Thankfully the work day flew by on the day of our dinner. I hadn’t seen Aaron since Sunday and I felt like I was going through withdrawals by the time seven p.m. rolled around. I was dolled up in a silver and black dress I’d bought a while back and made some upgrades to and had just finished my hair when Jeffrey knocked on the door.
“Good Evening Miss Robin. You look very lovely tonight.”
“Thank you Jeffrey, so do you,” I said. That got a laugh from him. As soon as we got into the car, I tapped on the glass. He rolled the partition down and I said, “That’s better. I’ve missed you, Jeffrey, what’s new?”
“Oh you know Miss…another day.”
“Another dollar?” I said.
“More like fifty cents with inflation,” he said with a grin.
It was a nice ride to Manhattan. I really enjoyed talking to him. He told me about his life on the way to the restaurant. He said his wife was in the U.K. visiting family for Christmas. He was supposed to go but when Aaron cancelled his vacation, Jeffrey had cancelled his as well.
“He made you cancel your vacation?”
“No, quite the contrary,” Jeffrey said. “He urged me to go. I cancelled it, my service to Mr. Winters is important to me.”
“That’s very admirable of you,” I told him.
“No Miss, it’s just me doing my job. Mr. Winter’s pays me really well to do what I do for him. I feel like he needs a hundred percent of me in return.”
“Don’t you miss your wife?” I asked him.
“Desperately,” he said with a smile. I could see in his eyes that he really meant it.
Aaron hadn’t told me where we were going for dinner. I wasn’t surprised when Jeffrey parked the car and helped me out to see that the place was obviously elegant and exclusive. I was surprised when I went inside to see that it was completely empty with the exception of the staff….and Aaron. The hostess led me to our table which was situated comfortably close to the fireplace. Before we got there, Aaron stood up and pulled out my chair. Once we were seated he said,
“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.