“Unless you have other plans.”
I couldn’t back down now. It would weaken my position, and I needed to stay strong on this. “No. Tonight is fine.”
I looked down at my power suit, which was totally inappropriate for dinner wear. I’d have to try to get out of the office by six, which was going to be tough on my first week, but as long as I left at six thirty, seven at the latest, I’d have time to get home and change.
I turned to go when I realized the other problem with such a short notice appointment. “Do you have any suggestions for a restaurant? I’m still new in town and don’t have ideas, though I could ask my assistant.”
Donovan leaned forward and picked up his phone. “How about I take care of the arrangements?”
“Are you sure?” I sounded defeated because I was. This was supposed to be my dinner on my terms to discuss my agenda, and somehow he’d already switched the plans to the night and time he wanted. Now it was going to be the location he wanted as well.
“I’m sure,” he said. Into his receiver, he said, “Simone, send a driver to pick up Sabrina at eight sharp. Her address is in the system. Then call Gaston’s and let them know to have a table ready for me around eight fifteen.” He paused while she spoke. “Yes. Just the two of us.” He hung up.
“The driver will text you when he arrives. I don’t want you waiting outside alone.” He met my eyes to make sure that I knew he wanted me safe. “Am I clear?”
My chest felt tight.
Of course any man might show that concern for a female coworker’s safety. But I knew he meant it as more than that. He meant that he remembered once I’d been outside waiting alone, and I hadn’t been safe.
And that touched me.
“Yes, you’re clear,” I said.
And then I stood there.
Had it really been that easy? I’d been ready for a battle. I’d been prepared to have to explain all the reasons why I wanted to take the conversation away from the office and why it couldn’t be conducted on a phone call. I’d never expected him to be so amenable.
“Is there something else?” Donovan asked.
“No. I just. Thank you for agreeing.” I walked out of his office bolstered. Hopefully tonight’s talk would go just as smoothly.
With Donovan, though, I was learning that nothing ever turned out quite like I expected.
I just hoped I could learn not to like that quite so much.
Fourteen
I made it home by seven-thirty, which meant all I’d have time for was a change of outfit and no freshening up, but it wasn’t like I was trying to impress him. In fact, I was going for the opposite. The dilemma, it turned out, was finding something to wear that fit the bill.
I flipped through my closet for the seventh time. Why did everything I own look good on me?
I chose a red sheath dress. It was short, but the neckline was high, and since we’d be sitting at a table most of the time, my bare legs wouldn’t be an issue.
Unless he was in the car with me…
No. I would not think about the things he’d told me about that he’d done to Sun. I was not Sun, and that was exactly why we were doing this—so that he’d know that I was not Sun. That I never would be.
The sheath dress would be fine.
I made it to the lobby at seven fifty-nine, and as Donovan had promised, the car arrived exactly at eight. It was the same Jaguar that I’d seen him use previously, but when I slid into the back seat, I was alone.
This is good, I told myself.
It was strange how good felt so much like disappointment.
“Will we be picking up Donovan next?” I asked the driver as he pulled away from the curb.
“He’ll be meeting you there, Ms. Lind,” he said, then didn’t bother to speak again until we arrived at our destination, a high-rise on Fifty-Eighth.
“Take the elevator,” the driver said. “Restaurant’s on the top floor.”
I shared the elevator with another couple. When we reached the top, the doors opened to the hostess desk for Gaston’s. I gestured for the couple to go ahead of me and stepped aside to look out the windows.
The high-rise had an unobstructed view of Central Park. It was magnificent—the long rectangular stretch of garden and life nestled between steel and concrete. Magnificent even now as a purple twilight settled over the city. I could imagine its glory in the daytime, with the trees clothed in yellow and orange and red. I had a feeling it was just as breathtaking covered in snow. Just as awe-inspiring blanketed in green.
I knew everyone loved the view, that it was the draw to places like this, but I felt especially pulled. Maybe it was just because I could never get enough of being this high. It felt so hard-earned to be here, on this side of the world. At the top. I’d never stop believing I should have been here years ago.
The couple before me was seated. I turned to the hostess to check in.
“I’m not sure what name—”
A firm hand rested against my back sending a jolt of electricity shooting up my spine.
“She’s with me,” Donovan told the woman at the podium.
I looked up at my date, and the world seemed to mute around me. He was wearing the same suit he’d had on earlier, but now he had his jacket on. It was a black three-piece, tailored so perfectly that there wasn’t any need to imagine how good he looked underneath his clothes. His scruff had been cleaned up since I’d seen him, and he’d applied aftershave.
He looked and smelled and felt like the kind of guy any girl would die to be with.
And he was here with me.
He glanced down at me, his sly smile making me weak in the knees.
“Good evening, Mr. Kincaid. We have your usual table waiting for you.”
And that was another reason why I had to remember this wasn’t a date. Because he was the kind of guy who had a “usual table”. Sure, Weston was that kind of guy too, but that wasn’t the point. Besides, it didn’t bother me so much to think about Weston with other girls. Donovan was different.
But why wasn’t something I could articulate, even just for myself, because Donovan kept his hand on my back as he directed me through the restaurant, and the feel of his fingers was hot and charged against my skin, even through the thin material of my sheath dress.
Maybe I’d chosen my outfit poorly after all.
It was a relief when he removed his hand to let me sit, but it was also annoying because now I felt cold. For distraction, I turned my head out the window next to us. The sun had finished setting, and now the view was dotted with twinkling of lights throughout bunches of dark trees below.
“It’s beautiful,” I said, deciding to open with a compliment. I didn’t remark on the view’s romantic attributes.
“Is it?” Donovan asked. “I forget to notice.”