Chapter 10
10
BAILEY
T he rest of the week came and went as fast as June was flying by, and by Saturday morning I was nearly shaking with excitement for my date with Hank. The feelings of nervous energy and excitement churned in my belly every time I thought about him picking me up.
The last two days at the gym when I came in, he’d come over, said hello, and told me that he was excited for our date. He even called it a date which I thought was cute. Guys don’t normally label things so quickly, but he did, and I liked that about him.
Ophelia was excited for me when I told her he’d finally asked me out and immediately asked when the last time I had gotten waxed was.
“Ophie!”
“Don’t ‘Ophie’ me, you haven’t gotten any in a long time and you don’t want to scare him away by bringing a jungle to bed.”
While I didn’t love the comparison of my pubic hair to a jungle, she wasn’t wrong. I hadn’t gotten any in a long time and had stopped tending to that part of my body. I didn’t see the need to trim around the edges if no one would be seeing them anyway. The waxing appointment I booked for Thursday was less than enjoyable to say the least.
I didn’t even know if it would be worth it either, getting waxed. I wasn’t normally one to sleep with someone on the first date. Plus, Hank is so shy I don’t think he would try anything even if I wanted him to.
Even though I do want him to.
I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something about him pulled me in. I’ve dated my fair share of men, but I never had the same level of attraction towards them that I do towards Hank. When he looked at me it was as if the entire world stopped spinning. When I’m at the gym, I can feel his eyes on me. And when he finally asked me to dinner on Monday, and took my phone to give me his number, it took everything in me to not turn fifty shades of red.
My phone buzzed and pulled me from my thoughts. When I looked at it, I smiled without even meaning to.
2 New Messages: Soldier
I’ll be there to pick you up in 30 blondie.
I’m really excited to take you out tonight.
He sent the second message quickly after the first, almost as if he’d forgotten to send it with the first one. I’d never had a guy tell me he was excited to take me on a date so many times before.
I finished doing my hair and slipped into the dress I bought yesterday after getting done helping at a small event Ophelia was running at work. She and I walked down the main stretch of King Street looking for something that I could wear and when we walked by this one in the window, I knew it was the one.
It was a mid-length dress that flared in the skirt and the fabric was lightweight, making it perfect to wear for a summer dinner date. I loved the floral pattern and how the blues and oranges made my blonde hair and blue eyes pop. I also loved how the front of the dress was cut low but wasn’t too revealing. The way the top tied around my shoulders was my favorite part of the entire thing.
It was perfect for a first date.
After slipping on my dress, I checked my hair and the small amount of makeup I had put on in the mirror. My eye caught something dark behind me and a wave of fear hit me. I spun around to see what it was only to discover it was my gym bag hanging on the hook by my door. A memory flooded my brain as I stared at it.
“Just shut up and be quiet. I won’t hurt you if you don’t make a sound.” I was crying and laying on the cold, wet concrete. It reeked of rotting food and booze. My head moved to one side as I tried to get out from under him. The black hoodie covered his face as he overpowered me. Somewhere in the distance, people laughed as they walked home from the bars and nightclubs.
“Bailey?” Ophelia’s voice pulled me back to the present. “You okay?”
She was standing in the living room just outside my bedroom and was studying me with a concerned expression. I blinked a few times and shook the memory from my head.
“Yeah…I’m okay. What do you think of my dress?” Doing a twirl for her, I painted a smile on my face. The flashback lingered in my brain and I did my best to try and push it away.
“You look stunning, as always. He isn’t going to be able to keep his hands off of you.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me and gave me a smirk.
“Oh, stop it.” I waved my hand at her and checked my phone. He should be here any minute.
“Seriously, B, if he doesn’t try and get in your pants tonight, there’s seriously something wrong with him.”
I laughed her off and grabbed my heels from the closet. Sure, wearing heels was probably a little much, but I wanted to make a good first impression. As I sat on the couch and put them on, there was a knock at the door. Our heads shot towards it before we looked at one another with surprise.
“He’s picking you up at the door? Wow, he is a good one.” She smiled.
