“Oh.” I slide in as demurely as I can considering I have to bend so far down I’m practically sitting on the potholed street of Chicago.
He shuts the door, rounds the back of the car and before I can take in all the fancy controls and figure out what the wing trademark logo on the steering wheel stands for, the scent of his cologne surrounds me and blocks all working brain function.
“Is it okay if we head out of the city?” he asks.
“Sure.”
“So, your mom’s good if I fly you to Paris for the weekend?” His face is serious. No raised eyebrows or sarcastic tone.
“No, and you aren’t.”
He reaches over and squeezes my knee. “I’m kidding. I want to impress you, but I’m not that guy from Pretty Woman.”
Embarrassment hits me hard and I immediately lose all my spunk. Of course, he wouldn’t want to go to the trouble of doing anything like that for me. What a ridiculous thought.
“He only took her from L.A. to San Fran and operas aren’t my thing.”
He chuckles, shifting the stick around and then slowly eases away from the curb.
“Damn him. Who did he think he was going to impress with that?” Reed laughs as I fixate on his strong hand shifting the gears while his knee rocks back and forth with the clutch.
It’s sexy as fuck.
“What kind of car is this?” I ask.
“Aston Martin. I keep it in the garage of my condo. Only take it out on special occasions.” He glances over with a smile that says I’m special and embarrassment washes over me.
“I forget where you grew up sometimes.”
“Good. I’m not what that upbringing usually implies.” He signals and turns left.
“Do your parents still live there?”
We pull onto the highway, the engine purring away as he shifts and presses down the gas pedal speeding up on the on-ramp. Traffic is piled on the other side heading into the city and we’re heading out.
“Yeah. They’ll leave in coffins.”
“They like it there?”
“They like the status of it. They like that my sister married our next-door neighbor growing up and they moved two streets over. The grandkids can ride their bikes over. They like that they can brag that my sister married a wealthy plastic surgeon. Never mind that he’s never home. Never mind that she calls me once a week to say she’s on the edge of a nervous breakdown and wants to divorce him.” He glances over for a second. “Sorry, more than you asked.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m sorry for your sister. I’ve been there.”
His shoulders slump when the car goes faster. Is that because I brought up Pete? Does it bother Reed to think about me being his ex-wife?
“Sorry,” I mumble.
“Don’t be.” The car slows to a normal Chicago speed which is at least twenty over the limit. He finds his way over to the left lane and seems content to stay there for the moment. “I never want you to feel like you can’t tell me something. There are no rules tonight, Victoria. You want to talk about Pete, go for it. You want to ramble on about Jade, I’m game. You want to complain to me about the egg salad sandwich you had for lunch this week that made you sick, cool.”
I laugh. “I knew I should’ve just stuck with The Sandwich Place,” I murmur.
Glancing over his shoulder, he changes lanes and catches my eyes on the way back briefly before they land on the road again. “I just want you to enjoy yourself. That’s all.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” he asks.
“Okay.”
“So, I went on this date last weekend,” he talks and my body stiffens. He bursts out laughing, not finishing the story. “I’m kidding.”
I laugh along with him.
“Henry told me a joke yesterday when I called to see how he was. Want to hear it?”
“Sure, but I have to warn you, I might put you to shame in the kid jokes arena.”
“Are you challenging me?” he asks with amusement and pulls into the far-right lane, exiting one highway to hop on another one.
“I am.” I shift in my seat, so I can look at him better.
“Okay, why are ghosts such bad liars?” he asks, finally relaxing in his seat.
“Um…because you can see right through them.” I tilt my head in a fashion that says I know I’m right.
“You weren’t lying. Okay, let me dig into my arsenal here.” He thinks for a moment and I try to figure out where he’s taking me, but since returning to Chicago I haven’t ventured out of the city much. “Okay, what do you call a cow with no legs?”
“Oh.” I think and replay all the jokes Jade and I have said back and forth. All the popsicle stick riddles and her stealing my phone to ask me. “Steak?”
“Is steak on your mind?” A flirtatious grin crosses his face.
“No. Is the answer steak?”
He pulls off the highway and turns right at the light.
“No, it’s not. Another guess?”
“Roast?”
“You’re so close.” His fingers move up to show a little space between his thumb and forefinger. Turning left, he parks in front of a restaurant and we sit in the car for a moment.
“Just tell me.”
“Ground beef.”
My head falls back to the leather seat. “I should’ve gotten that.”
“How about some steak though? I thought it was only fitting you get to taste a great steak on our first date.”
I roll my eyes, though not in a bad way and push him gently toward the window. He turns off the car, climbs out all alpha and hot then rounds the front of the car so I get an eyeful of him. When he opens my door, I accept his hand.
“You’re too much,” I say.
“You have no idea.”
He makes it sound like a promise. And suddenly I’m hoping with everything in me that Reed really is a man who keeps his promises.
Chapter Nineteen
To say that dinner with Reed was something out of a movie is probably an understatement. He was a gentleman the entire night. Pulling my chair out for me, suggesting a bottle of wine, discussing which steak on the menu was the best, sliding in a joke about how he’s not on the menu tonight unless I ask for the special.
By my second glass of wine, the tension and anxiety that had been laced through my body had dissolved like salt in water. Sitting at a candlelit table tucked into the far corner of a restaurant I’d never be able to afford at this point in my life, Reed wooed me. It wasn’t any one thing in particular. There were no grand declarations or heartfelt moments. It was just Reed being Reed.
We talked about anything and everything and I never once felt like I had to temper my responses for fear of judgment. He told me stories about him growing up—some of which involved Pete—and I confessed to some of my more embarrassing escapades as a teenager. I explained how much I enjoyed working with Chelsea and Hannah and about my job back in Los Angeles and he explained some of the inner workings of some of his cases.
By the time we stood up, I had to find my footing. With a full stomach and a contagious smile, I allowed Reed to take me by the hand and guide me to the coat room.