My voice turns rough. “Just a desperate desire to spoil you. And maybe to get to know you too. Do you like books? Clothes?”
Her smile turns slightly devilish. “Groceries.”
“To the grocery store, then.”
In my car, she brings up work again. “We might as well talk about how you use social media to make this legitimate.”
“I don’t want to do more than I do right now.”
“I want you to do more.”
“Fuck.”
She laughs. “Sorry.”
“No, don’t be. I’m glad you can be honest with me.” I steer out of the parking lot, turning away from the direction she would go to go home. “I was thinking we could hit the store by my place, and then you might want to check out my house?”
Her eyebrows lift, a funny look on her face. “Is that where we’re going to film a month’s worth of content?”
“Not at all.”
She nods. “That was a joke.”
“Ah.” I pause. “It was funny.”
“Generally, people laugh at funny things.” Her lips twitch.
I chuckle. “Thatwas funny too.”
“So… showing me your house, huh? Must be serious.”
“My wife has jokes,” I mutter.
“I sure do. But seriously, I do want tosee your home.”
“It can be our home if you like it.”
“Our—” She sucks in a breath. “Oh.”
It’s hard to know how to navigate this. On the one hand, we’re already lobbing around thewifeandhusbandterms—and meaning them—but on the other, we’re still getting to know each other.
And the reminder that married couples generally live together seems to have taken her by surprise.
I take a deep breath, ignoring the way my chest gets tight at the fear that she might not be all in. “One thing at a time. First, groceries. What do you want to get?”
Her mouth falls open, then snaps shut.
I wait.
“I didn’t think that far ahead,” she admits. “It just seemed more practical than…”
“Books?”
“Okay, no, books are great. We could go shopping for books for our second date.”
“Is this a date, then?” I grin at her. “What about tacos?”
She blushes. “Oh, right. Books can be our third date.”
