"Would you like to come to my place tonight?"
Grace's eyes turned from smiling to concern. "Oh. Um."
"I'm sorry," I said quickly. "I didn't mean to assume, or rush anything. I just would love for us to hang out alone."
She nodded, and I was relieved when her hands squeezed around my shoulders. "It just seems a bit fast for me. That doesn't mean I'm not interested, though."
"I understand completely."
My hand ran up her back to tangle in her soft hair. "I guess I should be a proper gentleman and drive you home, then," I said.
"Or," she said with a sassy smile that did strange things to my heart, "You could drive us and stop five blocks from my house, and we could walk the rest of the way."
"Anything you like."
We spent the drive chatting about our mutual appreciation for nature documentaries, and debating which was the perfect sparkling water. It was eventually determined that although she favored blood orange and passionfruit, while I preferred lemon lime, we should continue dating.
Grace smiled shyly. "So you're saying that we're actually, officially dating?"
"If you’ll have me, gorgeous."
I parked several blocks from her house and we began to walk. I wondered if Corbin would lose his mind when he found out I was dating his daughter.
We didn't work together very much. The reason he had invited me over for a drink was to ingratiate himself to me now that Dan was retiring, since Dan was the one who had a hand in hiring him.
Corbin didn't want to be my friend, he just wanted to ensure that his job was safe. I didn't want to upset a colleague, but it wasn't my fault that Grace and I had simply clicked.
Reaching out, her little fingers slipped through mine as we walked. "What do you have planned for tomorrow?" I asked.
"Saturday mornings I always do an hour of housework, " she said. "Mom likes to leave everything for the housekeeper who comes once a week but I don't feel quite right about the place being a total mess. So I at least clean my room, bathroom, and tidy up the main floor."
"You're a little angel, did you know that?" I asked, leaning over to kiss the top of her hair. She smiled, as I continued, "What do you do after housework?"
"I don't know yet. I might call some friends, or read. Or do some more career research. You know. General puttering."
"What about tomorrow night? A Saturday night in the spring…would a young lady go out dancing?"
Grace laughed, squeezing my hand. "Mom and Dad are going out to some event tomorrow night, so I have the place to myself. I'll be curled up on the couch with cheesy popcorn and some even cheesier romance movies."
For the first time in my life, I had the urge to watch a cheesy romance movie, so I could find out what she liked about them. I had barely had the time to date, so I hadn't spent a lot of time thinking about what women might want. Suddenly it was very important to me to know exactly what Grace wanted in every aspect of her life.
Lifting her hand, I kissed the back of it. "As much as I appreciate the lure of cheese popcorn, I hope that I'm able to persuade you to come out with me instead."
"Will there be cheese popcorn?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked up at me.
"I'll see what I can do."
We had reached the edge of her family's property. Pulling Grace's sexy body against me, I swept her hair aside and ran my lips along the tender skin of her throat. "I don't want you to go."
"I don't want to go either," she whispered.
Quickly glancing at her house, and the one next door, I was relatively certain that any cameras would not be able to see this section of the street.
Lifting her perfect ass, I turned and leaned her against a tree so that she could wrap her legs around me. "Will you come to my house for lunch tomorrow?" I breathed.
"Yes," she gasped as her fingers tangled in the back of my hair.
"Thank you. But I'm going to need a good night kiss that will tide me over for twelve hours."