Fiendish: A Twisted Fairytale (17 page)

When I turned my head to look at him, his face seemed mere inches from mine. Those vibrant blue eyes that I loved so much searched my face intently as he waited for my answer. With him so close, I wanted to do nothing more than throw my arms around his neck and kiss him, make the first move as Macy had suggested before, but my fear of being rejected again kept me from doing so.

“Yes,” I replied softly. “Once, Macy and I went to Aruba.”

“Aruba? That’s nice,” he commented, sitting back in his seat.

“It was. Her parents sent us there as a graduation gift.”

“This flight will be much shorter, a little over two hours.”

Seth reclined his seat and closed his eyes when the plane started taxiing down the runway. I gripped the armrest when we started to take off, not paying attention to Seth
’s hand being there. He didn’t say anything, just readjusted so he was holding my hand until the plane leveled off.

“Thank you, the take-off made me nervous then too.”

“No problem.”

After we
’d been in the air for about ten minutes, Megan walked over and handed me a tray with a club sandwich, chips, and a bottle of water.

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure. Will you be needing anything else?”

“Um, no, not right now.”

With a smile, she turned and disappeared back behind the curtain. I glanced back at Seth, who appeared to be sleeping, and smiled.

After I finished eating, I glanced over at Seth again. I was too nervous to sleep, and since I didn
’t know where we were heading, I hadn’t brought my iPod. When Megan came back to retrieve my tray, I asked her for a magazine, but she said they hadn’t stocked any for this trip.

“Bored?” His voice made me jump since I
’d assumed he was sleeping.

“A little.
I just need something to read, or some music.”

Unbuckling his seatbelt, Seth disappeared behind the curtain, returning with a small packet containing headphones. He lifted a panel on the armrest to reveal a radio system.

“Thank you.”

I would have rather talked or something, but I plugged in the headphones and watched Seth as he resumed his position of fake sleep. When the plane started its descent, Seth took hold of my hand again, holding it until the wheels touched down.

The cold took my breath away when we stepped out of the plane. The winter had been fairly mild in Atlanta, but here it was a bone chilling cold. I wrapped my arms around my body, hoping to keep its warmth from escaping. Seth smiled when he took my hand, apparently not as affected by the cold as I was.

A man was standing next to a black Lincoln Town Car. His black suit jacket flapped in the wind, and I couldn
’t help but wonder why he was standing in the brutal cold. When he opened the backdoor of the car, I realized then he was a driver, our driver. He tipped his hat, greeting both Seth and me before closing the door behind us.

“I
’m in New York,” I said, smiling at Seth.

His fingers brushed against mine as it sat on the dark leather seat.

“Yes you are. We’ll be staying the night at the Waldorf.”

“Staying the night?” I questioned, hoping the panic didn
’t come through.

Was this going to be it finally, the night I
’d dreamed about?
Literally dreamt about. Since first meeting Seth, I’d had fantasies about being with him intimately, and now he was saying we were staying overnight at a hotel together. Heat flooded my face.

“Yes, the night. The show is at eight. I figured it would be easier to just fly back in the morning.
Unless that’s a problem.”

“No,” I replied, shaking my head. “No problem at all. I just need to let Macy know so she won
’t be worried,” I said pulling out my phone.

OMG! He flew me to NY to see Phantom and he says we
’re staying the night

I couldn
’t help but smile as I hit send before placing it back in my pocket.

Once we reached our destination, I saw it wasn
’t the hotel. Instead, we were parked at a store.
Shopping?
Is this what he meant by taking care of everything?
The driver opened the door, and I thanked him before Seth ushered me inside.

“Welcome to Barney
’s. How may I help you today?” asked the older saleswoman that met us at the door.

I
’d never heard of Barney’s, but looking around the place, I could tell it was somewhere Macy probably would go crazy over. Hell, she’d probably shopped here before. Seth stepped away to speak with the saleswoman, leaving me to walk around the high end store. The other women in the place all looked like they belonged; dressed in fashions similar to what Macy always wore. This place was not for me.

“Okay dear, this way,” the older saleswoman said as she and Seth joined me.

“Where am I going?”

“This is Janice,” Seth said, pointing to the silver-haired woman who looked very excited. “She
’s going to get you what you need. I’ll be back in an hour to get you.” He gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before strolling out of the store.

I stared at his back until I felt Janice
’s hand touch my arm. “What size are you dear?”

“An eight.”

Janice directed me to sit before she walked away. I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. It was Macy.

are
you shitting me? NY!!!

I laughed just imagining her face when she read my text.

yep currently at some posh place called Barney’s

OMG you lucky bitch!!!

I laughed again, reading her response. I looked up to see Janice approaching with several dresses.

Gotta
go will ttyl

For the next hour, I tried on dresses that I
’m sure had prices I didn’t even want to think about. After that, it was picking out clothing and everything I needed for this impromptu overnight stay. Seth walked back in as I sat, feeling sick to my stomach thinking about how much money sat in the bags surrounding my feet. The dress alone was thirty-two hundred; I nearly had a heart attack when Janice rang that up. I’d thought I’d picked out a reasonably priced one since it seemed simple. I couldn’t watch her ring up the rest after seeing that.

“Enjoy
yourself?” he asked once we were back in the car.

