“Yes, ma’am,” he responds, shooting Grace a wink. “I’ll be a perfect gentleman, I swear.”
I can’t think straight enough to form words. His large palm pressed against me has somehow scrambled my brain, so I just give Grace a little wave as he escorts me out of the apartment.
We make our way down and outside to his large black Chevy truck. He opens the passenger door for me, his gaze dancing over my body.
“Madam.” He gives me a little half bow that makes me laugh and roll my eyes.
“Weirdo.” Sweet, adoring, attentive weirdo.
I climb into the truck and he gets in behind the wheel next to me.
“Where are we going?” I ask as he pulls into traffic.
“It’s a surprise.”
“A surprise? Must be somewhere really fancy, then.”
He shoots me a wink. “You’ll see.”
He remains tight-lipped about our destination the rest of the way, no matter how hard I try to dig it out of him.
“Is it a fancy restaurant? A picnic? Are we going to the movies?”
He laughs and shakes his head. “You’re not going to guess it, but trust me. It’ll be fun.”
I purse my lips together and shake my head. “Sneaky… you’re sneaky, Kodiak.”
Zander shoots me a wink at that. “Very, very sneaky.”
I roll my eyes, but giggle and relax back into my seat to wait and see where he takes me. When we finally arrive at our destination, I furrow my brow in confusion.
“Uh… the mall?” I give him a baffled look. “We’re having a date at the mall?”
He laughs and nods. “You love shopping, and I love video games, and here we’re able to enjoy the best of both our worlds. You’re going to teach me about retail therapy, and I’m going to teach you how to feel like a kid again… in the arcade.”
I furrow my brow. “You want to go shopping with me?”
“Yeah, I do,” he assures me. “I want to spend time with you doing what you like to do, and then share more of what I like. That’s what a first date is supposed to be, right? Getting to know each other better and having fun?”
I bite my lip to hide my shy grin. “I suppose that’s true.”
He parks and hurries around the truck to open my door for me and help me out. Taking hold of my hand, he leads me inside.
“All right,” he says. “Let’s shop..”
We spend the next few hours roaming around the mall, going from store to store as I show Zander the finer points of retail therapy. He’s a very willing model as I pick out outfits for him and have him try them on for me like an eighties movie makeover montage.
I do the same for him, trying on sexy dresses and short skirts that make his jaw clench. It’s thrilling to tease him. Zander is so sweet and polite and well mannered, but I do enjoy watching him struggle a little bit as he fights the urge to grab me and bend me over in a dressing room.
When we finish shopping, he takes me to the arcade, as promised.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever actually been in one of these before,” I confess.
“I’m sure you were way too cool for the arcade,” he jokes.
I give his shoulder a playful shove. “Please, not at all. I was not cool at all. I spent my free time reading or hanging in the library. Arcades were intimidating. That’s where boys were, and I was not slick with guys back then.”
“Well, you’re about to get a crash course in how to own this place.” He tugs me toward a row of machines along the back wall. I recognize a few of the games -Pac-Man,Mortal Kombat,Tekken,Donkey Kong, Street Fighter- then there are quite a few I’ve never heard of, but they all follow the same basic formula. Wiggle the stick thing, push the buttons, win the game.
