“Leave your hair down and try this on.” Katie handed her a long golden necklace that had a locket on it.
Veronica eyed the old necklace. It was one she’d had forever. The necklace was nothing fancy, but it had been a gift from her mother a year before she died. “Really?”
“Yeah. Lockets are super sexy. They imply you’ve got a secret. Guys love that stuff.”
“Oh they do, do they?” Veronica teased. They were only eight years apart, but it felt more like decades sometimes.
“Trust me.” Katie chuckled and left the room.
Veronica changed into the clothes and stared at her reflection in the full-length mirror. She looked…not bad, really. At least it didn’t scream “exhausted, single, working mom” or “overworked coffee shop owner.” She looked normal, nice. Not nice enough to date a man like Thad, but she wasn’t worried. This was just a date. Worst case scenario, they’d have a nice conversation and that would be the end of it. Best case scenario, she might have a bit of fun.
“He’s downstairs!” Katie squealed.
Veronica emerged from her bedroom. “Who’s downstairs?” Lyra asked. The four-year-old was swinging her tiny feet on the couch as she watched The Little Mermaid for the hundredth time.
“Just a friend, sweetie. Stay with Katie, okay? I’ll be back in an hour.”
Lyra gave her a questioning look, but Veronica grabbed her purse and rushed out the door.
“You didn’t tell me how hot he was,” Katie whispered as they stepped into the stairwell. “You know he looks like—”
“Chris Hemsworth, I know.” Veronica still couldn’t believe it. Parker had been handsome as well, but so much had changed in the last four years. Veronica didn’t feel young anymore. She felt ancient. A part of her wondered how long it would take Thad to see that tonight and, how quickly he would find an excuse to end the date when he did.
Thad was just outside the Chi-bean, his phone pressed to his ear. He paced as he talked and didn’t seem to hear her leave the shop. She had a moment to take in the man she was going out with tonight. He was dressed to perfection. No longer in a suit, he wore dark trousers and a sweater that clung to his body. His hair was styled in such a way that it looked messy, but artfully so, and long enough to run her hands through, if she got to that point.
She listened to his business tone as he spoke, more serious, lacking the flirtatious charm he’d shown her that afternoon, yet she liked this voice too. It was strong…decisive. His voice shouldn’t have made her flush all over, but it did.
“Did you see the Orlando proposal I sent?” Thad said. “I’m going down in a few weeks to check it out myself… Yeah…” He laughed softly at something the other person said. “Right. I’ve got to go. I’ll follow up with you tomorrow morning.”
He ended the call and pulled back the cuff of his sweater, checking the time. He still hadn’t noticed her just out of his line of vision. She was almost ten minutes late and he clearly knew it.
“Hey Thad, sorry I’m late,” she said.
When Thad turned, his face lit up with excitement and relief. “I was worried you might not show up.”
“I was so nervous I almost didn’t,” she blurted out, and instantly regretted it.
Thad grinned, a slightly boyish look to his face. He cocked an arm out to her. “Shall we?”
She shyly tucked her arm in his. “Where are we going?”
“Vol. 39. Have you ever been?”
“No, where is it?”
“Inside the Kimpton Gray Hotel.”
Veronica was too nervous to ask much more as he led her to a private car and guided her inside.
“This is my driver, Simon.” Thad gestured to the man in the front seat, who looked like he was in his late thirties.
“Hello, Ms. Hannigan,” Simon greeted.
“It’s nice to meet you, Simon.” Veronica tried not to think about the fact that Thad was rich enough to have a private car and driver.
They both sat in the back seat, close, but not touching. He slipped his phone in his pocket and asked her about her day, about the situation with the blender, and about what a typical day at the shop was like.
Veronica found she was able to laugh a little at the chaos of her day as she explained it. He listened to all of it, even the damn blender, and his eyes never left her. There really was nothing sexier than a man who gave a woman his full attention like he was doing. It excited her, but also made her nervous. She was used to blending in and going unnoticed by men, not being their sole focus.
“Here we are, sir.” Simon stopped the car. Thad thanked him and helped Veronica out, offering her a hand. That, too, she liked: the respect Thad offered.
The hotel wasn’t cheap or fake glitzy. The décor was gray flannel upholstered furniture and soft, lightly floral wallpaper that gave everything undertones of an old English country estate. It definitely felt different than most hotels.
“What kind of people usually stay here?” she asked as they stepped into an elevator in the lobby. He offered her his arm and she wound hers through. It felt strange to cling to him, but he felt safe. Sexy as hell and irresistible, sure, but still strangely safe.
“Mostly lawyers and financiers who appreciate a good cocktail but don’t want to be bothered with crowds.”
“You’ve been here a lot?”
“A fair amount. I’m in real estate. Developing hotels and resorts is my passion. I love this hotel in particular. All the rooms have sleek platform beds and pendant lamps which feel midcentury modern, but they also have these wonderful dark, wooden armoires that have bright, bold interiors, giving them an exotic feel beneath their buttoned-up first appearance.”
Veronica could actually picture one of those rooms as he talked, modern with just a hint of wild. She liked the idea a lot and she liked it even more that Thad had noticed such details and could share them so easily with her.
“And what about the bar?” she asked.
He grinned as the elevator doors opened. “You’ll see.”
The Vol. 39 bar looked like a law office from the 1940s that had been given a romantic makeover. Leather tufted sofas were a decadent addition to the space, and the walls were lined with black painted wooden bookshelves filled with red, gold, tan and black striped texts. Bottom lights along the front of the shelves lit up the glowing spines, making the bookshelves, alone, art. It was classy, sexy and, thankfully, not threatening. Veronica had been afraid he would take her to an intense nightclub scene she wasn’t ready for.
“This okay with you?” Thad studied her, his eyes missing nothing.
She smiled shyly back. “Yeah. I just wasn’t sure what to expect.”
“Here we can have a quiet drink and talk about things without it being too much of anything,” he said.
Thad led her to a pair of couches with a black coffee table between them. Small circular candles were lit, warming the room with a golden hue.
“I’ll get us some drinks.” He paused. “Would you like an old fashioned? That’s their specialty here. It served with a 30-year-old Armagnac and a barrel-aged demerara sugar.”
“I’ve never had one. I love to try it.” Veronica set her purse down after Thad left and studied the books on the shelf—they seemed to be legal texts—before turning her attention to the art on the walls opposite the shelves. Beautiful black and white silhouettes of faces in profile decorated the blank spaces. Special lamps hung above each piece to illuminate and add drama.