I wanted to tell him that shopping was more Macy
’s thing, especially at places like that. I wanted to tell him that I was internally freaking out that I’d spent money, his money, and so much of it. But instead, I turned and smiled at him.

“Yes, thank you.”

“Good, we have dinner reservations at six. So we have time to get back to the hotel and get ready for our night out.”

The hotel was amazing. I wanted to stay in the lobby and take in everything, but we were on a schedule. The room was more than a room. I stood in the foyer hoping my jaw was not on the floor. This hotel
‘room’ was bigger than my house.

“There are two rooms, one to the left and one to the right. Which would you prefer?”

Two rooms. Of course, always the gentleman.

“Do you have a preference?” I asked.

“I’ll take the one on the left,” he replied.

My bags were brought up and placed in my room. I stood under the soothing spray of the shower thinking that just a few feet away Seth was out there. I didn
’t lock the door to my room or bathroom; he could just walk in at any moment. I hoped he would.

***

I sat on the couch waiting on Calida to come out of her room. Finally, the door opened and she stepped out. The black silk dress she’d chosen was simple, but perfect. The only color came from the gold belt that accentuated her slender waist. As she walked towards me, her legs peeked out from behind the fabric.

“Do you like it?”

“Yes, I like it a lot,” I replied, letting my hand skim over her hip. “This is a surprise,” I said, pulling back the fabric of the dress, revealing the slits one wouldn’t assume were there.

“They were a surprise to me too when I first put it on, but I liked the dress, other than the price. But, I figured the slits weren
’t too revealing. Speaking of the price…”

“There
’s no reason to speak of it,” I said, cutting her off.

I could tell when I picked her up she was nervous about something. I thought it was because she had to spend the night with me, given her reaction to that news in the car. Now, I realized it was more about the money she
’d spent. 

Calida gave me a forced smile. “Well, thank you for the dress. I feel a little like Cinderella.”

“Then, I need to make sure you’re home before midnight,” I replied with a smile. “I’m pleased to see you left your hair down,” I adding, letting my fingers play with the soft curls that framed her face. “You smell like roses.”

“It
’s a bath and body set Janice showed me. I thought it smelled great, but I wasn’t sure about getting it.”

Smiling in response, I took the wrap from her hands and placed it around her shoulders. “I
’m glad you did.”

Chapter 16

“This place is beautiful,” Calida commented as we followed the hostess to our table at The Russian Tea Room. “The architecture and design is just breathtaking.”

She was so in awe of everything; it was rather amusing. After we were seated, the waitress brought out the appetizer and poured the wine.

Calida frowned in confusion. “We didn
’t order.”

“I did.”

“When? We just got here.”

“Since I knew we would be on a tight time line, I ordered when I made the reservation.”

“How do you know what I would like? That was very presumptuous of you,” she said, eyeing the dish on the table skeptically.

“I recall being able to know exactly what you
’d like last time we dined out together.”

“True, but that was just an appetizer, not the entire meal,” she challenged.

“You’ll have to trust me,” I replied, scooping out a small serving of the caviar onto one of the crackers.

Her lips closed around the outstretched morsel as she took the bite I
’d offered her.

“That
’s...good,” she said after taking a sip of wine. “What did you feed me?”

“Caviar.”

She started coughing after hearing my reply. “Sorry,” she said, taking drink of her water. “I, that’s one of those foods I never imagined myself eating or enjoying.”

When the second course came, she again enjoyed the selection I
’d chosen for her. I enjoyed watching her eat. There was something in the way her tongue rolled around each new forkful that caused my mind to wonder about the many things she could possibly do with it. 
Having these kinds of thoughts and desires about her is dangerous. 
I took a deep breath and tried to ignore the noise.  

“Tell me more about your sister.”

I remembered from our lunch date that her sister was a sore topic. Not as touchy as the ex-boyfriend, but it would be enough to take back the control that seemed to be slipping. The sparkle left her eyes as she put down her fork and wiped her mouth, that mouth that was begging to be kissed, with the napkin.

“There
’s not a lot to tell. We were never close growing up since there’s eleven years between us, and we’re not close now. Macy is more of a sister to me.”

“Does she look like you?”

Her gaze briefly dropped to her plate. “No. She looks more like my mom.”

“So then you take after your dad?”

“No. I apparently take after some long-lost relative on my Dad’s side. Or as Dorian liked to joke, I was switched at birth. Either way, I never really fit in with my family. The red hair kinda makes me stick out.”

I wiped my mouth and gazed at her.
 The waitress came to collect our plates, and I took a sip of wine, studying her for a moment. “Your red hair is one of my favorite features.”

Her face lit up at the compliment before her attention turned to the plate the waitress placed in front of her.

“That looks sinful.”

I pulled the plate away from her, cutting into the Chocolate
Mi-Cuit. I made sure the spoonful had portions of the cake, cherry ice-cream, andGrand Marnier cherry sauc
e
.
Her lips parted in anticipation when I moved the spoon towards her.

“
I should warn you,” I said, keeping it just out of reach. “When you taste this, you will never again look at chocolate the same way.”

“I
’m already counting the number of miles I’ll have to run in order to burn off all of the pounds I’m sure this dinner has packed onto my thighs.”