“I’m also sorry I haven’t been in touch all week.The last three days have just whipped by and I feel like such an ass for not reaching out sooner.”He grabbed my hand and ran his thumb over my knuckles.“What are you up to tonight?”
I lifted one brow.“Making dinner for my kids, putting on my lounge pants with the elastic waistband, and reading until I fall asleep and my book falls on my face.”
That made him chuckle.“Can I tempt you with something else?”
“I dunno, bro.Didn’t you just hear how epic my plans are?”
“I’d like to take you on a proper date.I was thinking I could pack a picnic and we could go sit in the back of my truck, maybe back at that Heaven’s Leap or something?Look at the stars, eat, talk, and just be together.What do you think?I could pack some blankets and pillows, set up a little nest in the back so we stay warm.”
The idea of being cuddled up with Lennox in the back of his truck sounded all kinds of idyllic to me, but I had to keep myself in check.I had subordinates behind me, and even though I couldn’t see them, I knew they were being nosy because none of them had said a word in quite a while.
Slowly, I nodded.“That sounds like a nice evening.I think I can rearrange my calendar to accommodate such a last-minute invitation.”
His smirk turned into a wide, captivating grin, and the corners of his eyes crinkled.“Thank you for making adjustments to your day planner to accommodate me.”
My cheeks were warm, and I broke eye contact and glanced down at the ground again.
He still had hold of my hand and tugged me toward him.“I’ll see you tonight then.”
I nodded and met his gaze.“Can’t wait.”
His smile turned spicy, and he bobbed his eyebrows up and down.Then he swooped in for a quick peck and was gone.
Only once the truck engine started and we heard the crunch of gravel under tires did anyone make any noise.
“Damon’s got a date!”Corbin exclaimed.“Right on, dude.She’s a little weird though.Never been on a birdwatching date before.”
I went up to my nephew.“You okay?”I asked him gently.
He was still in a confused, and perhaps now-stunned, codfish-mode.“Do I have a date?”
I looped my arm around his shoulder and pulled him in for a side hug.“Maybe.She’s a great kid, and so are you.Just be friends.You both need a few, hmm?”
He made a noise of half-hearted agreement in his throat before snapping out of his fog and getting back to work.
“What the hell do you wear on a birdwatching date?”he muttered mostly to himself but also to Corbin as he went back to demonstrating the corker.
“Khaki?”Corbin suggested.“Or a bird costume so you blend in?”
Amy, Tova, and Brittany all snorted.
“You can’t wear overalls on a date,” Gabrielle said emphatically as my cousins sat on her bed while I zipped and unzipped different outfits in front of them.“I simply won’t allow it.”
My head popped through the neck hole of a satiny, peach-colored top, and I glared at her.“You don’t have a say.”
Danica and Raina both chuckled behind their hands.
“See, it mayseemlike we’re all autonomous creatures, but ultimately, we do defer to our matriarch.And if Gabrielle told me I couldn’t wear overalls on a date—”
“You never would though,” Danica said to Raina.“None of us would, besides Nay.”
Raina shrugged.“Either way, if Gabrielle told me not to, I’d listen.Because I’m a good girl.”
“You’re a brat,” I shot back at her, turning around to check myself out in the full-length mirror.I made a face of discontent.“I don’t think pastels are my color.”
“They’re not,” Gabrielle said quickly.“Take it off.It’s washing you out.”
“Can I make a suggestion?”Danica asked, getting up from the bed.She went to the pile of clothes that they’d all brought from their closets for me to try on and sifted through until she brought out a pair of cute, wide-legged jeans and a black crop top T-shirt.“What about something like this?It’s cute, it’s casual, it’s sexy.You’re not going to some shmancy restaurant for dinner.You’re going to sit in the dark in the back of his truck.To me, this outfit is perfectly appropriate for a date like that.”
