Free The Price of Love (A Price Novel Book 1) by Maggi Craft Page B

thing or two.”
    “Wow, I look amazing. I look like a model.”
    She laughed. “No, honey, you look way better than a model. You don’t need makeup and all this to be pretty. You’re naturally pretty.”
    I had no idea what she was talking about, but I barely recognized myself in the mirror. “What if he doesn’t recognize me?” I asked.
    “You know, you might have a point. Not that he won’t recognize you, but I’m sure he likes you the way you are without all this extra stuff. I think the prettiest thing about you is how soft and natural you always look. Let me take this makeup down a notch.” In less than five minutes, she brought me from MAC runway show back to normal girl ready for a first date with a hot guy. I was very impressed.
    When Slayde showed up to get me, I could tell he was also impressed. He was smiling more widely than usual and looked a little surprised. He grabbed my hand and made me twirl around in a circle. “Wow, you look amazing,” he said, and he kissed my cheek.
    I was blushing. I could feel the heat in my cheeks. “Thank you! You look great too!” And he did. He always looked great, whether he was wearing an old T-shirt and shorts or all dressed up. Tonight was no exception. He was wearing some jeans that looked like the designer had made them for him and only him, a yellow polo that made his tan skin look three shades darker than it was earlier this afternoon, and as always, that amazing smile. I thought if I were a toothpaste company, I’d hire him to be my spokesmodel.
    He grabbed my hand, and we started walking toward the Metro. “Where are we going?” I asked.
    “You’ll see.” He grinned.
    After a short ride, we got off and walked into the park that we always met in. I noticed a little table set up in the corner, with a man in a tux waiting next to it. The trees around it were all lit up with tiny white lights and had white paper lanterns suspended from their branches. A beautiful arrangement of flowers decorated the center of the table, accompanied by empty wine glasses. A bucket with ice and wine sat next to the table.
    Slayde pulled my chair out for me, and I sat down. The man in the tux opened the wine. “Good evening, Miss Simms. Red or white?”
He knows my name?
This was so unreal. When did Slayde have time to do all of this? I had just told him I would go a few hours earlier.
    “Red, thank you,” I said, and he poured us each a glass of red wine. I looked at Slayde, who was leaning toward me intently on his elbows. “Wow, this is beautiful. How did you do all this?”
    “I’m glad you like it.” He grabbed my hand. “Oh, my bad,” he said and let go. “Is it OK for me to touch you?” he asked with a smirk on his face, but I could tell he really was waiting on my permission.
    “I guess so. Since you went to all this trouble for me.” And I smiled back at him.
    “Well, it wasn’t any trouble,” he said.
    We ate and talked and had a wonderful time. Being with him was so easy. We never had any awkward silent moments. It was like we had been friends our whole lives. I couldn’t believe the chemistry there. Every time he touched me, I got butterflies, and when he wasn’t touching me, I was wishing he were. I didn’t know how this was all going to play out. I was so scared that my heart would be broken, but I couldn’t stop my feelings for him.
    After we ate, we took a walk around the city and ended up on a little bridge over a large koi pond. As we looked down at the fish, I saw fireworks reflecting in the water. “It must be ten o’clock,” he said, pointing at the sky.
    While we stood there, looking up at the show, Slayde was rubbing my hand with his thumb, and I could barely concentrate on the fireworks. All I could think about was kissing him. I wasn’t sure he would dare kiss me, even after I had given him permission to touch me earlier. Before I knew it, I heard myself say, “Are you going to kiss me or what?”
    He turned to me with a huge