“I’m not?”
“No,” he said firmly. “In fact, what was that about looking for an apartment?”
“She’s getting her own place,” Gretchen answered for me, elbows on the table, chin in hand, watching us like we’d been hired as her entertainment.
David gave a short laugh just as I slow-blinked my irritation at Gretchen. “Thanks,” I told her. “I think we can take it from here.”
She shrugged. “Just trying to help.”
David signed the bill, pocketed his credit card, and stood, looking between the two of us. “We’ll finish this discussion in the car, Olivia.” It sounded like a threat, but he held out his hand to me.
Gretchen’s eyes widened, and she mouthed, “Sorry.”
David and I waked out of the restaurant hand in hand. “Look at us,” he noted, “engaging in a public display of affection.”
I laced my fingers through his. Bill and I had held hands plenty of times, but I didn’t realize until this moment how erotic it could be. “I love your hands,” I said softly, because I did. They were big, they overtook mine, and they were capable of making me feel things.Somany things. Protected. Loved. Aroused.
“Okay, this is getting weird,” Gretchen said behind us. “Go bang it out, and I’ll see you two tonight, okay?”
We hugged good-bye on the sidewalk. Once Gretchen had left, David carried my duffel bag to his Porsche. “I’mdefinitelysending her a fruit basket for all her trouble,” I said.
He chuckled. “You and your fruit.”
Before I could open the car door, David turned and maneuvered me up against the side of the Porsche. He placed his arms on either side of me, trapping me. “You’re not getting your own place.”
“I can’t live out of a duffel bag at Gretchen’s forever.”
“Move in with me,” he said. “Today.”
My mouth fell open. The last forty-eight hours had been a whirlwind. Weren’t we moving fast enough? Wasn’t David even theslightestbit scared or apprehensive about what lay ahead for us? “Move in?” I exclaimed. “Today? That is absurd. And wildly inappropriate. And just . . .no. We can’t do that.”
His jaw set and his eyes hardened not inches from mine, but he took one hand off the car to gently thread his fingers through my hair. “Today,” he repeated, tilting my head back. “I’m not wasting any more time. I want you in my place,” he paused to kiss my neck, “watching TV in my den,” he added, brushing his lips along my jaw, “cooking in my kitchen,” a peck on my cheek, “fucking in my bed,” a kiss on the lips, “sleeping in my bed, and,” another kiss on the lips, “waking up in my bed. Every day.”
“David,” I said, utterly breathless from his simultaneously generous and greedy mouth. I didn’t know whether to swoon, protest, or rip off his clothing right there. “It’s so soon. Everyone will talk.”
“I don’t give a fuck. Like I promised, I’ll always be your shield.” He gave me a hard peck on the mouth. “You and I are going to have fun, honeybee.”
“Tonight?”
“Tonight. This weekend. Forever,” he said. He tried to open the door, but I stayed planted in front of it, struck dumb, still trying to decide how to react. He picked me up by my waist and turned to set me on the curb so he could get to the car. I practically fainted myself into the seat and watched him round the hood with casual confidence. Completely unaffected, even though I was hot and bothered and unsure as to whether or not I had just agreed to move in with a boyfriend I’d officially had less than an hour.
Once we were pulling away, David said, “So let’s see . . . where should we start? Burberry, Versace, Gucci . . .”
I suppressed a smile. “It concerns me that you’re so familiar with women’s designers.”
“Ralph Lauren, Chanel, Prada—aha,” he said when I perked up. “Prada it is. We’ll go there first.”
I half-laughed, half-gaped. He read me like a book. Was that good or bad?
“Come on,” David goaded. “The Olivia I know is not this shy. She once told me I was a player who only wanted what I couldn’t have, but look at us now.”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t get too cocky. It’s only been a couple days.”
“There she is,” he said, laughing as he shifted gears and sped up.
4
David had it in his head that he didn’t want to be disconnected from me for any reason. Therefore, the first stop we made after breakfast was to get me a new cell phone. Ignoring my protests, he added me to his plan and demanded the most capable phone available.
