Take My Hand, Just Hold On

**Brenna's POV**

I had just finished dropping Robert off at his meeting, dropping his car off at the rental place - he had already given them his credit card info for it to be charged to - and I was just now getting off the bus I had to take back to my apartment. I watched as it travelled up the road for a bit before walking the few minutes to my apartment.

I look at the time on my microwave as I walk in - 11:26. Perfect, I can relax for half an hour before picking Robert up. I kick my shoes off and walk to my bedroom to change quickly - I may be a bit spoiled from driving everywhere; public transport makes me feel sticky, sweaty (not with my own, no less), and just plain gross. I look through my closet quickly and decide to wear a summer dress in the middle of winter - it being an unusually warm winter day; I suppose that's California for you, eh? I walk out to my living room and fall onto my couch, flipping on the TV and channel surfing until I found something worth watching.

After half an hour of unsuccessful channel surfing I jumped off the couch, "Should've left 5 minutes ago," I mutter to myself, quickly putting my shoes back on and running out the door.

I pull up to the restaurant I dropped Robert off at earlier and put my car in park. I waited for a few minutes to see if he would come out, and when he didn't I had a silent debate with myself over whether to call him, go in and grab him, or just wait outside until he came out of his own accord.

I decided on calling him and pull out my cellphone. I flip it open and see that my parents had called me some time last night. I close the notice and dial Robert's number.

"Hello?" he answers, my heart skips a beat. I glare down at my chest; that was not supposed to happen. "Er, Brenna?" I hear his voice again and mentally slapped myself.

I let out a small laugh, "Yeah, Robert. Sorry. Uhm, I'm outside, I was just wondering how long you'd be?"

"Shit, has it been an hour already?" he inquires.

I nod, then mentally slap myself again because he couldn't see me, and finally answer, "Uh, yeah. If you're not done I can just park and walk around the shops here for a bit, though."

I hear a man in the background ask who it is, and Rob answer with "It's my gi - er, a friend?" he answers in an almost questioning tone. I hold the phone away and laugh a bit, hoping he couldn't hear me.

When I bring it back to my ear Robert was saying, "--wondering if you wanted to come in for a drink, Brenna?"

"Wouldn't that be a bit of a burden on your meeting?" I ask, not particularly interested in the goings-on of Robert's meetings.

"No, no. We've already finished up with that, we were just chatting a bit now."

I shrug to, well, myself I guess, and say, "Sure, as long as you or them don't mind."

"They're the ones who asked, and you know I can't get enough of you, love."

I felt myself blush a bit, even though no one was around to hear that. "Okay, I'll be in, in a bit. I just need to find somewhere more permanent to park," I respond, noticing that I was only in a pick-up/drop-off zone at the moment.

"See you soon, love."

I hang up the phone and pull out, finding a small mall parking lot not too far along and making my way back to the restaurant.

I step inside and look around for Robert. Before I could spot him, however, a man comes up to me from behind the reservations desk and asks, "May I help you?"

I flash a smile, "I'll just have a peak around and see if I can spot them, they've already been here an hour," I smile at him, turning to the left and spotting the back of Robert's head instantly.

I quickly walk up to the table, waving at the two guys who were sitting with Robert. They smiled, and the bigger one nodded his head in a way of greeting. Robert turned around at this with a large grin on his face, "You changed!" he states, standing up to greet me quickly with a short hug. He pulls out my chair and I roll my eyes at him.

"Always a gentleman, this one," I smile at the two men sitting across from us.

The bigger man chuckles, whilst the small one says, "Not something usually equated with Rob here, but if it's coming out of the 'gi-er-friend's," he mocks Robert's phrasing from earlier, "mouth, then who am I to say any different!"

I laugh at this and turn my eyes to Robert, who's just smiling along looking as though he was hardly listening. I lean into him and ask quietly, "What's up?"

I lean back in my chair, waiting for an answer. Big mistake. He leans in close to me this time, putting his arm around my chair, resting a warm hand on my upper arm. With his face barely touching mine - I could feel his stubble upon my cheek from him not shaving for two days - he whispers in a completely intoxicating voice right into my ear, "I just love this dress."

I suck in a deep breath, willing my heart to stop going a mile a minute. The last thing I needed to do right now was to either pass out or jump Robert right in the middle of a nice restaurant. He left a lingering kiss right below my ear before pulling away, leaving his hand resting on the bare skin on my back.

