Redemption (Complete)

15. Jardiniere

Carl gave his keys to the valet after opening up Violet's door and helping her from the low seat. The slits in her skirt had him wondering just how high they went and his fingers itched to caress the smooth skin that was peeking out as her body shifted beneath the thin layers of fabric.

It had his pants tightening and he tried to think of unsexy things as he walked into the door of Jardiniere, a French-American restaurant that was across from the Opera House and only one block away from City Hall.

He handed his trench coat over to the coat check clerk and turned to help Violet out of hers.

She had just undone the last button when his breath caught in his chest.

All the work he had done trying to think unsexy thoughts became pointless when he saw the dress she had on. It was low cut and showed an ample amount of bosom. Again, his fingers itched to touch, to feel the smooth skin of her breasts and, eventually, lower.

Clearing his throat, he eased her out of the coat, trying not to look down into the dip of cleavage and cursing under his breath so no one could hear. This was the first honest to God date he had gone on in years and he didn't want to f**k up his chances with Violet because he couldn't keep his d**k in check. All he wanted to do right now was to get her alone, bend her over and f**k her till she was screaming out his name as she came all around him. Hell- he didn't even need to get her naked. He would just flip up the bottom of that skirt, rip her panties off and...

Stop it, Carl, he thought to himself.

He gave the coat check clerk Violet's white coat and was handed two slips of paper in return.

Placing his hand gently on the small of her back, they went over to the hostess who took Carl's name under his reservation. They were promptly seated at a table looking out toward The War Memorial and Carl came up with a bit of a problem. They were at a French restaurant and his Violet was not even twenty. She couldn't sample the lovely wines they had and would probably be forced to drink water with their meal. He doubted they would ask her for her preferred soft drink.

That and she was gaining a lot of stares from gentlemen and a few of the ladies.

Just as he was pulling out her chair for her, his mouth came down on hers roughly. His tongue delved deep into her mouth as she gasped in surprise until his punishing kiss lightened slowly until he was nibbling gently on her lower lip.

His eyes looked around the room and saw that most of the staring sheep had gone back to their plates to graze.

"What on earth was that for?" she asked him, a lovely blush gracing her cheeks and crawling down her neck to her collarbone.

"People were- they were staring at you," he told her softly as he started to push in her chair as she sat. "That dress you have on- it doesn't leave a lot to the imagination and I didn't want them ogling you."

Violet looked around the room and saw that there were a few people still looking in their direction.

"Possessive much?" she asked as she tried to fix herself so she wasn't showing as much of her breasts. It was a fruitless endeavor and she had to resign herself to flaunting the assets Carl so wished she could cover up until they were alone- very, very alone.

"With you- always," he told her in a husky voice as he sat down himself at the table. He opened his menu and took a brief look before a server in a crisp white shirt and black pants came up to their table. She was a young blonde with her straight hair in a ponytail and even, white teeth that were on full display as she asked them for their drink order.

Violet requested ice water and Carl ordered a half bottle of the Billecart-Salmon, Brut Rosé for himself. It was a relative steal at $92 per half bottle. The two talked as they decided what to order and Violet tried to convince him to tell her where they were going after dinner.

"Give me a hint," she coaxed. Carl laughed at her and folded up his menu, now pretty sure what he wanted to order. "At least tell me if I am dressed appropriately enough for it."

"You look beautifully sinful in that dress," he told her, his hand coming over her thigh. He began rubbing his thumb over the exposed skin there.

"That didn't really answer my question, but thank you," she told him with a smile.

"Do you know what you want to order?" he asked her before she could go back to interrogating him on where he was taking her.

"I was thinking either the quail or the duck," she told him, humming out as she tried to make up her mind.

"How about we order both and share?" he asked her. She blinked her big, blue eyes at him and tilted her head.

"You don't have to do that for me," she told him. "Get what you want. I can make my own decision if you give me a few more minutes."

"Nonsense," he said. "I was thinking I would get the duck anyway and this just makes it easier. I've never had quail before but I'm willing to try it if you'd like to share."

