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“I did not unscrew anything.”
He grinned. “Whatever you say.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re so full of yourself.”
He went to leave again but only made it one step more before stopping. “One other thing…”
“What?”
His eyes raked up and down my body. “Don’t wear a corset tomorrow. I’d like to be able to think straight.”
***
The next morning my train got stuck on the way to meet Colby for breakfast, so I was a few minutes late. He stood from the table when I walked through the front door of the diner, and relief washed over his face. But then his eyes dropped to my outfit, and that face changed to something entirely different. Of course I’d worn my favorite lace corset—one that left very little to the imagination.
“Hey.” I smiled as I walked over.
Colby shook his head. “You’re evil.”
I pretended I had no idea what he was talking about. “My train got stuck.”
His eyes were glued to my cleavage. “I might need to yank the tablecloth from the table and wrap it around your top half.”
I winked. “But if you do that, you won’t get to enjoy my corset.”
He pointed to the chair across from him. “Have a seat please, so I can sit. Otherwise, we might need the tablecloth to put over my lower half to keep me from embarrassing myself.”
I chuckled. The waiter immediately came over and handed us menus, and we both asked for coffee.
Colby looked at his watch. “I only have about forty-five minutes, unfortunately. Brayden’s watching Saylor, but he needs to leave by ten.”
“It’s fine. I have to get to work anyway.”
The waiter returned with our coffees and asked if we knew what we wanted. I’d been sitting for all of thirty seconds, so I hadn’t even opened the menu he’d handed me. I lifted my chin to Colby. “Do you know what you’re having?”
“I think I’m going to get eggs benedict.”
I offered my menu to the waiter. “Make that two, please.”
“You got it,” he said.
Once we were alone, Colby took a deep breath. “Before we talk, I just want to apologize again for last night. I should never have gotten in your face and made you upset.”
“It’s fine, Colby. It wasn’t a big deal.”
His face was serious. “It was to me. It’ll never happen again.”
I smiled coyly. “Really? Because it was kind of hot.”
His brows shot up, and then he grinned. “Oh yeah? Can I take back that commitment to never let it happen again?”
I laughed.
“Anyway…” he said. “On that note, I’m going to get straight to the point. I got upset because I like you a lot. I’m extremely attracted to you, which I think is pretty obvious, but it’s more than that. I freaking think about you all the time, Billie. Like, it might border on unhealthy.”
My heart fluttered, and my belly felt warm and mushy. “I like you too, Colby.” I paused. “But you scare me. Plus, I have major trust issues, and I don’t want to put that on you.”
He reached across the table and laced his fingers with mine. “We’re only scared of the things that mean something to us.”
I sighed and nodded. “I know.”
“I’ve given this a lot of thought. I can tell you I’m not going to hurt you and you should trust me a million times, but that’s not what you need. You’ve heard that song and dance too often from people who didn’t keep their word. The only way you and I are going to work is if I can earn your trust.”
“How can you do that?”
“By spending time together. Not dating, because you need to be sure before you jump into that, so more undating. Except this time, we commit to each other that we also won’t be dating anyone else.”
I chewed on my bottom lip as I thought it over. “So we’ll be, what, exclusively undating?”
Colby leaned back in his seat and smiled. “Exactly.”
The reality of my situation was that I either needed to completely disconnect from this man, or take the baby steps he was suggesting. Considering how miserable I’d been for the two weeks we didn’t see each other, I didn’t want to run away anymore. So I took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I think that’s a good idea. We were doing well undating until I thought you were with someone else and then I stupidly went out with Eddie.”
Colby groaned. “Don’t even say that guy’s name, please.”
I smiled. “Okay, but you have to promise never to mention the threesome you missed out on.”
He lifted my hand to his lips, dropping a sweet kiss on the top. “Deal.”
Too soon, we were back at my shop. I was the first one to arrive, so we stood in the doorway, just the two of us. Colby weaved his fingers with mine and swung our joined hands back and forth. “I wish undating ended with a kiss,” he said. “But unfortunately, that’s not the tradition.”
