At 6:50 Candace is done and ready.
"Wow mommy you look like a princess!" Amanda says in awe.
Candace smiles "thanks sweetie you be good for Aunt Stacy okay?"
"Okay mommy!"
The doorbell rings and Candace feels her heart drop to her stomach. He's here.
"Stacy open it. No wait I'll open it. No wait you should open it. Or maybe Amanda. No that's a terrible idea I'll open it"
She shakes out her nerves and calmly opens the door. Her breath gets caught as she takes in the sight of him. He's wearing a black suit with a white dress shirt with a blue tie that matches her dress. His hair is perfect and she notices him taking her in as well.
"Wow" he says and she blushes.
"Wow yourself. Thanks for the dress by the way. It's beautiful"
"Beautiful dress for a beautiful girl. Shall we?"
"Hi Mr. Jeremy!" Amanda says, squeezing past Candace's dress to look at the tall man.
"Hey gorgeous! How are you today?"
"Good! Are you and mommy going to a party?"
Jeremy looks at Candace and she mouthes a 'sorry' he smiles and kneels to her level.
"I'm just gonna take mommy on a little adventure. I'll have her back safe and sound"
"Have her back by 10" she says with the cutes fake stern face.
Jeremy laughs. "I'll do my best"
"Okay we have to go now hun be good"
He sticks out his arm and Candace takes it.
"By mommy!" Amanda yelled as she closes the door.
Jeremy smiles escorting her to his really nice dark gray Porsche. Candace stared at it.
"Wow nice wheels" she says and he chuckles.
"Thanks I got it recently now that Xavier can finally sit in a booster seat instead of a car seat. It really ruins the vibe"
He opens the door for her and she smiles before sliding in. He goes around and gets in the drivers side.
"So where are we going Mr. Johnson?"
He gives her a look and she laughs.
"Well Ms. Flynn that is a surprise."
She rolls her eyes. "Of course it is"
He smirks and they drive away.
"What kind of music do you like?" He asks her paying with his radio.
Candace shrugs. "Anything by Taylor Swift"
He raises a perfect eyebrow and turns it to a random song by her. They sit in a comfortable silence for a few minutes while Candace fiddles with her seat belt and stares out the window. She wonders where they are going. They pull up to a restaurant. She has seen it before but has never been inside. It is one of those places she and Stacy would scoff at when they pass by because the food couldn't possibly be worth the prices they put on the menus. Not that she had ever seen the menu. He parks and gets out of the car. She reaches for the handle but the door doesn't open. He goes around the front of the car and opens her door.
"Allow me" he says, reaching out his hand and she rolls her eyes and takes his hand.
"I guess chivalry isn't dead"
They entered the dimly lit restaurant and Jeremy speaks to the hostess and she nods and gestures for them to follow her. She follows Jeremy and the hostess to a table near the back. The restaurant has a jazzy feel to it and has a small stage and a dance floor in the middle. There's a table that has the perfect view of the woman in a slinky dress singing into a microphone accompanied by a piano player. A few couples are slow dancing and Candace smiled. She kindve felt bad for mocking this place. They sit down and are given menus and the hostess leaves them.
"Wow this place is nice" she says Still taking it in.
Jeremy nods. "Yeah it's one of my favorites"
Candace frowns internally. How many
women has he brought here before her? And why does she feel jealous about it?
"What are you gonna get?" He asks snapping her from her thoughts.
She turns her attention to the menu and raises an eyebrow at the prices. She looks up when she hears him chuckle.
"Don't worry about the prices get whatever you want"
"How did you know-"
"Your face says it all. And what a pretty face it is"
Candace blushes and looks back at the menu. She still tries to find the cheapest thing which happens to be the pasta.
"Listen I know you have your..reservations about us going out tonight but I uh..I really like you Candace..I don't believe in coincidences and I feel like us meeting and everything that followed was no accident."
Candace sighs. "Yeah I think I know that in a way. I just" she gets cut off when the waiter comes to their table.
"Hello, welcome what can I get for you, would you like to start with drinks?"
Jeremy nods. "Yes I'll have a rum and coke"
"And for the lady?"
"Um I'll have a Mango margarita"
"Ofcourse. Are you ready to order?"
They order and Jeremy gestures for her to continue.
"Like I was saying..I like you too obviously but...after the messy experience I had with my ex husband I had to restart my life again and I worked really hard to get to where I am I had too for my daughter and I just don't want to ruin that by putting myself or her in a position where we could get hurt"
"Listen I don't know what happened between you and your ex and you don't need explain anything to me about that unless you want to but I would never hurt you or Amanda. And I completely understand. My son is my world we do all we can for our kids right and that's why I don't take things like this lightly. I genuinely like you Candace and I want to see where this can go. I'm not asking for commitment Right away or anything but I think we could have fun together."
Candace stares at him for a few minutes contemplating if this is a good idea a part of her is telling her to put a stop to this before it gets out of hand and another part of her is making her believe that his intentions really are genuine.
"Okay. We can give it a try..But promise this won't compromise my job"
He beams and nods. "Of course."
She smiles and nods back.
"Good."
"Great"
"Amazing"
"You wanna dance?"
Candace laughs. "Let me get a drink in me first"
As if on cue the waiter returned with their drinks.
"Your food will be out shortly" he says before walking away.
She sips her drink as they exchange stories about their kids.
"And that's how I discovered Xavier has a peanut allergy"
"Wow. Is it bad?"
"Yeah his throat closes up and his face gets red snd puffy"
"Oh my gosh poor baby"
"Yeah so I carry his epipen everywhere with me and I make sure whoever he's in the care of has one."
"Wow...luckily Amanda doesn't have an allergies..at least not any that we've discovered yet."
They continue talking and Candace is feeling good and tipsy enough to dance.
"let's go" she says grabbing his hand and pulling him to the dance floor where a few more couples are dancing to the jazz band. Jeremy places his hand around her waist and she puts her arms around his neck. This reminds her of when they met. God how life was so unpredictable because she never would've guessed she's be here with the very same guy 2 months later. He pulls her closer and she blushes when his chest comes into contact with hers. He is so..firm. And he smells amazing! Candace has to stop herself from inhaling like a weirdo. After a few minutes he whispered in her ear.
"Did I mention how ravishing you look in that dress?"
Cadence can feel the heat flow through her body.
"I don't think you mentioned it.."
"You're lucky I'm planning on being a gentleman tonight or I would have a very hard time controlling myself"
Please don't be a gentleman.
"Well hopefully you're not too polite"
he smirks. "Does that mean I can kiss you?"
She inwardly scoffs. As if he'd needed permission before. She makes a thinking face causing him to chuckle and she nods.
"I suppose I'll allow that."
His eyes travel to her lips before he leans down and presses his lips to hers. It is heavenly. His scent intoxicates her and she feels like she is floating. This isn't like the past kisses they've shared which were hungry and rushed. This kiss is slow and passionate. It almost makes her knees buckle. They separate and he leans his forehead against hers. She then realizes that they have stopped dancing all together and are just standing in the middle of the dance floor.
"We should go back to the table" he says and she nods in agreement.
...
They made it back to Candace's place around 10 and Jeremy walks her to the Door.
"That was fun" she says smiling.
"It was. And I got you home 5 after 10 hopefully Amanda doesn't mind.
"I wouldn't count on it" Candace laughs.
"Alright well I'll see you Monday."
"See you Monday...Wait! Amanda wants to have a play date with Xavier and I did promise him we'd bake cookies"
Jeremy chuckles. "Oh yes he has been asking about that..So Sunday?"
She nods. "Sunday."
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