Izzy came over to help me get ready for my date Saturday.

“Ivar’s, huh?” she said. “Fancy!”

“I know. I love that place.”

I was looking through the fifteen thousand cocktail dresses I had in my closet which, when I’d moved out from my parents, I couldn’t bear to part with, so I’d packed almost all of them. They were dresses I’d been made to wear to various functions over the years, starting at age sixteen when I’d been deemed mature enough to be seen out with the fam. Translation: Mother decided I wouldn’t pull some crap like belching out loud or blatantly picking a wedgie because, you know, I was so uncultured. God. That woman. Anyway, each dress cost more than the monthly rent, and not just my part, I mean the entire rent, and they’d seen affairs the likes of weddings, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, retirement parties, grand openings of businesses, parties given by my parents, their friends or coworkers, Fashion Week runway shows, operas, ballets and Broadway plays. We’re talking upper crust here, folks, high-dollar, high-roller kinds of events and parties where the richest of the rich vied for attention and admiration by donating the most money or laughing the loudest or wearing the furriest fur (grrrr). And Mother was worried that I’d make a fool of myself.

“This is beautiful,” Izzy declared, holding a lacy, sparkly gold number up in front of herself in the mirror.

“I’ve told you you’re welcome to borrow anything at any time.”

“And I have so many places to wear them,” she said with a giggle.

“I’m sure Corey will have some banquets at the end of the season you’ll go to.”

“Maybe. Then I call dibs on this one,” she announced, twisting the dress in front of her and making it shimmer.

“You got it,” I responded, holding a blush-colored, crinkled taffeta dress in front of me. “Yes?”

Izzy glanced over and her mouth dropped open. “Oh, yes, wow. That’s gorgeous!”

I’d always liked this one, but the rule with Mom was, “If you wear it more than once, people will start thinking we can’t afford to buy another!” so the one time to the Met had been it for this beauty.

I looked at the illusion neckline yoke that sparkled with silver crystal Swarovski beads and sighed. I really had loved this dress.

“How’re you doing your hair?” Izzy asked, checking out a high-necked black dress I’d worn to the Mayoral Ball.

“I don’t know. Down or up? If there are any conservative elitists there, my silver to blue hair might offend them.” I frowned remembering all the times Mom had balked at my “outlandishly colored” hair.

Izzy looked at me for a moment then decided, “High ponytail. With lots of curls.”

I guess she wasn’t worried about the Right-Wingers one bit, which worked for me.

As she worked on my hair, I caught her eyes in the mirror and confessed, “I’m not sleeping with him tonight.”

Bobby pins in her mouth, she let out what sounded like, “Why?”

I shrugged. “I know this probably sounds archaic, but I feel like we need to get to know each other better. The plan at the beginning was for this to be a one-nighter, but since we’re seeing each other now, I think sleeping with him should, I don’t know, mean something?”

 She twitched her head to the side and continued working on my hair. “Makes sense.”

I nodded feeling good about my decision and glad she didn’t think it was dumb.

An hour later, I was ready to go. Monochromatic was the word of the evening, but I thought it all came together pretty well. Along with blush-colored four-inch-pointed-toe stiletto heels with an ankle strap, I also had a matching dress coat to wear. My hair was up high with a mass of curls cascading down my back, makeup on point and I felt I was ready.

“I’m kind of excited,” I confessed to Izzy. “I haven’t been on a date in…”

“Nineteen months.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“It was when I was dating Rance the wrestler and you met that guy at Starbucks.”

“Great memory, Iz.”

“I think all my memories coincide with whoever I was dating at the time.” She snorted then shrugged. “It works.”

“You go, girl.”

“Hey, how come Chet and Rusty aren’t here? I mean, it’s not past midnight,” she whispered. “I was kinda nervous to come over if the psycho was gonna be here.”

“I don’t know,” I whispered back. “I haven’t seen Rusty since this morning when he came into the record store, the rat bastard, and Chet’s mad at me ‘cause I told him Rusty needs to go. He came home for a few minutes around six, didn’t say a word then left.”

“I can’t believe he doesn’t think something’s going on. And for Rusty to show up at the record store like that? Unbelievable.”

“I know. Asshole.”

Her eyes went suspicious as she listened for any noise coming from the living room. “Drug dealer for sure.” She nodded.

“Maybe. And why are we whispering?”

She chuckled. “I don’t know. But somehow, thinking the weirdo has the place bugged doesn’t seem too farfetched.”

“For real,” I concurred, hoping it wasn’t true just as someone knocked at the door.

“He’s here!” Izzy squealed, jumping up and down and doing baby claps with her hands making me laugh. “I’ll go get the door! You get ready to make the grand entrance!”

