Her lips were parted and glossy as if the wine was still clinging to her skin. "A... a date?" She swallowed and he could barely hear the sound of it past the pounding of his pulse in his ears. "With you?"
She made him want to laugh.
And he'd done so little of that lately.
"Yes," he nodded. "A date... with me."
He dropped his chin just a hair so he could look into her eyes without her having to tip her head back.
"That would be the most important part because I'll be damned if I send you out on a date with some other asshole."
Her eyes widened for a heartbeat and then her mouth quivered a little and turned up into a smile.
He knew why she was about to laugh. He'd done it to himself, really. He'd basically called himself an asshole.
"It's true, Ruth." Nick sighed softly. "I like to think I'm a good man. I do my best to be a good father, but when it comes to you, I can barely keep myself from scooping you up and sitting your fine ass on this island and kissing you senseless, because when I'm around you I don't have much of a sense of my own.
"I have to try and even the score, or you'll end up thinking I'm a fucking caveman."
"I don't think I've met a caveman before..."
Her voice was soft, but it was warm.
Warm like bread right out of the oven.
"... but I think I kind of like that about you, Nick. So, yes. I'll go out on a date with you-"
"Yeah?" Shit, he'd cut her off in midsentence.
He wanted to kick himself in the ass for that, but he wasn't that flexible these days. Hell, he'd probably never been that flexible.
"But-"
Shit.
That word didn't mean anything good. Right?
"Before we do... Do you think you should ask Katie?"
His brain hit a brick wall with her words. "Katie?"
Yeah, he wasn't thinking about Katie when he was this close to Ruth with wine on their lips.
Ruth gave him a hesitant smile. "I don't pretend to know what it's like for a teenage girl who depends on her dad like she does. Loves you like she does. If she would have any kind of issue with us... going out together, I don't think I could do it."
Well, shit.
Ruth was probably a better parent than he was.
"Uh," he lifted a hand and rubbed it against the back of his head, "I should probably ask her then."
Ruth nodded, smiling, and that smile almost had him in a fucking tailspin.
"And I should probably head on home."
Ruth's smile was killing him.
"Because," he cleared his throat, "if I don't, I might just try for a goodnight kiss."
