Chapter 15
15
Monday, February 10th
S taring at my closet, I have no idea what to wear and text the BFF group chat.
Sarah Anderson
What do you wear on a Monday night dinner date?
Emily Brown
Pants lol.
Rachel Wagner
Rude! But true.
I try on so many outfits and send them photos of my three favorites. One is a long-sleeved dress with tights and heeled boots that hit at the knee. Another is a flowy top and wide-leg black jeans, and the last outfit is a plunging long-sleeved bodysuit and wide-leg dark jeans.
Rachel Wagner
Last option!
Emily Brown
Agree!
I stare at myself in the mirror. This is a flirty look for a flirty date, and I’m really excited to see him again. It’s the third day in a row.
Aaron Olson
I’m about to walk past your place. Meet me out front?
Sarah Anderson
You’re walking? It’s freezing out.
Aaron Olson
I live less than a half mile from La Nonna. It would be silly to drive. You coming down?
Sarah Anderson
Yes.
I toss on my coat and skip the hat, not wanting to mess up my hair. La Nonna isn’t even two blocks from here. Walking down the stairs, I exit out the front, and Aaron’s there in his puffy coat and hat.
“Hi,” he breathes, grabbing my hand and pulling me in for a kiss. It catches me off guard in a good way.
As the gentle kiss comes to a natural stopping point, I really stare into his light brown eyes and find them so intriguing.
“Hi.” I smile up at him. It was bold for him to greet me with a kiss. I liked it … a lot.
He interlaces his gloved fingers with mine, and we walk to La Nonna, the fanciest restaurant in Lake Geneva. Aaron opens the door for me, I smile, and the hostess takes us to a booth. Sliding my coat off, I catch Aaron's voice—barely a whisper—saying, “Whoa.”
I shoot him a challenging look, though I can't help but feel flattered by his reaction.
“You look incredible,” he says, his eyes locked with mine before quickly darting down. “I mean, you're always stylish, but—wow.”
I want to swoon, but instead, I sass, deflecting the praise. “Am I making you nervous?”
He leans in slightly, his voice low and intense. “You're giving me a lot of ideas.”
For once, I don’t have anything to say. I bite my lip, also having some ideas, and take my seat at the booth.
“You don’t look half bad,” I tease, checking out his thick cowl neck sweater that I want to snuggle into.
“Well, what a nice surprise to see you in here for once,” our server in her early twenties says, approaching our table. She’s smiling so much at Aaron. It’s a nice distraction from staring at him and fantasizing about all the trouble we could get into after dinner.
“Hey, Anna.” Aaron smiles. “This is Sarah.”
“You own the Maker's Studio, right?” she asks.
“That’s me,” I quip with a smile, noticing how she is lusting after Aaron. I mean, I get it, girl. I definitely get it.
“What would you like to drink?” She looks at me.
“Um, I need a minute.” I haven’t even looked at the menu. Aaron and I have essentially been eye fucking each other since we sat down.
“Let me guess, Aaron,” Anna says, moving her gaze back to him. “You’ll have a gin and tonic?”
“Not tonight,” he lightly says. “We’re going to have a bottle of your house red.”
“Great.” She smiles at him, so friendly and eager. “And I’ll drop by High Five sometime this week.”
I chuckle as she walks away.
“What?” Aaron asks.
“You can be so bossy. What if I didn’t like red wine?”
“You like it,” he softly says, tilting his brow and resuming his heated stare with me.
“And she’s very friendly with you.” I laugh, sweating at the intensity of this date so far. I take a sip of my water, trying to cool down.
“I’m a local bartender. It’s part of the job.”
“Flirting with all your patrons?”
“Sometimes.” Aaron laughs. I like that rich, hearty sound too much. I’m liking everything about him too much.
“So, am I just another patron?”
“I don’t recall you paying for a single drink.” He grabs my hand. “Not much of a patron if you aren’t paying, no?”
I softly chuckle. He’s witty. I like that.
Bringing us a decanter full of wine and two glasses, Anna’s eyes are locked on his hand, playing with my fingers. She’s clearly shocked and walks away.
“Did you sleep with her and never call her back or something?” I joke.
“No. Definitely not. She just comes into the bar after work a lot.”
“Emily said something about there being a line out the door of girls trying to get with you.”
“And?”
“You’re really making me work for your answers here.” I squint at him.
“I told you: When you’re frustrated, you're cute. But … yeah, I never date locals. You should feel special that I'm breaking my little rule for you.”
“That’s my rule!” I nearly yell. “I don’t date locals.”
“Looks like we’ve broken our rule twice now.”
We hold a heated stare.
“You must’ve had at least a one-night stand with someone from the bar,” I press.
“Never.”
“Never?” I test.
“I’m more of a let’s wait until the third date kind of guy versus a one-night guy.”
“Full of surprises,” I muse, a little deflated that it won’t be happening tonight. But if we go out on another date … it could happen. Oh, how I would love for that to happen—to lick his abs and get lost in the sheets with him.