The Wrong Side of Heaven

Chapter 8

Jay has been MIA all day which works for me because of my dinner plans with Devin. Jade and I spent the afternoon playing dress up while I got ready for my date. I ended up choosing a cute black dress and leaving my hair down in waves. Parking in front of the nice Italian restaurant, the valet opens my door and I hand him the keys to the Maserati. Jay has given me permission to use it whenever I wanted. Devin is waiting by the door wearing an exquisite suit looking finer than ever. I greet him with a smile and he leans in to kiss my cheek. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you," I smile.

He takes my hand and leads me inside where we are immediately taken to our table. A waitress pours us each a glass of wine and leaves us menus to look over. "How has life been treating you since high school?"

I want to laugh. Raising my eyebrows, I take a deep breath and decide not to go into too much details. I'm not sure I'm ready to scare him away with my terrible luck. "Well, I got a great job straight out of high school and moved out on my own. It's been hectic but I'm alive and well. How about you?"

"I went to law school and I took over my fathers law firm. I'm actually Javi's attorney. How do you know him by the way?"

Oh boy. "I work for him. I was just dropping off some paperwork that day. I'm glad I did or I never wouldn't ran into you," I say, thinking back to the last time we saw each other. "It's been... what - eight years now?"

He smiles, reminiscing about our times together. "Those were some good times. I miss it."

The waitress returns to take our orders which ends our conversation. I order the lasagna while Devin orders the baked ziti. We maintain a casual conversation throughout dinner with a few laughs added in throughout. The sense of normalcy I feel with him is comforting. Maybe if things had turned out a little differently in high school we'd still be together. Who knows. "I haven't been in a serious relationship since college. She cheated on me so we broke up. I just threw myself into work and never put myself back out there," he explains.

"My ex and I were together for two years. We broke up a few months ago. He was narcissistic and abusive."

"Sorry to hear that," he frowns. It's quiet for a long moment before he speaks again. "I'd really like to see you again. You're a smart, beautiful woman and I'm a hundred times more attracted to you than I was in high school. I didn't think that was possible back then but apparently it is," he chuckles.

I smile. His words warm my heart. "I'd like that too."

He sighs, looking at our cleared table. We've been done for at least twenty minutes now but neither of us seem to want to go. "To be honest with you, I'm not ready for this night to end but I feel like we should give other a people a chance to eat," he chuckles. "Is there anywhere else I can take you? Do you want to come over for a drink?"

My body clenches in anticipation. If I go to his house I feel we'll only end up in bed. It's clear we both crave each other and frankly I wouldn't stop his advances. I want him. I crave his touch, the feeling of his lips on mine. It's not like I'd be sleeping with him on a first date. We've already had lots of sex years ago and now we're adults. Clearing my thoughts, I smile a little. "Sure."

He smiles happily. "Great. You can follow me over."

We stand and he holds my hand as we exit the restaurant. Valet quickly retrieves our cars. Devin walks me to the driver side of the Maserati, leaning in to press his soft lips against mine. His lips are soft and just as kissable as I remember them. We pull apart and he smiles at me. "Even better than I remember," I say as I climb into the car.

"I'll text you the address just in case we somehow get split up. It's about ten minutes from here."

I nod and he closes the door. Once he's in his car, he leads the way back to his house. It's a small grey house with white shutters. There's a medium sized porch with a swing and a one car garage. The lawn is perfect and there's a couple potted flowers near the steps. We enter the house and I take off my heels while taking a look around. Very simple. Modern. The walls are mostly bare but the place is extremely clean. "This is a nice place."