K. Linde - Take Me for Granted

“Hey,” he said, pulling me against him. “I’ve been thinking about you all week.”

I started to chastise myself for getting giddy because he’d been thinking about me, but then I just let myself feel what was working its way through me. When we weren’t at each other’s throats, I kind of liked being around Grant.

We walked out to his truck, and I hopped up into the passenger seat.

“Hope you don’t mind a little drive,” he said.

“Where are we going?”

He smiled at me. “Down the shore.”

It was an hour before we arrived at a small pizza place. It didn’t look like much with a small sign that read Duffie’s overhead, but the parking lot was jam-packed. I was a little worried about finding a table, but Grant didn’t seem to have any anxiety.

We hopped out of the truck and Grant came around to my side. When he saw the concern on my face, he just laughed and took my hand. “Come on, Princess. It’s the best pizza I’ve ever had. You do like pizza, right?”

Uncertainty crossed his face for a moment, but then it disappeared as soon as I nodded.

We walked into the building together, and a hostess greeted us. Every single table in the place was filled. Waiters were carrying trays of drinks and pizza and joking around with customers. The restaurant had an energy about it that made me relax. I hadn’t known what to expect with Grant, but I was kind of glad he hadn’t taken me anywhere fancy. That was what I typically went for, but that didn’t seem like Grant to me.

“Great. Thanks,” Grant said to the hostess.

“This way,” she said.

We followed her through the crowd, out a set of double doors, and onto a balcony overlooking the ocean. Exactly one table was unoccupied, and it had to be the best seat in the place. How are we so lucky?

I sat across from Grant and waited for the hostess to leave before speaking. “This is…really nice. How did you find this place?”

“I used to come here a lot when I was younger.”

“Oh, really? Are you from the area?” I asked, leaning forward. For the first time, I realized that I knew next to nothing about the man in front of me.

“Moved here from Knoxville when I was ten, and I’ve been here ever since.” He looked a little sheepish before admitting, “This was actually my first job. I worked here through most of high school.”

I’d never pictured him working, which was out of the ballpark of normalcy for me. What do you do?—that had been the only question that really mattered in my parents’ circle of friends.

“I bet you brought all the girls here,” I said lightly. Yes, bringing up other girls is smart on the first date.

“Uh…no, not really.”

“No?”

“I didn’t have to take girls out. I guess this would be the first time.”

I gaped at him.

“So, how am I doing?” Grant asked, spreading his arms wide.

The first time? Like, his first date ever?

No. No way. That can’t be right.

Surely, someone like Grant had had tons of girls flocking for his attention in high school. He’d had to date someone…sometime.

Right?

The longer I stared at him with that smirk on his face, the more I saw the layer underneath. He was…nervous. Grant McDermott was nervous to be on a date with me.

“You’re doing great,” I reassured him. I couldn’t believe it, but so far, this was better than the dates I’d gone on with guys from Princeton.

“Grant!” an older man said as he walked up to our table. “So good to see you home again and with such a beautiful date.”

“It’s good to be back, Randy. This is my friend Aribel.”

“It is a true pleasure, Aribel.” The man took my hand in his, large and strong from use. He had kind eyes and a welcoming smile.

“Randy’s the owner,” Grant filled in for me.

“Oh, well, I love your restaurant.”

“Bah! You haven’t even tasted the food!” He glanced at Grant and laughed. “I like her.”

Grant seemed completely comfortable when his eyes shifted from Randy’s back to mine. “I like her, too.”

My cheeks heated, and I looked away from him. I couldn’t figure out how Grant made my stomach flip the way it did. I’d always been so logical, practical…and he threw those qualities out the window with only a smile.

“We’ll have the special and some water. Unless you want something else?” he asked me hesitantly.

“That sounds fine.”

Randy picked up the unopened menus from the table. “Don’t be a stranger, Grant,” he said before leaving.

“You’ve been incredibly accommodating tonight,” Grant said. “I keep waiting for a snarky comment.”

I shrugged. “Well, you haven’t made any asshole sexual comments yet.”

“I could if you like.”

“Oh, yes, my dream in life is to be sexually objectified every chance I get.”

He cracked a smile. “There she is.”

“Does it ever get tiring?”

“What?” he asked, leaning in closer to me.

“The sexual objectification, the constant stream of girls. Don’t you ever just want more?”

“Babe, I’m usually getting more.”