I look at his smirking face - he totally knows what he just did to me - but was saved from responding by one of the men across from us, "Hey, you two, no private conversations at this table, come on! Rob, whisper sweet nothings in my ear, too!"

I turn to see it was the smaller of the two men speaking again. I laugh and look back to Robert to see the smirk wiped right off his face.

I apologize, "I'm sorry!" See? I also add, "My name is Brenna, by the way."

The small man smiles across from me, "My name's James," he offers a hand across the table. I shake it lightly, and turn to the other man as he speaks.

"I'm Derek," he also offers a hand across the table.

"I'm Rob," I hear Robert say after I release Derek's hand.

I roll my eyes until they land on Robert and I see his hand out for me to take. I shrug and take it, but instead of shaking it, he brings my hand up to his lips and gives my hand a soft kiss, "Absolute pleasure to meet you, my dear."

I let out a laugh and, unsure what to say, respond with, "Now, now. It's too late to introduce yourself as 'Rob' and expect me to start calling you that, my dear."

He scrunches his eyebrows together in thought and then says, "Did I seriously introduce myself as 'Robert' when we met?"

I nod as I see the waiter coming over, "Can I get anything else for you?" he asks James.

James nods to me, "What would you like, Brenna?"

I smile, "Just a water, please."

"No, no, no! You must get something," he insists.

"Really, I'm driving this guy," I stick a thumb out toward Robert, "back to his hotel and then to the airport."

"Just one drink won't do much damage, will it?"

I sigh, "Fine, fine. Er, do you have a pomegranate or strawberry margarita here?"

The waiter looks down at me quickly before responding with a, "Not on the menu, but I'm certain our bartender can make you one - which would you prefer?"

"Pomegranate, please!"

"Okay, and anything for anyone else?"

"Another scotch on the rocks for the two of us, please," Derek responds, pointing to Robert.

"I'll have another Black Velvet," James adds.

The waiter nods and says, "I'll be back with your drinks shortly."

I watch him walk away and hear, "Hey Rob, I think your girl's checking out our waiter."

I turn back to Derek, who had said that, with my mouth slightly agape. Then I turn to Robert who smiles at me and says, "Come on Brenna, I have you for another 6 hours or so. You're free to check other guys out after that, but until then, I'm going to act like a jealous boyfriend," he gives me a small wink and I laugh, surprised that his wink doesn't creep me out - I've never had a guy wink at me and look good doing it, what can I say?

He drops his hand from my back onto my bare thigh. Okay, so this summer dress was short - not slutty you-can-see-my-ass short, but showing a bit of thigh short - which is possibly why Robert said he liked it... I look over at him, willing him with my eyes to remove his hand. It was like fire on my skin and I could feel my blood coursing through my body and heating all the wrong places as he shrugged nonchalantly and started tracing shapes in my skin with his finger. The tracing finger slowly travelled North and I was kind of frozen on the spot, unable to stop him - okay, so the part of my brain that wanted him to stop was shut off by the mass quantity of my brain that begged him to continue. Thoughts of the two men sitting across from me were mostly forgotten by me, but I could hear Robert making small conversation in the background. All I could do was silently thank this restaurant for having low-hanging tablecloths, making sure his slowly travelling hand and the now un-modest amount of skin I had showing, was unseen by the rest of the restaurant.

As soon as he was maybe a centimetre away from my, well, 'area', his hand stops. I risk looking at him again, as I had turned away earlier, trying to act as blasé about this as he was.

He glances over at me as he noticed my head turn toward him, he was finishing a sentence that I had no clue where it started, "and it just blew me away."

"Brenna, are you alright there?" Derek asks.

I nod, "Uh, yeah. I-I'm great..." I get out.

"Okay," he sounds unconvinced, "So, tell me... How did you and Rob meet?"

I shot Rob a look, begging him to either answer or take his hand away from me. He gave a slight shake of his head and his smile grew - the fucker was enjoying torturing me.

I was about to answer when the waiter came back with our drinks. We all thanked him and I took a grateful sip, hoping to cool myself down.

"Anyway, we met at the hotel he's staying at," I start explaining, "He was looking anxious about - well, I don't know if they were fans or paparazzi or what, but he didn't want to go outsi-" I got cut off by my own sharp intake of breath as Robert's fingers finally reach their destination.