Only One Kiss (Only One 1)

I laugh now. “Really, and what did she say?”

“Well, she said that you’re hers, so I have to back up a bit.” Ari turns now, squirming to get out of Candace’s arms.

“See, she wants her daddy,” she says, getting up and carrying her over to me. I take her into my arms, and she looks at Candace and says my name with a huge smile on her face. “See.” She points at Ari, and then we walk out into the living room.

I sit on the couch with Ari on my chest as she dims the lights. “This is romantic,” I say to her, laughing.

She sits on the couch next to us. “I haven’t seen anything sexier in my life.” She curls her feet under her and leans down on one hand on the couch. “So, what time do you leave in the morning?”

I look at her. “You can’t really be serious?” I lean back into the couch with Ari on my chest. She’s sucking on her pacifier as I tap her bum. I wish she would sit closer to me. “I can’t let you do that.”

She sits up now straight. “Well, one”—she puts up her finger—“you aren’t letting me do anything.” And then she brings up another finger. “And two, I’m offering to help, so let me help.”

“But you work.” I reach over and grab the hand she is holding up, linking our fingers. “Plus, we have to talk about how this is going to work.”

“Well, I was talking to Ariella about that when you interrupted me,” she says, leaning over. I think she’s going to kiss me, but instead, she rubs her nose on Ari’s cheek, then she looks up at me. “How about we take it day by day?” she says, and I move just a touch closer to her. “Let’s start with tomorrow, and we can work it as we go along.”

“I just don’t want you to think . . . ” I start to say, and she puts her fingers on my lips. “That I’m taking advantage of you,” I say with her finger across my lips.

“Jesus,” she huffs out. “What’s it going to take for you to shut up?”

“I can think of a couple of things,” I say when her hand falls from my lips. I want to lean over and kiss her, and she must see it all over my face.

She gets up and starts to pace in front of me. “I don’t think this is a good idea,” she starts to say. “Actually, the more I think about it, the more I know it’s a bad, very bad idea.” Ari and I both watch her walking back and forth.

“Why?” I say, and she looks at me. “Explain to me why.”

“Well, we work together.” She holds her hand up with one finger. “And two, I don’t date my clients.”

“I told you I wanted to fire you,” I remind her. “Right before I told you.”

“I know, Ralph.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “I was there.”

“Yes, you were.” I smile at her. “Right before you kissed me.”

She opens her mouth. “I didn’t kiss you; you kissed me.”

“Potato, potahto,” I say. “Either way, it ended with my lips on you, so I don’t even care at this point.”

“That’s the whole point,” she says. “I don’t do that. I have never even wanted to.” She rubs her hands over her face.

“Good,” I say, and I’m already over this conversation. “Do you know what I want?” I ask, and she shakes her head. “I want to put my daughter to bed.” I look down at Ari whose eyes are getting heavier and heavier as she listens to this conversation. “Then I want to come and sit down with you and talk to you. For nine days, I wanted nothing more than to call you and talk to you. I wanted nothing more than to ask you to come over or to make an excuse to see you.”

“Ralph,” she says my name softly.

“I get you’re scared to date me, and I’m scared to date you. Heck, I don’t even know if I’m good at dating. If maybe I’ll just fuck it all up, but I know that I want to try it with you.”

“That’s just the point,” she says. “It’s making the lines all blurry.”

“What if we don’t label it then?” I counter. I’m willing to do and say whatever I need to right now to make sure that when she leaves here, she knows that she and I are going to happen.

“What do you mean?” she asks.

“I mean, what if we just do what we are doing and not say it’s dating?” She laughs and rubs her eyes. “What if it’s just two friends getting to know each other?”

“Would we be kissing?” she asks.

“Fuck yeah,” I answer, and I see she wants to say something. “What were you afraid of right there?”