AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My panicking was interrupted when she came out of the building, dressed in a tight white turtleneck sweater dress paired with tan ankle boots, and—wow.
“Hi.” She gave me a little wave.
“Noelle. Hey.” I ran my hands through my hair. I couldn’t stop staring. Lord. She was so beautiful. And if I could be looking at her, why would I want to look at anything else?
She clutched the chain of her purse as she came to a stop in front of me. “So, where to, prof?” She tilted her head at me.
I cleared my throat and offered her my hand. “You’ll see. Shall we?”
I hoped Noelle would like the place I had chosen to take her. I didn’t know why it mattered, but suddenly it did. The split-second realization hit me like lightning: everything mattered to me when it came to this girl and making her happy. It was like it hadn’t even occurred to my brain that there was anything I could do except to make her smile.
“Matthew.” She stopped in the parking lot next to my truck. “Is this… a date? What are we doing here?” She gestured between the two of us.
“Do you want it to be a date?” At her hesitation, I stepped towards her, leaning in close to her ear. “Believe me, sweetheart. You’ll know when it’s a date, okay?” I stepped back, flashed a smile at her, and opened the door for her.
Noelle just stared up at me for a moment, cheeks a little flushed and lips looking completely kissable.
After I helped her into the passenger seat, I closed her door and then slipped into the driver’s side. The whole way there, Noelle babbled about her day, her residents, and how she had gotten so much feedback that her girls had loved zoo day yesterday. I smiled to myself as I looked straight ahead—because I had to. Normally, idle chatter like this would annoy me. Small talk, inconsequential conversations—I had never really bothered with them before. I had always wanted to get down to business, get to the point.
But with Noelle? I found that I wanted to hear about every second of her day when I wasn’t with her. I was enthralled with every conversation, every meaningless story, every grin and giggle that she gave me.
I hadn’t had that much time to plan—twenty-four hours had never felt so long and so short simultaneously—but I had known, for a while, where I would want to take her if anything like this ever happened.
Her eyes drifted over and met mine, and then she burrowed her face in her thick sweater, suddenly bashful. I chuckled but just kept driving silently.
Finally, we pulled up to the restaurant: my favorite little Italian place, still family-run. The atmosphere was so different from a chain restaurant: small, warm, and cozy. The lights were lit up outside and with all of the lights strung up in the trees, it felt almost romantic.
I offered Noelle my hand as I opened the door, grateful to be touching her when she slipped her hand into mine. Wishing I could do more as I helped her down, like put my hands around her waist and lift her. And then, maybe I would spin her around before kissing her senseless. And then—only then—would we go to dinner.
But it was too soon for any of that. And I thought… Even if she had noticed me staring at her lips, even if she had wanted to kiss me like I had wanted to kiss her, I didn’t want to scare her off. I didn’t want her to tuck her tail between her legs and run away from me.
She made a little awed sound as she observed the lights and the small restaurant that sat in the middle of the neighborhood. “This is so cute.”
I kept her hand firmly in mine as we walked in and asked for a table for two. I didn’t want to stop touching her. After yesterday, at the zoo… I didn’t think either one of us wanted to lose this connection between us. I couldn’t help it. Everything felt so right with her hand in mine. And maybe it was a little bit too soon to feel that way—I hadn’t even known her for a full month. But here and now… For the first time, it was just the two of us.
When we got to the table, I reluctantly surrendered her hand, sliding into the booth across from her.
After we had placed our orders with the waitress, Noelle leaned back into the seat and gave me one of her best inquisitive stares as she crossed her arms and leaned them on the table. “So…”
I smirked back at her, mirroring her posture. “So?”
She held up her hand, holding up one finger.
“What are you doing?” I raised an eyebrow.
“I’m going over all of the things I know about you. Now shush.” Noelle narrowed her eyes at me playfully, and I couldn’t help the look that I gave her. Because really.
“Noelle—”
“Come on. It’ll be fun. And then you can tell me more things I don’t know.” She grinned.
“One. You used to live in Seattle.” I nodded. “Two.” She held up another finger. “You don’t like sweets. Or put any sugar in your coffee. Which is boring, honestly. Three, you like wolves.” I gestured for her to continue. “Hmmm, what else.” She pretended to wrack her brain.
“I used to play basketball in college,” I said.
“That makes sense,” she said, eying my torso.
I laughed. “Why?”
