I had to tell him about Ava, though. Soon.
For now, I had an article that needed to be written and another set of questions to write for the next day’s interview. Let me know when you’re free this week, Ace texted me. Again, I couldn’t seem to stop smiling.
22
Ace
I stared down at the flowers in my hand, wondering once more if maybe that was going overboard. I didn’t really know what the protocol was for dates, to be honest. It had been a while. And I’d never seriously dated anyone.
I shook my head and knocked on the door. Harper would like the flowers; I was pretty sure. It wasn’t really a question of that. I just didn’t want her to feel like I was moving too fast. But then again, she had been the one to bring Ava along on our last little meet-up, so maybe we were both moving faster than we’d originally agreed.
When the door opened, I frowned and took a step back, making sure I had the right place. I didn’t recognize the woman standing there, a thin blonde in a bright sundress, and as far as I knew, Harper and Ava lived alone.
“Well, hello there,” the woman said, smirking at me as she blatantly eyed me up and down. She slowly smiled, while I looked back at her in confusion, trying to figure out who she might be.
Fortunately, Harper appeared a second later, pushing the other woman to the side. “I said I’d answer it,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Busybody.”
The last was muttered under her breath, but it was clear enough for all of us to hear. The other woman burst out laughing and gave Harper a hug. “Have fun,” she said, and the way she said it was unmistakably lewd.
Harper rolled her eyes. She grabbed the flowers, giving them a precursory sniff before passing them off to the other woman. Then, she caught my arm, dragging me out of the apartment. “Maisie is going to talk your ear off if we stay too long,” she told me in an undertone.
“That’s Maisie?” I asked, glancing back over my shoulder to get another look at Harper’s best friend. But the door was already closed between us.
“She’s something, isn’t she?” Harper asked. “I swear, it’s everything that I always imagined having a sister would be like. She lives just to embarrass me.” But then, her face softened. “She’s so good to me, though. To us, Ava and me. She’s saved my butt more than once.”
“She seems nice,” I said. I caught Harper’s hand just before we left her building, pulling her to a stop facing me. I leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. “It’s good to see you,” I told her. “You look great.”
And she really did. I’d told her, when we’d arranged this, that she should dress nice, that I was going to treat her right. And she had pulled out all the stops, putting on a sexy, red flared dress that made her look some interesting mix of sexy and cute. The dress was low-cut, a tasteful amount of cleavage showing, and the bottom swayed as she walked in her high black heels.
It sounded so stupid, but I had gotten used to seeing her in casual clothes, both in Kuwait and back here. Seeing her pull out all the stops like that really turned me on.
And we weren’t even to the restaurant yet.
Harper smiled shyly up at me. “It’s good to see you, too,” she said. “And thanks for the flowers. They’re beautiful.”
I smiled right back at her and then cleared my throat. “So, shall we?”
“Where are we going anyway?” Harper asked.
“It’s a surprise,” I told her.
I hadn’t been sure where to take her, and I’d ended up asking Sadie and Danielle for advice. I wasn’t familiar with the city, and it wasn’t like I was going to go try out a bunch of fancy restaurants on my own. I wanted the night to be special; I didn’t want just to go online and make a reservation at the first place I saw.
But Sadie had had the perfect idea. One of her friends, she said, put together these little pop-up shop restaurant nights. Some of them were strictly casual: he might partner with a bar that didn’t normally serve food, offering a menu of sliders and fries for the night to accompany beer.
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The one we were going to that night, though, was a lot fancier. It was at the top of a local hotel, and Sadie had assured me there would be candlelight, a romantic atmosphere, and quiet music. And a great view of the city. The tables were limited, but she’d managed to get us on the list. I couldn’t wait to see Harper’s face when she saw the place.
Although I was still worried that she’d see it and think I was going too fast. If so, though, we’d leave and go find somewhere else.
I tried not to be too nervous, but I knew she noticed the way I drummed my fingers against the steering wheel on the drive over, unable to sit still.
We pulled up outside the hotel, and I gave the keys to the valet. Harper looked quizzically over at me. “I thought we were going for dinner,” she said.
“We are,” I said, smiling at her. I was enjoying the surprise of it.
“Room service?” Harper quipped as I led her over to the elevator.