Chapter Three

 

I let out a soft sigh as I rolled over, opening my eyes.

My bed was empty, despite the fact that it still wasn’t fully bright out. I didn’t hear the shower going or the sound of anyone in the kitchen.

I slipped out of bed. There was no sign of his clothes. I bit my lip. Did he leave already? I wondered.

I felt my heart sink a little. I didn’t want to admit it, but I’d be disappointed if he wasn’t here.

Padding out into the kitchen, I looked around. There was no sign of him.

My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach.

He didn’t even wake me up to say goodbye. I looked around. There was no sign of a note. No nothing. I bit my lip.

So that’s what it’s going to be like. I gave myself a nod. I should have seen it coming, but for some reason, I was still hurt. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. I had shit I needed to get done.

I showered and dressed quickly, trying not to think about the man who had spent the night with me, but that didn’t stop me from thinking about him the entire time.

I slipped into a black dress that was work approved, and a pair of blue leggings. I pulled on a pair of kitten heel brown leather boots and my matching brown leather jacket, grabbed my purse, double checked that everything was in there and headed out.

I was thankful when I stepped outside and the sun was shining; despite all the puddles that were out, it was nice to know there wouldn’t be another storm today and that the buses were running.

The bus from my place to work didn’t take too long, or maybe I was just too used to it. Either way, I made it to work before my shift was due to start, just like I had planned.

“Thank you!” I called to the bus driver as I stepped off in front of my restaurant.

I stood there, frozen, my eyes locked on the man who was standing in front of it.

He saw me, a soft smile touching his lips as he headed over to me.

I felt my cheeks burn. What does he want? I wondered. I padded toward the restaurant, hoping I could just ignore him.

“Melina.” His warm fingers circled around my wrist, reminding me of last night. A shiver ran down my spine. I took a deep breath and forced myself to look at him.

“What?” I snapped.

“I … I wanted to see you again.”

If you hadn’t left, you wouldn’t have to see me again. I took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry; I’ve got to get to work.”

I knew better than to pretend that we were going to fall in love and get married after one night together, but a goodbye would have been nice. The whole slipping away in the middle of the night was kinda cheap and lame.

“I understand.” He nodded, letting go of me, and for a split second, I wished he had fought a little harder.

I knew it was stupid, but I liked being fought for. Clearly he doesn’t care that much. I took a deep breath and headed into work without another word to the man I had slept with last night.

I forced a smile over my face as I entered the building. “Hey.”

“Morning!” Becky was a chipper middle-aged woman. “You’re over at the back,” she said with a smile.

“Thanks.” I gave her a quick nod and headed over the backroom where I could drop my purse and slip my nametag on. It didn’t take long, but when I came out, Becky told me I already had a customer waiting, and that she’d gotten him a glass of water for me.

“Thanks,” I said as I made for the back of the room, readying myself for work.

Thankfully, it was just work that I had today.

“Hi,” I said before even coming to a stop in front of the man.

My jaw dropped.

I hadn’t been paying attention to what he looked like. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come over here. My eyes narrowed to slits.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“To speak to you.” Aron gave me a soft smile, looking up from the menu.

“Do you have any idea how much trouble I could get in?” I hissed.

“Don’t worry, I know the owner.”

Gobsmacked, I stared at him with wide eyes.

“Alright, fine. What do you want?”

“I’m sorry. For leaving like I did. But I had to be in the office at 3. a.m.” His eyes locked on mine as he watched me. “I had a client calling from another country. I normally do the calls at home, but I had to go downstairs to get my computer anyways and didn’t want to wake you, so I just went to the office.”

I processed his words, taking a little longer than I should have.

“You couldn’t even leave a note?”

“It was 1:50 in the morning. I wasn’t quite thinking rationally.” Okay, I had to give him that.

I shrugged. “It’s fine. Now was there something you wanted? Or did you just want to talk?” I was at work here.

His excuse didn’t make what he’d done any better. It just told me he hadn’t meant to get in trouble. But why would he bother going out of his way to see me?

