“I don’t know.”
“You have an idea in your head. You must’ve thought something before bringing it up.”
She wiped at condensation on her glass. “If we were totally new to each other, I’d go out at least four or five times before sleeping with you.”
She waited as if she was asking for some extraordinary thing. Five fucking dates? He could do that without even trying. “Okay.”
She lifted her head again and looked at him with disbelief. “No argument? No trying to change my mind?”
“Silly thing to argue about. I’ll jump through whatever hoops you need. I know I’m asking a lot. Five dates? I’ll handle it.” He scooted closer on the bench until their thighs touched. “Just tell me this. Does today count as the first date?”
She laughed and her whole face brightened. “We’ll see.”
He stood and held a hand out to her. “Then we better get back to the reception before I lose my head. Let’s go dance.”
Kevin was totally content to wait to have Kathy in his bed. He knew it would happen, and tonight she was in his arms.
Chapter Nine
Kevin growled as he let himself into his apartment at nine o’clock. He’d just gotten home from work and Kathy was already in bed. So much for thinking getting to five dates would be easy. They’d talked every day since the wedding, but their schedules didn’t match. Frustration gnawed at him. He’d never had a problem like this. In fact, he’d never had to plan much when it came to his social life. Things just happened.
He sat on his couch and turned on the TV. He thought about past girlfriends and dating and realized that he never had this problem because he never put in effort before. If his schedule didn’t work with his date’s, he found someone else to hang out with. He hadn’t worried about making time for someone or changing his life to make room for her.
None of them had mattered the way Kathy did, and it wasn’t just because he wanted to sleep with her. The thought should’ve unsettled him, but didn’t. With every conversation they had, he liked Kathy more. She made him smile and brightened his day through simple things. He wouldn’t call it love, but he acknowledged the possibility.
Picking up his phone, he texted Kathy, hoping that she hadn’t fallen asleep yet. He knew she had an early morning, like four a.m. early, so he didn’t want to wake her.
Are you still awake?
He laid his phone on his chest and leaned into the couch, resting his head on the back, and stared at the ceiling. Mayor Park still hadn’t offered him the liaison position, even though he listened to everything Kevin had said about the businesses that attended the cocktail party. Kevin had put more hours into cultivating this partnership than anyone else. Certainly, more than any other staff writer.
His phone vibrated on his chest.
Just reading before sleep. What’s up?
Instead of texting, he turned off the TV and called her. He stood and stripped on his way to the bedroom. He was down to his boxers by the time she answered.
“Hello,” she said quietly.
“Hey.”
“What’s up?”
“I miss hearing your voice. Miss seeing you more.”
She sighed. “Work gets in the way of life. Not much to do about that.”
“Other people figure it out. We will too. I can’t believe I haven’t seen you since the wedding.” He lay down on his bed on top of the messy blanket because if he crawled under, he would fall asleep, and he wanted a shower first. “What does the rest of your week look like?”
“Crazy. I have three weddings next weekend, so I have a ton of orders to put together.”
“Mine’s probably not any better. I never know. I can usually count on regular hours, but working with Park on this new initiative is time-consuming. If he gives the position to someone else after all this, I’m gonna be pissed.”
“He wouldn’t do that, would he?”
“Who knows? It’s Chicago politics.”
“Well, if he does that, he’ll lose my vote in the next election. And if you add in all of the O’Malleys and O’Learys, he might lose half of the city.” She chuckled at her own joke, and Kevin couldn’t help but join in.
“What time do you get to the store in the morning?”
“Usually around four-thirty. Deliveries start coming in at five.”
A sudden thought struck him. Kathy worked alone most of the time. “You’re all alone accepting deliveries at five in the morning? That’s not safe.”
“It’s fine. I’ve been doing it for years. My drivers know me and the neighborhood is already waking up by then. The bakery down the street opens at five, and there are regular joggers and walkers that go by.”
He’d bet that in the middle of winter, when it was still dark out and the temperature struggled to get above zero, there was no one on the street. “How about breakfast tomorrow?”
“Anna doesn’t come in until ten, so I can’t leave before then, and that’s a little late for breakfast. After being awake and working for six hours, I’m ready for lunch.”
“Okay. It’s a date.”
“Really? Don’t you have to be at work?”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
“Me too.” When he disconnected, he set his alarm for four o’clock and did a quick search for diners near her shop. He wanted to see what her morning was like, hang out with her, and make sure it was as safe as she seemed to believe it was.
He wasn’t nearly as overprotective as Jimmy was, but having their mom taken from them when she’d been coming home from working a night shift was something that stayed with them. Probably not Sean, Tommy, and Norah because they had been so young, but Jimmy and Kevin had understood what
