Page 9 of Unpermitted Love

Anna looks slightly alarmed and yet charmingly inquisitive. "Just trust me, Anna. Please."

She closes her eyes and I turn her back to me. I breathe in the scent of her and know that I am undone. She smells so good.

I remove the necklace from the box and place it around her neck. Turning her towards the gold-framed oval mirror in her foyer, I whisper into her ears.

"Open your eyes."

"Oh," she gasps as she looks back at her own glorious reflection. "This is beautiful Hal,” she says, as she looks at me in the mirror and then back to the necklace. She strokes her fingers along the necklace and I find myself yearning to be that necklace. “How did you know I liked emeralds?"

"A lucky guess."

As she turns to face me, it’s all I can do not to grab her and rip her clothes off. She places her hands on my chest and kisses me on my cheek.

"Thank you," she whispers, breathlessly.

"You're welcome. Shall we?"

She puts her hand in mine and I lead her to my car. At this point I’m yearning so badly for her, I’m not entirely sure how I’ll get through the date without some sort of physical contact from her. I want her so badly.

"Where are we going?" she asks.

"It's a surprise."

I try to keep my eyes on the steering wheel and the road but I struggle. I can’t stop looking at Anna. She is a fucking goddess.

A wide grin spreads across her face as we stop in front of The Aquarium, an exclusive five-star restaurant.

I step out of the car and open the door for her. I hold out my hand. As she takes it, she looks up at the restaurant entrance. Her mouth was still open.

"This is ..."

"Yep!"

"Oh, my goodness. I have heard so much about it. I have always wanted to come here but ..."

"I know. You mentioned it one night when we were talking. So I figured it would be a great idea to have our first official date here. A special place for an incredibly special lady."

Her eyes shine bright as she smiles back at me. I take her hand and we step into the restaurant. The Aquarium exceeded our expectations. There are glass windows all around the restaurant separating the visitors from the beautiful fish. It almost feels like we were dining inside the ocean.

The waiter leads us to a table in the center of the restaurant. In the middle is a glass cylinder filled with water and rays swimming around it. I pull out a chair for Anna and remove her coat.

"Oh, this is just beautiful Hal."

"Yeah. It really is,” I say, staring straight at her. She blushes profusely.

"But um ..." She glances around and then leans closer to me. "It seems we're the only ones here. I assumed all of California would be here."

"Ohh, the place is usually packed but I rented out the place for today. So it's just you and me."

"What?"

"Yep."

"Oh, you're good, Hal Torres. It's no surprise the women around you can't resist you."

I laugh so hard and look back at her. She’s obviously bemused by my reaction.

"I'm not joking!"

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