The date.

The restaurant was beautiful. It paled in comparison to the expensive rich-as-hell restaurants in the UK, but for an American restaurant, it was quite fancy. Anna sat in her car, taking in deep breaths to steady her nerves. She had not been on a date in a very long time. Hell, the last time she had been on a date was with Karl. And that was five solid years ago.

She eyed the time displayed on her phone screen. They had agreed to meet by eight that night, and she still had ten minutes left. She ought to be excited, right? It was Dylan for goodness sake. Handsome, stacked, ripped Dylan. He had been the number one heartthrob back in high school, and he had invited her on a date! Hell, if any of her friends then heard about this, they would pass out on her behalf. She was certain.

Her eyes flitted to the mirror. Her face was almost bare. She had simply powdered it, worn a lip gloss, and slipped into the fanciest dress her hands had touched first. It was a green gala gown that had an elaborate neckline. Her eyes fell to her mounds that were propped against the fabric and she wondered if she had not overdressed for the occasion.

“Oh just go in there you, sissy!” She groaned. It was just a man. The faster she made up her mind, the easier it would be to show up. Why the hell was she even nervous?! She was Anna Clandestine! If anything, Dylan ought to be honored to date her. With that thought ringing in her head, she opened the car door, false bravado pumping through her veins.

As she walked towards the restaurant, she watched a couple climb the stairs before her. The woman’s dress was a skimpy number, barely covering her ass. Yet, she looked elegant. Anna pursed her lips in jealousy. Whereas, there was her fat ass. If she wore something like that, her ass might as well jiggle out of the damned dress. She had not been a skinny woman before she had the twins, but at least, she hadn't crossed the forty-inch line when it came to her hips. Now though, she had blown up so much, it had taken a strict gym routine to maintain a presentable figure.

Her eyes slid over the man beside the elegant woman and Anna could swear that time stopped. Black hair, mussed and tousled despite his formal attire, green eyes that gave the woman beside him a passive look, His angular jaw, and Roman nose, the very same that was found on Andrew’s face, caught her gaze and she gasped.

“My stripper.” She whispered, running up the steps to keep up with them.

He turned around then, his eyes glazing past her. The blank look on his face crashed every bit of hope that had soared high in her heart. He did not recognize her.

“Fuck, who was I kidding?” He was a freaking stripper, he most likely entertained women of all sorts. Hell judging from his suit, he most likely wasn’t even a stripper anymore.

She watched him disappear into the restaurant with his partner and felt her shoulders slump sadly. “Welp, on the brighter side, there’s Dylan to be excited about.”

****

“I thought it was so annoying. All I wanted was the boat, and my daddy simply would not hand it over,” William’s date ranted on and on in an annoying Brooklyn accent that did nothing but get on his nerves.

In his defense, he tried to listen. Hell, he had been trying to do so for a few minutes. She was the daughter of a prominent investor. Hence aside from the fact that he found her body very delectable, she would prove useful to him. Now though, William was ready to give up on both. He had enough investors and if all he wanted was a wet willing woman, he would get that at a fucking nightclub. And he was certain, it wouldn’t come with the dry nasally irritating accent.

Trying to bear with the situation he had plunged himself into, he hummed and nodded, as if he were listening to his date. However, his eyes wandered. They fell on a couple of three tables away from him. For some reason, the woman there kept staring at him. She looked oddly familiar. He couldn’t place where he had met her. He didn’t think he had ever met her in fact, and that baffled him. If he had never met her, why would she seem familiar?

He would have loved to take in her scent to see if he would recognize her, but the perfume she wore clouded that, so it was a lost clause.

He took in her appearance and felt a mild ache in his chest. She was beautiful. Fuck, very beautiful. He watched her eyes widen as if she just realized she had been staring at him. Her cheeks were stained lightly with blush and felt an inordinate desire to kiss her cheeks. His gaze narrowed and he watched the blush spread slowly down her neck to her chest. William gripped the fork in his hands tighter, and he glanced at the man his newly found interest sat with. How could anyone be with such a gorgeous woman and not pay attention to her? She was bored out of her mind. That would be the only explanation for why she had been looking at him instead.

Anna tried to keep her gaze on Dylan. She tried to admire the way he spoke with so much charisma, his glinting brown eyes as he recanted tales from their high school days. Her hands trembled as she reached for her glass of wine for the fifth time in the past ten minutes and took a sip from it. It just simply wasn’t working. He was her crush some seven years ago. However, now? Her eyes trailed to see 'her stripper' nod at something his date said.

Now, she couldn’t take her eyes off the father of her children.

Goodness, it was such a small world, wasn’t it? She had barely been back in New York for ten days and she had already met him again? She recalled the way he had looked at her just a few minutes ago. He had caught her staring at him and then proceeded to scrutinize her with his piercing green eyes. Her body had almost erupted in flames. The night they had spent together seemed so far away and she ached to revisit it. His eyes met hers again, and she looked away quickly at her half-eaten steak.

“I’m boring you with all this talk, aren’t I?” Dylan said, gaining her attention.

She gave him a tired smile. “No, I… I guess I’m just a bit tired.”

Dylan nodded. “I could tell. Is it because of your children?”

Anna coughed awkwardly, not ready to discuss her babies with Dylan. Hell, this was the last date with him. She simply was not feeling it.

“Bathroom.” She mumbled, rising to her feet. “I’m going to the bathroom. Excuse me.”

She made sure to spend a solid ten minutes there, gearing up the courage to tell Dylan that she did not see him as a romantic partner. When she stepped out, however, standing against the wall with folded arms was none other than…

Her stripper.