Authors: Kimberly Foster
Tags: #Romance, #drama, #comedy, #Contemporary Romance, #Fiction
“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow night at six sharp,” he said, looking into those haunting blue eyes of hers. He took her hand and placed a feather light kiss on the back of it. “Until tomorrow. Goodnight, Brittany.”
Brittany watched as he slowly walked away. She continued watching long after he disappeared into the dark night. Her hand still tingled where he’d held it and her skin still burned with the heat of the all too brief kiss he’d placed there. She turned and slowly entered the house, closed the door behind her, and leaned against it for support.
***
The next day passed quickly, just not quickly enough to suit Brittany. She spent most of the morning and afternoon helping Susan clean up after the party and talking about Patrick.
“You know, that was a pretty rotten trick you pulled last night,” Brittany said as she took down the crepe paper decorations.
“What? What’d I do?” Susan asked innocently.
“Don’t play dumb with me, girlfriend! You know perfectly well what I’m talking about. Having Patrick here a full twenty-four hours before the party and not even telling me. Pretending you didn’t recognize him and couldn’t remember where you knew him from. And, worst of all, dressing him up as an angel, of all things! What were you trying to do, give me a heart attack? Put me in a shock induced coma?” She wasn’t about to let this go.
“I was just trying to surprise you and make it a night you’d always remember. Honestly, Brittany. What’s wrong with that? Besides, the look on your face was priceless!” Susan fought back a snicker.
“Yeah, right! Like just seeing him wasn’t enough to make it a night I’d ever forget. I’m sure he appreciated seeing me for the first time with my jaw dragging the floor and my eyes popping out of my head like some freaked out cartoon character. What a great first impression that must have made,” Brittany huffed.
“Don’t be so dramatic, Brittany. What do you think of your angel now that you’ve met him face to face? Besides the fact he is drop dead gorgeous, I mean?” Her giggle brought a blush to Brittany’s cheeks. Brittany looked down at her from atop the ladder and, with a wicked evil grin, dropped several yards of orange and black crepe paper onto Susan’s upturned face.
“Oh, shut up!” Brittany laughed. Susan giggled again and began winding the crepe into a roll.
“I knew it! You think he’s attractive, don’t you?”
“No, actually, I don’t.”
“Oh, come on! If you don’t think Patrick is attractive, I seriously suggest you check into the nearest mental institution!” Susan scoffed.
“I can honestly say I do not find him attractive,” Brittany said, making her way down the ladder. Susan stared at her in open mouthed shock until they were back at eye level.
“You don’t think he’s attractive?” she asked, sounding disappointed and hurt.
“No,” Brittany said, releasing the smile she’d been fighting against, “I think he’s the hottest, sexiest, most stunningly gorgeous man I’ve ever seen!” They both squealed like teenagers.
Susan threw her arms around Brittany and hugged her fiercely. “Oh, I just knew you’d like Patrick. But seriously, Brittany, what do you think of him?”
“Well, I don’t know much more about him now than I did a week ago. What I do know, I have to say, I like. I guess I’ll find out more about him tonight. At least, I hope I will,” Brittany said.
“Tonight?”
“Yes. We’re having dinner at Fontaine’s Fountains,” Brittany explained.
“When did he find time to ask you out?”
“He didn’t. I asked him.”
“You didn’t!”
“I did.”
“No way!”
“Yes, way!”
“I don’t believe you!”
“It’s true.”
“You…asked a man out on a date? A man you barely know? A man you said was gorgeous and one you only actually met last night?”
“Yes…”
“You go, girl!” Susan exclaimed, cutting her off in mid-sentence.
“And no…” Brittany finished.
“Whaddaya mean, ‘no’?” Susan shrieked.
“I mean, no…I didn’t just ask out a man I barely know. I asked a man who saved my life over three weeks ago to have dinner with me to show my gratitude and to get to know him better,” Brittany said seriously. “The fact that he’s drop dead gorgeous only makes it much better for me,” she added with a laugh.
“I knew it! I knew you two would hit it off. You guys are made for each other.”
“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch, Susan. It’s just dinner between friends.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear ya,” Susan said, waving off Brittany’s words.
