Perry pickedme up at my place with a bouquet of gerbera daisies. He was sharply dressed in a pair of black slacks that hugged his ass and a blue sweater that looked like it was as soft as a cloud. I invited him inside while I dealt with the flowers, and he met Donut. And Cookie, one of my more recent additions to the house.
“They’ll get you covered in hair,” I protested as Cookie came slinking out, twining her body around Perry’s ankles.
“That’s fine. It’s just a bit of pet hair. I probably have Gumball’s hair all over me, but he’s black so it’s less noticeable.”
I bit back the urge to tell him how my ex, Bryson, had always kicked up a fuss about my animals. According to him, they took up too much of my time, and he couldn’t stand having Donut on the bed when he slept over. That should have been the first sign that I needed to break up with him.
By the time we left my house, Perry had made friends with Donut and Cookie.
“Does being a vet make it hard to not bring home a bunch of animals?”
I let out a rather inelegant snort. “I have recently fostered a hedgehog, a bird, and a pygmy goat.” Yet another habit that Bryson hated. I wanted to kick myself for allowing him to intrude into my thoughts. “I try to keep the zoo down to a manageable amount. Cookie and Crash are fine at home by themselves, and Donut comes to work with me. But sometimes it can’t be helped. I’d rather look after an animal for a few weeks while I find it a home than put it down because people are irresponsible and—” I cut myself off abruptly, realizing that this wasn’t exactly great date conversation. “Sorry. I get stirred up sometimes.”
Perry stood on the edge of the lawn with his keys in his hand, and he’d opened the passenger door for me. “Don’t apologize for caring, Rex. Especially when people aren’t sorry for not caring at all.”
Before I could step into the car, Perry leaned closer and brushed a kiss against my cheek. “You’re one of the good ones.”
I held tight to Perry’s words and the fleeting feeling of that kiss, the pillowy softness of his lips dusting my cheek all the way to the restaurant. I had no idea where we were going, but Perry had told me to dress nicely. Not too nice, but nice dinner kind of nice, he’d said. I picked up on the fact he hadn’t planned many dates because he was a little awkward when the hostess greeted him and asked for his reservation.
Playing the part of the gentleman, Perry pulled my chair out for me, and I smiled when he took his place across from me.
“I could get used to the princess treatment,” I said, unable to wipe the smile from my face.
“I know you planned better dates, but you can’t really go wrong with dinner, right?”
Perry shifted in his seat, and I gave in to the urge and reached across the table, grabbing his hand. His whole body went still, and he looked at me with wide eyes.
“Dinner is perfect,” I reassured him.
Perry’s shoulders dropped, and he took a deep breath. His smile was wider and more steady now. “But you’ll plan the next date, right?”
“I’ll plan them all if you prefer.”
“I wouldn’t hate that.”
Our server arrived and we ordered drinks. I got a glass of wine and when the server looked to Perry for his order, he glanced at me, alarm in his eyes.
“He’ll have the same,” I said and when the server was gone, I looked at Perry. “If you don’t like the wine, I’ll drink it for you.”
“Sorry, I panicked. Most of the places I eat at have fountain soda or beer on tap. When she asked if I wanted the wine list, I wasn’t quite prepared to answer that.”
“If you’re not comfortable here, we can go somewhere else.”
Perry shook his head. “I figured I should go to dinner at a place like this at least once. Maybe someday someone will want to bring me to a nice place, and then I’ll know what to do and how to act.”
“You’re doing fine so far,” I told him, even though there was a rock in my stomach. It had fallen there at the mention of someone else bringing him here and worrying about being awkward in front of them. “Besides, awkward isn’t a terrible thing to be. There are worse things.”
“Like?”
“Arrogant,” I said. “Dismissive.”
He leaned forward, and his eyes narrowed. “Are you talking about anyone specific? I feel like I should know some details about your sordid past.”
“I’d hardly call it sordid, but there was someone. We broke up about a year ago. Bryson hated my job. He said he liked animals, but he barely tolerated mine. He was all about appearances. Expensive sheets just to say he had them. A watch that was surely a counterfeit but looked convincing enough at a distance to fool people into thinking it was real. I believe he thought dating me would add prestige to his life or something.”
Perry frowned. “That’s a problem I’ll never have, not in my line of work.”
“There’s nothing wrong with what you do,” I said, meaning every word. I hadn’t cared about what Blue did for a living, and I wasn’t about to care what Perry did. Not when he wasn’t really mine. And even if he were. The idea that he could go out there and have wild, crazy sex with someone, then come home to me after didn’t sound all that terrible.