She nodded her head at him and smiled, placing her menu down on top of his and resting her hand there as well.

Taking a deep sip of her water with her other hand, she didn't realize that Carl's hand had left her thigh until she found the one she had left on the table was being gently picked up and brought to his mouth. He placed a soft kiss on the back of her thumb before kissing the other knuckles on the hand, one at a time and agonizingly slowly.

Violet didn't know why the gesture affected her so. She felt each kiss as intimately as if they had been placed lower on her body. Dangerously lower.

After placing their orders, they talked lightly about his work and her schooling, though it was mostly about her schooling. She heard enough about his work whenever she spoke with her father.

"Do you have different professors this semester from last or is it a continuation of the previous year?" he asked her as they tucked into their appetizers.

"A bit of both," she told him with a shrug. "Although there was an... interesting development when I walked into one of my classes this year."

"Oh?" His brows raised at the devilish smile she wore.

"Yes. Your date from the holiday party happens to be one of my new professors," she told him. "Small world, eh?"

"Nadia?" he asked surprised. Though he really shouldn't have been. If he had been paying attention to his date more, he would have remembered that she had mentioned that she taught at the school.

"Indeed," she told him as she took another sip of water. "Whatever happened to her, by the way? I saw her at the beginning of the party and then she seemed to just disappear."

Carl squirmed a little uncomfortably before speaking.

"She uh- she's a smart woman," he told Violet. "She knew instinctively I wasn't into her and that there was someone else that I was interested in."

"Did you tell her who? Was she angry?" Violet asked, hoping to God that he hadn't mentioned her by name.

"No- I just told her it was someone that I was certain I couldn't have, that wanted nothing to do with me," he told her honestly.

"So- you lied to her, in essence," she said with a smile. Carl looked over at her and smirked when he got what she was saying.

"I thought it was the truth at the time," he admitted solemnly. His face soon followed as he cleared his throat and asked what was really on his mind.

"What made you change your mind about me?"

Violet blinked and shrugged her shoulders again.

"A few things," she told him. "One- when my father told me about marrying Liam. I knew I wouldn't be happy with him. I have no feelings toward the man whatsoever. So I asked myself what would I be happy with and... you were the first thing that popped into my mind."

Carl's face brightened and he gave her a dashing smile as his hand came over the table to caress hers once again.

"And the other things?" he prodded.

"Well, you were there for me when I was upset. No one else was and you just held me. It wasn't your usual dominating kisses that try to possess. They were softer, sweeter. I knew then that there was more to you than met the eye. I don't know if that rings true with everyone in your life, but it showed me that you cared what happened to me- and whether or not I was happy."

"Anything else?" he asked. She smiled at him and nodded.

"I realized I liked your dominating personality just a smidge more than I should," she admitted with another lovely blush rushing over her face. "I was only holding off because of the age difference and the fact that my father is going to want to murder you when- or if- he finds out about us."

"Don't worry about Harry," Carl spoke out. "I can handle him when the time comes. When- not if, Love. Because I plan on being around for a very long time."

******

After they shared their meals, they headed back to the valet to have the car brought around. As soon as she was seated, Violet recommenced on interrogating him.

"Now will you tell me where we are going?" she asked as Carl sat down in the driver's seat with a smile.

"Hush- it'll only take a few minutes to get there. You can certainly wait a few minutes more, can't you?"

Violet sighed and sat back in her chair. It had heated leather seats and it relaxed the tense muscles of her back. They headed north along Gough Street and then west along Lombard. They pulled past other vehicles going slower and headed in the direction of the Golden Gate Bridge.

"We're not walking across the bridge at night, are we?" she asked. It was way too cold and windy on the bridge even during the daytime and she would be freezing her ass off if he decided to take her on a walk across the entire span of it.

"Not quite," he told her and pulled off onto a side road where an almost deserted parking lot in a semi-circle lay.

Parking the car, Carl walked around to her side of the car and opened her door for her before putting his hand out to help her out.

