Nicole Edwards - Perception

Xander moved to sit beside her, not leaving an inch of space between them, his big, warm hand resting on her thigh.

“Dakota’s,” Xander replied, referring to one of his favorite restaurants, a five star steakhouse no less.

As the limo pulled away from the curb, Mercedes made a last ditch effort to calm her nerves. It wasn’t like she hadn’t shared more than her fair share of dinners with Xander. They often would go together, especially when he wanted to go to Dakota’s because he knew she liked the place.

She knew she should feel comfortable with him because they were such close friends, but this felt decidedly different. Mostly because Xander was touching her. Constantly. Oddly, she found that she didn’t mind his touch. It was intimate, yet casual, but not at all innocent which left her a little rattled. She could practically feel the tension radiating beneath his skin, and that made her own skin tingle.

Thankfully, the drive was a short one, and it wasn’t long before Xander was leading her into the restaurant. After being greeted by name, Mercedes followed the host to a table in the back while Xander remained right behind her, his hand making her skin sizzle where he kept it at the small of her back.

Xander, ever the gentleman, pulled out her chair after waving off the host’s attempt and waited until she was seated comfortably before taking the chair across from her. She would’ve been surprised by the fact that he didn’t take the seat next to her, but if you’d ever been out to dinner with Xander, you’d realize that the broad expanse of his upper body left him little room to share at a small table such as the one they were now sitting at.

So, their seating arrangement wasn’t unusual.

What was different from normal was the fact Xander took her hand from across the table and caressed the backs of her fingers with his thumbs while the host detailed for them the wine list.

As usual, Xander nodded politely but didn’t order, rather waiting patiently for their waiter to arrive.

“Good evening, Ms. Bryant. Mr. Boone,” the familiar waiter said with a face splitting grin when he approached them less than a minute later.

“Good evening, Tony,” Mercedes greeted back, smiling up at the handsome young man. It didn’t seem to matter what time of day or night that they chose to go to the renowned steakhouse, Tony was always there to serve them. She had her suspicions that Tony was called in even on his days off if “Mr. Boone” chose to make a reservation.

“Tonight I’d like as little interruption as possible,” Xander informed him in that deep, booming tone that he used when speaking business. Strangely enough, Xander kept his eyes on her, not bothering to address Tony directly.

“Of course, sir,” Tony answered, not looking at all taken aback by the request. “I’ll bring the wine momentarily.”

“Thank you,” Mercedes said as Tony turned and disappeared across the restaurant. They would not be placing an order because for the last few years, whenever she accompanied Xander, they always had the same thing. Tony would no doubt ensure they had a perfect dining experience, without interruption.

Not bothering to pull her hand out from underneath Xander’s, she stared down at their hands, wondering if he felt the way she trembled. It was an involuntary reaction, one she wasn’t at all proud of.

“Shane called,” Xander informed her, drawing her attention back to him.

She raised her eyebrow, a silent acknowledgement that she was listening.

“He’s going to meet us at Devotion later.”

Mercedes swallowed hard, but her gaze didn’t waver from Xander’s. She’d already given herself a pep talk earlier. This was a commitment she’d made, and now she had to deal with the fallout. A deal was a deal and worst case, if she couldn’t survive this first test, she’d easily let Xander know at the end of the night.

For now, she was committed to the next few hours, no matter what was on the agenda. She had no idea how Shane was going to react to whatever Xander had planned for her at Devotion, but she couldn’t very well argue after she’d entered into this agreement with her eyes wide open.

“You don’t care to know what he said?” Xander asked, an indiscernible tilt to his full lips the only sign that he was amused by her reaction.

“Of course I care,” she said with a matching smile, trying to hide her reaction to his teasing.

When Xander didn’t offer more details, Mercedes laughed. “Quit playing with me, X. Just tell me what he said.”

“He said he’s looking forward to seeing us tonight.”

