A heavy silence fell over the table. To break it, she said, “So,what’re you doing in the city?” at the same time Raffi started talking, but she couldn’t hear what he said.
“Sorry.” She shook herself. “You were saying?”
“I don’t have anything to do in the city tonight.”
“You don’t?”
“I don’t.”
She didn’t quite understand why he had said otherwise earlier. He seemed so serious. Had he meant…“So you’re not going to drive me home?”
Raffi laughed. “That’s your conclusion? No, Ani baby, of course I’m going to drive you.”
A delicious warmth spread through her at the term of endearment.
She could hardly speak, but managed, “Then—?”
He spoke quietly, deliberately. “I mean, I wanted to spend more time with you. I don’t mind driving you back home, because that’s an extra hour plus we get to spend together.”
Her mouth made a little circle. “Oh…”
Then he reached out and clasped her hand on the table. Strong and warm.
He looked at her meaningfully, and she held her breath, not entirely sure, but hoping, hoping.
“I have to say something. Would you let me say something?”
Her heart pounded. She wanted to hear it. Whatever it was. “Yes,” she said, zeroing in on him entirely.
He looked down, then up at her, shifting in his seat. “I’m going to start talking and—” He cut himself off, then restarted. “Ani, I can’t keep pretending I’m not completely wild about you. The last few months have been hellish without you in it.I realized you’re starting to mean a lot to me, and I don’t want to keep that fact to myself anymore. I always thought— Well, instead of scaring the shit out of me, I’m thrilled by it, by the prospect of you, anything that has to do with you. Everything about you.”
He couldn’t possibly mean this, could he? This wasn’t normal flirting; this was a serious declaration oflike. This man, who she was starting to adore, was telling her these beautiful words, and she wanted to let herself feel it all the way. She was almost there, every last hesitation almost dissolved.
He continued, his eyes intense, dark, and searing.
“And to make it crystal clear, I’m not just talking about the physical, but believe me, I want to do things that…well. Let’s just say things that are incredibly amot.”
Ani felt the heat between her legs instantaneously. He thought about her body and wanted to…do things to it. She wanted that, too. Very, very much.
Raffi continued, “But not just that. I want to be with you. To see where this goes. For the first time in a long time, Ifeelsomething. For you. Brilliant, funny, fearless you. I want to try being together. Date you, spoil you, be there for you in every aspect of your life the way you deserve.”
Ani’s mouth dropped open. She had to force herself to close it.
Raffi Garabedian just asked her to be his girlfriend.
He’d addressed it, too, that she feared he only wanted to sleep with her. That he didn’t have intentions beyond the physical. “Date you, spoil you.” Oh my God, that was such a turn-on. The closed gates around her heart swung open. The most gorgeous guy she’d ever seen in her life turned out to be a totalsweetheart who was interested in her. Very interested in her. The girl who got rejected by Adrian Lamont and publicly humiliated. The older sister who all the aunties looked at with pity at Talar’s wedding. The woman who thought she’d never fall for someone ever again. She’d fallen forhim. Northern California’s most eligible Armenian bachelor. And he felt the same way. It wasn’t blood rushing through her veins but liquid ecstasy, metallic and sparkling and filling her body with the warmest glow.
“Is that a good jaw drop or a bad one?” he asked nervously.
She put their combined hands in her lap, scooted closer to him, and stared at him in adoration. She wanted him to know how happy he had just made her. “A deliriously good one.”
“Yeah?” he said, the relief obvious.
“Yes. Yes.” She couldn’t stop smiling.
A beat passed when they basked in each other’s adoration.
“I do have one, uh, stipulation, though,” he said.
