Page 33 of Little Did We Know
Penelope Darling
Where was this pompous bastard?He thought the world revolved around him, didn’t he?
I folded my arms over my chest and peered out the window.Holiday shoppers were going to take over the streets soon.The weather was already crap.And this fucking guy didn’t know how to use a watch.
What the hell was it with Lucian Leroux?When we saw each other at kink parties, it was so damn easy to talk to him.Not because he was remotely funny, but because we had so much in common.The same kinks, similar traits we were drawn to; only, him with men and me with women.We liked to participate in event planning and demos.We were natural leaders.But the instant the proverbial lights came back on, the party was over, and it was time to part ways, something about him just screamed superiority and arrogance.
If he didn’t get here in the next five minutes, I was gonna?—
Goddammit.I saw him walking in.He spoke briefly with the hostess before he spotted me.
He’d spent more than a few minutes in the rain.
I almost smiled, because it was so unlike him.I’d never seen him out of sorts.He never spoke out of turn, he never laughed too loud, he never said anything inappropriate, I wasn’t sure he even had a sense of humor, and he was just so…so…sostiff.Except for right now, when he looked like he was coming out of a car wash without the car.
First and last time I let him pick the restaurant too.It was so sterile and bright and lifeless in here.
“I apologize, Penelope,” he said, pulling out his chair.“My car didn’t start, and it took forever to get a cab in this weather.”
“No problem, Lucian.”I smiled politely.
He exhaled and loosened his tie, then picked up his menu.“Does anything look good?I’ve never been here before, but I’ve had several clients raving about the place.”
I cleared my throat and opened my menu too.“Well, there’s the $30 tuna salad that’s served inside a lemon.Or maybe you’d be more interested in the $45 chestnut ravioli with walnuts and honey?”
“Chestnut rav…” He trailed off and made a face as he scanned the menu.“What on earth is all this?”
I’d rather ask who his clients were.Snobs like him, I bet.He worked in finance, if I remembered correctly.Frankly, we never talked about vanilla life.
Lucian looked and looked, as if more items would magically appear on the two pages, but after a moment, I wasn’t sure he was actually paying attention.If anything, he was miles away in his head—though, he recovered eventually.He glanced out the window instead.His jaw ticked.He released a breath, and I could practically feel the tension rolling off him.He wasn’t comfortable.He wanted to be anywhere but here.
This was the opposite of the man I’d call a dear kink friend.And how crazy was it that I could genuinely look forward to seeing him at events and then my skin would almost crawl at the thought of meeting up for lunch?
“I’ll have to apologize again,” he said, clearing his throat.“I got three hours of sleep last night, I have no idea what’s wrong with my car, I’m tired as fuck, I’m hungover, and all I want right now is to put on sweatpants and order the greasiest pizza I can find.”
I blinked.
He wanted what?
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.“A burger would work too.”
Right.
What?
“Do you…want to reschedule?”I was so busy processing his uncomposed outburst that it made me a little slow on the uptake.But fuck it, I was impressed.There was something real underneath the suit, wasn’t there?
“Oh, I—I suppose that was unclear,” he said, frowning.“And it just occurred to me that you might not be comfortable moving this meeting to my place.We can reschedule.I’d just need an hour or so to go back home and change, and then?—”
“We can go to your place,” I said.Just because I wasn’t a big fan of arrogant men didn’t mean I felt unsafe with him.On the contrary, I’d always felt relaxed in his presence.Well, in a kink setting.To be honest, I didn’t know what the fuck to think about the vanilla version of him anymore.“But you gotta promise me you’ll wear sweats.And pizza’s on you.”
The relief was instant in Lucian’s eyes.“I’ll pay for the cab so you can get home later too.Thank you, Pen?—”
“I have my truck,” I chuckled.“Let’s go, pussycat.You need to get dry.”
I was more than happy to get out of this pretentious place, without having anything to pay for.
“Are we sure about that nickname?”he asked.
