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“More than you fucking know. But I want this date more. I want Sadie as much as I want Lady Luxe. That is important to me.”
“Do you want to continue with the negotiations we had already discussed? Or should we renegotiate?” I asked him, truly wanting to know where he wanted to go from here. All this information surely changed things.
“I think a trial period of dynamic is safest for both of us. We can ease into it. Continue with scenes as we already have before we dive too deep into uncharted territory. We can take our time, and learn each other slowly.” His answer was perfect; everything I wanted to hear.
“That sounds perfect, Thatcher. Absolutely perfect.” He stood, offering me his hand as he pulled me up to stand before him.
“What you shared tonight was no small thing, Sadie. And I’m no stranger to trauma. Know that I’m here for you. I don’t just want you on your good days. I want the good days, the bad days, and everything in between. So let me in, and know that I’m here, okay?” His eyes held mine as I nodded. “Good. Then I’ll see you tomorrow night at seven sharp.”
He pulled me in, arms wrapping around me. I breathed in his scent, taking comfort in his embrace as I relaxed for the first time that evening.
“Seven sharp,” I repeated as he kissed my forehead and pulled away.
“Good night, Sadie Day,” he said with a smirk, both of us walking to the front door as he made to leave.
“Good night, Thatcher.”
I felt my heart trip slightly as I watched him walk away from my home, carrying my truth and my hope in every step.
Tomorrow would be better. Tomorrow held the future.
CHAPTER17
“Oh my God.”I groaned lustily, slumping back into the hard, wooden back of my chair, my eyes rolling back in my head as the delicious flavors burst over my tongue.
“That good, huh?” Thatcher chuckled.
“I would leave Jamie to marry this dish,” I said with a mouth full of food, pointing at the Cacio e Pepe with my fork. It was incredibly unladylike, and absolutely necessary. I swirled the spaghetti noodles around the tines of my fork, lifting it to my lips so I didn’t have to suffer a single moment without those flavors on my tongue. “Like, I’d sign divorce papers tomorrow.”
He threw his head back with a laugh. “You’re something else, Sadie Day. But honestly, it can’t be half as good as this.” He gestured to his Timballo alla Teramana. I had never heard of the dish, but it was essentially lasagna elevated to the millionth degree.
“I wouldn’t know, I’ve never had it.” I cocked an eyebrow at him, smirking devilishly.
“Well, let me fix that for you, then.” He moved his chair closer, even though we were sitting perpendicular to each other, choosing to share the corner of the table to be closer and speak more intimately. I enjoyed the way he wanted to be close to me like this.
“Open for me.” His words, spoken softly and sensually as he held the fork to my lips, made me want to pull out my dominant side, but I didn’t. I let him take the lead and flirt. I missed flirting like this. It was something I didn’t do outside of Haven, and I found myself delighting in the subtle dance between man and woman in the early stages of a budding relationship.
I wrapped my lips around the fork, forgetting every thought of flirtatious, verbal dancing between partners as sweet and spicy mixed over my tongue like a dance all its own.
“Oh, Jesus!” I groaned. “I take it back. Yours might be better.”
“I told you,” he said with a smirk. He leaned forward, brushing his lips over mine slowly. It was simple, sweet, and chaste. I felt flutters in my belly as he pulled away with a groan of his own. “Though you definitely taste better than either of them.”
“You’re incorrigible.” I teased him, even as I longed to lean in for another kiss.
“I’m not incorrigible. I’m honest. Or at least, mostly honest.” He shrugged as he took another bite.
“Mostly honest? Oh, this sounds juicy. When are you not honest, Thatcher Wells?”
His eyes found mine, placing his elbows on the table as he leaned in, speaking low.
“I’m not being honest right now.”
“Oh?” I felt those flutters grow as he looked at me even more hungrily than he did the dishes before us.
“Mmhmm. If I were being completely honest, I would tell you that I can’t stop thinking about getting you out of this busy restaurant to somewhere private, where I could peel that dress from your body and pay homage between those luscious thighs. I crave the taste of you more than any meal I’ve ever eaten.”
My jaw hung slack, flutters bursting into a swarm of needy energy that consumed me as much as I wanted him to consume me.
