Chapter 1

DAWN

"Come on, do it!" Leslie clears her throat while she crosses her hands on her chest. "You can't be a single lass forever."

"What?" I eye her suspiciously. "Why would I say 'yes' to meeting some stranger from a social media messenger?"

"Well, he slid into your DM's, didn't he?" She stares at me with an evil smirk. "Don't you think it'd be nicer if you could get some ass?"

"Just look at your bad mouth." I point to her face and scoff like a pre-schooler. "How did your mom let you grow up with such a nasty mouth? Do you think I'll meet someone for the first time and then bang them?"

"Calm down, Dawny!" She puts up her hand defensively. "If you don't like him, you can just walk away after the date." Then Leslie rolls her eyes. "It's not like I'm telling you to get married to the man." She picks up my phone, sitting near my laptop on my work desk, and holds it up in front of my field of vision, gesturing with her eyes to unlock the screen. When I don't move an inch to do anything about it, she reaches for me and grabs me by the waist. "Don't be such a drama queen, Dawny. You never go out on any of the blind dates I set up for you, and now if you don't go out and meet this man, what chances do you have of ever getting married?"

I squirm under her hold but try to do it as gently as possible, considering my best friend had just announced that she has been pregnant for the past two months. Bad luck for me because in response to her pregnancy announcement, I spit out the fact that this guy from this random app wants to take me out on a date tonight.

Fuck me.

"What if he tries to get me to go on more dates with him?"

She lets me go and pulls up my phone to my eyesight again. Exhaling a breath, I give in to her persistent demand and unlock the screen. I scroll on my phone screen with a reluctant thumb. Then I finally open the chat screen for my best friend to catch a glimpse of the guy who is even remotely interested in inviting me to a spontaneous rendezvous. The moment I hand over my phone, Leslie brings the phone between her palms and enlarges the profile picture on the top of the chat box. And then she squeals, albeit a bit too loudly.

"If he tries to get you to come on more dates with him, you ought to go. Just look at his muscular abs and that chiselled jaw. Geez! What's wrong with you, Dawn?"

Shrugging my shoulders, I sigh again.

"I honestly don't know. It's just that this man is way too hot for me, you know?" I glare at her. "What if it's a dumb prank? Am I going to be on the next season's episode of Bamboozled?"

Leslie walks up to me and pats me on the back a few times to comfort me.

"Getting pregnant has made me so soft." She moves on to pat my head. "You have got to do something about your low self-esteem, kid. He probably wants to see you in person and maybe bang you, and that's pretty much it." She snorts. "Don't make it more complicated than it has to be, or I'll smack your behind."

I smile at that remark.

"Go ahead, spank me all you want. Should I bend over on the desk?"

Leslie laughs.

"Wouldn't it be better if that hot man did all that spanking to you in bed?" She winks at me. "Ahh, don't pretend like you don't want it."

"Do I want it?"

"Just take it easy." Leslie hugs me. "What can go wrong?" She pats my shoulder. "It's simply a date."

I nod.

"It might be fun."

***

I stand near the kerb, waiting for the man from the online messenger to appear in the flesh. Exhaling a harsh breath, I adjust the neckline of my dress. Leslie forced me to don the skimpiest dress from my closet, which wasn't that revealing in the first place. It does have a low-cut neckline which makes me anxious about spilling more of my breasts for the world to see than what is decent.

Suddenly, I feel a warm hand on the back of my shoulder, and I pivot on my feet to see who it is. It's none other than the guy from the texts. As soon as my eyes fall on him, he smiles big at me. I let my gaze linger on his body as I check him out from top to bottom. He's hotter than his profile picture. A sudden urge of need courses through my veins and settles in the lower part of my abdomen.

"Hey!" He offers me his hand to shake. "This is me, Kyle."

"Nice to meet you, Kyle."

He laughs.

I feel his laughter in my bones.

"Nice to meet you too, Dawn." He puts his hand on my lower back to guide me towards the entrance of this expensive five-star hotel. "Are you ready to get some lovely food in your system, Dawn?"

Before I can say more, we stroll inside the spacious lobby, where a hotel receptionist at the front desk confirms our arrangements for the night. Then Kyle nods at me, gesturing me to follow him inside the restaurant on the ground floor.

I nod, his words sending shivers down my spine. All at once, my nerves feel all over the place. I feel exhilarated and excited for what's to come. Without another word, I fall in steps next to him as we slowly pace around the restaurant, swiftly moving to our reserved table.

He looks up at me as he pulls out a chair. I slide into it with a slight nod in his direction.

"I made reservations since I know the person who owns the place." I arch an eyebrow at the statement. "He happens to be one of my childhood friends."

