“Do you still like sweet, white wine?” I’m looking at a leather bound menu, pages long.

She leans over the table, “I’m so mad at you right now.”

While I thumb through our choices I casually ask, “Because I’m making you wait before I fuck you?”

Covering her face, she laughs, “Be quiet!”

The waiter comes up. He either didn’t hear me or he’s pretending. “Can I help you with any wine selections, Sir?”

Sam and I exchange a brief look at him calling me that. I’m daring her to laugh, and she’s trying hard not to. “The lady will have the Sauvignon Blanc. Actually, I see you have two options. Give me the pricey one.” I turn the page to a cocktails list that I don’t have the patience for. “I’ll take Jameson on the rocks.”

He relieves me of the wine list and heads away.

“I’ll have the pricey one?” Samantha laughs. “Classy.”

“You know what I realized while I was traveling?”

She takes a sip of her water and shakes her head.

Leaning casually back in my chair, I rest my wrist on the white tablecloth. “That it’s much more fun to act a little crass than it is to act like you have a stick up your ass. That rhymes. I’m an unintentional poet.”

“It’s always better to have fun,” Samantha smiles, biting her lip in this sexy way. She lowers her voice to a whisper. “I don’t know how I’m going to eat when all I want is you.”

My cock twitches in my pants. “I want you, too.”

“Tell me more about your travels.”

“Why don’t we move in together?”

Sam’s pretty eyebrows reach for the chandeliers. “What?!”

Absently adjusting my silverware, I shrug a shoulder, “I need to get a place in town. It just so happens you also need to find a home. What a coincidence.”

Samantha breaks out in this happy laugh that makes me flash a grin despite the fact that I’m trying to contain how lucky I feel. We had a dinner reservation I almost abandoned because I wanted her so badly. But I waited this long. Why rush a dream as good as this?

“Did I tell you how London surprised me? It looked a little fake, it was so beautiful. Like Disney World created it yesterday. The structures were that storybook majestic.”

She taps the table. “You can’t just skate past a suggestion that we move in together like you never said it!”

“Buckingham Palace is walking distance from city-center. Weird, right?”

“Logan.”

“You think they’d tuck it somewhere private for safety reasons. But it’s always been there so, that’s where it is.”

The table gets a smack. “Logan!”

I glance around with mock horror. “People are looking at us.”

She laughs, “I don’t care!”

“Well, I do! Behave yourself.”

Curtailing a scream, Sam glances over to the tray carrying our drinks closer by the footstep. Our server betrays no sign of eavesdrop or judgment. He sets down her wine glass, his spine straight.

She smiles, “Thank you, that looks delicious.”

I snort back laughter. He places my Irish whiskey down without a word. I cut a look up to his face for any sign of amusement. The guy is a robot.

“Thanks.”

We lift our glasses as he walks away, clinking them together with our grins fading.

“I might want some time,” she says.

“To patience.” We sip and I enjoy the smooth burn with honey undertones. “What is Hunter up to?”

“Your guess is as good as mine!” She rolls her beautiful, brown eyes. “We have yet to learn where he lives, who he dates, or what he does for a living.”

“Try to find out?”

“No. We kind of like the mystery now.” Looking for our waiter like she wants to order food soon, Sam adds, “Caden teased him that he was going to ask Sofia to do some digging. You should’ve seen Hunter’s face. Probably the first time we ever witnessed him afraid. He got pretty angry, told Caden that if he did that he would never talk to him again. Where is our server?”

“What did Caden do?”

Locking eyes with me, she says, “He shrugged it off. Told Hunter he was just fucking around. But it did cause a lot more curiosity. Mom and Dad trust him. They say he just likes his privacy and he’s always been like that. It’s true, but what do you think?”

I motion to our server that we would like the joy of his company again. “A grown man deserves his privacy if he wants it. But I also want to know what the fuck he’s up to. Hi, we’d like to order. I’ll have the fried chicken with a side of French fries. My gorgeous date will have charbroiled salmon with baby broccoli instead of spinach, if you have it.”

“We do.”

The guy and I stare at each other a second before I finally say, “Cool.”

He winks, turns on his heel, and leaves.

I mouth to Sam, “What was that?”

“Guess he has a sense of humor after all!” Her smile becomes intimate as she gazes at me. “I can’t believe you’re in Atlanta.”

“I came here for you.”

“Are you going to miss it all?”

Reaching for her hand I say, “It’s good to be home.”

“But there’re so many things to see in the world.”

“I’ve seen a lot of them. I’d rather be looking at you.” I lean back and sip my whiskey. “It was fun, really exciting. But from the first rehearsal in New York when I met your replacement, something went hollow inside of me. I know I just got here yesterday, but that feeling is gone. Moving from city to city is a hard life. You have no roots. Holidays are spent away from the ones you love.” I pause and hold her look until she smiles. “The cast becomes even more like family than it does on a short run here. But your family gets fired and replaced in theater, unlike real life. One day we’re all running around with Elliott—became really close with the guy—and then suddenly he’s sent back to the states. Never saw him again. It makes you close up.” I’m staring at her and it hits me again how much I love this woman. “Did I tell you how I quit?”

She bites her bottom lip on a smile and shakes her head. “Tell me everything.”

I launch in and make her glow with happiness as she hears that I announced it to everyone why I couldn’t take the promotion. That she was my reason for giving it all up. Every detail gets shared with my best friend, but this time we’re face-to-face, and the clock isn’t ticking.

No one is waiting for us to get off the phone. Ever again.