“You.”

My heart skipped a beat.

“Excuse me?” I snapped.

His eyes sparkled as they roamed over my body.

“I want you.” He lowered the menu. “But I’ll take pancakes and eggs.”

I gave a single nod before walking away.

My mind replayed the conversation repeatedly. I should have said something else. I should have tried to tell him I wasn’t interested. I’m just going to get hurt. That much was already clear. He was older; he clearly cared about his work more than anything else. Good for him.

It was; it was a great thing to have going for you, and clearly it had done him well based on that car of his. But it wasn’t something I was looking for in a man. I had no interest in dealing with that kind of man.

It didn’t take long for the cooks to have his pancakes and eggs ready, which meant I had to face Aron again. I took a deep breath, confusing on my steps as I made my way over there. I wanted nothing more than to tuck tail and run.

But I didn’t.

I placed the plate down in front of him with a smile.

“One more thing,” he said looking up from his plate.

“Yes?”

“What are you doing tonight?”

My heart skipped a beat. Was he trying to ask me out?

“Excuse me?” I raised an eyebrow.

“I was thinking dinner, or something else if you’d rather.”

I bit my lip as I thought about last night. “Something else is fine.” I gave him a tight smile.

There was no point in pretending he wanted to date me. He was looking for a younger girl to fool around with; I knew that much. I hadn’t expected him to want more than a one-night stand, but just because he did, didn’t mean he wanted to get married and have two kids and a nice white picket fence.

But there may be a lot of pros for me, I thought.

I mean, he was clearly successful, and he was a designer. He might know people that he could put me in touch with.

I walked away without another word, confused and excited.

“He’s cute,” Greg, the other one working the floor, said.

“Mhm.” I agreed, not willing to say more. My brow furrowed. “Wait, I didn’t realize you were into guys.”

“I’m not.” He grinned. “But he seems into you. Actually, it seems like there’s something going on there.”

“Nope,” I said, maybe a little too quickly.

He laughed softly. “It looks like he wants there to be. What did you spend so much time talking about over there?”

“The weather.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

I walked away without another word to him, not wanting to stand there and stare at Aron as he ate. I was already having enough of an issue trying to figure out where I stood with him, and if I was actually going to take him up on his offer tonight. It was true that he probably knew the right people, but was that worth it to me?

It didn’t take long for Aron to finish his meal and for me to get him his check. He followed me up to the cash register at the front of the building, and I got everything set up for him.

“So, did you think any more about my offer?”

“Yes,” I admitted. I hadn’t been able to think about anything except his offer since he’d mentioned it.

“You said you’d be interested in doing something tonight.”

I nodded. “Just stop by if you want,” I said as he handed the debit machine back to me. I printed off the receipt.

Tip: $100

I felt my knees get weak.

“Uh, I’m guessing you didn’t mean to tip me one hundred dollars?”

“No, I did.”

And without another word, he walked away.

I stared after him, speechless

My knees felt weak. I tried not to fall; instead, I backed up slowly, tucked the receipt into the cash and walked to the backroom without a word.

 

By the time I finished work, it was starting to get busy.

I was more than happy to let everyone take the busy shifts today. It was the only day out of the week that I was going to get a short day and not have to go to school after or before work. Which meant I got to go home when I was done.

When I got to my front door, I came to a stop. Again, speechless.

I stared down at the bouquet of roses and reached out for the card attached to it.

I finish work early tonight. Will bring dinner over.

See you,

Aron.

I stared down at the note, then looked at the flowers. They came in a vase already, the flowers themselves seemed to overflow from the glass vase. I reached out and took it, unlocking my door and padding over to the counter. I kind of wished I had a table to put them down on.

My mind raced as I thought about the note.

What does he mean by early? And why did he even send me flowers?

I made it clear I wasn’t expecting a relationship from him, didn’t I? I mean, I thought any guy would jump on that. Maybe I hadn’t been clear enough about it.

