Joan laughed at what Santiago said. They were at a really nice restaurant she picked. It was a small diner where the best of steaks were served like it was the elites. Santiago was not sure about it because their most expensive food wasn’t expensive to him but since she liked it, he liked it too.
“Wow, I can’t believe you guys did that” she shook her head.
“Hey, don’t judge. We were college students and had all the fun in our hands to have” he defends.
Joan raised her hands as if in surrender. “Not judging” she laughed.
They stayed quiet for a moment, just looking into each other eyes and sipping wine. Santiago broke eye contact, a smile on his lips and he shook his head.
“You might not believe me but I haven’t felt like this for anyone” he confessed.
He took her hand in his and kissed her palms. Her cheeks reddened and she wanted to draw her hands from him.
“Really?” she bit her lower lip.
Their server came to pour more wine for them before leaving. Santiago didn’t let go of Joan’s hand but kept a firm but comforting hold on them.
“Yes,” he nods his head.
Joan laughed and then brushed a strand of hair away from her face. Trying to look confident and not shy.
“I’m sure you tell that to all your women” she raised an eyebrow.
Santiago smiled at that and took a sip from his glass. She knew he had been with other women but didn’t want him to admit it. It was stupid of her to think of but that’s what she wanted. For him not to admit.
“I admit that I have dated lots of women” There was a little pang in her chest when he said it “I wouldn’t lie to you, I never saw them the way I do with you” he kissed her palms again “And I certainly haven’t told anyone what I said to you” he said.
‘What about Stacy?’ she wanted to ask but she couldn’t ask. He doesn’t know she and Stacy are now acquainted. And it looked more like it was Stacy who was in the supposed ‘relationship’ than Santiago was.
She sighed, her shoulders dropped and her eyes were bare of the excitement the evening started with. Santiago noticed the change in her mood and held her hands closer.
“I promise with my life, you’re the only one I told that to, the only one I feel this way for. I had an ex who was really terrible but I didn’t feel this for her” he caressed her hand slowly, tracing his fingers slightly above her skin. “I meant what I said when I told you I really like you Joan” he moves his hand to lightly touch her face.
Joan looked into his bright hazel eyes, they looked sincere and she wanted to believe he was but deep inside her, she felt she couldn’t amount to Stacy, her beauty, and everything about her.
The snapping of Santiago’s fingers in front of her face snapped her out of her thinking bubble.
“Earth to Joan” he smiled when she did.
“Sorry, I got lost in here” she points to her head. “You were saying something?”
“I was asking if you wanted us to get out of here. Go somewhere more private or quiet?” he asked.
Joan bit her lip and leaned closer to the table, her arms were rested on the table.
“Why? Want to kidnap me already?” she playfully asked in a whisper.
Santiago did like he was in thought “Hmm, depends. Do you fight back? Will there be struggles? There are lots to consider here” he states.
“What do we need to consider, sir,” she bit her lips and leaned back from him.
Santiago’s eyes lingered on her lips for a moment, he swallowed and tore his eyes away from there back to her green eyes.
His expression turned from playful to serious in a matter of seconds and he leaned closer to the table.
“You’re a beautiful woman, Joan,” he said, his voice sounding intense and deep. Sweetness coated.
As if the air changed, Joan felt warmness washing her cheeks, her palms now felt sweaty, and she suddenly felt super shy, trying to avoid eye contact.
Santiago held her hand “Want us to get out of here?” she couldn’t say anything so she nodded in response and he smiled at her then placed money on the table, stood to his feet, and helped her up like a gentleman.
They walked out of the diner, hand-in-hand, and to his car. He helped her inside, then went to the driver’s side. Both of them sat in the car. Quiet, only their ragged breathing and the change of the atmosphere.
“Want to come over to my place?” he broke the silence. Joan didn’t feel certain at first but she wanted to feel something with this man and it could be in his apartment she would feel it so she consented to it with a nod.
Santiago leaned in and kissed her on the cheeks then started the car and drove in the direction of his house. The ride up there was silent. Santiago’s palms were sweaty, he tightly gripped the steering wheels, scared that he would do something to spoil the mood. Sweat beads were on his forehead and he wiped one that trailed to his brows.
Joan is feeling self-conscious. She couldn’t believe a man like Santiago would make her feel this way, she was nervous and agitated. Like he was watching her every move and she could do something to turn him off. She fears she might do something that would make him like her less.
Santiago felt nervous with her around him, so he stopped the car halfway through. Joan looks at him with questioning eyes. He didn’t look at her, couldn’t explain why he stopped.
“Any problem?” she asked.
He stutters “Uh… err… w-well,” he didn’t know what to say to that and searched frantically in his brain for an answer “I-I need to pick something from the office,” he said the first thing that came to his mind. He didn’t know what but wanted to breathe before they went to his house.
‘To the office on your date night? Seriously, man’ he could hear Aiden’s voice scream in his head and an imaginary tap on the back of his head.
He turns the car around and heads for his office.
“I don’t do this on dates. I never bring work in between. I just… just” he trails off.
Joan chuckles “I will not hold that on you, don’t worry,” she glanced at him, she could sense nervousness seeping out of him.
‘Guess I’m not the only one then’ she comforts herself and tries to bring up topics for them to talk about to reduce the tension in the air.
They got to his office in no time and he walked inside and to the elevator where he pressed the button to open the door. The doors opened and they got inside. They didn’t say a word, just watched the floor number change as they went up.
It stopped on his floor and the door opened. Santiago took Joan’s hand in his and they walked straight to his office. He didn’t know what he wanted to do there but hoped an idea would pop in when they entered.
Santiago was too distracted with the thoughts in his mind that he didn’t notice his office door was slightly ajar when they got in, neither did he notice the disarrangement of his office chairs like someone recently sat on it, or the brewing coffee at the coffee table or the figure that sat on in the dark where his little couch is located.
“DO you want us to switch on the lig-”
She couldn’t continue her sentence because Santiago pulled her to himself and caught her lips in a sweet, gentle kiss. He didn’t know if the feeling of kissing her was what made him nervous earlier but with her petite frame in his arms, molded to his body, and her soft lips locked with his, he felt fine. Better.
He didn’t break off the kiss when he walked them to his table till he could hoist her on top of the table, he kept keeping them locked in the kiss.
Joan didn’t know how to react to that, she just let herself follow whatever he was doing, she let her hands run over his biceps, neck, face, and hair. She needed to catch her breath but she didn’t want this to stop. She let her legs wrap around his torso.
He brought her even closer to himself and then traced her thigh with the tip of his finger.
“Santiago” Stacy’s voice made them tear away from each other, leaving them in a breathing mess as they tried to catch their breath and calm their sense back.
Joan felt the chill run down her spine when she recognized the voice and tried to hide behind Santiago but she stopped when Stacy called her name.
“Joan, what are you doing with Santiago?”