Shay didn't really believe Gavin would call the next day: do they ever call when they say they will? At best, she figured he'd get around to calling her in a few days. So when her phone rings as she's brushing her teeth & getting ready to rush out the door for work, she doesn't expect to hear Gavin's voice, asking her out to dinner tonight. And not just any old dinner, either, he wants to take her to the most expensive restaurant on Rodeo Drive. Of course she agrees to go, and meets him in the bar in the Rodeo Plaza as soon as she gets off work. Everything about Gavin is strange, the movies he likes, the music he listens to, all obscure stuff Shay has never heard of. But none of those details bother her at all, he treats her like a goddess, and if being different from all the other guys she dated means that he's also into some pretty weird stuff, who is she to complain?

He has an old fashioned quality about him, like he'd been transported here from another time. Like the romantic heroes in all the period dramas Shay watches to see the costumes, he says & does things that seem out of step with their own world, and she can't but feel for a moment like she is herself a fine lady from a bygone era herself, when he looks her in he eye & calls her his jewel.

Wherever or whenever he came from, Shay is determined she's going to keep him for as long as she can.

Gavin coaxes her into doing a little karaoke, though there isn't a song available in this machine that he likes at all. But he wants to hear her sing, he says. Shay doesn't usually like performing, though she knows she has a pretty good voice, good enough for a karaoke bar, anyway. As long as she is looking at Gavin, she can do it without worrying if anyone else can hear her.

They have to change into formal attire before going to the restaurant. Shay has so many gowns she's made for herself over the years, with no place to wear them, it was hard for her to choose the one that would actually get to have a night on the town. This one made the final cut because she spent a week's salary just on the sequined fabric to make it. She meets Gavin downstairs in the chocolatier, and he gives her flowers. Handsome as he is, he looks great in a tux, but Shay can't help but want to dress him up in something more suited to his romantic style: he needs some tails on that tux at the very least. And velvet, he should definitely wear velvet.....

Evertime he touches her, Shay's skin tingles, everytime he kisses her, she feels like she's on fire.

NEXT