“Wait here and Mr. Prescott will be with you shortly,” he said.
She nodded. Again, the room was filled with expensive-looking items. The table was set up with a lace tablecloth, crystal glasses, and fine china. There were flowers everywhere. This is so beautiful, Aria thought to herself. And romantic. There was a large cabinet that held liquor and several silver place settings that were housed in an extra-large curio cabinet. Everything looked so expensive and she thought how it would be impossible to replace, reminding herself that she needed to be careful. She didn’t want to appear klutzy around him, especially when he had such fine things. She was ready to get the evening started.
DEVON WAS CAREFUL NOT to make any noise as he approached the door to the dining room. He watched her gawking at every material object he owned. She looked mesmerized, keeping her attention fixated on the objects, while he kept his eyes fixed on her. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on, but what made her even more breathtaking was the fact that Aria didn’t know how beautiful she was. He found that fact sexy and it made him feel in ways that he had yet to explore.
He smiled as she bit her lower lip and continued to gaze at his silver collection. He was captivated by her lower lip and it reminded him of how much he enjoyed the kiss they had shared. He was so deep in thought that he didn’t pay attention and wound up bumping into the corner of the door. It made a loud noise, startling her. She whipped her head around and stared at him.
He grinned back at her. Her cheeks were red and she was flustered. “Were you watching me?” she asked, catching him in the act.
He shrugged. “Guilty as charged. Can you blame me? I get distracted by beautiful creatures.” That got her cheeks to warm up a bit more and she looked bewildered. He walked over to a chair and held it out for her. “Have a seat,” he said.
She looked at the seat with caution and then slowly walked over to it and sat down. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. He walked around the table and took the seat across from her. “Dinner will be out shortly. The chef was finishing up.”
Her eyes widened at the mere mention of Devon having a chef. “How many employees do you have working at your house?” She paused. “This is your house, correct?”
He snickered and nodded. “This is all mine and let’s see...I have the butler, chef, a maid, a gardener, a pool boy...”
“You have a pool?” she asked. Her eyes widened and Devon laughed.
“I have two actually. We’ll have to explore them one of these days.” He winked at her and she lit up, biting her lower lip again. He would do anything to get her to bite her lower lip. “Where was I? Oh, yes...I have a home interior decorator, and a personal trainer who comes to the house three times a week. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few, but those are the most important ones to remember.”
“Wow,” she muttered.
He knew she was impressed. He opened his mouth to inquire about her own home when the butler and maid entered with their food. The maid and the butler placed the food on a side table and the butler set their food on the dinner table. “Need anything else?” the butler asked.
Devon looked up. “No thanks. I’ll ring you when we’re ready for dessert.”
They nodded and left the room and Aria looked down at the food. The maid had prepared a side salad to go along with the entrée of Chicken Marsala. It was his favorite and he was confident that Aria would enjoy the way she prepared it.
“Eat up,” he said.
She did, and it brought a sigh out of her almost immediately. “This is really good,” she said.
He smiled with satisfaction before taking his own bite. “So, tell me about your home-life. You don’t have a staff such as I do?”
She looked up and laughed slightly. “Uh no. I only get pampered if I decide to go to a hotel for the night.” She chuckled. “I wouldn’t know what to do if I had so many people working under me.”
He pondered over that. If he had his way, Aria would become more accustomed to it. He was confident that eventually she would warm up to the idea if given a little time. They continued to eat, much of it in silence. It wasn’t an awkward silence, but both Aria and Devon felt at ease just enjoying the meal.
At one point though, when they were halfway through dinner, she did speak up. “So, I know that you get to enjoy the finer things in life, but who are you as a person? What do you do outside of running a multi-billion-dollar company and spending time at your home with your staff?”
He laughed. “Well, I do lots of things. I am a big traveler. I enjoy seeing different parts of the world and really embrace different cultures. I also spend weekends at night clubs or at various meetings with clients. I am very busy. It’s not all fun and games.” He chuckled and saw her grin deepen. She took a drink of champagne and nodded.
“Sounds interesting. You must be very worldly.”
He snickered. “I suppose you could say that. Do you travel much?” he asked.
She thought about that question and shrugged. “If you consider travelling going the next city over.” She laughed. “The truth is that I don’t do much travelling, or at least not as much as I would like to. I have my passport but have never been anywhere outside of the country.”
“That’s interesting,” he said. “Did you get the passport as a precaution?”
She nodded. “In many ways, yes. You never know when you’ll have to flee the country suddenly.” That got a laugh from him and she liked the way his eyes sparkled when he laughed. She was enjoying the conversation as it was easy and fluid and she realized her nerves were completely gone as their dinner went on.
“Would you like a refill to your champagne?” he asked.
“Actually, can I just have water?” she asked. “I have a busy day tomorrow and don’t want to be smashed.”
He thought it was funny that she would consider more than one glass of champagne as smashed, but he wasn’t about to argue it. If she wanted water, then water it was. “Sure thing. Also, would you like dessert to be brought out?”