“He didn’t ask any questions about why I wasn’t going to Kink? Or about why you and I were going to Devotion together?” Although the notion of their going out to various places together wasn’t completely absurd, Mercedes knew Shane was rather perceptive. Not to mention suspicious.

“Of course he asked why,” Xander admitted, sitting back when Tony arrived to pour the wine.

Mercedes tasted the rich red that Tony offered and then signaled her approval before turning her attention back to Xander.

“And?”

“I told him that I was taking you to dinner and then taking you to Devotion. I didn’t feel the need to explain my reasoning to him.”

Mercedes knew his explanation hadn’t been accepted without more questions. Rather than push Xander, she sat back, waiting patiently.

He laughed. A brilliant, rich sound that made her insides jump to attention. She loved when he laughed. It was such an amazing sound, probably because it was so rare. At least like that anyway.

“I told him he’d be seeing a lot more of you tonight.”

“You did not!” Mercedes gasped.

Xander laughed again, which settled her somewhat. The man was incorrigible.

“No, I didn’t. But you and I both know that it’s going to happen.”

Mercedes wasn’t all that worried about Shane seeing more of her, as Xander put it. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen plenty of her before. When they played at Kink, the individual play rooms were all open to the public. The private rooms could be viewed if the participants chose so there were plenty of times Shane could’ve witnessed a scene between her and one of her subs.

What she was worried about was what Xander had planned.

“Are you going to use one of the main play rooms?” she asked, referring to the large glass rooms that were centered on the main floor.

“I haven’t thought that far ahead yet,” he told her, another devious smirk teasing his lips.

It was official, she was not going to survive the night.

“How’s your mom and dad?” Mercedes asked after Tony delivered their meals a short while later.

They’d already made it through the salad course, shared another glass of wine and managed to talk about very little. Mercedes was nervous, there was no doubt about that. In a sadistic sort of way, Xander liked the idea of her being nervous. It meant she viewed this dinner as something more than two friends or two business associates enjoying a meal together.

And this was definitely more than that.

“They’re good. Right now they’re enjoying the sights in Columbus, Ohio.” At least that’s where they were when he’d talked to his mother early that morning.

“Are they planning to head back here anytime soon?”

Xander took a sip of his wine as he watched Mercedes. “Not if they have anything to say about it.”

His parents, married for going on forty years, were retired and after plenty of discussions had decided they wanted to set out to see the world. Or more specifically, to tour any state within the US that they could physically drive to. Xander had bought them a recreational vehicle with all of the bells and whistles and he was pretty sure they hadn’t looked back since.

That was three years ago.

He talked to his mother every day to catch up on what they were doing or for her to grill him about what he was doing. Didn’t matter if the call lasted three minutes or thirty, he still made a point to talk to one or both of them every day.

“Where are they off to next?”

“As of this morning, they hadn’t decided. Either Michigan or Pennsylvania. I think they’re going to stay right where they are though for at least a week.”

Mercedes looked up at him, concern in her eyes. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes,” he told her, cutting his steak. “At least that’s what my mother is claiming. My dad took a fall, but she assures me it isn’t anything to worry about. I told her I’d fly up to check on them, but she insisted that I not.” That conversation hadn’t gone over well, but when Xander had finally calmed down, he’d agreed. For now.

Of course, at that point, Stella had changed the subject, wanting to know what Mercedes and Shane were up to since she’d apparently heard enough to suit her fancy about Xander’s day to day.

Xander’s parents loved Mercedes. They had asked him more than once whether he was ever going to settle down with her and if he wasn’t, whether or not Shane was going to show better sense than he apparently had. He’d laughed, knowing what he did. Settling down wasn’t the issue. Neither was the notion of settling down with Mercedes.

Xander knew that there were plenty of men and women who had relationship phobias or a constant need to push people away for whatever reason. Xander had none of those. He didn’t cringe at the prospect of getting married, settling down, having kids. It might happen one day. He was even fairly optimistic at thirty-five. He had a good childhood, he was close to his parents, and he didn’t feel the need to come up with some sort of reason he couldn’t get attached.