Just One Kiss

Chapter 6

"How is the project going so far?" Duke asked over the phone as China laid down the edges of her wig. She was doing the finishing touches to her outfit before she needed to meet Nicolas for dinner.

"It was so fun interacting with the drivers, being a part of the experience. It reminded me why I love my job so much." she smiled. " How's everything at home? Got anything for me?"

"Kind of. Things are moving smoothly." Duke nodded as he put his phone down on the table, rocking his two year old daughter to sleep in his arms. "Everything is going according to plan, and the boss has been very nice to me so far. She likes my edits of your last draft so she's definitely taking notice of me."

"I told you you could do it." China cheered as she adjusted the straps of her dress on her shoulders. "I still miss gossip Thursdays though."

"Come on, with you traveling around the world with the hunky billionaire, there's no way you won't have enough stories to fill me for the next year, that's if the tabloids don't get to you first." Duke laughed softly, trying not to disrupt his sleeping daughter's snores.

"There's not really much to tell with him honestly. He surprisingly a very good team player and he secured very good interviews so far, but otherwise he seems like a pretty laid back guy. Kind of quiet though."

"I'll still be waiting. Not everybody gets to have dinner with their biggest idol" China rolled her eyes as she said goodbye, blowing him a kiss
as she ended the call.

She sent a quick check-in text to Charles as she gave herself a once over in the mirror. Her tight emerald green dress fit her body well with her leather jacket covering her arms and knee length leather boots warming her legs. She wasn't going to take any risks with the weather again.

She grabbed her black clutch handbag and headed to the elevator. The silver doors opened just in time to reveal Nicolas in black trousers with a light blue shirt with black ankle boots, a similar leather jacket to hers in his hands. As they did, Nicolas looked up, his hazel eyes connecting with her brown ones, and a bright smile spread slowly across his face.

"You look beautiful" he said, giving her a polite kiss on the cheek in greeting as she entered the elevator.

"You don't clean up too bad yourself" she said, earning a chuckle from him. Once the elevator opened to ground floor, Nicolas's head began to turn back and forth, as if in self defense.

"Everything okay?", China asked him as they walked to the entrance, watching him with a worried look.

"Yeah, just checking for cameras in the bushes", he said with a half smile, still scanning his surroundings. He seemed satisfied with his observations, taking a deep breath of the cool night air just as the car pulled up towards them.

"Is the paparazzi always that bad?"

Opening the door, with a look of defeat, he said "Not always, but always when you least expect it."

Once they were directed to their table in the back of the secluded steakhouse by their waiter, Nicolas immediately pulled out her chair for her to sit as she removed her jacket.

Impressed, she asked him "Are you the last chivalrous man left on this earth?"

"What do you mean?" he asked as he sat down.

"I can't remember the last time a man pulled a chair out for me."

"Then clearly you don't hang around men very often." That made her chuckle as the waiter came back over to them, asking for their drink orders.

"I'll have a glass of your house red wine." China requested.

"That sounds good. Me too." Nicolas added.