365 Days with Sexy Maia

Nathan King pushed open the door of the café, the startling bell that rang above it jolting him back to the present. He had been in his head, wondering what he was doing here and if he should be doing this at all. Were blind dates really worth all his years of loneliness? He glanced down at his phone again. Table six. The woman should be waiting for him there. However, when he looked up, there was no woman waiting for him in table six. It was an empty booth in the middle of the café and for a minute he thought that his blind date had bailed on him. Well, that was to be expected. He was not surprised at all. “Grandfather, you have to trust me. I’ll get this done as soon as I can.” The soothing female voice came from a booth at the side of the café, overlooking the glass windows and the people that walked by. He stared at her, at the long flowing auburn hair that cascaded down her shoulder. She looked like a princess, like someone who was supposed to be out on the porch drinking some wine and reading gossip from a newspaper. She was his date. “I don’t care if you’re trying to reserve some bullshit family traditions and company policies or whatever f****d up name that you’re making!” She looked around and saw that she had gotten a bit of attention from people nearby, so she lowered her voice. “And you better not suggest linking me up with the Barchands family. I will not take that, grandfather...” Nathan appeared in front of her, interrupting her session with whoever was at the other end of the conversation, which he could now deduce was her grandfather. She looked irritably at him, the phone still on her ear. “What do you want?” The woman hissed. Nathan smiled and drew out a chair in front of her. She followed his movement with furrowed brows. He gestured to her white, crisp dress that had a deep V line. “I wouldn’t have even recognized you if you hadn’t mentioned that you were wearing white,” he began. “It’s me, Nathan. I’m your date, remember?” Now she looked thoroughly confused. She slid her phone on the table, and he vaguely wondered if she was still on the call to her grandfather. He didn’t want to interrupt anything, no matter how stunning she looked. “Are you asking me to remember if I dated you?” The woman asked. “No.” Nathan reached for the menu, and then stopped. She was a very beautiful woman and his movements were affected by how much he found her attractive. Her light green eyes gave her face an ethereal look, which made him feel lucky all the more. “I just… we have a date here. You were supposed to wait for me at table six.” She slowly shook her head, but not before her eyes took him in. “Sure, you’re attractive and you look like you’re a firefighter, but—” “I’m not a firefighter.” She blinked. “What?” “I’m not a firefighter. I used to work in the military, but right now I’m a gynecologist. I mentioned this already. You know when we used to talk on the phone?” She blinked a few more times, her hand drifting to the nape of her neck to flip her hair back. Clearing her throat, she straightened slightly, as if the air between them had grown unbearably awkward. "Listen, pal," she began, her tone brisk and edged with irritation. "I know I’m attractive—probably the woman of your dreams, like I am for most men—but I’m not about to sit here and let you interrupt a very important conversation just to ask me about dating you. That’s absurd." There was a stretch of silence between them. She still looked at Nathan, expecting him to maybe talk back or leave, he wasn’t sure. What he was sure of, however, was the creeping embarrassment from his neck to his face as he realized that this incredibly stunning woman who knew she was stunning and probably used it to her whims was not the person he was supposed to be meeting. Worse, she was a wealthy, influential woman who is coincidentally at this café because she probably wanted to sit amongst the peasants. Rich people were like that, and he had now proved to her that he was indeed a peasant for ruining her time. Nathan drew his chair back and stood up, flustered. “I’m sorry… I… this is a mistake. You’re not Emma, and I was supposed to be meeting Emma—” he paused, a frown of curiosity and possibilities crossing his mind. “Or, are you? What is your name?” She blinked, momentarily taken aback by his question. As if brushing off her surprise, she flipped another strand of hair off her shoulder. “Well, I’m Rosianna Hunter,” she said, her tone teetering between confidence and nonchalance. “You must know me—or at least, you’ve probably heard of me… I don’t know.” Nathan frowned, misreading her gesture as a display of arrogance. “Are you showing off right now?” Her brow arched slightly. “No, I’m introducing myself.” He hesitated, the confidence in her response catching him off guard. Unsure how to recover, he stepped back awkwardly. “I’m sorry. This was a mistake… I thought you were someone else, but I can see I was wrong, so… uh, bye!” He bolted from her table before she could get another word in, and she didn’t bother calling him back. Nathan drifted to an empty booth nearby, pulling out his phone to double-check the location of his blind date. Wasn’t it this café? Had he mixed it up—or was she running late? As he scanned the screen, her voice cut through the low hum of the café, soft and purring, but sharp enough to prick his ears. “I don’t know who that is, Grandfather. He just appeared out of nowhere.” Nathan glanced over his shoulder. She was reaching for her milkshake, the phone pressed casually to her ear. And then, as if sensing him, her eyes flicked up, locking onto his. “For God’s sake, Grandpa,” she said, her voice clipped and exasperated. “Don’t start reading into this. Can you stop pushing your agenda on me and let me handle things my way?” Nathan snapped his head forward, his cheeks heating with embarrassment. Without thinking, he shoved his phone into his pocket and hurried out of the café, just as he should have done in the first instance. Her voice followed him out, a tingle of mockery underneath it.