“Something like that,” I reply. My phone beeps, and I pull it out of my purse. It’s a text from Griffin. He says he should be at my place in a couple minutes.
“Hey, are you still on night shifts?” Eli asks me.
“I’m switching to days soon for a couple weeks. Why?”
“Is Winnie home every night?” he asks, without answering my question.
I glance back to see if Dixie is emerging from the closet yet. She isn’t. “She tutors until nine two nights a week. Monday and Wednesday.”
“Cool,” Eli says. I’m about to ask him what’s with the third degree, but then there’s a loud thump, followed by a curse word from Dixie, and then she emerges from the closet with a long teal umbrella with a wooden handle carved with daisies.
She hands it to me and leans in to whisper in my ear. “You know if you were wearing a white shirt I wouldn’t even give you an umbrella. I’d let you get soaked so you could give him a preview of the merchandise.”
“Hysterical, Dix.” I use the nickname she doesn’t like, and she sticks out her tongue at me while I swipe the umbrella from her.
“So where you going?” Eli asks again.
“Book club,” I lie and grin. “Thanks for the top, little D.”
“Have fun!” Dixie calls as I fling open her front door and head down the stairs. “I insist!”
I blow her a kiss and push open the door at the bottom of the stairs. It’s not raining too badly, more of a mist right now, but I open the umbrella anyway as I stand against the brick wall and wait, since my hair tends to curl when it’s wet, and that’s not the look I’m going for tonight. It doesn’t take long before his Range Rover pulls up at the curb. I see him through the rain-splattered window, and I instantly feel warm. I walk to the passenger door, closing the umbrella as I go. He jumps out and opens my door for me. As I slip by him, he leans in, his full lips grazing my cheek along with his delicious stubble. “God, it’s good to see you again.”
“You too,” I whisper back, and a warm blush blooms from the exact spot he touched with those sexy lips. Thankfully, it’s dark enough that he won’t see. Jesus, I’ve dated before—a lot—so why does Griffin make me so loopy?
He gets in the car and eases away from the curb. “You look incredible.”
I smile and glance at him. He’s wearing a black cashmere sweater with a blue patterned button-down underneath, the cuffs and tails out. “So do you,” I reply, which is true, but my other thought is that he has too many layers on. I want to able to feel him when I touch him, and I definitely intend to touch him.
“So…” he starts hesitantly. “I have a plan for tonight but, I’ll be honest, this dating stuff isn’t like riding a bike. I don’t remember the right etiquette, and I probably wasn’t very good at it when I was doing it anyway.”
“Let me guess…you were either in college or in the juniors,” I say. He nods, his expression slightly guarded but still sexy as the raindrops on the windshield catch the street lights and send pretty prisms of light across his rugged features. “You met girls after games, at bars and parties, and they always came up to you sweeter than stevia, and you never even really had to ask them out, it just happened.”
“I-I plead the fifth,” he stutters, visibly uncomfortable. My stomach drops, because that wasn’t my intention.
I reach over and gently touch his biceps, which is solid and wide. He may be retired but his hockey body is still there. “Hey. I’m not judging. If you dated a bunny or two, or even ten, it’s not a big deal. I get that there’s little time in the world of a pro athlete to meet anyone outside of that life. In case you forgot, my brother used to score more off the ice than on, and I don’t hold it against him. I ribbed him to death about it, but I didn’t judge him. My sisters and I used to call him the Bunny Wrangler. For like four years the only gifts he got were bunny related. Shirts with bunnies on them, a coffee cup, pajama bottoms, slippers. You name it.”
He chuffs out a laugh at that, and I join him. “God, it must have been hell for Jude growing up with the two of you.”
“Three of us, the sorority, with my other sister, Winnie. We like to think we keep Jude grounded and humble,” I reply in our defense. “So, Mr. Not Great at Dating, where are we headed?”
His expression grows serious again. “I have a couple ideas, but my first…and tell me if this makes you uncomfortable or it’s too forward…but my first thought was a charcuterie board and some delicious wine overlooking the ocean.”
“That sounds magical,” I reply, and I’m truly excited, but he still looks a little concerned as he turns toward the Golden Gate Bridge.
“Great, but the thing is…” He steals a glance at me. “The place I have in mind is my place.”
Oh.
“No inappropriate intentions, I swear on my mama,” he says, quickly lifting his right hand off the steering wheel to make a cross over his heart to prove his honesty. “It’s just I live on the water and have a terrific covered deck on the first floor. It’s great to just sit out there and watch the rain on the water. It was the best place I could think of to just hang out and get to know each other.”
He’s so worried I will think he’s picked his home simply so he could transition the date into the bedroom more easily and that will make me think he’s a pig. Little does he know I’ve got a brand-new roll of condoms in my purse. “I think it sounds like a great idea. To be honest, you had me at charcuterie.”
His expression relaxes into the sexy smile I am growing very attached to as we head into Marin County. Before I know it we’re pulling into the marina, and I’m growing confused. I don’t see houses or apartments.
He parks the car, jumps out, and holds out his hand to help me down as soon as I open my door. He doesn’t let go of it either as he guides me toward a dock. It’s lined with houseboats. “You weren’t kidding. You liveonthe water.”
“I do,” he confirms and stops halfway down the row in front of a gorgeous two-story, modern, dark wood houseboat with black metal accents and a sleek natural cedar deck upstairs and down.
