The Unexpected Bride-Book One in Taming of the Shrew

Chapter One Hundred and Eighteen

Five minutes later, they arrived in front of a familiar building. And unlike last time, it was bustling with more activity. Sharlene was surprised. Wasn't this the restaurant Nick had taken her to three weeks ago? Waking up from her stupor when he began to walk towards the entrance, she gently tapped his chest. He was not going to carry her inside the restaurant.

"I think you can put me down now."

Smiling, Nick reluctantly placed her on her feet, and she quickly fixed her ruffled clothes. Luckily enough, she was wearing baby blue jeans and a loose fitted plaited shirt, an appropriate dressing for work, but not one to step through the doors of the five-star restaurant. That hesitancy had not come to mind the last time she was there because she was wearing designer clothes. Sharlene glanced up at Nick for inspiration, but he only grasped her hands and pulled her along with him.

When they stepped into the restaurant, Nick walked up to Carlie to inquire where the washrooms were, and she, though a little suspicious, pointed in the right direction.

Still grasping onto Sharlene's hands, Nick walked in the direction the woman proposed. Upon arriving at the rich oak doors leading to the men's stalls, he released his hold on her hands.

"Wait there for me?"

Nodding, Sharlene angled herself to stand a short distance from the door Nick disappeared beyond. Busying herself with glancing around the wide hallway, she was impressed with the extra details. The marble flooring was sparkling, and no speck of dust could be lying on top of the surfaces of the end tables or the figurine and plants bringing ambiance to the hallway.

'Is the restaurant expecting an important guest?'

She wondered, and then the thought of the models and important figures scheduled to arrive in two weeks came to mind. Musing herself with the idea, she had not seen or heard when a stranger had arrived at an appropriate distance from her.

It was their voice and sudden question that had brought her from her thoughts.

"Excuse me?"

She wearily asked while looking at the stranger who turned out to be a man in his mid to late twenties.

He smiled, and she thought it was welcoming, but Sharlene was never one to be careless when reading people. The sudden attention of the passerby also did not sit well with her.

"I asked if you were here by yourself, Miss. I could show you around if you are."

Unsure of how to respond to such a forward question, Sharlene was about to dismiss the man's words and presence with the silent treatment, but Nick's voice resonated behind her.

"She is with me."

Glancing at the closed door of the men's washroom, then at Nick, she wondered how he had appeared behind her without making a single sound. He had shed the awful disguise and looked as handsome as always. Dressed in comfortable jeans and a T-shirt, he looked normal; her earlier worry for nothing. But that was the least of her concerns.

She was more grateful he had appeared at the moment he did.

Upon seeing him, the man involuntarily took a step back, and he passed a hand behind his neck. He grimaced.

"Sorry for bothering your girl. She was just so beautiful standing there in her lonesome that I only wanted to say hello."

'Your girl?'

'Beautiful and standing in her lonesome?'

Nick and Sharlene thought and were not pleased with the man's choice of words. First, she is her person, and second, she is Nick's fiancé and soon to be his wife, not some immature girl. It was insulting.