Hesmiled again, this time with amusement. I suddenly felt stupid. I was going tobe that lady he laughed about later with his buddies, I just knew it. “Valetparking, ma’am. You can’t go beyond this point, but if you just leave your keyswith me, I’ll park for you. I’ll give you a ticket with a number, and—”
“Yes,I think I know what valet parking is,thank you,” I snapped. Did hethink I just crawled out from under a rock?
But,I realized, my tone had been harsh, and I muttered a brief apology. It had beena very long time since I blew the dust off my “first date” card and I wasstressed.
“It’sokay, but, uh, ma’am?”
Grippingthe steering wheel tightly, my knuckles turned white, and I glanced in therearview mirror to see a line forming behind me. My eyes widened in horror.
God,now they’ll all see me get out of this damn thing and they’ll know that thelady in the long black satin gown is driving a rusty old Mom Mobile. What ifone of those people behind me is James? What if I don’t get my pea-sizedgourmet filet mignon?
Theyoung man cleared his throat awkwardly and I turned my attention back to him,faking a smile and pulling the keys from the ignition. Slowly, I opened thedoor and as I tried to carefully exit without falling flat on my ass, I steppedon the hem of my dress, almost pulling the thing down off my chest. Before Icould suffer a serious wardrobe malfunction, I quickly remedied my situationand adjusted my dress.
Blesshis heart, the kid pretended to not notice.
Takingthe keys from me, he smiled politely and handed me a ticket. “Just give thisback to me when you’re ready to leave.”
Iglanced back atOl’ Rusty. “If I slip you a fifty,will you pretend to steal this thing and drive it into a ditch somewhere?”
***
Thesmiling hostess asked me if I was meeting someone.
“Oh,uh, yes,” I said absentmindedly, as my eyes rolled upward to look at thechandelier above my head. She asked if I had his name. “His name? Not his lastname, no…”
Thesmile never left her face. “Well,” she said, looking down at the list of namesin front of her, “do you have a first name?”
“Ofcourse, I have a first name,” I chuckled, marveling at the multicoloredcrystals. “I’m Holly.”
“Holly,Holly, Holly …” she mumbled under her breath, her finger scanning the namesdown the list. “I’m sorry, there’s no Holly listed here …”
Mystomach flipped, and I felt the beginnings of panic settle in. “W-what?”
“Doyou have the first name of the man you’re meeting?” She spoke slowly, obviouslythinking I was a fool, and she would have been right.
“Oh!Oh, yes. His name is James.”
Ivowed to never enter a fancy restaurant again as she scanned the list onceagain.
“Ah,yes, here we are. He’s already been seated, so if you’ll follow me please …”
Ichecked my dress, making sure it was still sitting comfortably on top of mychest and not below it as she guided me through a pair of stained glass Frenchdoors into a room more dimly lit than the one before it. The sounds of clangingutensils and clinking glasses filled the room as we weaved through what feltlike dozens of tables, and then, I saw him, and my heart decided to wedgeitself in my throat.
Now,you know those books that will just prattle on about how gorgeous some guy is,and after you’ve read seventeen descriptive paragraphs about his beautiful hairand perfect body, you just start to skim because first of all, no man couldpossibly be that good looking, and second of all, oh my God, you get italready?
Well,if someone decided to write afreakin’ book aboutthis guy, they could have written seventeenchaptersabout how gorgeoushe was, and it would have been totally justified. I would have read everysingle word, and I would have agreed with every sentence of it, because I had neverseen a man more beautiful than that one right there.
Hewas ever so slightly sun-kissed, enough to give him some color, and I wassilently grateful that he wasn’t sporting one of those nasty orange fake tans.His dark brown hair was slicked back, and my God, he was so much better lookingthan his picture.
Thehostess extended her arm, allowing me to walk ahead of her towards the table,as she said with a smile, “Your server will be with you shortly. Enjoy yourmeal.”
Iquietly thanked her and turned my attention towards the table. I shook away anylast bit of doubt and inadequacy, and sauntered my way over to that table,making sure to exaggerate the sway of my hips. I was going to win this man overif it was the last thing I did.
OnceI was standing next to the table, I could smell the heavy musk of his cologne.I wasn’t a fan of men who liked to bathe in the stuff, but this only seemed toadd to his masculine aura and made him just that much more attractive. I wantedhim to feel the same about me so desperately, and I leaned over just a little,exposing as much cleavage as humanly possible. I felt just the slightest bitdesperate, but if all this night resulted in was a good roll in the sand, Iwould’ve been satisfied with knowing that I had a one-night stand with God’sactual gift to women.
Thatwas when he looked up, and sweet Jesus, his eyes were the iciest shade of blueI had ever seen. I was almost scared that, as he stared at me, he was reallysucking my soul from my body through his eye sockets. But then again, I wasalso kind of okay with my soul belonging to him for all of eternity.
Igazed into his eyes as a big smile slowly stretched across my lips. I leanedforward just a little bit more, bringing my face a little closer to his, closeenough for me to feel his breath on my face. I could have kissed him right thenand there, because I was apparently in the habit of kissing strangers. But Ijust lingered there for a moment before saying in my huskiest and sexiest ofvoices, “You must be James.”
