Worth The Risk (2 page)

“But what?”

“How old
are you?” I asked again determined on knowing his age.

He parted his lips to release a soft
sigh; I could not help but look at his mouth. Thoughts of what he could do with it fluttered through my mind.
Snap out of it Lina
.

“I’m
thirty-three.” I stared at him wide-eyed in shock. I knew he was older, but ten years is a lot. Not to mention he works for my father. Nothing good could come from this, but I was tempted to take a risk.

“You do realize that we are ten years apart, right?”

“Yes. But age doesn’t bother me. You may be twenty-three but your mind is of someone older. By your reaction to my age, its obvious that it bothers you.”

“I’m just shocked. You don’t look it.”

“I appreciate the compliment. So, you can look past the age difference?” I wasn’t really sure. I mean he seemed nice and getting to know him wouldn’t be a crime but I was still hesitant. So many thoughts ran through my head. “Let me take you out to dinner,” he said.

“You work for my father. I don’t think that’s
a good idea. I don’t want to get you fired.”

He chuckled, “
I’m guessing he’s very protective of you.”
You have no idea
. “If it makes you feel better, we don’t have to tell your father about it right away. We can just go out and see what happens. What do you say?” I wanted to scream yes, but my conscience stopped me. My father would be furious if he knew, as protective as he was. Hold on, I’m twenty-three I can make my own decisions dammit!

“Alright, but this stays between us, understand?”

“I understand. We can meet at Geisha House at 8pm tomorrow night.”

“Okay.” Our eyes locked for a second and right then I knew I wanted to take this risk.

“Sweetpea, your father is looking for you.” Gigi said interrupting our moment. Talk about bad timing.

“I’m coming Gigi.” I turned ba
ck to look at him realizing I didn’t even know his name. I couldn’t keep calling him Mr. Brown Eyes.

“
What’s your name by the way?” He grabbed my hand, putting a card in it, and kissed it. I wished his lips were kissing my lips and not my hand.

“
Damien… Damien Cox. I’m looking forward to tomorrow night.” I smiled back at him and retreated back inside to look for my father. As I walked through the crowd of people I got some glares and whispered comments; which made the momentary joy I got from talking to Damien disappear. I was use to women talking shit about me but it was still annoying. I am who I am and I didn’t plan on changing for others. There would always be haters, a mere fact of life.

I found my father at the bottom of the stairs. He extended his arm so I could loop my arm in his.

“Come, its time for me to present you.”
Great
. We walked to the top of the double cuved stairs where everyone could see us. The room slowly quieted as my father gestured for silence. The faces in the crowd were filled with a mixture of emotions from kindness to envy. I avoided their stares to not read too much into them.

“Good evening everyone. As you know we are all here to honor my daughter Catalina’s accomplishments. At ju
st the tender age of twenty-three she has two Bachelors degrees, she is a Pastry Chef, and does numerous charity work around the world. I would like to take this time to recognize the great things she has had. I am so proud of you, sweetheart.” Looking me in my eyes, he smiled and kissed me on my cheek. He raised his glass and everyone followed suit. “To Catalina. I love you.”

“To Catalina,” the room said
in unison. I looked down at the crowd and saw Damien looking up at me, our eyes locked and he winked at me. I couldn’t help but smile. Quickly turning my attention back to my father. We hugged each other, having a genuine father daughter moment that gave me hope for our relationship.

I spent the rest of the night playing stalker,
as Damien and I secretively watched each other all night.

                                  **********************************

I laid in my bed staring at Damien’s business card. After spending the night watching each other, I wanted to actually talk to him. So I decided to text that way he can know my number and I can avoid the awkward silence of a phone call. I grabbed my Blackberry and started texting.

*HI DAMIEN, ITS CATALINA. I’VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT YOU. JUST WANT TO SAY THANK YOU FOR MAKING MY NIGHT ENJOYABLE*

Two seconds later he texted back.

*I’VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT YOU TO
O. I’M HAPPY YOU CONTACTED ME. I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO OUR DATE TOMORROW NIGHT.*

*AS AM I. GOOD NIGHT DAMIEN*

*GOOD NIGHT*

                                                       
 
Chapter Two

As I drove to the restaurant Damien suggested to have our first date, my stomach was full of knots. It had been a while since I had been on a date, due to my bad luck in the past. But I had no inte
ntion of bringing any negativity into the night. Damien didn’t seem like any of the men I was use to dealing with. One reason being that I never dated a man ten years older than me and another being that he worked for my father. The ladder was something I avoided at all cost. Many of my father’s employees have tried asking me out, some in more appropriate ways than others. Now, don’t get me wrong not all were bad. There were some that were really handsome and had a good life going for them, but I never wanted to deal with the repercussion if my father disapproved. However, when it came to Damien I didn’t care about the consequences.

Once I pulled up to the restaurant valet, I could already s
ee Damien waiting for me at the entrance. I handed the valet my keys and walked over to Damien amplifying my sexy as I swayed my hips. The minute he spotted me a smile brightened his handsome face. The way he looked at me had me feeling like I was a high school girl with a crush. I shook off my foolishness and tried to concentrate. The black slacks and baby blue dress shirt did not help my cause, it fit him so perfectly.

“Catalina, you look beautiful,” he said. My name rolled off his tongue, pronouncing it the proper European way. It was my mother’s middle name so it meant a lot to me. But I had stop correcting people of its proper
accented pronunciation long ago. So it made me smile that he said it right.

