After his defense of me, and him kissing me, my attraction to Alan turned to full-blown infatuation. It might even be a crush, and when was the last time I’d had one of those? It felt like it had been far too long.

I could hardly sleep that night, and it was morning before I knew it. Thanks to meeting Alan, I had all but forgotten what had pushed me to run out yesterday. And I didn’t remember until a maid stopped at my door to let me know my dad was waiting on me for breakfast.

Oh. The argument about the Grand Prix.

Surprisingly, I wasn’t even mad at my dad anymore. Or more like, I couldn’t care now that I had Alan to fill my thoughts. I wanted to see him again, and I spent five minutes staring at my phone when I remembered I had his number, so I could contact him when I wanted.

Not that I would. Not just yet.

I wish he’d kissed me some more, I thought with a sigh. He was so good at it.

There wasn’t really much I could compare it to, and it had been tame, but I could tell even from the little lip-lock that if he got serious, I would be in trouble. The tiny kiss he’d given me had made me feel unsteady, especially when added to the feel of his hard body pressed against me.

Maybe we’ll do some more of that tonight? The thought was followed by a squeal and a blush.

I spent the next twenty hours floating through life, thoughts of that nature flitting in and out of my mind, in such a wonderful mood I barely even noticed when my father got annoying during breakfast. I didn’t outright ignore him, but I went out of my way to avoid a confrontation, because having another argument would mean I would have to stop thinking of Alan for a considerable amount of .

Smart man that he was, Dad noticed my mood.

“You know I’m not going to let you go out on your own, don’t you?” he said suspiciously.

I wrinkled my nose at him, but a small smile still played on my lips.

“That’s fine, Dad. I can sell the tickets to someone.” I had something else to occupy my time now. “I think I’ll just take your advice and watch from home.”

Better yet, I could wait until the whole thing was replayed on TV, instead of watching it live. I’d been so excited for it, but now my interests had shifted. I wondered if that made me fickle.

“Are you sure you’re all right with it? You were really vehement last night…”

“Would you like to continue the argument?” I said, rolling my eyes. “I wouldn’t mind, if that’s what you want.”

“Of course it’s not,” he scolded, frowning at me. “But what has you in such a good mood? You were livid last night.”

“It’s nothing important, Dad. Don’t worry about it.”

I didn’t have to look up to feel the skeptical gaze on me. Marc was probably sending me the same look, only he knew it must have something to do with my little escapade last night. Could he tell I’d met a guy and that was the reason I was suddenly in such a good mood? Hopefully not. He trusted me to some extent to be careful on my little excursions.

My dad could just stew in his own thoughts, for all I cared. Like hell I was going to tell him I’d met the closest thing to Prince Charming. And he was interested in me.

If Dad found out, he’d ruin it. Not only would he blow a gasket, he would probably forbid me from going to see Alan, or worse, ask to meet him. And before that, he would poke around in Alan’s background and decide for me whether or not he was a suitable partner.

The answer would almost definitely be no. I was pretty sure Dad wanted someone that ran in the same social circles we did, and I had definitely never seen Alan before, or I would have had my eye on him a lot sooner. He didn’t look like he fit the crowd, and I had to admit that was part of his charm.

Dad stayed silent and left me alone after that, but Marc did not.

I caught him sending me looks whenever we were in the same room, but all I could do was giggle and run away from him, because I wanted to keep my secret mine for a little longer. And I trusted Marc to the point where I would probably tell him if he outright asked me about what was going on. I didn’t want to let him know I was dating so soon, especially when I was so unsure of it myself. Yeah, I was currently on cloud nine, but Alan and I had barely talked. He seemed to be interested in me, enough to keep in touch, but I didn’t know if he wanted a relationship with me, or something else entirely.

But if things between Alan and me worked out…

I couldn’t go the whole day without telling anyone though. I didn’t have the self-restraint for that. I thought of all the friends I could call to chat with about it, and had to pause for a moment when I realized they would all be busy, the few that were still talking to me, anyway. I frowned, cursing my lack of friends.

But then something occurred to me. Back when I was still fresh from high school graduation and I’d had hope my dad would let me attend a university, I’d looked through a few of their forums and social media pages. I’d looked closely at one particular school so near home I might as well go and come back every day, even though I really didn’t want to do that, for the sake of appeasing my dad. It didn’t work, of course, but I occasionally logged in to chat with some of the students there.

There was this one who messaged me back, and we got to talking. One thing led to another, and we ended up following each other on social media. I’d never met her face to face, but we knew a lot about each other, had plenty pictures shared between us, and something of a friendship. I’d latched on, especially with my own friends slowly dropping off the radar, and I talked to her about a lot of things.

She would be the perfect person to go to for this. I wished I could have made it a call, but I didn’t want to ask for her number now for just this. Instead, I moved to my bed with my laptop and opened up a chat.

“Hey, Erin, are you free?”

I sent the message and waited. It didn’t take long for her to reply.

“Hey, back. Yeah, I’ve got time to spare. What do you need?”

I giggled to myself, feeling giddy. A part of me balked at the idea of baring my soul to this person… but we’d shared stuff like this before. She’d told me about a boy she had a crush on who was in a few of her classes. It would only be fair to reciprocate, right?

“Erin, you’re never going to guess what happened to me last night.”

There was a short pause, then: “I’m going to guess you went out last night, unless your dad actually told you he was allowing you to go to the Grand Prix?”

