Page 63 of The Meeting
“Kailynn, I want to treat you to dinner and a proper date before we have sex again. I want to show you that you’re worth the wining and dining. I don’t want you to feel used.”
Understanding dawned on her. She didn’t feel used, but shewantedto be used—by him.
“I won’t feel used.”
His thumbs slowly stroked the bare strip of skin exposed between her shirt and pants. “I think it’s for the best if we wait.”
She nodded and slid off his lap and picked up her plate of pizza again. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she knew he was right. “Okay.”
“Are you upset?”
“No, of course not. I mean, I’ll admit I really want it, but I completely understand the reason we aren’t.”
He gave her a smile before picking up his own plate of pizza.
Saturday couldn’t come soon enough.
* * *
Chase lookedat the different outfits in his closet. It wasn’t that he had a problem deciding what to wear normally. For court, it was pretty easy, a suit. For work, a suit. For a date with Kailynn, the woman whom he had been infatuated with for the last few months, he was clueless.
He pulled out his nicest pair of jeans and laid them on the bed, and then studied his shirts. A button up would be good, he decided. He pulled two out and held them at arm’s length.
Before he could decide, his phone rang. Laying the shirts on his bed, he glanced at the caller ID and smiled to see his mom flash across the screen.
“Hi Mama.” He sat on his bed next to the clothes and eyed it.
“Hi baby. How are you?”
“I’m good. How are you and Papa?”
“Oh, you know us. We’re good. We are actually booking our annual trip to Italy right now. Do you think you’ll be able to make it this year?”
A frown consumed his face and creased his forehead as he thought about all the cases he had. “I don’t think so. I’m pretty swamped.”
She didn’t have to say it for him to know she was disappointed. He could picture her sitting in her recliner in the living room, wearing dark jeans and a button-up shirt, her hair tied up in a knot on her head with her glasses perched on the end of her nose, wearing a frown.
“It’s okay. We understand, but we’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss everyone, too. I wish I could.”
Just like her usual mom mode, she switched to a new subject, trying to gather as much information as possible while she had him on the phone.
“Any fun plans this weekend?”
He pursed his lips before replying, staring again at the clothes laid out on his bed. “Actually, I’m going on a date tonight.”
“A date!” she exclaimed. “Oh, that’s wonderful! Who is she? How did you meet her? Is she a good girl?”
He laughed. “Her name is Kailynn. I met her through work, actually. I was helping her with a case, but that’s over with now. And, yes, Mama, she’s a good girl.”
“I’m so happy you’re putting yourself back out there after everything ended with Allison.”
He thought back to the dates he had been on since his divorce, and they were few and far between. No one had struck his interest until Kailynn.
“This one is special,” he said.
“I’m so happy to hear that. I hope we can meet her soon.”
