“You told me once you wanted more than friendship and you were happy to wait for me to be ready. Do you still feel like that?”
“Absolutely. On both counts.”
Her face lights up, and my heart fucking swoons. “I’m in a much better place now, and I like you. I like you a lot. I would like to try to be more than friends.”
“Yeah?” My heart swells behind my chest, and I’m positive I look like a lovesick fool.
“Yes. If that’s what you still want.”
“I do.” Taking a chance, I move across the couch, holding her free hand in mine. “I would wait until the end of time for you, Serena.”
She emits a girlish giggle that is a joy to behold. “I won’t ask you to wait that long. Just until Friday.”
“What’s happening on Friday?” I arch a brow while my thumb draws circles on the back of her soft hand.
She lifts her head, thrusts her shoulders back, and confidently holds my gaze as she says, “I’m taking you out to dinner.”
25
SERENA
“Relax, sweetheart.” Alesso reaches across the console to take my hand. “You look like you’re waiting to walk the gangplank, not going out on a date with a devilishly handsome man.” He waggles his brows, hitting me with a suggestive look, and my lips tug up at the corners.
His attempt at humor helps to take the edge off my nerves. “I have been looking forward to this all week,” I admit. “I don’t know where these nerves have come from.”
He squeezes my hand, sending warmth and a rake of shivers up my arm. “If it helps, I have butterflies in my stomach.”
“You do?” My eyes pop wide at his admission.
“I do.” He takes his eyes off the road for a split second to smile at me, and I want a lifetime of those smiles. “The second I saw how beautiful you look tonight, they multiplied because I keep waiting for the moment you realize I am boxing above my weight.”
“Nonsense. I—” I stop myself before I tell him I’m the one boxing above my weight. I have worked hard with my therapist to stop automatically putting myself down, and I’m sure as hell not doing it tonight. “We are perfectly matched,” I say instead, stabbing him with a confident look. “And I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise.”
“You are never more beautiful to me than when you acknowledge your worth.”
Be still my beating heart. Alessandro is officially the most romantic man I have ever met. His words do strange, delicious things to me, and I’m excited to take things to the next level with him. My heart is full of hope, and I have never wanted anything to work out as badly as I want things to work out for us.
“This is my first date,” I blurt as Alesso pulls the car into the parking lot behind the steakhouse we are eating at tonight. Fabrizio and Edoardo pull up alongside us. They are on duty tonight because it’s their job and Alesso insisted, even though he’s here to protect me. He’s not taking any chances with the current situation. It means Alesso can have a few drinks because one of my bodyguards can drive his car back.
Killing the engine, he twists in his seat so he’s facing me with the biggest grin on his face. “Mine too.”
“No way.” I vigorously shake my head. “You can’t expect me to believe that!”
“It’s the truth,” he says before sliding out from behind the wheel and walking around the hood of the car. He opens my door for me. “I’ll explain when we are seated.”
Alesso holds my hand the entire way from the car into the restaurant and over to the round table I reserved in a private corner of the room. I slide into the red leather booth, and he follows me, moving in close. The waitress hands us some menus and leaves a carafe of iced water and two glasses. Alesso moves in a little closer until his thigh brushes mine. “I want to sit next to you,” he says. “Is this okay?”
“More than okay.” I can’t keep the Cheshire Cat grin off my face. I am kicking myself I didn’t ask him out two weeks ago. We could have been dating up a storm by now. I force my face to sober up as I turn to him. “Don’t treat me with kid gloves. I want you to treat me how you would a normal date. It’s important to me, and I’m comfortable with you. I like your nearness. I enjoy your touch.”
“I can do that.” He circles his arm around my shoulders as we absently peruse the menu. “Even if this is my first date.”
I narrow my eyes in jest. “I’m not buying it. There is no way some pretty girl didn’t cajole you into a date at some point.”
“A few have tried, but I didn’t take the bait.”
“Why not?” I trace my fingers over his hand as I stare into his beautiful brown eyes. “I know you’ve been with women. Surely, one of them must have tempted you?”
He looks a little sheepish as he replies. “Honestly, none did. I indulged in one-night stands because I wanted sex without complications.”