I took a deep breath and tried not to worry. I mean, it was just flowers. He probably still felt guilty for last night. He’s coming over tonight.

My heart skipped a beat.

Despite the fact he had seen me at my worst last night, I wanted to look good tonight.

I rushed to the bathroom and got ready.

 

She confused me more than I was willing to admit. I mean, she was … so fiery. And that was putting it nicely.

I stared at her apartment building. Was this really a good idea?

Would I just end out hurting her if I spent more time with her? There was no doubt that I was a fair bit older, but did that matter to her?

What would happen when she started talking about having a family? I’d decided long ago that wasn’t the path I would take.

Screw it. I’d told her I would come over, so I was going to come over. I already had the dinner plans so I might as well just get out of the car and head up there. People were staring anyways. I hated when people stared at me; well, it wasn’t really me they were looking at—it was the car. And I got it; you don’t often see a car like this around.

I just didn’t like being in the car when people did it.

I headed for her building, and up to the floor she was on, my work bag in my hands. It almost felt like I was going to see my girlfriend or something.

My heart did a backflip.

I shouldn’t think of her like that. I knew she wanted nothing more than what I offered. Probably my money, I’d like to think my skill in the bed. My looks.

I got it.

Most girls and guys, at any age were like that. But there was something about her that drew me to her. I’m not sure what it was.

I came to a stop at her door and knocked softly.

Seconds later, it opened.

She stood there in the same dress she’d been wearing at work. It fell to her thigh, although something was different. Her breasts all but burst out. My eyes lingered on them for a fraction of a second before trailing over the curves of her body.

“Hey.” She gave a soft smile. “How’s it going?”

“Not bad, yourself?” I said as she stepped out of the way and I entered her small apartment.

Most people might have thought she was strange for not having much furniture, personally I thought it was cool and said a lot about how mature she was. She was right; there was no point in having a bunch of stuff she would never use.

I caught sight of the flowers on the counter; a smile spread across my lips as I padded over and placed my work bag beside them.

I looked around, avoiding her eye. I didn’t want her to be mad at me for stopping by her workplace, but I’d have been mad if it were me. It was one of the reasons I sent the flowers, in some hope that it would make up for things.

Despite the fact I thought it was a good idea not to buy a bunch of stuff for her house, part of me wanted to go out and do it for her.

I mentally shook myself. Somehow, I didn’t think it would go over well if I tried to change her house around on her.

“How was work?” I asked, trying to sound casual.

“It was long and boring,” she said. “But there was this one really cute guy that came in.”

Jealousy tugged at me, then I realized what she was getting at. I smirked.

“Really?”

 

He turned to me, his fingers tracing over the curves of my body. I bit back a moan, wanting more from him. But I didn’t dare say that out loud.

“I made us a reservation for dinner,” he said softly.

“I thought you were bringing it over,” I challenged, raising an eyebrow.

“Then I saw how gorgeous you are.” I knew it was a lie. He said he had a reservation, but I laughed, letting it slide.

Whether we stayed in or went out for the night, it didn’t really matter to me. I stepped away from him and grabbed my light coat; despite the fact there wasn’t supposed to be any rain tonight, I didn’t want to get caught without it.

Aron grinned, looking me up and down again. My cheeks flushed. He held his hand out for me and we headed towards the door together. I snatched my wallet and we left, making our way down the elevator and outside to his car. There was a small crowd staring at it.

My cheeks flushed as we approached, and Aron opened the door for me. I couldn’t help noticing the way everyone stared.

Aron circled around the hood of the car and slid into the driver’s side. He gunned the engine and we headed off to—well, wherever it was we were going.

I bit my lip as I stared out the window. “So, do I get any hints?”

“Nope.” He grinned widely.

 

It had been a long time since I asked a girl out, and I wasn’t sure if this was a good idea at all, but I wanted to ask Melina out. I wanted to show her that she was more than just a hot fuck, not that she wasn’t great in the bedroom. Although I could think of a couple of things we could work on together. I grinned as I turned towards downtown.

