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“I’m ready to go,” I announced brightly as I grabbed my purse and slid the straps over my arm.
“You look gorgeous,” he complimented me as he crossed the room to drop a kiss on my cheek. “Give me a second, and I’ll pull the car around to pick you up.”
“No need.” I picked up my right foot and twisted my ankle so he could take in the three-inch heels on the strappy sandals I was wearing. “Contrary to how these look, these are actually quite comfortable. I could probably do a 5k in them if I were a runner.”
He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter how steady you are on your gorgeous feet. This is a date, and I’m going to pick you up at your door.”
“But you’re not really picking me up at my door. It’s yours, and I’m just using it temporarily,” I argued.
“It’s yours while you’re here,” he countered as he headed for the door.
“Fine. If it’s so important to you, go get the car,” I huffed, wagging my finger at him. “But if we’re doing this whole thing, then you’d better plan on a goodbye kiss at the door at the end of our date before you pull your car into the garage, and no hanky-panky once we’re inside.”
“That works for me since I wasn’t going to fuck you tonight anyway.” Vaughn pulled the door open and flashed me a smug grin. “Otherwise, I’d be breaking the five-date rule.”
“Three! It’s a three-date rule, which you damn well know because I already told you,” I hollered after him as he walked outside.
“I guess we’re going to have to meet in the middle since you just ruled out sex tonight,” he reminded me before shutting the door on our conversation—literally and figuratively.
“Well, hell. That backfired on me,” I groaned. There went any hope I had of getting lucky tonight. But also, it made me fall for Vaughn a little bit more. Smart, sexy, and willing to put the work into building a relationship with me before jumping into sex was apparently a lethal combination for my heart.
The heavy beating had barely slowed down by the time I heard Vaughn’s knock on the door. “Why, hello there,” I purred after pulling it open.
“Hey, gorgeous. You ready for our date?” Vaughn asked, crooking an elbow out for me.
I flashed him a blinding smile and answered, “Indeed, I am.”
“Then let’s go.” He led me down the stairs and helped me into the car.
I only lasted until the end of his driveway before I asked, “Where are we headed?”
“Nice try, but it’s a surprise.” He made a zipping motion with his fingers over his lips.
“Hmm,” I hummed, crossing my arms over my chest. “Either you forgot how horrible I am with surprises, or you love driving me crazy.”
His gaze dropped to my tits, which were plumped up by my arms. “It’s only fair since you’ve been driving me crazy since the night we met.”
“Ahh.” I trailed my fingers along his right thigh, enjoying the way his muscles clenched beneath my touch. “But only in the very best way.”
“Too true,” he agreed, lacing his fingers through mine.
We chatted for a bit before switching on the radio to listen to some classic rock—yet another thing we had in common.
“Where’re we going?” I asked for about the millionth time after we’d driven for a little more than two hours. We had recently passed Palm Springs, and I was starting to run out of guesses. “The desert?”
I’d meant it as a joke, so I was surprised when he answered, “Sort of.”
I wrinkled my brow and tapped my finger against my chin, trying to figure out what he could possibly have planned for us out here. “Is there a music festival happening at Coachella?”
“No, and I can do better than that for our third date,” he huffed, taking a left turn down a long drive.
“Fourth,” I corrected with a grin.
He shook his head, chuckling as he parked in a lot off to the side of a building. It wasn’t until we walked around the corner toward the front door that I spotted the lettering on the awning. “You’re taking me on a hot air balloon ride?”
The awe in my tone was obvious. Vaughn flashed me a smug grin as he pulled the door open and waved me through. “Told you I could do better than a music festival at Coachella.”
“You seriously downplayed your date-planning skills.”
As we neared the reception counter—where a man in his fifties was waiting for us—Vaughn lowered his head and murmured next to my ear, “Only because I wasn’t sure exactly how good they were since I’ve never put this kind of effort into planning something like this for anyone before.”
I didn’t have the chance to react before we were greeted and started signing paperwork. Then we took a quick ride out to the launch site. After a quick safety briefing, I spotted the little door on the side of the basket and heaved a deep sigh of relief. “Oh, thank goodness.”
