Take Me with You (Take Me #2)(20)

“Is this not the bottle you requested?” the waiter asked carefully.

“You’re supposed to taste it,” Ari whispered across the table.

“Right.” I sipped from the glass. “Uh…yeah, that’s great.”

The waiter arched an eyebrow and then poured the wine for both of us. “Are you ready to order?”

I’d stared at the menu for ten minutes, and the only thing that sounded appetizing was the steak, but it was a hundred f*cking dollars. Who paid that much for a steak? I could buy one and grill it at home for ten bucks.

“You go first,” I offered.

She swiftly spoke in French to the man. Who knew what she was getting?

When their eyes turned to me, I took that as the cue to order. “I’ll have the steak. Medium rare.”

Ari blanched as I handed him the menus, and then he left the table.

“That steak is really expensive,” she murmured.

“It’d better be f*cking good then.”

She giggled. It was the most amazing sound I’d heard all night. She slapped her hand over her mouth and shook her head. She couldn’t stop laughing. Her shoulders were shaking, and soon, tears formed in her eyes.

“What is so damn funny, Princess?”

“Honestly? This whole night. No! This whole damn day.”

A few people were peering over at us because she was still laughing uncontrollably.

I couldn’t help it. A smile appeared on my face, and then I was laughing, too.

“People are looking at us,” I told her.

“Since when have you ever cared?”

That was a good point.

“I’ve got an idea,” she said. She took a deep breath to try to control her laughter and pressed a hand to her side. She must have had a stitch from laughing so hard. “Oh my God, my cheeks hurt.”

“You’re f*cking insane.”

“To be dating you? Obviously.” She winked at me.

Who was this chick in front of me? This gorgeous, confident girl. When we had first met, I would never have thought she would be like this.

“Are you ready for my idea?”

“This’d better be good.”

She leaned forward and whispered, “Let’s ditch this place.”

“And go where?” I threw my hands out.

Her eyes twinkled. “I have an idea.”

“All right.” Who was I to stop her from being spontaneous?

Aribel promptly stood, grabbed my hand, and walked out of the restaurant with her head held high. I’d dined and ditched before but never at a place like this. Definitely never at a place where I’d ordered a hundred-dollar steak. Then again, I’d never f*cking been at a restaurant like this before either.

Before I knew what was happening, Ari threw her arm out, and a yellow cab zoomed up in front of us.

“But what about the town car?”

“We don’t need it,” she said. She reached forward, undid my bowtie, and pulled it off. “Or that.”

I grabbed her by the arm. “Are you sure about this? I thought this was what you’d want.”

“I know,” she said with a smile. “If I wanted all of this, I could have it. But I just want you.”

That was all I needed to hear before I claimed her. Her lips felt so f*cking good, and if she kept clutching at me so desperately, I was going to skip whatever her idea was and find the nearest hotel. She groaned into my mouth, and I nearly lost it.

But the cab honked at us and ruined the moment. Ari laughed and then darted inside, apologizing along the way. She gave the driver our destination.

“So, where are we going?” I asked.

“To do what I thought you might have planned all along. I have to admit though,” she said, looking me up and down, “you might be overdressed for the occasion.”

“Now, that would be a first.”

She giggled again and snuggled up next to me. It was a short drive to our destination. Ari threw the guy some cash and then hopped out of the cab.

I did a double take when I realized where we were. “The Zell?” I asked in disbelief.

Ari had taken me from a fancy-ass restaurant to a mosh-pit music venue.

Forget everything I ever said about missing how easy it was to get ass. Who needed that when Aribel Graham shocked the shit out of me at every turn?

Okay…I still wanted *. But I f*cking loved this girl.

“Who’s playing?”

“Edge of Reason,” she answered immediately. She purchased two tickets for us at the door. “Let’s hope they don’t suck.”

I laughed. At this point, who cared if they sucked?

Better yet, it turned out that they didn’t. The band was already playing the opening to their set for a medium-sized crowd. The bar was a dive. ContraBand had played here once when we first got started but never since. It had a good atmosphere but terrible acoustics. But I was so high on my night with Ari that nothing else even mattered.

A couple of songs in, Aribel left to take a phone call. I stayed to bask in the energy and adrenaline of the performance. At the end of that song, it was pretty f*cking clear I needed a beer. I grabbed two from the bartender, so Ari could have one when she got back.

I meandered back toward the stage when two chicks in way too much f*cking heavy black makeup stopped me. Their tits were out on display in their too tight shirts, and I made the mistake of glancing down. Well, they were f*cking out there, right?