***
By four o’clock, all the Halloween decorations had been cleared away and Susan’s house was back to normal. Mission accomplished, Brittany made her way home to get ready for her date with Patrick. Autumn leaves rustled and crunched beneath her feet as she walked, her mind still filled with unanswered questions. Where had her guardian angel come from? What had brought him to her small town? How long would he stay? All she’d been able to learn from Susan and Tom was that he was opening a new business and Tom would be advertising it on his radio station. It was frustrating not knowing even the most basic things about him. She hoped he’d be more forthcoming this evening, otherwise she’d have to come up with a Plan B.
Brittany glanced at the clock on her night stand, startled to see it was nearly six o’clock. Although her nerves had reached panic level, she was nearly ready. Trying to decide what to wear, changing several times, had taken its toll but she was pleased with her final choice. She’d gone for an off-the-shoulder white dress; the hem and flounce bordered with hand embroidered pastel flowers. Long, full sleeves were gathered at the wrist while lacey ruffles draped over her hands, barely revealing long, pale pink fingernails. The full skirt hung just past her knees giving the dress a romantic, billowy effect. A gold, heart-shaped locket holding a picture of her family completed her outfit. The locket was one of her most prized possessions and something she never went without as it had been a gift from her parents on her graduation day.
Her hair was curled and pulled back into an up sweep held in place with a gold and pearl clip. Long, dark tendrils spilled down her back and shoulders, tiny ringlets framing her face.
The doorbell rang just as she had finished touching up her make-up.
I don’t know how I get myself into these situations
, she thought.
Where I got the courage to ask him out in the first place, I’ll never know. I hope I can find a bit more to help me through this night because I’m scared to death
. She wasn’t scared, just incredibly nervous. She’d never been one of those women who could be witty, charming and beautiful on a date. When she went out with someone she’d known for a while, she was fine…she could be herself. Going out with someone she didn’t know well made her feel awkward, shy and extremely self-conscious. Put her on a date with an unbelievably sexy man like Patrick and she’d be lucky not to fall flat on her face at some point during the evening, if she didn’t drool all over him first. No, she’d never been entirely comfortable with dating, even before Frank. Since Frank, the few dates she’d had were complete disasters and she took full blame.
Well, as long as he doesn’t expect me to walk or talk, I should be just fine,
she groaned inwardly for putting herself in this awkward position. By the time she got downstairs and reached the front door, she could only manage a half-hearted smile in greeting.
“Well, now who looks like an angel? You are absolutely beautiful,” Patrick told her when she opened the door.
She was closer to perfection in his eyes than anyone he’d ever known. A kind and gentle soul accompanied her ethereal beauty and angelic grace. The only thing his Earth Angel lacked was confidence and inner peace. He wondered what made her so circumspect. How was it she seemed to find beauty and pleasure in everyone and everything but herself? She did nothing specifically to give this away but his heart told him it was true.
“And you look handsome. Would you like to come in?” she asked, blushing at his compliment.
He stood leaning against the doorframe holding a single red rose, looking as comfortable and relaxed as if he’d done this a million times before, which he probably had, with women a thousand times more beautiful than she could ever dream of being. He looked straight into her eyes, handed her the rose, and kissed her on the cheek before entering her living room.
Truly, the man was beyond handsome. If she’d been made of sterner stuff, she would have have told him he was the sexiest man in the world and, if he didn’t mind, she’d just like to stand there and admire him for the next decade or so. Strangely enough, all the anxiety she’d felt only a moment ago began to melt away. Perhaps it had been the soft kiss on her check, or maybe it was the warmth of his eyes, but she now felt comfortable in the presence of this stunning, mysterious man. Much to her chagrin, however, her anxiety had been replaced by a heightened sense of sexual awareness she’d never experienced before.
“You do look like an Earth Angel, Brittany. There’s just one thing I want to know, though,” Patrick smiled devilishly.
“Wh…what’s that?” she managed.
Good God! How am I’m supposed to think, let alone speak, when he smiles at me like that?
“Where are you hiding your wings? Angels are always supposed to have wings, remember?” he laughed, bending from side to side as if looking behind her for feathered wings.
