LEXI

“I can’t believe I still fit in this thing. Especially after all this food.”

“Did you like the menu?”

“Yes! Is it from that little place next to the arena on the river?”

“The very one,” Bradley says with a grin. “I can’t believe you remembered.”

“Didn’t we go out to eat there before our first prom?”

“Yes, we did,” he says. “With your brother, and Kitty, and half the high school, it seems.”

“Do you remember...” I lean in with a conspiratorial wink... “We both pocketed about ten of the mints on the way out without saying anything to each other?”

“That’s how we should’ve known us getting together was fate. Nobody else bothered to steal the mints.”

“It’s not stealing, they’re free dessert.”

“We had no money back then.” He shakes his head. “So broke. But it was sort of fun, I guess.”

“I ordered the salad. I hate salad, but it was the only entree under thirty bucks.”

“I made you order an entree. We were going to split appetizers again, but my mother would’ve beat me over the head if I didn’t make sure my date was well fed.”

“Well, you did good. Where’d the money come from, anyway? It still ran us like fifty bucks.”

“I mowed lawns for half the summer.”

I flinch. “Sorry. I probably could’ve mowed a lawn or two in there to help you out.”

“Every blade of grass was worth it if it led us here.”

“We took such an odd path to get here.”

“I’d call it unique.”

“We’ll have some history to tell our...” I almost said kids, but I stop myself just short of a huge awkward moment. I imagine we’re basically a couple right now, but going from one orgasm to starting a family is escalating things mighty fast. “Friends,” I correct. “When they find out, if they find out—er, forget it.”

“Were you going to say a family?” he asks, his voice quiet and completely even.

“I don’t know what I was going to say.”

“Don’t mumble. Look up at me. What were you going to say?”

I raise my eyes to meet his, and find crystal clear brown gems watching me. “Yes,” I admit. “Fine. I was going to say kids. Like, a figure of speech. I didn’t mean literally, I meant—”

“Do you want kids?”

“What?”

“Answer me.”

“Yes,” I say, my voice rising a little at his insistence. I didn’t want to bring this up tonight, but if he’s going to press, I won’t lie. “I want kids, and a family. Maybe a dog, but that might be too much. Who knows?”

There’s a quiet hint of amusement in his eyes, but no signs of judgment. If anything, he seems tickled pink at my outburst. “What else do you want?”

“What more is there? I mean, I suppose it goes without saying that if I want a family, I want the man, the husband, the father to go with it, but other than that I’m happy. I have my diner, and that makes me happy, too. What more is there?”

“Me.”

I shake my head. “Can we just put a pin in this conversation for now? I really don’t want to be the crazy lady bringing up kids on our first date.”

“I don’t think you’re even on the spectrum of crazy,” he says. “Unless we’re talking crazy gorgeous or crazy passionate. And I think you’re crazy smart and crazy to be here with me. I don’t know what I did to deserve another shot with you, but, Lexi...”

He reaches out, holds my hand in his.

My heart pitter-patters against my chest. This may have started out as banter, but it’s launched a whole new facet of this, of us, and my chest constricts with the sincerity in his voice.

He gives me an almost weary gaze before making his confession. “I think I’m crazy in love with you.”

I still, my hands going limp in his as I process. In love. Love. The big L word. My brain knows I should say something back, but it’s not functioning properly, and my mouth is no help at all.

“But this is our first date,” I say. “Isn’t it too fast?”

“This isn’t our first date. Maybe on paper it is, but without knowing it, I’ve had my sights set on you our whole life. I always knew you’d be the perfect woman for me—that was never the question. What I didn’t know was whether or not I deserved you.”

“Of course you do, Brad, we deserve each other!”

“I still don’t feel like I deserve you most days, but I’m going to do my damndest to change that.” He slides his stool closer and wraps one arm behind my back so it rests just above my waist. “You make me want to be better, act better, do things the right way.”

He pauses for a breath, and I use the opportunity to take a sip of wine. My head is spinning.

“It wasn’t easy asking you out in the elevator after I’d been such a jerk to you. You had every reason to ignore me, or worse. But you didn’t. That’s why you’re so amazing. You’re one of a kind, and that day, I decided if I didn’t throw my hat in the ring and show you the very best side of Bradley Hamilton I could, I might lose you forever.”

“You have never needed to show me your best side,” I tell him. “I’ve always appreciated all sides of you. The funny, the angry, the competitive, the tender.”

“Tender side?” he says, with a teasing raised eyebrow. “Tell me more about this tender side.”

