Dangerous Love: You Are My One and Only Bride novel Chapter 1785

Once they had returned to the estate, Melanie swiftly ordered the nanny to watch Melissa for the night. She was going somewhere, after all, and it would be pretty inconvenient to bring a toddler along.

Since it was, effectively, a catching-up dinner with an old friend, Melanie was poised to doll herself up to be more presentable for the occasion—a feat that required a bravura makeover and a skillful choice of outfit.

By the time she was there at the chosen fine-diner, Mateo was already there, waiting. Upon seeing her, he rose to his feet and readied her chair for her with the most classically-gentlemanly flourish.

“What would you like to have for this fine evening? I remember your favorite food, but I don’t know if time has introduced or removed some of them,” he started. “Either way, I gotta brag about my memory, heh.”

Once again, Melanie found her heart skipping a beat. After so long, Mateo still remembered what she liked?

Her head lowered. “Nothing’s changed. So, just follow what your memory serves,” she replied softly.

After ordering their food, Mateo flashed her a playfully toothy grin. “Why are you always looking downward? I remember you as a waaaay more confident gal. Unless… Don’t tell me seeing me makes you bashful! Hee hee. What’s there to be bashful about between us?”

Melanie braced herself to lift her head up, though she had not garnered enough courage to meet his eyes. “I-I’m not bashful! …Uh, speaking of which, how long do you plan to be here?”

Mateo paused for a moment before answering, “How long, huh? Well… Methinks it’s gonna be quite a long, long while. There’s this… thing that has been sitting inside a little locket in my heart for years, and I suppose I just want it to be fulfilled. Well, not exactly ‘fulfilled’, to be honest—more like ‘freed’, with an actual closure for it so that I can finally put it down,” he reeled off. “I’m not some twenty-year-old anymore; I can’t be a bachelor forever, can I? But before I can do something about the girl who got away but stay in my heart, I’ll never be able to move on and admire all the other fish in the sea.”

The more he explained, the more that strange visceral feeling ballooned within her—it just sounded more and more like he was talking about her covertly. Quietly but purposefully, she pivoted from the topic to a new one. “How’s Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez?”

“Simply splendid,” Mateo replied, nodding. “And you? Has time been kind to you? I heard you’ve married into the Smiths… I trust that means you’re having a swimming life as well.”