Page 21 of Fierce-Hyde

She was afraid to say yes. “I don’t know,” she said.

“I love how honest you are. Go with what you feel comfortable and confident in. Who cares what his reaction is going to be? It’s about getting through the night and going from there, right?”

“Exactly,” she said. “Thanks for that.”

She hung up the phone a few minutes later, went into her closet with a much more purposeful mindset, grabbed her clothes and took a shower, then left for her date.

“Don’t you look nice,” Hyde said to her thirty minutes later.

They’d met outside the restaurant. It wasn’t their plan, but they pulled in at the same time.

“Thanks,” she said.

She’d pulled out her favorite dark jeans that fit her well. Not stretchy and tight like she was trying to show off her booty that she worked hard to get a delicate curve to with a ton of squats, but a pair that showed her curves without clinging.

Her sweater was aqua with a three-quarter sleeve and she’d put a few bangle bracelets on her right wrist, her watch that she was never without on her left.

She wore a pair of silver hoops, and she tucked her hair behind her ear again.

Her makeup was light and subtle. More than her daily wear, but not like she was out to pick up a guy.

The wider hem of her straight jeans hid her black pumps, but when she walked you could see the spike along with the pointy toe.

She was positive Hyde took it all in with his initial sweep of her while she strode toward him.

“Why don’t we go in and get a table,” he said. “You don’t need reservations here, but it looks pretty busy. We might have to wait a bit if you’re okay with that.”

“The only thing waiting for me at home are the towels I need to wash,” she said.

“Laundry,” he said. “Glad I made it over that chore.”

“It was close,” she said. “Thankfully I got my colors done today.”

“You’ve got a good personality on you,” he said. “Glad I’m getting a chance to see that.”

“We seem to be starting off on the right foot,” she said. “I’m trying to go in with an open mind.”

“The same,” he said. They waited in line and then he told the hostess it was just the two of them.

“It’s going to be about twenty minutes,” the hostess said.

He looked at her. “That’s fine,” she said.

“Person,” Hyde said, giving his last name.

“Can we get you a drink at the bar?” the hostess asked, punching into the screen in front of her. “We can have a tab started and the drinks brought out.” She handed over a disk for him to hold until their table was ready.

He looked at her again. Tori liked that he wasn’t just deciding on his own. She couldn’t tell you the number of dates she’d gone on that men assumed she had no brain.

“I could go for a glass of wine,” she said.

She told the hostess what she wanted and Hyde got a beer and the two of them moved off to the waiting area.

The first thing she noticed was that there weren’t a lot of seats. Or at least two seats next to each other.

He moved over by a window and gestured toward a chair. “Sit,” he said. “I’m sitting all day long. It will do me well to stand.”

“Guess your mother did teach you manners,” she said, smiling.

---