“I think what you described is pretty amazing. But what do you do for downtime? I mean, it seems to me you’ve got a lot of weight on your shoulders.”
6
That stopped him short. He hadn’t been asked that question before. Normally a woman wanted to pry about his missions and what they were like and find out how exciting they were. Basically, they just wanted to be seen with a Navy SEAL, not interested in the man himself. He had really felt like there was a chance that Samantha Brooks was different, and now his instincts were proving to be right.
Hallelujah.
“There’s always Netflix,” he laughed.
“That can never be underestimated, that’s for sure. What else?”
“Actually, I volunteer at an animal shelter. I love it there. I work with the dogs primarily, trying to determine if any of them could turn into therapy dogs. But any displaced animal grabs my heart.”
“We had a standard poodle growing up. To this day I miss her. She died just before I left for college.” He could see the sadness on her face.
“Does your apartment allow for them?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t checked. I sometimes have to travel, so it wouldn’t seem fair to get an animal when I don’t have a back-up to take care of one. I hate the idea of having to put them up at a doggy-daycare.”
“Makes sense. Besides discovering new artists, and working long hours, what do you do for downtime?”
“How do you know I work long hours?”
“Anyone who has a drafting table set up at their house, with as many drawings, paint chips, and fabrics samples, has to be working long hours.”
“Maybe I telecommute,” she teased.
“Samantha, do you telecommute?” he asked with a straight face.
She sighed. “No Ezio, I don’t telecommute. I work eight to ten hours at the office, then come home to work. Right now, I’m trying to prove myself to the principals at Lawton that I’m a worthwhile hire. They were kind of strong-armed into hiring me.”
“Seems to me they got the account because of you, and they should be damned happy about it.”
The waiter came by and took their plates and asked if they would like dessert.
“Samantha? I’m up for it if you are.”
“Definitely.”
Score one for the team, she didn’t want the date to end any more than I do.
The waiter gave them the dessert menu.
Ezio waited until she chose a lemon tart, then he ordered the chocolate decadence cake so she could have a taste of that as well if she wanted. Then she ordered caffeinated coffee. He raised his eyebrow.
“Still have some work that needs doing.”
“We’re not getting back to your place until eleven,” he protested.
“No rest for the wicked,” she teased.
“Sounds like I did the right thing luring you away. Or maybe I did the wrong thing causing you to work too late,” he worried. Now that he looked at her, he could see she had lost some weight since he had last seen her.
“No, I don’t mind a little hard work.”
“How many hours a week have you been working?” he asked.
“Not too many compared to some of the people at the office,” she side-stepped his question.
“So how many hours do those people work?”
“Ezio, let’s not get into this. Don’t you work twenty-four-seven when you’re overseas doing whatever it is you do?” This time she raised her eyebrow. The waiter laid down their desserts and Samantha grinned because she knew that she had won this skirmish.
“Touché.” He smiled as he raised his decaf cup of coffee.
“You know I couldn’t decide between the chocolate cake and the lemon tart,” she admitted.
“Why don’t we cut it in half, then you can have the best of both worlds,” he suggested.
Her eyes lit up, and he definitely knew that he had made the right decision asking this woman out.
A goodnight kiss? He hadn’t kissed her seven months ago, and she’d wanted him too. Instead, it had been just a friend’s thing. But this was a date, right? Because the last time she had experienced a first goodnight kiss was with Kevin, and it had been awkward as hell. Please say this would be better.
Samantha was nervous and excited. She knew it could go wrong, but she was so hoping it would go right.
Ezio pulled up to a closer parking spot to her apartment complex. She could have sworn that he had checked to see that the other spot had been taken before taking this one. “Hold on, let me help you out,” he said as he shut off the vehicle’s engine.
Samantha nodded, once again smitten by his attentive nature.
Ezio opened her door and took her hand and waited for her foot to hit the running board, then he plucked her up by the waist and whirled her around so that she was now standing on the sidewalk, bypassing the wet grass. She was out of breath, and not because of the slight twirl, nope, it was the feel of his hands on her body. She’d liked that. She’d liked that a lot.
More please.
He locked the Jeep.
“Let me hold your hand, the sidewalk isn’t well-lit.”
“Okay.”
Yippee!
“Thanks for going out to dinner with me tonight. I really enjoyed it.”
“So, did I, Ezio.”
By the time they got to her door, she felt tingles surging all through her body, just from the connection of their hands.
Holy hotness, Batman. The first kiss had to be good, right?
He took the keys from her hand—which was not, thank God, trembling—and unlocked her door. He stepped a half-step closer to her so that she could see the emerald green depths of his eyes. “I’d really like to kiss you, is that all right?”
“I’d like that
