Matchplay A New Adult Romance - By Dakota Madison Page 0,38

twinkle in his eyes. “I

hope you enjoy this.”

“I’m sure I will.”

Several minutes later, we arrived at a beautiful Japanese Garden and Tea Room.

“I thought we could do a tour of the garden then have an early dinner in the tea room,” Aaron suggested.

I smiled. “Sounds like an excellent plan.”

The only other person I saw was an older man selling tickets to get into the garden. “Last weekend of the season,” he said as he handed Aaron two tickets. “Then we’ll be closing up for the winter.”

The garden was lovely with beautiful ponds and wooden foot bridges. I felt like I was in a water lily painting by Claude Monet. As we stood and watched the fish swimming amongst the lily pads, I felt what I

imagined you were supposed to feel in a Japanese garden: serenity.

Aaron grabbed my other hand and pulled me into him. He embraced me in a hug and whispered in my ear. “I’m glad you’re here with me, Sunshine.”

Aaron kissed my neck and my stomach clenched. Then worked his way up to my mouth and the intensity of his kisses grew as his desire for me did. Within seconds, we were both enraptured and breathless. Aaron was awakening a longing deep inside me, one that I wasn’t yet accustomed to. My heart fluttered with the thrill of the new feelings I was experiencing.

“We’d better stop,” Aaron inhaled. “This is definitely not taking things slowly.”

I grinned. He was right. We were starting to get carried away and at the rate we were going, I

wouldn’t be a virgin very much longer.

“Besides, it’s almost dinner time and I’m starving.”

***

The tea room was small but charming. We had our choice of tables and Aaron selected one in a quiet back corner of the place. Not that it mattered because we were the only patrons there. Privacy would not be an issue.

When the young and extremely attractive waitress came over to take our order, she had a strange expression on her face. She was staring at Aaron and completely ignoring me. A past fling, perhaps?

“Hello, Aaron,” she said in an overly flirtatious and inappropriate tone.

Aaron looked completely uncomfortable with the young woman. “Amanda,” he said, finally acknowledging that he knew her.

When Amanda touched Aaron’s shoulder, he froze for a second then moved from under her grasp. She gaped at him as if she couldn’t believe he wasn’t responding positively to her gesture. “What’s going on,”

she said. She seemed to be confused.

“I’m here with my girlfriend,” Aaron said matter-of-factly.

It was like a light bulb went off. Amanda suddenly realized that Aaron wasn’t alone and I was sitting at the table with him. A look of complete disgust crossed her face. I’m sure she wondered why someone like me was sitting with Aaron instead of her. She was clearly a 10 on anyone’s scale and I was probably a 7 on a really good day.

“You have a girlfriend,” she blurted, her eyes still fixed on me. I’m sure what she really wanted to say was: that’s your girlfriend but she refrained.

“We’d like to order.”

“Oh, yeah, right.” Amanda’s attention was still fixed on me.

I was sure she was thinking, like the beautiful girls, who sat in the back on my art class that Aaron was with me because I had a magic Vajayjay or gave good BJs.

Aaron ordered yakitori, grilled chicken, with rice for both of us. When Amanda left, Aaron took my hands in his and kissed my fingers. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I don’t want my past to continue to haunt our relationship.”

“I thought you handled that really well.”

He smiled. “Thanks, I’m trying.”

After Amanda brought our food, I took the opportunity to broach a sensitive subject. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course, you can ask me anything.”

I swallowed and gathered my courage. “Now that we’re together, what are you going to do about The Tournament.”

Aaron expression grew sullen and I immediately regretted bringing up the subject.

He took a moment to gather his thoughts then said, “I have two older brothers. We’re all two years apart and extremely competitive. They were both in The Clubhouse when they were in college. Of course, they were both President just like me and they both won The Tournament their senior years.”

Aaron’s expression changed. I couldn’t tell if he was sad or embarrassed, maybe a bit of both. “I have to tell them that I’m out of the Tournament. I don’t think they’ll understand. My oldest brother will be turning 27 and he’s just now thinking