Chapter 27
Chapter 27
Pierce woke up for the third morning in a row to Arianna’s monstrous snoring. There was no reason to have an alarm clock with her around. He gently rolled her over onto her stomach and was still shocked when she instantly stopped snoring.
Pierce was stressed for two reasons. First, he lied to Arianna; Stella would be a huge problemn, and she wouldn’t stop until both of them were unhappy. Secondly, he had no idea what they would do for their date today. He lay there and thought about everything he knew about Arianna and tried to formulate the perfect first date.
A broad grin spread against Pierce’s face, and he had never been more proud of himself. He had brought his A–game, and hopefully, it was thoughtful enough to bring Arianna to tears.
“Pierce? Where are you?” Pierce heard Arianna call as she roamed through the house looking for him.
“In here, sweetheart!” he called as he transferred funds in between his accounts. He didn’t know how much this little date would cost him, and he wanted to be prepared.
“Wow, this is my first time in your office. Did Amara do your office too?”
“Yep.”
“Ugh! I hate her, but I love her at the same time. It should be a sin to be this talented,” Arianna complained.
“You’ll get there one day. You just need a little practice. Are you ready to go?”
“Please tell me we’re eating first,” Arianna whined, accepting Pierce’s outstretched hand.
“Of course, and I know the perfect spot,” he boasted.
Twenty minutes later, Arianna was salivating at the large sign outside the restaurant. “I’m about to embarrass you up in here, Pierce.”
“What do you plan on doing?” he asked, opening the door for her.
“I don’t play around when it comes to crab legs. I need to be double pibbed!”
“No judgment here. Have at it. That’s the point, isn’t it?” Pierce asked, leading her to a booth. Arianna snatched up the Smashin‘ Crab menu and quickly perused her options. Pierce watched Arianna curiously as her face twisted in displeasure.
“What’s bugging you, Ari?”
“Nothing,” she sighed.
“Stop lying. I can’t fix the problem if you don’t tell me what the issue is,” Pierce chastised.
“I want everything,” Arianna mumbled lowly.
“Excuse me?”
“Everything looks so got damn good, I can’t make up my mind, and I want a little bit of everything,” Arianna confessed.
“Order whatever you like. Even if you just want to sample it, we can always take the leftovers home.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course.”
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Chapter 27
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“In that case…I’ll have the dozen raw oysters, the shrimp and grits, the gumbo, the shrimp po’boy, and The Catch boil. I’m gonna skip on dessert, I don’t need all those calories.”
Pierce’s eyes widened at Arianna’s food order. He didn’t mind, but he was curious to see how much of that she would actually put away.
“Do you plan on sharing any of that, Ari?”
“No,” she giggled.
“Fair enough. I’ll get the calamari and the king crab boil.”
Pierce ordered the smallest boil on the menu because he wasn’t convinced that Arianna would finish the boil she ordered. Her boil came with King crab, Snow crab, Dungeness clusters, corn, sausage, and potatoes. He would just finish what she couldn’t eat.
The couple placed their order and talked while they waited for their meal. “You never gave me an answer regarding Halloween. Are we going together or
not?”
“You do know us entering the contest together would raise a lot of eyebrows and confirm that something is going on between us.”
“I’m aware of this,” Pierce answered. “How do you feel about it?”
“Truthfully, I don’t know. A part of me wants to say no because I have a sneaking suspicion that this will end horribly for us, but then the other part says fuck it and doesn’t care what the repercussions are. I think that I’ve resigned to the fact that eventually, I’ll have to quit or lose my job,” Arianna sighed.
“I hope that it doesn’t get to that point.”
“It will. I’ve only been around these people for a little over three months, but I’ve witnessed how they’ve eviscerated people limb from limb. They’re so full of themselves and can’t help but put others down; meanwhile, they have so many skeletons in their closets that it would put a graveyard to shame. I’ll no longer be sweet, innocent Arianna, who breaks her back to meet their unreasonable demands. I’ll be Arianna, the Black gold–digging whore that sank my claws into you. My tips? I might as well kiss those goodbye.”
“It sounds like you’re leaning towards no,” Pierce replied.
“I’m not saying no, I’m just verbally acknowledging what very well might happen. By doing this, when it happens, I won’t be blindsided.”
“So…you’re saying yes?” Pierce hopefully asked.
Arianna pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled loudly. “I’m saying yes.”
Pierce couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. Honestly, he prayed that she did lose her job because there was an opportunity waiting for her that would be more rewarding than slaving behind rich people,
“I’m glad to hear that you’re considering giving us a shot.”
“I mean…you kinda grew on me, Pierce, and you can handle my snoring. Where else am I going to find a man that can do that?”
“Nowhere,” Pierce quickly answered, knowing he could barely handle it himself.
“Yeah, yeah, but real talk, you make me happy, Pierce, and I just don’t see myself giving you up so easily without trying. With that being said, what are your costume ideas?”
Pierce was right. Arianna was almost stuffed by the time her boil arrived. She had eaten half of the oysters and the po’boy, and she completely obliterated the shrimp and grits. She ate a spoonful of gumbo and could only handle one cluster of the King crab, Snow crab, and Dungeness crab. Pierce happily polished off the other half of the oysters and her crab legs. She complained that she could’ve taken the crab legs home and ate them, but Pierce
knew she was full of shit.
“Oh, my goodness. That was such a wonderful first date, but now I need a nap,” Arianna sighed, sitting onto Pierce’s plush leather seats in his Mercedes
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Chapter 27
“Um, we have one more stop until this date is complete. Trust me, you’ll love it.”
Several minutes later, the couple found themselves standing outside of an industrial warehouse.
“What are we doing here? Is this like a haunted house or something?”
“No, but good guess. Follow me.”
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Arianna’s mouth dropped as soon as they entered the building. “Oh, my God. I just stepped into an interior designer’s wet dream. There are so much–oh my–what are we doing here?”
Pierce handed her his phone.
“I want you to re–do one of the guest rooms in my house. I took several pictures of the room this morning and included the measurements. Go crazy and make it your own. Don’t worry about the price.”
“B–but, you have an Amara Lewis original design. I couldn’t possibly-”
“I don’t want an Amara Lewis original design; I want an Arianna Rose original design.”
Arianna furiously swiped at the tears running down her face. She had never physically staged a room before, and now Pierce was willing to spend thousands of dollars to help her get hands–on practice.
“Thank you so much, Pierce,” she cried, pulling him into a hug. “Words can’t express how happy I am right now.”
“I think I have an idea. Go be great, Ari.”