I snorted, my mood souring a little, but it bounced back pretty quickly. Just because I’d “forgiven” him in my good mood didn’t mean I would forget about it. I was going to be bringing it up, probably for years to come, to make him feel guilty. If he even would. Erin was the one who helped me get the tickets in the first place, and now I couldn’t even use them.

“You knew that would never happen. I hoped, but I was being naïve at the time.”

“So, no?”

“Yeah, he said no. I was so pissed I went out. I didn’t even get time to call someone to meet me.” I smirked. “I got lucky, though.”

“Can I assume this is why you want to talk to me now?”

“Don’t be silly! I always love talking to you. But, yes. I met someone last night!” A grin spread across my face. This was nothing like the crushes I’d had in the past.

There was a pause, then a series of question and exclamation marks appeared in her next chat bubble. I laughed to myself as she followed it up with smiley faces showing her excitement for me, and I could almost imagine her squealing. I sighed, wishing I could be with her in her dorm room, that we went to the same school and were as close physically as we were through social media. For the moment, though, I was grateful for this much.

“When did this happen? You could have let me know immediately!”

I winced at the complaint. “Well, you see, I was actually too excited to even think about telling anyone. Sorry!”

“Well, congrats, then. Is he hot?!!”

I gasped and blushed at the suggestive emojis that came after that message. I couldn’t exactly fault her, though, when I was having dirty thoughts myself.

“So damn hot, you have no idea! He’s tall and good-looking with thick, soft hair. He’s such a nice guy, too. I spent the whole time talking about myself, and he didn’t even seem to mind. I got his number, and I want to call him, but I’m sort of waiting for him to make the first move. We’re supposed to meet again tonight.”

I chewed on my lip as I waited for her reply to my message. I glanced at my phone, as I had been doing on and off for most of the day, wondering again if I should just try it.

“That’s good, can’t let him think you’re too eager.”

“I am, though! I don’t even want to hide it.”

“Then don’t play hard to get,” was the blunt reply. “Jump him the first chance you get!”

I choked a little, then laughed at that. My face was hot, and it was probably burning red. I couldn’t tell her that I’d actually considered it, plenty of times. I was looking forward to our night together, and if he didn’t ask me to go somewhere private with him this time… I might take her advice.

“Wouldn’t that make me seem desperate?”

“You are desperate! But seriously, focus on having fun, and everything will flow from there. See him as often as possible, and you’ll get there eventually.”

I chewed on my lip as I deliberated.

“That wouldn’t be easy, you know. My dad is pretty strict about keeping me at home. Sneaking out isn’t really that easy, and to do it two nights in a row…”

Especially when I’d been so careless last night to attempt it last minute. If I started making mistakes, then I would be caught, and that was the last thing I wanted.

“Forget what your dad says, Arielle! You like this guy, don’t you? You can’t let your dad dictate everything for you. Especially things like dating.”

I didn’t tell her that he already sort of did. The only people my dad let me socialize with were people he wanted me to be around. That included possible future spouses, no matter how much I hated it.

“You know what, you’re right. I can't let my dad dictate my whole life. He just doesn’t have to know…”

“Good girl. This guy sounds great, Arielle. You can’t let him go without trying. You’d probably regret it, you know?”

No probably about it. I would regret it.

“I’m definitely not doing that. I just have to make sure my dad doesn’t find out.”

After a few promises to let her know how the whole thing went, I closed the chat.

It was growing into late afternoon, so I’d have to go and meet him in a few hours. I decided to get myself something to eat so I could avoid dinner with my dad, and get myself an opportunity to sneak out a little earlier.

I was on my way, when I ran into my dad.

“Arielle, I was actually just looking for you.”

I froze, paranoid he’d somehow found out my secret. But he looked way too relaxed for that, so I let it go.

“What do you want, Dad? I was going to the kitchen for something to eat…”

“I want you to show off some of my jewelry at a charity gathering this weekend. I was invited last minute, so I’m sorry I didn’t give you much time to prepare, but you’ll have to match your outfit to the pieces, as always. Can you do that for me?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. I really wasn’t in the mood, especially after the thing with the drunk last night. It had brought back memories of that time with Gamble, and if Dad was going to be showing off his gems, the bastard would surely be making an appearance.

“No, Dad. I told you I hate doing that.”

He frowned at me, looking confused. “What? Wearing pretty jewelry and going to parties? I thought girls liked those sorts of things.”

I bit my lip before I could tell him that his kind of parties were too boring for a teenage girl.

“I have better things to do with my time than play the role of your mannequin.”

His eyes narrowed. “Like what?”

I huffed and rolled my eyes. It was a small argument, but I knew it could easily escalate to yesterday’s mess. What really irked me was that my father just gave commands without listening to what I wanted, and I was growing tired of that.

It wasn’t like I didn’t do this sort of thing often. I hated it, but most of the time, I caved when he asked. Only this time, all I could think of was how it might cut into my time with the mysterious, sexy Alan. I’d rather spend time with him than pretend to be my dad’s perfect toy.

But I didn’t want Dad to grow suspicious of me and start watching me more closely.

“Fine, Dad,” I agreed, even though my voice was sullen. “I’ll do it.”

He didn’t seem to care that I was unhappy. He just smiled victoriously and went on it way, calling back over his shoulder, “Wonderful, honey.”