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Slowly, he moved to twine his fingers with hers. A small smile developed on her lips. Sam liked holding Aero’s hand. The way his rough hand enveloped hers, the warmth of his skin, and the way he gripped her hand tightly all made her want more of his touch.
“Is this okay?” she whispered, and he nodded, staring down at their hands.
The waitress returned, and they let go, allowing her to set their plates in front of them.
Sam felt bereft without his hand in hers, and he didn’t understand the pulsing in his palm where she was missing.
They both ignored it, digging into their food and eating mostly in silence.
“How is it?” Sam asked, and Aero looked up.
“Fine. Yours?”
“It’s good,” she said, returning to her plate.
They both declined drink refills, citing the need to drive home, and opted to skip dessert.
“Excuse me,” Aero said, moving to stand.
Sam watched him go, digging her wallet out of her purse.
Aero rounded a corner to the hostess stand.
“I’d like to pay our bill,” he said, handing over his credit card.
“Certainly.” The hostess took the card from him. “I’ll be right back with your receipt.”
She walked away, and Aero waited, hoping Sam didn’t come looking for him. He was paying for dinner, and she needed to accept that. He’d asked her out, after all, and he was a gentleman.
The hostess returned, and he shoved everything in his pocket, returning to Sam.
“Ready to go?” he asked, holding out his hand toward her. It surprised him how easy he found it to reach for her. He almost dropped his hand, but that thought abandoned him as she laced her fingers with his.
“We didn’t get the bill,” she said, cocking her head to the side.
“I took care of it,” he rumbled, tugging lightly at her hand.
Sam eyed him suspiciously but gripped him tighter and stood.
“Next time is on me,” she conceded, and he agreed but had no intention of following through on that. His stomach flipped at the idea of “next time.” She wanted to see him again. The idea of spending more time with Sam, while surprising, was not unwelcome.
Aero walked Sam out to her car, holding her hand and marveling at the sensation of touch. It had been so long…
“I should be getting home,” Sam said, unlocking her car but not getting in.
Disappointment settled in his gut at her words, but he opened her car door anyway. He had to let her go. “Drive safe.”
She smiled sweetly up at him. “Thank you. For dinner, and everything.”
Feeling her cheeks heat, Sam was suddenly embarrassed and unsure of how to proceed. Despite their nice meal and conversation, Aero was still a stranger to her. She wanted to stay, to learn more about him, and to figure him out.
“Any time,” Aero said, then realized that made it sound like he took women he didn’t know out to dinner every other day. That was absolutely not the case, so he amended it with, “For you, I mean.”
Sam blushed more deeply, the tips of her ears turning pink. Aero thought it was lovely and resisted the urge to brush his fingers over the curve of her ear.
“Goodnight, Aero,” she said, squeezing his hand once before sitting in the driver’s seat.
“Goodnight.”
