With that, he backed away.
I smiled because it was expected and opened the door to the Lexus. “You’re a good friend, Levi.”
“Yes, and I’ll kick your ass if you break her heart.”
That had me grinning for real. “I have no intention of it coming to that.”
“Keep it that way.”
DAISY OPTED FOR BROWN PANTS AND MATCHINGboots, and she was grinning from ear to ear when she stepped out of her building and saw that I had the back door of the Lexus open.
“Fancy,” she said as she climbed in next to me in the backseat.
I caught the back of her head and pulled her in for a kiss before she could fasten her seatbelt. Her face was flushed when she pulled back.
“Did you miss me last night or something?”
“You have no idea.” I kissed her again. “I almost came over here. That would’ve ruined my big plan to wow you with the car.”
“Oh, is this for me?” Her smile did funny things to my insides. “That’s sweet.”
I leaned over so I could fasten her seatbelt. Our driver Paul was a stickler for the rules and wouldn’t pull away until she was settled in. I gave her another kiss when I was finished, and then grabbed her hand.
“So, my original plan was to take you to the farmer’s market,” I admitted.
“To sell me?”
“You are my favorite little bag of Brussels sprouts,” I said teasingly.
Her eyes went wide. “That is the grossest thing anybody has ever said to me. I don’t want to ever hear something like that come out of your mouth again.”
“Do you prefer I call you my little bundle of asparagus?”
“No. Asparagus makes your pee smell.”
“Good point.” I nuzzled in close to her face and inhaled. “You’re my little clove wonder.”
She laughed and shook her head. “You are feeling romantic today, aren’t you?”
In truth, I didn’t think I’d ever felt “romantic” about anybody before her. She was different. I definitely felt things I never thought possible when she was close. Before, I’d never been someone who looked to the future. Now, when looking at Daisy, that was all I thought about. She made me think anything was possible. My father had shaken that faith, but it wasn’t gone.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked when I’d spent a full thirty seconds breathing her in.
“Hmm.” I had to tear myself away from the heavenly scent. “Um … Boston.”
She made a face and nudged me back. “Are you getting high on me or something?”
That was an interesting way of phrasing it. “Maybe a little.” I forced myself to lean back. If I wasn’t careful, my hands would start wandering, and that wasn’t respectful of the way I felt about Daisy. I couldn’t feel her up in front of Paul.
“We’re going to my favorite pub,” I replied. “We’re going to get drinks. Then I’m going to take you for a grand early dinner at one of my favorite restaurants. We can’t be out too late because we need to get back to Salem at a reasonable hour, but I figured fun was the name of the game.”
“And here I thought you were going to try to take me to a museum.”
I had to hold back a smile. “Would I do something that boring?”
“I happen to love museums. My dad has taken me to all of them, though. That’s what we did a lot of the time when I was at his place on the weekends.”
That made sense. “Well, I would never take you to a museum. That’s just boring.”