“That’d be great.” She smiled, and he rang the bell for Mary. Mary entered the room in very little time.
“Yes, Mr. Prescott,” she said.
“Will you please get the lady a water, myself another glass of champagne, and bring out the dessert?”
She nodded. “Won’t take more than a minute.”
“Thanks, Mary,” he said. She turned and left and Aria glanced in his direction. He smiled and tilted his head. “You’re looking rather curious, what’s up?” he asked.
“You have a commanding presence,” she said, “and everyone seems eager to get the job done.”
He laughed. “Um, well, I do pay her.”
She blushed and nodded. “I know you do, but I am impressed by how your voice just seems to get the job done. You’re a unique man, Devon.”
He snickered, not sure how to respond to that. He wanted to point out that she shouldn’t be too surprised when he already told her that he always got what he wanted, besides, despite her upset on their first date, she succumbed to him rather quickly, like she almost forgot that she was upset with him.
“I do get the job done,” he said. “You have to when you have responsibilities such as I do. I can’t let my family down, can I?”
She contemplated that. She knew nothing about his family and wasn’t even sure she knew him long enough to inquire about it, but she was intrigued by his business and since it was a family-owned company, she was sure that his family was involved. Before she could start the discussion, Mary came back into the room with their drinks and desserts in tow.
“Thank you, Mary,” he said. She nodded and left again, and he turned his attention back to Aria. He nodded so that she would go on.
“I’m going to assume that your father is a part of the company, or at least was, is he still around?” she asked.
He grimaced. He didn’t want to talk about his father, at least not at this point. Yet, there was no
need to keep the fact that his father was deceased away from her. It would eventually come out anyway. “My father passed away two years ago,” he said. “I’m the only male Prescott left to the run the business. I don’t really want to discuss it.” She quickly nodded. He turned the topic of conversation on her. “I’d much rather keep the discussion on you. Tell me Aria, have you had many past relationships?”
She swallowed the lump in her throat that seemed to grow at the mere mention of past relationships. She didn’t want to dive into that, but she also felt that avoiding the question would make it look like she had something to hide. She didn’t want Devon to think that she was keeping something from him. It wasn’t like she had a lot to hide anyway.
“Going straight for the jugular, I see.” She laughed, and his smile reached his eyes. “Truthfully, there’s not much to say here,” she started. “I haven’t had many.”
He frowned. “I find that hard to believe. You’re a beautiful woman. You’re smart. You’re career-oriented. I’m not understanding why men aren’t falling all over you.”
She looked away from him. Her face had to have turned a deep red, if not purple. She was embarrassed, to say the least, especially when he was going on and on about her attributes. It took more than being attracted to someone to want to start a relationship.
“I’ve gone out with plenty of men,” she started, “but if you’re talking relationships, then I can honestly say there haven’t been many. There was one in college. We were pretty serious but ultimately decided we wanted different things out of life. He moved on and we ended things in an amicable way.”
“Are you still friends?” he asked.
She nodded. “We talk a few times a month. He’s dating someone else, but things are good with us.”
Devon took a drink from his champagne glass, then shook his head as he put down his glass. “I’m a firm believer that you can’t be friends with someone you once loved. You did love him, correct?”
“Yes, but we are friends. It truly was an amicable separation. I’m happy that he’s moved on and I know that I could have never made him as happy as this other woman has made him.”
He shook his head again. “I just don’t think it would work. I would never want to be friends with someone I once loved,” he said.
“Why?’ she asked.
He looked up and their eyes met. He was as serious as could be. “Because that person would know too much for one, but for another isn’t it hard to know that he moved on without you?”
She frowned. Aria had never really thought about it like that. It was a mutual decision and there were no hard feelings. “It was difficult, at first, to get over him, but we were still pretty young. I guess I just always saw it as a brief romance. It wasn’t going to be much more than that and there was no reason to wish it could have been something more.”
“Still...I can’t imagine getting close to someone only to end things and remain friends.”
She scrunched up her nose in thought. “Okay, then...so tell me about your past relationships.”
It was then that his demeanor seemed to shift. He closed up and took the last bite of his chocolate cream pie. “Let’s save that for another day, shall we?”
She looked down at her pie, took a bite, and nodded. “As you wish.” She looked up and found him staring at her. She wouldn’t push just yet, but the conversation wasn’t over. In due time she would get him to speak. One way or another.
Chapter 6
Aria found the conversation throughout the meal to be easy and interesting. The staff left them alone and she was comfortable with him, even more than she had expected.
Devon was different from her last serious boyfriend. He was clearly the type that women would swoon over—herself included. She could have easily been intimidated around him, but instead she felt like he was doing his best to make sure she wasn’t.
Devon looked over the mess on the dinner table, then glanced over to the couch in the corner, a fireplace nearby. “Would you like to sit on the couch so we can finish the conversation?” he asked.
She looked over to where his eyes had been, and smiled, then nodded. “I’d like that.”
She was a little nervous about moving to a place that would bring them closer encounters, but then she also reminded herself that she didn’t want the night to end, so it would certainly be a way to keep things going.
