FIVE

Derek

With my hands tucked away in my pockets, I crossed the Lovehouse parking lot. It was tucked away in the center of Central Park beside the lake and was one of the most sought-after restaurants in New York City. Anywhere in the city, I never had trouble obtaining a table. I was well known since I was the owner of one of the biggest corporations in the world. But maybe it wouldn't be as easy as I imagined it would be to come here with a date I was attempting to disguise.

Fortunately, after I was inside, they moved me to a location where I would be less obvious to others. I sat down and waited, running my fingers down the tablecloth's edge while I pondered the justification Skye had given her father for coming to see me. While the front door opened, I looked up as the background noise of talking and clinking plates resonated through my thoughts. Skye was standing there, looking extremely lovely in a short, sparkly red dress, shoes, and hair that fell about her shoulders. I raised my hand and rose up, approaching her at her seat to give her a cheek kiss and help her into her chair. I walked back around to my chair and sat down, looking up at the waitress as she poured us both a glass of wine .

“You look stunning,” I told Skye, smiling. “What did you tell your father ?”

“He was locked in his office when I left,” she said. “He didn’t even notice I was leaving .”

“I’m sorry you have to sneak around like this,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t want to stop seeing you, but there are a lot of things surrounding this that could hurt us both. Unfortunately, this isn’t a simple thing .”

“I know,” she said, sighing. “But I agree that I want to keep seeing you, too. I want to see where this goes, and I think taking the risk is worth it .”

“I agree,” I replied, taking her hand. “Now, if we could just get your father some young hot thing, he might not even notice .”

“Yeah, right,” I scoffed. “My father is too old school for that .”

“You might be surprised,” I said, lifting my eyebrows. “I personally love the idea of a hot little thing on my arm, and you’re not too bad personality wise, either .”

“Well, what can I say,” she said, laughing. “You look incredibly handsome by the way .”

“Why thank you,” I said, leaning in. “I think you make me look good. Maybe we can look even better out of these clothes later on .”

“Why, Mr. Riggs, is that a proposal of the indecent variety?” She feigned shock and started laughing .

I felt no longer bad for desiring this stunning woman in my life as I looked across the table at her. She had the most stunning grin of any lady I had ever met, was humorous, clever, and attractive. Her face brightened up as she spoke to me, and the restaurant's dim lighting caught the sparkle in those sexy blue eyes. We placed an order for several small plates and sat down to speak about my business, my day, her day, and everything in between.

Despite having a twenty-one-year age difference, we found it to be really simple to talk to one another. Even while sex was undoubtedly on my mind, I never imagined that at age forty-one, I would be having dinner with a twenty-one-year-old and would be thinking about something other than sex. I wanted to take her to the bathroom and feel her pouty, bright red lipstick-covered lips around my cock.

As she talked about her time in college and her closest friend Mandy, I leaned forward and regarded her with adoration. She then began to discuss the things she was considering pursuing with her degree. She was incredibly imaginative and still retained the childlike perspective on life that many people have lost over time. The very act of listening to her made me feel much younger.

“What about you?” she asked. “Where do you want to take your company in the future ?”

“Well, I think that as far as expansion, we’re pretty set being all around the world,” I said. “My biggest goal now is to be on the cutting edge of technology. I want to be one step ahead of these hackers, and by employing the best to work with the most recent technological advances, I definitely think I can take the company to new heights .”

I glanced up at the front door as she began to speak, my grin quickly vanishing as Spencer stepped in with his back to the hostess. I froze and slowly stood up. Skye seemed perplexed. She promptly rose up and came to my side after following my gaze across to the front. I grabbed the nearest waiter and gave him two hundred bucks after getting my money out of my pocket.

“Take this,” I said. “Show this lady out the back. She cannot be seen. Do you understand ?”

“Yes, sir,” the waiter replied, looking over at Skye .

“Skye,” I said, turning toward her and kissing her on the cheek. “Go. We can finish this conversation later, okay? I will call you after dinner. I’m going to distract your father so you can get out safely .”

After giving the server her arm, she moved toward the kitchen while nodding her head. In an effort to calm her anxiety, she turned to face me and gave me a worried expression. I inhaled deeply, turned toward the front, and raised my arms in the air as soon as she disappeared from view.

“Spencer,” I said happily .

“Derek,” he said, glancing back at the table. “I didn’t know you would be here .”

“Come, sit with me,” I said .

“Sure,” he replied, smiling. “If I’m not interrupting .”

“Of course not,” I said, leading him back to my table .

To catch my breath and clear my throat, I made my way over to my seat. My pulse was racing a million miles per hour, but I knew I had saved Skye's life by getting her out quickly. Spencer's appearance on the same night as Skye and I left me in disbelief. I began to suspect that keeping our situation a secret wouldn't be as simple as I had anticipated. I would have to start paying more attention to what was going on behind me. However, I soon realized that taking her to the Love house, where everyone I knew went for dinner, hadn't been the best course of action. In the future, I would either prepare meals at home or locate a pleasant location across town where I was certain Spencer would never appear at random.

I took a seat and gave the waitress the go-ahead. She approached Spencer's table and took the plates and glasses away. As she pulled them apart, he turned to look at the wine bottle and then the glass smeared with lipstick.

“I didn’t interrupt a hot date, did I? You always have some hot girl bouncing around you.” He laughed .

“No,” I said. “Sadly, she didn’t quite like my sense of humor and left. All the better. She was a bit of a prude anyway .”

“I could see that happening,” he said. “In fact, I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more to you .”

Although we laughed a lot, I was ashamed of what I had said. She had not just been a random girl. With her lovely grin and sparkling eyes, she was Skye. Knowing that Spencer was her father and that we had decided to start something we knew could not be made public, I attempted to fight the annoyance I felt at being stopped. Hopeful that Skye wasn't too shaken up from what had just transpired, I assumed I would simply have to be content with eating dinner with Spencer. I knew she was strong, but I also knew she had a big heart, and I didn't want this incident to ruin our good relationship.

Spencer and I both ordered whiskeys, and we ate and drank till the night wore on. I sent Skye a text to see how she was doing as he stood up to go the toilet. She replied to my text with a happy face emoji, and I could see her texting me while she was in bed. Tonight had definitely been a tight call—too close, in my opinion. This was something I wanted to go off without a hitch. We would need to have a discussion and make sure that a similar night wouldn't happen again. I wasn't certain if I could handle it all again.