by Parker, Ali
The dress was a stunner, and I’d purchased it a long time ago with the full intent of wearing it, but the right occasion never came. Tonight was the right occasion. The dress was black and simple. It had long sleeves made of lace and a wide collar that showed off my collar bones. It was form fitting to the waist, where it flared out and came to just above my knees. It was the definition of classy, and just the sort of thing I wanted to wear on my first date with Caleb Jones.
“Mom?” I looked up to see Jayden standing in the doorway of my bedroom. He was looking at me curiously with his head cocked to the side. “What are you doing on the floor?”
I rubbed my hands down my thighs. “I’m looking for a dress.”
“Under the bed?”
I groaned and looked at the ceiling. “I know it doesn’t make sense, kiddo. But I’ve looked everywhere else, and I can’t find it.”
“It’s not in the closet?”
Sometimes, having a seven-year-old who had no concept of sarcasm was maddening. I got to my feet unable to stop myself from smiling. “Yes. I checked the closet.”
“What about the hallway closet?”
“Yes, that one too.”
Jayden pursed his lips. “Let me look.”
Had he been anyone else besides my son, I would have rolled my eyes at him. He stomped in his typical heel first fashion to the closet and wrenched the doors open with a dramatic flair. Then, he began flipping through all the clothes on the hangers, one after another, analyzing each one with care. “What does it look like, Mom?”
I sat at the chair in front of my vanity and started taking my hair out of its curlers. “It’s black with long sleeves. It’s lacy.” I pulled the last roller out and sprayed all my curls with hairspray. Then, I turned in my seat to watch Jayden flip through the clothes.
He paused when he hit the back of the closet and pulled out a piece of black fabric. It was still attached to the hanger, so all he had pinched between his fingers was the hem. “Is this it?”
I stood up as my jaw fell open. “Seriously? I looked right at it like four times?”
Jayden giggled as I leaned over him and plucked it from the hanger. It was just as beautiful as I remembered. I held it up in front of me. “What do you think, kiddo?”
“It’s pretty,” he said.
I chuckled. He sounded about as interested as any boy I’d ever known when I asked them what they thought about a dress. “I’m going to get changed. I’ll meet you in the living room, okay?”
“Okay,” Jayden said. He hurried out of the bedroom and closed the door for me.
I undid the zipper along the side seam of the dress and stripped out of my leggings and hoodie. I slipped into the dress and zipped it up. Thankfully, it was still the perfect fit. I flattened the skirt down as I looked at myself in the mirror.
It was lovely. I felt like a lady in it, and it was the polar opposite of what Caleb was used to seeing me in. I hurried to my closet, running on the balls of my feet, and sifted through my collection of heels on the closet floor. I opted for a pair of patent leather black pumps with red soles. They were sexy as hell and paired nicely with the dress. A little bit of flair—just as I liked.
Once I was satisfied with the outfit, I broke up my curls, shaking them loose and letting them tumble down over my shoulders. I went to my dresser and plucked a pair of dangly gold earrings from my jewelry box. I slid them into my earlobes and nodded at myself. “You’re ready. Bring on this date, Caleb Jones.”
The door buzzer went off, and I rushed out into the kitchen to buzz Jamie up. What a saint. She’d arrived fifteen minutes early.
She came up shortly after I buzzed her in and held up a brown bakery baggie. Jayden came over, and she popped open the top of the bag, bending over to show him what was inside. She’d brought over cupcakes, and Jayden was already sticking his hand in the bag to grab one.
“Thanks for coming on such short notice,” I said. “I really appreciate it.”
“Anything for Caleb.” Jamie smiled. “You look gorgeous, by the way. You’re going to knock his socks off.”
“What does knock his socks off mean?” Jayden asked. His head was on a swivel as he looked back and forth between me and Jamie.
Jamie blushed, and I laughed. “It just means to surprise someone in a good way, kiddo.”
“Oh.”
