Chapter 23
Jeremy
The view of her ass in the air as she crawls to the edge of the bed and gets off is spectacular, and if I’m lucky enough to be with this woman for the rest of my life, I’ll count my blessings every fucking day. Tonight is just a little taste of our lives together, and I can’t wait to show her more.
She zips her dress back up and searches for her underwear, which somehow ended up across the room. I might have gotten a little too excited when she whispered in my ear, but what man wouldn’t? Especially, someone that hasn’t touched a woman in almost two years. One-night stands aren’t my thing, and once dad was diagnosed, I never had time to pursue anything romantic.
I put my boxers and pants back on and look at her. Her curls are all disheveled, and you can tell we just made love. I’ll enjoy being able to relish that fact over dinner tonight. Did I have any clue that the evening would start like this? No, but it exceeds my expectations and now I am going to daydream about it all the time.
We head downstairs and out the door, ready to replenish our bodies and fuel our energy. Passion is something hard to find, but most overlook it because they are so caught up in sex. Passion and chemistry make the intimate act of sex so mind blowing, and can take it to a whole new level. Raquel and I have wonderful chemistry and that’s how I knew that our sex life would be off the charts. We are comfortable with each other, and have already built an emotional connection before jumping into bed together. I prefer it that way. Call me old-fashioned.
“So, do you think you’ll be staying in Grapevine now?” I ask, knowing she had tiptoed around the question last time.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
This puts my mind at ease, and grabs her hand for the rest of the drive over to the restaurant. It’s time to take my life into my own hands and allow myself to find happiness.
When we arrive at the restaurant, we missed our reservation, but it doesn’t seem too busy. So, they allow us to get a table, anyway.
“This place is beautiful. Didn’t even know it existed.”
“Most people don’t. Not a lot of fine diners in Grapevine besides for anniversaries.”
The waitress takes our order and we decide on the steak and shrimp. Hell, you can’t ever go wrong with steak, right? I order a bottle of Chardonnay, which Tessa informed me is Raquel’s favorite wine.
“Here’s to our first date of many.”
We clink glasses and take a sip.
Things have been hard since word of my dad’s passing, but I’m doing what he would’ve wanted. He was a big believer in true love and always said it would present itself along with obstacles and we just needed to be level-headed enough to fight through them. At first, with her brother and my sister on our case, it seemed like they took our chance from us from the very beginning, but I knew our love story was going to prevail. As weird as it is to say, the moment I laid eyes on her in that backyard, I knew she was the best me for me. As much as I have always been against love at first sight, it only seems fitting it would happen to me. Make me a believer, and now here I sit in front of her, just had one of the best nights of my life, and we have chosen each other. Any obstacle that stands in our way from this day forward, we fight through and always come out on the other side stronger than before.
“How’s Hazel managing?”
She is heartbroken. Her bosses aren’t very pleased, but they will get over it. She has given up a lot to win them cases, and they need to recognize that. It’s all business for them. Raquel doesn’t seem to like that, and it’s a fair assessment.
“Has Aiden been helping?” she asks, looking at me while chewing her steak.
“He’s gotten better. I think the loss of my father also dredged up his father’s death, and it put them both in a dark place.”
Things have been difficult and I can’t expect Hazel to be at the top of her game. The only man that had ever believed in us is gone, and that’s something that is going to hurt us every day, but we must continue to live our lives and make him proud.
I still lay awake at night in that big empty house, just waiting to hear him call out my name, or hear explosions downstairs from the latest action movie he would have on, but it never comes. Just the silence, which makes it unbearable sometimes.
Raquel takes my hand and grabs my attention. “I know you are going through a rough time right now, and I’m happy that you wanted to go out tonight, but don’t push the grief deep inside, please?”
I nod. “I’ve been having trouble sleeping, and not sure if I’m ready to go back to work next week. This last week has just been a lot to take in.”
“Jeremy, you are a strong man, but losing a parent is as tough as it gets, and everyone will understand if you need more time. Don’t rush yourself.”
Tonight is not supposed to be sad, and we are approaching subjects that might make me cry, and I’m not a fan of doing that in public.
“Let’s hurry and finish so we can get out of here.”
I raise my hand to get the waiter’s attention for our check, and drop a hundred-dollar bill inside the billfold.
She gets up and follows beside me. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You didn’t. Just talking about him… it makes me emotional, and being like that in public. I’m just ready to be out of there.”