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“You’re not going to invite me up?”
“This is our first date, and I’m sorry, but I don’t let strange men up to my apartment on the first date.”
He laughs. “Fair enough.”
I grab my clutch and look at my dress. It’s a shorter green one that cinches at the waist and only goes out a little bit over the legs. Walking down the stairs, my stomach fills with butterflies because I have no idea what he has planned for us tonight.
I purposely didn’t let him spend the night Sunday or Monday, and I didn’t stay at his place either. I hope I can kiss him goodbye on the porch, but my willpower has to be strong.
I open up the door to my apartment building and find him standing by a car with a driver. Any willpower I had flies down the street with the fallen leaves from the trees. Cooper Rice cleans up well, and I’ve known that as long as I’ve known him, but there’s something different now that he’s mine.
He approaches me dressed in a suit, with a bouquet of flowers in hand. “You look stunning,” he whispers, leaning in and kissing me on the cheek. Very first-date behavior.
“Thank you.” I smell the flowers. “And for these, too.”
“It’s funny that I know so much about you, but I don’t know what your favorite flower is.”
“Honestly? I don’t have one, so this assortment is beautiful. Should I run it up, quick?” I ask.
“Sure, I’ll help you.” He places his hand on the small of my back and gestures with his other hand for me to lead the way.
I shake my head. “I think they’ll survive.”
“I’m not getting in that apartment tonight, am I?” he whispers.
A few guys walk by and stop, seeing Cooper, but they only nod and continue walking. Cooper should go give them an autograph and a selfie for not interrupting our date.
“I’m not sure yet.”
I walk to the car, and he opens up the door for me. Sliding in, the driver introduces himself as Seth and then puts up the barrier as soon as Cooper climbs in next to me. Obviously, there were some conversations about what Cooper wanted before I was picked up.
“It’s taking everything in me not to call off this dinner and take you back to my place,” he says, his hand sliding to the back of my neck and drawing me in for a kiss.
His lips move slow and tender, his tongue gliding along the seam of my lips, asking permission. I open for him, and his tongue slides along mine in the perfect rhythm we mastered this past weekend. This is the man I’ll kiss for the rest of my life, I just know it, and I’m thankful he’s so damn good.
I lose myself in his gentle caresses, sweet kisses, and soft demeanor. He’s right, let’s just go to one of our places. I don’t need to be wooed. The man has done so many nice things for me my entire life, I know what he’s capable of. But the other side of me says, this will be fun, it’s like we’re doing everything backward. We’re in love and just now getting to the dating part.
I protest with a groan when he closes the kiss, leaving me with one last touch of his lips.
“No questions, yet?”
“I’m wondering where you’re taking me.” I look out the window. The stop-and-go traffic is already telling me we haven’t left the downtown area.
“That I cannot answer. But…”
“Are you going to answer anything?”
He shakes his head. I knew he’d be like that.
“Fine then.” I roll my eyes.
We each talk about how our day was, he was off, and I worked the early shift today. I don’t remind him that I’m on early tomorrow too, so there won’t be any sex fest going on tonight.
The car pulls off the curb, and I wait impatiently to see what Cooper has planned.
In all the years I’ve known him, we’ve never really discussed our previous relationships. He never came to me for advice on what to do if he was taking a girl out on a date or divulged much of anything that happened on his dates. I never wanted to say a word about the dates I went on because it felt weird. I’m guessing that’s because of all the feelings we harbored for one another that we pretended were in the realm of friendship.
I reach over and squeeze his hand, and he flips it over and links our fingers. We look at one another, our eyes catching, both smiling. I’m a lucky, lucky woman. Cooper couldn’t be more perfect for me.