“Ugh! Not what I meant,” I said, turning my face out to the ocean. “You’ve never been on a date before. From everything I’ve heard about you…you sleep with women and then never talk to them again.” I could feel the heat of his gaze on my face, and I forced myself to look at him. “Haven’t you ever thought there was more to a relationship than that?”

Grant stiffened at my question. There I had gone again. I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. I couldn’t keep myself from asking exactly what was on my mind. I was messing this thing up, whatever it was with Grant, before our first date had even come to a conclusion.

“To be perfectly honest, Ari, until you, I’d never given two shits about anyone that wasn’t family.”

Ari and I left Duffie’s after we finished dinner, and she started walking back toward my truck. I hadn’t driven all the way down the shore just to get pizza. We were on my first date, so I was going to go all out.

I grabbed her hand and looped it with mine. “This way,” I said, taking a side entrance to the boardwalk.

Her dark blue eyes were wide and alert as she took in the scene before her. The sun was low on the horizon and reflecting against the water for miles.

“You ever been down the shore before?”

“Yes. My roommates took me last summer. Shelby and Gabi are from Atlantic City, so they showed us around—um…me and Cheyenne, that is.”

“Where are you from?”

“Boston.”

“Never been there.”

“Oh, you’d love it. My dad is a CEO at a bank downtown, so I—”

I straightened visibly at that word. CEO. Fuck me. Who the fuck am I to take out a girl whose father runs an entire bank?

“What?” she asked, noticing my discomfort.

“Nothing,” I covered quickly.

She knew I was lying.

“Well, you’d love Boston,” she finally said.

Silence lingered between us. I felt something crawl into my chest and spread out, like it was trying to fester through my whole body. I didn’t know what the fuck was wrong with me. I liked this girl. That has to be it. I was completely out of my element. I’d fucked spoiled princesses whose parents had too much money. I hadn’t discriminated against who landed in my bed. But this…this felt fucking different.

“You have something on your mind,” she whispered finally.

“Yeah.” I drew her into me and kissed her hard on the mouth. Maybe I could drown out my own thoughts.

Her arms wrapped around my neck, and she wound her fingers through my hair. She shivered in my arms, and I wasn’t sure if it was from our kiss or the crisp air as winter rolled in on the boardwalk, but I just kissed her harder, more desperately. I didn’t care who her father was or how much money they had or how much better than me she probably was. She was kissing me back. Whether I deserved it or not, Ari wanted this, too.

As always, Ari pulled away first. Her dark blue eyes met mine, and she giggled against my lips. Since I’d known her, she had always worn such a stern expression with a particularly prominent scowl, so her giggle made me smile.

“Something funny, Princess?” I asked, pulling back to look at her.

She shook her head. “No. I’m just surprised I’m having a good time with you.”

“Ouch,” I said, bringing a hand to my wounded heart.

“Oh, no…I didn’t mean it…” She trailed off and bit her lip. “Sorry. I have a problem with spewing the first thing that comes to mind.”

“It’s not a problem,” I told her quickly.

Actually, I liked it. She knew I was an asshole, and she had still gone on a date with me. I hadn’t given her any other option, but still…

“Well, I’m not one to sugarcoat,” Ari said.

“Me either. That’s why when I told you that I wanted you in my bed, I meant it.”

“Oh, I know you meant that.” Her cheeks turned a soft shade of pink. “But what I didn’t know was if all of this was just an excuse to get me there.”

Huh. As much as I wanted to fuck this girl, that hadn’t been in my game plan, not the way that she was thinking at least.

“And?” I finally asked. “What do you think?”

She took a few steps away from me and leaned her elbows against the railing of the boardwalk, facing out to the ocean. My body responded to the beautiful sight of her body pressed into the wooden railing and her tight little ass sticking out. She glanced over her shoulder and saw me checking her out.

“Well?” I prompted when she said nothing.

“I think you want me there, but you like me here, too.”

Well, if that isn’t the damn truth.

I closed the distance between us and turned her to face me. My hands slid down the sides of her dress as I whispered in her ear, “I want you any way I can have you.”

She cleared her throat as I felt her body reacting to my nearness.

“I’ll be sure to remember that.”

Her words sounded like a promise, and I wondered what I’d gotten myself into.

When we arrived at Ari’s house right before midnight, I walked with her up to her door, all the while restraining myself from pouncing on her. Physical restraint had never been my strong suit.