“Did you grow up here?”
“On the north shore. My parents still live there, and I have a brother and a sister. Both younger and, trust me, they were never allowed on the roof.”
She laughed, wondering what it was like to have siblings. Being an only child was not only lonely at times, but she didn’t have anybody to split her parents’ focus with. There was nohey, look what my sister’s doingwhen it got too hot under the magnifying glass.
“What about your family?” he asked. “Other than in Virginia and no longer married to each other, of course. Are you still close? Siblings?”
While she was curious about his family, hers was probably the last thing she wanted to talk about tonight. “It’s just me. And I’m fairly close with both of them, I guess. Separately. I talk to them on a regular basis. My dad remarried, to a woman who had three kids from a previous marriage. All younger than me and I was already away at college, so I know them, but we’re not close. And did I see strawberry shortcake on that dessert menu?”
She could see he noticed the deliberate subject change, and was thankful when he let it go. “You did, and it’s delicious. They make the biscuits themselves. And the whipped cream.”
“I shouldn’t. I really shouldn’t.”
“Then I will, and you can sneak as many bites as you want.”
They ate it slowly, as if they had an unspoken agreement to stretch it out as long as possible. But when she put down her fork because the ice cream had melted and joined forces with the strawberries to turn the last of the biscuit into mush, Derek pushed the plate to one side.
“After-dessert coffee?” he asked her as the server approached.
She groaned at the idea of putting anything else in her stomach, but she didn’t want to leave, either. “One. But decaf.”
Once the dessert plates were cleared and they’d fixed their coffees, Derek leaned forward. He rested his forearms on the table when he did it, which brought her attention right back to them. “I’m out of ways to keep you here, so don’t be surprised if it takes me areallylong time to drink this.”
“Me, too. Baby sips.” And unable to resist the urge anymore, she reached out and stroked his arm, from his wrist to the edge of the rolled-up cuff.
“This probably sounds weird, but you have really great arms and I’ve wanted to do that all night.”
“Trust me, you’re welcome to touch any part of my body you want.”
“That would be a scandal this restaurant would never forget.”
She watched the words sink in—the admission she wanted to touch him in places she couldn’t touch him in public—and for a moment his expression was so intense, she thought he might haul her across the table and onto his lap.
“You’re worth the risk of being on the eleven o’clock news for.”
It was the weirdest and yet most romantic thing a man had ever said to her, and Olivia shivered. “I bet handcuffs are a lot sexier in theory.”
“And there’s a good chance I’d know the officers responding and never hear the end of it.” The muscles in his forearm twitched under her trailing touch. “I’m on tomorrow, so it’s an early alarm for a twenty-four-hour shift.”
“I have an eight-o’clock meeting in the Seaport.” She didn’t even want to think about what time she’d have to get up in order to leave this part of the city in time to make it home, shower and get dressed, and make the meeting by eight. Dark o’clock, and in the height of summer, that was saying something.
“We can make this happen.” He pulled out his phone. “I don’t have the kids next weekend. Amber’s hosting a couple of Village Hearts kids for a few days and they’ll be there through the weekend. Since they don’t have school, I’ll just grab Julia and Isaac Wednesday morning and bring them home Thursday night instead.”
Olivia wanted to ask how that worked—if he’d have to fight his ex to change up the schedule—because he didn’t seem to get that tenseness in his voice when speaking of his ex that her parents and almost everybody else she knew did. But she didn’t want to interrupt where this conversation was heading by discussing his failed marriage.
Since she’d come straight from a meeting and therefore had it with her, she reached into her bag and pulled out her planner, clearing the space in front of her to set it down.
“Hey, I thought there was a no planner rule for tonight.”
She paused in the act of opening it and gave him a guilty smile. “I know, but I had it with me for the meeting. And since I have it, I may as well use it. Plus, you used your phone. Same thing.”
“I’m teasing you. I don’t care if you have it open all the time as long as it gets my name in there.” He leaned over and tapped the very small empty space at the bottom of the Saturday box. “Just write it in.Have great sex with Derek.”
“I’m not writing that in my planner.”
“Why not? If you don’t write it down, it’s a thought, not a plan. Isn’t that what you said?” He gave her a grin that had her smiling back. “And putgreatin block letters.”
“Managing expectations isn’t one of your better skills.”