Jamie ruffled his hair as he started devouring his cupcake. She rolled up the top of the bag. “Are you excited for tonight?”
I wrung my hands anxiously and nodded. “Yes. But it’s been a long time since I went out on a first date. Or a date in general. I’m kind of nervous.”
“Oh, don’t be nervous.” Jamie smiled sweetly. “Caleb is so laid-back. You guys are going to have the best time. Trust me.”
For some reason I couldn’t explain, I did trust her. Her words put me at ease, and I took a nice deep breath. I blew out through my mouth and nodded assertively. “Well, if you guys are all set here, I think I’ll head downstairs and wait outside for him.”
“We’re good, right Jayden?” Jamie asked.
Jayden had chocolate icing on his cheek. He nodded with his mouth full. “Good.”
Jamie and I both laughed, and I kissed Jayden on the forehead before slipping out the front door. “Thanks again, Jamie. I’ll see you in a few hours.”
“Take your time,” she called after me.
I was nervous as hell all the way down in the elevator. When I stepped outside, the night air kissed my skin and calmed me down. When I spotted Caleb’s black car on the curb, my stomach leaped into my throat. I crossed the grass as he stepped out of his car, looking like the devil himself and in the best possible way.
Caleb was dressed from head to toe in black. His black jeans fit him perfectly and so did the button-up black shirt he wore beneath his leather jacket. He stepped up onto the curb to meet me. “You look beautiful,” he said, looking me up and down.
“You clean up pretty nice yourself,” I said, noting the way he’d slicked his hair back off his forehead. He’d also had a fresh shave, it seemed. Damn, he didn’t fuck around.
He opened the passenger door for me, and I slid inside. He walked around the hood, long legs making short work of the distance, and got in the car.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked.
“Buckle up, and you’ll find out.”
I put my seat belt on, and Caleb drove away from the curb. I found myself unable to look anywhere but at him. The sharp line of his jaw drew me in, and the way his hand was draped over the top of the steering wheel had me pinching my knees together to keep the lust at bay.
I hadn’t slept a wink all night. I’d been consumed by thoughts of Caleb fucking me in his security office.
Now that I was this close to him again, all those feelings were rushing back. His cologne tickled my nose, and I wanted to reach over and tease him. But it was too early in the night for such things. I could be a good girl, the sort of girl a man wanted to take on dates.
Caleb parked the car outside a restaurant called Bruno’s. It was a standalone brick building with big windows and a patio lined with an iron fence. It was lit by lights strung up above and floating candles in mason jars on the tables. None of the furniture matched, which lent it a charming, casual sort of feel.
Caleb got out of the car and opened my door for me. He offered me his hand, which I took, and guided me out onto the curb beside him. Then, he wrapped his arm around my waist, and we walked up to the front door. We were greeted by a young woman with a bright smile, dressed all in black. She plucked two menus from beneath her podium and took us out to the patio. Once we were at our table, she pointed to a basket at our feet. “There are blankets there if you get chilly. We’ve just turned on the outside heaters, so it should be pretty cozy out here pretty soon. Can I start you guys with something to drink?”
Caleb looked at me. “A bottle of red?”
I nodded. “Sure.”
This was way nicer than what I’d e
xpected. I told Caleb so.
He chuckled and scratched the back of his neck. “Well, you know, I wanted to do this thing right. I heard this was a nice place.”
“You heard right,” I said.
We looked through the menu and decided on an appetizer to share and chose our meals. The server brought our wine and filled up our glasses before taking our orders, and then we were left in peace.
“I’m glad you asked me out,” I said.
“Me too.” Caleb lifted his wine glass in a toast. I tapped my glass to his and couldn’t stop smiling as I pressed my lips to the rim and took my first rich sip.
Chapter 21
Caleb
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make sense of how I’d gotten lucky enough to be on a date with a woman like Lauryn. Her laugh was infectious, her smile radiant, and the conversation stimulating. We had more in common than the primal lust we felt toward one another.
