“You like the real me?”
I nod. “I really do.” I give him one more kiss before pulling away and taking his coffee with me. I lean against the counter opposite him and sip from his mug. “I’m sad this is our last day here, that we leave today.”
He saunters over to me and presses me against the counter, placing both of his hands on my hips. “You fail to realize that I’m a billionaire and if we want to come up here every weekend, we can.”
I play with the buttons on his shirt. “It won’t be the same. We were in a bubble here. I mean, when we go back to LA, are you really going to come to my studio apartment and hang out?”
“If you want me to, I will. Hell, we can spend every night there, if you want.”
“Do you think you’ll be spending every night with me?”
His hands grip me tighter, then he lifts me up onto the counter. He settles between my legs and says, “I expect nothing from you. I’m just telling you where I’m at. If you want to spend the night with me, that’s your choice. If I had it my way, you’d be coming home with me tonight.”
“Aren’t you nervous?” I ask.
“Nervous about what?”
“I don’t know... all of this.”
His thumbs rub against my hips as he calmly asks, “Are you having regrets?”
“No,” I say quickly before setting down the mug and placing my hands on his shoulders. “Not at all. I don’t want you to think that. We just jumped into it quickly and, yes, last night was the best night of my life. I just don’t want to get lost in the physical, you know?”
The slowest smile falls over his lips as he leans in close and presses a kiss to my cheek. “I get it, babe. You want to date, yeah?”
When he pulls away, I slowly nod. “I mean, will we still go on dates?”
He chuckles. “How about this? Tomorrow night, I’ll pick you up at your place and we’ll go on a date? Does that work? Our first official date.”
“Technically, our first one was at the blind date restaurant.”
“Yes, but we both consent to go on this one.”
“Very true.” I move my hands to the nape of his neck. “You don’t mind taking me on a date? You know, slowing down from last night?”
“Kelsey.” He looks me in the eyes. “Ever since the moment you walked off the elevator at Cane Enterprises, I’ve been waiting for the moment to call you my girl. Slowing down won’t kill me, it’ll just make it better.”
How on earth did I not know this man was so sweet? That he’s not only understanding and kindhearted but is also swoon-worthy?
“Thank you.”
“Do you feel better?”
My fingers toy with the short strands of his hair. “Much better.” I lean in and give him a whisper of a kiss before asking, “You have a meeting with the mayor this morning?”
“Yeah, then I have to run across town to meet up with Edison about another building we’re interested in. Unfortunately, I won’t see you until the airplane.”
“That’s okay. Are you all packed?”
“Yup, packed this morning.”
“How? I feel half-awake.”
He smirks. “Babe, plugging into you last night gave me all the energy.”
“Eww.” I swat at his chest. “Don’t say you plugged into me.”
He laughs out loud and moves his arms around me, pulling me into a hug. “Nah, babe, I’m just high on excitement right now.” He kisses the side of my head. “It means more to me than you will ever know, when you came back last night, when you chose me.”
