My Unexpected Vow: California Billionaires Book 2 Harlow James (scary books to read txt) 📖

“Hi,” she says as a small blush appears on her cheeks.

“Waverly. Fuck… you look…” I shake my head in awe of the gorgeous woman standing before me. “There are no words, babe.” I grab her hand and then spin her around so I can take in her body decked out in a light pink hip-hugging dress that highlights her curves. Waverly isn’t stick thin, which I love, her shapely figure on display under the stretchy fabric of her dress. And now that I’ve seen and laid claim to the body underneath, it makes me that much more eager to strip her out of this dress later.

“Thank you,” she replies as I bring her spin to an end and then pull her into me, encircling my arms around her waist. “You look handsome, yourself. Is it weird that I’m nervous about telling you that?”

“Nah. I like it.”

“It seems so wrong to let you know that I think you’re attractive.”

“Is that because you’ve secretly been fighting your attraction to me for years and now you’re able to accept it?”

“I’m glad to see that your ego is out to play tonight,” she mocks.

“Oh, that’s not the only thing that going to be out to play tonight,” I growl in her ear as she shivers in my arms.

“You can’t be serious,” she fires back breathlessly, clearly affected by that thought as much as I am. I press my lips to her neck as she grows limp in my arms. “We’ve had sex four times in the last twenty-four hours.”

“Well, that’s a record for me, so I say we smash it and make it unbeatable.”

She swats my chest as she pushes me away. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Hayes. Whether you end up between my legs again resides solely on how amazing this date is. Don’t forget—the stakes are pret-ty high at this point.”

I straighten my tie and then reach for my wallet and keys. “Oh, I’m aware, and I aim to please, baby.” I slide my arm out to the side, offering my elbow to Waverly as she intercepts it and then I walk her through the house and into the garage. We settle inside of my car before taking off toward Malibu. Surprisingly, the drive to the restaurant is probably the least tense of any I’ve taken with Waverly in my car. It’s almost as if now that the sexual tension is gone between us and our feelings are out in the open, we’re allowed to be more comfortable with each other, which makes me feel even more confident in crossing the line that we did.

When we arrive at the restaurant, I proudly place my hand on the small of her back as we walk inside. I’ve been dying to do that for weeks, and now I can without second-guessing myself. And by the appreciative gaze she gives me as we stride side by side, I’d say she’s happy about it too.

“This place is beautiful. I can’t believe I’ve never been here before.” Waverly glances around the inside of the establishment, taking in the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the ocean off the cliff the restaurant is built on. With a fireplace located in the center of the great room, and navy and white décor bringing together the nautical theme, the restaurant reeks class and sophistication on top of amazing food.

“It’s fairly new, probably only a few years old. I had to pull some strings to get us in here, but the view is worth it alone.”

She leans back in her chair and quirks an eyebrow at me. “What? You’re not part-owner of this place and pulled the boss card?”

I huff out a laugh as the waiter comes over and takes our drink order. I opt for a bottle of red wine that I think Waverly will love. “Nope. Just nightclubs for me.”

“You know, I’ve always wondered why you chose the nightclub circuit.” She reaches for her cloth napkin and unfolds it, placing the silverware to the side as she studies me.

“Well, back in college, Wes and I, along with a bunch of our buddies, started clubbing when we all turned twenty-one. I got to see a lot of different businesses and started asking people why they would go to some clubs rather than others. I kind of always knew I wanted to work for my dad because his firm dabbles in property investments and stock investments, and I saw an opportunity of breaking into the nightclub circuit. So, after college, I approached him with the idea and he gave me a shot. Lucky for me, I had a knack of knowing what people wanted because of my extensive experience, and my gut hasn’t steered me wrong very much over the past eight years or so.”

“So when you take over his company, what will you be doing then, because you can’t possibly keep up the night clubs and be CEO.”

The waiter comes back over with our wine, pouring us each a glass and then leaving us to browse the menu which we haven’t even popped open yet. “Well, he oversees everything, which I don’t have as much experience with. It makes me nervous, but I’m a fast learner. I’ll be fine. What about you? You always wanted to work in design?”

Her face lights up and then a pink blush tints her cheeks. “You don’t remember me walking around with a sketchbook and colored pencils everywhere, do you?”

Guilt washes over me. The truth is, I didn’t. I didn’t pay attention to my best friend’s little sister. She wasn’t a priority to me, more like a bother. And even when she grew up, I never allowed myself to really acknowledge the beautiful woman that she grew into.

But I’m sure as fuck seeing her now.

“If I’m being honest, not really.”

She stares down at her lap. “Yeah, you didn’t really seem too interested in what I was doing. Wes was always the reason you and I ever