Page 8 of The Sweetheart Dance
“Give them to me,” I instruct.
After two glasses of wine and a seamless conversation, Raina is feeling comfortable with me again. I love it. She slides her feet over to my lap and makes a little sound.
“Thank you.”
Her little feet look even tinier on my broad thighs. I begin to rub her feet with my thumb rubbing along her arch. She sighs happily as I begin to work.
“How are your parents?” Raina asks.
This is something I typically don’t get asked out on dates. Most of my dates want to know what I could do for them.
It isn’t until right now that I realize how much I craved normal conversations that don’t revolve around my money or status.
“They are doing great. They were asking about you the other day,” I answer honestly. “They are going to the ski lodge for Valentine’s Day and are going to be seeing your parents again.”
She sighs louder this time. “My parents always liked your parents.”
Our parents were the typical country club-style people who liked belonging to the club. My parents belong to a couple of country clubs and the ski lodge where I first met Raina.
“I have plans of going to see my parents over Valentine’s Day,” she throws out with a frown. “I was expecting to be engaged.”
Damn, that really stinks she was dumped so close to Valentine’s Day.
“I can go with you if you want,” I offer before I can stop myself. I’m always so eager to help others that I can’t stop myself.
I know if I show up at the ski lodge with Raina my parents are going to be all over us. My mother is so eager to get me married and saddled up with children. She has never liked the fast women I normally dated and wanted me to have a nice girl.
A woman just like Raina.
She sits up in her seat and looks at me cautiously. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
I have to laugh at how paranoid she sounds. “I’m always nice if you remember.”
“No funny business?”
I laugh harder. “Sure, princess. No funny business.”
“You will be there to be a buffer between me and my parents who are expecting me to bring my now ex?”
I squeeze both of her feet together. “Yes but only if you buffer me from my mother who is dying to marry me off to a nice girl.”
She smiles. “Your parents are going to love me so much they are going to be begging you to marry me.”
I don’t doubt it.
Chapter Seven
Raina
I couldn’t believe I was just dumped by my long-term boyfriend and now I have a holiday date with Luke Willows. If my heart wasn’t broken into a million pieces, I would have been touched by his offering.
Luke’s demeanor is the exact same as he was all those years ago. He is still that sweet, thoughtful guy I fell so hard for. I’m surprised his money and fame didn’t change him.
Casually, I look at the clock again and see it is after midnight. “I’m tired,” I inform him casually.
He nods while standing up. I can see him looking over towards the window presumably to see if the snow has started. I follow his lead by looking outside.
The snow is pelting against my windows as the whole outside is a white-out. There is no way he can drive home in this.
