Page 3 of Daniel
Lila had told me all about the ball, and how it was going to be a great way for me to meet half the town all at once. But why would he come all the way out here as a solo welcoming committee?
“Um, are you serious?”
“Yes..”
“You don’t even know me.”
He held out his hand, and I shook it automatically. That small touch made me feel strangely warm, and I liked the way he smiled as my bracelets jangled.
“Well then, tonight would be the perfect opportunity to fix that, don’t you think?”
I hesitated, trying to force myself not to bite my lip as I saw his striking brown eyes gravitate to my mouth.
“I know that you’re new in town,” he continued. “I can introduce you to practically everyone. It might be a bit much to take in your very first day here, but I can at least promise you that we’ll have a good time.”
Normally I would consult a friend, or even my mother, for advice on whether or not I should go out with someone. To be fair, so far my number of consultations had been precisely zero. Nobody had seemed worth the effort until today.
But of course Mom would approve of me going out with one of the King boys, even if he was quite a bit older than me. I was twenty-two. I didn’t care that he was likely nearly forty.
He was gorgeous, and apparently spontaneous if he just appeared at a strange girl’s door to ask her out.
“Why me?” I whispered, trying to stop my hands from nervously clutching my skirt.
“How about I tell you over dinner?” His smile was seductive. “The ball really gets underway around eight. May I pick you up at seven, and we’ll grab a bite first?”
Even though this situation was making every shy girl urge kick into gear, there was no possible way to say no. As if that was an option. Spending time with this man was already revving up my heart rate.
The way he looked at me felt meaningful. Even the air around us seemed charged with excitement.
“Sure. Okay.”
“May I get your number, just in case something comes up and I end up running a few minutes behind?”
That touched me. Obviously he was a very busy man, and to think that he didn’t want me to worry if he were even a few minutes late was extremely considerate.
“Sure.” He entered my number in his phone, then gave me an absolutely wicked smile.
That large hand reached out, his thumb caressing my cheekbone, then running along my chin. My cheek tingled from his touch, and I craved so much more. “So beautiful,” he barely breathed. “I’ll be back at seven, Prairie.”
As he turned to walk back to his large pickup truck, I couldn’t help admiring the confident, sexy way he walked.
Floating into the house, I went to my room, which was a disaster of boxes, bags, and suitcases. Grabbing my phone, Icalled Lila immediately. “You are never going to believe what just happened.”
Lila laughed. “Good grief, little cousin, I just saw you, and you’ve barely been in town for an hour. What could have happened?” Even though she was only seven years older, she had always loved to tease me.
“Daniel King just showed up at the door and asked me to go to the ball with him.”
There was a pause before she muttered, “Holy shit.”
“Yeah.”
“Wow,” Lila murmured. “I assumed that Daniel wanted to talk to you about art and design stuff. You know, since their family are furniture designers. You said yes, right?”
“Of course,” I giggled. Just picturing those deep eyes made my stomach quiver. “He looks like an old-fashioned movie star. He even wants to take me out to dinner first.”
As soon as the words left my mouth I regretted them. One of the things Lila had always teased me about was my weight. It was not always kind teasing.
She was one of those women who thought that being over a size six was a mortal sin. It didn’t matter that I was healthy and strong. Apparently not being able to share clothes with all of your friends made you a loser in her eyes.