But the truth was, work kept me busy most days, and when I wasn’t busy, I had a hard time finding someone I wanted to spend my time with. Being who I was, I tried not to hook up too much; otherwise, I’d be no better than all the other billionaires who used their money to get everything they wanted.

That wasn’t my style. I didn’t want to take advantage of people. I just … wanted to find someone who I was interested in, and for some reason it was Melina.

“How was your day?” I asked.

“It was fine. I got some gorgeous roses.” She turned to flash me a wicked grin. “Thank you by the way.”

“You’re more than welcome.” I returned her smile, glad she had liked the flowers I sent. I glanced over at her. It was hard for me to get used to her being there. It had been a long time since someone sat in the passenger seat with me, and I gave her a soft smile. My ex and I had broken up over years ago, and since then, well, I’d been too busy for anything.

It didn’t take long for us to get to the restaurant, and it wasn’t as fancy as I would have liked it, but I didn’t think fancy was what either of us wanted. I had to remember, she was a college student, and well—I was me. I wasn’t into fancy. I liked real.

Real steak, none of this fancy ass crap.

Still, it didn’t appeal from the outside, that much I knew.

 

I stepped out of the car with Aron and looked around. It looked like the building might be closed down, honestly. I assumed it wasn’t, but it looked like it could be.

“Have you ever been to a pop-up restaurant before?” he asked, holding his arm out for me.

“No.”

“They are the latest thing. The idea is, people rent out space for the evening or the afternoon, and they have the chance to use the space. It’s great for people who can’t quite afford a kitchen of their own, or for people who aren’t sure if they really want to get into this line of work.”

“Wow.”

I’d never heard of that before. He led the way up a well-kept walkway towards a black building with very few windows.

“It’s quite the experience. Of course, there is limited spacing, so you have to make a reservation. The whole idea has quite a cult following.”

“I’ve never even heard of it. It sounds cool.” I couldn’t wait to give it a shot.

“I hope you think so once we get our meal.” His eyes twinkled as he reached for the door and pulled it open, holding it there for me.

I nodded a quick thank you, stepped inside and stopped looking around.

Compared to the outside, this was not what I’d been expecting.

The floor was covered in sparkling white tiles. There were all of seven tables, most of them already filled, and I suddenly realized how underdressed I felt. The walls were black, by the looks of it, it was just fabric. And the tables themselves looked like they were made of metal.

A hand on the small of my back brought me back to reality.

My heart skipped a beat.

“Hi!” A woman beamed, her eyes locking on the man beside me. “Can I help you with anything?” She regarded me for half a second, and clearly I wasn’t worth more time than that.

My brow furrowed. Bitch. She wouldn’t be getting a good tip if it was up to me.

“We have a reservation. Under Brooks.”

“Of course.” The girl pulled out a tablet, looked it over and nodded. “Right this way.” She motioned for us, no him, to follow her.

I felt him pull me closer, his eyes sparkling, before he stepped away from me and we took our seats at a table the girl had led us to.

“Can I get you and … your daughter started with a drink?”

My eyes bugged and I choked on hair.

“Um ...” His cheeks flushed as he looked at me. “I’ll. Just have water, please.”

“Of course.” The girl turned her attention to me, raising an eyebrow as she waited for my answer.

I stared at her. A snide smile spread across my face. “Just water, please.”

She walked away without another word, and I was left to face the man who had just been called my father. His cheeks burned.

“I guess that was bound to happen, eventually,” I offered, not that it made me feel any better.

He laughed softly. “I didn’t realize I looked that old.”

“Neither did I, honestly. But I guess I’m just attracted to older men.” I shrugged, trying to make him feel better but trying to make it look like I wasn’t. I didn’t want him to think it was a big deal. It shouldn’t be.

It’s not. I didn’t even know how much older he was, but it wasn’t hard to guess that he was a little older. I mean, he did have gray hair.

“So,” I cleared my throat. “Do you come to these kinds of things often?”

