The week was a blur and before I knew it, I was pulling up to Bella’s Bagels. I had spent entirely too long getting ready this morning. I did my hair with the perfect wave of curls; just enough to look sweet, but not too much to look like I had actually curled my hair. I did my makeup in the “no makeup” look, which actually took much more time than just putting makeup on.
I was ready to meet Brandon, and even ready for him to not be interested in me. It was okay; I was just happy to have a real date with a decent guy, and if it didn’t work out, I knew I had at least tried my best.
“Delilah,” I heard a husky voice say from behind me before I had even walked in the front door of the shop. It startled me, and I visibly jumped as I turned around. “Hey, sorry, don’t mace me,” Brandon laughed as he jokingly put his hands up in front of his face.
“Oh, wow, yeah, you scared the crap out of me. Yeah, I’m Delilah,” I said as I held my hand out to shake his.
What was I doing? I was actually meeting this total stranger to have a bagel date? It seemed so out of this world that I’d agreed to meet him at all. Memories of Spencer flooded my mind, and I thought about how nervous I’d been around him when we first met.
Brandon seemed like a nice enough guy, but he was much more handsome in person than he had been in his profile…and he was pretty damn handsome in his profile. My hands shook and my voice cracked and I just knew he was going to be able to tell that I wasn’t the kind of girl he wanted to go out with.
“It’s nice to meet you. I was looking for a beautiful blonde in a bikini, but then I decided it was probably a little too chilly for you to wear that on our first date.”
He smiled at me and winked at the same time, and it sent heat flushing right to my cheeks. This guy was drop dead handsome – like Hollywood handsome. In fact, he looked a little familiar to me; maybe he was in the movies or something.
I knew I couldn’t be myself. There was no way a guy like him was going to fall for a girl like me if I was actually my dorky self. I seriously doubted if he was used to dating IT systems administrators or web designers. Nope, I was just going to have to chalk this up to a fun breakfast with a handsome guy I’d never see again.
“Yeah, I’ve got my bikini in the car, if you’d like me to change,” I said as I reached for the door handle.
“Maybe after breakfast. Let’s go sit down.”
His dry sense of humor mixed perfectly with mine. It was actually really hard to find someone who thought I was funny and could understand when I was joking. I’d met a decent number of guys at the bars who thought I was being serious when I said something like I had.
I wasn’t normally the overly confident type of girl around any guy, especially a man like Brandon. Well, the truth was I didn’t actually hang around rich guys or handsome guys so I didn’t know exactly know what to do with myself. But, since I had already decided this would likely be our only date, I was just going to go for it and be as wild and crazy as I could muster up the courage for.
“I’d like an everything bagel, toasted, with cream cheese, please,?
? I told the lady at the counter.
“Two of those, please,” Brandon said.
“Oh, you just happen to like the same type of bagel as I do?”
“Actually, I’ve never tried the everything bagel and always wanted to. I figured since you were bold enough to go for it, I could, too. What exactly is on it?”
“Hmmm, I don’t think anyone has referred to me as bold before; that’s actually really funny. I have no idea what’s all on it. But I do know that it tastes delicious.”
“I doubt that no one has called you bold before,” he said as his hand touched my arm slightly. “You probably just intimidated them too much to say it to your face.”
The heat from his fingers was like lightening as it shot through my body. I wasn’t ready for it and felt my knees get weak almost instantly. I leaned against the counter to pretend like I was just fine, but there was so much energy coming off of Brandon that I literally couldn’t look at him.
There was a night and day difference between how he had touched my arm and how that guy at the art gallery had gone about it. Brandon was soft and gentle. He looked me in the eyes and made me feel passion for him; the guy at the gallery just made me afraid he was going to murder me.
“Orange juice, please,” I said when we reached the cash register.
I looked straight at the clerk and avoided Brandon’s eyes as much as possible, although the way he continued to look back at me and smile was melting every bit of my will power away.
His green eyes were crystal clear, and his lips just the right amount of plump. I could certainly see myself kissing this guy, or kissing all over his body. Hell, I could see myself in bed with him. If he had asked me to go back to his place, I would have probably just said yes. How could a girl ever refuse a man who was so blatantly handsome? Not to mention he was kind, funny, and rich, I thought.
“I’ve got this,” Brandon said as I reached for my purse to pay. “I mean, it’s the least I can do.”
I smiled and grabbed my bagel and orange juice while I waited for him to pick out a spot. He smiled again as he walked to a booth in the corner and I dutifully followed him. It felt like we were both smiling like a couple of maniacs, but I figured that was better than if either of us were frowning.
The date seemed to be off to a great start. He was funny, handsome, and flirty. I was pulling together some sort of witty awesomeness that I didn’t even know I had in me. So far so good.
“I bet the girls just cream themselves when you’re out in the clubs,” I blurted out as we sat down.
He burst into laughter as I quickly covered my mouth in total shock. Then I covered my whole face as the words replayed in my head. I couldn’t have actually said those things out loud.