He inhales. “You always smell so good. Like all of the best things flooding my senses at once.”
My eyebrows lift. “That sounds overwhelming.”
He laughs. “You’re not wrong. Your beauty is overwhelming too. And then you’re sweet and funny and smart on top of all that. Yeah, overwhelmingis the perfect word for it.”
I fan my heated face, which makes him grin that perfect grin. The one that makes my knees weak.
His lips brush against mine, and my chest erupts with a thousand flutters taking flight.
Goodness, girl, calm down.
“You’re so beautiful. Not that I can compete with this.” He slides his hand from my waist down to my thigh. “But I’ll get cleaned up and more presentable than what I’ve got going on here.” He leans in for another kiss. “And then I want to take you out and show you off…in a way that won’t elicit any unwanted attention that somehow gets back to your father.”
I grin. He’s so cute it physically hurts.
“Sounds good to me.”
He gives me one more kiss, then takes a step back. His hands are still on me, though, and I’m glad. I don’t want him to let go.
“It’s so good to see you,” he says. “I love modern technology, but nothing beats seeing you in person.”
“I agree. It’s good to see you too.”
He ducks his head, and his smile is teasing. “Are you shy?”
I press my lips together, fighting nervous laughter. “I think so. It’s been over a week since I’ve seen you…”
“It felt like forever,” he says. He lowers until we’re eye level and an inch apart. “This is madness, isn’t it.”
“Yes,” I whisper.
“I’m here for it.” He kisses the tip of my nose. “I’ll get ready so quick. Fastest shower known to man.”
“There’s no rush. We’ve got time.”
“I don’t want to miss a minute with you,” he says.
Dylan in his tailored black suit is nearly more than I can bear. We sit at a romantic table at Geoffrey’s Malibu, the trees aglow with lights and the Pacific shimmering in the distance. But my eyes keep returning to my date.
“I feel like I’ve learned so much about you on the phone this week,” he says, threading our fingers together after we’ve placed our order.
“Same. You and your family. They sound way more fun than mine.”
“Your mom and Aunt Ginny sound amazing. And hilarious.Every time I think about your mom trying to feed Chloe caviar on Christmas Day, I crack up.”
“She’s hilarious, all right, and Aunt Ginny is hilarious in a completely different way. They’re so close, but my mom is the diva, and my aunt could survive in the wilderness in the middle of winter.”
He laughs. “I wish I could meet them.”
“I wish you could too. I didn’t get a chance to tell you that she asked more about you since Chloe kept talking about ‘Dyyan.’”
His eyes widen. “What did you tell her?”
“I kept the details to a minimum. Just that we met in California and you showed us around a little bit.”
He wrinkles his nose. “That’s not very fun. I guess you couldn’t exactly tell her everything. But not even the way we met? That’s newsworthy!”
He slaps the back of his hand on his other palm and then gives me doe eyes, blinking quickly.
