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I brushed my lips against her cheek. “You need get up and get dressed. We need to hit the road.”
She sat up. “The road?”
I lifted myself up on my elbow and nodded. “Yep. We’re going on an adventure.” I squeezed her thigh, hidden beneath her blanket. “I want to make up for the not-so-great time last night. We need to put it in the rearview and start fresh. I’ve made plans.”
She bit her lip and looked down at her hands as she fiddled with her blanket. “You don’t have to do all that for me.” She sniffed. “I’m sorry for freaking out last night. I can be a bit nutso sometimes.”
“Hey,” I said, reaching out and grabbing her hand. I squeezed it, and she squeezed back. “It was an unusual set of circumstances. I mean, there was no way to predict she would be there. Or that they’d have such clumsy waiters who couldn’t even hang on to a damn plate, right?” I teased.
She snorted and shook her head.
“We got out of there without setting the place ablaze or committing any other crimes. I’m counting it as a win. Maybe we should even celebrate it, you think?”
Her grin slowly grew. “You’re amazing, you know that?”
“You are too, baby,” I said, closing the distance to kiss her again.
Her gaze was soft when I pulled away, looking at me with that adoration I’d always loved seeing in her expression. I hadn’t understood what it was when we were younger, but it was clear now. I wanted to soak myself in the feeling and never let go, but we needed to get going. She needed a good mental health day, a day of nothing but fun, and I was there to give it to her.
“Come on. Let’s get up and get you ready.”
---
A lightness seemed to fill Sav after she’d had her breakfast and more coffee. We sat at the small breakfast bar that separated her kitchenette from the living room. There were two stools, but the space was so small that our legs were squished together throughout the meal.
I loved it.
I saw her up close as we ate. She didn’t put makeup on at first, and I always enjoyed seeing the unfiltered version of her.
Once on the road, I kept my hand in her lap like I had done the night before. I held her hand against her thigh and occasionally rubbed my thumb against her skin. She had a consistent smile as I drove, and I was glad to see her so happy.
We drove out of town, heading north for a good hour and a half. She kept asking where we were going, and I insisted it was a surprise.
“You don’t need to make up anything about last night, by the way,” she said. “I’m the one who made a scene. Not you.”
I shook my head. “Last night was supposed to end differently for both of us, Sav. You should have woken up this morning in my bed. Besides, I’d already planned to surprise you with this trip.”
Her mouth fell open in mock surprise. “You expected to get lucky on the first date?”
I chuckled. “I mean, you were ready to jump my bones before, so I assumed last night would have ended with you taking all kinds of advantage of me. I was hoping for that anyway.”
She looked away, but I caught the slight pink in her cheeks.
She cleared her throat. “Okay, you have a point.”
I was relieved we could joke around like this. I was struggling with this whole relationship thing. It’d been such a long time since I was committed to someone that it felt like I didn’t know the steps anymore.
Katelyn had been a harsh reminder of my failure in the relationship department last night. The initial shock of seeing her had rocked me, but I quickly worked through it. Comparing her to Sav made me realize Sav wasn’t like her and never would be.
I had nothing to fear about the woman who currently owned my heart. I wasn’t sure if I could live up to what she deserved, but I would try.
We arrived at my big surprise and pulled into the relatively empty lot. Sav glanced around, seeing the sign, then stared at me wide-eyed. “Chris, what is this place?”
I grinned, unbuckling my seatbelt. “Can’t you smell that? It’s a coffee roasting plant.”
The building was a little larger than Sparks Bookstore with large glass windows that showed the machinery inside. To the right of the building was a picnic area with two food trucks, and people were outside enjoying freshly brewed cups of coffee.
“Wow,” she breathed. Her shocked expression shifted into glee, making my heart stutter. She beamed at me. “This is so cool. Thank you.”
