The dinner party had come about due to a phone conversation two days prior when Ana had accused Willow (in the nicest possible way, of course) of not properly introducing her to Robert. Ordinarily Willow would have waited weeks longer before she allowed a man she was interested in to meet any of her inner circle. She liked to be very certain that they (the men – not her friends) were not going to embarrass her by getting drunk and loudly singing the Fremantle Dockers anthem or asking her friends for a threesome (sadly, both of these mortifying incidents had occurred on more than one occasion). However, after only two weeks of ‘properly dating’, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that Robert would do neither of these, nor any of the other horrible things that a new boyfriend could potentially do (such as going off you when you started wearing your comfortable underwear again. A girl can only cope with so much lace!). Since that night at his house, things had moved at a rather rapid pace. The last fortnight had been a whirlwind of …well… sex, sex and more sex, if she was completely honest about it; a few fancy dinners thrown in for good measure. They just couldn’t keep their hands off each other! And it wasn’t just pants down, off you go it was the proper, romantic, staring into each others soul rubbish that she had read about, but never actually experienced.
Until now, that is.
Ana had suggested dinner at their place. “Just something casual,” she said, “with the four of us, so Tom and I can get to know Robert. We can grab pizza or something.”
Willow had agreed. Something casual sounded perfect.
***
“I thought you said this was going to be low key,” Willow said, when they arrived at Ana and Tom’s beautiful apartment. The house was cleaner than she had ever seen it, and Ana looked quite the hostess in a beautiful black dress and twinkling diamond earrings. She was even wearing an apron. “And since when do you own an apron?”
“Sorry, I got a bit carried away,” Ana whispered. “I was just so excited that you two finally got your shit together. I didn’t want him to think your friends are losers.”
Willow rolled her eyes, but couldn’t quite suppress a grin. Trust Ana to turn a pizza night into the event of the week.
“Now make yourself at home,” Ana said breezily, taking Robert’s coat. “I just have to pull the entree out of the oven and put the finishing touches to the coconut and lime mousse. Tom’s made some cocktails so go ahead and relax in the dining room. Won’t be a tick.”
The dining room had been transformed into an oasis of gorgeousness. Candles were scattered strategically around the room and amazing flower arrangements lined the centre of the table.
“These are incredible,” Robert said, leaning down and admiring a glass bowl filled with plush, velvety orchids.
“Oh, those,” said Tom, offhand. “They’re all practice arrangements from this wedding Ana is organising. The bridezilla didn’t like them and was going to throw them out.”
“It was such a waste,” said Ana, coming into the room with plates of delicious smelling entrees. “It’s not like she’s going to miss them. I just rescued them from the rubbish bin.”
***
The dinner was absolutely delicious and as soon as she’d had a couple of glasses of wine, Ana calmed down and forgot that she was trying to impress.
“What is it you do Robert? Willow never really told me,” asked Ana, kicking her high heels off and scrunching her toes into the carpet.
He laughed. “I try not to bore Willow too much with the details.”
“Oh, it’s not boring,” Willow said grinning cheekily, “It’s just, well, more interesting for some than others.”
Robert tickled her playfully on the waist and Willow giggled, batting his hand away. Ana and Tom looked at each other and tried to suppress their laughter. It was so obvious that these two were completely smitten with each other. Almost nauseatingly so.
“The simple answer is that I buy companies that are in financial trouble and either help them get back on their feet or sell them off in pieces,” he said. “It’s not glamourous, but I enjoy it.”
“Oh. My. God,” said Ana, her jaw dropping. “You’re just like Richard Gere in Pretty Woman. Except good Richard Gere from the end of the film when he helps the old guy get the shipping contracts.” She turned towards Willow and squealed. “And that makes you just like Julia Roberts! Except you’re not a prostitute,” she added as an afterthought.
Robert laughed again. “I haven’t actually seen Pretty Woman, but if you say so.”
“Never seen Pretty Woman?” Ana and Willow said simultaneously.
“Even I’ve seen that movie,” said Tom.
“I love that movie,” sighed Willow. “That bit where she goes shopping on Rodeo drive…”
“And all the sales girls are total bitches…” Ana chimed in.
“Then she walks back with all the bags and says…”
“Big mistake. Big. Huge. I have to go shopping now!” They finished off in unison, bursting into fits of giggles.
Tom gave Robert a knowing look. “You’d better see it mate, or they’ll just keep quoting at you. Trust me.”
***
Robert put his arm around Willow’s shoulders and pulled her close as they walked slowly out to the main road to hail a cab. He kissed the top of her head, breathing in the elixir of shampoo and Willow. He’d really enjoyed getting to know Willow’s friends. They were good people. All in all, it had been a very fun evening. He ran his hand down her back, thinking of all the ways that they could possibly make the night even more fun.
“Do you want to…?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” said Willow, cutting him off mid sentence. She snuggled in to his body a bit closer. “I do have one condition though.”
“What’s that?”
“You have to watch Pretty Woman.”
Robert laughed. “We’ll download it as soon as we get home.”
***
Hours later, after watching the film and then re-enacting and expanding upon a few of the more R rated scenes themselves, they lay in bed, exhausted. Robert gently stroked Willow’s arm, her slow, regular breaths indicating that she had finally fallen asleep.
Robert smiled to himself. Over the course of the evening a plan had been formulating in his mind. It was now crystal clear and he couldn’t wait to put it into action.