I Pretend You're Mine

12. A Hell Of A Good Start

To make it a somewhat normal date, Tim volunteered to get ready in the main house and pick her up from the cottage at 6:15PM to make their 6:30PM reservation at the fanciest restaurant in the small town.

But when the clock struck 6:15PM and he dialed Lucy, he was still shirtless. "Are you ready?" He asked.

"Almost," Lucy lied while struggling to style her hair. She was over criticizing how her waves were not sitting right, and everything had to be perfect for her first date with Tim.

"No, no you're night."

"No, I'm not," she admitted. "Sorry, umm are you?"

"No..." He looked at himself the mirror, holding up the new suit Lucy had picked out and hoped it would be worthy of their first date.

"Does this restaurant have a dress code?"

"You only have ONE outfit you could wear, Lucy. Nice try. That was clearly a test, and you should know better than to test the master."

Lucy scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I just need to make a decision about what to do with my hair."

"Don't touch it. I love your natural hair."

She smiled as butterflies swarmed her stomach. "So, it's decided. I'm leaving my hair down naturally."

"Great," he grinned.

Just from hearing the fondness and smile clear in his voice, Lucy swooned.

"I'll pick you up in a minute."

"Okay, bye." She hung up and stared at herself in the bathroom mirror to see that she was almost unrecognizable from the way she was absolutely glowing. Lucy combed her fingers through her hair and gazed at her reflection, but then her eyes widened when she realized that when Tim Bradford said "a minute", he truly meant 60 seconds, and Lucy had not put on her dress yet.

She scrambled out of the bathroom, causing Kojo to lift his head and look in her direction from where he was perched on the loveseat. Then, she fumbled with the heels she brought for her aunt's wedding, and the second she reached for the hanger where her new dress was hanging, there was a knock at the door. He is TOO punctual.

"Just a minute," Lucy called and was surprised that he did not groan impatiently how he usually did when he had to wait for her at work.

But, this was not work, she reminded herself.

This was a date. A real date. Everything was different now, and the butterflies that had taken residence in her stomach fluttered even more intensely at the thought.

Lucy cursed at herself when she struggled with the zipper of her dress, but she refused to ask him for help, since he would probably be even more irritated with her...unless...she walked over to the front door, opened it partially to find Tim standing in the doorway with daisies in hand.

His eyes dragged down her frame, spreading goosebumps everywhere on both of their bodies. "You look beautiful," Tim said breathlessly at the breathtaking green floral dress with cutouts down the middle to draw his eyes to her cleavage.

"Thank you. You look very handsome," she blushed.

As if he just remembered what he was holding, he presented the bouquet to her and said, "These are for you."

"My favorite."

"I know." Tim watched her admire the daisies, which only made his smile widen.

"I'll go put them in some water." She turned around and realized her dress was unzipped, so Lucy glanced back and bit her lip. "I-I forgot. Can you help me with the zipper?"