Page 51 of Fake Dating Mr. Prince
“Don’t you dare.” She playfully swatted at me with her napkin. “If the cost of it doesn’t concernyou, then I’m not going to deny myself this glass. Especially since I’m pretty sure I’ll never get this chance again.”
I loved that she cared so little about material things. Most of the girls I’d dated before would have demanded the most expensive bottle of wine, not joked about never getting it again.
The server returned, opened the bottle and handed me the first glass to sip and taste. Instead, I handed it over to Ashlyn to try.
She accepted the glass and took a tiny sip, letting it rest in her mouth before swallowing. “Oh, my, this is absolutely delicious. You made a fantastic suggestion. Thank you.” She beamed at our server, who smiled back, falling under her spell.
Who wouldn’t? Her genuine warmth drew people in.
After a few sips, we started talking again while reading through the menu in earnest this time. She told me more about her business ideas, and I loved how animated she got when describing how she wanted to slowly expand. That she wanted to travel the world one day to see various fashion icons and their shows and how she hoped that would influence her designs.
Until now, I had questioned if she could be my mystery woman. As we sat across from each other, in the dim lighting of the restaurant, any doubts that she wasn’t my mystery woman disappeared. Just like how the darkness and the moon caressed her beautiful face our first night together, so did the candlelight that was now between us.
“Why did you run?” I asked, interrupting her. The question burst forth without any preamble.
Her face snapped up from her menu, her eyes growing wide. “What did you say?”
“Why did you run from me that night?”
“Well,” she started, then visibly swallowed. “You were only dressed in a towel, and I was afraid I might get in trouble.”
I raised my eyebrow and stared at her. I’d bet money she knew precisely what I meant but was hoping that she was wrong. Her eyes darted around the room before settling back on me. The silence between us was already growing uncomfortable as she tried to assess what she thought I knew.
The server came back to take our order, clearly oblivious to the conversation happening between Ashlyn and me.
“We’d said one night.” She finally whispered after we were alone again and looked away.
“Yousaid one night,” I countered.
I was right.Satisfaction swept over me. I found her. Ashlyn and my woman in blue were one and the same.
Her stunned look flashed back to me. “Yeah, but you—you don’t do more than that.”
The truth of her words hit me. She was right. I didn’t want more than that, but there was something about her that made me think a few nights would be worth it. “True. Did you really not know who I was?”
She shook her head rapidly. “No, I honestly didn’t. I meant it when I said I didn’t know your name. I don’t follow the tabloids all that much, so I didn’t know who you were. I should have though.” Her lips curved up into a wry smile. “It seems laughable now that I didn’t recognize you. Although not having a name made it easier for me to walk away, and if I’d realized who you were, I don’t know if I would have done that with you.”
The pink on her cheeks was adorable. I believed her. There was nothing in her tone or her expression to hint otherwise.
“You’re not mad I didn’t say anything before now?” she asked.
“No. I wish you had, though.”
“Why? What would it have changed?”
I glanced at her, not sure how much I should share. Her leaving without a trace hurt. For the first time, I’d been disappointed in the disappearance of a one-night stand. I really didn’t know what to make of that yet. “I don’t know, but I know when I woke up, I was hoping you’d still be there.”
“Oh,” she said softly.
“But you knew it was me at the office the first time.”
She nodded. “And I freaked out.”
I thought back to that night, seeing the signs I missed. The cadence of her voice, the heart-shaped face, the electric blue eyes. How could I have been so blind? My instincts were screaming it was her, and I ignored them.
“What do we do now?”
“We don’t have to do anything. I was attracted to you when I didn’t even know you were her. Now that you’ve confirmed what I’d suspected I can’t get that night out of my head.”
