“Are you kidding?” he blurted. “I’m obsessed with classic Hank.”
He clapped a hand over his mouth as soon as he’d said it, but I was loving the honesty. I pulled his hand down, then linked our fingers between us, and led him toward the door.
“We better go, or we’ll miss the reservations.”
He swallowed. “Okay, so where are we going? Not very many places require reservations in Granville.”
“I guess you’ll find out,” I teased.
“Unless we’re going to Riverton?” he tried again as we went out the front door and he closed and locked it.
“You can keep guessing, but I won’t tell you.”
He huffed, looking pouty, and it was so adorable I wanted to die. How had I missed the attraction that sparked so easily to life between us?
The minute we’d met at that park, I’d put him in a friend box, so sure that I could never be interested in a guy. I had a faint memory of thinking that his features were cute, that he was the sweetest guy I’d ever met, and yet, it just hadn’t hit home that I wasn’t seeing him the way I saw most other men.
It wasn’t because he was pocket-sized, or because his features were a bit more delicate. There’d been plenty of cute little twinks at the gay clubs I’d visited with Fox. No, there was something about Jamie’s sweetness and warmth that was more authentic. He was genuine, and I’d liked his personality from the start. Maybe that’s all it took. Getting to know someone, deep down, had fired up an attraction fiercer than I’d ever felt before.
I’d been with women. It was casual and easy to meet them, to hook up, to even start dating. But not even in my most serious relationship had I felt a fraction of what I felt in that first kiss with Jamie.
This was different.
I drove northeast, and it didn’t take Jamie long to guess where we were headed. Granville wasn’t large enough to keep the secret long.
“The Dinner Bell,” he said, shocked. “But Hank…”
Had I overstepped? I cast a sidelong glance his way, watching the way he nibbled his bottom lip, the corners tugging into a shy smile.
“I know it’s only a first date,” I said, “but I need you to know how serious I am about you.”
“This is all so new for you.”
“It is, but that makes it less confusing,” I said. At hisbewildered look, I added, “I’ve never felt this way before, Jamie. Not for anyone.”
His eyes slipped closed, his expression almost pained. “Really?”
I lowered my hand onto his thigh, squeezing. “Really.”
“But you’ve never been with a guy,” he said tentatively as I pulled into a parking spot in front of the schoolhouse turned restaurant.
“Not like this.”
“You might not like it,” he whispered.
I lifted my hand to stroke my thumb over his full bottom lip. “You don’t see, Jamie?”
“See what?” he asked, the tip of his tongue swiping my thumb and making me shudder.
“How much I’m dying for you already?”
He looked shocked. I took the opportunity to lean in and kiss his cheek. “You’ll see. First, we need to have a proper date.”
I got out of the car, and Jamie met me on the sidewalk. I reached for his hand, lacing our fingers again, and walked into the most romantic hotspot in the whole dang town.
“Good evening.” The hostess smiled when she saw us. “Do you have a reservation?”
“Dinner for two, under Hank Reeves.”
