurant before?” Sara asked.
“Yes, a few times,” Nick replied. “Why?”
“Because you probably already know what the house special is. How is that taking a risk?"
"You don't know me," Nick said. "We need to do something about that."
"We do?" Sara asked.
Nick nodded. "Yeah, you need to know a few more things about me.”
“Like what?” Sara asked teasingly.
“For one, I have been thinking about you all day. Secondly, I can’t stay still watching you. And lastly, I wish we could leave right now and go somewhere we could be alone, even if it’s just for a few hours.”
He watched Sara as she looked at him shyly, his focus on her lips. He hadn’t intended to make her uncomfortable, but he had done it again. She looked like a shy school girl, young, sexy, and innocent and totally turning him on. Those lips. He wanted so much to reach across the table and kiss her fiercely, but that would embarrass her. Besides, he had already made enough show with her for the evening as it was.
“Well, that we can do, but only after I get my house special.”
"Waiter?” Nick beckoned to a waiter, who was nearby. “How fast can we get our dinner?”
SARA
The house special, a combination of seafood and veggies, arrived, and between the main course and dessert, I was stuffed and ready to leave the restaurant.
“So, my invitation still stands,” Nick said with a wicked grin on his face.
“What invitation?” I asked as if I didn’t know he wanted me to go home with him.
“Disappearing with you somewhere private. I want you to come with me. Somewhere nice and relaxing.”
I swallowed the words I would have normally said, which caught in my throat. I couldn’t tell him I was not the sort of girl who slept with men on the first date because I had already slept with him before our first date. Instead of talking, I nodded.
“Would you want to go?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, excited at the prospect of somewhere nice. I bet it was probably his penthouse. Isn’t that where men like him took the women they bedded? The thought of him taking me to the same place he took every girl he met made me feel dirty, but the idea of being with him again and feeling him inside of me superseded my reservations.
“Then I’ll have the limo pick you up tomorrow. We’ll be out of town for a few days.”
“Tomorrow?” I asked, my eyes widening.
“Is that okay?” he asked, looking at me. “We can stay in the city if you’d like.”