Chapter 4: Uncomfortable Date

Nancy’s POV

Jessie, Sara, and Molly are helping me pick out an outfit for my date tonight. It’s not going well. Almost all my clothes are thrown on either my bed or Jessie’s bed after being put on and taken off multiple times.

“I can’t believe he didn’t give you a dress code. Who doesn’t give that kind of information!” Sara yells out.

“He didn’t tell you where he’s taking you either?” Molly asks.

I shake my head. “No, all he said was he wants to take me out tonight at 7 pm.” I read the text off to them for the tenth time today. It’s already 5 pm and I have nothing prepared. I haven’t even showered yet!

“Okay, you guys stay here and try to figure out an outfit. I’m going to go shower; I need to shave everything!” I grab my shower caddy and rush to the women’s shower room on the floor below us.

I can hear water running when I enter. You rarely have the luxury of showering without another girl also in here. That’s okay though because in horror movies you never see a serial killer go into a communal shower if there’s more than one person.

I go to the closest empty shower stall and turn the water on, then wait for the water to warm up. I try to take my time, but to also rush. I’ve got to be ready in two hours!

After washing and shaving all the important areas, I dry off and rush back up to my room.

“Okay, we’ve decided on dressy casual! This dress.” Sara holds up a strapless knee-length black dress with blue and pink sunflowers all over it.

“With these shoes.” Molly holds up a pair of pink strappy wedges. “And we’re going to leave your hair down and do some light makeup. We know you don’t wear it often so we’re not going to load your face up with it.”

I nod my head. “Yeah, I like it guys!” I drop my towel and pull the dress on.

Being friends as long as we have been, being nude in front of each other isn’t awkward anymore. If you’ve never had your girlfriends take your alcohol-soaked and puked-on clothes off for you when you’re too far gone to do it yourself, then do you really have friends?

Jessie sits behind me on her bed and brushes through my damp hair before blow-drying it and adding a few loose curls. Sara sits in front of me and applies my mascara and lip gloss for me.

Just as I’m putting my shoes on, I hear my phone buzz with a new text message.

Molly looks at it for me. “He’s outside!” she yells. I grab my small purse and pull the girls in for a group hug.

“Thank you so much, guys!” I yell as I walk out the door.

I see Ronnie leaning against a shiny black car. It looks like he just drove it off the car lot, it’s so new looking. I walk up to him and he leans down to kiss me on the cheek.

“You look beautiful.” He opens the passenger side door for me.

“Hi to you too.” I smile as I slide into the car.

The inside is just as impressive as the outside. Shiny black leather, squeaky clean tinted windows. I don’t see a speck of dust or dirt anywhere, let alone a small piece of trash. This car makes my rusty 1998 Honda Civic look like ancient garbage.

“So where are we going?” I ask when he starts the car.

“We’re going to my favorite restaurant, La Cucina e Taglio.” He says the name with a perfect Italian accent.

“Is that in Columbus?” I ask. “I’ve never heard of it before.”

Ronnie’s driving with one hand on the steering wheel. I’ve never found that attractive until this moment. His other hand is resting on the armrest between us.

“Yeah, it is, but being busy with school it’s not hard to believe you didn’t know about it. If you’re anything like I was in college then you’re in the library more often than you are running all around the city.” He looks over at me with his gorgeous blue eyes.

“Yeah, I don’t usually go out more than once a week since school and work keep me preoccupied. These past couple of days I’ve been out more than I have all school year,” I say with a sigh.

We pull into the restaurant and my jaw drops. This is much nicer than I was expecting! The building is beautiful with all its stone and darker tones. It has neatly trimmed bushes and flowers all around the outside. The doors are beautiful stained glass. And they have valet parking!

Ronnie pulls up in front and gets out, handing his keys to the valet. He comes around and opens my door, holding his hand out for me. I take it and he doesn’t let go until we’re seated at our table.

We’re in our own room almost. There are thick curtains tied open to the room we’re in. There’s only one table in here with two chairs, one for each of us. The room is dimly lit, but still breathtaking.

There’s soft instrumental music playing throughout the whole restaurant. All the other guests are dressed way fancier than I am. Even Ronnie is wearing a full black suit, including the vest piece.

I can feel myself starting to sweat with nerves. My heart is beating way too fast! I don’t listen as the waiter and Ronnie talk about the specials and what kind of wine he wants. I can’t understand anything on the menu, it looks like it’s all in Italian.

“Um, why don’t you pick for me? You did a good job with the drink when we met.” I force a laugh hoping he doesn’t see how uncomfortable I am.

He laughs along with me. “Yeah, I can do that.” And he does.

