"Yeah," she giggled. "The one right outside your office building? You used to take me every time our dads had meetings."
Her expression darkened. Neither of us mentioned the elephant in the room - the fact we weren't supposed to be seen with one another after all. Since our families were feuding, it would be completely unacceptable if we spent time together. But I didn't give a shit.
I tapped the roof of the cab and the car pulled away with Bex's shocked face appearing in the window. She mouthed a curse word and banged on the window, but it was too little too late. She'd served her purpose.
Violet watched the cab take off, a cute little smile playing on her lips as she turned her eyes to mine.
"Wasn't that your date?" she asked.
"I'll see her later," I told her, and her expression fell.
But I wanted it that way. I wanted her jealous, imagining all the things I was going to do to Bex as the night went on. It would only make her want me for herself more.
"Shall we?" I offered her my arm. "It's only a couple of blocks away, we can walk. And you can tell me all about this terrible date of yours."
"Are you sure?" She hesitated before finally wrapping her arm around mine. "I really don't think we should be seen together."
"I don't give a shit about that," I told her. "Come on, princess."
We started walking toward the ice cream shop and she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Wanna tell me about it?" I asked her and watched another tear slip down her cheek.
"It was just a disaster," she finally muttered. "I never should have agreed to the date in the first place. I was just doing it as a favor to my dad."
"Always a good reason for a date," I teased her, and she let out a small giggle. "What happened?"
"Well, he was ten minutes late," she managed, her voice bitter. "But his other date wasn't."
"What?" My eyebrows shot up. "Another girl showed up?"
"Yeah," she ground out. "A gorgeous, tall blonde dressed so inappropriately my mouth gaped. She said she was looking for him, Steven Hawthorne."
"And then?" I asked gently, guiding her over the street.
"And then Steven finally showed up," she went on. "Denied ever seeing the girl. But she insisted he'd invited her. That he'd paid her."
"Paid her?" I asked. "So, she was..."
"I'm guessing so," Violet admitted miserably. "I can't believe he asked a... a... girl like that to join us on our first date. What the hell did he think was going to happen?"
She looked up at me as if I had the answers, and my eyebrows shot up, giving her a silent reason.
"God," she muttered. "I wasn't going to sleep with him on the first date!"
"I know that, princess," I told her calmly. "But given what I know about Steven, I'm guessing he was trying to persuade you."
“That’s awful,” she said, shaking her head. “I never should have let Dad set this up. I don’t even like Steven.”
A thousand questions bloomed in my head, wondering whom she liked if it wasn’t that son of a bitch Hawthorne. Jealousy twisted my guts into knots, but I shook my head to get the thought out. Tonight was about making Violet more comfortable around me, not claiming her. The time for that would come.
We arrived at the sundae shop just as an employee turned over the ‘open sign’.
“Oh no,” Violet exclaimed. “It looks like it just closed.”
“Don’t worry,” I replied, knocking on the glass door.
The employee, a woman in her forties, turned around and glared at us with her hands on her hips. She pointed at the sign and shrugged, and I held up a stack of hundred-dollar bills. Her eyes instantly lit up, and she grinned, opening the door wide.
“Welcome to Angelo’s Gelato,” she grinned.
“Welcome indeed,” I smirked, giving her the cash. “The lady will have a salted caramel sundae. Extra peanuts and hold the marshmallows.”
The woman nodded and disappeared into the kitchen while Violet gave me a surprised look.
“You remember,” she said.
“Of course I do,” I told her. “We used to come here a lot. Now the real question is, can you still handle that sundae? Because if I remember correctly, it’s so big you need two people to finish it.”
She grinned, saying, “You’ll just have to help me.”
I walked her to a booth and we slid into the red leather seats. Her eyes were wide, and the atmosphere was perfect. It almost felt like the date she never got to experience.
We chatted about this and that while we waited for her order, careful not to broach the subject of our families. I didn’t want to upset her. I knew our family quarrels were a sore spot for her.
Moments later, the waitress appeared with the ice cream, setting it down in front of Violet triumphantly and sticking her palm out to me.