surprising him. “I can see it’s a truck.” She smirked. “I just figured you for the luxury sedan type.”
“I’m whatever fancies me at the moment type,” Jon told her honestly. Hitting the automatic locks, he opened the door for her and took the opportunity to touch her again. Slipping his hands around her waist, he hoisted her up into the cab, then closed the door and ran around to the driver’s side.
Excitement coursed through him, making Jon feel eager and energetic. It reminded him of when he was a teenager going out on his very first date. All that nervous anticipation and exuberance filled him to the point of bursting. It was insane, but it made him feel rejuvenated. Almost hopeful , even.
Jon climbed in and settled himself behind the wheel. “I hope you brought your appetite,” he said as he started the engine.
“I think you lost something,” Patricia said. She held up her hand.
Jon glance d over at her. Seeing that her arm was raised in the air between them, he noticed the glittering piece of jewelry dangling from her fingertips. Shit. Flashes of the woman he’d picked up at the club last night played in his mind’s eye. She was smoking hot in the latex micro mini and offered herself up like a sacrificial lamb. They’d had a few drinks and shared a few dances, and when she’d taken his hand and guided it under her skirt, her husky confession whispering in his ear, to show him she’d forgotten her panties, he’d all but dragged her back to his car. They hadn’t made it out of the parking lot.
It was easy to forget for a moment his desire for this woman sitting before him when he was drunk and horny, but now that he was right in front of her, with her staring expectantly back at him, he felt like a total sleaze. All he could see was her blue eyes watching him, waiting for an explanation, mixed with intermittent flashes of the woman he ’d fucked right there in the seat she was sitting in.
Fuck.
With practiced ease, Jon took the earring from her, inspected it briefly, and shrugged. “Huh, never seen it before. Must be my sister’s.” He smiled with a confidence he didn’t feel and leaned across her legs to open the glove compartment and toss it inside. “So, how does seafood sound?”
***
She didn’t know if she bought the sister excuse, but it was their first date and they weren’t exactly an item. It left Patti feeling torn. The string of bad relationships and equally bad boyfriends had made her wary of men and their tactics. Never again did she want to be reduced to just another notch in some man’s bedpost. But, as she looked into Jon’s eyes, all she saw was sincerity and kindness, so she decided to play it by ear. If things between them went no further than tonight, she’d be okay with it, and if it progressed into something more, than she would see it through to wherever it ended up.
Setting her concerns aside, Patti vowed to enjoy the evening ahead. “Seafood sounds wonderful,” she told Jon. He slanted a dizzying smile at her and eased into traffic.
He took her to a nice steak house with an African Savannah theme. The hostess seated them in a corner booth made to resemble a train caboose with prop luggage stored on a shelf overhead. It was a very casual yet elegant environment.
The menu itself was large and consisted of just about every type of meat available to man. Patti had a hard time choosing what to eat, but eventually settled on a light meal of pasta and shrimp with a fruity cocktail laced in rum to wash it down. She hadn’t been treated to a meal this nice in some time, which only made her realize the type of men she had subjected herself to before.
She really needed to up her qualifications.
Good thing Jon seemed to fit the bill.
“I’ve never been here before,” Patti confessed. She sipped her drink and cast her eyes around the room. Rattan paddles that swayed back and forth, gently stirring the air, decorated the ceiling. There were
Melody Carlson
Fiona McGier
Lisa G. Brown
S. A. Archer, S. Ravynheart
Jonathan Moeller
Viola Rivard
Joanna Wilson
Dar Tomlinson
Kitty Hunter
Elana Johnson