Avoiding Commitment (Avoiding #1)(39)
Author: K.A. Linde

"Really Ramsey, where are we going? We’re getting pretty close to my parents’ house, which I should remind you, is very far away from your place," she told him.

"We’re close to your parents’ place?" he asked glancing over at her.

Lexi twisted her fingers back and forth in her lap uncomfortable at the admission that she had just revealed more information. Not that she was ashamed of her family by any means. In fact, she really got along with her parents and two younger sisters. But after being reminded of the Country Club, expensive Buckhead condominiums, and insane parties that resulted from being surrounded by such wealth, Lexi didn’t really feel comfortable explaining middle class to someone who had never had a bank account with less than seven digits. She had never even taken her best friend, Chyna, home, and she loved the girl to death.

"Uh, I guess. I mean I don’t really know where we are," she explained trying to maneuver the conversation back to their destination and farther away from her.

He obviously picked up on her concern and refrained from commenting on the nearness of her family. Though, he didn’t keep it far from his mind. "We’re close," he said adding a wink at the end.

"We’re close?" she asked arching an eyebrow.

"Are you not close? I mean you are sitting right next to me," he commented trying to keep the devilish smirk off of his face.

She smiled brightly happy that she was still capable of flirtatious banter with someone other than Jack. "Oh yes…in the sense," she said looking at him from under her eyelashes.

He busted out laughing in a loud boisterous uninhibited manner that she had witnessed at the Country Club before brunch. It had annoyed her the day before even confused her a little, but maybe that was just part of his personality. Perhaps, there was more to him than what met the eye, but she wasn’t going to keep her hopes up. She’d be polite and let him take her out to dinner for one night, because that had been his request.

Fine. She could handle herself for one night. Her last date had been months ago, and only at Chyna’s demand. Lexi figured if she just cut back her annoyance for a night she might actually have a good time. Well that is if she ever figured out where she was going.

"So how close are we?"

He jerked his head to the side at her husky tone. He had liked her when they had first met, because she had been completely forthright with him. She cared very little for his status, and showed it. He liked her the night before when she had been drunk, unrestrained, and outgoing. Her endearing personality only intensified with the alcohol. But this woman he was with tonight, he seemed to think he liked the best of all. He saw her possess the same strong-willed determination and unblemished character she revealed in the morning and the natural engaging playfulness that resulted from a combination of liquors. He could certainly get used to her surprising personality.

His eyes roamed her face resting where her bottom lip was caught between her teeth in a thoughtful expression. God, she had tasted so good the night before; he honestly wasn’t sure how he had been able to restrain himself. He hadn’t told her that she had propositioned him in her drunken stupor. He was almost certain that a woman of her caliber would be mortified that she had been so willing to give herself away. Possibly even more mortified that he had turned her down flat. That he’d had to peal her arms off of him and practically wrestle her under the covers, he had also left out of the story. Still when she had managed to weasel her arms back around him pressing her tiny form against him, he had still found the strength to extract her eager body from him. He remembered just how ready his body had reacted to her.

He gulped and attempted to force those thoughts out of his head. That would get him nowhere with her now, and he needed to focus on driving so they could officially begin their first date in the first place.

"Probably only about ten maybe fifteen minutes," he answered her.

She rested back into his comfortable champagne colored seat and felt her phone buzz next to her in her purse. She extracted the old thing and checked the text message.

"You busy?"

Lexi sighed heavily as she stared at the words on her screen. She hadn’t exactly been expecting a text message from Jack, and she didn’t want to dampen her mood with thoughts of him. She closed the phone and placed it back in its position.

"What’s up?" Ramsey asked curiosity getting the best of him.

"Um…oh…nothing," she answered not wanting to address the situation with him. So far it seemed that he knew little of what had happened with her and Jack and why she was in Atlanta in the first place. If at all possible, she would really like to keep it that way. Jack had a funny way of ruining every relationship she’d ever been in. Even though she had no thoughts of that for Ramsey, she wasn’t going to risk anything just yet.

Lexi heard her phone buzz again and annoyed stared down at the message. "Lex?"

She really did not want to deal with him right now so she quickly shoved the phone deeper in her purse. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be able to know if he messaged her again.

As they neared their destination, they listened to whatever was playing on the radio at that particular time. Neither of them really minding what was coming through the top 40 station at that moment. Realization began to dawn on her as stared out at the horizon, but she shook her head in disbelief.

No, he couldn’t be taking her there. She hadn’t been there since she was a kid. Beyond that fact, it wasn’t exactly a place to take your date. She had always gone there with family or church groups. More a place for group entertainment, then dating. Not that she was honestly looking for the normal sort of dating from Ramsey. She had only been thinking a short while ago that she was relieved he hadn’t taken her to some special five star dinner, but this was really about as far from that as a person could get.

