“Check inside the pants, my beauty,” I encourage.
A scrambling noise pulls my attention back to Connall, whose back is the last thing I see before he shuts the front door quietly behind him and leaves.
He’s a runner, I’ll give him that. But I’m nothing if not devoted to the chase.
Hours later, Louanna rubs her full belly, staring at an empty plate as we sit in Herschel’s Fine Dining.
“That was amazing, but I ate far too much,” she groans, amber eyes flicking to mine and softening at the corners. “This was lovely, Dirk.”
“But what?” I question. “I can hear the ‘but’ in yer tone, Louanna.”
She leans forward over the table. “I feel bad that Connall didn’t come. He ran off.” Her eyes flash with command. “I think there’s a super solid chance he’s not as into this as you hope. You laid it on pretty thick yesterday at Biergarten.”
I grin. “I haven’t even begun to lay thick things on you, my sweet, but I told yeh he’d come around, and he will. He needs time to think, to see I’m serious about him.”
I rest both forearms on the table and lean close, noting how our knees touch and she doesn’t pull away. Scanning her face, I look for signs of lingering discomfort.
“What doyouthink about this whole thing?”
She looks away from me, scanning the room as she considers my question. When she looks back, I worry she’s still reticent about me, and us.
“I thought it might be too much, too soon, but I’m having fun,” she admits.
Pride blossoms through me. I can work with slow and steady. I just need a chance to prove to her that I can be a good mate. I need to unpack those walls around her heart to get close.
“Tell me if it’s ever too much.” I grip her knee and squeeze gently. “I want yeh; I’ve always wanted yeh. But yer comfort, and his, are my priority.”
She reaches down and lays a hand over mine, curling her fingers into my palm. “Some days I feel like my mental state is two steps forward and one step back. You might be getting damaged goods, Dirk, but somewhere underneath all of that there’s still a badass bitch.”
I snort out a laugh. My sassy, confident female is self-aware. I love that.
“Yer right, o’ course,” I say. “And I’m attracted to every facet of who you are. I want yer good days and the bad, my sweet.”
Her half-smile grows a little bigger.
Glancing down at my comm watch, I decide it’s time to get her home. We made good progress tonight, but I don’t wanna push my luck. Squeezing her fingers with mine, I pull her closer.
“I’m going to walk yeh home, Louanna. And, on the way, I’d like to hold yer hand.”
Pink dusts her cheeks and neck, traveling to full breasts forming soft mounds underneath her wrap dress.
“My eyes are up here, Dirk,” she says in a laughing tone.
“Thank fook.” My gaze trails down to her waist and slowly back up. “Imagine if yer eyes were somewhere else. I’m just appreciatin’ every one of yer curves. Does watching me stare at how stunning yeh are not make yeh hot?”
She shifts on the bench seat next to me, her long hair brushing against my forearm where it rests on the bench behind her.
“It does,” she says so quietly, if I wasn’t a monster, I doubt I’d be able to hear her.
Fraught emotion furrows her brows, her expression tense.
“What is it, Louanna?” I stroke the knuckles of my free hand down her jaw.
“I don’t know how to navigate all of this with everything going on.”
A soft smile tips my lips upward. “Yeh’ll not be navigatin’ it alone, my sweet. Yeh’ve got Connall and me by yer side.”
She leans in like she’ll tell me a secret. “I hoped he’d come to dinner with us.”