I was suddenly nervous, damn it, although I didn’t know why. Shaking my hands at my sides to help settle my nerves, I went into the bathroom to check my makeup once more, then taking a deep breath and blowing it out, I went to greet my date.

And holy cow. Zane Powers in a dark navy police uniform was hot. But Zane Powers in a dark navy business suit was hot. Wow. He wore a white button-down shirt under the jacket, a slightly lighter blue tie, and dark brown wingtip boots to finish it all off. Yowza.

As I approached him, his eyes flared with a spark of gold and there went my insides again. Dang it.

“You’re stunning, Jillian,” he said, his eyes roaming up and down, taking in every last bit of me.

“Thank you,” I said shyly, pleased that he liked how I looked. Then I saw him smirk when I offered, “You look really good too.”

“You guys have fun!” Izzy interjected. “And if you have any calamari left, bring me a doggy bag!” She laughed letting me know she was teasing.

Zane helped me with my coat and just as we were leaving, Izzy said, “I’m going too. I don’t wanna be here alone if the freak shows up.” I nodded at her because that was a wise decision. Outside, she called, “Bye!” then jogged to her car.

At Zane’s SUV, he opened the door for me, but before I could get in, his hand went to the back of my neck and he leaned down, pressing his lips to mine giving me a mind-numbing, body-melting kiss. Then pulling away, he announced, “I couldn’t help it. You’re fucking beautiful.”

As he helped me in, I was on Cloud-9 especially as I watched my handsome date walk around to his side then get in. But he pulled me out of my feel-good daze when starting the car, he asked, “What freak?”

I blinked and looked at him, trying to figure out what he was talking about. Then it hit me. “Oh. Rusty. My roommate. He’s, um, rather strange.” Putting the SUV into gear, he nodded as if he knew exactly who I was talking about which was weird. “Do you know him?”

He shook his head as we pulled out onto the busy street and stated, “Nope,” which didn’t sound all that sincere.

Hm.

“Oh. Well, he’s a bit scary, actually. He’s kinda threatened me a couple times about, uh, you.”

The dark look he shot me was just about as scary as the ones Rusty had given me. Yeesh.

“He’s threatened you? About me. What do you mean?”

I shrugged. “He’s told me to stay away from you. Twice now.”

I saw his jaw muscle tic and he looked angry as he stared straight ahead at the road.

“I’ve tried telling Chet, my other roommate, that I think he’s into something illegal, but he doesn’t think so.”

“Chet?”

“My second cousin, one-time removed. Or something like that.”

“You live with two men?” Zane didn’t really sound shocked. He sounded kind of pissed.

My brow went down. “Well, yeah. I mean, it is the twenty-first century and women are now allowed to do whatever they want, much to the consternation of men who’re stuck in the fifties.” I rolled my eyes thinking, Isn’t this just fab. I’m out with a sexist pig. “Oh, and we are just barely a step above the animals in that we can live with the opposite sex and even contain our sexual desires for them, but, again, only just barely.”

The next thing I knew, we were pulled over into some kind of auto store parking lot. Zane threw the vehicle in Park and turned in his seat to face me making my eyes get big at his quick actions.

“Don’t think I don’t like that smart mouth of yours, Jillian. As I recall, I like it even more when it’s wrapped around my cock. But if you think for one fucking second I’m judging you or trying to tell you what to do, you’re wrong. And you need to know that. So don’t spout your smartassed, self-righteous feminist bullshit at me, because my mother raised me right and I fully support and respect you as a woman, understand?”

Damn. He totally called me out. And, boy, could he be broody in zero-point-two seconds.

I bit the inside of my cheek looking back at him feeling a little bad, but not too much, since he’d had made it seem like he didn’t trust my living arrangement. “I’ll see what I can do.”

I watched his dimple slowly emerge and his eyes spark gold which made my breath catch. “Sassy. I like that. You’ll like it too when your ass is red from my hand later.”

Now I gasped. “You are not going to spank me, Zane. I’m a grown-assed woman and you’re not my father.”

Well, this date had gotten off to a great start.

I watched his face get soft and resting his elbow on the console, he took my chin in his hand and ran his thumb over my bottom lip. “Babe. I spank you, you’ll be begging for it.” When I started to balk and pull my face away, he stopped me, clutching my chin tighter. “I’d never do anything you didn’t want to do, okay?”

I narrowed my eyes at him wondering who he was and how in the world I’d ever get to know him, outside of having sex, that is. But he came off as almost secretive, like he was hiding things from me. Then again, I guessed I was the same, but I figured patience was a virtue and we’d get to know each other in time, providing that we made the effort.

“Okay.”

His eyes crinkled at the sides with his smile, and he leaned in to give me a quick kiss. “I really like you, Jillian.”

He released my chin, gave me a quick peck on the lips and we proceeded on to the restaurant.