The waiter comes back very quickly with the selected wine and takes our orders and menus.

“So, you work for your dad’s company. Was that something you had always wanted to do?” I ask, taking a sip of wine. It’s sweet and fruity.

“There’s never been a thought in my mind of something else. It seemed the only option for me. I watched him grow his business my whole life, he never stopped working hard. I wanted to be just like him.”

Ronnie watches me take another, longer sip, of my wine and chuckles a bit. “It’s a 2019 Far Niente Chardonnay, sweet but not too sweet to be considered a dessert wine. I get the feeling you enjoy the sweeter tastes.” He gives me a sexy little smirk.

“That sounds very fancy,” I say, taking another sip to cover my smile.

“Tell me about yourself, Nancy. Do you have any siblings? What’s your family like?” He leans his elbows on the table and looks at me.

“Well, I don’t have any siblings. My parents passed away in a car accident when I was only three years old and they hadn’t had any other kids but me.” I lean forward on my elbows to match him.

His eyebrows pull together and he frowns. “I’m so sorry.” He reaches for my hand and holds it, rubbing his thumb over the top of my hand.

“I appreciate that. I’ve moved past it. I’ve got friends that are as close to me as a family would be. I lived in foster homes throughout my childhood. And they were all good places. I was never mistreated or anything.” I watch his thumb rub circles on my hand as I speak.

The waiter brings our dishes in and quietly leaves after refilling our glasses. Ronnie ordered me some sort of creamy pasta with different types of seafood and veggies mixed in. It smells heavenly! We are both silent as we take a few bites.

“So, what do you do at your company? What does your job entail?” I ask after a few quiet moments.

“Well, I oversee everything. We have four car dealerships, and eight factories to make the cars. I lead the direction of the business while balancing profits, costs, and opportunities. I develop strategies and do my best to tell everyone my vision for the year while also delegating projects and initiatives.” His eyes darken as he watches me take another sip of wine.

“As chief executive officer, I directly oversee the chief operating officers, chief financial officers, vice presidents, and those who run our dealerships and factories. There’s more to it but that’s boring date talk.” He chuckles.

“That’s a lot for one person to handle,” I say.

Ronnie squeezes my hand. “I love it though; I get to control everything about it.”

I smirk. “So you crave control, huh?” I joke with a little smirk.

He leans forward and grips my hand a little tighter. “You have no idea.” He looks at our empty plates. “Are you ready to get out of here?”

I suck in a breath and nod my head. He stands up and grabs my hand, leading me to the front of the restaurant. He talks to the hostess to take care of the bill and then we go outside. We only wait a couple of minutes before the valet brings his car around.

It’s a quiet drive back to my building but the air feels so heavy and charged. He has one hand on the wheel again and the other on my thigh. Though he doesn’t move it up. He does give my thigh a gentle squeeze every few seconds.

My spine tingles deliciously and my skin feels extra sensitive where he’s touching me.

I can’t take him back to my room, Jessie’s there! Having my roommate there to watch us isn’t exactly a turn-on for me. Are we even going to have sex or am I getting ahead of myself?

I’m brought back to reality when he parks the car in the same spot he picked me up from. We sit in silence for a moment before he looks over at me.

“I want to kiss you real bad.” Ronnie’s voice sounds deeper than normal. Is he feeling the same way I am?

I nod my head and he brings his hand off the wheel to gently hold my jaw. He looks at my lips before placing a feather-light kiss on them. I lean into the kiss, moving my lips against his. His hand on my thigh and jaw tightens ever so slightly as he deepens the kiss. He runs his tongue along my bottom lip before pushing it into my mouth.

I don’t know what to do with my hands so I move them into his hair and grip two handfuls, messing it up from its perfect combed back style. Ronnie moves his hand down my neck to my bare shoulder. His lips follow on the other side, leaving a trail of wet kisses down to my other shoulder.

He stops and looks up at me. “I want to keep going, I do. But I don’t think your roommate would appreciate it, and this car isn’t the best for sex.” He smirks.

Chasing away the slight bit of disappointment that crawls inside me, I smile back at him. “That’s okay, we’ll save it for another time. Making out in a car is just as fun.”

He laughs and squeezes my thigh one more time. I lean forward and kiss him on the cheek. “Thank you for tonight, it was not like anything I’ve ever experienced.”

He watches me as I make my way into the building and up to my room. I unlock the door and turn the light on, only to find the room empty. I set my purse on my desk and see a note there.

'Nancy, I’m staying at Sara’s tonight. Have fun. *winky face* Jessie.'

I sigh and drop onto my bed. Of course, she left the room for me!