Her eyes lifted and she moved closer, pressing her palm to my chest and lifting up to kiss my cheek. “Thank you.”
She started to move back but I caught her hand and leaned in, planting a kiss to her lips. I thought it was only going to be a quick grazing of her lips.That’s all I need, I told myself,before we get this night started. But I’d fooled myself yet again, because the kiss deepened on its own. I soon found myself wrapping Grace up in my embrace, pulling her body toward mine because no matter how close we were she never seemed close enough. It was almost as if she was a blanket that warmed my cold soul … and I didn’t even use blankets.
Somehow, I reeled it in and pushed back enough to let us both catch our breaths. “We should go have dinner now,” I said against her lips.
Her lips pressed together as she nodded.
I stepped backward, giving her enough room to close and lock the door to her home. Once she moved to my side again, my hand went to take hers, leading her around my white Range Rover to the passenger side, and opening the door for her. My gaze lingered on her legs for a few seconds before shutting the door and rounding the car to the driver’s side.
“You’re okay with eating Ethiopian food, right?” I asked if she had any food allergies or if there was any style of food she didn’t like already but I wanted to make sure.
“I’ve only had it once before, but I liked it.”
“We’re heading to the new restaurant that opened down on the Mainline.”
“Great.”
The drive was about twenty minutes from her house to the other end of the city of Williamsport. We didn’t talk much in the car, but it was a comfortable silence, which I enjoyed.
“Thank you,” she said as I helped her out of the car just before passing my key to the valet to park.
I slid my hand down her back to her waist as we walked through the doors that were held open for entrance.
“Reynolds,” I told the hostess. I made a reservation since I’d heard this restaurant gets pretty packed on weekend nights.
“Right this way.” She grabbed two menus and left us to follow. I allowed Grace to step in front of me, following the hostess, not only to be polite but so I could also watch and enjoy her movements from this angle. Sliding my hand into the pocket of my black pants, I warned my cock to chill the fuck out as I continued to stare at the sway of Grace’s hips while she walked. The heels, the dress, and even the cape all displayed the fact that this was a woman who took care of her body. I’d seen it before, of course, while she was on stage performing, but knowing she dressed up for me tonight made it that much more enticing.
“Here you are,” our hostess announced.
I looked at the table and then around the restaurant and frowned.
“We’ll sit here,” I insisted. The table was right next to the one the hostess placed us at, but this one was better.
“Oh, um, okay.” She put the menus down and smiled.
Pulling out a chair, I inclined my head toward Grace. Once she sat, I trailed my fingers over her bare shoulders before moving around the table and taking my seat. Quickly scanning the room, I felt satisfied with the positioning of this table.
“What was that about?”
I lifted an eyebrow.
“The table thing.”
“I don’t sit with my back facing the exits.”
Grace turned to look over her shoulder, and then back at the table which remained empty a few feet from us.
“No matter where you sit at that table, you can’t see all the exits. Here I can.”
Her forehead wrinkled; a new expression I’d never seen before but immediately found just as appealing as the rest of the faces she made.
“Were you in the military?”
I shook my head. “What makes you ask that?”
“That’s a very military thing to do. I had a patient a year ago, at my old job, who told me that he never sat with his back to a door anywhere.”
“I was never in the military,” I reiterated without explaining myself any further.
