Chapter 9

JADE

The expression on Asher’s face when I order my food in French is hilarious, but I swallow down the laugh tickling my throat. No one is more surprised than I am.

I guess those forced French lessons are paying off.

As soon as I saw the menu, I recognized enough words to put together a few coherent sentences. Taking some Italian in high school also helped. Marie would be so proud.

We talk and laugh all through dinner. In fact, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

This guy is entertaining. He scores some bonus points for having a great sense of humor.

After dinner, we share a delicious apple pie with vanilla ice cream on the side as Asher points out the various saltwater fish in the tank next to us. The effort he put into planning this date doesn’t go unnoticed.

We slowly gather our things and prepare to leave. I don’t want the evening to end. Asher pulls me in close to him as we wait for his car.

This date has turned out way better than I thought it would.

The Rolls-Royce pulls up and Asher places his hand in the middle of my lower back, guiding me inside. I smile as soon as I see what’s waiting for us. Two glasses of chilled Champagne sit on a small silver tray and a bouquet of roses lay next to it.

“Are these for me?” I ask.

Asher smiles, handing me a glass of Champagne. “Of course they’re for you and there’s a card in there too.”

I take a sip from my glass and fish around for the card stuck inside the bouquet.

“Let’s see what we have here,” I say, opening the small card. “It says ‘Thank you Jade for such a lovely evening.’ Aww that’s sweet. But how did you know this evening would turn out to be so nice?”

Asher wraps one arm around me and drapes the other across my thighs. “Just a guess,” he says with a shrug. “Lucky for me most of the time my guesses are spot on.”

A rush of heat flows from my head to my toes. It’s been a while since I’ve been this close to any man and I’m anxious to eventually get my goodnight kiss.

“Well, I’m glad you guessed correctly,” I say. “I don’t get out very often and I wasn’t sure what to expect this evening. Things definitely turned out better than I thought they would, and I’m glad for it.”

“Tell me about it,” says Asher. “My job takes up so much time that I rarely go out either. I’m either in a meeting, approving documents or scouting businesses. In fact, I’m sure my secretary has sent several emails and texts just while we’ve been at dinner. You’ve help keep my mind off business tonight so I haven’t even wanted to check my phone. Speaking of phones, go ahead and put your number in mine so I can call you later. I’ll need a way to reach you when I get ready to plan our next date.”

He hands the cell phone to me and I quickly punch in my number.

“Oh, aren’t you Mr. Confident? How do you know I’ll even want to go on another date with you?”

“I told you already, I’m a good guesser. You want to go on another date with me, right? Tell me I’m wrong if I’m wrong, but I think we both know I’m right about this one too,” he says with a smirk.

I roll my eyes with a grin and hand his phone back to him. “Yeah, yeah, so far so good,” I say, trying to play things cool.

He’s planning our next date already? Wow, an investor and a nanny sounds like the plot to a bad soap opera.

I giggle at how vastly different our worlds are. Asher leans in closer and nuzzles my neck.

“What’s so funny?” he asks, trailing his fingertips up and down my thigh. “I love a good joke.”

His breath is warm against my neck and I struggle to stay focused.

“I was just thinking how different our jobs are. You’re a businessman running his own company. You make great money doing what you do and you’re always busy. On the other hand, my job isn’t quite as demanding as yours and I certainly don’t make as much as you do. Even though our backgrounds are completely different we both hold very important jobs.”

He kisses the crook of my neck gently and the dull throb between my thighs awakens. “Go on,” he says. “Keep talking.”

“Well,” I say. “I’m a nanny and I’ve been a live-in nanny for the last three months to the most incredible little boy ever.”

“You must really like kids. Do you have any of your own?” he asks.

“Heavens, no,” I say. “Being Jacob’s nanny will be enough for quite a while. He’s still very young so I get plenty of hands-on experience. Every day is a new adventure with him.”

Asher stops stroking my leg and slowly pulls away. “Um, what’s his name again?”

I take note of his strange behavior and try to figure out what I said to make him react this way.

“Jacob,” I say. “He’s nine months old and has some of the most striking green eyes I’ve ever seen. His parents spend a lot of time doing their own thing, so ninety-five percent of the time, Jacob is in my care which is why I’m rarely ever free.”

Asher moves completely away from me and puts his hands in his lap. “What do his parents do?” he asks.

“His mom is working on relaunching her modeling career and his dad does something with hedge funds,” I say.

The color drains from Asher’s face and I watch his jaw tense up several times. I lean over and put my hand on top of his.

“Are you okay?” I ask. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

He shakes his head slowly just as the limo rolls to a stop in front of my building. Ed opens the door for us and I exit right behind Asher. He holds open the door to the lobby and escorts me to the elevators.

“Nothing’s wrong, everything’s fine. So, you live here with Jacob and his parents?” he asks.

“No,” I say. “Just Magdalene. Heath has his own place. But enough talk about my job. I want to thank you for such a lovely evening. I really enjoyed spending this time with you.”

“Likewise,” he says.

We wait silently for the elevator. I’m not sure what else to say. Asher’s whole demeanor has changed and I’m not exactly sure why. The elevator doors open and I step inside.

“Well,” I say. “I’ll talk to you later.”

Asher nods and turns around to the lobby doors. He doesn’t give me a goodnight kiss or anything, he just walks away.

What the hell just happened?