From Top, To Bottom (manxman)

Chapter Fifteen

Pic: Drew Manning
Kelsey's POV

"Hi," Nate whispered after staring at me for a good minute.

I barely managed a greeting of my home before adding a smile. After a month without seeing his gorgeous face, all I wanted to do was pull him into my arms. I didn't want to be too forward, however.

"Shall we go?" I asked him. He nodded before turning around to gather what I believed to be his keys and wallet. Not that he was going to need his wallet. And if I had my way he wouldn't need his keys either.

"Okay," he exhaled. "I'm ready."

I motioned for him to walk ahead of me. As he walked in front I couldn't help letting my eyes wander over his backside. God, this date was going to be a test of my ability to control myself.

I gave Roscoe the night off. I wanted it to be just Nate and me.

When we got to my car, I opened the door for Nate only for him to give me a stern look as if telling me he could open his own door.

"Humor me," I smiled at him, waiting for him to get in. He sighed and followed suit. I sped across my car to get to the driver seat and took off down the road.

I had planned to take him to MiMi's, a Japanese restaurant, followed by desert from Sweet Treatz on the beach under the light of the stars. It was a bit cheesy but I wanted everything to be perfect plus I was not mistaken on the fact we needed to discuss everything and I didn't want to do it in public setting such as MiMi's.

"So," my beautiful date cleared his throat. "What is MiMi's? What type of cuisine is it?"

I smiled, "It's Japanese. Do you like Japanese?" I probably should have asked Drew to ask his nephew before I made a reservation.

"I've never really tried Japanese cuisine. This will be the first time," he replied.

"Well, I hope you enjoy it. It's wonderful in my opinion," I said switching lanes. The damn Honda Accord in front of me was driving extremely slow. I looked over as I passed the car and saw a man on his phone. An accident waiting to happen, I thought bitterly.

"Hmm, I hope so as well," he mumbled. The rest of the drive was spent in silence minus the soft hum of Ben E. King's Stand by Me. I hummed along with the song.

We arrived at our destination soon after the song changed to Billy Joel's Uptown Girl.

I parked the car and ran over to Nate's side to open his door. He gave me the same look he did when I opened the door for him back at his home. I only gave him another smile. He shook his head.

We walked to the entrance of the restaurant with a two foot distance from each other. I hoped that once we were seated the awkward silence would disappear.

"Welcome to MiMi's," the hostess announced as we entered the venue. "Do you have a reservation?"

"Yes. It should be Kelsey Manning, table for two," I replied. She took a minute to scan over what I assume to be the reservation book.

"There you are. Right this way, please," she said before escorting us through the restaurant and to a secluded area near the back. There was a small indoor pond filled with koi fish and miniature replicas of bridges and sakura trees. The restaurant had a peaceful feel to it and I thought it would be a good place for us to start our date before we got into the real reason we were having the date in the first place.

"So," I began after the waitress took our drink order. "How is it at Rotec?"

"Uh, it's good, I guess. Not too different from when I worked in GD before becoming your assistant," he replied. He was looking everywhere but at me.