Page 20 of My Promise To Keep

I opened the door and felt the heat that immediately rushed up my neck at the sight of him. He stood there in dark jeans and a dark blue t-shirt and denim jacket, holding a bunch of pink roses, and as my eyes reached his, but found them wide and traveling slowly up the short length of my body, I swallowed hard.

‘Wow, you look,’ he smirked as his eyes met mine, ‘you look beautiful, Zoe.’

I had chosen a pretty short, fitted black dress. I’d never been particularly curvy; I’m petite, but I loved the way it fitted me and accentuated what little tits and ass I did have.

‘Thank you,’ I said, my voice smaller than usual as nerves squeezed my throat.

Leo leaned in to kiss my cheek, way more formal than his usual head kisses, but my stomach fluttered with the wings of the butterflies taking flight in there, and that scent that had affected me earlier filled my nostrils. God, he smelled good.

‘These are for you.’ He held out the roses, and I giggled. Oh god, Igiggled?

‘Thank you.’ I took them and carried them inside, putting them in a pitcher and quickly half-filling it with water.

‘Shall we?’

I took a deep inhale and nodded. We were doing this.

‘Hello, welcome. Do you have a reservation?’

The pretty young hostess smiled as we entered the restaurant. It was a cool, old converted post office, and now pretty much matched the décor at the tattoo shop and his apartment. Leo had a style, and it was showing.

‘Yeah, Bennett.’

The name made me inhale. It was my name, so I heard it often, but hearing Leo say his matching surname was a reminder of the situation. He was family.

‘Right this way.’

We were led through the dimly lit restaurant with its hanging Edison bulbs and tables surrounded by mismatched chairs. The bar area looked like a prohibition-era speakeasy, and the hipster servers and bar staff fitted in perfectly.

As Leo pulled out my chair for me to sit, then I watched him take off his jacket and hang it on the back of his chair, I had to distract myself from the fit of his shirt on his defined body.

‘This place is so cool,’ I said, avoiding looking at him as he sat.

‘It is, it’s great.’ His voice was deep, and I could hear a hint of amusement in it, so I turned back to see him smiling at me.

‘What?’

‘Relax,’ he said softly, so I took a deep breath and nodded as he smiled and leaned back in his chair, so casual, holding my eyes with his. ‘So, Zoe, tell me something about yourself.’

Oh, okay, we were diving straight in. It was odd. He already knew everything. I mean, I’m pretty sure the only thing he didn’t know was how I’d been feeling about him, but that was not something I was going to spill.

‘Munch.’ I met his gaze as he reached across the table for my hands, and I gave them willingly, needing his contact. ‘Take a breath, Zo. This is about you getting used to this sort of situation, but it’s just me. Let’s have some fun, okay?’

Fun. Right. I nodded. I could do that.

‘Can I get you guys some drinks?’ A server arrived at our table and smiled sweetly down at us.

‘Can we get a bottle of merlot and some water for the table, please?’ Leo asked without missing a beat as he flashed her a smile that I’m certain made her knees weak.

‘Sure, no problem,’ she said, a noticeable tremble in her reply.

‘You still like merlot, right?’ I nodded, yes. I didn’t know he knew. ‘Okay.’ He smirked, and his eyes narrowed in a way that made everything south of my belly button clench up. ‘Zoe, tell me something about yourself.’

I took a breath and closed my eyes for just a second. I could do this. Opening my eyes, I found his gaze once more and smiled.

‘Well, I’m a bar owner.’

‘Really? That’s cool, tell me more.’

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