“Let’s do some fishing,” he says, gripping me tighter for just a few seconds and then letting me go, only to reclaim my hand and keep me close again.
It makes my heart leap with unfiltered joy, just from holding this man’s hand.
We rejoin the group and get started with the fishing, Derek helping Rora recast her line over and over again, keepingthe same patience he has with the last one that he has with the first.
My dad interrogates him on his work and his family life, and Derek doesn’t hold back on the things that he’s going through, being honest about his parents and his store that he’s trying to keep afloat.
I admire the fact that he’s not hiding anything—that despite his way of using humor to cover up things that truly bother him, he was being genuine with my folks in a way that has a new layer of trust being built on our foundation.
It’s not long before lunch has passed and we all start to head back to the shore, thoughts of responsibilities coming to me as I think of the things I need to do before the start of the workweek on Monday.
Derek admits he was going to start staying open on Sundays and closing Mondays, which makes our time for seeing each other dwindle by another day.
When we got back to the house, his car had been returned there due to the generosity of his friends, and he offered to drop me and Rora home. My mom and dad bid us goodbye with many thanks to Derek for taking care of their girls, and I see the gleams of appreciation and the shared looks between the two of them that boast their approval.
After arriving home and sending Rora to bathe, I turn to Derek, holding in a smile just barely before a blush overtakes my face, and I sigh, letting myself feel this way out in the open.
“How about I come to the store tomorrow? Rora and I can bring lunch,” I offer, hoping that I get to see him once again.
Derek leans forward, caging me gently against the countertops. I desperately want the man to kiss me. I’m dying for it, craving it like my next breath.
But I know he’s going to hold out.
“I would never say no to that.” He smiles gently at me, leaning forward and breathing deep, his lips skimming the skin of my cheek and making me feel like I am literally about to combust.
It isn’t fair that he can make me feel like this with just a few simple touches.
Whispering, I grin deeply as I say, “You said you liked me today.”
He nods, just barely, and a teasing glint enters his eyes. “I like you every day.”
I cackle softly. “You’re a nut.”
“I am,” he admits with no shame. “I’m a nut that’s very, very into you, Elizabeth.”
I grin so wide that it makes my cheeks hurt spreads across my lips. “And I you.”
Chapter Nineteen
“All you have to do is smell good and not be a dick. Dating isn’t that hard.” - Garrett
DEREK
Today is the day I’ve been waiting forever for.
This has been months in the making, something that I have been dreaming of—literally—since the moment I saw her again at Graham’s wedding.
A date. And hell, I was nervous.
Elizabeth is the kind of woman you want to do nice things for. Sure, she’s low maintenance, but she’s the woman you woo to get her down the aisle, not the kind that gets a beer and pizza from me and that’s the extent of my trying.
However, as much as I want to take her to a nice restaurant with expensive wine and bring her flowers andshow her exactly how much this date means to me, Elizabeth proposed that she plan the date.
I don’t think in my entire adult life that I ever had a woman plan a date.
What’s that say for the female dating pool? Not much.
We were going in the middle of an afternoon since Birdie wasn’t up to leaving Rora when bedtime came around. I respected and admired her for that, knowing she was doing everything she could to make sure her daughter was taken care of so that she could relax and enjoy herself.
