Bound

Chapter Three: Ivey

         The ocean blue dress or the red sparkly one? I silently asked myself. I was standing in front of the mirror, thinking which dress would be best, finally deciding on the blue one. I quickly slipped it on, barley pulling it over my hips, then glanced at my reflection. The dress came to a few inches above the knee and hugged my curvy frame flawlessly. To top off the outfit, I picked out a pair of matching blue stilettos; even in these I wasn’t as tall as Liam.

         Now it was time for makeup and hair. Liam liked my hair down, so I decided to curl it. My hair wasn’t too stubborn, but it did not hold small curls as well as I liked, so I went with big curls. For makeup I went as natural as I could. I applied light shades of brown eye shadow to my eyelids, added some mascara and a thin line of eyeliner to the top lid, then finished the look off with a light red lipstick to pull it all together.

         The doorbell rang as I was putting all of my makeup away, making me jump about a mile into the air. I ran down the stairs, all the while making sure my dress was smooth and unwrinkled, and that my hair was still perfect. I took a deep breath, composing myself, then opened the door.

         As usual, Liam was dashing in a semi-formal black suit, his hair swept to the side. He smiled as he took in the image of me, his eyes crinkling as he scanned my figure.

“You look amazing.” He said, sweetly.
“Thank you. You don’t look too bad yourself.” I laughed, looking down as I fumbled with the hem of my dress.
“Are you ready to go?” He asked, quickly changing the subject.
“I was born ready.”

         He started towards his silver 2006 Dodge Ram as I locked the front door behind us, but I quickly caught up to him. He opened the passenger door then held his hand out for me to take since the truck was a few feet too high for me. He carefully closed the door for me before hurrying to his side of the vehicle. I pulled my seatbelt around me as he started the car and soon enough, we were off.

“Where are we going?” I asked, subconsciously fiddling with my fingernails.
“There’s this new Italian restaurant that the boys at the station said was really good. It’s called Medici’s. You haven’t been there, yet, have you?” Liam asked, suddenly worried.
“No, I definitely have not eaten there.” I said, flashing him a reassuring smile.

***

         It was quite a while before we arrived at the restaurant, but once we were there I knew it had all been worth it. The atmosphere inside the building was quiet and sensual. Most of the tables seemed to already be taken, but Liam had thankfully made a reservation ahead of time.

“Right this way, please,” Said the woman behind the counter as she grabbed two menus and some silverware for us.

         I glanced at all of the people around us as we made our way to the table. I oddly started to feel uneasy as I stared at the people’s faces. They weren’t doing anything to make me feel this way, really. At least, not on purpose. I just had a bad feeling, and bad feelings were very rare for me.

         I shook the uneasy feeling and focused on Liam. He was going back and forth between the wine and beer menu.

“How was your day?” I asked, trying to distract myself, and start a conversation.
“It was pretty good, I guess. Rather boring, if you ask me. And you?”

“I didn’t do much, either. But we did get a major case, that Jacki will probably want you to be a part of. It’s a murder, actually. The case was transferred from somewhere else, Jacki didn’t say, so he’s been moving around and he’s pretty dangerous.” I said, trying not to say too much, too loud.

“I think I heard about this guy. Kills the husbands of the women he sleeps with, right?” Liam replied.
“Yep, that would be him. Glad to hear you already know about him. Now I don’t have to repeat everything Jacki said.”
“That’s all the boys at the station talked about today. But let’s not bring that into our personal lives right now. No business tonight. Just you and me.” Liam said, looking me straight in the eye.

         I wasn’t sure how to reply to that so I gave him a shy smile, nodded, then looked down at my menu. My mind wasn’t really focused on the fancy italic writing in front of me, though. It was everywhere; overhearing the conversation of two women seven tables away from us talking about a guy named Sam; of a group of college kids all the way across the restaurant laughing at a stupid ‘that’s what she said’ joke one of the them had told. I couldn’t concentrate on anything. His words affected me in a way no one else’s could.

“The shrimp scampi sounds pretty good.” He said, starting up a conversation again.
I was finally able to think clearly once more and quickly looked for something on the menu, anything. “I think I’ll get the chicken marsala.” I said, looking up into his eyes again.

“Great choice. I heard it’s amazing here.” Liam commented, flashing his sideways smile at me.
“Good evening folks, my name is Leighla and I’ll be your server tonight. Can I start you off with some wine?” a tall, attractive brunette asked as she took out her notepad from her apron.

         The first thing I noticed about her was her perfume. It was an odd scent, though. Like nothing I’d ever smelled before. It was like mixture of flowers, sweat, various cooking oils, rust, and hair product. Weird.

“Yes, I’ll have a glass of Lumina Pinot Grigio. What do you want Ivey?” Liam said, once again snapping me back to the present.
“Um, I’ll have the same.” I replied, hastily.
“Alright. I’ll be right back with your drinks. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me anything.” Leighla chirped, gracefully floating away.

“Hey, you okay?” Liam asked once she was out of hearing range, his eyebrows furrowing in concern.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a long day, I guess. I haven’t been getting a whole lot of sleep lately, so that probably isn’t helping.” I laughed, just trying to shake it off.
“You sure?”
“Positive. Now, let’s get back to our evening.” I picked back up on our conversation about food from earlier, obviously making him forget about anything that had just happened.

***

“I had a great time tonight.” Liam said, just as we reached the front door of my white Victorian style house.
“Me too. We need to do this more often.” I commented.
“We will, don’t you worry. I’ll see you at your office tomorrow to get the low-down on the case and what part I’m supposed to play in it. See you then?”
“Yes you will.” I replied, looking down at my feet.

         It was then that I saw his hand moving up under my chin, tilting my face up towards him. I wasn’t sure what I expected to happen, but I knew what I wanted to happen. My heart was racing as his face was within inches of mine, and it was then that I knew. Our lips met and my body was on fire. My thoughts were jumbled and my animal instincts kicked in. My arms wound themselves around his neck as I pulled him closer to me, pulled him in to me.

         He pulled away a few seconds later, completely out of breath and with a huge smile on his face.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Ivey.” He said, still smiling, and walked back to his truck.
“See you.” I said softly, not really sure if it reached him. In that moment, though, I didn’t care. I was ready to explode, but I wasn’t going to until he was out of sight.