“Why would I want my eyes to pop?” I asked, pulling a brush through my hair. I was leaving it down even though it was a warm night because he had seemed to find it so appealing the night before. I figured that if I was willing to shove my feet into high heels every day I had already demonstrated a willingness to undergo a little discomfort in the interest of looking good.

“You know what I mean.” Jess was the fashion and beauty expert of the two of us. She always looked great. Of course it didn’t hurt that she was gorgeous. She had long auburn hair, big chocolate brown eyes, creamy white skin and seriously dangerous curves. She couldn’t look bad if she tried.

“What are you wearing?” I picked up a short cotton skirt and a white scoop neck top.

“I figured this would be casual and comfortable but still show off my girl stuff. And the top makes my boobs look good without making me look like a walking dairy state.”

“Good choice. You're going to wear pretty undies aren't you?”

“It's only a first date and he has to leave early.”

“Gabrielle!” She sighed in exasperation.

“Okay! Just in case, I'll make sure that I don't wear granny panties.”

“Thank you! I talked to Mark today, by the way.”

“You did? Did he say anything about last night?”

“Of course! Why do you think I called him? Apparently everybody called him today. Turns out that Mr. Heavy-hitter hasn’t actually dated anybody since law school. He’s been riding the casual hook-up train for almost two years now.” She went back to paging through her magazine.

“He seemed to agree to date fairly easily.”

“Like I said last night, he wouldn’t have agreed if he didn’t want to. He was interested already, but you apparently blew his mind last night when you told him you would make him prove that he could handle your tongue.”

“Who was that woman?” I asked disbelievingly. Jess put down the magazine and stared at me silently for at least ten seconds. (Did you ever time that? It’s longer than you think.) Then she slowly rose to her feet.

“That woman was you, Gabrielle. Listen, I have something important to say to you and I need you to hear me. Be confident! You are sexy and he wants you. And it’s okay for you to want him back. As long as he treats you with respect you can screw his brains out if you want!”

“You’re very wise.”

“I know, honey.” She patted me on the back.

CHAPTER FIVE

Twenty minutes later I was dressed, perfumed, made-up, brushed, and about to collapse from nervous tension when Braden called from the lobby to tell me he was on his way up. Jess gave me a final once over and nodded her approval.

“Just remember, Gab, he's just as scared of you as you are of him.”

“Somehow I doubt that.”

The bell rang soon after and all of the oxygen mysteriously left the room. That happened a lot lately. Maybe I should check into a pulmonary specialist too. Jess walked over calmly and swung the door open like the father of a sixteen-year-old girl headed for the Junior Prom. She managed to look both deliriously happy for me and mildly menacing at the same time.

“Mr. Pierce. Won't you come in?” Yeah, that sounded warm and inviting.

“Thank you.” He smiled and I saw her soften just a little. “Call me Braden.” Had I ever noticed how cultured his voice sounded before? Probably not, since previously I had only heard him argue with me and tease me. He walked into our apartment looking much better than he had a right to, in a pair of loose fitting tan chinos and a white polo shirt. He could have just stepped out of an ad for Ralph Lauren. The Rolex was pretty nice too. And oh, I smelled the spicy-minty. Yum.

“You can call me Jessica,” she said, giving him a once over.

“Thanks.” He turned in my direction. “You look great,” he said, checking me out none too subtly, starting at my Manolos and moving upward. His eyes seemed to linger a couple of extra seconds on my chest. I guess that he agreed with me about the top. Eventually his gaze made it up above my neck. “You always wear your hair tied back in court. I didn't realize that it was that long until last night.” He was looking at it like he was picturing doing something naughty with it. Suddenly I could have cared less if my hair felt like a wet blanket on my head later. He had managed to turn me on just by looking at me. This man was much too sexy.

“Thanks. You seem younger when you're not looking so… prosecutorial.”

“Well you know, the mantle of authority and all.” He grinned.

“Okay kids, don’t forget, Braden there has to go to school tomorrow so don’t stay out too late.”

“Thanks mom.” I smiled. Braden held the door for me and I led the way to the elevator. It felt like the air was thick with sexual tension already and we weren’t even five minutes into this date.

“It's a perfect night for a walk,” he said.

“Good.” I smiled with genuine pleasure. “I like walking around the city in the evening. There's always this feeling like something exciting is about to happen.”

“Maybe something exciting is about to happen,” he said, stepping into the elevator with me and looking directly into my eyes in a way that made me breathe faster. There was definitely an oxygen shortage in this building. The tension started to build even more. He glanced at the emergency stop button like he wanted to push it and then push me up against the wall. I probably only noticed because I was thinking the same thing. Neither one of us pushed the button, though. We reached the ground floor without interruption and the doors slid open, breaking the spell.

“This restaurant is literally like two minutes away, just over on Sansom. It's a little kabob place. The lamb is good if you don't think too much about how cute and cuddly your entrée once was.”

“I try not to contemplate what my dinner was like in life.”

“Probably wise.” I glanced up at him and smiled. “So, you grew up around here?”

“In Bryn Mawr,” he replied, naming a town on the Philadelphia Main Line with one of the wealthiest zip codes in the United States.

“Nice neighborhood.”

“The Upper East Side of Manhattan isn't too shabby either.”

“Been talking to Mark huh? What else did you find out?”

“Your mom is a VP at Goldman Sachs and your father is the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. So, you’re a trust fund baby like me but you’re an only child. I’ve got to share my inheritance with my younger brother and sister.”