“Have a good evening, Miss Gracen.” Michael gave her a hug and reached for my hand. “Are you ready?”

I buckled myself into Michael’s Mercedes and noticed that his name was engraved on the dashboard’s wood paneling.

He revved up the car and smiled. “I think your mom calling you ‘beautiful’ may be the biggest understatement I’ve ever heard.”

I smiled and leaned back in the seat, stealing a glance of him whenever I had the chance. He was strikingly handsome—sexy actually. His honey colored hair was gleaming in the sunlight and his big brown eyes seemed to sparkle whenever he turned to look at me.

From the way his black suit fit his body, I could tell that he worked out, that he kept himself in excellent shape.

Yet, despite his good looks and radiating charm, I didn’t feel any sparks between us. Then again, I’d just met him.

We didn’t talk much on the ride over, except for commenting on whatever song was playing on the radio. The long stretches of silence were quite awkward—even more awkward whenever our eyes met and we both clumsily smiled and turned away.

The waiter set two glasses of white wine on the table and walked away.

“So...” Michael looked at me. “What do you do for a living, Claire?”

“I work at Statham Industries as a marketing director.”

“Do you like it?”

“No, but it pays the bills. I’m stuck there until I find something else. You’re a doctor, right?”

“I am.” He smiled. “I used to work at the children’s hospital downtown, but I decided to return to my original specialty and work for myself.”

“You don’t miss the kids?”

“Sometimes. I don’t miss the crying though.” He laughed and took a sip of his wine.

I picked up a knife and started to slice a piece of bread, but I underestimated its hardness and cut the top of my hand.

Ugh...“This is going to sound so cliché...” I sighed. “But do you happen to carry Band-Aids with you?”

Laughing, he pulled his wallet out of his pocket and thumbed through it. “You don’t mind Batman do you? I still carry the kid ones around; it’s an old habit.”

“No, that’s perfectly fine.”

“Here,” he said as he reached for my hand. “Let me see.”

As he was holding my hand and putting on the Band-Aid, I felt my skin tingling and my heart somersaulting in my chest. But it wasn’t because of Michael’s touch, or the soft kiss he was now placing on my wrist; I only felt those type of feelings when Jonathan was around, when I could sense him watching me.

I looked up and saw him standing at a table five spaces over. He was dressed in a black tuxedo and all the other people at his table were dressed in light blue suits with “sPhone launch” etched across the back.

Our eyes met and I felt that electrical spark I’d never felt with anyone else, that passionate jolt that took a hold of me and wouldn’t let go.

He raised his eyebrow as he sat down at his table, looking back and forth between me and Michael.

“Claire?” Michael rubbed my hand and forced me to turn away. “Claire?”

“I’m so sorry. What were you saying?”

“I’m all done with your Band-Aid.” He released my hand. “What do you like to do when you’re not working?”

Have sex with Jonathan Statham... “I like to watch movies, run, and—”

“You run? How often?”

“A least five times a week in the morning. Four, if it’s a really hectic week.”

“I run too. Maybe we could go on a run sometime together?”

“That’d be—” I felt my phone vibrating. “Great. We should definitely do that. I apologize in advance for pulling out my phone. It’s probably my mother.”

“Probably. She texted me three minutes ago.” He laughed.

“Really? About what?”

“She just asked how our night was going.”

“What you’d say?”

“Amazing.” His deep brown eyes lit up as he smiled—making him look even more gorgeous, but I felt no attraction to him whatsoever.

“I wasn’t aware that your “mom” was a “man”...You two look nothing alike.” Jonathan.

I tried not to laugh. “What do you like to do when you’re not working, Michael?”

“I like to go rock climbing, visit car shows, and remodel old homes in the—”

“I love remodeling.”

He cocked his head to the side. “You’re joking with me, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m serious. I get a huge adrenaline rush whenever I’m in a hardware store or near a construction site. I can’t really explain it, but if I could ever do that for a living...”

“I’m part of a home improvement group that does projects every other Saturday. Would you be interested in joining?”

“Extremely.” My phone was vibrating again. “I would love that.”

“Is he a long lost friend?” Jonathan.

“None of your business.” I texted back.

Our waitress appeared and set down our dinner—a beautiful array of exotic shellfish and pasta. I wasn’t the biggest fan of seafood, but the scallops and oysters looked too delicious to pass up.

“Ask him if he likes your bracelet.” Jonathan.

I tossed my phone into my purse and picked up a fork.

“I like your bracelet.” Michael looked at my wrist. “Is it a Harry Winston? My colleague’s wife has a similar one...It’s a lot smaller though.”

It couldn’t be a Harry Winston...

“Um, I’m not sure what it is. It was a gift from a friend. It came in a blank black box...”

“Pretty generous friend.” He raised his eyebrow. “Are you enjoying the food?”

“Yes, it’s really good.” I swallowed a forkful of shrimp.

“My friend is the manager here. We can come back any time you like, even if they’re booked for the night.”

“Sounds great.” I put my fork down. “Would you please excuse me for one second?”

“Of course.”

Like the gentleman that he was, he walked over and helped me out of my chair.

“I’ll be right back, Michael.”

I made my way into the women’s restroom and locked myself into a stall. I pulled out my phone and logged into the Harry Winston website, scrolling down their gallery of bracelet images. Then I spotted the one that was just like mine...It was at the bottom of the page, near the bracelets that said “By appointment only.”

I clicked on the picture and read through the details: “an open lattice bracelet set in platinum with three hundred and forty small round diamonds.”

I wasn’t going to click on the picture to reveal the price, but I had to know: One hundred thousand dollars.

I gasped, holding my jeweled arm in front of my face—trying to comprehend why Jonathan would give me something so extravagant.

We barely knew each other when he gave this to me...

I unlocked the stall’s door, ready to walk out, but Jonathan stepped inside and slammed it shut.

“Are you on a date right now?” he said through clenched teeth.

“Clearly.”

“Is it going well?”

“It’d be going a whole lot better if you weren’t holding me hostage in the bathroom...”

“I thought you said you didn’t do the dating thing.” His eyes hardened.

“I guess I changed my mind. Is that a crime, Jonathan? Are you going to report me to someone?”

He narrowed his eyes and stepped right in front of me, breathing slow and steady breaths—making my heart race uncontrollably.

“Let me get this straight.” His eyes were blazing. “I’m good enough for you to fuck, but I’m not good enough for you to go out with me? Not even once?”

“Glad to see you finally saw the light!” I tried to move past him, but he slammed both of his hands against the wall, on both sides of my head.

“I’m just one of your little sex toys?” He hissed.

“Yes, except unfortunately you talk back and I can’t turn you off. Can you please get out of my way?”

“No.” He looked like he wanted to rip me to pieces, like he wanted to slap me into another world.