The Beginning
Chapter 2: The First Date
"Jackie, its 6:30 wake up." Ashley said shaking her.
"I don't feel good, who's idea was it to sit by the pool and drink martini's last night?" Jackie moaned.
"You only had 3 drinks all night." Ashley said.
"Yeah well that was two too many." Jackie said rolling over to her other side hoping her friend would leave her alone and let her go back to sleep.
"Well go take a cold shower, that will wake you up." Ashley said.
"Forget it" Jackie said.
"Come on, you have to get ready for your big date with the police officer."
"You go instead." Jackie said.
"He didn't tell me I had pretty eyes, he told you, now get up." Jackie groaned but got up.
She took a shower and afterwards she felt a little better. She came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel.
"Here Jackie wear this." Ashley said holding up an incredibly short mini skirt.
"Ashley are you insane, I'm not wearing that." Jackie said.
"Come on, you want Nick to think you look nice don't you?" She asked.
"Yeah I want him to think I look nice, but I don't want him to think I'm a stripper." Jackie retorted.
"Alright, alright, let's see what else I can find."
Ashley dug through all three of the women's suitcases. The three ladies were all the same size, and they often borrowed each other's clothes.
"Here, how about this?" Ashley said, pulling a full length black skirt from Amanda's bag.
"That's a lot better." Jackie said.
Jackie dug through her own suitcase and pulled out a pretty green blouse.
"How about this to go with it?" She asked.
"That's pretty." Ashley agreed.
"Hold on" Amanda said as she got up and riffled through her suitcase.
"Here wear this blouse instead." She said as she pulled out a yellow blouse.
"What's wrong with the green one?" Jackie asked.
"Nothing, that one is pretty, but you look so nice in yellow and it really brings out your eyes, and you know how he feels about your eyes." She said with a grin.
"She's right" Ashley said nodding in agreement.
Jackie smiled as she grabbed the clothes and went into the bathroom to get dressed. She came back out a few minutes later
"What do you think?" She asked her two best friends.
"Love it" Ashley said.
"Very nice" Amanda agreed.
"Let's go do your hair." Ashley said as she grabbed Jackie by the arm and took her into the bathroom.
Ashley dug through a bag and pulled out the biggest curling iron Jackie had ever seen.
"Yikes Ashley, if you burn me with that thing the next murder Nick will have to solve will be right here in this hotel room." Jackie warned.
"Oh shut up and hold still." Ashley said.
Amanda came in to the bathroom to help too. Jackie was getting excited.
"Did you girls see his smile?" Jackie gushed.
Her friends smiled at her.
"Someone's got a little crush." They teased.
"You girls have to follow us around but don't let him see you." Jackie said.
"What?" Her two friends asked in unison
"Well yeah, we don't know this guy, he could be a serial killer for all we know."
"I'm pretty sure he arrests serial killers, I don't think he is one himself." Ashley said.
"Great, if he kills me he'd know how to get away with it." Jackie said.
Her friends rolled their eyes but agreed to be her secret chaperone.
"Listen Jackie would you do me a favor?" Ashley asked.
"Sure what?" Jackie asked.
"Find out if his friend Warrick is single. He was hot, and his eyes were amazing." Ashley said.
"How am I going to that? Do you want me to just come out and ask a man I barely know if his friend is single?" Jackie asked.
"Well just work it into the conversation somehow." Ashley said.
"I'll do my best." Jackie said rolling her eyes.
"There I'm finished curling your hair, what do you think?" Ashley said.
Jackie looked in the mirror, and she had to admit she looked pretty good. Jackie put on her makeup and squirted herself with perfume while her friends quickly got ready and then the three of them walked down to the lobby so Jackie could meet Nick. Nick was 15 minutes late.
"He's late." Ashley observed looking at her watch.
"Then he should have asked you out instead Ash, you're late for everything." Jackie said with a smirk.
"I am not" Ashley protested.
"You know it's true." Amanda said jumping in and taking Jackie's side.
"Alright, so I have a little problem with getting anywhere on time. But I'm always worth the wait aren't I?" She said.
"Whatever you say." Her friends said teasing her.
Jackie saw Nick heading their way.