"Where are we?" she asked him. Wherever it was, it didn't seem to be open and she followed along reluctantly as he pulled her to the left side of a long wall towards a glowing shaft of light.

As they got closer, Violet could hear something. A plucking of strings could be heard and she wondered if they were indeed alone.

Carl stopped as they came to the entryway where several instruments could now be heard, tuning up.

"A lot of people like to use this place as practice as I found out one night not long ago," he told her. "The Alexander quartet like to use this space on Friday evenings and many people will come and go and watch them practice. They are magnificent."

Violet stared at Carl in wonder. She hadn't pegged him for one to listen to classical music. Maybe classic rock or even grunge from the mid 90's would have suited his character but this- this was a surprise.

And she adored classical music herself.

Feeling her eyes well up a bit, she cleared her throat and wrapped her arms around him as she heard the first sweet strains of a fast little number start up around the corner.

"Thank you," she told him quietly enough for only Carl to hear. "It's lovely. And I adore classical music."

"My pleasure," he told her, equally as soft. "I figured we could watch them for a bit and maybe go for a walk around the water. It's beautiful here at night and the sound of strings across the water is almost ghostly, and yet eerily calming at the same time."

They broke away from each other and Violet pecked his lips softly before coming back down from her tippy-toes where she had had to balance herself in order to get her arms around the large man in front of her.

Carl didn't deepen the kiss and for that, she was grateful. She wasn't altogether sure she would have been okay getting caught kissing someone where anyone could pass by on their way to watch the quartet.

Carl pulled her gently around the corner of the wall and she stopped in place. It was bright and open and the architecture that she had seen only in pictures before staggered her.

Greco-Roman in nature, the cylindrical building had columns that held up a dome with recessed lights. The lights showed carvings and the famous 'weeping women' on the outside of the rotunda.

All the lights showed beautifully across the lagoon and she could see the city streetlights across the expanse of water, peeping out from behind some large trees.

They watched as the four musicians played without any concern for the people watching them. It was as if they were televised instead of live. At one point during a slower piece, Carl asked her if she would like to take a walk around the lagoon. She nodded yes and followed him, her hand in his as they listened to the melodies weave in and out of each other from an ever-growing distance.

They were halfway around the water when Carl stopped under an abnormally large tree. Its trunk was double the width of the bodies and he pulled Violet off the side of the pathway and placed his hands on her waist as he pulled her under the wide canopy of the tree.

Staring at her, Violet became confused at Carl. She had been certain that he was going to attack her with his lips as soon as they were nestled quietly under the tree. Instead, he was staring at her and it made her a little uneasy. When she spoke as such, he shook his head as if trying to shake himself from a dream.

"Sorry, Vi," he told her. "It's just that I was watching the lights reflecting off your skin, and in your eyes. I got a little lost I must admit."

She smiled back up at him at what he confessed to her.

"When you put it that way, I don't mind at all," she told him.

Carl's eyes dipped lower to her lips and he brought his in contact with hers in a slow, sinuous kiss. Their mouths moved together and Violet found that if someone had happened by them right now, she wouldn't have given a second thought to continuing this kiss. She might have even put on a show, she was that into the feel of his lips on hers.

His tongue intertwined with hers in their mouths and the heady scent of his aftershave as his rough whiskers brushed against her softer skin made her light-headed.

One of his hands snaked up her back to hold her head in place as his tongue massaged hers, the flavors of their dinner and his wine mingling together in their mouths.

The hand on her back pulled her closer to him so that their bodies were pressed up again each other and his mouth seemed to devour the soft whimpers that were being drawn out from her mouth. His c**k lay hard and pulsating beneath his dress pants had her wishing that they were alone again, preferably naked.

Pulling away briefly, Carl murmured against her lips.

"When can I see you next?" he asked softly before nibbling on her lower lip for a moment.

"I- I have an early day on Wednesday," she told him quietly. "Or if that's too soon, we can try a week from today."

"It's never too soon," he told her as his mouth started to devour hers once more.

"Wednesday it is," he told her as soon as they broke apart finally and start walking back towards the pavilion.