His rueful smile made me more comfortable,and I continued. “If I’m not supposed to worry about overthinking things, Iwant you not to worry about censoring yourself. I’m not easily offended, sodon’t worry. Even if something comes out wrong, I’m not going to blow it out ofproportion.”
He nodded, looking more at ease. “So you’renot a dramatic hothead who’s going to end up throwing dinner at me?”
The response came out so quickly, I knew itwasn’t just something random. “Why does it sound like you’ve already livedthrough that date?”
“Because you’re smart.” He stepped a littlebit closer, and I wasn’t even sure he’d realized he’d done it. Smiling, he kepttalking. “As long as you don’t dump a plate of spaghetti on my lap and screamat me, this will not go down as one of my most interesting dates. Even if thisis my first date with a guy.”
Firstdate didn’tmean firsteverything, but it was nice to get some information. “I canpromise not to throw food at you. I’m not sure I want our date to be classifiedas boring, though.”
He shook his head, and something heatedflashed in his eyes for just a moment. “No, I don’t think you could ever beclassified as boring.”
A shiver went down my spine.
He’d flirted with me.
“Well, hopefully by the end of the nightyou'll have other ways of describing me.” Sexy, intriguing…Hell, I’d takefunny.
“I don’t think that will be a problem.” Hereached out and started tracing a path from my shoulder down my arm. It wasn’toverwhelming or invading my personal space, but it was very deliberate on hispart.
I wasn’t sure what was going through hismind, but the look on his face was heated and curious. As his fingers exploredmy hand, another shiver went through me. He smiled and looked up from where ourfingers had touched to give me a smile. “I’d been a little worried that thechemistry I felt in the coffee shop had been just my imagination. I’m relievedto find that it’s even better than I remembered.”
If he was trying to make me melt into apuddle of goo on the sidewalk, it was working.
My brain wasn’t functioning well enough torespond with something witty at that point. “Me too.”
That made him chuckle. “Are you relievedthat you still feel the chemistry, or that I do?”
“Both.” I shrugged, not trying to look coolat all. “But mostly you; I’ve had a lot longer to realize that I found youinteresting.”
“Because you’re my stalker.” That just seemedto give him endless delight, and I was relieved that he’d never found itcreepy.
That’d never been my intention, but itcould’ve come across badly.
His hand finally pulled away from mine, andhe looked toward the restaurant. “Are you ready to go in? They don’t takereservations, but I don’t think we’ll have to wait too long.”
I nodded. “If we have to wait, that’s fine.We can just go sit at the bar and have a drink until our table’s ready.” Aslong as I got to hang out with him and get to know him, I didn’t care aboutwhere we ended up.
Wilder had been right, we hadn’t needed towait very long. Before we knew it, we’d been seated with menus and the promisethat our waitress would bring our drinks out in just a moment. Looking around,I enjoyed the feel of the restaurant. “I like all the stuff on the walls. Whenyou first look at it, they seem like serious pictures and antiques, but thenwhen you study it—”
“It looks weird.” Wilder chuckled andturned in his seat to study a picture on the wall. “Hey, that’s…”
“Yeah, but the faces are on the wrongbodies. Some of this stuff looks like actual artwork. They must’ve paid afortune for it.” The picture that Wilder had noticed first was of severalcelebrities, but the faces were all on the wrong bodies. When someone firstlooked at it, something felt off, but it took a few minutes to actually see it.
“Okay, I can’t decide if this was a goodplace for a first date or not. On one hand, there are lots of things to talkabout in here, but on the other, it’s distracting as hell.” Wilder’s eyes movedaround the room, and I wanted to laugh. He looked a little bit like a kid in acandy store. All the artwork and endless hidden illusions in the pictures keptpulling at him.
He was so cute.
Smiling, I reached over and wiggled hismenu. “Pick out dinner, then you can have fun dissecting all the art on thewalls.”
He chuckled, turning his focus back to me.“Would it be weirdly inappropriate if I said I have the urge to say “Yes, Daddy”to that command?”
I could feel the heat running up to my face,and I had to fight the urge to look away. “No, justslightlyinappropriate.And, um, that’s not really a lifestyle that intrigues me.”
He nodded, still smiling. “Good, because Ithink I’d have a hard time giving up control.”
I had to fight the urge to melt again.
The way he’d saidcontrolhad mycock twitching in my jeans. “I, um, don’t need you to give up control. I, um,don’t mind you…taking charge.” I lost the battle with the blush and finallylooked away. “Okay, now I’m the one who’s wildly inappropriate.”