“Oh, they’re in the shop. I had to get…” she began to say playfully before catching his slip of the tongue. “Hey! Wait just a darn minute! That’s twice you’ve said that. How did you know I said angels should always have wings?”
Patrick’s eyes grew wide as he realized he’d been caught. Bracing for her reaction, he cleared his throat and told Brittany about Susan forcing him to listen in on their phone call the night before the party.
“Oh, no! I’ve never been so embarrassed! You just wait till I get my hands on Mary Susan Graham. I’m going to make her rue the day she was born, I swear it! God, I can’t believe you heard all that!” Brittany screeched. Darting to the sofa, she sat down and hid her face in her hands, wishing she could just curl up in a ball and disappear.
Patrick quickly crossed the room to sit beside her. Gently removing her hands from her face, he lifted her chin so he could see her lovely eyes. Her soft cheeks were bright red and grew even more crimson when he smiled at her. Each and every second he spent with her made her more endearing to him.
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. When I came here, I didn’t want or need a friend and I wasn’t expecting to find one. Especially not a beautiful one, but I did…the day I found you. You’ve been on my mind every second of every day. Until I came back here again, I didn’t realize I wanted to see you as much as you wanted to find me. I can’t explain it any more now than you could, but I need to spend time with you and I need you to be my friend. There’s nothing I’d rather do than spend the evening finding out about my beautiful Earth Angel,” he said softly.
Brittany had no idea what to say. She was spellbound by his handsome face, his gentle yet masculine voice, his amazing dark eyes, his warm strong hands, and the words, “MY beautiful Earth Angel.” Images flooded her mind of Patrick’s hand placed lovingly on her face…Patrick bending down to kiss her…Patrick pulling her into his arms…Patrick! As that strange electrical tingling surged wildly throughout her body, she couldn’t help wondering if she was crazy, or did he feel it too?
Patrick did feel the same pull coursing through every nerve and vein, slowly consuming him. Unable to understand it, explain it, or even give it a name, he simply smiled at Brittany and stood up slowly.
“Shall we go?” he asked, breaking the physical connection between them. Relief, albeit with a sense of loss, swept them both as they separated.
Patrick walked beside her to the curb in front of her house where he’d parked his car. Without touching her again, he held the passenger door open until she’d settled and fastened her seatbelt. Once he was seated behind the steering wheel, Brittany gave him the address of the restaurant so he could program it into his GPS. Now that directions had been taken care of, he skillfully maneuvered through the early evening traffic to their destination.
Chapter 10 “Flirting With an Angel”
Fontains’s Fountains, the restaurant Brittany had chosen for the evening, was an enormous white two-story antebellum mansion. Black shutters framed the tall windows while six huge white pillars marched across the front of the graceful exterior. As Patrick maneuvered the car slowly around the circular drive, Brittany was struck by how much more magnificent it was in reality than it had appeared in the TV commercial she’d seen.
A liveried valet approached the driver’s door as Patrick stopped the car and got out. He handed the keys to the valet and went around to the passenger side to assist Brittany from her seat. Smiling up at him, she managed a dignified exit from the car to stand beside him. With a slight bow, Patrick crooked his right arm for her to take and together they entered the restaurant.
Brittany hadn’t realized how luxurious the interior of this restaurant would be until she and Patrick were seated at their table. Richly detailed place settings sat on the ivory damask linens of each table while elegant silver candelabra glowed softly between bouquets of live flowers arranged in sparkling cut crystal vases. The glittering chandeliers were dimmed and an orchestra played soft romantic music in the background. When she’d seen the restaurant advertised, she’d thought it looked quite elegant, never imagining it would be quite so…romantic. What if Patrick didn’t believe she’d never stepped foot inside this restaurant before tonight? Worse, what if he believed she had chosen it to seduce him rather than for its inherent elegance?
The idea now made Brittany uncomfortable with the setting. She certainly didn’t want to give him the wrong impression. Her invitation had simply been a way of saying thank you and she’d chosen Fontain’s Fountains because there wasn’t any nicer place in town, at least not one she could afford. As much as her body and soul yearned for more, she wasn’t foolish enough to expect anything more than friendship from Patrick. After all, a man like him could never be interested in her. Could he?