Page 7 of Concealed Deception

“Done.”Lacey passes my phone back, while sipping on her drink.I wait for her to explain what I’m supposed to do next, when another ping sounds and I almost drop it in eagerness.

Rowan: I enjoy a good chase, it excites me…

Rowan: Leave the reservation to me.I’m game if you are?

Me: You want to go on a date?Not straight to the wild fucking then?I’m disappointed.

“Hey, give that back.What’d you write this time?”I look down and choke on my inhaled breath.“I can’t meet him!Especially not after you wrote that.I’m not you, Lacey.I can’t put myself out there like this.I need to undo it, delete the message, or tell him I’ve changed my mind.”I tap profusely at the screen, hoping something will work in my favor.

That son-of-a-bitch ping sounds, making us both freeze.

Rowan: I like to feed my women first.

“You’re going, Ava.That’s final.”

Four

Ava

After my many attempts at backing out last night, and again this morning, I’m sitting in an Uber in front of Francois with Lacey—she came with me so I won’t run away—nervously biting my thumb nail in hopes I’ll receive a message from Rowan stating he has to cancel, but my phone stays silent.

I look toward the dully lit building and wonder if this is a good idea.

Somehow, Lacey finally talked me into committing tohermessages to Rowan.Ideally, she should be here, not me.Though his profile read a perfect match, it seems too good to be true.No one has ever come close to being perfect for me.

I see a few silhouettes through the window, no doubt being servers or other customers, so with a deep inhale, I open the car door and make sure Lacey knows I’m going to make her pay if this turns into a disaster.

“You’ll be fine.There are other people in there so it’s not like you’re on your own if something bad happens.You have your phone and that can of mace you insist on carrying everywhere, so relax.Have some fun and enjoy yourself.Make him work for it though, the last thing you want is a bad lay.Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she sings, then the car door slams closed, and the Uber pulls away.

“Well, I can’t back out now,” I say to my inner self and pluck the last of my courage to make my feet step one in front of the other.

I chantOh my godover and over until my hand is firmly on the brass door handle.I must admit, Rowan has good taste.Let’s hope he’s not a total fake.

I pull the door toward me with anticipation.

Once through to the reception area, I wipe my palms over my hips to smooth my dress.

Lacey demanded I wear black, so she gave me a little silk cocktail dress which resembles a negligee.

“This way, ma’am.Rowan is expecting you.”The host greets me and ushers me to my table without asking for my name.To my surprise, there’s no one else here, aside from one more man with short, jet-black hair, sitting at a table in the middle of the restaurant.Rowan.

He has his head cast downward which makes it hard for me to see his features as I round the table and have a chair pulled for me to take a seat.

I stay silent for a moment longer as I get myself settled and quiet the little Ava on my shoulder yelling at me to get up and run.

As I’m about to address Rowan, he lifts his head, and that little Ava yelling at me is now frozen.No words and certainly no fight.

“You.”I gasp.

My cheeks heat and my body awakens at the sight of this devilish man.His dark eyes bore into mine the same as they did last night.His pupils dilate with no tell of his emotion.His face has a light dusting of dark stubble, which makes me wonder if that’s more exciting than Rowan’s head between my legs.

Fuck, Rowan.

In all my heated distraction, I forgot about the man I came here to meet.

“Rowan couldn’t make it.”

Alarm bells ring in my head but I can’t figure out how he knows who Rowan is and that I was supposed… “You’re Rowan, aren’t you?You… you fucking tricked me?”

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