"Then you should be aware of Nick Saunders. If he knew you were here by yourself..."
"Grandma.” A deep, intensely familiar, sexy voice spoke to Ms. Saunders. “Why are you scaring the lady?"
I knew it was him without even turning around. The guy from the café. Nothing had prepared me for this moment, but I didn’t have much choice but to turn around and say hello to him. One part of me was annoyed that he had tricked me into coming after my objections at the café, and the other part of me was happy to see him again. And then a third, more reasonable part of me imagined this was a mistake and him being at the café and me getting an invitation was a horrible twist of faith. He had meant to invite another Sara and I had showed up to his event.
"Who is this lovely lady you're talking to, Grandma?”
I turned around, fully expecting him to look shocked when he saw my face, but he simply smiled at me, his brown eyes daring and bold. He was exactly how I remembered him. Devilishly handsome. I let his brown eyes gaze back at me, looking deep into my eyes, and I thought I'd melt.
"Oh, she's your guest, isn't she? You can't tell me you don't know the lovely Sara Nolles," his grandmother said.
I forced myself to keep smiling as I imagined his smile fading any second once he heard “Sara Nolles.” But his smile did not wane. Instead, he reached out and took my hand. When his skin touched mine, I almost withdrew my hand because it felt like he had scorched me. He looked so rugged even in his suit, I had imagined his hands would be rough, but they were rather delicate. I had to remind myself that he was ultra-rich and could afford as many manicures as he wanted. But I wasn’t going to let him intimidate me with his money. I held his gaze and shook his hand, waiting for the instant he would call me out as fake and pull me to the side.
"Nice to finally meet you properly, Sara," he said. “The café was just too stifling.”
I was seething with anger, but I did my best to control it out of respect for Ms. Saunders. Did he really think he could push me around just because he had money? I had made it clear I didn’t want to date him, but he had pushed. I had to admire his tenacity, though, but not at that moment.
His grandma looked at him and smiled. She turned to me like I was her long lost friend and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "See you around, Sara. Be careful of this one," she said as she walked away.
When she left, he turned to me and smiled. “I’m sorry I had to do it this way. You were blowing me off, and I wanted to make a good first impression, a second time.”
“We’ve already met. How can you make a new impression?” I was still mad, but I was beginning to soften. He was certainly persistent. Even though I had no plans of getting into his bed, he was trying so hard that I had to like him just a bit for his persistence.
“Well, I was hoping you would let me try again.”
“I’m afraid that might be too late. Your grandmother already warned me,” I teased, trying not to smile.
“Yes, my grandmother,” he smiled lovingly at her. “She likes you.”
"She’s lovely," I said.
"She can be pushy sometimes." He bent over and whispered in my ear, "The old lady certainly scared me when I was growing up."
I chuckled at the thought of the kind old woman being hard on him. “You must have deserved it.”
“Maybe so. I was a rascal,” he said. “I guess she wanted to see me grow up right.”
I smiled at him. Maybe he wasn’t too bad after all.
"You're not drinking?" he asked as he signaled to a waiter.
"Everyone in your family wants to get me drunk," I told him with a smile. "And really, you've not formally introduced yourself." I knew who he was, but I wanted him to confirm. I needed him to tell me he was Nick Saunders, the man whose diamond necklace lay in my purse.
"My poor manners. Maybe Grandma didn’t do a good enough job of making me a gentleman. I’m Nick Saunders," he said, reaching out his hand again.
"Sara Nolles. But you already knew that."
"Yes, I did a little homework. Did you?”
I didn’t want to tell him I had not researched him. It hadn’t been important when he was just Nick Saunders, but now that he was Mr. Rich from the café, I had to give him a second thought. “Not much. All I know is you own a Rolex and a limo and like your coffee strong.”
"I take it you want to know more about me, then?” he asked, his gaze making me catch my breath.