I leaned back, surprised, but Thiers came over, tapped me on the shoulder as a way of saying good-bye, and was headed toward the door in less than a few seconds. I glowered at the back of his head as he crossed the street, wondering why he couldn’t even say good-bye to his only child.
Instead of dwelling on Thiers, I headed in the direction of the restroom, not totally understanding why I felt the need to be there when Patience emerged.
****
Patience
I exited the bathroom and got the surprise of my life to see a scowling Aaron standing there. I glanced over my shoulder just to make sure I hadn’t accidently entered the men’s room instead of the women’s bathroom. Nope. That wasn’t the case.
“E-excuse me.” I went to step around him but he didn’t budge in the tiny hallway space.
“Your father left,” he said.
I paused, easing back to stare up at his face. I tilted my head to the side. “He left and is coming right back or left for the night?”
“He’s not coming back.”
I swallowed down the sadness that overcame me. I barely had a chance to even speak with my father. I had thought this was a dinner just between us. Instead it was a business dinner where I find out he’d been in town for two weeks and hadn’t bothered to call or stop by my place. Now, he’d run out while I was in the restroom without so much as a good-bye. Whatever. That was my father’s style when it came to his relationship with me. No use dwelling on it.
I stood, squaring my shoulders, and figured I had other things to do anyway. I looked up into Aaron’s hazel eyes, a heated feeling overcoming me as I realized he’d been silently watching me. “Thank you for sticking around to tell me he’d left. Um, enjoy your evening.”
Again, I went to step around Aaron and again he didn’t move. In fact, he seemed to have moved closer, as there was barely more than a few inches separating our bodies. I felt my body growing warm all over.
“Did you drive here?”
I shook my head. “I took the subway.”
“I will give you a ride home.”
I swallowed. “That won’t be necessary. I wasn’t going home.”
“I will give you a ride wherever you were going.”
Somehow I knew he wasn’t asking, nor was it negotiable. Wherever I was going, Aaron Townsend was giving me a ride.
He stepped to the side, allowing me to pass. Once I did, he followed closely, placing his hand on my lower back and holding the door to the restaurant open for me to pass through.
I turned to him once we were out on the sidewalk. “I understand if you have somewhere else you need to be. I wasn’t going directly home.”
He stared down at me, not saying anything. The look he gave me should’ve intimidated the hell out of me. And on some level, it did, but something inside of me also wanted to reach up and pull his face to mine. And that scared me more than anything. Even at twenty-three, I hadn’t had a lot of experience with the opposite sex, but I knew men like Aaron Townsend were one of a kind. And dangerous.
“Where are you headed?”
“Right down the street,” I answered, nodding in the direction of where I was headed.
“I’ll walk you.” He turned and made a motion with his head. Out of nowhere, two burly men stepped forward.
I gave Aaron a confused look.
“My security. They will follow us,” he responded to my silent question as if it was no big deal.
“You travel everywhere with security?” I had to ask.
“Just about.” He was short on words, but strangely I didn’t mind that at all.
I felt his firm hand at my lower back and a shiver ran through my body. I silently prayed he hadn’t felt it.
The walk was mostly silent, but it was short—only about a block down from the restaurant.
