Chapter Three
LEXI WAS PUTTING on her shoes when the doorbell rang. Ignoring her suddenly racing pulse, she finished buckling the straps on her platform heels then forced herself to check her reflection in the mirror before walking out of her bedroom and slowly making her way to the door when all she wanted to do was run.
“Play it cool,” she murmured. “Don’t let him see how geeked you are. He’ll think you’ve never gone on a date.”
Thank goodness Dane hadn’t seen her thirty minutes ago when she was running around like a crazy person putting away all the clothes she’d tried on so he wouldn’t know she was a complete mess. She’d seriously emptied her whole closet looking for the perfect thing to wear. As usual, she’d ended up going with the first thing she’d tried on. But not without a lot of second-guessing and panic-induced hyperventilation.
Crap, it really was like she hadn’t ever gone on a date.
She’d always been relaxed and confident when it came to dating and hanging out with the opposite sex. Heck, she had to be in her line of work. But, with Dane, that relaxed, confident feeling she was so used to having, seemed to have been lost somewhere in the back of her clothes closet. Maybe it was the fact he was so attractive. Or maybe it was the twinkle in his eyes when he laughed. Then again, maybe it was the fact she’d already seen him without his shirt. Whatever it was, the thought of spending the entire evening with him had her as giddy as a teenager. Probably because she really wanted this to work out with Dane. The guy—at least what she knew of him—seemed perfect in every way possible.
When she got to the door, she stopped to take a deep breath, wishing once again that Melinda was here to help keep her calm. But her roommate had to cover a double shift in the ER, so Lexi was on her own.
Showtime.
Lexi peeked through the peephole to make sure it was really Dane then took another deep breath and swung it open wide. For a moment, all she could do was stare. Damn, Dane looked even yummier than he did at the station. And that was saying something because he took the DF&R uniform to another whole level. But in faded jeans, loose casual button-down, and a little scruff on his jawline, he looked good enough to eat. She had a naughty thought about skipping dinner out and eating at her place instead, followed by dessert in bed, but told herself to chill out. It was way too early for anything like that.
Realizing she was staring, Lexi smiled. “Gotta love a man who’s on time.” She opened the door wider. “Come on in.”
Lexi couldn’t miss the sexy-as-sin cologne that mingled so deliciously with his own masculine scent as he entered the apartment. She had to resist the urge to step over and bury her face in the curve of his neck.
He turned to her as she closed the door, completely oblivious to her sudden interest in his scent. “I ran into your roommate, Melinda, when I stopped by the hospital today to visit Wayne. She gave me the third degree about my intentions toward you and a lecture on safe sex.”
Lexi groaned, knowing the answer to the question before she even asked it. “She didn’t really do that, did she?”
“Oh yeah.” Dane chuckled. “But don’t worry, I completely get it. She’s a friend and wants to make sure you’re not going out with a dirtbag. I must have passed inspection because she went out of her way to make sure I knew she wouldn’t be home until late.”
Lexi could imagine her roommate giving Dane a conspiratorial wink. “Melinda’s a lot of things, but subtle isn’t one of them.”
Dane’s mouth quirked. “Yeah, I picked up on that.”
She gave Dane a quick tour of the apartment she shared with her best friend. It didn’t take long since it wasn’t that big. But a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment with an eat-in kitchen and small living room was enough for her and Melinda. They both spent more time at work than at home, so it didn’t make sense to spend a lot of money on a bigger place.
“How’s Wayne doing?” she asked as she showed off her bedroom. And yeah, she noticed him checking out the bed, though whether he was checking to see if they would both fit on it, or simply looking for bondage gear, she wasn’t sure.
“He’s doing well, all things considered,” he told her as they headed back for the living room. “He still has a headache from that concussion, but, overall, he’s in good spirits even though his apartment and most of his possessions are gone. He was really grateful to get the clothes and the other stuff I brought him.”
She picked up her purse from the couch. “Most of his possessions? Were Jax and the others able to save anything from his place at all?”
Dane shook his head. “Not much. A couple books, a photo album, and a small lockbox full of papers. I told him we’d hold onto the stuff for him at the station so he doesn’t have to worry about it.”
“Is there anything else he needs?” she asked as they headed for the door, thinking she could stop by and bring the man some more stuff tomorrow.
“I don’t think so,” Dane said. “I think he needs friends a lot more than he needs stuff. I ended up spending nearly three hours with him today. I barely made it out of there in time to go home and get changed so I could make it here on time to pick you up.”
They took the stairs down to the parking lot and Dane’s white Ford F150 pickup truck. As he helped her into the vehicle, Lexi couldn’t help thinking about how awesome it was that Dane had taken his off-time to sit with a man they’d rescued. It wasn’t something everyone would do. Yet one more thing to like about Dane.
As Dane drove, they chatted a bit more about Wayne, but also about all the other people they helped on an almost daily basis in their jobs. She was struck by how many names Dane seemed to remember from his calls. He laughed and talked about them like they were family. It was pretty amazing…and inspiring.
She’d expected Dane to take her to a traditional steak restaurant, or maybe a barbecue place—either of which would have been fine with her—so she was surprised when they pulled up in front of a place with an obvious Southwest feel to it. The building made her think of a Mexican hacienda, complete with arching windows and ivy vining all along the front of it.
“I guess I should have asked before we got here,” he said. “But are you okay with Mexican?”
She smiled. “Love it.”
“Good. I’ve eaten at this place a couple of times, and the food is really good,” he said when he came around to open her door. “It’s also quiet enough that we can still talk without having to shout.”
The interior of the restaurant matched the outside with lots of wood, brick, and low lighting. And the aroma coming from the kitchen was delicious. There weren’t a lot of people around, but that was probably normal for a Thursday night. Some people might feel weird going out on a date in the middle of the week like this, but when you worked twenty-four hours on and forty-eight off, you got used to having weekends twice a week and going out for dinner whenever you could.