“The teasing side,” I add, leaning in and planting a kiss on his cheek. “The handsome side, the protective side, the chaste side who waited twenty damn years to show me what the hell I was missing in bed.”

“Ten years,” he amends.

“It’s still too long.”

“And we haven’t even scratched the surface,” he says. “Consider that the appetizer.”

“I think I’m ready for the full course meal.”

“No.” Then he looks surprised, as if this wasn’t the answer he’d expected to come out of his mouth. “I mean, I want you more than anything in this world. I have been going insane these last few weeks. I swear I’ve lost weight from being turned on around the clock.”

“Well, I apologize to your penis.”

He laughs, and pulls me close. “This is why I love you. We can have a serious moment, or a...” he clears his throat. “Tender one, and you still know how to make me laugh.”

“Either that, or I’m not very funny, and you just have a bad sense of humor.”

He laughs again, takes me by the hand. “Come on, let’s dance.”

“But what about the full course meal?” I whine. “I’m very tempted by your offer. You’ve made it sound irresistible.”

He brings me into his arms, and we shuffle awkwardly across the room so he can flip on one of the slow songs that’d been popular in our high school days. “I’m building up the anticipation.”

“We’ve anticipated so much these last few weeks. I’m done anticipating.”

“Remember what I said about tonight?”

“You said a lot of things about tonight.”

“The part about me wanting to do things differently tonight. All the things I wouldn’t do in high school.”

“Oh, yeah. That. Right.”

We start swaying to the music, and his hands begin in a very chaste place on my back. As the bars of the song progress, he eases his hands down behind my butt and gives a gentle squeeze as he pulls me close.

“If you’d given me a single indication that you were interested in me as more than a friend in high school,” he says, pausing to close his eyes as he runs his hands over my hips. “God, you feel good.”

“I think you lost your train of thought.”

“Right. High school. I would’ve ditched prom before dinner and taken you to bed. Hell, I would’ve broken into a spare classroom and taken you there.”

“Gee, that’s romantic.”

“You don’t know the bounds of a teenage male’s hormones.”

I grin. “You know, I’m not sure I would’ve been entirely opposed. I mean, I had no clue what I was doing back then...” I hesitate, clear my throat. “Not that I consider myself an expert these days, but I imagine that night would’ve gone quite differently than in our heads.”

“You don’t consider yourself an expert?” he says in a strangled voice. “Honey, please. Can’t you feel what you do to me?”

Pressed together, his firm length against my stomach, I sigh and lean further into him. “I thought that was teenage boy hormones. Maybe they never left.”

“These are all adult, sweetheart. And tonight, I’m not going to rush a second of it. We’re going to dance, and drink wine, and kiss. We’re going to take things so slow you’ll be begging for me to take you home.”

“Is that right?” I’m already feeling a little light headed, and the thought of begging might have crossed my mind. “That’s willpower.”

“I’ve been training my whole life.”

I laugh at the image, and drop my head to his chest. We move in slow circles together, clinging to one another, fighting the end of the song. As if the last chords ringing out might break whatever magic has bloomed between us this evening.

“Lexi,” he murmurs against my hair. “I have waited so long to tell you I love you.”

“Bradley—”

“Don’t say anything back, not yet, but whenever you’re ready. If you’re ready.”

The song winds to a close as Bradley dips me low to the floor, his lips teasing mine with sweet little kisses.

When he rights us again, he’s smiling. “You look so beautiful.”

“Bradley, I—” I’m ready to say I love you too, but he interrupts my proclamation by gesturing to the chocolate fountain.

“Remember prom?” he says. “You got a paper cup and tried to fill it with chocolate.”

“Got a smudge on my dress,” I add with a grin. “My mom was pissed, but it looks like it came out.”

I glance down at the silvery gown that somehow still fits me. It’s a little tight around the boobs and the hips, but thankfully it’s flowy enough to slide over the rest of the curves that came further along into adulthood.

“Oh, shit, I completely forgot.” Without an explanation, Bradley disappears into the office for a moment, and when he returns, he’s carrying a corsage. “I meant to give this to you right away, but...”

“You undressed me instead of dressing me.”

He winces. “I guess I’m not as patient as I thought.”

“Are you kidding me?” I shiver as his hand touches mine, sliding the corsage into place. “You have the patience of a saint. You let me have all the fun. Speaking of fun, is our date over yet? I hate to be a spoilsport, but I think we have somewhere to be.”

I step toward him, trying out that eyelash fluttering thing that seems to work so well for some women. Apparently, it doesn’t work well for me because he reaches behind me for the open bottle of wine and pours us both a glass.

“One more drink,” he says. “And a last dance. Then, we can conclude our date.”