"Quick go over there before he sees you." Jackie said, shooing her friends across the room and out of sight.
"Wow, you look fantastic." Nick said as he walked into the lobby.
"Thank you, you don't look to bad yourself" She said.
Nick was dressed in tight blue jeans and a nice red shirt.
"Thanks, you can thank Warrick for that." He said with a laugh.
"Why's that?" She asked.
"Because he promised he'd cover for me if I ducked out of work an hour early so I could go get ready."
Jackie laughed "well then, you owe him one."
"No actually now we're even, he was supposed to work a double the other day but he had football tickets so I covered for him" He grinned.
"He seems like a good friend." Jackie said.
"Yeah, he is, although I think he was a bit jealous today."
"Why?" She asked.
"Because he had to stay at work while I got to sneak off and go on a date with a beautiful woman." He said with a smile.
"Thank you." She said, she could feel herself start to blush again.
"I take it Warrick is single then?" Jackie asked, remembering her ridiculous promise she made to Ashley.
"Yeah, and by the sound of it he's not to happy about it." Nick said with a laugh.
Jackie laughed too.
"Here, these are for you." He said as he handed her a bouquet of long stemmed red roses.
"They're beautiful, thank you so much." She said.
He just smiled at her, and her stomach did flip flops.
"I thought we could go to Shandy's, it's a restaurant just a couple blocks from here and they have really good breakfast food. Does that sound good to you?" He asked.
"Sure" She responded.
"Ok then, let's go." He said.
He opened the lobby door for her.
"A gentleman, I like that." Jackie thought to herself.
He also opened and closed her car door for her.
While at breakfast they talked about anything and everything. Jackie was amazed at how much they had in common. They both loved sports, they both loved to read, they both loved going to movies and they both spent a lot of time with friends. They also both loved their jobs and both took their respective jobs very seriously. To Jackie though the most important thing was how close Nick seemed to be with his family. Jackie herself was extremely close to her family and she wanted to marry someone that had strong ties to their family.
After breakfast Nick took her to a park. The park was quiet which was a stark contrast to the rest of Vegas. It also had a beautiful fountain in it.
"I come to this park to think after a tough case. I love how it is so peaceful." Nick said.
"It's beautiful." Jackie said.
Nick smiled and nodded.
They sat down on the edge of the fountain, they were silent. Each were lost in their own happy thoughts. The silence was interrupted when a lady walking a puppy walked by. The puppy playfully grabbed Nick's shoelace and tugged on it. The lady was mortified
"I'm so sorry sir." She said as she quickly scooped up the puppy.
Nick just laughed "That's alright, I love dogs." He said.
"He's a dog lover too." Jackie thought to herself happily because she loved animals, especially dogs.
After the lady and the puppy walked away Nick stood up.
"Here, make a wish." He said to Jackie as he fished a quarter out of his pocket. She took the quarter, closed her eyes, made her wish and then tossed the quarter into the fountain.
"What'd you wish for?" Nick asked.
"I can't tell you or it won't come true." Jackie said flirtatiously.
Nick grinned at her.
"Should we go?" Nick asked.
Jackie nodded so they started walking back to his car. While walking Nick lightly grabbed her hand. She glanced down at her hand and as she did so her heart began to beat faster.
Nick saw her glance "is that ok?" He asked quickly, thinking he might have made her uncomfortable.
She smiled "Yes, it's more than ok."
Nick smiled as they continued on their way.
Jackie glanced behind her and saw her two best friends trailing the couple a safe distance away. They each had a big smile on their face.
When they got back to her hotel lobby he looked her in the eye.
"I had a wonderful time today." He said, flashing his irresistible smile at her.
"So did I." She said giving him a smile of her own.
"Can I call you tomorrow?" He asked.
"Yes, I'd like that." She said.
He smiled again and Jackie felt her heart melt like butter on a piece of hot toast. They exchanged phone numbers and with one last smile Nick turned and walked out the door. Jackie stared at him until he was no longer visible. She then went up to her hotel room. She sighed happily as she plopped down on the bed. That was the best date she had ever been on.
To Be Continued. Sorry it took me so long to update! Please Review!