Love Me by Jillian Dodd Read Free Book Online Page B

face breaks out into a grin. “You’re nervous, aren’t you?”
    “I just got dumped by Dawson and then slept with him. Now it’s complicated and I’m going to dinner with your brother. Please, don’t stress me out any more. This dinner is a simple tutoring exercise.”
    She smirks. “Whatever you say. How about shoes?”
    I pull a pair of black Jimmy Choo high-heeled sandals that have black ostrich feathers gracing the front of them. “These, for sure,” I say, my confidence coming back. I grab a pair of long black feather earrings, a pearled Alexander McQueen clutch, and a rose quartz flower ring for my accessories.
    “Love the feather earrings,” Peyton says. “Très chic.”
    My phone buzzes.
    “It’s my brother,” she says. “He’s just pulling up and says he’ll meet you in the front hall.”
     
    A wonderful sense of powerlessness.
    6:30pm
     
    I walk slowly down the hall. 
    I’m done freaking out. I look good. I’m loving me. I’m doing all the things at school that I wanted to do. I’m proud of the fact that I’m still here. That I came face-to-face with Vincent—not once, not twice, but three times—and managed to get away. 
    But, at the same time, I feel like my luck is starting to run out. 
    Maybe I need another four-leaf clover, I think with a grin. 
    As I turn to walk into the front hall, Aiden’s eyes are on me, making me feel like I’m making a grand entrance at a ball. 
    Now presenting Miss Keatyn Elizabeth Douglas.  
    I just need a little dude standing here with a trumpet. 
    Oh, shoot. Script change. 
    Now presenting Miss Keatyn Elizabeth Monroe.
    Aiden is wearing a charcoal gray suit with chalk-colored pinstripes and a white dress shirt with French cuffs. Very appropriate. 
    And he looks so very handsome. I know I go on and on about his appearance, but I’ll just say this. 
    He looks like he walked out of my dreams.
    He walks toward me, kisses my hand, and says, “ Vous êtes belle, mademoiselle. ”
    “You look pretty handsome yourself,” I reply. Then I notice his tie. It’s pink with little black Eiffel Towers sketched all over it. “We going a little overboard on this whole French theme?” I ask, pointing at his tie and laughing.
    He chuckles and pulls up the tie. “This was my family’s way of giving me shit because I barely passed French last year. I got a 70.2% as my final grade. I told you. Fate.” 
    He leads me outside to the car that is almost as gorgeous as he is, walks me around to the passenger side, opens the door, and lets me in. 
    I slide into the leather seat, loving that Aiden has good manners. 
    Aiden opens his door and slides in next to me. 
    He reaches over, grabs my hand out of my lap, and holds it on the stick shift under his. “You ready?”
    “Yeah. I’m looking forward to seeing if you can read the menu. You have to order. You know that, right?”
    He grins at me as he puts the car in gear. 
    And I may be slightly obsessed with the way his hand feels on top of mine. The way he presses down on it slightly when he shifts. It’s like he’s in control. 
    And for some strange and surprising reason, I find this oddly comforting. 
    No, comforting isn’t the right word. I feel like he’s taking care of me. Kind of like the old-fashioned version of how a man is supposed to be. Usually, I have to drive a relationship. I have to know where it’s going. 
    With Aiden, I have this wonderful sense of powerlessness. 
    And it’s kinda thrilling.
    “I love your dress,” he says. “And we match.”
    “Your sister picked it out. I wasn’t planning on wearing it. I was sort of saving it.”
    “What for?”
    “You know, like a rainy day.”
    “That dress is too pretty for a rainy day. You look like you should be in Paris having tea and eating macaroons.”
    My eyes practically bug out of my head. 
    What the hell?
    Can he read my freaking mind now, for real?
    “I, uh, how did you know that?”
    “Know what?” 
    “That I was