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His thumb glided across my cheek. “Will you please go on a date with me?”
I couldn’t keep from smiling. “When?”
“Now.” He brushed back my hair.
I nodded. “What do you have in mind?”
“Food will definitely be involved.”
“You speak my love language.” I kissed him, realizing I could and how amazing that was. “So food. What else?”
“Definitely more of this.” He leaned in and pressed his lips against mine. His tongue danced across my lips, making me shiver. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask you if you wanted to touch my papillae before I shoved my tongue in your mouth.”
I laughed at him. “I told you, that would have been a mood killer.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Would it have really?”
I touched his cheeks and ran my hands through his hair, all because I could. “Coming from you, no.”
He was staring at me as if he was amazed by all this too. “Let’s go to dinner. I want to look across the table at you and know you’re finally mine and that we’ll share more than our food.”
“I think that is the most attractive thing anyone has ever said to me. You know, besides the whole I love you thing.” I grinned.
He gently set me down. “Are you ready to go?”
“Just a second. I need to grab something and call in a favor.”
“I’ll be waiting.” He flashed me his beautiful smile.
I dashed upstairs, excited about everything. I had been anxiously waiting to show him how to walk on water. I wanted it to be a surprise, so I grabbed a bandanna to act as a blindfold for when the time came tonight. While I was shoving it in my bag, I swore I heard my mom say, I told you so. I was happy to let her take full credit.
After my quick phone call to an old family friend to make sure the place I needed tonight would be available, I rushed back down to be with my man. That’s right, he was all mine. Walking out my door together felt entirely different than it ever had, though we had done it dozens of times before. It probably had something to do with the way he held my hand and ran his thumb across it, or maybe when he kissed me deeply before opening the door to his crappy old truck. Or maybe it was the way I sat in the middle like we were from Shelby’s neck of the woods and we couldn’t keep our hands off each other.
Or perhaps it was the way he stared at me contentedly from across the table at dinner where we shared smothered burritos and pollo loco, as if this was the way it was always meant to be.
Sawyer grinned at me. “You know, Shelby is a huge fan of yours.”
“Is that so?”
“Not so much of me anymore. She threatened to have me fired unless I came to my senses and took the best girl ever off the market, as she put it. She said if firing my butt didn’t work, she would bring out the big guns. Whatever that means.”
I laughed. “You know, I think the Southern Belle isn’t all that bad.”
Sawyer chuckled before reaching across the table and taking my hands. “You have another fan too. I talked to my dad last night.”
Funny. I talked to my dad last night too, but I didn’t mention it since it involved leaving his mother. That was a weird bridge we would have to cross when the time came. That one and the one where my dad was trying to get his brother’s butt thrown in jail. Oh, yeah, and the disgusting one of his brother sleeping with both of my sisters. For now, though, I was going to stay off all those bridges and savor this first date with my Sawyer.
“How did that go?” I gave his hand a squeeze for support.
He stretched his neck from side to side. “I’m not going to lie, it was tough.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry. My dad said I was a fool for taking so long to let you know how I feel about you. He was right. He said some other things, too, that I didn’t want to hear.”
“About your mom?” I bit my lip.
Sawyer nodded.
“You don’t have to tell me.”
“I want to tell you everything.”
“Then I’m here to listen.”
He lifted my hand to his lips. “I love you. I can’t say that enough.”
“I’m not going to stop you.” I couldn’t quit smiling.
He held my hand tight as if he needed the strength. “After talking to my dad, I’ve been thinking a lot about how anger can skew your memories of the past. How it creates tunnel vision. Now I’m angry at both my parents and myself for not believing what was before my eyes when I was growing up.”
“I don’t think you should be too hard on yourself. Every kid wants to believe their family is happy and it’s difficult when you know it’s not. I know I can’t completely relate to you, but I do understand how that feels. I find it helps to have someone to help you work through it. Someone who loves you and wants more than anything for you to be happy.”
