Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 125140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
I close my eyes as reality sets in.
I desperately want my memory of him to be happy and good, because that’s what I feel he could have been if he hadn’t got…
I cut myself off. Stop it, you idiot.
He is a criminal and you have one night. Stop thinking, stop fucking feeling, and look at it for what it really is.
My thoughts are interrupted by his knock on the door. I put my hand on my stomach to calm my nerves and take one last look in the mirror.
Go time.
I open the door and there he stands, six foot four in a navy dinner suit and dress shoes. His sandy curls are styled, and he is clean-shaven. My eyebrows rise by themselves as I inhale his heavenly scent.
He wore a suit. Oh my God, he wore a suit.
He must have gone out and bought it after we organized our date. The night is perfect already.
“Hello.” He smirks.
I smile broadly. “Hello.” The electricity zaps between us.
His eyes drop down my body. “You look beautiful,” he whispers.
My poor heart won’t be able to bear much of this, and unable to speak, I smile goofily. He makes me giddy.
“Are you ready to go?” he asks.
I smile and grab my bag and he leads me out into the corridor.
* * *
The restaurant is dark and moody with candlelit tables. We are seated in the alfresco area in the courtyard that sits between two tall buildings. Fairy lights are hanging diagonally above us from building to building creating a romantic canopy. Large plants in pots are surrounding the border. We held hands as we walked all the way here, deep in discussion about our surroundings. It seems Stace is quite the Google traveler and could tell me all about the scenery and buildings as we passed them. Salsa music is piping throughout the space and the crowd are all late twenties and above. Loud, relaxed chatter echoes all around.
“Thank you.” I smile to the waiter as he fills my glass with champagne. He then fills Stace’s.
I hold my glass up. “A toast.”
He brings his glass up to meet mine.
“To new beginnings.”
He smiles. “To new beginnings,” he repeats
We both take a sip.
“So what do you think of Bogota?” he asks.
“It’s gorgeous.” I can’t hide my surprise. “I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t this.”
“I thought this would be better for you than in Columbia itself. It seemed safer and easier for you to get your bearings.”
I smile softly as I imagine him Googling places to drop me off. “My safety isn’t your concern, but thank you.” I sip my champagne. “This is so good.” I hold my glass up to him.
“Hmm, yes it is,” he replies as he eyes the bubbling liquid in his glass.
“So you bought a suit for me?” I smirk.
He smiles bashfully. “I did.”
Our eyes are locked on each other. “It looks really good,” I whisper.
“I had to try and match my beautiful date. I had an advantage. I already knew what she was wearing.”
His beautiful date.
Oh, my.
“Well, you haven’t had a date in six years.” I smirk cheekily.
He laughs. “You caught that, did you?”
I smile. “Yes, I caught that.” I take a sip. “Why haven’t you taken a woman on a date for six years?”
He shrugs and rearranges his napkin on his lap. “I don’t know. Things haven’t gone as planned, I suppose.”
“What were the plans?”
He licks the champagne from his bottom lip and I feel my insides clench. “I just…” He hesitates as he thinks. “I just always imagined I would meet the right person and everything else would fall into place.”
“The right person?” I ask.
He nods.
“You say the word person as if you didn’t mind if it were a male or female?”
“Would it bother you if it didn’t matter to me?” he replies.
I shrug. “Not really.”
He smiles sexily as his eyes drop to my lips. “I like women, if that was the hidden question. But, you already know that.”
“And you haven’t met her? Your person.”
His eyes hold mine and he shrugs. “I had a serious girlfriend in college and then when I went into the marines it got too hard to be faithful. I was young, dumb, and full of come on different continents of the world, away from her. The stopovers became…” He pauses as he thinks of the wording. “Complicated.”
“You broke her heart?”
He nods once and I can see the remorse in his eyes.
“You haven’t been in a relationship since?”
“No.”
The waiter walks over with a huge entrée platter of grilled seafood and Stace quickly reshuffles the table so it can fit.
“Oh, wow.” I smile.
“Thank you.” He nods as the waiter leaves.
“And you? You have had five boyfriends?” he asks.
My mouth drops open and I slap his hand on the table. “What? How do you know that?” I pick up the huge spoon and start to dish out my prawns. “Oh, this looks so good.”