Chapter 3 - First date.

Irina

I SMACKED MY mother’s shoulder when she commented on the black SUV parked outside our house! My father raised a brow and commented that our neighbours were going to think we were part of the mob and I rolled my eyes sighing! Great! My parents were already teasing the older man who asked me out on a date after only seeing me one time!

Hunter held out his arm and I carefully slipped my hand into it as we walked down the steps toward the car. The same young man in black jeans and pristine white shirt opened the back door and I thanked him before slipping into the back. I noted another young man dressed similarly behind the wheel and introduced myself. Wow! All of them were gorgeous! Hunter jumped in beside me and the car pulled out into the road.

“That is Eli, my driver and Liam is my be… My bodyguard.” Hunter introduced us, but I got the feeling they already knew who I was. We arrived at the only fancy restaurant in town and I had to smile. It was where everybody had their proper first dates or celebrated their anniversaries. Most birthdays, people celebrated at the pub, but when it was a really big one, the older people preferred to celebrate here.

“Hunter! How lovely to see you! I have your table ready.” Emily kissed both his cheeks, but I could see that he didn’t like it as he pulled back slightly before she showed us to our table. This was going to be far more interesting than I thought and I smiled when Hunter pulled the chair out for me and Emily raised a brow.

“So, a little birdie told me that it was your birthday the other night.” Hunter pulled a small box from his jacket pocket and I was just about to tell him that it wasn’t necessary when he stopped me and told me to open it. I gasped as I opened the box and two diamond earrings stared back at me.

“Hunter! This is too much!” I gasped and was about to hand it back to him when he took one out and carefully put it on for me. When he touched my ear, I felt a shock run through my body and I quickly put the other earring in myself. “They are very beautiful, thank you.” I smiled just as our waiter appeared and Hunter ordered champagne.

I breathed in deeply, thinking that this would be the perfect dream date, if I was to be swept off my feet by someone with money. My friends would probably kill me for even thinking of leaving, but all of this was so much! I felt as if I had landed in someone else’s dream!

“So, tell me about yourself. Are you going to college or university?” Hunter sat back looking happy with himself and I shrugged.

“No.” We hardly knew each other. I couldn’t very well tell him I wasn’t going because my parents couldn’t afford it. “Melanie offered me a permanent job at the flower shop.” I shrugged and smiled. “What do you do for a living?” The waiter showed up with our champagne and we ordered our food. He actually looked impressed that I ordered fries with my steak. He probably thought I didn’t hear him, and I didn’t say anything. We made some more small talk until our food arrived.

In between, we would ask each other the odd silly question like what is your favourite colour or sports team, but none of it was really in depth. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. It was pretty easy to talk to him even if we were just talking about the small stuff. He laughed and it hit me right in that spot it did when I saw him for the first time. There was something there! There had to be for him to ask me out on a date. He asked me if I wanted dessert and I grinned.

“Only if you share it with me.” I tilted my head to one side and breathed deeply. His lips parted slightly as I bit down on my bottom lip. The tension between us built instantly and I wasn’t entirely sure why.

“Tell me, have you ever had a boyfriend?” Amusement danced around in his eyes and I rolled mine. It was an incredibly personal question, but for some reason I wasn’t offended when he asked.

“No, why? Are you planning on being my first?” My eyes grew wide as I realized what I had just asked him and things between us became unbearably tense in an instant again. It was meant to come out as a joke, but his eyes suddenly had something else in them. Was it … It couldn’t be! Was he lusting after me? “Because I don’t date ancient guys, you know.” I focused on my glass of water in the hopes that just looking at it would cool me down! What the hell was I doing?!

“That is very good to know, since I’m not ancient or old. I’m Thirty-two.” He grinned and I wanted to roll my eyes, but I found myself laughing.

“Will you let me borrow those two of yours, then I can finally be twenty!” I burst out laughing and was relieved to find that he found it funny as well. Especially since it wasn’t funny at all! The man was fourteen years older than me! This had to be our first and only date. There had to be something wrong with a man of his age wanting to date a girl who was fresh out of school!

Desert arrived and we shared it and when we were done, he paid the bill and our escorts were outside patiently waiting. They drove us home and I wasn’t entirely sure what to say in the car, so it was a very quiet drive home. Hunter walked me to the door and left a soft kiss on my cheek before walking back to the car. He was just about to get in when he turned to look at me.

“I have a meeting tomorrow night, but can I pick you up the day after? Say around nine.” He scratched the back of his head and I nodded. I hadn’t even checked my calendar, but it didn’t matter. I would move whatever I had to so that I could see him again!