“A date?” I was so shocked, he might as well have deckedme.
“Surprised myself too with that word, but is that a terrible thing? I mean, if you don’t want that, then we can just go in the bedroom. I’m totally fine with leaving things where they are, but also, I acknowledge that…since I left Fever Falls, I’ve kinda missed you, minus thekindapart.”
I raised my hand to Dax’s face and stroked the back of my thumb down his scruff. “I’ve kinda missed you too, Dax, minus the kinda part.” I winked at him, then kissed himagain.
He slid his hand around my waist, tugging against my back as I wrapped either arm around his shoulders, reeling him right on in as weembraced.
His words confirmed what I’d been feeling too, and one of the reasons I believed I was so willing to hand my ass over to him, to offer it up at hisconvenience.
I liked Dax Munro a hell of a lot. I’d never met anyone I liked the way I liked him. Never enjoyed a mouth the way I enjoyed his. The text-message exchanges over the past two weeks hadn’t been nearly enough to sate myinterest.
No, I wanted him in my arms, clinging to me like he did as we savored each other’s mouths outside hisoffice.
Dax cupped his hand against my face, and as our lips pulled apart, I didn’t budge, just stayed right near him, enjoying the sound of his breath as I rubbed the tip of my nose against his. As I pulled back, I noticed his eyes were still closed, and he must’ve sensed my movement because he opened them and seemed surprised at my catching him in such a vulnerablestate.
“Only missed me kinda, huh?” Iasked.
He laughed, slipping past me. “Okay, tour’s over. There’s a great steakhouse not far fromhere.”
“This is already starting off as the best work trip I’ve ever beenon.”
He stopped on the steps. “Where would a firefighter take worktrips?”
“We have training and conferences we get to do around the countrysometimes.”
“Learning something new about firefighters everyday.”
We hopped back in his car and headed to the steakhouse, where we ordered drinks and food as we continued easing back into our conversation, this time about our itinerary for the rest of theweek.
“We’ll have an acting coach on set to help you for the commercial, just in case you need it, but we’re obviously going for the same cute type of stuff we did in that initial video we recorded. So beyourself.”
“You’ve said that way too many times, almost like you’re worried I might be someoneelse.”
He laughed. “It’s just something we usually have to telltalent.”
“Oh, now I’m talented?” Iwinked.
“Well, I’ll be the judge of thatlater.”
Again, I found myself eager to show him some of the talents I’d discovered since we’d last seen one another. Of course, I appreciated that he didn’t just take advantage of my offer, that he cared enough to bring me out on a datefirst.
“So you go on a lot of dates?” I asked. “Is this what they’relike?”
“I don’t date much. I dated mostly in my early twenties, so it’s been aminute.”
“Yeah, I don’t do this much either. Ever,really.”
“Ever?”
“In high school, of course I did, but outside of that, not really. As you know, I’ve had plenty of fun, but I like to keep it that way.You?”
“I had a few guys I was into, but usually they were model/actor/celebrity types. We’d keep it a secret, and since they were as ambitious as I was in this industry, it seemed perfect because it meant I could be as career-oriented as I wanted to be without any consequences, but it was always just fun. As soon as one of us got bored, which usually happened pretty fast, the other was already out the door. So I never saw a point for anything more thanthat.”
“It’s a hell of a lot easier that way than the breakups I see go down with my friends. Not saying with all of them, but when it happens, it can really pull people apart, youknow?”
“You say that fromexperience?”
“Not with breakups,but…”
