She pulled back with a smile. “Noted. And just so you know, I approve of your plans.”
“You don’t even know where I’m taking you, and you already approve. This bodes well for me.”
“I meant I approve of the kissing, silly. I’ll let you know if I approve of the location later,” she teased.
I winked at her and put her down. I picked up her purse and offered her my arm. “Shall we?” She took my arm with a laugh, we said goodbye to the kids, then I escorted her outside to my truck. I opened her door, and she frowned up at me.
“Your truck is too high. And I think my dress is too tight to climb up.” She looked down at her body in that dress.
Her amazing body in that tight, sexy dress was slowly going to kill me until I could hopefully take it off her later tonight. I grinned down at her bemused expression and picked her up, placing her on the passenger seat before carefully closing the door.
After I got in and started the truck, I turned to her. “There is no such thing as a dress too tight when it comes to you. You are stunning. It’s a bonus that I get to put my hands all over you when I help you in and out of my truck.”
She blushed, and her eyes shifted down so she was looking at me through her lashes. It looked like Shy Lily was back. Shy Lily had made an appearance when we’d first started dating. I’d found her irresistible then and was glad to see that I still did. I winked at her again, just to watch her blush one more time.
“So, where are we going?” she finally asked.
“You have to wait and see.” I turned down her parents’ circular driveway and headed for the road. I was taking her to the restaurant where we’d had our first date. But this time, I didn’t have to borrow money from Jed to pay for it.
“Oooh, I’m gonna guess,” she announced, making me laugh.
“Go for it.”
“Are we going up the mountain or into Portland?”
“No questions. Just guessing.” I laughed. “Better hurry. Time is almost up.”
“Hardass. Fine, hmmm...” She drew it out, probablywaiting to see which direction I would turn once we got onto Main Street. I turned toward the mountain and away from the city to merge onto the highway and the “hmmm” stopped. “Are we going to the Riverview Grille?”
I took my eyes off the road for a brief second to smile at her and saw tears briefly fill her eyes. She remembered. But then again, how could she forget?
“Oh, Luke.” She reached over and placed her hand on my thigh. I gripped her hand and squeezed briefly. She interlaced her fingers with mine and held on. We held hands until we arrived thirty minutes later. The drive was quiet, both of us lost in memories. Every so often she would squeeze my hand, I would squeeze back, and she’d smile at me.
I pulled into the parking lot. She knew where we were going, but I still had a surprise in store. “Stay put. I’m coming around to get you.” I quickly went around to open her door and help her down. She took my hand, and we headed inside.
The Riverview Grille was the premier event destination around here. If you had something to celebrate and money to spend, you came here. It stood alone, overlooking the Sweetbriar River. It was, like almost everything else around here, designed with the mountains in mind. Lots of dark wood inside and out, from the floors to the beams that lined the ceiling. Floor-to-ceiling double-paned windows opened the rear of the restaurant to a view of the river.
But we weren’t going to be in the dining room tonight, or even out on the dock. I had reserved the private dining room. Up a spiral staircase in the corner and down a long hall was a small space that extended over the massive, covered dock that hosted outdoor dining. It had pocket doors that opened on all four sides so that it would feel like you were floating right over the water. Our first date, so many years ago, had been on the dock. Lily had talked about the private dining room and wondered what it would be like when we could finally go there together. Tonight, we wouldfind out.
“I’ve always loved it here,” she said as I slipped my arm around her waist and led her up the stairs to the heavy, intricately carved wooden doors. “Do you remember when we were here last? We had so many plans, so much hope,” she whispered softly.
“I remember. We’re here to get it all back, Lily.” We paused at the door. Being with her made me forget, made the pain go away. All my senses filled with her, and I wanted to stay this way forever.
Chapter 20
Lily
We ascended the staircase and took our seats. The hostess asked if we would like a drink, and Luke and I grinned at each other. “This time, we can have a drink,” I said. I would have to pump and dump later, but it would be worth it.
Luke chuckled and ordered a beer, while I ordered a lemon drop.
I smiled as I looked around the beautiful, dark wood-paneled room with its windows fully opened to the spectacular view of the river. The reflection of the lights from the restaurant began to twinkle along the water as the sun started to set. There were candles in sconces on the walls and one in the center of our table. It couldn’t have been more romantic in here even if Cupid himself were sitting in the corner firing arrows at us.
“Thank you for bringing me here. This is perfect.”
Itwasperfect. But I didn’t know what to talk about. We were well beyond a first date. I didn’t want to ruin the mood or break this spell we seemed to be under. Starting a serious conversation seemed wrong, yet I wanted to know more about him. Where had he gone when he was on leave? It wasn’t herein town. I had questions—lots of them—but I was too afraid to start asking them. My worry was not a fear of the answers, but that he would shut me out. That had been a problem when we were together before. Luke would come home, and I could tell he was bothered by what he had seen and done, but he wouldn’t talk to me. After he got injured, he refused to talk to me at all. Then everything ended.
I wanted to crawl onto his lap and make out with him and forget all that was troubling me. But I also wanted to crawl into his mind and find out what it was that had hurt him so much that it stole him away from me all those years ago. I wanted to trust him again, completely, without these doubts that kept me up at night.
