Never Say Never (The Ladies Who Brunch 1)

“Where are we going?” I ask in the passenger seat of Damien’s car. It’s Friday night and he just picked us up for our date like we arranged. My eyes take in the city zooming past us as we drive along the freeway and he holds my hand in his.

Our date.

I’m on a freaking date with Damien Shaw. And the man has given me three of the best orgasms of my life so far in the past week. I’d say the smile on my face is one I’m wearing proudly at this moment, even though there’s trepidation still over what all of this means.

“Have you ever been to The High Rooftop Lounge?” he asks, glancing over at me quickly before focusing back on the road.

“Oh! No, but I’ve been dying to go.”

“Well, then I’m glad I made our reservations there for tonight. We’re getting dinner with a view, Char.” He lifts my hand that he’s holding and kisses the back of it, eliciting tingles all over my skin.

On the way to the restaurant/bar, we catch up on the rest of our week. Damien tells me about how Dave was trying to invite us to another dinner, but he told him we had plans for the next few weekends. I tell him about dinner with the girls on Wednesday, in which Noelle told us about her latest online dating fiasco.

And then Damien brings up what happened in my office on Tuesday. “Have you been thinking about Tuesday as much as I have?” he asks suggestively, glancing in my direction as we arrive at the bar.

I decide to tease him a little bit. “What happened on Tuesday?” I tap my finger to my chin in thought. “I don’t remember anything eventful on Tuesday.”

Leaning over the center console, he grins at me. “If you need a reminder, I’d be more than happy to oblige.”

So I get a little closer, leaving just enough room between us that our lips don’t touch, but I still get a strong whiff of his scent—that masculine cleanliness that I can’t seem to get enough of. “You might just have to do that. Three days without an orgasm has my mind kind of fuzzy.”

Damien grabs my head and pulls me closer, his lips brushing against mine as he speaks. “Be careful what you ask for, Char.” And then he kisses me chastely, leaving me wanting so much more than what he gave me.

He releases me and exits the car, coming around to open my door for me and helping me out with his outstretched hand. As I stand, I take him in once more. I already ogled him when he picked me up, but Damien looks so sexy in dark wash jeans, a simple olive green shirt, and brown sneakers.

He told me to dress warmly since once the sun goes down, the rooftop gets cold from the breeze coming off the ocean. So I also chose a pair of jeans which I coordinated with wedges, a flowy pink top that hangs off my shoulders, and I brought a cream-colored sweater just in case.

With my hand in his, he leads me to the front of the restaurant, where the hostess checks us in and then leads us to the rooftop. When we climb the last few stairs, and I see the view of the ocean in front of me and all of Los Angeles in any direction behind us, my mouth drops open in awe. “Wow.”

“This way. We have a table over here for you two.” Damien follows the hostess while I trail behind him to a small couch facing the railing around the space, looking out over the city around us. Two tall planters sit behind the couch and an umbrella that isn’t open stands next to one side. Propane heaters are spaced out all around the rooftop, close enough to keep us warm once the sun goes down. “Here you go.”

“Thank you,” I reply as we sit down and she hands us menus. “Your server will be by shortly and if you get cold, all you have to do is ask for a blanket. We have a clean one available for all of our guests.”

“Awesome.” Damien turns to me and puts his arm around my shoulders as we stare off into the distance. “Damn. This is some view.”

“Right?” I spin my head around, looking behind us too.

“Sunset over the ocean,” he says, looking over at me now. “Doesn’t get much better than that.”

“I agree.” I debate pressing my lips to his gently, but then a server comes by asking us for our drink order. Damien orders a beer and I order a glass of white wine, and we watch the sunset before us as we wait for our drinks.

Oranges, yellows, and pinks paint the sky in between clouds that look like brush strokes on a canvas. The waves of the ocean crash onto the shore below, and palm trees sticking up into the sky flow freely in the soft breeze.

“This is stunning.”

“Yeah, pretty fucking spectacular,” Damien replies when I realize he’s looking at me now and not the view. Our waiter comes by with our drinks and then Damien proposes a toast. “To old friends and new beginnings.”

“We were never friends, Damien,” I tease.

“I don’t know. I think deep down we were. We just never let ourselves get close enough to explore it.” We clink our glasses together and then return our stare to the sunset.

“Do you think we would have been more back then?” I ask, avoiding his gaze. But then I regret asking that question immediately. Nothing about how and who we used to be even compares to this moment right now.

Damien thinks about his answer before he replies. “No,” he says soundly and part of me cringes at how easily the answer came to him. “We were young, driven by the wrong circumstances and aspirations.” And then he turns to me. “But this, where we are right now? This is where I want to be, okay?”

The rest of his answer makes me feel resolute again. “Okay.” With a press of his lips to mine, I get lost in his touch, almost spilling my wine on my jeans. “Whoops.” I laugh as Damien follows suit and grabs both of our drinks and sets them on the table in front of us.

“Let’s figure out what we’re going to eat, and then we can do some more kissing in a minute.”

“Okay.” I lean my head on his shoulder as we share a menu and pick out what we’re going to eat—the act feeling so normal and comfortable, for a second it almost feels real. But maybe that’s because it’s beginning to feel that way and the giddy girl inside of me is enjoying this way too much—while the woman in my head is begging me to proceed with caution.

* * *

“So, I’ve been meaning to ask you, but thought I’d save it for tonight,” Damien says while wiping his mouth with a napkin.

“Okay…”

“Do you always listen to The Greatest Showman soundtrack while you’re working?” He smiles around the last bit of his food.

I roll my eyes but smile back at him. “I knew you were going to give me shit about that.”

“You’ve got to admit, it’s kind of endearing.”

“Oh really? How so?”

“Well, you’re a grown-ass woman and you listen to show tunes while you work. It’s cute.”

“Have you even seen the movie?”

Damien licks his lips before replying. “Yes, I have.”