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“I am,” she said with a giggle. “I don’t know, when you said that you wanted to take me to dinner and I knew it was going to be a bit of a drive to get down there, I didn’t mess around. I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to get down there and back up here again so I could get to bed at a reasonable time for getting up for work in the morning.”
“I see,” I said. “So what I’m hearing you say is that you were going to work as much as you usually do, but you think that it would be better for you to come with me down to dinner now, just so you can get back in time to get to bed early, right?”
“Got it,” she said with a laugh.
I knew she was teasing me. It was obvious she had worked to get off work early so she would be able to spend time with me, not so she was going to get to bed early that night. I knew if it was going to be an issue for her to make it for work, she wouldn’t be going with me to the restaurant in the first place.
But, she was going to use the work thing as an excuse to make it appear as though she wasn’t being as accommodating to hanging out with me as she was really being. And I was okay with that. I found it flattering that she would take off work early to spend time with me, and I thought it was humorous she wasn’t going to admit to me why she had done this in the first place. She would make it appear as this was all for work, not because of her interest in me.
But, when we were together, it was unmistakable the chemistry we had with each other.
Right down to the chemistry we had in bed.
I wasn’t able to get her body off my mind, and I was okay with that. In fact, I was hoping for the chance to have sex with her again, though I was going to leave it entirely up to her as to when that happened again. I wasn’t the kind of guy to push for it, not even after we had already had sex with each other once.
I wasn’t the kind of guy who ever wanted a woman to do anything she wasn’t entirely comfortable doing with me, so I found the best way to make sure she was the one who wanted it was to let her be the one to lead the way. She had done a fine job of that before, and she was the one who said she didn’t want it to change things.
So, now, I was willing to wait for her to be the one to take the reins on this again.
I could wait.
Still, the time that we spent driving down to the restaurant, and the meal itself, seemed to fly by. Then again, all the time that I spent with Laurel seemed to go by way too fast. It was as though time doubled its speed whenever the two of us were together, and I couldn’t slow it down to save my life.
I hated that one side of things. I always felt we were done with whatever we were doing too soon, and I wished for a way to extend the time we had together. I didn’t even drive the speed limit on the way back up to the hotel, doing what I could to stretch out the time she and I had to spend together. I knew we still had weeks upon weeks ahead of us, but this was the time that I enjoyed being with her.
To hear her laugh, to see her smile. I couldn’t get enough of it.
We put the car back in the hotel’s parking lot, and I made sure to check it back into the system so I didn’t have to pay for another day with it, then the two of us walked hand in hand across the parking lot to the hotel. I was glad we had our rooms right across from each other on the same floor. That made it a lot easier for me to take my time holding her hand, walking her to the elevator and riding with her right up to where our doors were.
“I had a lot of fun tonight,” she said when we were outside our rooms. “I really appreciate you driving me all the way down there for dinner. You know you didn’t have to do that.”
“You’ve never had that before, and I wanted you to try it at least once. You can’t live life to the fullest until you know what it’s like to eat truly authentic Mexican food,” I told her.
She laughed. “I believe you, and I thank you for taking me down there again. You’re amazing.”
“No, you’re the one who’s amazing,” I said with a smile. “I really do enjoy the time I get to spend with you, Laurel. You’ve really brightened up my life.”
“I could say the same.” She grinned up at me.
“Do you regret sleeping with me?” I asked.
I wasn’t going to ask her so bluntly, but I had to know. It came out of my mouth before I had the chance to even stop it, and once it was out there, there was no taking it back. I braced myself for her answer, unsure of what to say no matter what her reply would be.
I wasn’t asking to sleep with her again. I just wanted to know where she was after the two of us had had sex the first time. We hadn’t brought it up to each other after that night we said it wasn’t going to change things between us, and I felt that it would be best for both of us if we would just talk about it enough for me to know that she didn’t wish she hadn’t given me her virginity.
My end goal was to make sure she was okay. I knew I was developing real feelings for her, and I didn’t want her to feel like she had done something wrong, or that there were things she wasn’t able to talk to me about. I would be the one to bring up those topics if we needed, and I could see with the look in her eyes that she was glad I was sensitive enough to do this.
I might have a rough around the edges sort of personality, but that didn’t mean I didn’t care what was going on in her head, and she knew that, too. I was sure it was one of the reasons why she and I got along so well. She knew I respected her for who she was.
But, she didn’t answer me with her words.
Instead, she took a step forward and pressed her lips to mine, kissing me hard.
I fumbled with my door key, sliding it through the lock and opening up the door for the two of us to fumble inside. It wasn’t taking long for me to get hard. She already was turning me on with her very presence. But with the way she kissed me, the way she was the one taking control over the situation once again, I was getting harder by the second.
Everything about this woman was so intense, I knew I was finally spending time with someone who might be able to handle me long term.
For the first time in my life, I was starting to think about the future with this woman.
