Chapter 6

The next day, Ivy had an afternoon shift at the coffee shop. When she walked in at two, Shelly came rushing to her excitedly.

“You have a delivery. It looks expensive!” Shelly was saying, tugging Ivy in the direction of the kitchen at the back. With their manager giving them stares from the other end of the cafe, Ivy followed Shelly into the kitchen feeling confused because she wasn’t expecting any deliveries.

“Look!” Shelly said and Ivy’s brows crossed when she saw a large square box made of papier-mache and tied with a luxurious red satin bow.

“Are you sure it’s for me?” Ivy said, delicately touching the box.

“A note came with it, addressed to you,” Shelly replied, pointing to a card that dangled from a cord from the box. Ivy looked at the writing on the envelope, which was beautifully calligraphed and it had her full name. She opened it and pulled the note out and turned her back to Shelly to read it in private.

I’ll send a car to pick you up at nine tonight. Don’t ask me how I know your home address. Come have dinner with me. The dress is a little gift as an apology for my behavior yesterday. I’d like to see you in it.

TD

Ivy gulped. Travis Dunn.

With her hands quivering, she undid the ribbon and opened the box to peer in. A silk dress, the color of wine, lay delicately placed in the midst of pink tissue paper. Before Ivy could hide it, Shelly had already seen it and she squealed.

“Oh my God! Is that a dress?” she said and lifted it out of the box before Ivy could stop her.

“Who sent this? It’s your size. Oh my God!” Shelly was gushing as she held it up. Ivy’s cheeks colored as she admired how gorgeous the cocktail dress looked. Shelly was right, it was her size and she wondered how trained Travis’ eyes were to have guessed her exact dress size.

“Who sent it?” Shelly asked again, staring wide-eyed at Ivy who clutched the note close to her heart.

“Just someone I know,” Ivy said and quickly snatched the dress out of Shelly’s hands. She tried to stuff it back into the box and noticed that her hands were still trembling. She couldn’t believe that Travis would actually do this. What made him think that she would want to see him again? How could he be so self-centered that he assumed she would wear that dress and have dinner with him? Who did he think he was?!

“You’ll look beautiful in it, Ivy, when are you going to wear it?” Shelly was following her close on her heels as Ivy went over and deposited the box next to the staff coat hangers.

“I don’t know if I’ll wear it. It’s not my style. It’s just a silly surprise,” she said, trying to hide the flush on her face, but Shelly wasn’t about to give up this easily.

“I didn’t know you were seeing someone,” she continued and Ivy whipped around to face her, with bulging eyes and heaving breasts.

“I’m not…seeing someone! I told you, it’s just some silly gift,” she snapped and Shelly flinched and dropped the smile from her face.

“All right, I was just asking. I don’t see why you’re not excited about it, it looks very expensive,” Shelly said in a smaller voice and Ivy breathed in deeply, shook her head and walked out into the shop floor.

She took up her position behind the counter, while Shelly walked away to the coffee machines. She tried on her fake smile, but she couldn’t seem to fake it today. Travis had sent her a dress, he had sent her a note! He expected her to have dinner with him that night. How did he find out her home address? Was he a dangerous man? Ivy couldn’t have one coherent thought without breaking into a panic.

After she had left his office building, she was under the assumption that she had offended him. That there was no chance that she would ever see him in person again. Did he have something planned for her that night? A revenge for all the insults she had hurled at him?

And yet, Ivy couldn’t stop thinking about how muscular his chest had felt when she fell on him. How icy blue and sexy his eyes were, the sharpness of his jaw…that heady scent of his cologne. She had never met a man like him before. He seemed almost too good to be true.

Customers came up to the counter and Ivy tried to focus on her job, but she couldn’t. Travis was all she could think of. She knew accepting his proposal would be a mistake and even seeing him again would be the wrong step, but she couldn’t stop herself from wondering what had made him change his mind. He had made it very clear to her that he didn’t have time for seduction. He wasn’t interested in it. So why was he now pursuing her?

She tried to strengthen herself against the force of Travis’ power over her, but even without trying, he had already made her do things that she had never done before. What else was he capable of making her do? How did he have a hold on her so quickly?

Ivy’s fingers trembled the whole day as she tried to carry on with work. Customer service was not exactly ideal on a day like this, but she couldn’t lose her job, so she soldiered on. Her mind was elsewhere, she couldn’t stop thinking about Travis and what would happen if she did accept his offer.

One thing she was certain of was that if she didn’t go that night, she would spend the rest of her life wondering what if.