“Uh, no.”
“I’d love to teach you. We could stay in this cute lodge that I know,” he continued smoothly and I wondered what made him think I was ready for him to move this fast. The mere fact that I’d answered the phone this time?
“Well, maybe one day,” I said lightly, and then chugged my water.
“I like to spoil my women.”
“That’s nice.” I’m not your woman!
“Do you like Louboutins?”
“The shoes?”
“Yeah, the shoes. Or as most women call them, the heels.”
“I like them, why?”
“I was thinking maybe I could get you a pair as a present. What shoe size do you wear?”
“What shoe size?” I frowned to myself as I repeated his words. Did he have a foot fetish? I looked down at my non-pedicured feet and groaned inwardly as I realized that I was about to say goodbye to $50 at the nail salon.
“Let me guess, 6?”
“More like 9.” I laughed.
“Now that’s one thing most women wouldn’t admit.”
“What’s that?”
“That they have big feet.” He laughed and I stood there wondering if he was like this with every girl. I couldn’t imagine that the high society girls would be enamored with him. What woman wants to be told she has big feet? I stood there feeling irrationally annoyed.
“I hope I haven’t upset you. I’m one of those guys that always puts his foot in it. I hope you know I think you’re beautiful and I want to get to know you better.”
“I’m not upset.” I said softly. “But I should go. I have work to be getting on with.” Suddenly, my annoyance was gone and was replaced with something akin to hope. I liked seeing that David wasn’t as smooth as he appeared to be. Maybe I still had a shot at not completely losing his interest.
“Aw, sad. You’ll have to tell me what you do when we meet up.”
“Nothing exciting.”
“I’m sure everything about you is exciting.” His voice was exuberant. “I’m so happy that I got to meet you.”
“Yeah, we got really lucky.” My voice was lackluster. I was starting to feel like something was off. I didn’t know what, but something just didn’t seem right. Maybe it was because I felt guilty. David was acting like a regular guy. More important,he was acting like a regular guy who really liked me. The only problem was, this wasn’t real. This was never going to be real. There was no future for us. I would never date a Bradley brother. I would never give myself to a Bradley. I wanted nothing to do with them. After talking to that creep at the shareholders’ meeting, I suspected that Jeremiah Bradley had been behind my mother’s murder because my father was going to leave the corporation and take his patents with him—the same patents that had made Bradley, Inc. one of the most successful corporations in the world. Jeremiah Bradley had made his fortune at the expense of my father. David and Mattias Bradley were living lives of luxury because of my dad. I needed to find out exactly what had happened all those years ago, and I couldn’t let anything blindside me. Not guilt. Not love. And certainly not a cheap flirtation.
*
“This way, madam.” The maitre d’ led me through the large, wood-beamed restaurant to a secluded table at the back. There were candles and a bottle of champagne waiting for me. “Mr. Bradley will be with you in a few minutes.”
“Thank you.” I smiled at him and opened my wallet to find a few dollars to give him.
“Oh no, madam.” He shook his solemn head and pulled the chair out for me. “Would madam like mineral or sparkling water?”
“Tap is fine.” I attempted another smile.
“Mineral?”
“That’s fine, sure.” I nodded.
“Ice or no ice?”
“Ice if the cubes are small, but no ice if they’re larger than an inch,” I joked, but he stared back at me with a dour face. “Ice is fine. Thanks.” I looked around the restaurant curiously. I’d never been to Del Frisco’s before and I was surprised at David’s pick. It was obviously an expensive steak restaurant, but it wasn’t as exclusive as I had expected.
“Bianca!” David’s voice made me jump as he approached the table. He was wearing a dark gray suit and his hair looked like it had been recently cut.
“David.” I smiled at him and he handed me a bouquet of flowers.
“I figured roses were a little over the top for a first date, so I brought you sunflowers, as you’ve brightened up my life.” He smiled at me sweetly and I felt a bit ashamed of myself as I took them from him.
“They’re beautiful, thank you.” I ignored the latter part of his sentence, not wanting to continue down that road. A waiter walked over the table and took the flowers from me and told me he would sit them in some water until I was ready to leave.
“I hope you haven’t been waiting long?”
“No, I just got here.”
“I hope Del Frisco’s is okay. It’s a bit bourgeois, but so close to the theater.”