Jade stumbled into the penthouse after having dinner with her mother and the lovely Sophie and her lovely daughter Tessa. It was so exhausting Jade just wanted to take a bath and crawl into bed. Forget about how her mother tried to make Tessa see green with jealousy. It worked, the entire night Tessa was sulking. Her mother wasn't doing any better either.
Jade was about to kick her heels off when she met the stormy gaze of Mark, the man Tessa wanted to put her claws in. Also the man her mother forced her to fight for.
"Why don't you throw your heels right beside this pair here." Mark gestured to the heels she had left at the couch last night, "I think they could use the company."
She raised an eyebrow at him, "Are you telling me to clean up after myself?"
He raised his beer bottle to his lips and took a sip, "I wouldn't dare."
She rolled her eyes at him, "Like you wouldn't dare lie to me?"
She pressed her lips together, realizing those words actually spilled from her mouth. The way his gray eyes darkened told her he caught every word.
"Excuse me?"
She could either pretend she didn't say anything or own up to it. She figured things would go smoother if she just told him the truth.
"Oh, you heard me." She kicked her heels off right beside the ones she left yesterday, "Please, tell me about your meeting last night. The annoying one, because I think I've met her at my parents' house tonight."
If she didn't remind herself of his lie she'd be laughing her ass off seeing the shocked look on Mark's face. He sat up straight and emptied his bottle quickly, probably needing the liquid courage.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Are you serious?" She didn't think he'd be that stubborn, "Let me remind you. Blonde woman who wore a red dress which I suggested she'd wear so she could seduce my future husband." She took a seat next to Mark who looked ready to run for the hills, "Ring any bells?"
"Jade, I really don't have a clue what you're talking about."
She narrowed her eyes on him, "Then why look so guilty?"
"Because you look ready to bite my head off." He got to his feet and headed to the kitchen, she followed him without a word, "I already had Betty preaching to me till she left like ten minutes ago. And even though I enjoy sparring with you, I can't tonight. So I'm sorry I brought up the shoes, you can leave them all over the place. I'm sure Betty won't mind cleaning up after you." He reached for another bottle of beer and turned to look at her, "So who is this blonde woman you dressed to seduce me?" He sounded amused.
"You seriously don't know?"
He took a sip from his beer, "I seriously don't know."
"That's odd, Tessa convinced everyone she was meeting you for dinner last night." She leaned against the counter, "You weren't having dinner with her?"
"No." He didn't look amused anymore, if anything he looked ready to kill someone, "Tessa was present at the restaurant where I was meeting my investor, but no, I wasn't having dinner with her." He reached for her, causing her to freeze, "I assure you, Jade, that woman is in my past. And I would like to keep her there more than anyone else."
She ignored the fact that it made her body shiver when he gently brushed his knuckles over her cheek and focused on his words instead. Something wasn't right about Tessa.
"Mark, that worries me."
"That I want to keep that woman in my past?" He asked confused, "Thought it would comfort you."
"Not that." She reached into the fridge and grabbed the bottle of white wine, pouring herself a glass, "That woman might be a stalker. She came to the shop yesterday and asked me to dress her for a hot date which she was having with my future husband. Never met that woman in my life before, but she knew who I was and where I worked. On top of that she knew about your meeting and the time and place. She found you, but you had no idea she was there? That worries me."
Mark took another sip from his beer, "Now that you mention it, it's quite disturbing."
"Now I understand why her mother was so upset with her."
Mark snorted, "That's not why Sophie was upset with her daughter. Sophie blames Tessa for not getting my ring around her finger. It upsets her seeing you and knowing we're getting married."
Jade sighed, "If she knew the truth about us she wouldn't be that pissed anymore." Jade gulped down her wine and refilled her glass, "So your annoying meeting was not Tessa, we're on the same page about that, right?"
Jade headed to the bedroom this time Mark following after her. She had to press her lips together so she wouldn't smile when he also took care of her heels. She was sure he didn't even realize he was cleaning up after her because of the annoying subject they were talking about.
"No, it was the stupid investor who wants me to hold his hand through the whole process." Mark dropped her heels in the walk-in closet and took a seat on the edge of the bed, "We made dinner plans, I wanted to keep my word. And despite what you believe I enjoy your company more than old men who hate spending time with their families so they waste my time instead to feel slightly better about their boring lives."
Jade placed her glass on the bedside table, reached for her robe and took it with her to the bathroom to get undressed.
"How dare you, those men spend a lot of money on you to keep your company going."
She heard Mark's chuckle, which made a smile spread across her face. She liked hearing him laugh, it sounded deep and very alluring.
