I shrugged. “I wanted you to have some options. Since you couldn’t order off the menu.”
Something pained flashed in her eyes, and when she whispered a thank you, it was spoken in the direction of the table.
Unsure what had brought on her sudden tension, I tried to make a joke. “If you want to see Josie throw a real temper tantrum, tell her you got gnocchi from Vic’s when you see her Monday.”
The smile returned to Gracie’s face and I exhaled in relief. “I would never.”
After dinner, we got our next delivery—gelato brought in from a place down the street from our old condo.
“Again with the over-ordering,” she said, looking at the different options.
“It won’t go to waste,” I told her. “That dry ice will keep it frozen for a while yet. I asked the concierge to send everything we don’t eat to Jay. Dude could live off ice cream.”
She took a bite of the pistachio gelato and her eyes closed, a sexy little moan escaping. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “Don’t you dare give this to Jay.”
I grinned at her. “Maybe we’ll save it for later.” I waggled my eyebrows. “We’ll probably need a snack in between bouts of hot sex.”
She snorted into her dessert. “Pretty sure of yourself there, mister. How do you know you’re going to get lucky?”
Please dear God let me get lucky.Being this close to her all night without sinking deep inside her body was fucking torture. And if she kept making those food moans I wasn’t going to last much longer.
“What can I say, Gracie? I’m a confident man.” I held out my hand to her. “Come on. One more thing I want you to see.”
Her eyebrows shot up even as she took my hand. “How is there more? Everything has been perfect so far.”
I scoffed as I led her into the bedroom. “Drinks, dinner and dessert is pretty basic. My first date game is better than that.”
I opened the bedroom door and allowed her to walk in ahead of me. Here too there were dozens of LED candles. There were also several potted plants—greenery and flowers. The concierge had been most excited about this detail, giggling when she told me she was recruiting all the living plants from the lobby.
In the midst of the plants, in the spot where the room’s normal chaise lounge usually stood, there was a nest of blanket and pillows on the ground. And in front of that, a flat screen TV.
Gracie turned to me, eyes lit up with excitement and maybe a little exasperation. “What is this?”
I tucked a lock of her hair behind an ear. “You told me how much you enjoyed live music,” I said. “And since I’m a conscientious boyfriend who listens when you talk, I would definitely remember that when planning our date.”
Her eyes were wide as saucers now. “Boyfriend?” she squeaked. “Are you…are you my boyfriend?”
I watched her face for a long minute, wondering how on earth she still didn’t get it. “I sure as hell better be,” I finally said. “Because I definitely consider you my girlfriend.”
There was that blush I loved so much. It spread from her cheeks down her neck and I wanted to trace the path with my tongue. The urge to brush aside the front of her dress to reveal her cleavage was overwhelming. Just as I was about to do just that, the third part of the date be damned, Gracie took a deep breath. “What was that about live music?”
It took me a minute to drag my mind from the gutter. “Right,” I said, giving my head a little shake to clear it of the dizzying lust. “One of my favorite things to do in New York is watch live music in Central Park. During the summer there are concerts all the time. I figured if I was taking you out, we would definitely do a concert in the park.”
“So you brought the park inside?” she said, eyeing the potted greenery and the blanket on the floor.
“I did.” I gestured to the TV. “I thought about getting a jazz quartet up here or something, but that seemed a little excessive.”
She laughed, tipping her head back to show off the long smooth column of her neck. A neck I desperately wanted to kiss.
“It’s good to know you draw the linesomewhere,” she said.
“Mostly, I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off you once we were lying down,” I admitted. “And I figured that would be kind of awkward with a couple guys standing right there holding instruments.”
She laughed again, moving to the blanket. “So, the TV…?”
I grabbed the remote from the nightstand before I joined her on the blanket. “There’s an Adele concert on Netflix,” I said. “I know it’s not quite as good as live music?—”
“It’s perfect,” she said.