“A lot of my clients are impressed by this kind of thing; they like experiencing something new. They like being able to say they were taken somewhere cool. A lot of them want to be hip and modern.”

“Basically, it’s a selling point for you, isn’t it?”

He laughed softly. “Yes. It is. You’ve got to look and act the part. And as that girl kindly pointed out, I’m not getting younger. A lot of my clients want someone who is younger; I’ve got to tip the odds in my favor.”

My brow furrowed. You can’t be that old, are you? No. I mean, he didn’t look that old.

I took a deep breath, the urge to ask him boiling up inside me. That’s rude. I reminded myself.

That didn’t stop me from wondering.

“I bet it works very well for you.”

“I get the clients I want more often than not.” His eyes sparkled.

I believed it. His eyes locked on me, and I wanted to do anything he suggested. I cleared my throat, looking down for a fraction of a second, breaking eye contact.

“Are you working on anything interesting?”

“I have a couple of projects on the go. They are pretty standard, but I’m hoping to change that soon.” He fell silent as the girl came back towards us, two glasses of water in her hand. She also gave us each a menu.

I noticed I got mine put on the table, but she was more than eager to hand Aron his personally.

I tried to ignore the jealousy as it tugged at my gut.

I looked down at the menu. It was American. Burgers, fries, that sort of thing. All of it sounded amazing if you asked me.

I bit my lip, staring down at the pink paper; the simple font explained what every meal was. And that made it even harder for me to decide what I wanted.

I glanced up from the menu and looked around. It was such a cool looking place. I bit my lip as I caught sight of a woman taking pictures of her surroundings. I needed do that before we left; I’d have to show Rebecca pictures of this. I’d have to tell her all about it.

Aron reached out and took my hand from across the table.

“Did you decide what you want?”

“Honestly, not yet. It all sounds so good.”

“I know what you mean. I think right now I’m leaning towards the Adult Fries.”

I glanced down at the menu. Soaked in whiskey, deep fried and topped with three different types of cheese. I licked my lips.

“That sounds good.”

“I’ll share with you.” His eyes sparkled as he grinned at me.

“I’m going to have to take you up on that.” I bit my lip, looking at the menu. The fries did sound good. They had a whole page of their menu dedicated to all the ways you could get your fries done. Yes, maybe that was what I would get.

“Are you ready to order?” the girl asked, appearing out of the middle of nowhere. I looked up at her and smiled.

“Sure.”

She turned her attention to Aron, her full attention on him as she gave him a flirty smile.

“What will it be?” I could hear the undertone of flirtation.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a fraction of a second. You did it too, I reminded myself. Although I had not been that obvious about it. I hadn’t wanted to get fired. And for a split second, I thought about reporting her to her manager; after all—it was unprofessional to out and out flirt, even more so if the guy was here holding hands with a girl.

But, I didn’t.

For all I knew, she was trying to pay her way through college too, or taking care of a sick grandmother, or whatever other cliché there was out there.

She turned her attention to me when Aron was done ordering, and to my surprise gave me a smile.

“The taco fries, please.”

She nodded, scribbled that down and walked away after promising to be back in a jiffy.

I couldn’t stop thinking about what had just happened. Why had she smiled at me? Why would she?

Had it all been in my head that she was snarky before?

I mentally shook myself and tried not to focus on it.

 

The entire dinner went better than I ever could have thought it would. We had a great time, and it turned out we agreed on a lot of things. Last night, we hadn’t gotten much of a chance to talk, but tonight that was almost all we did. We didn’t speak much when we got our dinner, but we did share. And every now and then, we’d remark on the food, which was amazing.

I was sure to get at least a couple of pictures so I could show Rebecca. I knew if I didn’t, she’d want to kill me.

Aron’s eyes sparkled the entire time. He seemed to have forgotten about being called my father, and he relaxed, enjoying himself. We were the last people in the restaurant and finally had to leave when they all but kicked us out. I hadn’t had this much fun in a very, very long time. And I didn’t mind saying so.

