“Tyler.” My voice is raspy as I settle my weight deeper against him.
“I don’t know how long this is gonna take, baby, so we’re gonna have to postpone our dinner plans for the night.”
I hate that we have to do that, but I understand. “Will you ask me out again?” I ask, and his eyes lock with mine and light up.
“Fuck yeah.”
“Then it’s okay.” I get up on my tiptoes and softly press my lips to his. “I still have something to look forward to.”
“Fuck, I—” His words are cut off when his cell phone rings. I settle back to my flat feet, and he groans. “I’ll be back here as soon as this shit is sorted.”
“I’ll be waiting,” I tell him.
He presses his mouth hard against mine and lets me go, putting his phone to his ear. I listen to him clip out, “Yeah, on my way,” before he opens the door, locks it from the inside, and steps out. I stand in the middle of my living room for a long time wondering what he was going to say, and then eventually I get myself together and come up with a plan. Our date night might have gone up in smoke, but the night isn’t over yet.
I make a call and then get in my car. When I get back home, I set things up, but one thing I don’t do is take off my dress before I settle on the couch to wait.
“Baby,” I hear Tyler’s voice whisper against my ear while fingers trail down the side of my face and neck and along the edge of my breast.
Blinking my eyes open, I find his face so close to mine that I can see a small speckle in his right eye that I hadn’t noticed before now. “You’re home.”
His expression gentles, and he leans back slightly where he’s sitting on my coffee table. “Yeah, but baby, I wish you didn’t wait up. You’re tired; you fell asleep on the couch still wearing your dress.”
At the mention of my dress, sleep leaves me instantly, replaced with something else. “I’m okay,” I assure him while I sit up. “Can you wait here a second?” I ask after I get up off the couch and look down at him.
“Sure.”
I feel him watching me as I leave the living room and go through the kitchen doorway. I pull out the dinner I ordered us, heat it in the microwave, and light the two candles I placed in the middle of the table. Once I have our plates ready, I shut off the overhead light and let the candlelight take me back to him. I grasp his hand and lead him to the kitchen, where I covered the table in a white cloth. I set the table for two with the robin’s-egg-blue-and-gold place settings my grams gave to me as a housewarming gift. She told me to use them for special occasions. I never had one until tonight.
“Baby.” His voice is rough as he takes a seat, and I sit across from him.
“I know this wasn’t exactly what we had planned,” I start, and his gaze lifts from the plate in front of him to meet mine. “But I hope it’s okay.”
“This is better than okay, beautiful. This is—”
“Our first real date, just in a different location,” I state, picking up my wineglass, which is filled halfway with water.
With his eyes still on mine, he nods and then picks up his glass of water and holds it out between us. “Here’s to a lot more firsts.”
I smile as I tap my glass to his. I cut into the orange chicken I ordered, then take a bite. This isn’t the steak I know he probably would have ordered tonight, but steak doesn’t taste as good reheated.
As we sit across from each other, I don’t ask him what happened, and he doesn’t tell me. We just enjoy each other’s company, and when we’re finished, he takes me to the bedroom, where he does exactly what he described earlier. He removes my dress and explores the lacy red undergarments I have on underneath, and then he fucks me with my boots still on. It’s the perfect first date and a night I will remember until I take my last breath.
“Coffee?” Tyler asks, and I nod grumpily at him, wondering how on earth he can be so happy at six in the morning. Normal people aren’t happy until at least eight, and even then, that’s only after consuming a ton of coffee. “Baby, I’ve told you before you don’t gotta get up with me when I get up for work.” He pours me a cup of coffee, adds milk and sugar, and slides it toward me across the counter.
“You didn’t exactly let me sleep in,” I remind him as I wrap both hands around the cup and lift it to my mouth.