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Chelsea laughed. “Okay.”
Once they were seated and Molly had gone to get their drinks, Grant reached across the table and took hold of her hand. “So, this is our first official date?”
She nodded. “Strange as that may be.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Considering we’ve already spent two nights together.”
“Yeah. We didn’t get off to a conventional start, but I’ll try to make it up to you.”
“There’s nothing to make up for. I like the way we started.”
“Me too. All I mean is that from here on out I want to wine you and dine you and court you properly.”
She laughed. She couldn’t help it. “Do people still do that? Do they even use that word?”
“What, courting?”
“Yeah. It sounds so old fashioned.”
He shrugged. “Maybe it is, but I like it. It’s better than dating. It’s more …”
Molly arrived back at their table with their drinks “Are we ready to order?”
Chelsea shook her head. They hadn’t even opened their menus yet. She was more interested in hearing what Grant had to say about courting. She liked the sound of it. She wanted to know what it meant to him.
“Sorry, I’ll be back.” Molly shot her an apologetic look as she retreated.
Grant opened his menu. So, he wasn’t going to finish what he was saying? Chelsea watched him for a moment, hoping that he’d look up and tell her about what courting was to him. He didn’t, and it didn’t seem right to ask. Instead, she picked up her own menu.
Once Molly had been back and taken their order, Chelsea reached over and took hold of Grant’s hand. She liked where they’d been, and wanted to go back there. “Do you think it’s okay to sleep together on a first date?”
He chuckled. “I think I’d have to say normally, no. But in our case, I think it’d be madness not to.”
“Oh, good. I was hoping you’d say that. Do you want to come back to the cottage again?”
“I’d like that, but I’ll have to stop by the hotel first and pick up a change of clothes.”
She smiled. “And then we’ll go back to the cottage if we make it out of your room?”
“I can be a gentleman. I don’t have to ravage you just because we’re in my hotel room.”
“I might have to ravage you, though.”
He smirked at her but didn’t say anything while the server arrived with their food.
Chelsea was shocked to see that it was eleven o’clock by the time they were ready to leave. That meant they’d been sitting there for three hours, and she hadn’t noticed the time go by. They’d talked and laughed and told each other stories; they’d talked about wine and people and all kinds of things. She’d enjoyed every minute of the evening, and she was glad that she already knew it wasn’t over yet. They said goodnight to Molly, and Grant opened the door for her. He slid his arm around her shoulders as they stepped out onto the street.
“Do you want to walk back to the hotel?” asked Grant.
“I’d love to; it’s a lovely night for a walk, but by the time we got there and came back for the car, it’d be really late before we got to the cottage.”
“You’re right. Unless you want to stay with me instead? I’ll drop you back at your car in the morning?”
She smiled. “Yeah, let’s do that.”
Chapter Seventeen