"I see the wine did you good."
"It's not the wine, honey."
His chuckle got louder, "Oh, it's definitely the wine."
Jade washed her face and put on a little facial since she wasn't going to bed anytime soon. She was wide awake after one and half glass of wine. In her defense she gulped it down which was never a good thing to do. She was feeling a bit light in the head but she wouldn't admit that to Mark.
"I like the good mood you're in though." Mark appeared in the doorway, surprised to see her in a clay mask, "Since our first dinner together got canceled how about we reschedule it tomorrow night?"
Jade held his gaze, "I can do dinner tomorrow."
He smiled, "Okay, it's a date."
"Okay."
Something between them shifted, she felt it, but she didn't dare comment on it. Instead she faced the mirror again and pulled her hair up in a bun to get it away from her face.
"I'll be in my office if you need me." Mark told her.
"Okay."
Mark turned around and left. She pampered herself, having another lavender bath while Mark got some work done in his home office. When she finished up her nightly pamper routine she slipped into another camisole with matching bottoms and crawled into bed. Mark wasn't beside her but this night it felt better. Less tense.
***
Jade was going through her day much faster because she was looking forward to her dinner with Mark. Her mother called her during lunch asking if she'd meet with her father, he requested to see her. Jade wasn't sure about meeting him, but her mother insisted. She said it was about the house, her mother was convinced her father wanted to thank her. Jade doubted it though. Since she was aware of what was going on in her father's life she figured he wanted to talk about Mark. She had to admit that she was curious about what her father had to say about Mark. So she was considering paying him a visit.
After locking up the shop Jade went to the penthouse, she arrived home earlier than Mark. Unlike the previous days she kept her heels on and headed to the bathroom to freshen up. She redid her make-up, spritzed on some perfume and fixed her hair again. Once she was satisfied with how she looked she walked out the bedroom and headed to the kitchen where she heard Betty moving around.
"Hey Betty."
The older woman turned to look at her, a bright smile spread across her face, "Evening honey. Long day at work?"
"It was okay." Jade announced, "Need some help?"
Betty looked at her like she lost her mind, "It's your romantic night in. It means you're going to sit down at the table and sip your wine while I set the table."
Jade wanted to protest but Betty's look told her not to open her mouth. So instead of protesting she did what Betty told her and sat down at the table. While she went through her messages on her phone Betty was setting the table. She lit red tea lights and placed them in see through glass bowls. The table looked gorgeous and the food smelled amazing. As Jade was admiring the setting Mark walked in wishing Betty a goodnight who was ready to leave.
"Have fun you two." Betty called and left quietly.
Mark sat across Jade, shrugging his jacket off and placing it around the back of his chair, "Evening, Jade.
"Hey."
He poured himself a glass of wine as well and scanned the table, "Betty did a great job."
Jade agreed, "Yeah, it looks amazing and the food smells freaking good."
Mark's lips curled up to a smile, "Yeah?"
Jade sipped her wine, "Yeah, said we start off with pumpkin soup and have chicken as our main course. It's in the oven."
"Let's not waste time then, I assume you're also quite hungry."
The pumpkin soup was amazing, it was subtly spiced and Jade didn't mind having another bowl. She didn't though, because they also had their main course which was chicken and a Greek salad. Betty did a wonderful job and she'd thank the woman tomorrow. As they were discussing their day Jade mentioned her phone call with her mother.
"I think I should see him, I owe him that much, right?"
Mark didn't look convinced though, "You don't owe him anything, Jade. His situation is the way it is because of the decisions he made in life. You're not to blame and neither is your mom."
"Yeah, but he's still my father."
"I just think that meeting him will mess with your head."
"He won't convince me he's innocent, I know better than that."
"Then there is no need for you to see him."
Mark tried to brush it off, but Jade caught onto his reluctance of her meeting her father. It was like Mark didn't want her to go, didn't want her to talk to him. She doubted it had anything to do with the meeting messing with her head. She doubted he'd tell her what was bothering him so she didn't ask.
"I'll think about it. I mean he's not going anywhere anytime soon."
"True."
They finished dinner and had dessert on the couch while watching a horror movie together. She surprised Mark by selecting that movie, she was in the mood to watch something tension filled though. Since she wasn't sleeping alone at night she didn't mind watching it with the lights out while only tea lights burned in the background. Halfway through the movie she snuggled closer to Mark, needing him close as the move got scarier. Without a word Mark placed his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. Their night in was awesome, she loved it and she was glad Mark asked her to do it. She wouldn't mind ending her day like this more often.