Lonely Together

03

MARIAH

He was dressed in an all black outfit, just as he was the night before, yet tonight he had replaced his suit with a more casual—and sexier—black button up, with the first buttons undone. On the bottom, he wore a pair of jet black dress pants and shoes that had gold detailing.

His sleeves were slightly rolled up, revealing jet black tattoos running up his arms. He wore silver jewelry consisting of a watch, rings on his tattooed fingers, and a chain that hung around his neck.

I watched as he turned his attention away from Myles and to me instead, his eyes traveling slowly down my frame as I approached them.

"Hey, Valentino," I breathed out as calmly as possible, hoping my voice didn't give away how flustered I was.

"Mariah," He simply replied, his green eyes locked with my brown ones.

"Ya'll just gonna stare at each other?" Myles interjected, his eyes dancing between the two of us. "I mean, it's cute but get going!"

"What a sweet person you are," I said jokingly to Myles, sticking my tongue out at him as Valentino and I left the apartment.

"Have her back whenever!"

With that, he practically slammed the door in both of our faces as we stood there laughing. I led Valentino back down the hallway towards the elevator, knowing that his eyes were locked on me as I walked ahead of him.

"I hope Myles didn't embarrass me too much when he was talking to you," I said softly as we stood side by side in the elevator, watching as the numbers descended.

"No not at all," He replied, turning his head so that he was looking at me with a smirk. "I liked him."

"That's a shock, he's hard to like," I joked as we stepped out of the elevator and walked out to the front of my building.

He led me over to his car, a sleek, black Porsche that also—not surprisingly— had a black interior. I had never been in such a nice car, yet still I didn't want to give off the impression that I was shocked by such a nice car. But I definitely was.

"Is your favorite color black by any chance?" I questioned as he opened the passenger side door for me and helped me in.

He smirked at me and shook his head before walking around and getting in the driver's side. He started the car and pulled away from the curb.

"It's actually pink," He finally replied, tapping his finger on the steering wheel as the car roared down the street.

Within minutes, he was pulling up to the front of one of the many sky scrapers in our city, confusing me a bit. This place was quite bland—and tall—to be a restaurant.

A man dressed in a suit rushed up to the car suddenly, making me jump in my seat as Valentino chuckled from behind me.

"That's the valet, Mariah."

He got out as the man pulled my car door open and helped me out while Valentino tossed the car keys over to him. We fell into step beside each other as we entered the building.

People in business formal wear were rushing past us and out the door, seemingly done with the work day. The building had marble flooring and a large fountain in the middle, while everything else gave off the appearance of a fancy office building.

Valentino placed his hand on the small of my back, my skin underneath the dress heating up, as he led me over to an elevator.

We ascended quickly and when we stepped out I couldn't hide the gasp that came out of my lips.

"Wow," I breathed out at the restaurant that we stepped into.

The restaurant was the top of the sky scraper, giving a complete view of the city through its floor-to-ceiling windows. The lights were dim to give the place a romantic atmosphere and there was a man playing the piano in the middle.

"Mr. Valentino Santori and Ms. Mariah Colton, please follow me," The hostess spoke, standing rigidly before us before leading us towards our table.

"How does she know my name?"

"I'm an efficient planner, Mariah," he told me quietly as he pulled my chair out for me to take a seat.

"Would you like a bottle of wine?"

Valentino looked at me for the answer to the hostess' question, so I nodded my head and she turned and stalked away.

"This is a beautiful place and an even more beautiful view," I spoke as I stared out at the city that surrounded us.

"Mhmm," He started, pushing a few curls out of his face, "Just wait until you try the food."

The hostess came back with water, glasses of water, and a platter of garlic bread before letting us know that our waitress would be over soon.

He and I fell into a conversation similar to the one the night before, simply getting to know each other better. I learned that he had two older brothers, that he moved to America when he was eighteen although he was born here, and that he had graduated from Harvard. He had called me the smart one, but he had literally attended the most prestigious university in the country. I wasn't far behind him, having gone to Columbia.

"We're such nerds for talking about books on a first date," I laughed after we had placed our orders, delving back into our conversation about our shared love our reading. "What's your favorite book?"

"The Great Gatsby" he replied with a smirk once I rolled my eyes at his response.

"Of course it is!" I exclaimed, making us both burst out in laughter and receive a few scoffs from the couple beside us.

Our entrees were brought out fairly quickly, both of our meals looking absolutely exquisite.

"This better be as good as you promised."

"Just eat," he replied fairly seriously, his eyes widening at the way his tone was. He settled however, when he saw the soft smile on my face at the way he said it, my cheeks tinged a deep red.

We dug into the food, both of us going on and on about how delicious it was. I found it hard to believe that the steak he had settled on was even close to being as good as my pasta, but I kept that to myself.

"Valentino, you keep looking at my plate," I told him suddenly once I caught his gaze landing on my food for the millionth time. "You want to try some?"

"You caught me," he remarked before nodding his head at the last part.

He reached to grab his fork but I had already stuck my fork in the pasta and held it up for him.

Those green eyes of his took on a mysterious glint as he parted his pink lips. He leaned in towards the fork as I moved it towards him.

"Not as good as my steak," he muttered nonchalantly as he tasted it, shaking his head at me.

"One thing we don't agree on," I laughed blissfully, absolutely loving the date.

I never wanted the night to end.