Her Mane Men (Paranormal Dating Agency Kindle World)(10)
A not-so-small part of me thought the magic of the other night was just that, for that night, that little moment of time. All that worry disappeared as our eyes met. He was all in. Why else would he get up at the butt crack of dawn to go on a date that would end before most people even got up?
“Morning, beautiful.” He pulled me into a brief hug. Far too brief, if you asked me. Goodness he smelled yummy. I inhaled again, on the sly, of course, before pulling away.
“Morning, Curtis.” He was dressed similarly to our dinner date, whereas I wore office clothes. My nicest office clothes, but business attire it was. “Where are we off to on this insanely early date?” When he’d called to arrange the date, I tried to finagle it out of him with no success.
“Being a planner and a math guy, I looked for options that would maximize our time together without interfering with your employment.” Of course, he did.
“How romantic.” I was being sarcastic, but it truly was. He was arranging things so we had the most possible time together. If that wasn’t romantic, nothing was.
“You josh, but just wait, I just may surprise you.”
Of that I had no doubt.
He opened his rental car door for me, helping me in before going around to his own. He took off down the quiet streets, weaving through them as if he were from the city instead of a visitor until we arrived at the block my work was on. The car ride was quiet, but not awkwardly so. We just enjoyed each other’s presence in the rare quiet that only early morning brought to the city. He pulled into one of the many open spaces, given the hour, and climbed out of his seat, making his way to my door, watching me the entire time as if daring me to open it before he could. Adorable.
“We’re having our date at my job?” I asked as he took my hand, helping me from the car, not letting it go as I reached the sidewalk, which was fine by me. Better than fine. Perfect.
“You will just have to be patient and see.”
He would learn soon enough that patience wasn’t my strong suit. He squeezed my hand as we walked to the building just past the building where I work before stopping. He didn’t pick a restaurant or a park. Nope, Curtis picked an insurance agency. A closed one, at that.
“We’re going to an insurance company?”
“Patience.” He tapped my nose before reaching forward and giving three hearty raps on the door, which was immediately answered by a security guard.
“Good morning, sir. Everything is as you requested.”
“Thank you, Stanley. I so appreciate this given the late planning.”
I was still clueless, but given the obvious effort he put into the morning, I was already impressed.
“The pleasure was mine,” the man assured him before indicating we should go in.
Curtis led me to the elevators, pressing the up button and waiting for the doors to open before ushering me inside.
“How does he know you?” I asked once we were finally out of earshot.
“Family connections,” was the entirety of his reply before the elevator dinged and out we went, me following his lead but clueless as to where we were going. We finally stopped at a door marked Roof Entry. Authorized Personnel Only. Apparently he was Authorized, because four punches on the keypad later the door was open, sans alarm. Impressive.
“Close your eyes. I want you to take it in all at once,” he requested as we reached the top. I did as he asked and took baby steps with his arm now wrapped around my shoulder as he guided me to where we would be having our date. At his command, I opened my eyes to find a breakfast setup straight out of a storybook. On this barren roof in the middle of the bustling city, he’d managed to create a garden-style-breakfast ambiance complete with my favorite indulgence, scones. It was perfect.
“Oh my! You did all this? For me?” I threw my arms around him, hugging him tightly. No one had ever done anything like this for me. Ever. Not even on a smaller scale.
“For who else?” He laughed as he hugged me back. “Of course it’s for you, and given the location, you only need to leave a few minutes before work to be on time.”
The man was a flipping genius.
“Ten minutes before. My boss is a dweeb.” Or, more accurately, a certifiable asshole.
“Ten it is.” He held a chair for me and fiddled with his watch before taking his seat, which was blissfully close to mine, instead of being completely across the table.
“I hope you don’t mind, I called Roxy to see what you liked to eat for breakfast,” Curtis confessed as he held the basket of scones out so I could make my choice of flavor.
“On the stalker scale, it’s about an eight, but on a romantic scale, a perfect ten, so I think I’ll let it slide.” His eyes softened at my banter. Had he thought his admission would upset me? Heck, he told me to call her about him, not that the conversation had helped much. It was always good to talk to her, though, so there was that. “You know I thought Roxanne finagled this entire thing somehow, but she was clueless.”
“Gerri doesn’t work that way.” He spoke as if it were fact, a common one at that.
“You talk of her as if you know her. Gerri, I mean, not Roxanne.” I almost said Roxy, since that was what he called her, but she had always been Roxanne to me, and until she said otherwise, she’d remain that way. Roxy was her hubby’s nickname for her and, by all appearances, it had spread.