I held them up by their straps; my bare feet smacked over the driveway. “I have them right here.”
“Shouldn’t they be on your feet?” He held the door open for me and I got into his Porsche.
It was my favorite of his cars because it drove the fastest. And Parker knew I liked to go fast.
When he got in the car, I answered him. “It’s enough that you got me into a dress. The heels go on when we get there.”
He smirked. “Whatever you say.”
“If you had to wear these stilts all the time, you’d be complaining, too.”
“Remember, I did try on my mom’s heels during that scavenger hunt junior year.”
“Ohhh!” I said pointing at him. “I totally forgot about that.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “They weren’t that bad.”’
I laughed. “You had to wear them for like, a minute. Don’t try and pretend you have enough experience to argue with me.”
“Argue with you?” he said in mock surprise. “Never.”
“So, where are you taking me?” I asked.
“Valencia’s,” he said.
As a restaurant owner, I made a point to know the up-and-coming places nearby. I didn’t have a lot of competition in the diner business, but Valencia’s was completely out of Sunny Daes’ orbit.
“Valencia’s?” I said, stunned.
“Yup.”
“You mean the Italian joint that books reservations a year in advance?”
“That’s the place.”
I turned in my seat to face him. “Did you have a reservation for a year?” Had he intended to take Rachel there and she backed out? I couldn’t imagine that she would pass up a chance to go to Valencia’s, but I also didn’t pretend to know what was going on in her gold-digger head.
“No way, I got them yesterday.”
It wasn’t the first time Parker used his money to his advantage. And in this case, it was to our advantage. I was obsessed with that place and had always wanted to go. I didn’t remember ever mentioning that to Parker before. Had I?
“Must be nice,” I said.
“It is nice.” He squeezed my hand. “I have the opportunity to take my best friend out for a fancy dinner. I’ll call that a win.”
I smiled and settled back into my seat, slowly extracting my hand from his. I flexed it in my lap and tried to shove down the resulting fluttering in my stomach.
When we arrived at the restaurant, Parker pulled into the valet line and got out. I scrambled to strap on the heels before the valet opened my door.
The young valet reached his hand out to help me, but Parker was already there, politely offering himself to help me. The valet stepped aside and Parker gave him the keys to the car.
I took Parker’s outstretched hand and stood on wobbly legs. It took me a second to get used to my extra five inches of height. Parker tucked my arm under his, serving as a solid being for me to rest my weight on until I could walk normally.
I looked up at the otherwise normal, seemingly innocuous brick building that housed the best Italian cuisine for miles. People flocked to Valencia’s all year round. And now I was going to get the opportunity to experience it, too.
Inside, Parker led me to the hostess station. The woman at the desk balked when she saw him.
I rolled my eyes. It was the signature reaction of any female when they saw Parker for the first time. He had great genetics. Too bad none of them knew him when he was a gangly, pimple-faced teenager. I didn’t hold that against him, at least not all the time. I did, however, keep a particularly embarrassing photo stored on my phone that I liked to show him whenever I felt his ego needed to be checked.