“Thank you. You’re looking good yourself,” I smiled.

“Shall we?” He extended his arm to me. I looped my arm in his and let him guide me inside. As we walked into the restaurant the smell of delicious Japanese food hit me hard. My mouth began to water at the anticipation of the food I was about to eat. We walked towards the back of the restaurant to a reserved private table. I was grateful for it because I wanted the privacy. Being the gentleman he was; he pulled out my chair and sat across from me.

“I hope you like Japanese
food. If not we can always go someplace else.” I had no intention of leaving, but I appreciated the fact that he offered.

“No, I am a sushi addict. I’ve been dying
to check this place out, but I haven’t really had the occasion or reason to.”

“Really? I’m sure on many occasions you get asked out, and this place is the perfect place for a
first date if I do say so myself,” he smiled. I couldn’t help but smirk at him. He got points for that one.

“Contrary to people thinking I’m a snob, I’m quite the opposite. As you have stated, yes I get numerous offers to have dinner. However, more often than not I usually decline.” He looked at me with narrowed eyes, trying to analyze me. Being that it was still the beginning of the date, I knew he was trying to be cautious of what he said not knowing how I would react.

“Yet, you said yes to me. Why?” I paused with my glass of wine a fraction away from my lips. I looked at him above the rim of the glass and saw his eyes willing me to be honest with him. I took a big gulp of the wine enjoying the cool, crisp taste of it and answered him.

“I followed my gut. When you approached me I couldn’t say no.” My admission had my hands shaking in my lap. I reached for the glass of wine taking three gulps this time. I need
ed to get my nerves in check.

“Easy there tiger,” he said looking at my shaky hands. “No need to be nervous. I’m a very gentle man Catalina.”
My pussy contracted at his words. I bit down on my lower lip, suppressing a moan. He licked his lips slowly as if reacting to me as I did to him.

“So tell me about yourself?” I asked, attempting to change the subject.
Happy that we were now on a safer subject, I continued on with a little less nervousness. We did the usual formalities of talking about our childhood, family, and current lives. He knew more about me than I thought he did. Apparently, my father talked about me in the office a lot. We discovered we both loved classical music and prefer dessert versus the main course. We had our differences though, he enjoyed outdoor activities like jogging while I preferred a nice relaxing day at the beach, but there were no deal breakers. By the time we got to dessert it felt like the big issue of our age difference diminished.

The night came to an end all too soon. As we stood in front of the restaurant waiting for the valet to bring our cars up. Damien’s hand slide in mine and our fingers locked. His thumb gently brushed against my skin sending shivers through me
. I looked at him, wanting so much to kiss him. His lips called to me, taunting me. I turned to him positioning myself close against him. His arm wrapped around my waist; I could feel his heart beating alongside my chest as rapidly as my own. His finger went under my chin lifting my gaze to meet his. The hunger in his eyes pulled at something inside me. His thumb skimmed my lower lip and I couldn’t help but stick my tongue out and lick it, which made Damien slightly moan. As I was about to kiss him the valet came next to us.

“Excuse Miss, your car
is ready.” I groaned internally for the interruption but remained polite.

“Thank you.” I grabbed my keys from him and walked towards my car. Before I could get in Damien grabbed my arm, pulled me towards him, and kissed me. He started off gently moving his lips against mine. His tongue pushed inside my mouth searching for mine. Once he found what he was looking for his kiss became more aggressive, more possessive. I could feel
my panties getting wetter. All too soon he pulled away from me, ending the kiss.

“Call me when you get home. Good night Catalina.” He helped me inside the car and closed my door.

“Good night Damien.”

As soon as I got home my excitement bubbled over
. I couldn’t wait to call Damien, to hear his voice again. I ran into my room like a teenage girl with a crush. I was nervous and anxious.
Seriously? Pull yourself together!
I changed my clothes, grabbed my phone, and called Damien.

He answered on the first ring, “Hey.”

“Hi.”

“Was the drive home alright?”

No I couldn’t concentrate because I kept replying our date in my head
. But I managed to say, “Yes, it was fine.”

“Good. So what are you doing?”

“Nothing, just relaxing in bed.”

“Hmm, I can’t help but imagine that in my head.” He paused for a moment and sharply exhaled.”I’m sorry, that was inappropriate.”

“No its okay,” I whispered.

“Are you still nervous with me, Catalina?” He sounded curious yet concerned.

“A little bit.” I admitted. The man exuded masculinity, dominance, and a lot of sexual energy. It was hard not to be nervous.

“There is nothing to be nervous about, trust me
. Like I said before, I’m gentle and I won’t bite. Though there are times I can be a little less gentle.” He said sensually. He paused for a second letting his words sink in. A desire awakened in me and only he seemed to unleash it.

We got into easy conversations about our upbringing and our high school days. Many funny and embarrassing stories were told as well as future goals and ambitions.
It felt like I could talk to him about everything and anything.

At around
four in the morning sleepiness crept up on me when I let out a yawn.

“Sweetheart you sound tired. I’ve kept you up too long,” he said.

“I’ve enjoyed talking to you so much I lost track of the time. I’m tired but I don’t want to stop talking to you.” 

“I know. But you need to get some sleep.”

“Alright.” I pouted.