him. She was so irritated with him already. He was acting like a horny teenager, staring at her and making comments about her body. This was who her parents wanted her to date?
They ordered their meals and he decided he had better play it safe with her until he could figure her out. She was acting cooler than most girls he talked to. Actually, she was acting cooler than all the girls he talked to. No woman had ever ignored him; as a matter of fact, they regularly fell all over him and swooned if he paid any attention to them at all. This one seemed annoyed with him. It hadn’t ever happened before.
“I guess we met before when we were kids,” he said with a more polite tone. “Do you remember that? It was a long time ago; I’d be surprised if you did.”
“Surprise, I do,” she said shortly.
He was caught off guard and he stopped momentarily, lifting his drink and taking a long pull off of it before he set it back down.
“That was an unfortunate event,” he said a bit more quietly.
“It was unfortunate for you,” she said, her eyes glued to the wine menu. She wasn’t reading it, but she didn’t want to look at him.
“I can’t imagine it was a pleasant experience for you,” he replied.
“It was one of the worst experiences of my childhood and I don’t care to discuss it further or ever,” she said and then waved at the waiter, and asked him for a glass of wine.
Reed was stopped short again. He took another drink and felt uncertain about what else to say to her, but luckily, that’s when the meal was brought to their table and he was glad to have an excuse to keep his mouth closed.
They talked lightly throughout dinner about the weather and the restaurant, their food and the service where they were. Reed couldn’t help himself, and he continued to look at Jillian’s body and face all throughout the meal. Jillian tried her best not to look at him, as she felt it was gracing him with far too much of her attention and that was what he wanted more than anything, just like when they were children.
They finished the meal and Reed got her back into the car. He stole sidelong glances at her and decided that he wasn’t through with her for the evening, though she didn’t say anything to him about continuing their time together or going back to her house.
He thought he would take her for a drive, so he wound his car slowly up into the hills for a while before she finally turned to look straight at him. “Where are we going?” she asked.
He looked back at her and smiled. “I thought we might go for a drive. We can head up to the hills and see a sunset together. It might be nice to enjoy with each other. I realize our parents are the ones who want us to spend time with one another, but it could still be enjoyable if we make it that way,” he said with an earnest smile at her.
She suddenly felt a huge wave of guilt. “I’m sorry. I haven’t really been giving you a chance at all. I’m still holding a bit of a grudge from the incident when we were children and I’m not thrilled that my mother wants me to date you… and that has nothing to do with you, it has more to do with being allowed to make my own choices.”
He pulled the car onto a deserted stretch of land that looked over the city down below and they could see the sun setting into the ocean. He helped her out of the car and they went and stood in front of it and looked out at the view.
“To be honest, I wasn’t really thrilled about it either, when my father brought it up, but I will say that I have done my best to give you a fun evening and I don’t seem to be making a good impression with you.” He turned toward her slightly, his hands in his pockets and he let his eyes wander up her legs and slowly take in every curve on her body until he reached her face, which was still pointed toward the sunset.
“I understand. I really haven’t been very fair to you.”
Krystal Shannan, Camryn Rhys