They stood up and moved towards the couch. He motioned for her to sit down first and she obliged. He joined her. They drank the rest of their wine in their glasses as they continued their conversation. “Do you have any siblings, Devon?” she asked, wanting to get to know him a little better and hoped that she didn’t step on anymore toes when approaching certain topics.
“I don’t,” he said. “I had a younger brother, but he died when he was just an infant.”
“Oh...I’m so sorry,” she said. She was taken aback with his story. “How old were you?”
“I was only five. I didn’t know much. My parents sat me down and told me that baby Derek went up to heaven and then it was pretty much dropped.” He thought back to it. While he was so young, he wasn’t all that naïve. He did recall many nights waking up to his mom crying or his dad drinking away the pain of losing their youngest son. “I suppose it could explain why I was so driven to make my family proud. I didn’t want them disappointed by my failures.” He closed his mouth and stopped talking. He couldn’t believe he opened up so quickly with her. Was it the champagne talking? “What about you, Aria? Any siblings?” He took the last drink from his wine glass and placed it down on the coffee table.
She nodded. “I have an older sister. She lives on the other side of the country though. Florida. I see her rarely. Married with three kids.”
“How much older?” he asked.
“Four years,” she answered.
He always wondered what it’d be like to have an older sibling, but then he knew he wouldn’t like the competition of who would gain the power. “Lie back,” he said.
She frowned, her eyebrows furrowed. “Excuse me?”
He smirked, his eyes brightening. “Lie back and rest your head against the arm of the couch.”
She wasn’t sure what he was planning on doing, but she found herself lying back, resting her head exactly where he said. Her skirt inched up and she tried to pull it down a little, noticing his eyes move down to the hem of her dress. He smiled and then looked up to meet her gaze. He grabbed onto her feet and lifted them onto his lap, then eased her shoes off and tossed them to the side.
She watched his every move, her breathing growing a bit raspy. He started to massage the balls of her feet. Her jaw dropped, and she let out a sigh. His hands on her feet sent a sensation up her body. He kneaded the bottoms of her feet with his fingers and she let out a small gasp. He turned to look at her, a smile playing on his lips.
“Now, think back to your childhood. What’s your fondest memory?” he asked.
He didn’t so much want to hear the answer as he wanted to hear her voice as she spoke. Her eyes seemed to gloss over the minute his hands touched her feet and he was mesmerized by her facial features. “Um...” she started, “oh, my God, this feels amazing. How do you expect me to talk, let alone think?”
He laughed. “Just try. What’s your fondest memory as a child, Aria?”
“Um ... let’s see.” A wide smile showed on her lips. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the massage or the thoughts that made her smile, but maybe it was a mixture of both. He enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm in her eyes and he couldn’t wait to hear her response.
“Oh, yes,” she said. A breath escaped her as she spoke. “When I was eight years old my father bought us a lake cottage. From the time I was eight, until I graduated high school, I never missed a year. It was just fun going there and boating on the lake, along with swimming, and the friends I made there, nothing will ever really be able to compare.” She opened her mouth to release a moan and he looked up at her eyes. She closed them
, a smile still on her lips. “Yes, Devon, this feels so good.”
Hearing the soft hum in her voice and seeing the sexy smile on her lips, he couldn’t stop himself. He released her feet and leaned down, snaked his hand around her neck and lifted her up and pressed his lips against hers. Her eyes shot open. She was taken by surprise. She didn’t expect the kiss, but then she closed her eyes and relaxed into it.
“You’re so beautiful and sexy,” he moaned against her lips. She lit up hearing the soft words he spoke and it made her want him all the more. She slipped her tongue between his lips and massaged his tongue with hers. She wrapped her arm around him, pulling him in closer as he shifted his weight on top of her.
“Oh God, Devon.” She arched her back and his lips went to her neck. He kissed her neck with a poise and passion that sent a surge of intense pleasure throughout her body. Her steady breathing intensified.
As he kissed her, he reached up her dress. He needed her and couldn’t stand another minute. He pressed his hand against her inner leg and she moved, opening herself up to him. Whether she thought he was just continuing the massage or whether she knew he wanted more, he pressed forward. He touched his thumb against the cloth of her panties.
“Oh ...,” she cried. Her eyes snapped open as the reality hit her. “Wait,” she exclaimed. She clenched her legs together.
He pulled back. “What? Don’t you want this?”
“I ... I do,” she quickly said. Hell, she wanted that and more, but she had to hang back. “We could be caught in here. Mary will come in to get the dishes or clean up. We ... we ...can’t do this. Not here anyway.”
He smirked. “Mary only enters when I tell her to enter. We’re safe in here. Trust me.” He leaned in and touched her lips with his. She opened her mouth slightly, inviting in his tongue and they continued where they left off. He could sense her letting down her walls, so he returned his hand to where it had been. While they continued to hold one another in the passionate embrace, his thumb pressed into the crotch of her panties. She was moist, urging him to continue.
When I Dream of You: A Valentine's Day Romance Page 6
