Relentless Hope (Resilient Hearts) (24 page)

When we walk back to the car, I’m so happy I feel like I’m walking on cloud nine.

“So, you’re going to tell me where you’re taking me next or is the rest of the evening a surprise too?” I ask, teasingly.

“What? You didn’t like your first surprise?” he asks with a smile.

“No, it’s the opposite. My first surprise was so
amazing
that I can’t wait to find out about the rest.”

“Well, I can tell you this much. The rest won’t be as exciting… We’re going to dinner.”

“Dinner can be exciting. In fact, I’m so hungry right now that the thought of dinner is pretty darn exciting.”

“Then you’re in for a nice surprise,” he responds with his sexy grin.

We drive down to Beverly Hills where the car finally comes to a stop in front of a trendy Italian restaurant. We’ve never been here together, but Aiden had mentioned the name of this place before as one of his favorite new restaurants. I look across the console at him and he smiles.

“Is this okay?”

“I’ve never been here, but this one guy I once knew told me incredible things about it, so I’d like to try.”

“Well, the guy sounds like an incredibly smart man. I think you should always listen to him.”

“Haha…in his dreams,” I tease.

We slowly walk towards the restaurant, and as soon as we enter, I fall in love with the ambiance. The place is new, with modern furniture everywhere. The lights are dim and a candle and a fresh flower in a vase adorn every table.

We take a seat at a table and the waiter approaches for our drink orders. Aiden asks me what my choice of wine is and I almost choke on my words.

“Wine? I let you pick that one. I’ll drink whatever you pick.” After the waiter walks away, I whisper to Aiden. “You realize I’m still underage, right?”

“Yea, but he didn’t ask to see an ID, so you should be fine. So, what type of wine do you like?”

“I’ve never had wine before.”

“You’ve never had wine? Wow. What about other drinks?”

“I’ve only had a couple of drinks in my whole life. My family was strict. They didn’t drink alcohol and they expected me not to.”

“Okay then. We’ll have to make sure you go slow tonight. Let me change the wine to something light and sweet.”

“No, don’t change it for me. I want to try what you like.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

The wine arrives a few minutes later and I raise my glass to my lips. Aiden’s curious eyes are glued to my lips, as I take my first sip. It tastes like grape juice with a strong hint of alcohol. My first thought is that it doesn’t taste good, but then I take another sip and the second one tastes a little better.

“You don’t have to drink if you don’t like it. I can order you something else.”

“Let me finish this glass first and then I’ll let you know if I want a different one.” Aiden nods his head. I slowly drink the rest of the glass as we talk and by the time I finish the glass, the taste has grown on me.

“I’m starting to like this,” I say to him with a smile.

“See, I knew you were a keeper,” he says, returning my smile. Just then, the waiter approaches to take our food orders.

The conversation turns to more serious topics, after we order our entrees.

“So you’re excited about starting school in a week?” asks Aiden.

“Yes,” I say with enthusiasm. “I can’t wait. I’ve been feeling really bored and lonely at that huge house lately. Can’t wait to get out and do something useful.”

A sexy grin lifts up a corner of his mouth. “Oh, have you been missing me at the house, Aleah?”

“I have,” I say with a shy smile, the alcohol already making me more honest than I’d like to be. “But, it’s not just that. I just don’t like living in that huge house all by myself. I know it’s a multimillion dollar mansion with one of the best views of the ocean and all the amenities I could ask for, and I should be grateful for the chance to live there, but the enormous size of the place and its quietness since you left, makes me feel all the more lonely. I grew up in a loud large family. I’m used to having a lot of people around and that’s what the Palos Verdes mansion is meant for. It’s built for entertaining and for a large bustling family. For one person to live there all by themselves, it just feels like such a waste of space.”

“I know what you mean. I always wondered that about my grandpa too. Every time I visited, I wondered if he felt lonely living there all alone… So going back to school would be good for you then?”

“Yea, I’m just not looking forward to the drive every day.”

“You’re making the drive every day now for me.”

“Yea, I guess I am,” I say with a laugh. “But, by then I’ll be busy. Right now, I have all the time in the world, but with all the classes I’m taking, I’ll have very little time to spare.”

“How many classes are you taking?”

“I’m taking five, plus an off campus LSAT test preparation course.”

“LSAT,” he asks in surprise. “I thought you were a pre-med student.”

“I was, but I’m thinking of going to law school instead.”

“What? Why?”

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, and I talked to an advisor about it this week. I like the science part of medicine, but I’m not sure I’ll like the actual work and the more I think about it, the more I realize, I was getting into that field for the wrong reasons. I was mainly doing it for the prestige and for money, and I’ve really outgrown those reasons now. David left me enough to not have to worry about money for the rest of my life. Don’t get me wrong,” I quickly add, as I see the look of surprise on his face, “comparing to what he left to all his other heirs, my share is peanuts, but for me it’s more than enough. I don’t need to live extravagantly. More than anything, I care about the financial security money provides. To know that I will have a roof over my head, no matter what, and I have more than enough now not to have to worry about that. That’s why going into medicine for money is really stupid for me now. I want to do something that I care about. Pursue something that’s meaningful.”

I take a deep breath and try to think of the best way to explain my thoughts. “I’ve been thinking about that for a while now and the one thing that I keep coming back to is that I want to do something to help with women in need, particularly victims of domestic abuse.” I avoid Aiden’s eyes as I say this, because I know his deeply observant eyes will see right through me, and I’m not ready yet to open up to him about some of the darkest days of my life. I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready to talk about that phase of my life with anyone, so I try to move the conversation along and change the topic as fast I can.

