I managed an excellent impression of a dying goldfish in response to his unexpected question.

"But that will mean giving up your independence for this one occasion and letting me pay," he said, a quirky smile folding over his features.

"I...but you barely know me," I said, trying to steady my spinning mind.

"I know. Hence asking you to dinner. I would like to know more about you."

Before I could say anything more, the boys came running over, begging us to join them in their game of football.

Jake checked his watch and sighed. "I'm sorry, Lewis, but we're going to have to leave. I've got to have you back at your mum's shortly." Jake looked at me and smiled. "So, was that a yes to dinner?"

My heart skipped several beats as I finally found the voice to accept. Was this really happening?

As we stood to leave, he lifted my hand to his mouth and brushed the lightest of kisses over the back of it. Thankfully, the boys decided to have a race to fetch the football, so my audible gasp was a secret between me and Jake.

"Here," he said, handing me a thick, cream coloured card. An art deco gold border framed the simple black numbers running across the middle of it. No name, nothing. Just the number. "Text me your address. I'll pick you up at seven. Does that work for you?"

After a few seconds, I tore my eyes from the number emblazoned on the card and looked at Jake. He was so handsome. Those cheek bones, the sparkling blue eyes, tanned, silky skin—this had to be a dream, surely?

"Yes," I said, nodding. "That works."

***

Now being five minutes to seven, I was pacing up and down in my living room, chewing my nails in anxiety. Mum was upstairs with Harvey, playing Mario Kart on his Wii.

With my stomach churning over in knots, I could do little to calm the doubting thoughts telling me he wouldn't turn up, it was all just a dream, or worse, a joke. Aside from the fact this was my first date since splitting with Adam, it was also the obvious point of who it was.

I'd been through three dress changes, finally settling on a black and white number with an asymmetrical line. It was figure hugging, and still looked new as I'd only worn it once before. Complete with a thick black shawl draped around my shoulders and upper arms, and a pair of black and white strappy sandals, I was satisfied I looked acceptable enough to be heading on a date with an A-list movie star.

Panic stricken thoughts about Adam began to creep through my mind as I heard a deep throaty rumble from outside. My heart stopped dead. A fresh sweat broke out all over my body. He was here. He was actually here. I grabbed my perfume, dowsing myself one last time just as his knock echoed around my house.

"Have fun, Lou," Mum said, almost drowned out by Harvey's shouts of joy at winning. I smirked to myself, wondering if she'd let him win—he was a sore loser to say the least.

I drew a deep breath and headed for the door. When I opened it, I struggled not to voice the 'wow' that wiped my mind blank of all other words. The man standing before me looked too good to be true. Was he really here for me?

Tailored black trousers hung from his hips, hugging his legs enough to give definition. A lemon coloured shirt complemented not only the dark trousers and matching jacket, but his sun-kissed skin and fair hair. With just the top few buttons on his shirt undone, he had the perfect sharp, sexy, casual look.

A broad smile illuminated his face as he looked at me. "Wow. You look absolutely amazing." A slight shade of pink flushed his cheeks as he presented me with a single red rose. "My lady," he said, offering me to take his other hand.

His playful tone eased my nerves, and the second I placed my hand in his, all my worries seemed to melt away. It was easy to say I was thoroughly swept away in the moment. He lifted my hand to his lips, brushing a light kiss across the back of it. A shot of excitement ran through me, reminding me just how thrilling this part of a relationship could be.

He escorted me to his car—a sleek, black Audi complete with tinted windows. Being the perfect gentleman, he opened the door, waited for me to settle in the seat, and then closed the door. The inside was pristine, like it had just rolled out of the showroom. It was that clean, I felt out of place being in it.

I dared to glance back at the house and noticed Mum peering out of Harvey's bedroom window with a stupid grin on her face. All she needed was a yellow sticker saying, 'Neighbourhood Watch.'

She hadn't believed me when I'd told her who was taking me out. It was only when I'd sworn on my father's grave that she'd taken me seriously. Well, now she had seen the truth for herself. I grinned as I thought of the fifty questions I'd get in the morning.

Snapping out of my thoughts when the driver's door slammed shut, I glanced around at Jake, startling as I met his soft gaze lingering on me. He lifted a hand, then slowly moved it towards my face. Carefully, he tucked a stray strand of my wild red hair behind my ear. I'd gone for the classic tussled up-do but some of the layers in my hair were still a little short.

