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“What did you say?”
His eyes widened round with surprise “Of course I said yes. It wasn’t easy. Hockey practice and studies ate up most of my free time, but it made me mad as hell that his dad didn’t appreciate what a great kid he had because he wasn’t the hockey star the father had always wanted to be. I found the time.”
Suddenly she was so appreciative of the love and support her whole family had given each other regardless of their strengths or weaknesses.
He blinked and a sweet smile crossed his lips. “Kid wound up teaching me that with a little determination and a lot of hard work, anything is possible.” He turned to face her, his smile now wider than that on any of her family in a proud moment. “Tommy actually won MVP in the state tournament his senior year.”
She should have known this man had a heart as big as the state of Texas. Bigger. That thought brought an odd flutter deep in the pit of her stomach that worked its way up her chest and was making itself at home in her heart. Boy, was she in trouble.
Chapter Ten
Leaning over, untying his laces, Daniel struggled with all the thoughts skating around in his head. Paige had proven to be a good sport, and for her first effort, not too bad a skater. He knew a lot of people who couldn’t stand on ice to save their lives. He also doubted that she would want to make skating her next favorite hobby, but still he was proud of her efforts.
Her determination to skate not only reminded him of Tommy, in a very different way, it was one more thing that made Paige special. Very special. And he very much wanted to take her out again. Not on a business tour, not as new friend, but on a date. A real live, non business related, I really like you, date. And that for some reason was scaring the hell out of him.
Still leaning over his laces, he turned to see her slipping her foot out of her skate. “Do you have any plans tonight?”
Her skates in hand, she sat up and looked to him, shaking her head. “None.”
Sucking in a bit of air and courage, he straightened in his seat and looked at her. “Would you join me for dinner tonight?” Blowing out a huff of annoyed air, he shook his head. “Let me rephrase that.”
Her brows buckled, but she nodded.
Great. He was really mucking this up. “What I mean is, would you join me not for another business dinner, but for a date?” There, he’d said it.
Instantly, tense shoulders lowered and that sweet lazy smile that did weird things to his insides appeared. “I’d like that.”
“Good.” He pushed to his feet. “I found this place online that looks like fun. The Kitchen Café.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of it. Always gets good reviews, but I’ve never been. I think it used to be a favorite place of my brother Mitch and his wife.”
“Really?” He had no idea if that was good or bad, but right now he was so happy she’d said yes that he didn’t really care. “It said dinner served starting at seven and music starts at eight. Shall I pick you up at six?”
“Sounds perfect.”
That’s what he was shooting for. He hoped the place turned out to be as special as she was. In the meantime, he wondered if accepting a date meant he could now hold her hand. For a grown man, he was spending way too much time figuring out the simplest of things. A teen in high school would have less trouble figuring out what to do with a girl.
Of course, Paige was no girl, she was one hell of a woman. One he didn’t want to lose.Didn’t want to lose.He shook his head, decided now was not the time to hold her hand yet, and led the way to return the skates and take her home. Then he could go to his hotel and pace the floors until it was time to pick her up. Yep, a teenager would definitely be handling this better than he was.
It had only taken him an hour and half and changing three times before he decided he was being ridiculous. That’s when he wound up at the men’s store down the block. Like it or not, nothing that he had with him had been packed to impress a woman.
So here he sat in his car, hours later, with a woman he didn’t want to lose, on the way to their very important first date, and he was tongue tied.
“I spoke with Mitch.”
“Oh?”
“I’m usually hesitant to bring up anything about his late wife, it always seems to make him sad.”
He didn’t want to even think about how much pain losing his wife had cost the senator.
“He says we’re going to love it. The owner is a wonderfully versatile musician who also loves to cook. We don’t think he actually cooks anymore, but he plays every night and he and my sister-in-law loved it every time they went.”
“Good, because here we are.” A parking spot waited for them right in front. Since the rain hadn’t let up all day, he hoped finding a premium space was a good sign for the night ahead of them.
“Oh, wow.” Paige stepped into the club ahead of him and stopped. The lighting was just dark enough to fill a soul with a sense of calm, but not so dark to put a person to sleep. Tables for two and four were scattered about and could easily be pushed together for bigger groups. On each table a single fresh flower rested in a colorful vase.
All in all, he was hopeful. Especially when he read the one page menu. Three choices for appetizer, dinner, and dessert. All of them sounded both simple and delicious.
