“Well, you listened without talking over me. You didn’t dominate the conversation but you also didn’t leave it all up to me, you were polite to the server but didn’t ogle her even though she was quite pretty, you didn’t talk with your mouth full even once, and you fought me over going halfsies on the check, but managed to do so in a charming way.”
He laughed. “Is that your full first-date checklist, or is there more?”
“It would be cheating to tell you that, but since you’re scoring pretty high so far, I’d say you shouldn’t be too worried.”
His teasing smiled faded to serious. “I want you to be happy about this.”
She cupped his cheek, leaned up on her tiptoes. “Every minute we’ve been together I’ve gotten happier and happier. I can’t wait for you to feel that for yourself.”
He groaned and kissed her, teasing her with soft, light kisses when she’d expected hard and fast. She spread her hands on his chest, enjoyed the feeling of his muscles contracting as he kissed her. She wanted more. Wanted him. No more waiting.
“Take me home,” she urged.
Another groan as he pulled back, as though it was the last thing he wanted to do. “I want to take you somewhere. It’s not too far, about a forty-five-minute drive.”
She blinked. She’d assumed they would just go back to her house and…well, make things happen. “You want to go somewhere other than my house?”
“I want this to be special. I’ll drive fast. But not too fast,” he added quickly.
She laughed and shook her head. “Okay, if that’s what you want. But we don’t have to.”
“I think it will be worth it. We’ll swing by your place and you can pack an overnight bag.”
She got in the car, on the one hand disappointed that they would have to wait a bit longer, but on the other hand, absurdly pleased that he was making an effort to make the occasion extra special. She’d asked him for the slow road, and he was giving her just that, but making her want him more and more.
The trip back to her house was quick and she suggested he wait in the car while she grabbed her things. Now that she was committed to waiting, she liked the idea, wanted to see what he had planned out for them. But was worried that if he came into the house with her, she’d get impatient and jump him.
He agreed, looked like he was going to pull her into a kiss, then thought better of it.
Giggling, she got out of the car and practically ran for the door. It only took five minutes to use the bathroom to freshen up, throw her toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, hairbrush and makeup bag into a tote. She added a change of clothes and the sexy underwear set she’d bought online a couple of years ago and only worn once. It had been her fourth date with a guy, and they’d ended up arguing and breaking up before the evening ended, so he hadn’t even seen the lingerie.
He pointedly glanced at his watch when she threw the bag in the backseat and got into the car, but she knew he was teasing. “Well, it took me a while to pick between all my lingerie and find just the right thing.”
His hand went to his heart and his head flopped back on the rest. “I totally asked for that.”
“You did. Now drive, James!” She pointed forward. Which was silly, because forward was her house. But he got the idea and reversed out of her drive.
“Alright, so we have drive time, tell me about you.”
“I grew up in New York. You met my parents, good people.”
“I had a nice chat with them. Your mom is cute and your dad is funny.”
He looked over at her, blinked slowly.
She laughed. “No, really.”
“Right. Sure. So, anyway, I started out at a recruiting firm, then started my own agency.”
“So, helping people find good jobs?”
“Yes, mostly executive level. And the other way around, helping companies find the right person for the job.”
“Did you like it?”
“I did, for a long time. It was stressful, going out on my own, but I enjoyed the fast pace, and I really liked helping companies, and individuals, find the right fit. But I started to burn out. The money was good, but I couldn’t keep up the pace forever. When I found myself sort of encouraging people into a position just to get the assignment filled, I realized I’d hit my limit. I could have backed off, found a partner, hired a manager, something, but I decided I wanted a clean break. So I sold the company.”
“And you moved to Idaho.”
