“You got this, lady,” said Mai. “Mr. Highlander won’t know what hit him.”
“You are such a nerd,” I said, laughing.
I was still smiling when I reached the lobby. Alec stood just outside the building, and I relished the few seconds I had to admire him as I walked toward the glass door. He wore a perfectly-tailored dark pinstripe suit, a dotted tie, polished black dress shoes, and a pocket square. I didn’t think I’d ever actually seen a pocket square before.
“Right on time,” I said as I opened the door.
“You look incredible. Wow.” His blue eyes were more fire than ice, and they made me melt as they scanned me top to toe.
“You look great too,” I said weakly. That was an understatement.
“Thank you.” He smiled like he knew exactly how he was affecting me and held out his arm, a challenge written in his eyes.
I lifted my chin and took his arm. I hadn’t made it through the foster care system by not being able to ride to a challenge. Just because I chose my battles wisely didn’t mean I wasn’t capable of fighting.
My resolve to show Alec I could be as cool and sophisticated as him lasted less than half a dozen steps. The moment I saw the car, memories flooded over me and my skin immediately flushed, my heart skipping a beat.
“Still a very nice car,” I joked, proud of myself for not squeaking.
“I think so.” His gaze slid down my body and every cell hummed with new electricity. “Do you drive?”
“I can, but I don’t have a car. I budgeted with the goal of getting one after graduation, and I only need a couple more weeks to give myself some bargaining room. Using public transportation was a good way to keep down debt when I was in school.” I realized I was babbling and cringed. If I kept this up, he’d probably put me in a cab as soon as I was done eating and pick up a beautiful woman who knew exactly how to handle a date like this.
“Most people would see a car as a necessity,” Alec said as he opened the passenger’s side door.
Apparently, we were going to be in the front seat tonight. That was good. I wasn’t sure I could’ve handled being back there with him already.
“I’m not most people,” I said.
“I’m getting that.” He closed the door and walked around the car. Once he’d gotten settled and pulled the car onto the street, he picked the conversation back up. “Do you have a type of car in mind?”
I shrugged. “Pretty much just looking for a working one. If it gets me to where I need to go safely, I don’t care what sorts of bells and whistles it does or doesn’t have.”
“Not a lot of young people care about practicality more than appearance.” He cut a sideways glance at me. “But as you already said, you’re not most people.”
He wasn’t the first person to tell me I wasn’t like everyone else, but he was one of the few who I thought meant it as a compliment. I didn’t want to ask and be proven wrong, though, so I focused on another part of what he’d said.
“You say ‘young people’ like you’re not one. You can’t be much over thirty.”
He flashed one of those smiles that made my knees weak. “Thirty-three this past summer. If this is where you tell me you’re not old enough to drink, I can take us to one of those restaurants with the playgrounds.”
I laughed, feeling the tension in the car ease to a tolerable level. “You don’t need to worry about underage drinking. I’m twenty-four.”
“I still feel a wee bit like I’m robbing the cradle, but if you don’t mind, neither do I.”
I assured him that I was fine with the age difference, and the conversation shifted again, this time to the ridiculous number of advanced features this car had. We didn’t offer any additional personal information, and I was fine with that. This was a date with only one purpose – fun – and while neither of us specifically mentioned sex, the assumption of where the night would end had been there from moment one.
Case in point: the Goldfinch Tavern we were going to was located in the Four Seasons Hotel. The matter-of-fact way Alec was approaching this only solidified my decision. I was attracted to him – more than I’d ever been to anyone – and he wasn’t playing games with me.
We were both going into tonight with our intentions laid on the table. The fact that we’d have good conversation over a nice meal was a bonus. The only thing more important than any of this was that I felt safe with him. He’d already shown me that he’d stop if I asked, and with that worry out of my mind, I could focus on the rest.
He’d made a reservation for a two-person table in a quiet corner of the restaurant, a place where we could talk, but still public enough that I wasn’t overwhelmed. I didn’t know if he’d done it for my comfort or his, but either way, it allowed us to remain in our own little world without any of the dangers of being isolated.
Once we’d been seated, the waitress took our drink orders, then left with a promise to return after we’d had some time to look over the menu. As we perused the selections, Alec and I chatted about small things. Our favorite drinks (scotch for Alec, gin and tonic for me), the movies we liked (dramas), our ideal superpowers (teleportation for Alec, being able to talk to animals for me), and dozens of other things that allowed for sharing without awkward silences.
By the time our drinks arrived, I felt much more relaxed than I’d expected to be. Since my appetite hadn’t disappeared after all, I ordered the wild mushroom risotto and Alec ordered something called a tomahawk ribeye.
“Sláinte,” Alec said, holding up his glass.