My shoes finally on, I walked towards the door and grabbed my purse off the kitchen counter as I passed it. When I swung open the door, my breath caught in my throat.
Hank was standing in my doorway wearing loose fitting dark jeans, a collared shirt, and a deep navy suit jacket. Casual, but still dressed up for our date. In his hands was the most beautiful bouquet of flowers I’d ever seen. He reached out his arm and handed them to me as soon as I opened the door.
“These are for you, blondie. I grabbed them from the shop across the street.”
“Thank you. And hello to you too.” I gave him a smirk and took the flowers from his hand, smelling them once they were in my arms.
“Oh, right, hi,” he said in one breath. I watched as his eyes traced my body from head to toe, and didn’t miss when they lingered just a few seconds longer on my semi-exposed chest.
“Hi. Let me just set these down and we can go.”
I turned around quickly and handed the flowers to Ophelia who had her arms extending towards me to take them, and waved goodbye to her. We walked down the hallway in silence and when we reached the elevator, we both went to push the down button at the same time. Our fingers hit the button and when I felt his fingers brush mine, a shiver ran down my spine. He pulled his hand away quickly as if he had just touched an open flame.
“Sorry,” he said shortly, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets and looking towards the ground.
So shy , I thought to myself with a smile.
“Thanks for picking me up at my door.” I bumped his shoulder playfully as we stepped inside the elevator. He let me go ahead of him so I pushed the button that would take us to the lobby before he had a chance. No need to repeat the awkward button interaction. He took a step closer to me so our arms were touching.
“Of course. What kind of Southern gentleman would I be if I didn’t?” The grin he gave me made my insides warm.
When the elevator doors opened, he reached behind me and placed his hand on the small of my back, leading me out. We walked through the lobby of my building and he opened the front door for me. I smiled at him as I passed through it.
“A gentleman, indeed. Very smooth.”
He chuckled softly behind me.
Outside, the warm buzz of the summer evening hit my ears. It was the thick of summer and the heat was unreal. Not just the heat, but the humidity. I loved living in Charleston something fierce, but the summer months were what I’d imagined living in Hell to be like. Hot. Sticky. And constantly uncomfortable. I was grateful that I had gone with a dress instead of jeans because it helped keep me cool.
We walked together down the sidewalk, his hand on the small of my back, leading me forward. When we neared the street, he sidestepped behind me so that he was closer to the road and I was on the inside. I smirked at the move and felt my cheeks flush. After walking down the sidewalk for a few beats, he finally stopped next to a motorcycle parked on the street.
“Is this your bike?” I asked, my mouth gaping open as I took it in. It was all black and looked expensive. More than that, it was sexy as hell. I looked back at him as he started to pull the helmet off the back and unlatch its strap.
“Yeah, I have a second helmet for you to wear if you’re okay riding behind me.” Boy, I would be okay riding behind you, on top of you, or in front of you.
“Uhh…” I waved my arm in front of myself to show him my outfit. My dress would not do well on the back of a bike speeding through the city streets. It wasn’t long enough to tuck under anything and I would 100 percent be giving the fine people of Charleston a free show if I wore it while riding on a motorcycle.
“Oh shit, I didn’t even think about that. That’s my bad. We can just take an Uber, on me. I don’t even know what I was thinking.”
“No, it’s okay, just give me ten minutes, I have an idea!” Before he could respond, I hurried back inside my building and rushed back up the elevator.
I raced down the hall, unlocked my door, and scurried past Ophelia who was giving me a confused look from the couch. Once in my room, I threw open the drawer of my dresser, found a pair of old sweats, and shimmied them up and over my dress. Then, I moved to my closet and dug around for a pair of sneakers and swapped out my heels for them instead. Without wasting another minute, I grabbed my heels in my hand and ran back out of the apartment.
I would be wearing my new dress that made me feel sexy and confident and I would also be riding on the back of Hank’s motorcycle. I might look like a freak while doing it, but I didn’t care.
Nothing was going to stop me from going on a date with him. And maybe, just maybe, I would be riding something else after our date too.