Page 10 of Going for Three

“You look amazing,” he complimented me in a low tone. The sincerity in his eyes created a new level of ease in my body.

I smiled brightly. “So do you.”

He winked at the same time his cologne swallowed me with a rush of the wind. I cleared my throat softly, trying to get myself together, but each of my motor skills were starting to malfunction.

“Shall we?”

I nodded then accepted his hand to help me out of the truck. I smoothed a hand over my long, black lace dress to remove any wrinkled fabric. Kinga whistled. When I glanced at him, he watched me with wonder.

“I know you probably hear this all of the time, but you’re perfect.”

I smiled shyly, allowing him to lead me toward the left side of the alley way. We entered through the back of a business. I wish I could describe the way it smelled, but something about it relaxed me. My heels clacked along the floor as he led us down a hallway.

At the end of it, we entered a large, private room with an island in its center. It was covered with various amber bottles, dried flowers and herbs. A jazz playlist played softly in the background as a serene white noise.

In the corner was a bottle of champagne with some cute glasses waiting along with a charcuterie board on top of a cocktail table. On the walls were various well-known fragrances with details of the different notes in each one. The pink neon sign along the back wall painted black and white readlife smells amazingin cursive letters.

After I finished taking in every detail, I glanced up at Kianis. “What’s all of this?”

He smiled at me proudly. His chest even expanded in size, making him appear bigger.

“Tonight, we’re going to be making scents for each other to wear.”

He walked in front of me, leading the way to the champagne and snacks. I waited patiently for him to pour a drink for us while piling meats and cheeses on my plate. I loved a good charcuterie board, especially ones that included olives. There were even some containers of the buffalo chicken dip from The Chicken Salad Chick. Vari had to have told him it was my favorite. I popped an olive in my mouth just as he shook the bottle then cheerily exclaimed, “To the first of many dates!” I squealed when the cork popped off the bottle and the champagne began to explode all over the floor.

I covered my mouth, stifling my laugh. Kianis seemed unfazed by the mess he’d created as he finally filled two glasses. I dropped my hand, revealing a wide grin, and I accepted my flute with my free hand. We toasted in the middle never once losing eye contact. A chill ran down my spine that I was sure he saw. The things I would let that man do to me…

“I was thinking that if you like how this date goes tonight, then you have to wear it on every date moving forward.”

I hummed softly. “And you’re going to wear yours?”

He nodded. “Like a badge of honor.”

I hid my blush by taking a sip of champagne. “Well, I guess we’ll have to see how tonight goes then.”

Before I could respond,a bronze-hued woman with short curly hair waltzed into the room.

“Welcome to Evermore. I’m the owner, Bloom, and tonight, I’ll be taking your senses on a beautiful journey.” She spotted the puddle of champagne on the floor and frowned. “Oh, let me grab something to clean that up.”

She left as quickly as she came. My attention never left Charm as she stood there snacking on the food she’d picked up.

“I swear The Chicken Salad Chick is so good. I can’t get enough of this buffalo one.”

I was glad I took Vari’s suggestions so seriously. I’d have to keep him in my back pocket until I knew Charm even better than he did. She lifted a cracker filled with the dip toward me.

“You want to try some?”

I shook my head. “Hell nah. I would have gas all fucking night.”

She nearly choked laughing at my response. Bloom floated back in the room with two large, white towels and cleaned up the mess. We moved over to the island to be out of her way.

I slyly glanced at Charm to see how she was feeling about tonight so far. I was way out of my comfort zone trying to impress her. I was the type to buy a suite and treat a woman to room service as reward for giving up the goods, but I knew that shit wasn’t going to fly with Charm. She was used to being wined and dined by men. If I wanted her to actually see me, I had to move differently. Since I was sure I wanted her, that’s exactly what I did.

It was her best friend, Vari, that came up with this idea. I messaged him after crashing her event for a list of things that she was into. Perfume was one of the things he said she loved. I suggested taking her shopping, and he said that was basic. He told me this would get her attention. By the smile on her face, I would say the nigga was right.

After Bloom dumped the towels in the corner, she rushed over to us, standing on the opposite side of the counter.

“Okay, so you’re going to start by choosing your base from the scents along the wall. We have everything from gourmands to florals, citrus, aquatic, and woodsy scents. That’s just some examples, but there are more. Whatever you like, I’m sure we have it. I am here to answer any questions you may have.”

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