Chapter Seven
Selena
I had to blink when I entered the restaurant. It was a pleasant bar converted from an old cannery out there by Brooklyn. The red brick was crumbling just a bit in a few places, and you could feel the history of the whole place. It was the type of bar the average hipster would flock to—full of organic and fresh raised everything, but still not exactly what I would have pegged as a choice for Brandon. Somehow, I expected our biggest date yet to be out to some fancy place in Manhattan, with prime rib more expensive than what I made in a day at work or something French. To be at a contempo casual bar was actually a refreshing change of pace from what I’d thought.
He stood up at the corner table he’d been seated in and pulled my chair back for me. It made me smile. It was the little gentlemanly things that got to me. Kevin had never pulled out my chair or held open a door. It was all the kinds of stuff you did see guys around West Virginia do, and I guess at least among the rich and upper-crusty, it was still traditional too.
Sitting down, I brushed my hair back out of my face and shivered a little. I’d worn my favorite little red dress that hugged my curves in all the right ways. It was sleeveless, unfortunately, so that left me with goosebumps spreading across my upper arms. To me, it never seemed like restaurants or movie theaters kept enough heat on. They always blasted the AC, which left me chilly. Then again, watching Brandon lick his lips as he evaluated me was worth it.
Left me wet and ready for him already.
I crossed my legs under the table, even as liquid pooled against the satin of my new panties.
“You look amazing.”
“You don’t look bad yourself.”
I meant that. His salt and pepper hair was tousled just so, and it looked wet from a shower. I assumed some kind of gel was involved in that “I don’t care look,” but it worked for him. He was still sporting his five o’clock shadow, and I desperately wanted to lick patterns across his stubble. I’d have to save that for later. It was the kind of thing that would probably get me kicked out of the bar. Probably.
But it would be worth it.
We exchanged pleasantries at first and placed our order. Once the wine and oysters Rockefeller appetizers came, we were able to relax with one another. I was still coiled up tightly from work, from the next piece I was working on, and he seemed a bit distracted tonight, like he needed a few glasses of merlot to unwind. So far, whenever I’d been near Brandon, he’d appeared to be the ultimate alpha, always in control. I wanted to ask him what was bothering him, but I wasn’t even sure it was my place. After all, I couldn’t even define our relationship.
We weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend. He hadn’t given me anything—nor did I want bribes to stay with him—so I wasn’t some gold digger with a sugar daddy. It wasn’t booty calls, not when he was taking me out on a date. I was thinking it was mostly a disaster waiting to happen, but Hallmark didn’t exactly make cards for that type of relationship either.
“Are you okay?” I finally asked as I brought an oyster to my lips.
“I’m fine. It’s just been a long day. My CFO had some concerns over the Orbit merger. That was all. What about you? You seem quiet too.”
“Well, to be honest. This is kind of the first date we’ve had.”
“I sat next to you at the Vera Wang show and introduced you to most of the fashion movers and shakers there. That counts as a date. It made page six.”
I snorted. “I know, but this seems so… Uh, don’t take this the wrong way, but this feels normal.”
He brought his hand to his chest in mock indignation. “Are you saying I’m weird?”
“I’m saying this whole situation has been highly unusual. Even if my best friend wasn’t your daughter.” I had lowered my voice when saying that last point. “Even if that wasn’t part of it, we’re the types.”
He whispered back to me, “To have wild fuck sessions in an office or dressing room.”
I blushed and then nodded. “Pretty much. Not that I don’t appreciate the change of pace.” I punctuated my point by smiling when the waiter brought me my chicken and Brandon his steak. “Still, I guess I know how to act when you seduce me. I’m not sure I know what you want from me on a date.”
“There’s nothing to do or any test to pass,” he replied. “I just want to get to know you more, Tiger. I figured a date would be a good start for that.”
“Then cheers,” I said, clanking my wine glass against his. “So, what do you want to know about me?”
“Well, I know where you work, at least for now. I know that you’re a good person or Tammy wouldn’t give you the time of day.”
“See, then this might be a short day.”
He grinned, a wolfish expression, and then licked his lips. “There are some advantages to that. What about you though, Selena. What made you come to New York City? Why are you working so hard to get into fashion journalism?”
I sighed and started picking at the napkin on my lap. I tried not to think of the small, burned-out town I’d fled the minute I graduated high school. I definitely didn’t want to focus on my mom, who’d had me at seventeen and become a meth addict about a dozen years later. There was nothing left for me back in West Virginia. It was make it in New York or bust, and I had to make it. No matter the cost.
And, no, I’d never make the mistakes my mother did.
“I’m from nowhere basically; some town in West Virginia so tiny that you can barely find it on actual maps. No GPS finds it. I was happy to see it out of the cab’s rearview mirror. Let me put it that way.”
He nodded and cut into his steak. “I know what that’s like.”
“Huh?”
“I was hardly born with a silver spoon, Tiger. I’m from West Liberty, Ohio. It’s a quaint enough town, has a few antique shops downtown, and is the type of place with stone geese who get decorated every season. They wear raincoats in April and Santa hats in December.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because there’s nothing to do there but that. Oh, and bake pies. My mom was a county champion in blueberry. It wasn’t bad back there, but it was boring, not my thing. So, I came here too when I graduated college, and I never looked back.”
I blinked back at him. Frankly, I’d assumed he’d been a Park Avenue guy his whole life. “Do you ever miss it? The small town, the lack of pressure?”
“I loved my mom. Dad died overseas in the military when I was still a kid. I visited Mom till she died when I was about thirty. Damn how much she loved smoking, you know?”
I swallowed hard and took his hand. “That’s awful.”
“But I built a life here. I had something great for a while with my first wife. It went south, but I got Tammy out of it. I built a company I’m proud of—that anyone would be proud of. To be honest, if you asked me a few weeks ago, I’d say I had no regrets at all.”
“What changed?”
“You did,” he said, his eyes boring into mine. “For a while, I was enjoying my life, reveling in what I had.”
I sighed. “You mean enjoying different women every night. I… Mrs. Stewart wasn’t delicate about that part when she said she’d heard rumors about you that night at Vera Wang, that it was basically what she’d expect.”
He placed one hand over my own. “You need to know that I feel different about you. I don’t know if I have words for it. I’m not sure if I want to label it yet, but you’re more than just some girl from a Rolodex.”
“What’s a Rolodex?”
He laughed. “Fine—from Tinder and swiping right. I forget how young you are sometimes.”
“And you’re maybe a little old,” I said. Then, winking, I picked an onion straw off of his plate. “I mean, in a year or two, you’ll have a cane.”
“I will not!”
“Maybe,” I said. “I guess then you know exactly what I’m feeling, what I want. Maybe it’s the same story for the millions of people who flock here. I want to be something and never have to go back to my shitty town. And…”
“‘If you make it here, you can make it anywhere?’” he asked wryly.
“Basically.”
“Then, and I’d say this even if you weren’t the most gorgeous girl I’d ever seen...”
“Flattery will get you everywhere, Mr. Duncan,” I said, bringing my tone down to a sultry alto.
“I know that look; that burning need for recognition. I’ve seen hundreds of new hires. The ones that last, the ones who make a dent at my company, have that hunger too.”
Heat flared in my belly, but it had nothing to do with my attraction to Brandon. No. It was pride, working its way through me. Everything I did, I did in order to take care of myself, to ensure I never went crawling back to my mother. If Brandon had seen other interns and new employees succeed who showed the same fire, then I felt better.
Like I might just make it.
He nodded toward me and set his napkin on the table. “I have another surprise tonight, Tiger. Finish up. You’re going to want to see this.”