When our meals were placed in front of us, the sun was just dipping below the tree line of the park across the street. The sky was bright orange with streaks of purple and deepening by the minute. While we ate, little stars began popping up in the sky like pinholes. Lauryn was somehow even more beautiful under the pale light of dusk.
The dress she had on complimented her shape. Her décolletage had my imagination running wild, and the way she had her hair pulled over one shoulder, baring her neck, was pure torture for me. I wanted to kiss and nibble at her soft skin until she moaned my name.
“So,” Lauryn said, pulling me from my seductive thoughts, “I don’t know much about this Lost Breed club you’re a part of.”
I paused with a bite of steak raised halfway to my mouth. I put the fork down. “Not many people do.”
“Will you tell me about it?” Lauryn asked. She sipped her wine and rested her hands in her lap.
“Uh.” I wasn’t sure how to proceed here. What did she want to know? Why did she want to know?
Lauryn smiled. “You don’t have to talk about it. It’s all right. It’s sheer curiosity on my part. I don’t know as much about you as I’d like to. I just know the version of you that you present at work. The stiff, serious Caleb. You know?”
“That makes sense,” I said. Then, I took a mouthful of wine like it would give me the courage to spill my guts. “I’ve been with the Lost Breed for a long time. They’re my family. It’s usually a pretty relaxed club, but things have been a bit tense lately. Lots of shit going on that we have to deal with.”
Lauryn leaned forward and rested her chin in her hands. Her eyes twinkled, and the reflection of the candle flame danced in her pupils. “What kind of shit?”
“We lost people.”
Lauryn blinked and leaned away. “Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s okay. Shit happens. Now we’re just doing what we can to make it right again.”
Lauryn pursed her lips. “By make it right, do you mean get even?”
I felt my lips curl in a smile. “Yeah. I guess so.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Right now? Yes.”
“And usually?”
I shrugged. “Still dangerous enough. It’s not the sort of lifestyle for everyone. People get hurt. Shit changes fast. You never really know what’s going to happen. But there’s also nothing like having a family as close as the MC. We’ve got each other’s backs.”
“Sounds nice to have that many people who care about you.”
I searched her eyes. I knew Lauryn was battling with loneliness, just like I was. She’d told me so herself. That’s why she’d stayed with Cliff all that time. He made her feel less alone, or she tricked herself into thinking that for as long as she could.
I still felt alone even though I had my MC.
I shifted in my seat and took the bite of steak that was still sitting on my fork. After I swallowed, I said, “What about you? Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Something you don’t know? I have no idea. I’m not very interesting.”
I waved her off. “That’s not true. You’re plenty interesting. What did you do before you came to work at Kadia?”
Lauryn blushed and giggled a bit. “Don’t judge me, okay?”
“Okay.” I smiled sheepishly.
“I was a dancer at another club. A less upscale club. The sort of place where keeping your clothes on wasn’t an option.”
“Oh,” I said. She’d been a stripper.
She shrugged, and the neckline of her dress shifted. Her cleavage drew my eye as she tucked her hair behind her ears. “I know. But it paid the bills, and it was just me and Jayden at the time. I had to pay for daycare and our rent, and I did that and worked at a diner in the mornings. It was rough. Then, a guy spotted me dancing one night and told me about Kadia, and I make the same amount there that I did working two jobs. And I have my whole week so I didn’t have to worry about Jayden. That’s different now, of course, but with Jamie, it helps. I just need to find a more permanent solution.”
“I’m not judging you, for the record,” I said.
“Thank you.”
“You’re a badass for doing what you had to for you and your son.”
Lauryn blushed. “I appreciate you saying that.”
The rest of dinner went extremely well. We talked about our lives and our dreams. She told me she was saving up to put Jayden on a hockey team. Apparently, he had talked about it all summer. After I’d paid the bill, I stood up and took her hand. We left the restaurant and walked across the street to the park.
