Page 30 of Somebody To Love

“What would you like to toast to?”

“How about to new ventures.”

“Is that what dating is to you? A new venture?”

“What’s the saying? Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

“And what do you hope to gain from this date, exactly, Jean-Bernard?”

“I like the way you say my name.”

I was flustered. God, he had a great voice. And he was clearly using it to distract me. I knew he was being deliberate by not answering my question. I didn't date many “sophisticated” men, but that didn’t mean I didn’t know how. We chatted and ate and the time flew by quickly. Surprisingly, I had a wonderful evening and we sealed it with a chaste kiss. He was a gentleman. I definitely wanted to go on a date number two with him. After our date, I got in my car and headed home. I wondered how my date with Ty was going to compare with my date with Jean-Bernard. I was looking forward to it.

Against my better judgement when Ty called me the next morning and told me that he wanted to take me kayaking in the evening, I knew I should have said no. I didn’t know how to kayak. But I was feeling bold and confident. I had two hot guys interested in me. Sylvia had already told me that Jean-Bernard raved about me.

We already had plans to catch up with each other again sometime during the week for lunch. He worked downtown and had invited me to stop by his office. I felt that was a little fast, but apparently Jean-Bernard knew what he wanted. He was a decisive man.

But all thoughts of Jean-Bernard drifted away when Ty pulled up to my house. He had the top down on his convertible and I briefly wondered if my hair would survive the drive.

He hopped out of the car, this time wearing sweat pants and a sleeveless shirt. I kind of had the feeling that Ty worked out all the time because he was just really well-built. How did he even find the time?

“Hi, beautiful,” he said to me as I headed towards his car. To my surprise, he caught me by my hand.

My body drifted towards him as if it beckoned me there. He slid his hands up my arms, leaving goosebumps in his trail. Then he placed his hands on either side of my face and brought my face to his. His lips settled over mine, softly caressing them and then he slowly pulled away.

I didn’t even know my eyes had closed. The kiss had been brief. Not even a few seconds but it had been enough to whet my appetite. My appetite for Ty.

He let his hands trail back down my arms and then took my hands in his and gently kneaded them.

“I figured that we might as well get that out of the way first. That way we don’t spend the rest of the night wondering.”

“Wondering what exactly?” I said, giving him a pointed look.

“You stare at my lips all the time.”

“I do not!”

“You do. If I had a dime for every time I caught you staring at my lips, I would have—”

“Negative ten cents?”

He laughed. “Get in the car, smarty pants.”

I smiled at him and slid into the car as he held the door open for me. To my surprise, once I was in the car, he bent down and kissed me again.

“Another one for good measure,” he said with a wicked smile.

I couldn’t help but smile back. Ty was going to be trouble.

“So have you ever been kayaking before?” he asked as he pulled away from my home. “I love the style of your home, by the way.”

I beamed. “Thanks. I did a lot of the renovation work on my own. And yes, I’ve been kayaking before. With Meredith actually. We were doing an environmental cleanup in a nearby lake and so we took these huge—” I stopped myself, “Actually no, I haven’t been kayaking, that was canoeing.” Or had we gone kayaking at the lake? I couldn’t remember. The lake, Brock, all of that felt like a lifetime ago.

He laughed. “Now I know your memory can’t be trusted.”

“You stole two kisses from me, which on of us can’t be trusted?”

“You. Because during that second kiss, I know I felt a little tongue action from you,” he glanced at me with a mischievous look in his eyes.