I needed to be the old Prior, the one who dove headfirst into stuff and did what I needed to do.
Not this current version of myself, who got overly emotional and worried about everything.
I pulled into Paris’s driveway and turned off the car before getting out. I let out a breath, wiping my hands down my pants since I was sweating, and rolled my shoulders back as if preparing to go to war.
I liked battling with Paris, but this wasn’t going to be one, was it?
Or maybe it could be. That would be fun. We had chemistry, after all, and getting into a skirmish could be part of the game.
Not that I wanted to play a game with Paris.
I truly needed to stop thinking in circles.
I made my way to her front door and rang the doorbell, rocking back on my heels as I waited.
She opened the door, and I swallowed hard, unable to think clearly.
She had on a green dress, one not made of silk or cotton, but a blend of something that looked soft to the touch.
It had a low neckline, so low that I got a peek of her breasts. I did my best not to stare.
I wasn’t a dick.
Even though my dick was the one thinking right now.
The dress was sleeveless and tied up at her shoulders, then dipped into her waist before flaring out over her knees.
It looked amazing on her, the green the perfect complement to her eyes and the dark chestnut of her hair.
Her skin was pale in the moonlight, her lips a pinkish color, and her eyes were done up in a smoky way that I’d never seen on her before.
I had seen her in jeans, in work clothes, and in sundresses and leggings and the like when she was hanging out with the girls and us.
I had never seen Paris like this.
Oh, I had seen her on dates, two of them, actually, and she had looked fucking sexy then, but this? This was something different.
Maybe because I knew it was for me.
Or maybe I was self-centered, and this was all for her.
I would be the one sitting across from her, though.
I swallowed hard again and tried to speak. Only nothing came out.
“Are you just going to stand there?” Paris asked, and I looked up at her grin.
“Hey.”
Smooth.
“Hey there, Brady. You like what you see?”
“You know I do.” I cleared my throat. “So much in fact that we should go before I take you back inside and see exactly what you’re wearing under that dress.”
“You sure feel high of yourself, don’t you?” she asked.
“I would make a joke about feeling you instead, but how about I take you to dinner?”
She threw back her head and laughed, exactly what I was going for.
“So, these are your moves?” she asked as we got into my car.
“You like them?”
“They’re okay.”
“I guess I’ll have to do better from here on out.”
“I suppose you will,” she said, and we went on to talk about work of all things, our conversation progressing easily as if we had done it a hundred times before.
We’d always been slightly caustic to one another, maybe just our large personalities clashing, but now it felt as if we knew each other a bit better.
I didn’t know everything. I knew there were secrets, dark ones from the glimpses I had gotten, but it wasn’t my right to know those. At least not yet.
I wanted to know. I wanted to know everything.
And that should have scared me far more than it did.
We made our way to the restaurant, a little chophouse that I liked to go to, one that Paris had mentioned before in passing. I knew she had been here, and it wasn’t a place I had taken Allison. Not that I hadn’t wanted to take her here, but it had never come up. I wanted my first date with Paris to be somewhere different than where I had taken Allison, and not the two places where I had caught Paris on really shitty blind dates.
“I love this place,” Paris said as we took our seats and leaned back as the hostess handed us our menus.
“Your waiter will be right with you.”
“Thank you,” I said, and then the young woman winked at Paris, gave her a once-over, and I grinned.
“Stop it,” Paris said, blushing all the way to her ears and down her chest.
It seemed she might just blush all over. That was interesting—something I would have to discover more of.
Down, boy.
“Well,” I said, grinning.
“Shut up.”
“I’m just saying. She’s hot.”
“Yes, and she’s probably a good ten years too young for me.”
“Maybe five, but not ten.”
“I don’t know if you’re calling her older or me older.”
“Neither. And, anyway, it’s kind of nice to watch you blush like that. You’ve never gotten embarrassed in front of me before.”
“I’m on a date with you. Nobody else is allowed to check me out.”
“True, but you do look fucking hot in that dress.”
She blushed again, and I smiled.
“Thanks, now I feel like I need to cover up.”
“Don’t. You look great.” Besides, my dick would regret it.
“I had it in the back of my closet, and I figured I’d try it out. Only now, I feel exposed.”
“You’re covered. Don’t worry about it. Seriously.”
“Maybe. I don’t usually dress like this. My typical attire is what you see me in at work.”
“Same here, although mine’s a little easier, I just added a jacket. I don’t usually wear them every day at work.”
“True, and you do clean up quite nicely.”
“Thanks, I’ll take the compliment.”
“You know you’re hot. I wouldn’t be here if you weren’t.”
She said that so deadpan that I snorted before I laughed right as the waiter came to our table.
“Hello, welcome to Oscar’s,” the waiter began, and we listened to the specials, my stomach growling. I was starving, and thankfully this place, even if it was a little fancy, had decent-sized portions.
“That all sounds so good,” Paris said as she looked down at her menu after the waiter had left with our drink orders.
“I know. I love this place. And their portions are small enough that I could probably eat everything, yet big enough to be full.”
“Oh, right, I forgot. I’ve been to a couple of places around here where they try to make it so fancy that you’re pretty much just eating off a big tablespoon. And sometimes, the spoon isn’t even that big.”
“Oh, that place Fontanos or something? I went there with Allison.” I cringed. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. You witnessed me on two of my horrible dates. You’re welcome to mention the fact that you recently dated another woman. It’d be awkward if we purposely didn’t mention her name.”
“Well, I don’t need to bring her up.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay…this is going to be very awkward then.” She grinned over my shoulder, and I froze, wondering where in my past life I had gone wrong.
I turned to see Allison strolling towards us in a red dress cut out in strategic places. I hated to admit it, but she looked amazing.
Her ex, who was probably no longer her ex, was on her arm. They sauntered over.