“Thank you for going with me tonight and breaking your sabbatical.”
She turned around and looked up at me. The moonlight reflected off the flecks of gold dust swimming in her amber eyes. Her lips curled in a smile. “Well, I mean you didn’t give me much choice.”
“I didn’t?”
“No.” She shook her head.
“How so?”
“Well, let’s see. I was doing okay, reminding myself life is not a fairytale but then the fire happened and you showed up like a knight in running shorts. You gave me a job and a place to stay. Then, I came back home and discovered you’d not only bought the building I lived in you also did an Extreme Makeover style move-that-bus renovation of my apartment and bakery. Oh, and you also generously compensated my employee and I think you paid for Mrs. Flores’ hospital stay and also moved her to Bay View and have taken care of that bill, too.
“All of that was a lot to take in, but then you showed up on my door with a present that, I don’t know how you would have possibly known, I’d always wanted. And tonight, I was basically taken to a ball on the water. You’re making it very difficult for me not to believe in Prince Charming.”
The things I wanted to do to her right now were not even close to charming and not G rated. They were of the triple X variety. Even though there was no bed in this room, it was the bedroom and if we stayed in here one second longer, I was going to do things to her that were normally done in this room. Instead, I kept my hands to myself. Actually, I put them in my pockets just for good measure.
But there was more that I had in store for her. Something I’d hand delivered this afternoon just in case tonight went well…which it had.
“Do you want to see the roof?”
I couldn’t be sure, but I thought I noticed a brief flash of disappointment in her honey gaze. But it was gone as quickly as it appeared. A grin tugged on her full lips. “Yes.”
We made our way up the stairs and Sadie walked out onto the deck before me. I pulled out my phone and pressed play on the speaker that I’d set next to the bottle of wine and glasses.
She turned back around to me, her face in disbelief. “What is all this?”
I walked past her, opened the bottle of wine, poured her a glass and handed it to her. “You said your perfect night would be having a glass of wine, slow dancing with a man who knows how to kiss.”
Her face broke into a wide smile. “You remembered?”
“I remembered.”
Moisture pooled in her lower lids. She sniffed and wiped beneath her eyes before taking a drink of the wine. When she set the glass down, I extended my hand.
“Sadie, may I have this dance?”
“Yes.”
She placed her hand in mine and I pulled her against me. Her curves molded to me and I closed my eyes and let myself fully enjoy the experience. Tonight, when we’d danced at the fundraiser, I’d made sure to keep my hands on her back and to keep a little distance between us.
Now, I allowed my hands to drift a little lower as Eric Clapton’sWonderful Tonightplayed through the Bluetooth speaker as we swayed beneath the blanket of stars. This might have been what Sadie had described as her perfect night, but it turned out, it was mine too.
