Her Unexpected Valentine

Nicole sighed. Sexy Guy: one. Me: zilch. She wasn’t sure if it was the trusting look in his eyes or if the fall on her butt had somehow short-circuited her brain cells, but she found herself smiling at his comment instead of denying it.

“Maybe you should buy her another drink,” Aaliyah suggested to the man. She then turned to Nicole. “You should go with him to the bar, and I’ll find someone who works here to clean up the mess.”

Nicole’s eyes grew wide at Aaliyah before she turned to the man. She studied his eyes to see if she saw any hint that he’d rather not buy her a drink.

“Sounds good to me,” he said, ending her observation.

She took a deep breath as she turned to walk toward the bar, fully aware that he was close behind her.

“What would you like?” he asked as they sat down on two stools.

“Rum and Coke.” If he was going to be sitting this close to her, she needed something stronger than a fruity cocktail.

“So, does Miss Slip ’n Slide have a name?”

Nicole smirked. “Cute.”

“I try,” he said with a shrug.

I doubt you have to try very hard. He seemed to be one of those men who women just flocked to.

Nicole briefly thought back to their previous interaction to recall if Aaliyah had stated her real name. She was satisfied when she concluded that Aaliyah hadn’t.

“It’s Bianca,” she said, extending her hand. Nicole rarely gave out her real name at bars, no matter how attractive a man was.

“Nice to meet you, Bianca.” He accepted her hand. “My friends call me KD.”

“Nice to meet you, KD.” Nicole couldn’t help but glance down at his hand, which was still holding on to hers. I wonder what the KD stands for? Even though she assumed it was his initials, the KD made him seem mysterious...edgy.

She immediately missed his hand when he released hers as their drinks arrived. “Are you new to the area?” he asked.

Nicole took a sip of her rum and Coke. “Do I give off a vibe like I’m not from the area?”

“No, you don’t. But I frequent this bar, and I’ve never seen you here before.” His eyes quickly roamed her face. As much as she tried to ignore it, her skin heated under his gaze. “And there’s no way I would have forgotten a breathtaking beauty like you if you were a regular.”

“Here you go with these lines again.” Nicole shook her head. “I hope you realize that I’m not going home with you.”

“I’m offended,” KD said as he placed a hand over his heart. “Can’t a man compliment a woman without her assuming he is only giving compliments to get her naked?”

Nicole contemplated his statement. “Point taken. Sorry for assuming.”

“Apology accepted,” he said as he took a sip of his drink, his eyes trained on hers the entire time. “Besides.” He shrugged. “I at least take a woman out on a proper date before getting her naked.”

Nicole laughed as KD broke out into a smile. “I appreciate a man with a good sense of humor.”

“That’s good, because I enjoy making you smile.” He leaned closer to her, dropping his voice to a whisper. “Just so you know, I consider this a date.”

Her laughter echoed across the bar. He may have been hitting on her, but a man hadn’t made her laugh this hard in a while. It helped that he was extremely attractive too. He was wearing gray slacks and a slightly stained white dress shirt—thanks to her liquor spill—minus the tie. To the eye, he appeared to be one of those corporate businessmen who wouldn’t know how to have fun if it bit him in the butt. But up close, she saw none of that. The sleeves of his shirt were slightly rolled, revealing a smooth chestnut complexion. His hair was thick, curly and faded on the sides in a way that made her want to run her fingers through it.

As her laughter died, she found him watching her intuitively. She’d just met him and albeit he was still a stranger, she was slightly mesmerized by that look. Although his neatly trimmed goatee accentuated his perfect lips, it was his eyes that gave her pause. They were extremely dark—almost black—and for some reason, she couldn’t stop staring at them.

His eyes studied her just as hard, and she wondered what he was thinking about. He opened his mouth to speak when a voice across the room got his attention.

“Bro, we’re headed out.”

Nicole turned toward the voice and realized it was the same guy from earlier. The one who she’d assumed was hitting on her, only for him to tell her that she wasn’t his type.

“That would be my cousin Bryant,” KD said. “I was originally coming over to you to apologize for his behavior since I’d overheard how he spoke to you, but we collided instead.”

So, the only reason he came over was because of someone else? “It’s cool,” she said with a shrug as she tried to hide her disappointment. “Consider yourself and your cousin now off the hook.”

KD squinted. “Let me rephrase that.” He leaned closer. “I came to apologize for my cousin’s behavior, but that’s not the only reason I came over. I’d noticed you the minute you entered the bar. I already had plans to come over, so I was using Bryant as my excuse. We may share blood, but he’s a terrible wingman.”

Nicole smiled. “If he was supposed to be your wingman, then he needs a little work on how to talk to a woman.”

“I’m working on it,” he said with a smile. “In the meantime, can I get your number and maybe call you sometime?”

Don’t forget, girl, you’re here for work! Don’t get distracted by a guy your first night here. “Sure,” she said, ignoring the warning. She rattled off her number as he stood to leave with his cousin and friends.

“I’ll be calling you, Miss Slip ’n Slide.” His lips cocked to the side in a smile.

“I’ll be waiting,” Nicole said to herself once he was out of earshot. A quick glance at his butt proved it was probably just as delicious as the rest of his body. So that’s how they breed them here in LA, huh?

“Earth to Nicole,” Aaliyah said as she approached. “If you stare at his ass any longer, you’ll strain your neck.”

“What did you say?” Nicole asked, turning to face Aaliyah.

Her friend shook her head. “So, I’m guessing your rule about not dating while you were here in LA just went out the window?”

“Girl, please,” she said, waving off Aaliyah’s statement. “Men like KD don’t even call like they promise. LA is big, and there are lots of beautiful women here. I’ll probably never see him again.”

Aaliyah laughed. “I don’t know about that. I was watching you guys from the other end of the bar, and he was staring a hole through you. I’m shocked he didn’t burn you with the fire in his eyes.”

“You’re so cheesy.” Nicole glanced at the door one more time and was surprised to catch him right before he exited. He nodded in her direction, and she lifted her glass to him.

“I may be cheesy, but I’m also usually right. Mark my words. I bet you’ll see him again while you’re here.”

Deep down, Nicole hoped Aaliyah was right. However, she’d never had luck when it came to men, and she doubted that fact was changing anytime soon.

Chapter 2 (#ue7ca70ca-2be2-527b-b728-d7d0622e299d)

“I think we’re finally making some leeway with this place,” Nicole said, glancing around the room.

“We definitely are,” Aaliyah said as she came to stand by Nicole. They’d arrived at the location for the Bare Sophistication Boutique and Boudoir Studio pop-up yesterday morning and were pleased with how much they’d gotten done so far.

“Excuse me,” a voice said from the doorway of the shop. “Did anyone order a sexy, somewhat loud and vibrant brown beauty to help run this place?”

Nicole laughed before turning around to face Kyra Reed, the store manager of the pop-up. Kyra was the assistant store manager for Bare Sophistication in Chicago, which was run by her sisters-in-law Winter and Autumn. Although Nicole and Aaliyah worked at the Miami location with the women who oversaw that location—Summer and Danni—employees of the two locations got together twice a year for a sales and marketing summit. Last year, Nicole and Aaliyah had met Kyra, and the three had hit it off immediately. With Aaliyah traveling back and forth between locations and Nicole working on the television commercials and documentary, Kyra would be managing the pop-up day-to-day.