He took a step toward me and cupped my cheek with his hand, his thumb resting on my lips to silence my words. “I want you, Tanya. As long as that continues, I’ll be here.”
It wasn’t a passionate declaration of undying love, but I would take what I could get for the moment. If it wasn’t enough in the future, well, I would worry about it then.
As I staredat Jordan across the table, I realized that we were on our first date. Two years ago, we’d eaten together, even gone to the movies once, but it never felt like a date then. This definitely did.
Tonight I sat across from him in a small Italian restaurant with delicious food and tea lights flickering on each table. The rooms were dim and the music low. Overall the atmosphere was intimate and romantic.
I loved it.
As we ate, we talked. First about work, then about what we’d been up to for the last two years. Jordan lost the formal air he often wore at the office and he smiled and laughed, his light blue eyes shimmering in the candlelight.
If we’d had dinner like this the first time I met him, I would have left the restaurant and never spoken to him again. Not because it was horrible, but because it was so wonderful.
Two years ago, it would have scared the shit out of me and I would have run for my life.
Even now it frightened me, but only because I wanted it so badly.
“I like talking to you, you know,” he stated during a lull in our conversation. “I missed it when I was gone.”
Grateful I didn’t have a mouthful of wine to choke on, I nodded. “I’ve missed talking to you too.” Feeling happy and relaxed after a glass of wine and a fantastic evening, I smiled at him without worrying about what my face might give away.
He stared at me with enigmatic eyes and opened his mouth as though he intended to say something. Before he could speak, the waiter returned with our dessert and coffee and the spell was broken.
We lingered over our dessert and he insisted on paying the bill. Maybe it was old-fashioned and anti-feminist of me, but I liked it.
When he walked me to my car, his hand closed over mine, our fingers lacing together naturally. I wanted to ask him to come home with me. It was on the tip of my tongue, but he surprised me once again.
As we stopped beside my car, I turned toward him to issue my invitation, but his arms closed around me tightly, lifting me onto my toes. And when he kissed me…there was no initial lightness, no gradual build up.
All I could feel was heat. My muscles relaxed and my scalp prickled as my internal temperature soared. His embrace was demanding and bold, his lips firm over mine while his tongue swept into my mouth.
My hands clamped on his shoulders in an effort to keep me on my feet. The ferocity Jordan had unleashed threatened to reduce me to nothing but a puddle on the pavement.
Little by little, the onslaught subsided and his lips gentled. Wild abandon was replaced with tenderness. A tenderness that affected me more deeply than the intense passion Jordan shared with me moments before.
It wasn’t a kiss for a lover—it was a kiss for a beloved.
Unable to process the emotions careening through me, I blinked up at Jordan when he finally released my mouth, speechless and transfixed.
“I enjoyed our evening, Tanya. Text me when you get home.”
I followed his lead as he opened my car door and guided me inside. I managed a soft, “Thanks for dinner, Jordan.”
“It was my pleasure. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he replied just before he shut the door.
With trembling fingers, I started my car and watched as he walked around the hood of his. He lifted a hand to me before sliding into the driver’s seat of his sleek black SUV.
I realized he was waiting for me to drive away before he left and quickly put my car into gear.
I glanced into the review mirror a few moments later and saw the wide smile on my face. It had been there since I left the restaurant and no amount of effort could remove it from my lips.
Not that I tried very hard.
