Free Under His Skin by Emeline Piaget Page B

everything enjoyable, gorgeous?”
    “It was so much better than I expected, Stephen.  Thank you so much for dinner.”
     
    If he had planned on taking me home that night I was all for it.  All throughout dinner, I just kept staring at him.  I couldn’t believe that I was sitting here with this gorgeous creature.  Adonis didn’t seem to do him justice.  He was a perfect physical specimen in every way that I could see and it got me to thinking about the places I couldn’t see. 
     
    I was in the middle of a naughty thought when Cindy came back with his card and the receipt.  I snuck a quick glance while he was signing the check.  My eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw the total, one hundred sixty-seven dollars and eleven cents plus he added a fifty dollar tip.  Two hundred and seventeen dollars and he signed the check like it was two dollars.  I was impressed once again.  Not just that he was able to pay the bill, but doing so with such confidence.  He didn’t even allow me the opportunity to attempt to pay.  It was something I wasn’t used to.  His parents had raised him well.  It was quite the turn on.  It may have been the wine talking, but I wanted to take him home.
     
    Cindy came by the table one last time to pick up the check and told us to take our time and not rush leaving, “I  know our meals can be heavy, take your time,” she laughed.  I was more than ready to leave and drag him home.  I had pulled out all my best flirting moves; batting eyelashes, laughing, touching his arm across the table and I even twirled a tendril of hair that had fallen out of my bun.  It was time to see if it had paid off.  Travis and I had broken up months ago and I had been in a dry spell since.  One that I was hoping would be broken tonight.
     
    “Well, it’s getting late.  I’d better get you home.  I would hate for you to think that I’m out to take advantage of you,” he said.  I deflated like a balloon.
     
    “Oh yeah, I need to be getting home.  Chandi will probably wake up looking for me,” I lied.  She was with her father for the weekend.
     
     
    “I would hate to keep her mother from her.”
     
    I smiled even though I felt like crying.  Maybe I didn’t flirt as well as I thought I had.  He held my hand and helped me out of the booth, placing his hand on my lower back as we walked to the front of the restaurant.
     
    “Okay beautiful, wait right here and I’ll go grab the car.”
     
    “You know I don’t mind walking with you.”
     
    “Are you sure?”
     
    “Yes, I quite enjoy your company and I guess I’m milking it.”  He smiled radiantly.  His smile could be a spotlight, it was so bright and beautiful.
     
    “I’m not one to turn down the company of such a beautiful woman.”
     
    Like the gentleman he was proving to be, he held out his arm so that I could hold on while we walked. 
     
    “Those are great shoes by the way,” he said.
     
    “Are you a shoe man?”
     
    “Only when they complement the beauty of an incredibly beautiful woman, such as yourself.”  I instantly felt my skin flush.
     
    “Thank you Stephen, you are too kind.”
     
    “My mother raised me to speak the truth.”
     
    “She sounds like a remarkable woman.  You seem to brighten when you talk about her.”
     
    “She’s been one of the few constants in my life.  Plus you only get one mom, right?”
     
    “Yes, that’s true.  My mom has been wonderful to me.  If it hadn’t been for her help with Chandi, I don’t think I would have been able to keep my shop open.  I tried to send her on a vacation last year but she refused to go,” I chuckled at the memory. 
     
    “She said to me, ‘Oh no, because the minute I leave something will go wrong.  I’m staying put’.  She’s quite the character.”  He laughed.
     
    “She sounds like it,” he said as we reached his car.  He opened the door for me and helped me in.  I watched him in the side view mirror as he