“Lemme smell those.” Danny held his hand out to grab the bottles of cologne I was inspecting.

I usually wore Knotted but I was leaning toward OmDesire for my first official date with Thad. “Which do you like better?”

He smelled both colognes from the bottles but immediately shook his head. “Nope, not good enough. I need to smell them on you.”

I glared at him. “Seriously. You can’t just pick one?”

“Not if you want me to pick based on what it smells like with your own scent and pheromones and everything else.” He held a bottle in each hand and spread his arms. “Hold your wrists as far away from yourself as possible. We’ll wash off whichever one we don’t like.”

I wasn’t in the mood for his games, but I still had an hour to kill before I could start driving to Mapleville. I didn’t want to get there too early since Thad had surgery a few hours earlier and would need some time to rest and get ready, but sitting around was killing me. At least Danny was a good distraction. “Fine, just hurry up.”

He sprayed a fine mist above each of my arms and waved my wrist through the air below it, catching some of the cologne on my skin without drowning in it.

“Okay, now which one?”

He leaned forward and took a big whiff of each arm, making a face when he turned back to me. “You want the truth?”

“Of course. What?” I already felt like an idiot standing there with my arms held out like I was pretending to be an airplane. I didn’t need his dramatics too.

“They both smell like shit. I don’t know if they’re bad or your hormones are just out of whack, but you need to wash both off and just go au natural tonight.”

“You think?” I brought my wrists up to my nose to see what he meant, and Danny was right on the money. They both smelled terrible, not at all like they usually smelled when I wore them. “Oh, yeah. Good call.”

“Just be yourself tonight, man.” Danny followed me to the sink and watched while I washed up...again. “He’s gonna love you. And even if he doesn’t, he probably won’t be able to resist those guns, so you should at least get laid tonight.”

I just shook my head. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

Danny checked his watch then hopped away from the doorframe he was leaning on. “Shit, I’m late. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He winked before turning his back to me. “Or not.”

* * *

The drive to Mapleville seemed to take forever, but it also seemed to fly by. I was more nervous than I could remember ever being for a date, and I didn’t really know why. Thad and I had good chemistry and got along well, so it wasn’t like it things were likely to go terribly wrong.

But I think that’s why I felt so much pressure

Beyond not going wrong, I really wanted it to go well. Like really well. Like neither of us ever wanted it to end kind of well.

Yeah, that’s a lot of pressure to put on a first date, but there was just something about Thad that made me feel like failure was not an option. I knew in my gut that we should be together unless I did something to fuck it up, so I really needed to not fuck it up.

I arrived at my destination fifteen minutes early, so instead of parking and waiting in the car like an idiot, I kept driving until I found a little flower shop that was still open.

An older woman was just locking the door when I ran up to it and waved at her to let me in.

“Oh, honey. I’m just about to head out. Do you know what you need?” The poor woman looked exhausted but friendly, so I decided to push my luck.

“Well, I’m about to go on a first date with someone who seems kinda special, so maybe just a simple bouquet?”

The woman pulled the door open wider and waved me in. “Well, I can’t say no to a first date bouquet. Get on in here.” She immediately went to a refrigerated case that had roses and mixed flowers in crystal vases.

“Yeah, maybe one of these.” I checked each bunch to see if one called out to me as being perfect for Thad. Unfortunately, I had no idea what he liked.

The woman opened the case and pulled out a bouquet of red roses for me to inspect. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before. Is your date a local?”

I sniffed the roses then looked back to her. “Yeah, Thad Hart…uh, Eardt with an E. He’s from here.”

The woman’s eyes lit up and she looked giddy enough that I wondered if she was his mother. “Oh, Thad. I’m so happy to hear that. He’s is an absolute genius. You’d be lucky to win over a man like him.”

“You know him?” My nerves suddenly faded away. “Do you know what he would like? You know, as part of that winning over thing...”

She glanced around her shop and then held up a finger for me to wait. “I’ll be right back.”

It took a few minutes for her to return, but I could hear her humming in the back room, so I waited patiently. My watch was inching closer to 6 o’clock, but I figured arriving at least a few minutes after the hour might make me seem a little less desperate.

Especially if I had a bouquet in my hands that he would really like.

The woman re-appeared with a blue orchid in a matching pot then set it on the counter. “Thad loves orchids, and I’ve heard him mention his favorite color is blue. I think he’ll like this.”

“It’s gorgeous. I’ll take it.” I pulled out my credit card and slid it toward the woman as I inspected her flower. It truly was beautiful. She slid it back mumbling something about true love, and I thanked her profusely before heading out.

By the time I got out of the shop and found myself standing at Thad’s front door, it was ten minutes after six and my heart was racing with anticipation. I took a deep breath and knocked three times, hoping he was ready for me and that I wasn’t coming across as desperate.

There was some shuffling on the other side of the door and a crash that had me worried for his safety, but within a few seconds, the door swung open and the most beautiful man I’d ever seen was standing in front of me with drops of water still clinging to the ends of his ginger curls.

“Hey,” he said in a raspy voice, slightly out of breath.

“Damn, you look good.” I didn’t mean for that to come out but the smile it brought to Thad’s face confirmed he wasn’t offended.

“You too.” He took a calming breath then opened the door wider. “Please, come in.”