“Yes, Friday,” I replied as I covered my full mouth. “Probably Friday. I’ll just have to check their schedule. Unfortunately, I’m a slave to my babysitters.”
He smiled at me as I became more and more uncomfortable around him. It was his eyes. Those damn eyes looked at me and I felt my whole body losing control of itself. It was as if I turned into a silly, thirteen-year-old girl who couldn’t form a sentence and couldn’t respond without a giggle.
When we finished our food, Brandon led me out to a small motorized boat on the shore. It was a relief to know we weren’t going to be swimming back, but I couldn’t help wondering how the boat had gotten there. If the assistant had taken a boat out to the island, had they pulled a second one behind them just to leave there? I thought about asking him, but then decided I didn’t want to risk sounding ridiculous.
“I had a great first date,” I said as we walked to his car. “I hope they didn’t tow my car from the bagel shop.”
“They didn’t; I had my assistant call them.”
“Really? When did you do all of this? Was I sleeping for a year or something? That assistant is one hell of a lady. You’re lucky to have her around.”
“I was up late last night and couldn’t sleep. You were so p
eaceful, and I didn’t want to bother you. I’m glad you got some sleep. I suspect as a single mother you probably don’t get as much sleep as you’d like to get.”
“Sorry. I don’t normally pass out for a whole day when I’m around a guy.”
“I take it as a compliment,” he winked. “I must have totally exhausted you.”
We made our way back to the bagel shop as our flirty banter continued. I really did like talking to Brandon; he was fun and definitely kept me on my toes. The car ride was comfortable, yet my nerves continued. The light of day on my sordid night was playing tricks with my confidence.
“Maybe it’s just that I’m a single mom and never get to sleep in, but I feel totally lazy now.”
“Nah, I’m sticking to my reasoning. You were just exhausted by my awesome love-making skills. You might need a little time to recover,” he laughed. “Seriously, though, I’m glad you got some much-needed sleep.”
“I do feel like a new woman.”
“Enjoy the rest of your day,” he said as we pulled into the parking lot. “I’ll text you or call to set up our date Friday.”
My body tingled with desire when he leaned in to kiss me. I wanted to tell him I had just creamed myself, as a joke, but I decided that sounded too crude and he might not get my humor. Our night had been amazing, he was amazing, yet I was more nervous in that moment than I had been while in bed with him.
“I’ll talk to you later,” I said as I climbed out of his car and over to mine.
He stayed in the parking lot until I drove off, and I watched him in my rear-view mirror. His eyes continued to watch me as I drove down the road, like he was making sure I safely got on my way before he was even going to leave the parking lot.
Chapter Eight
Brandon
“You slept with her, didn’t you?” Josh said before he had made it past my front door.
“What are you talking about?”
“That blonde sugar baby from the website. You slept with her. I could read into that text you sent me.”
It was impossible to keep anything from him, and I didn’t know why I even tried. He didn’t have a life of his own and seemed to live vicariously through me. I’d much rather just move on with what we were doing for the day and not talk about Delilah at all, but that wasn’t likely to happen.
“First of all, I don’t think she’s one of those sugar baby girls like you think she is. Secondly, she’s a really nice girl and I’m not going to talk about what I may or may not have done with her,” I said. “I’m a gentleman.”
“I can’t blame you. I’d have taken a trip on that sugar rush, too. How much money does she want for her allowance each month? Maybe I can afford to have a girl like that by my side, too?”
Josh was really good at stock investing, but not all that great at listening. I understood where he was coming from with the idea that Delilah would be a girl looking for a rich boyfriend to mooch off of, but that wasn’t her – I knew it. I knew from the time we’d spent together that she wasn’t that sort of woman.
“Are we going to work on the futures trading market or are you just going to keep talking about my sex life?”
“Is that an actual question?” Josh said as he pulled up to my computer. “Because I’d much rather talk about your sexy girl than the futures market. I think you have an idealist view of this market. It’s not nearly as much fun as you think it is.”
“Just show me the basics, and we can go from there. I like to make my own decisions about things. I’d much rather know about it and choose not to invest, than not know what’s going on at all.”