"Oh, that sounds like a close friend."

He smiles.

"What about you? How are you today?"

"I'm holding up nicely." Then I finally gape at his face since I don't know how to stop myself from looking at his handsome face. "How has your day been?"

"Pretty nice because I got to meet you." He offers me a confident smile. "You're beautiful."

His casual tone while he gives me that compliment makes me almost jump in my seat. My mouth parts and my eyes widen. I straighten my back, sitting up straight because I'm not used to compliments handed to me so freely.

I push some strands of my hair behind my ear.

"Thank you. That's kind of you to say."

"No." He shakes his head. "I mean it. You are drop dead gorgeous and extremely attractive."

Hiding my eyes from his face, I smile. He speaks again.

"Thank you for coming out on this date with me." He waits as a server shows up to refill our glasses and take our orders. We both take a moment to order, and then the server disappears towards the kitchen. "To be honest, I thought a beautiful woman like you would have better things to do than going out on a date with me tonight."

"Well, I suppose I didn't." I awkwardly laugh. "You clean up quite well." Then I blow out a breath. "I can't say you're not handsome yourself."

"Now try saying that sentence without all the negatives."

That earns a chuckle from me.

"Would you like to order a glass of wine?"

I shake my hand, waving that suggestion off.

"I don't think it will be a good idea for me to drink tonight since I make bad decisions when I get drunk." Exhaling a soft breath, I add. "Don't mind me. You can order something to drink for yourself, whatever you want."

His eyes gleam in the muted light of the restaurant.

"Like, what kind of bad decisions?"

"I tend to kiss anyone when I'm drunk."

That remark makes him laugh.

"That's all the more reason for you to order yourself wine." Then he waves his words off. "Well, I like to wine and dine with the women I date, so go ahead and drink whatever you'd like to drink." He smiles again. "But I'm not making any promises to behave if you suddenly start kissing me."

He offers another charming smile from his arsenal, and I feel my cheeks heat up.

"Well, I hope not to do any of that." I slowly bring the cold water to my lips as I watch the condensation bead on the surface of the glass. "It would be embarrassing for me."

He lowers his head with his lips turned down. Then after a moment, he recovers. And says something that knocks my socks off.

"What would you say if I told you I want to marry you?"

My breath hitches and I let out a gasp. My hand flies to my chest as I almost choke on the cold water. I do a double take as my vocal pitch rises as I somehow utter the words.

"Marry you?"

He crosses his arms on his chest, smiling brightly from ear to ear.

"Yes, please do me the favour of marrying me tonight, Dawn Brooks. I think I fell in love with you the moment I saw you."

My fingers touch my throat as I slowly massage the top of my chest. I watch his eyes hook on the motion of my hands as I spread my fingers out in a fan against the breastbone to calm myself down.

"Don't do that." He smiles. "It's visually stimulating."

Taking another deep breath, I clear my throat.

"This is not the time to pull my leg. What you're saying is quite intense and serious."

His face sobers upon hearing that. Placing his hands squarely on the table, he focuses his gaze on my eyes.

"I'm not kidding. I want to marry you." Then he presses his lips in a straight line, biting at the tip of it. "Would you like to marry me?"

"We have just met like a few minutes ago. I-I haven't even spent enough time with you to decide what kind of a person you are." Then I fold my arms over my chest. "We haven't even slept together." Shaking my head, I scoff. "How can you even ask me to marry you?"

Pulling at his shirt's sleeves, he lets his gaze wander on my body.

"Let's sleep together then. I'm a pretty busy man. I don't have the time to go on a hundred dates." He sexily runs a hand through his hair. "And it's not like my answer to wanting to marry you will change after a hundred dates." He straightens his back to take a better look at me. "I like you, and the way you were checking me out earlier, I can say you feel the same. And let me tell you, I'm capable, wealthy, handsome, and well-established. Then why shouldn't we get married?"

I'm unexpectedly out of words since he's making valid points. I lick my lips, not knowing what to say. I exhale as I come up with something that makes sense at the moment.

"Let's sleep together first. If it's a good experience, then I'll marry you."

Would marrying him on a whim even make any sense?

But what do I have left to lose anymore?

He smiles optimistically, holding out his hand. I take it, and we both shake on it. After a moment, we break contact.

"You can bet it's going to be a good experience."

I exhale, watching his lips move, wondering what it will do to me in a few hours.

"Shouldn't we eat first?"

"It's on you, whatever you decide."

What would Leslie do in this situation?

Mustering all the courage I have within me, I make up my mind.

"I'll follow you then to a private room."

He rises from his seat, and so do I as I follow him to the front desk area in the lobby.