Let Me Tease You: Steamy Older Man Younger Woman Romance (Let Me Love You Book 5)(9)

“Hey, Rona, do you have a minute?”

She looked up from gathering her things and smiled. Shit, did she know?

“Of course. What’s up?”

I waited as the last few stragglers from class left the building before crossing the room to stand next to her.

“I just… wanted to thank you again for going to my show last week. It was so good to see you there.”

“Yeah, it was great,” she said. “I really enjoyed it…”

I nibbled my lip as her voice trailed off and she gave me a curious look.

“Was there something else?”

“No,” I said, a little too quickly. “I mean… yeah. Sort of.”

She raised an eyebrow as she waited for me to continue. She was clearly prepared to let me struggle through this on my own. Fine. I’d just come right out and ask.

“How well do you know Miguel?”

She blinked, then cocked her head to the side. “Miguel?”

“The guy you were with at the show…”

“Oh, right. Miguel. I don’t know him at all.”

Now it was my turn to look confused. I might have had some strange feelings, and it had been a whirlwind of a week, but I knew damn well I didn’t just imagine that whole encounter backstage.

“I thought…” I shook my head. I didn’t know what I thought. “I guess it seemed like the two of you knew each other.”

“No. I’m sort of friends with his sister, but his birthday was the first time I’d met him. But… why?” Her eyes widened. “Unless you’re asking because — oh my God, are you interested in Miguel?”

“I mean…” I swallowed hard. I hadn’t expected her to just come right out and ask so directly. “I don’t know what I am. Sort of interested, I guess.”

Rona laughed. “Sort of interested? I honestly can’t even picture the two of you together.”

I frowned. That wasn’t what I’d asked, and it certainly wasn’t what I’d wanted to hear. It wasn’t really for her to understand — shit, I didn’t even understand it.

“There’s something about him. He’s a nice guy, and he’s charming, and this look that he gets, it’s—” sexy as hell. I cleared my throat. “It’s sweet.”

This conversation was not going the way I’d anticipated. Rona was looking at me like I was speaking a different language, and I was getting more frustrated with each passing second. I mean, fine. Maybe the question had been a little bit out of the blue, but all I had wanted were some facts to back up my gut feeling. Instead, I was getting a little too much commentary.

I wasn’t sure if she had picked up on my agitation, but her next question was a little more relaxed, even though it still wasn’t very helpful.

“I didn’t mean to come off rudely. It’s just you’re so beautiful. I could see you dating a celebrity or something.” She blushed and turned red, apologizing for her assumptions.

If only she knew how over celebrities I was.

“It’s okay, Rona. I know you didn’t mean it like that.” I smiled.

“Thanks.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “So, what are you going to do? He’s so shy, I can’t really imagine that he’s going to ask you out anytime soon.”

“Yeah, no.” I shook my head. “I think you’re right about that. But it doesn’t matter, because he’s helping me with a business deal. I don’t want to make it weird, I just thought maybe you knew a little bit about him.”

She smiled regretfully. “I wish I could help, but I really don’t know much.”

Yeah. Not helpful. But it had been worth a shot. One less awkward conversation to worry about, at least.

“What about drinks?” Rona asked, suddenly looking excited.

“I could use one, but…”

“No, no. I mean you should ask Miguel out. For drinks. Not a date. Just like… business drinks. Between two business people.” Her eyebrows wiggled in suggestion.

I smiled as the idea gathered steam in my mind. Drinks. It was the perfect excuse to get together, really. We could legitimately talk business, and there would be alcohol involved to ease the nerves for both of us. It was so simple. It would almost be like a… practice date.

“Oh, that’s perfect. It’s perfect, Rona.”

I threw my arms around her and squeezed a startled squeak out of her.

“Glad I could help,” she said. “You’ll have to let me know how it goes.”

“Well, it’s not a date,” I said, winking. “But yeah, I’ll let you know.”

I didn’t stop smiling until after she had left the building. It really was the perfect solution.

Now, I just had to gather up the nerve to call Miguel.



*

I took the key from the ignition and drummed my fingernails against the steering wheel before checking my lipstick a-fucking-gain in the mirror. Was the red too much? Did it look like I was trying too hard?

I nibbled my lip and nearly burst out laughing. Of course I was trying too hard. Too hard for just drinks, anyway. And it didn’t help that I was the one who had insisted on keeping it sort of light and casual. Simple.

But simple and casual flew out the window when I spent nearly two hours on my makeup and tried on seven different black dresses before settling on one that was low-cut but not too low-cut, and short but not too short.