“Are you ready?” Torin asks, dragging my mind out of the gutter it always seems to be in whenever he’s in touching distance of me.
“Umm… about that,” I say, frowning down at my feet. “None of my shoes go with this gorgeous dress.”
“Well, it’s a good thing I brought these.” He bends down and picks up a shoebox that I hadn’t noticed. Though, when he’s around, I doubt I would notice a burning building he’s that distracting to my senses.
I open the box and gasp at the beautiful black heels inside. They are perfect. “How?”
He shrugs. “A magician never reveals his secrets.”
Torin kneels in front of me, my heart thuds in my chest as he puts on one shoe, running his rough hands up and down my leg. Then does the same with the other. Who knew such a simple touch could cause such a visceral reaction? I’m more turned on than ever from a practically innocent touch. Man, I have it bad for him.
When he stands, he threads his fingers with mine and leads me out to his truck. I don’t even fight with him when he lifts me up inside and buckles my seatbelt. I’m getting used to him doing these kinds of things. In fact, I kind of love how much he takes care of me.
He circles around to the driver’s side and climbs in. “Will you tell me where we are going now?”
Torin chuckles. “You don’t like surprises at all, do you?”
I pout. “No. I hate not knowing what’s going to happen next. It-” I don’t want to admit that it makes me anxious. I don’t have a lot of things that give me anxiety, but not knowing what’s coming is one of them.”
“It what, beautiful?”
“It gives me anxiety. I don’t know why… it’s just one of those weird quirks, I guess.”
He reaches over and puts his hand on my leg. “Do you trust me?”
I don’t even hesitate to tell him I do. For me, that’s a no brainer. I’ve trusted him since he fixed up my scraped knee all those years ago.
“Then trust that I won’t ever do anything that will make you unhappy or give you a reason to be anxious about when it comes to surprises, because baby, I’m going to want to spoil and surprise you often.”
Spoil and surprise me often… the words run through my mind. He’s thinking about a future with me. That right there is enough to turn my anxiousness into excitement. If he’s thinking about making this thing between us more than me temporarily staying with him while the apartments are being repaired, then maybe we are on the same page.
I want to ask him, but I’m not feeling that brave—yet.
“Okay… I trust you, Torin.”
He smiles, and my heart melts a little. I love making him happy. I would push back all of my anxiety to see that happiness any day. The drive to the city is about an hour long. We spend that hour talking about college. He tells me about football and how he sometimes misses it but is glad he passed up a professional career to come home. The look he gives me makes it almost sound like he gave it up to come back for me.
Crazy.
There’s no way in the world he passed up some big-time career to come back to Sugarhill just for me. I can’t erase the look he gave me, though. Another look of his to file away for later… in case this is just temporary. Though, it’s looking more and more like we are a forever kind of thing.
God, I hope we are a forever thing. I send up a little prayer for some divine intervention.
“How did you end up with a bookstore instead of working at the library?” he asks.
“My grandmother. When she passed away, she left me a hefty inheritance and a letter that said to use the money to chase my dreams. I thought long and hard about what I have always wanted, and it was a pretty easy decision.
“Growing up, I always hated that we had to go to the city just to go to a bookstore. The library is great, but owning your own books isn’t the same as borrowing them. So, I opened Sweet Reads. Turns out, it was a good decision because it seems that a lot of folks feel the same way I do about owning instead of borrowing.” I shrug. “It’s a bookworm thing.”
Torin laughs. “I’m so happy you’re able to make your dreams come true. Not everyone gets to do that.”
“I know I’m incredibly blessed.”
We talk all the way until we pull up to one of the nicest restaurants in the city, an Italian place I’ve always wanted to try but never got around to it… because it’s a date type place. I look at him in surprise. “How did you know?”
“I know everything, remember?”
“No, really…”
“Ana told me. I may have asked someone about what kind of date you might enjoy. I want tonight to be perfect.” He pulls me across the console for a quick kiss that turns into devouring. We’re both on edge and starved for more of each other. This time I break us apart.
“Later.” I hardly recognize my own voice. I sound breathless and needy.
“Yeah… later,” Torin agrees, his eyes skating over my heaving chest and hardened nipples. He shakes his head, gets out of the truck, and walks around to my side. Once again, he lifts me out of the truck… I’m starting to think maybe it’s not only his need to take care of me but also his need to always be touching me. With his hand on my lower back, he leads me into the restaurant.
A beautiful hostess leads us to our table. I feel a
