You would think that a guy that’s been burned so many times by the opposite sex would be pretty cautious about getting even slightly involved with a girl. If I were smart, I would learn a hell of a lot more about a girl than her name before inviting her out to dinner. But I’ve never claimed to be smart and that is why I am sitting in Carrabba’s at a table in the back, waiting for Cassandra Reyna to join me.

The fact that I’m sitting here waiting for Cassandra Reyna causes me to shake my head slightly and laugh quietly. What the hell am I doing? I had wanted to see her show simply because I think her designs are awesome. I didn’t even know who she was or what she looked like. But then she had walked down the runway with her models at the end of the show and I was freaking spellbound. I had this mental image of her as being older and probably a little eclectic looking. I was definitely not expecting a tall, striking female my age or maybe a couple years younger. One look at her and I was done. Going backstage had been a whim and I’m damn glad I took it.

I probably shouldn’t get my hopes about this girl up too high. I don’t know a thing about her and we only talked for a couple minutes last night. Sure, she was pretty, but for all I know she could be dumb as shit. I was really hoping that wasn’t the case but I couldn’t really tell much about her from the few minutes we talked. I grilled Trace to see if he knew anything about her but he knew less than me. I knew I took a chance asking her out to dinner but it paid off. The easy part’s done. Now I’m just hoping she can actually make conversation.

I got to the restaurant a few minutes early so I’d beat her here and she wouldn’t have to wait. That’s right, my momma raised a good southern gentleman. But now it was almost ten after six and I’m beginning to get antsy. I hate waiting around for people. To me, that’s just a sign of disrespect if you can’t be on time. Especially if you don’t bother to call after I gave you my phone number the night before.

Thinking of that, I quickly check my phone to see if maybe I had missed a call but when I open it, only the date and time flash at me. I wish I had thought to get her number so I could call her and see where she is.

Draining the rest of my water, I lean back in my chair and begin to lightly tap my fingers on the table out of habit. Turning to my head to the left, I look out the window at the street on the other side and stare at the passing people and cars to distract myself. I can see myself waiting fifteen more minutes and then I’m out of here.

My fingers picking up the beat of the music playing in the restaurant, I sigh and wet my lips. This was probably a stupid idea anyways. I wasn’t after a one night stand so what exactly was this? I hadn’t really analyzed it that much last night. I had just turned off my brain and just started running my mouth to her. If I had really been watching myself, I would have just congratulated her and left. Asking her out to dinner was stupid. This is fashion week. She probably has a million things to do and doesn’t even have time for this. She probably said she’d come to dinner just to be polite. She probably-

“I am so sorry I’m late.”

I turn away from the window and my fingers came to an abrupt halt when I see her standing at the table. I smile and sit up straighter. “No worries.” I begin to push back my chair so I can get up and pull hers out for her but she beat me to it. As she situates herself across from me, I take the opportunity to look over her.

She could be late all she wanted if she was going to show up looking like this. She had on some kind of black shirt dress that was cinched at her waist, showing off a pretty perfect hourglass figure. It ended just above her knees, showing off the same great legs that I had seen last night on the runway. If being a designer ever fails for her, she could take up modeling. Damn, I don’t even care if she can’t carry a conversation. Staring at her all night will do.

“Have you been waiting long?”

“Not too long.” There’s no need to let her know about how anal I am with being on time.

“I got a phone call from my mom and she likes to talk.” She pulls her chair in a little closer to the table and smiles at me. “I must have made a horrible first impression.”

She’s got a really great smile. It’s infectious and I find myself returning it. “Seriously, don’t even worry about it. I didn’t mind waiting.” Okay, that’s a lie but she looks so good and I’m so glad she’s here that it kind of made the wait worth it.

She looks like she’s going to say something else but the waiter appears to take our drink orders before she can get anything else. She was good with the wine I wanted to get and that just increases my liking of her. A girl who can appreciate a good wine is good in my books.

“Have you already looked over the menu?” she asks, once we were again alone, as she opens it and begins to look through it.

I stare at her bent head. “Yeah. I’m thinking of getting spaghetti.”

She lifts her head to look at me, a playful glint in her eye. “A little boring, don’t you think?”

I chuckle. “What can I say? I like familiar things.”

“I’m feeling daring tonight. I’ll try something new.” She lifts her menu and shows it to me. “How do you say that?”

I raise my eyebrows as I read what she’s pointing to. “You’re asking the wrong person. I can barely speak English, let alone Italian.”

She pulls the menu back in front of her and continues to look through it. “Maybe I’ll just point to it then. I hate when you can’t say it and the waiter makes fun of you.”

The corners of my mouth lift. This girl was cool. “Can’t say that’s ever happened to me.”

“That you know of,” she replies her eyes on the menu as she turns the page. “Waiters do all sorts of nasty things.”

“Is that so?”

“I was a worked in a restaurant when I was in high school and trust me, you don’t even want to know the things that go on.” She closes her menu and puts it on the table and then makes eye contact with me again.

“Decided?”

“I think I’ll go with lasagna.”

“What happened to being daring, Cassie?” I laugh.

She looks like she’s going to say something but then instead smiles and smooth her hands over the top of the menu before saying, “Maybe another night.”

She’s interesting, that’s for sure. I glance over her once more. “So have you recovered from last night?”

“Hardly. I slept through most of today. I still feel a little out of it.”

I smile. “You don’t look out of it at all.”

She ran her hand through her dark hair that was hanging around her shoulders. “Maybe I’m starting to recover.”

“How long are you in New York for? Or are you from here?”

“I fly out Sunday morning. I live in Seattle.”

“Are you from there originally?”

“California actually. I grew up in San Francisco.”

“So why Seattle? Is there some kind of hopping fashion industry there that I don’t know about?”

She laughs and I relax a bit more. Great smile, great laugh. “Nothing compared to other places in the country. I’ve just grown attached to the city. Eventually I’m sure I’m going to need to move out to a place with a more prominent fashion industry.”

“There’s always LA.”

Her eyes examine me for a second and I’m just beginning to feel scrutinized before she speaks. “And where do you live?”

“LA.”

Her eyes twinkle and she laughs softly as she takes a sip of her wine. “Well how about that.”

“Seriously though. It’s a great place for a designer. A step away from New York, but I’m sure a step up from Seattle.”

“I’m sure.”

I lean back in my chair and take my own drink of wine, my eyes not leaving her face. There was something about her. She’s interesting and I’m intrigued. “You really should check it out sometime.”

“Eventually I will.”

The waiter appeared again to take our order and once he was gone, we fell into a good conversation. Like always, when I’m with someone I don’t know, I was worried about awkward silences but that didn’t really seem to be an issue. I asked her questions about herself and she asked me a few about myself although I think I hounded her with more questions than she did with me. I couldn’t help it though. I needed to get a good gauge on her.

What I did gather was that she was funny, smart, and interesting. And I also gathered that she was hot and had a lot going for her in the looks department. She’s what I would officially call the perfect package.

The two and a half hours we spent in the restaurant went by way too fast for me. I tried to draw it out longer but I could tell she was still tired from the previous day and probably wanted to go back to her hotel.

Parting ways, I wasn’t expecting a kiss or anything. I did manage to grab her number but that was it. It kind of sucked to see her get into her cab and watch it drive away. She was going back to Seattle in a couple days and that was that. There’s a good chance we’d never be seeing each other again and that kind of soured my previously elated mood. As I got my own cab, I tried to reason with myself that there were other hot, smart girls out there. I don’t need to pursue anything with Cassandra Reyna.

Problem is, I can really see myself falling for this girl.