Since picking up a basketball, I’d never felt out of place because I always had somewhere I belonged. Sitting in her driveway, though, I was totally lost.
I had no clue where I would fit into her world. I mean, I loved my car. An Aston Martin Vanquish had been my dream car growing up, but here in this neighborhood, it was too flashy, and I knew it.
My head tilted forward, resting against the steering wheel; I regretted tonight’s decisions. Making some last minute changes, I tucked the blue wrapped gift into the glove box. I didn’t think it was any big deal, a charm bracelet from Tiffany with a champagne bottle, a phone, and a basketball. But she might, and that was all that mattered.
I headed up to her front door with a bouquet of flowers. The path was spotless. There was no dirt or cobwebs—hell, even my house had stray leaves and pine needles on my front walkway. I didn’t have to knock before she was opening her bright red door and greeting me.
“I was worried about you for a second,” she said in place of hello.
“Why?”
“You stayed in your car for a while.”
“Oh, just nervous, don’t want to screw this up. Speaking of, these are for you.” I thrust the bouquet forward.
“Come on in, let me set these in some water.” I followed her through her small house, feeling more and more like Baymax than the physically fit guy I was.
Her home smelled of vanilla, warm and inviting. I stayed at the edge of her kitchen as she moved to a cabinet, placed one hand on a vase, and froze. She stood there for a few seconds, and I couldn’t stand it, I moved to her. Wrapping one arm around her and slowly placing my other hand on hers to keep her from dropping the glass vase that obviously had meaning.
“I’ve got it.” I set it on the counter and then wrapped my arms around her tightly, holding her and no longer feeling like some giant catastrophic mess.
Vivian tilted her head and leaned closer to me. For the life of me, I couldn’t resist it. I wanted to wait until the end of our night, but now was right. Sliding one hand to the back of her head, I pulled her mouth closer to mine. Our lips touched for the barest of seconds before my tongue was diving in, splashing into a world of tastes, the mint of toothpaste, her sweetness that seemed to permeate every inch of her body, and something fruity that matched the scent of her shampoo. Our tongues twirled, before I pulled back and then dove back in, almost to the same beat that I desperately wanted to move our bodies to.
Vivian moved her hips closer to mine; she was pressed against my erection. She was reacting in the heat of the moment, but I didn’t want any regrets between us, I wanted so much more.
“Come on, Little One, we better get going or we will miss our reservation.”
“Oh, sorry, did I cause us to run late?” Her face squinted.
“It was totally your fault, or rather your mouth’s, it was too damn delectable to pass up. Let’s get your flowers in water and get on the road.”
It only took three minutes, then we were in the car, and we were walking into the restaurant only a minute or two past our reservation time.
“Mr. Skkye, we’re so glad you’re here, we have your table ready just as you requested. Please follow me.”
I lowered my head to whisper to Vivian, “Have you ever seen Young Frankenstein?”
“The movie? Hell yes.” She threw one hand over her mouth, and we both laughed as I tugged her closer
“Yeah the movie. You know when Igor says, ‘Walk this way,’ and everyone hunches over and walks like him. I’ve always wanted to do that. Like walk like her. Look, she has one hand on her hip. It would be so funny.” I stopped talking when we reached our table in the back corner of the restaurant. I had requested a four-top table with two chairs both facing away from the rest of the patrons.
A server stepped up to pull Vivian’s chair out for her, but I moved into his way and helped her myself.
Once I was seated as well, we accepted our menus, the server opening them to make sure we received the correct ones. Chatham Place was one of the, if not the most expensive restaurant in Orlando, but the food was worth it. There were two different menus, one for the date and one for the bill payer. The difference was that only the bill payer’s had prices next to items.
“It seems you know your way around the place, is this where you bring all of your dates?” Vivian asked.
“Believe it or not, I don’t date a lot, and no, I’ve never brought a woman here. The team actually reserves the whole place for meetings, so we can eat while being lectured.” In my peripheral, I saw someone coming toward us. “Quick, give me your phone.”
“Why?”
I laid my hand on the table open, palm up. “Gimme, hurry.”
Vivian quickly grabbed her purse, but it was too late.
“Sir, Madam, I have a chilled bottle of Armand de Brignac Ace of Spades,” the sommelier said as he showed me the label and waited for me to approve the bottle. I nodded, and he popped the cork.
“Is that champagne?” Vivian asked. I just smiled. “Smart ass.”
“I thought it was funny.” Once we received our glasses, the bottle was wrapped with a cloth and set into an ice bucket on the edge of the table.
“To a great night.” I held up my glass.
“And continuing to learn more about each other.” Vivian brought her glass up to mine, and they tinged. “So, what was up with
