The Blind Date

“Mmm, that’s good—the wine and the toast. I haven’t heard that one.”

I chuckle and shrug. “That’s because I just made it up.”

Her brows jump in surprise. “Really? Quite poetic, Mr. Daniels.”

I bow my head with a smug smirk and Riley grins back. I like that she can see my humor in the cockiness now. It tells me that the past is truly gone to time and she’s here in the now with me. “I try. Tell me, what’s the future you dream of?”

Riley takes another sip, thinking before she answers. “Honestly?” Riley says, and I nod. “I want to help people for as long as I can. I want to make the world a better place, as silly and beauty queen-like as that sounds. And I think I’m doing that. As for how long I can do it or how that takes shape through the years, I don’t know.”

“It doesn’t sound silly at all. You are doing that for so many. You’ve already done it for me, changed me,” I tell her honestly.

Riley blushes but looks pleased. She wiggles happily. “What about you? Got any more brilliant apps in that brain of yours?”

“Not yet. There’s still too much to do with BlindDate, and I hope we can make it the number-one dating app. Especially since it seems to work so well.” I lift a brow her way. “Ninety-six percent.”

She smiles, and I continue, “I’m going to work my ass off on BlindDate, and then we’ll come up with the next thing, and then the next. I plan to work my way to the top, earning it every step of the way. The sky’s the limit.”

“Why stop there? There’s an entire universe beyond that.” She’s serious, not being facetious.

“Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a planner. So step one can be the sky. Step two can be the universe. I wish I could be a fly by the seat of my pants type sometimes, like River.” I hate to mention one of the elephants in the room, but it’s pertinent to the conversation. “He’s so adventurous. Someone could say ‘wanna skydive?’ and I’d do it, but I’d still be checking my chute, making alternate safety plans, and confirming the landing zone while River jumped out the plane with nothing but an umbrella to slow him down. But somehow, he makes it work.”

Riley leans forward. “Because of you. He makes you do big things, and you make him do them correctly. You’re a good team. Maybe like us?”

I grin. “We might be a good team too, a little sunshine and a little rain, but I can guarantee you that I’ve never wanted to sip wine from River’s lips the way I want to taste yours right now.”

Riley licks her lips as though she can taste the wine there herself. I take her glass and mine, setting them both down on the coffee table.

I reach out, and Riley meets me halfway, straddling my lap as her lips find mine again. Our kiss is heady, intoxicating, and it’s not because of the wine but the woman I’m kissing. It deepens, our tongues twisting and tasting each other until Riley pushes me back into the cushions. “Noah . . . I need you.”

“I need you too,” I tell her honestly, reaching a hand up to knead a soft breast through her dress, which has slipped up her thighs enticingly. “I want you. But I don’t want to rush this. I want to enjoy it, enjoy us.”

I kiss her again, my thumb finding her nipple through the thin cotton. Riley gasps, arching her head back, and I roll her, pinning her to the couch as I rain kisses on her skin and down to the hollow of her throat.

“Mmm . . . you taste good,” I growl against her throat. “The rest of you?”

Riley reaches down, squeezing my ass through my slacks and pulling my hardness against her thigh. “You . . . can find out,” she gasps as I lean in, nipping her throat again. I pull back just enough to let her sit up, pulling her dress from her shoulders and letting it pool at her waist.

Of course her lingerie’s yellow. But against her creamy skin, it looks golden, and there’s only one word that comes to mind as I look down at her in admiration. “Sunshine.”

Riley reaches up, sliding a shoulder strap down and tugging a cup until one breast tumbles out. I ravenously bury my face between her soft mounds, sliding halfway down the couch before kissing over to a perked up, hard nipple that rasps against my tongue. Needing more and wanting to see if the other breast is just as delicious, I reach beneath her, undoing her bra to remove it and expose her breasts completely. I worship them both, using my hands and mouth.