JACK
For the first time in my career, I was completely unconcerned with being professional in the office.
Most of my coworkers didn't say a word about the beautiful young lady who spent the day with me. Yet I noticed people kept running over to meet her. That was a change. I usually kept to myself and in turn the rest of the staff left me alone, ignoring each other aside from a polite "good morning" or "have a nice weekend".
I was worried that I might not be enough for her, but I kept catching Grace looking at me as if she was feeling everything I was. She was a ray of sunshine, brightening my world, transforming me already.
There was no way I could just take her to a boring restaurant for our second date.
I drove to the edge of the city while we talked about the strangest stocks I've ever traded. Then I drove into the parking lot of what appeared to be a run down warehouse complex.
As we got closer, one of the buildings had clearly been renovated, with a brightly lit sign out front. "What's a barcade?" Grace asked, turning to me in delight. I loved that she seemed up for anything.
"Just what it sounds like. It's a bar and an arcade." I rushed around to open her door. "Old-fashioned pinball machines, retro video games, party food. Barcade."
The way Grace's eyes lit up was adorable. "I am beyond terrible at games like this but it's so much fun to try!"
We spent the next few hours sharing snacks, playing old-school pinball and video games, and laughing our heads off.
Grace was incredibly easy to talk to. Maybe because she didn't have an agenda. So often I ran into people at parties who simply wanted to talk about their own projects, or how we could help each other in business.
Instead, Grace observed the things around her. She was firmly planted in the here and now. There were no strategic talking points, or things she wanted from me. She just wanted to have a good time.
It was unbelievably refreshing.
Thinking back to when I was twenty-one, I was already fighting to get to the top of my class in university, and planning out my career path. My quest for success had robbed me of small pleasures such as sharing spicy fries with a gorgeous girl while playing pinball on a machine that leaned a little to the left.
"Don't think of it as broken, think of it as an extra degree of difficulty," Grace laughed.
Her sunny attitude was refreshing. I'd spent the past several years working my ass off, not having a life at all. I didn't even celebrate when my accountant called to tell me that I had become a billionaire. Why bother? I had no one to share the moment with.
Now I did, but it was obvious that Grace wasn't interested in my money. She was just starting out in the world, and wanted to enjoy her life. Figure out a career path of her own. Learn about who she was.
Once our quarter's worth of fun was over, Grace grinned as she looked up at me. "Okay, what's next?"
My arm slid around her. It wasn't even a conscious thought. My eyes landed on her lips, and I had to have them.
Kissing Grace was positively magical. Her soft lips felt perfect against mine. Tucked away in the far corner of the barcade, my arms wrapped around her, pulling her curvy body against me.
"You're so sexy," I murmured against her lips. "Even worse, you're smart. That’s a dangerous combination."
She let out a light, tinkling laugh. "I can pretty much guarantee that you're the first man who has ever thought I was sexy, but thank you."
My hand slid down her back to give her a feather light tap against her luscious ass. "I guarantee I'm not the first one to notice how sexy you are. You obviously haven't seen the way other men look at you. The valet last night. The bartender here. You honestly don't see men staring at you?"
The high points of her cheekbones became faintly pink. "You're exaggerating."
"Well, let's go ask him then," I said, linking my arm through hers as if I were about to march up to the bar.
Grace burst into laughter, digging in her heels. "You're ridiculous!"
Pulling her into my arms, I stepped behind an old Space Invaders game so that we were half hidden from the people at the bar. "Falling for you ridiculously hard? Yes."
Her cheeks flushed slightly pinker. "Grace, I've never felt so much for someone before," I murmured, drawing a trail of kisses from her ear, then down her throat. "I already feel like you're mine. That we belong together. Do you feel it too? Please tell me you do."
"Yes," she breathed, turning her head to catch my lips against hers.
She tasted like sunshine and clouds. Good Lord, my sweet girl was already making me think in poetry. I was falling under her spell.