“So I talked to my advisor and she suggested law school. It captured my interest, and the more I think about, the more excited I get about the prospect. That’s why I’m taking the LSAT prep course... So, what about you? How are you enjoying the job now that you’ve been there two weeks? Is that something you would want to do after you’re done with the experiment?”

Aiden studies me for a few seconds before he responds. I know he wants to ask more questions, but he senses my uneasiness at discussing the topic and decides to let it go. I watch the play of emotions on his face as he thinks this through and I’m amazed at how easily we can read each other after such a short time of knowing one another.

He releases a deep sigh before finally saying, “I like the work. I’ve always been good with numbers and I like trying to predict the market and beating it. I’ve been doing that on my own for myself for a while now.”

“You have?” I ask in surprise.

“Don’t look that surprised. What? You think all I do all day is lie around and waste time?”

He looks offended when I just shrug my shoulders. “You must think really highly of me then. You thought I was pretty much a bum, huh?”

“No, I knew you were super smart. David told me how well you did in Harvard business school, but he also said that you didn’t seem to have any drive to do anything with it.”

“Yea, I didn’t have any interest to use the skills in business, but I used them for my own benefit. When I turned twenty one, I was granted access to about two million dollars of my trust fund. I invested that in the stock market and a few start-up businesses and since then I’ve doubled the money.”

“You doubled your money in four years?” I ask in shock.

He chuckles. “Yea, I did. I love playing in the market for me, but doing it for other people is a completely different ballgame. I don’t like doing that because when you work at an investment firm, your ultimate goal is to make money for the firm, not for the client. So, you come up with tons of gimmicks and tricks to get people to invest money with you and then you get them to buy and sell constantly to make money off of their trades. It’s not necessarily to make them money, so sometimes you even suggest options that are not the best for the client, but have the best chance of making you money…and I hate that about the business. I interned at Pierson’s Investment for a summer during college, and by the end of the summer, I didn’t want anything to do with it. I get that it’s a business and it needs to make money, but I don’t need to get into that to make myself money. I’ve been lucky enough to receive enough money through my inheritance to invest it for myself and make money off of the investments. I don’t need to take other people’s money to make me rich.”

“So if you get the rest of David’s estate, what are you going to do then?”

He laughs. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? I don’t even have the slightest idea what Grandpa has planned for me next, so I don’t want to think that far ahead.”

Our meals arrive then and the conversation changes to food and other topics. I continue drinking the wine with my food, as I’m immersed in conversation with Aiden, enjoying every bit of his presence.

As the night goes on, I feel more and more relaxed. At some point, I notice that I’m starting to sound giggly and louder than normal, but I feel so happy with the events of the night that I feel quite carefree, not caring much how I’m acting.

“How many glasses of wine have you had, Aleah?” I hear Aiden ask.

“I don’t remember, three, four. Who cares?” I say with a laugh.

“I think you’ve had enough,” he says, as he gently takes my half-filled glass away.

“Hey, give me my glass back. I was enjoying that,” I say louder than I intended to.

“No, I can’t do that,” he says firmly. “I think we need to get you home as soon as we can.”

“Buzz kill,” I grumble.

Aiden signals the waiter to bring us the check and before I know it, we’re heading out the door. He puts his arm around my shoulders to help me walk steady. Walking gracefully in the heels I’m wearing is surprisingly harder now after a few drinks.

Aiden walks us to the car and helps me in the passenger seat, bending down to help buckle the seatbelt for me, when he sees me fumble with the latch.

“I need to get you home as soon as I can before you get sick,” he says as he sits in the driver seat and turns the car on.

“You can’t take me home. How are you going to get back to your apartment if you drive me home?” I ask, before adding in a mocking voice, “And I think the powers that be would frown up you staying at the mansion for the night.”

“We’re not going to the mansion. That place is too far of a drive anyway. I’m taking you to my apartment.”

“I’m spending the night at your place?” I ask with an excited giggle.

The corners of his lips turn up into a smile. “Don’t get too excited. You’re sleeping in my bedroom, and I’ll be sleeping on the futon in the living room.”

“No, you won’t,” I say with a giggle.

We arrive at Aiden’s apartment quickly after, and he helps me walk the few steps to his door. As he looks for his keys in his pocket, I start rubbing my hand up and down his biceps and his chest, the alcohol making me bolder than I could ever otherwise be.

As soon as we’re inside. I crush my body to his, taking his face in my hands before I bring my lips down to his. He stays unmoving for a second, shocked by my uncharacteristic behavior, but then he responds with the same kind of urgency that I’m feeling.

The kiss turns passionate quickly. This one is different from all the other ones we’ve shared. Aiden runs his tongue on my lower lip and I open my lips wider to let him in. He pushes his tongue in and a thousand fireworks go off in my head, as an explosion of sensations overtakes my body. We tangle our tongues in a sensual dance that pools heat in the bottom of my stomach and in between my legs. I fist my hands in his shirt as he grabs the back of my neck and laces his fingers through my hair.

At the same time as he starts sucking on my upper lip, he puts his hands under my butt, lifting me up in one swift motion. I wrap my legs around him. We continue kissing as he walks us to the futon and slowly turns around to sit down. My legs straddle him as I sit in his lap, our lips never losing contact.

He finally breaks the connection, only to start running his tongue slowly over my jaw and to the back of my neck, stopping along the way underneath my ear to suck on the sensitive skin. I can’t help the moan that escapes my mouth, and in an instant, I feel a desperate need to touch his skin.