When we got to his car, he opened the door for me and closed it once I was tucked in. He circled around to the driver’s side and let himself in, gunning the engine and driving me home. I was happier than I had been in a very long time, and I couldn’t wait to get back to my place and invite him in—hoping he would say yes, of course. We came to a stop in front of my apartment, and Aron put the car into park. I unbuckled my seatbelt and turned to him, placing a soft kiss on his cheek.

“Thank you so much for tonight. I … it was amazing.”

His lips touched mine for a fraction of a second. “I’m glad we agree on that. I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.”

“Same.”

I cleared my throat, pulling away from him. Come on, just say it, I told myself. But it was harder than I’d thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong; this wasn’t the first time I’d invited a man up to my place before; it wasn’t the first time I suggested I wanted a man. But this … was somehow different.

We’d been there already; it should have made things easier, but it didn’t. What if he turns me down? I bit my lip.

It didn’t matter. If I didn’t ask, he wouldn’t have a chance to turn me down. Maybe that’s a good thing. No. I wasn’t going to be scared. He clearly liked me enough to take me out to dinner, after having sex with me.

I cleared my throat realizing I still hadn’t said anything. Just say it. It’s like, six words. It won’t kill you.

“Do you want to come in?” I asked, my hand resting on the door handle. My heart raced as the words came out. For a fraction of a second, I wished I hadn’t even asked.

“No,” he said quickly.

“Oh.” I couldn’t hide the disappointment in my voice. “Okay.” I forced a chipper smile over my lips. I have to admit, I’d been expecting him to say yes. I’d been expecting him to jump at the chance to come upstairs with me. My heart sank into the pit of my chest.

“I’ve got an early morning tomorrow; that’s all,” he said quickly. “I have to catch a 4:00 a.m. flight.”

“Oh.” I nodded. “Well, I’d better let you go get some sleep then.” I opened the door and stepped out. “Thank you, for tonight. It was … really nice.”

I wanted out of that car as fast as I could get out of there. I could feel my cheeks burning. Why did I do that? I knew it didn’t really make sense to be embarrassed by it; after all, if it was just an early flight. But … I wasn’t sure I could face him much longer.

“We could do it some other time if you want.” His eyes sparkled as they locked on mine.

“I’d love that.” I grinned softly as I straightened myself up and closed the door behind me.

I made my way back to the building and turned just in time to see him pulling out of the driveway. My heart skipped a beat. So he’s going to call me.

I tried to tell myself it didn’t matter, but I was still excited. I was still more than excited. I couldn’t wait to get his phone call, and I knew it.

If he calls me back.

Just because he said he was going to, didn’t mean he was. Right. I can’t get all caught up in it, I promised myself, even though I knew it was a load of crap. I’d be upset if he didn’t call me.

I mentally shook myself and headed for the elevator as my phone buzzed. My heart skipped a beat—and dropped into the pit of my stomach when I read that it was from Rebecca.

Doing anything tonight?

I thought about that. I didn’t really want to go out but wasn’t actually doing anything. I sighed. I wasn’t going to lie to her.

Probably sleeping.

I hit the send button and stepped into the elevator, pressing the 5th-floor button. I made my way up, stepped onto the floor and headed for my door before my phone buzzed again.

I unlocked my door and let myself in before looking down at it.

Come hang with me and John.

I was beginning to feel bad for turning John down all the time.

Sorry, going to have to pass. Just showered and don’t feel like drying my hair :/

I set my phone down on the counter, along with my purse and headed for the bedroom. If Aron wasn’t going to come up, I didn’t have to wear this stupid push up bra, or the shapewear I had on under it.

It felt good to strip out of everything and slip into a pair of pajama pants and tank top. I checked my text. Rebecca wasn’t happy that I was ditching her for a night of studying, which she assumed I was going to be doing. She made me promise to hang out with her next weekend, to which I said I would.

I dropped down on the couch and blew out a deep breath thinking I wish he were here.