Ramsey liked the fact that she hadn’t instantly complained when he had seen her recognize what lay before them. Any other girl would have crinkled up their nose, and demanded something a bit more extravagant…and bit more expensive. Her only reaction had been surprise. Perhaps, if luck were with him, even pleasant surprise. Generally, he considered himself to be a relatively good judge of character. Though this endeavor had been a risk, he thought she would be worth risking it on. If she hadn’t cared about the finer things before, then she certainly wouldn’t care about how this planned out. Even if he had pulled out some stops along the way. After all he did have money, so he had planned on using some of it.

He reached the gate and handed over a wad of cash to the eighty-something year old attendant and breezed his Mercedes into the establishment. They took the winding road past rows and rows of pine trees until they reached a valet parking lot at the front entrance.

Lexi glanced around in awe and wonder at Stone Mountain. Her eyes focused in on the giant mural that had been hand-carved into the rock during the Civil War as a testament to their faith in the Confederacy. She felt like a speck next to the giant mountain that tourists from all over came to climb and enjoy the surrounding park which consisted of camping grounds, a water park, train station, and over the summer an amazing laser show. This was the last place she had expected Ramsey to take her. For some reason, that made it all the better. Surprisingly enough, he didn’t think that he needed all of his wealth to impress her, and he was right. At this moment, she was impressed.

She flattened out her green spaghetti strap dress she had worn for the occasion and silently thanked God that she had decided on brown thong sandals instead of her heels. Ramsey jogged around the car and directed her towards the stone pathway that led to the lawn that was normally reserved for the laser show. She let her eyes leave her surroundings long enough to glance a look at her date for the evening. He wore a nicely cut polo that matched the green shade of his eyes and fitted khaki pants paired with Rainbow sandals. She liked his casual attire, and wished she had paid more attention before. She might have realized that they wouldn’t be going to some extravagant place had she recognized his flip-flops before this moment. She chided herself for her lack of awareness. She needed to stay on her toes.

"I hope you’re hungry," he said winking at her as they walked around the corner and down another path that opened up to the main lawn.

"Starving, actually," she admitted cringing at how that sounded.

He smiled at her bluntness. Yet another feature that he was starting to like about her. "Good. We have a banquet."

When they reached the grass, they trekked forward through a line of people. Apparently, everyone was setting up for the laser show. It was the last week before school officially started for the public schools in the area which generally brought out more spectators than any week except Memorial Weekend and Fourth of July. Lexi had no idea how they were going to find a quiet place to sit and eat after arriving so late for the show.

She should have suspected something was up when a large opening in the crowd appeared before her. Her mouth dropped open when she noticed the display before her. Ramsey had apparently called ahead and had the area cleared specifically for them. A large quilted blanket, much like the ones she slept with back in Manhattan, covered a ten by ten space on the lawn. A giant wicker picnic basket sat at the center of the roped off expanse and a cooler directly next to it. It was the most ideal location for watching the show. He must have done all this hours earlier. A grin broke out across her face.

"Is this the kind of treatment you reserve for all your dates?" she asked sitting down on the massive blanket.

Ramsey smiled brightly at her, still standing. "Not exactly," he admitted.

Lexi had just been joking not really expecting him to give her an answer. Though, she wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth anyway. It could just be a line like any other. She really couldn’t picture the type of women she had seen at his party the night before being happy with an outdoors picnic and laser show as their first date. She shook her head realizing that she was overanalyzing. Who cares if he didn’t normally take girls on dates here? She didn’t particularly want to be on a date with him anyway. But since she was here she figured she might as well enjoy herself.

Luckily, he had learned his lesson and sat on the opposite side of the blanket from her giving her a wide berth. He was always so up in her face and it really just brought out the worst in her.

"I didn’t know what you wanted," Ramsey began digging into the basket, "so I just got a bunch of things and you can just decide what you like."

"When did you have time for this?" she asked. She had stayed at his house all afternoon. Granted she had felt like shit much of that time and took nearly an hour long shower. So perhaps he had had enough time.

"I just made a list and I had some people take care of it," he said sheepishly.

"Oh." She should have figured. It could have been worse. He could have not made a list. She shook her head again in frustration. Why did she care whether or not he went and picked out dinner for them? She had to keep reminding herself she didn’t really want to be here. Right?

Lexi watched him extract a bag of green grapes from the bag and immediately snatched them out of his grasp. He jolted in surprise. She sent a smile his way and popped one into her mouth. She sighed pleasantly at the sour crisp taste of fresh fruit. Her mouth watered as she added a few more.