"You really do look incredible," he said, his voice almost a gentle whisper. The sincerity each word carried matched the soulful depths of his eyes. He lingered his hand next to my cheek for a brief second before moving it to the gear-stick.

"You're starting to creep me out staring at me like that," I said, hoping the joke would lighten the atmosphere.

He smiled and started the engine. "Sorry. You just...wow." He shook his head and started driving, his attention now on the road. "You don't look like the same woman I met earlier."

Feeling at ease around him already, I couldn't help my mouth running away with me. "Charming. Is that your way of saying I looked minging earlier today?" I kept my tone flat and deadpan, making out I was offended.

He glanced over at me, horror written all over his face. "What? No! I meant it as a compliment."

I gave him a cheeky grin.

He laughed and shook his head before concentrating on the road again. "Do you do that with every compliment you receive?"

I blushed. Compliments were something of a stranger to me. I couldn't remember the last time I'd received one before Jake. Thankfully, he didn't wait for me to respond.

"I was merely pointing out that your day look, and your evening look are exceptionally different, which by the way, is a good thing. As are both of your looks."

"Hmmm," I said, giggling. "I suppose that's not a bad way to dig yourself out of a hole. I'll let that one go."

He smirked and shook his head.

"So, where are we going?" I asked, curious where people like him tended to favour.

"It's my favourite restaurant. Their food is delicious. Do you have any allergies or anything I need to tell them about?"

"If they serve anything like snails, frogs legs, or some other peculiar culinary dish, then yes—I'm a vegetarian."

A broad smile spread over his face as he chuckled. "Don't worry—they serve nothing like that. Their most exotic dish is lobster, so you'll be fine. On a personal recommendation, their linguine is fabulous."

"Is it Italian then?"

"More a mix and match of popular dishes from everywhere really. Everything is cooked fresh as well so if you don't want something in your food, or want extra of something, they're very accommodating."

I smiled and nodded. My stomach was beginning to rumble already, but I was a little nervous about eating in a fancy restaurant, let alone with Jake Murphy sat opposite me. A thought then hit me—I couldn't have linguine, or spaghetti, or anything similar. It was hardly the most elegant thing to eat when you were in your own home, let alone in public.

Public. People. Camera's. My gut lurched as the realisation of possibly being photographed dawned on me. I could picture it already—waking up in the morning with my mug shot all over the papers and Adam banging down the front door to do goodness knows what.

A memory from a few years ago popped into my mind.

Before I'd met Adam, I'd been a life-loving, fun-time girl with the social life to rival any celebrity. Pictures of drunken nights, random people, and fancy-dress costumes were in abundance. Not too long ago, Charlie, my best friend, had found a box of such pictures, and decided to post them on Facebook. I'd known nothing about it until I was dragged out of bed at two am, by my ankles, and strangled to the point of unconsciousness whilst Adam ranted and raved in my face. Even though we weren't together now, I knew he thought he would get back in at some point. If he saw a picture of me with another man...

I closed my eyes and shuddered.

"We have heated seats if you're cold," Jake said.

His silky voice rippled through my thoughts like a stone skipping across water. "Thanks, but I'm ok. Must have just been an old memory or something."

He chuckled. "I can be a bit of a nerd sometimes, please forgive me. My random knowledge of odd things tends to come out before I can stop it. Too many sleepless nights watching the Discovery channel or reading various books."

"It's ok," I said, biting back a smile. "We all have our quirks."

"What's yours then?"

"Um, I don't know really. I guess I have a bit of a thing about my books, CDs, and DVDs being in alphabetical order."

"That's OCD," he said, laughing. "Not a quirk."

I blushed. "OCD is quirky."

"Touché."

"Is it big—this restaurant?"

"No. It's very private, small, and quiet. No interruptions."

I smiled back at him and changed the conversation, probing into how he got into acting and what life was really like on the other side of the fence. He was detailing me on one of his first auditions in which he had to strip naked, when my phone vibrated inside my bag. When it continued vibrating, I realised it was a call, not a text.

"I'm so sorry," I said, opening my clutch bag. "Just need to check if it's Mum or not."

"It's fine, honestly. No need to explain yourself."

Seeing MUM flash up on the screen, I instantly thought something had happened to Harvey.

"What's wrong? Are you ok?" I said.

"Yes. Well, no. Kind of." She gave one of herdramatic pauses which she always did before delivering some bad piece of news.My heart leapt into my mouth. "Adam's here."