Lauryn took off her heels after we’d been walking for a few minutes and held them in one hand. She wrapped her other arm through mine, and we walked like that for a while. We didn’t say anything as we moved deeper into the park. We didn’t need to.
It was peaceful and calm and being together was reassuring. A gentle wind rustled the leaves in the trees, and when we reached the middle of the park, the fountain added a soft gurgling to the background.
Lauryn walked over to it and sat on the ledge. She looked around mischievously and turned herself around so that she was facing the fountain. Then, she dipped her feet into the water as coins glinted beneath the surface from wishers who were probably at home cuddled up on their sofas.
She sighed. “That feels nice. I don’t know why I wear the most uncomfortable shoes.”
“You have no problem dancing in them,” I said as I sat down beside her.
She gave me a wry grin. “That’s different.”
“How so?”
She looked down into the water. “Zandra takes the pain away. I can’t feel my feet when I’m high. I can’t feel anything, really. Besides the music, I guess. And the … you know, desire.”
She wouldn’t look at me. I wondered if she felt ashamed. I reached out and closed my hand over hers on the fountain ledge. “I get it.”
“Have you ever tried it?” She asked.
I shook my head.
“Then, you don’t get it. Not really.”
I sighed. “I guess you’re right. But I used to drink to take the edge off. I can’t see the two things being all that different.”
Lauryn smiled a tight-lipped, pitying kind of smile. “They aren’t.”
I patted her hand. “Tell me more about Jayden.”
Her smile became one of genuine joy. “I have no idea where to start. He’s such a good kid. I have no clue how I got so lucky with him, but I did.”
That’s how I felt about her. “What happened with his father?”
Lauryn shrugged. “Jayden never knew him. I was seeing the guy for about half a year. We fit well together. He was nice and all. My friends all liked him. Then, I got pregnant, and he bailed. My friends chose him.”
“That’s fucked up.”
“I know, but I don’t miss them. If anything, I feel like they spared me a worse fate by cutting the ties before they ever knew Jayden. It would have been heartbreaking if he’d known them and lost them. This way, it spares him some heart
ache.”
“But it didn’t spare you any,” I said.
Lauryn met my gaze. Her eyes sparkled. She was tearful, but she smiled anyway. “Where did you come from, Caleb Jones?”
I blinked.
Lauryn giggled and dabbed the corners of her eyes with her thumbs. She shook her head and sniffled a bit. “I don’t know why I’m so vulnerable with you. I hate crying. I absolutely hate it. Yet here I am, blubbering like an idiot.”
“You’re not an idiot.”
She shot me a sideways look. “I know. I was just saying. You make me open up. It’s weird. Kind of unsettling, you know? I’m so used to keeping it all inside. This is nice. Talking to you, I mean.”
“Talking to you is nice too.” I reached out and brushed her hair over her shoulder. “I came from a single mother. I know the struggle from the other side. I’ve never admired anyone as much as I admired my mom. I see her strength in you. There’s nothing more beautiful than that.”
Lauryn sucked in a sharp breath as I leaned in and kissed her. She stayed perfectly still until I slipped my tongue between her lips. Then, she twisted toward me, her legs pushing gently through the water beneath us, and held my face in her hands.
I could taste the lingering flavor of the wine on her tongue.
Lauryn lifted her left leg out of the water so she was straddling the ledge and facing me. She let her hands fall from my face to my shoulders, and then they wandered down the length of my chest and stomach. She tugged at my belt and smiled into our kiss.
“What are you trying to do, woman?” I asked, putting my hands on her bare knees.
She gave me a flirty smile. “When you kiss me, I can’t keep my hands to myself.”
I chuckled and began running my hands up her smooth legs. “Me neither.”
Lauryn bit her bottom lip. She stayed where she was as my fingers met the groove of her hips and followed the lacy line of her panties to her pussy. She had soaked right through the fabric. I rubbed her gently, and she hooked her arms around my neck.
“We shouldn’t do this here,” she whispered.
