Page 39 of Revive

“Well you didn’t confirm that it was,” she bites back. “So, until I figure out your covert reason for inviting me, this is called compromise. What’s it going to be, Sexy?”

I pull up into my driveway, as the possibility of seeing her turns from probable to certain. The last five minutes mightn’t have gone as planned, but the outcome sets me at ease, relief coursing through me. “I’ll text you the details.”

* * *

We’re aboutto be seated for dinner and Taylah still hasn’t shown. Unless I’ve read her wrong, she doesn’t seem like the type to stand me up, but history makes me cautious either way.

“A table for six, huh?” Stacey has been frothing at the mouth since I told her I invited someone. “Why didn’t you pick her up?”

“Can we just hold off on the twenty questions, and see if she shows up.”

“Oh, she showed up,” Evan interrupts, staring at the doorway.

My eyes follow his line of sight, and there she is walking toward our table after being given instructions by the waiter. She waltzes in like she owns the place, every single eye trained on her every single move.

The best thing is, she’s only looking at me. Her mossy green gaze meets mine, swimming with sex and secrets no man could ignore.

Her black dress is the perfect contradiction. High neck, short sleeves, long enough you can only see her painted toes in her forest green, suede heels. It’s modest in all the right places until a perfectly toned leg peeks out of a daringly wide, side split, with every calculated step.

She reaches the table, and I clear my throat to greet her. “You made it.”

“Of course.”

We lean into one another, my hand tentatively touching her waist, hers landing on my chest. Placing a soft kiss on her cheek, I speak directly into her ear. “You look beautiful.”

She pulls back and looks up at me from under her thick lashes, and smiles. “Thank you.”

I introduce her to everyone around the table, their wide eyes impossible to ignore.

The week in between downplayed how hypnotic she is. As we take our seats, her vanilla scent wafts around me, and I know it’s more than physical. She fills up the room with her presence and being close enough to touch her is like delicious torture. Her dress splits open, the material loosely falls around her thigh, ruching at the top of her leg holds it all together. Her skin shines like it’s peppered with small specks of glitter, and all I want to do is run my hands all over her, while she wraps herself all around me.

One at a time, everything that attracts me to her starts to fill me up; heavy like weights, taunting me, scaring me with her ability to bring me to my knees. I’m not ready for her. Not now, and probably not in this lifetime, but what shakes me is how badly I want to be.

I catch Stacey eyeing me from across the table, while Taylah effortlessly inserts herself into their conversations. Curiosity has her wanting to burst out of her skin, and I can’t help but shake my head at her antics. I scoot my chair closer to Taylah’s and settle my arm across the back of hers. She looks back at me, biting her bottom lip, her face both shocked and pleased with how close we’re sitting. Her hand finds my thigh, so I cover it with mine and slide my fingers through hers.

“Who’s ready to check out the menu?” Evan calls out.

Picking up the leather-bound pages, she places it on the table in front of us both, and just like that, we’re all comfort and contentment. Like we’ve done this a million times before.

Agreeing on a set menu, the food starts piling on the table within the next twenty minutes. The conversation flows easily and the wine even more so.

“So, what’s it like working for Legal Aid?” Evan’s girlfriend, Kat, asks Taylah. “As opposed to having your own practice, I mean.”

“My dad used to do what you guys do. His focus was youth homelessness, and he spent the majority of my childhood working at the City Youth Centre in Surry Hills. You guys know the one, right?” We all nod. Anyone in the field knows with the increasing number of young people sleeping on the street every night, it’s the biggest and most accommodating youth refuge in Sydney. “Of course it hasn’t always been what it is now, but he was there when it opened and worked there ‘til the day he died.”

“Oh, shit,” Kat says, covering her mouth in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I wouldn’t have asked.”

“Don’t be silly. It’s fine.” She waves her hand in front of her nonchalantly, while I squeeze the hand on my thigh, offering some kind of condolences. “Growing up, he used to joke I should be a solicitor, because I could talk my way out of anything. So, after he died and the time came, I combined his love for helping people with my smart mouth, and here I am.”

My stomach clenches in disappointment, it’s foolish to think in a short time I’m going to know anything about her, especially something as personal as her dad dying. But what hits harder is the unfounded jealousy that anyone would knowanythingabout her before me.

“That’s really nice,” Stacey adds, the awkwardness obviously lingering. Picking the perfect time to salvage the rest of the exchange, the waiter begins placing the second round of dishes on the table, allowing the moment to shift to something new.

While the chatter around us picks up, I take the opportunity to lean into her. “Are you okay?” I ask, checking in.

She turns, our faces close, our eyes only for one another. “Yeah. It’s not the first time I’ve had to tell that story.”

“I’m sorry about your dad, I didn’t know.”

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