“Okay.” She laughed.
We walked through the building, looking at the exhibits quickly as we passed. Finally, we came to a special room, and I led her inside. She covered her mouth and shook her head as I led her to the edge of a large sanctuary where a female gorilla stood, grooming a small baby gorilla.
“This is Eliza,” I said. “I’ve been coming here for a very long time to watch her. She was rescued from a dangerous situation and was unfit to go back into the w
ild, so they brought her here. That was a rescued baby whose mother was killed, and Eliza immediately took him in, treating him as her own. She is my favorite thing about the area. A little, not well known, golden treat to Philadelphia.”
“She is amazing,” Reese gasped. “I love her. This is very special. Thank you so much for bringing me here.”
When we left the sanctuary, Reese was relaxed and clung to my arm as we moved back out to the car. After that, we went to a club where we danced the night away, laughing and goofing off with each other like I had never done with a woman before. She made me feel young and free, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. For the first time ever, I was enjoying the company of a woman without constantly thinking about how to get her back to my bed.
By the end of the night, we were both drunk, but not from alcohol, from the excitement and fun of the evening. In fact, as we made our way back to Reese’s car, I realized that neither of us had anything to drink after the wine at the restaurant. We had both just naturally opened up to one another without any aided intoxication. When we got to her car, I opened the door and walked over to it with her. She pulled out her keys and turned back to me, her eyes glistening in the city lights. She leaned up and kissed me gently on the cheek, falling back to her position and shaking her head.
“That was probably the most fun I’ve ever had in this city,” she gushed. “Thank you so much for such a lovely evening.”
I stared at her for a moment, trying to decide whether to invite her back to my place or not. I didn’t want to ruin such an amazing night by making her think it was all about sex, but I wasn’t ready to let her go yet. As if she could read my mind, her cheeks blushed, and she smiled.
“I’m not ready to come back to your place just yet,” she said kindly. “But I want you to know that you are definitely on the right track, and I don’t mean because you spent money or complimented me. I feel wonderful when I’m with you, like you’re not just a date, but a friend as well. Thank you for that. You don’t find men that often who are willing to just let go and be there with a girl without thinking about how to get her into bed.”
“You’re definitely the most interesting woman I have ever met,” I said, reaching down and taking her cheeks in my hands. “I can’t wait until the next time we see each other.”
I leaned down and gently pressed my lips against hers, feeling her shoulders relax and her body lean into me. When I pulled away, she kept her eyes closed for another minute before smiling and turning red. I chuckled at her reaction but knew exactly how she was feeling since my heart was beating out of my chest.
“Goodnight,” I said as I opened her car door and then closed it once she was carefully tucked inside.
I hopped back in my car and watched her pull off, feeling like I was on cloud nine. I could tell she was being very careful with intimacy, and that was okay with me. This girl had turned my world completely upside down, and I was more than okay with waiting until she was ready. I could already tell that no matter what we were doing together, every date was going to be an adventure from here on out. Just being by Reese’s side felt like an adventure.
Chapter 10
Two Weeks Later
Reese
Our Friday wasn’t as busy as normal because it was that tiny bit of off season before everyone started to leave and go out for vacation for the holidays. I didn’t mind it so much because I had so much on my mind. Leena and I had decided that instead of eating lunch at the shop, we would treat ourselves and go out to the café down the street that we really liked. We raced through the morning preparations, washing the few dogs we had and giving some extra loving time to the cats who were staying with us. When it was around noon, we locked everyone up and headed down the street for lunch, grasping our coats around us as the wind whipped through the streets. It was definitely colder than normal, and I could tell that the winter was going to be nuts this year. It was extra work for us when the winters were bad since the dogs couldn’t be left outside too long, but there was nothing more amazing than a white holiday season.
As we walked, I looked around at the shops which had started to prepare their fall lines for the sales that always blew up around this time of year. It may be a little early for everyone else, but I was more than excited to see the fall colors and winter accents in all the shop windows. Leena and I decorated the shop every year during the holiday seasons, and I couldn’t wait until it was time to start doing so. We ran a holiday special that usually left us completely booked, and our schedule for the next couple of months was already packed. It was a good thing we were treating ourselves now to lunch because two weeks from that point, we would be bogged down with a full house and no time to even think about eating outside the building.
We walked into the café and took a seat in the back corner, both ordering coffee as we perused the menu. They had the best sandwiches, and I decided that it had been too long since I had a Philly Cheesesteak in my hometown. Leena ordered the same, and we gave the menus to the waitress, both taking in a deep breath and relaxing in our chairs. I hadn’t had the time over the last couple of weeks to really sit down and talk to Leena about anything, and it was nice not to have dogs barking in the background.
“So,” Leena said with a smile. “How are things going with you and Prince Charming?”
“So amazing,” I said, shaking my head. “We’ve seen each other at least eight times in the last two weeks, and it still doesn’t feel like enough. When we aren’t meeting up, we spend the evening talking on the phone and laughing the whole time. He isn’t the stuffed shirt, business guy that I thought he was at the beginning.”
“What do you guys do on your dates?” she asked.
“Gosh, everything.” I laughed. “We go to the zoo, we go to different eating places, trying out new things, we walk through the parks. I mean, we pretty much do whatever we want in the moment. Sometimes, we plan to do something, and we end up sitting on a park bench somewhere, just talking forever. He is this shining example of class and manliness on the outside, but on the inside, he is this nerdy tech guy that is just as awkward as I am on the outside. It’s really amazing.”
“What about the sex stuff?”
“Well, we’ve kissed and fooled around a little, but he knew I wanted to wait from the second date,” I said. “And he has been so amazingly patient with me, it blows my mind. It’s like he is okay with it.”
“So, are you going to continue to abstain?”
“Actually, I’ve been thinking about that a lot,” I said, taking a deep breath. “We actually have plans for tomorrow night, and I decided that I want him to be my first. I’m really nervous about it though, especially since I haven’t told him that I am a virgin.”
“Are you kidding me?” she asked. “Guys dream of having a virgin. I’m not trying to make Blaine seem like just another guy, but it’s like a thing among men.”
“I just don’t know what to expect, you know?” I said, feeling embarrassed. “My parents never had the talk with me, and they were never open enough for me to ask questions to. I went online last night and looked up some things, but everything on there is like a horror story about these girls’ first times.”