“You look fabulous.”
Smiling I told him the same thing that I had told Jeffrey, “Thank you, so do you.” He really did, as always. He was wearing a dark blue very well-tailored suit. His hair was stylishly mussed and he had just a touch of a five o’clock shadow. He looked so good I could have eaten him with a spoon. “So why is this place so empty? Was the health inspector here?” I asked him, jokingly.
“I reserved it for us,” he said.
“You did what?”
“I reserved it.”
“The entire restaurant? Why?”
“Because I wanted to spend the evening alone with you.” He picked up the bottle of wine that was chilling next to our table and he poured me a flute. He poured himself some then and held up his glass, “To us,” he said with that dazzling smile.
“To us,” I echoed. We both drank and then the waitress appeared with our food. Aaron must have pre-ordered it. That would have normally irritated me a bit…to not be allowed to order for myself…but when I looked at the plate I had to admit that he’d done a great job.
“So tell me about your day,” I said as we ate.
He sighed and said, “There seems to always be too much to do. The China group…Xiong are in a hurry to get our deal finalized. They found out that I didn’t go out of town and now they’re urging me into a meeting to finalize the merger. Then there’s a family business that I’m working on buying and then this party tomorrow night…I’m really sorry about that.” He did sound remorseful, but he still didn’t offer an invitation. I was going to try and not let it bother me. I’d have plenty of fun with my friends…
After dinner, they served us a chocolate volcano cake with vanilla ice cream. I thought I was much too full to eat it, but one taste and I was hooked. By the time I was finished I could hardly move. Once dessert was over Aaron stood up and took my hand. He led me out onto a balcony that overlooked a small man-made stream. It was decorated up with twinkling Christmas lights and the snow that had fallen a few days before still clung beautifully to the sides of it. The sky was clear again and there was soft music floating out of the speakers. There was a large, brick fire pit with a warm, glowing fire burning inside. Our shadows danced and flickered across the walls behind us as we stood looking at the stars for a while and then Aaron turned to me and said,
“May I have this dance?”
I took his hand and he led me in an amazing and romantic waltz across the smooth wooden floor of the balcony. It was below zero outside, but my blood had reached the boiling point by the time we finished. When the song came to an end he looked down into my eyes and the smoldering embers that lie dormant in the pit of my stomach when he wasn’t around ignited. Our lips met and after a few seconds of just feeling each other softly he slipped his tongue in my mouth and explored, at one point he sucked my bottom lip into his mouth and licked it with his tongue. Everything he did and all the time was spent together led me one more step towards falling in love with him. I wished, wondered and hoped that he was feeling the same.
~
CHAPTER THREE
~
ROBYN
I bought the dress I was wearing for New Year’s Eve about a week before Christmas. It was a stunning jade green that featured a floor length skirt with a slit up over the calf on the left side. The bodice was encrusted with rhinestones and bared my shoulders and back while boosting my chest. I felt like a princess with my hair done up in a French twist and my make-up applied just so. I found myself again wishing that Aaron would call at the last minute and say that he’d freed himself up to go to the party with me, or at the very least that he wanted me to go to his. I waited until the very last second before I called a cab to drive me out to Brooklyn. I wanted to have a few drinks, so I wasn’t taking my own car. It was a masquerade theme party and I had bought a gorgeous gold and jade green mask that was adorned with jewels and stunning green and gold feathers. When the cab dropped me off in front of Nadine and Tom’s lovely brownstone home I slipped on the mask.
Nadine answered the door and pretended to try and guess who I was. She giggled at last and said, “It’s so good to see you, Robyn. You look amazing! I’ve missed you.”
I hugged her and said, “I love your dress and your mask! I’ve missed you too.” Nadine was wearing a dark red dress that looked elegant against her smooth chocolate skin. Her mask was red and black with black feathers. She led me in through the foyer and the living room out to the back where they had set up a large white tent for the party. Inside it was decorated with black and silver decorations and masks, they had a full bar and a disc jockey playing dance music near the small dance floor. There was a table full of delicious looking hors d'oeuvres and a bottle of champagne on each table. In the corner of the room they had hung a large clock so that the party-goer’s would all know exactly when the New Year began.