Page 28 of Abduction
She turned her attention back to the food, shifting the conversation to our favorite restaurants in the city. She mostly talked of diners and other takeout places she would hit up with her friends after a night of partying, and it reminded me of my younger days a little. When I’d had more time to party, more inclination. It had seemed more fun then, back when I had been in my early twenties, before everything with my father had started to get more serious. Tommy and I still sometimes found time to go out, but it always seemed to be just a stopover until we got back to our real lives.
She finished up her food, sitting back in her seat and letting out a satisfied sigh.
“Damn, that was good,” she replied, grinning.
“Yeah, it’s great here,” I replied, waving over the waiter so I could pay the bill. I didn’t even mention her putting in a cent for it. I didn’t want her to think I was that kind of guy. When I took a woman out, I would do everything I could to make sure I showed her how valued she was, how much fun she could have with me. I didn’t know if I would ever get a chance to take Amber out again after this, and I had every intention of showing her the best time possible.
“You go to places like this a lot?” she asked carefully, as though she wasn’t sure she wanted the answer. Maybe she was getting attached to the idea of a place like this, seeing how easy it could be when you were with someone who had the city in the palm of his hand.
“Yeah, whenever I can,” I replied. My father had connections all over, and it meant I could get a table nearly anywhere I felt like it.
“Why, you want to see what else I’ve got up my sleeve?” I asked her. She grinned at me. I could tell she was having a lot of fun, even though she wanted to pretend she was totally innocent in all of this. She might have wanted to believe this was just casual, just a dinner between new friends, but she could tell from the way I looked at her that she could expect so much more if she gave in to our connection, once and for all.
“I don’t know,” she confessed, looking down at her empty plate. I could have filled it again for her right then and there if she had asked me. I wanted to keep this night going, but I didn’t know if she would agree to it. She had already clearly overstepped what she thought she was capable of, and there was a part of me curious to know if I could coax it any further out. Who gave a shit about her fiancé? He was most likely sleeping with someone else right now; no point in letting him get in the way of things.
“The option’s always there,” I told her. “It’s what you deserve.”
She snorted derisively, clearly not sure she agreed.
“What? You don’t think you deserve it?” I asked her, leaning forward. She shook her head.
“It’s not...I don’t think anyone needs to be treated like this,” she replied, gesturing around. “It’s a lot. I mean, it’s fun for an evening, but I don’t think I could get used to it.”
“You could,” I replied. “I would make sure you did.”
She chewed on her bottom lip. I was getting through to her. She was starting to see it, what life could be like if she just gave herself over to the insane chemistry between us right now. I wanted nothing more than to show her just how much fun we could have together, but I needed her to give me the chance. A real chance. A chance where I got to kiss her, just like we had nearly done in the aquarium.
“Come on,” I told her as I laid out a couple of hundreds on the bill the waiter had brought out. I knew Akio would never in a million years have accepted payment from me, but I wanted to show her it was never going to be an issue. She stared at the money for a moment, as though processing what she was seeing, and then pulled her gaze away and found mine once more.
“Let’s get out of here,” I finished up. “There’s something I want to show you.”
Chapter Sixteen
Amber
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