“I can stop if you want to go clean the kitchen.”
“Don’t you dare.”
12
BRONSON
Lincoln and I were going on a date. A real date. And sure, we’d spent time together multiple times, and yes, we did things that were normally reserved for after a date. But this was different. It felt special. I’d been on plenty of dates in my life before, but for some reason, just thinking about him coming to pick me up had me giddy… butterflies in my stomach and all.
We were going to a restaurant I liked, but it wasn’t anything fancy. It wasn’t even a place that took reservations. And yet, I felt like I was a prince being picked up for a royal ball.
I checked my outfit for the third, or more like the thirtieth, time. My goal was to open the door and have Lincoln look at me like there was nothing else in this world he could ever desire more than me. I wasn’t sure if I quite got there, but I had to admit that I looked great. My outfit was very casual, jeans that accented my best assets and a shirt that was a shade of blue he’d complimented me on wearing before. One nice thing about picking out the restaurant was that I didn’t need to worry about what type of clothing to wear, only what would make me look sexiest.
It was hard to believe a text message that had me freaking out and wanting to call the authorities had turned into me finding someone who had me counting the minutes to a night out. There were so many ways that missent text could’ve gone wrong.
A knock at my door had me running to it. I didn’t even bother pretending to be nonchalant about it. I was excited Lincoln was here and wanted him to see just how thrilled I was by his presence. He was great about expressing his feelings, and me? Not so much. But I was planning to work on that. He deserved it.
“Hi.” I barely got the word out and he had me wrapped in a bear hug… or was it a panther hug?
“You look great.” He kissed the spot just below my ear, the one that made me squirm with need. The man had magical lips.
“You didn’t stop long enough to look at me.” I rubbed my cheek against his.
“You always look great.” He pressed a kiss to the side of my neck and then stepped back enough to show me he held a bouquet of flowers. “Is this too much?”
“Not too much. Just enough.” It was just a random bouquet from a grocery store, but I couldn’t help but smile. No man had ever bought me flowers before. I didn’t think they still did that. And maybe they didn’t, but Lincoln did, and he was the only man that mattered.
“I heard that’s what humans do when they court.” He winked.
“Court?” I rolled my eyes and walked in to grab a pitcher to put my flowers in. I didn’t have a vase, but an iced tea pitcher would do.
“Not court?”
“Not in this century.” Or maybe anywhere but in old books.
“Woo? Is it woo?”
“Sure. Woo works for me.” I cut the tips of the flower stems at an angle, sprinkled in the powder that came with them, and soon the bouquet was like a ball of sunshine on my kitchen counter. “Thank you. I love them.”
“Ready for dinner?”
“Yeah.” I’d have been just as happy staying there, getting some takeaway, and snuggling on the couch. But now that I knew this was a wooing event, I was even more giddy than I was earlier.
The restaurant wasn’t very far. It was a mom-and-pop Italian place that was more American-Italian than actual Italian. During the day, it had a lot of families, but at night, it was a pretty common date place. The lighting was low, the food was good, and it had a very homelike quality to it.
The tablecloths were mismatched, and the owner acted like everybody’s grandma. I loved it there, as un-fancy as it was. We walked in hand-in-hand and got a seat without a wait, which surprised me. We weren’t as private as I’d have liked, but we’d also gotten there as the night was getting busy, so it was to be expected.
“What’s good here?” Lincoln asked.
“Pretty much everything… Probably.”
“What do you mean probably?” He set his menu down on the table in front of him.
“I always get the spaghetti and meatballs. It’s delicious, and no one I know has ever said that anything here was bad or even mid. But yeah, I get the same thing every time.”
“Every time?”
I nodded.
