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She cut around the counter and crossed the room to stand in front of him. “Let’s get out of here. Cinderella wants to go to the ball.”
“We’ll get there, I promise you that. But there’s no rush. We can finish the cleaning first. When we’re out tonight, I don’t want you regretting the work you left undone.”
“And I don’t want to regret that I chose to work when I could have spent that time doing something fun with you. Every minute of my day is plotted and organized for maximum efficiency. Even little things like going to get a coffee. I plan everything.”
“Nothing wrong with that.”
“Until my need for precise execution of the plan results in missing something amazing. That almost happened with you, Sam. I was literally seconds away from forfeiting that Wednesday afternoon coffee run because waiting to cross the street was taking too much of the allotted time. If I’d done what I always do and obsessed about my schedule, I would have turned around and gone back to my shop, to the next item on my planner. We wouldn’t have bumped into each other at Bean There. We wouldn’t have had last night together. And tonight, I wouldn’t have a date with the sexiest man in town. I’d be here, cleaning. Alone. I’m not saying I’m giving up my planner, whiteboard, and timer, but I am going to make a conscious attempt to put them aside sometimes. Starting now.”
“Nothing wrong with that either.” He set the mop head in the ringer, steered the bucket to the corner and leaned the handle against the wall. “Ready when you are, Cinderella.”
* * *
SAM
Sam checked his watch.Fifteen minutes had gone by since Leigh went upstairs to change and freshen up. Not long by women’s standards. Seemed like forever to him.
He wanted her back in his presence. On his arm, in his arms, and every other way he could get her. As soon as possible.
Considering how close he’d come to losing tonight’s date, he intended to make it a good one. A night that’d remove all thoughts of work and schedules from Leigh’s pretty head. His turn to be the planner.
“Does this work for whatever we’re doing?” she asked, doing a turn as she entered the living room.
“Oh yeah.” He rose from the couch and closed the distance between them, his need to touch her increasing with each step. “You look incredible.” Screw being a gentleman. Taking ahold of her waist, he pulled her against him. Ran his hands up and down her sexy body, from her bare shoulders to her very fine ass beneath the formfitting dress she’d chosen. “Is it wrong that I want to ditch our other plans, strip you naked and devour you, here and now?”
“God no. That all sounds very right to me.”
So tempting. But not the evening he’d promised. He allowed himself one kiss, then took a difficult step back. “Ready?”
She stole the space he’d created and pressed every possible inch of her irresistible body against him. “Foranythingyou have in mind, yes.”
If he had any doubt about the meaning in her words, he only had to look in her eyes. Yes toanything. And damn, he had a lot of things in mind. Dirty, delicious things. Enough to fill every minute of their night together, and then some.
“Babe, it’s a good thing your shop is closed tomorrow, because you’re going to need the rest.”
* * *
SAM
They’d snaggeda parking spot nearby and been seated immediately. Now the most stunning woman in the city smiled at him from across the table. Good thing they hadn’t bailed after that brief stutter back at Leigh’s bakery. They were on track for a great night, one for the books.
“Sam.”
He forced his gaze from Leigh’s face to look at the server who’d entered his peripheral vision. Shit. “Liz. I didn’t know you worked here.”
“No, you wouldn’t. Knowing where I work requires more conversation than ‘your place or mine’ and ‘I’ll call you,’ which you didn’t. Well, not when you said you would, anyway.”
Ouch. Bad enough that the truth hurt. Getting hit with it in front of Leigh—whose eyes couldn’t get wider—made it that much uglier. Containment required, before the situation got any worse.
“I’m sorry I treated you that way, Liz. Any chance we can be mature about what happened and move on?”
“Oh, don’t worry, Sam, I’m not going to let what happened between us ruin your date with this woman who is obviously much morematurethan me.”
Shit. Apparently, “worse” was on the menu. Special of the day.
Also, Leigh’s eyescouldget wider. But only briefly. Then her features settled into their normal proportions. She even smiled at Liz. “Hi, Liz. Look, I’m sorry about this awkward moment and that we’re making you uncomfortable. Since the two of you obviously have a history, I think it would be best for everybody if Sam and I moved to another server’s section. We’re happy to wait at the bar if there are no tables available immediately.”
“You don’t need to move,ma’am.” The smile on Liz’s face contained more artificial sweetener than the diabetic cake Leigh had baked the other night. “I’m done with Sam. I got all traces of him out of my system when I went to the doctor.”
