Yeah. We can have drinks and practice there." Off his home turf, and nowhere near hers.
"Seven."
"Seven. And, Reese?" she said as she stood and gathered her purse and phone. "If you pick me up yourself, that may be better."
He dipped his head in a nod and she walked past him. Before she exited the room, she was surprised to feel his hand on her upper arm. His warm palm slid down, cupping her elbow, grasping her fingers, and then lifting her hand. He pressed a soft kiss there, full-lipped and firm, then held her eyes as the air between them sizzled.
Merina's heart did a flip, her stomach joining in.
"Just practicing," he rumbled.
Chapter 6
Merina was as nervous getting ready for a date as if she were a teenager. Really, it made no sense. She and Reese were adults, and they both knew what was at stake. There was no reason to fret over the length of her little black dress or worry over the pedicure she'd given herself first thing this morning.
But she did.
She bit her lip. Then she heard the door pop open and the exasperated sounds of her parents arguing about something as they jostled in grocery bags.
Her parents were home?
Merina jogged down the stairs, eyes wide. "What are you two doing here?"
"Like I said, if we would have gone to Fields, we could have saved twenty minutes getting back," her mother told her father as they unloaded the bags on the counter.
"And like I said, if we would have gone to the Olive Garden, we wouldn't be arguing about this at all." He shook a head of lettuce as he spoke.
"We're cooking because we both want to be healthy," her mother said, pulling out fresh tomatoes. "And there's no 'the' in Olive Garden."
"Your mother wants to be healthy. I want to eat at a restaurant." Mark grumbled to Merina while unpacking canned goods from a paper bag.
"I mean what are you doing home? I thought you were working." Reese was due here any minute. Her original plan was to tell her parents she was out with him…after she returned home. Evidently this entire scenario had made her morph into a teenager.
"We're fully staffed if that's what you're asking." Her mother shut the fridge. "You look beautiful."
"Thanks."
And there went the doorbell. Right on time. Reese wasn't so much as thirty seconds late. Merina could have used those thirty seconds to ease her parents into the idea that she was dating the future CEO of the company who'd purchased their hotel and threatened to fire them all.
"Be nice," she said, her eyes trained on her father.
"I'm an angel." He did look harmless with a bunch of bananas in one hand and an avocado in the other.
Merina's parents weren't old-fashioned, and they weren't reserved. But they'd sniff out a wolf in sheep's clothing right away, and Reese was definitely that.
She opened the door to find him dressed in a dark jacket and gray tie, his scruff light but definitely visible, navy eyes matching his designer jeans. Had she ever seen Reese in jeans before? He wore them as well as a suit, and whatever pair he'd chosen had preserved his air of wealth. Though, she was beginning to wonder if that air was simply him.
"Hi." She tracked up from his shiny brown shoes, to a leather belt, to those impossibly long lashes. Then he did something that made her stomach flutter. He grinned.
"Hey, gorgeous." He leaned in, accosting her with a hint of spice from his cologne, and kissed her cheek. On the inside, her nerves rattled, warmth oozing down her spine. On the outside, she was aware of her parents looking on in interest.
She gave Reese a wide-eyed here we go look, then turned to her parents. "Mom, Dad, you know Reese Crane."
Her father's mouth compressed. Her mother folded her arms, a worry line bisecting her brow.
"Mr. Crane," she said. "What a surprise."
"We'll be back," Merina said, not stepping into the kitchen. The sooner they left the better.
"Maybe," Reese lashed a possessive arm around her waist. She was pressed flush with a wall of muscle. "Drinks may turn into dinner," he said, his voice low. "And dessert."
Merina swallowed thickly. What was he doing?
"He's kidding," she blurted.
He released her, came deeper into the house until he arrived at the counter. Extending a hand to Merina's father, he said, "Mr. and Mrs. Van Heusen, good to see you. I assume Merina told you the remodel and staffing plans have been put on indefinite hold."
"Hold?" her father asked, taking Reese's hand in a cordial but quick shake. "She didn't tell us."
"Right now we're focused on another building."
"Indefinite?" Jolie parroted. "That's…interesting news."
"Wonderful," Merina corrected. "It's wonderful news."
"Merina came to my office and made a compelling argument about the Van Heusen." He shot a gaze over his shoulder at her and even though her parents couldn't see his expression, it was a smoldering one. Then he turned back to them. "I stood very corrected. She's a force to be reckoned with."
"That she is." Her father puffed with pride even though he still looked wary of Reese's intentions. Which meant she had some work to do, because her parents had to believe this was real. She hadn't done much to convince them and she wasn't sure the show Reese had put on had convinced anyone.
* * *
"I didn't know Posh took reservations."
"For the upper deck," Reese answered. What did Merina expect, to show up at Posh and smash in with the crowd?
He took his eyes from the road to check on his date. Merina's shoulders were draped in a sheer black wrap over a sleek, short black dress. Her long legs bare and smooth and capped in high heels. He was a leg man and regretted not hiring a driver so he could stare longer. Merina's legs were fantastic.
"Nice effort with the parents. Who knew you could be so smooth?"
"Us sewer rats are able to call up sophistication when we need to." He turned at a light and edged down the street in heavy traffic.
"And that bit about dinner and dessert. Risky." She shifted and he took advantage of a red light to admire the way she recrossed her legs. Her dress inched higher on her thighs.