I walk up to her until there are just inches between us. “Maybe neither of us is ready, but we can take a risk and see where that leads us.”
Pippa’s expression is unreadable for a few long moments, before she breaks into a beam. “Can we preemptively bring a bellboy to our nondate?”
“I’m not sure. He might witness some very inappropriate things. A forklift would be safer.”
Pippa hugs her sketches tightly to her chest and swallows hard. The sound nearly undoes me. “What will we be doing on our nondate?”
“I can’t tell for sure but expect kissing. A lot of kissing.” I lean closer to her, caressing the side of her neck. “I’m not telling you where.”
She swallows hard. “I’ll go change.”
“No need. Keep my clothes. It was a ruse. I wanted to spend more time with you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll leave you for tonight.”
With that, I turn around and leave her apartment, wondering all the way to my car what the hell I’m getting into. My phone beeps with an incoming message the second I climb in the driver’s seat.
Pippa: I’ll sleep in your shirt tonight.
Eric: Is that all you’ll be doing?
Knowing she’s naked underneath my shirt makes it hard to concentrate on driving. I’m jealous of my own fucking shirt. Fantastic.
Pippa: There will be touching. A lot of touching. I’m not telling you where.
Chapter Ten
Pippa
I wake up with a big smile the next morning and remain under my covers for a few minutes. I slept in Eric’s shirt. It’s soft and light, the only downside being that it doesn’t smell like him. Still, wearing it feels as if he slept next
to me. There was a shift between us yesterday, and I can’t define it or what to make of it. All I know is that while part of me is still afraid of moving forward, another part wants to dream and hope again.
I hug my pillow and decide to text the man responsible for my renewed hopefulness. To my astonishment, I find he texted me already.
Eric: I’ve found the perfect place for our nondate.
Pippa: You’re fast.
My phone buzzes with an incoming message within seconds.
Eric: I stayed up late last night researching.
Ah, I can gauge a lot of teasing potential from this sentence alone.
Pippa: Had trouble falling asleep?
Eric: Nah. Just had to wait for my balls to go back to normal. They were blue after I read a certain message last night.
Giggling, I type as fast as I can.
Pippa: You asked for it. So, where are we going?