Page 60 of Falling

“Well,” Peter says, sitting down. “Do you want to share a dessert?”

“On Rand’s dime? Absolutely.”

He flags down the waiter and orders a large slice of carrot cake. It arrives moments later with two coffees. I don’t know if he even likes my cake of choice. It’s a small thing to think of me first. It’s another check on the perfect boyfriend list that’s been forming in my head.

“What are your plans tomorrow at work?” he asks.

“Just get everything organized. Bernadette, of course, has done a marvelous job so far. But we’re going to need a new accountant. I need to decide what HR I can handle and what should be sent out. The new logo design should be back from the graphic artist by now. I need to rattle his chain. We need business cards, letterhead, and things like that with our branding. Rand is talking about an all-new prospectus package. What?”

He’s just smiling at me. He hasn’t touched the other fork, which tells me the cake was for me. I haven’t even seen him take a sip of his coffee. I have his full attention.

“Nothing. I’m just listening. You have so many great ideas.” I blush. Wait, I’m not a blusher. Damn it. His smile grows broader.

“That works two ways,” I say before this blush thing gets out of hand. “Tell me what you have planned.”

“I’m supposed to work up some preliminary plans for a refit on a property in Kansas City. Rand wants to present it next week. If he lands this development, we’ll fly up there to meet at the site soon.”

“Who’s we?”

“Brontë and I, for sure. I assume Rand.”

I tamp down the niggling of jealousy that tries to make its way through my body.

“Do you have a problem with Brontë and I traveling together?” he asks.

Do I? It’s obvious by the way she looks at my brother that she only has eyes for him. Besides, we’re technically sisters now. She knows I won’t put up with any bullshit.

“No,” I say finally. “Jealousy takes too much energy.”

“Good. Because I’d never cheat on you. I don’t care who it’s with. I only want you.”

“I know.” I do too. It’s not just a feeling. I know that Peter could never hurt me deep in my soul. He’s just not wired that way. “What say we take the rest of this cake back to your place?”

“That sounds like a great idea.”

He calls for the waiter to close out the bill. Picking up the cake box, he takes my hand. I watch other women glance our way as he leads me through the restaurant. The look on their faces tells me they can sense when another catch is pulled off the market, and they’re right. This catch belongs to me now.

We decide in the parking lot that I’ll follow him to his new apartment. It gives me at least fifteen minutes to settle my nerves. I don’t know why I’m nervous to spend the evening with Peter. It’s something we’ve done a million times.

Maybe it’s because I consider today the first official day of us. It’s easy to be together when you’re on vacation with one room to share. It’s a whole other world to do it during ordinary day-to-day life.

We stop at a gate while he punches in a code. I follow closely through the gate behind him. Pulling into the spot next to his, I take a look at the building he now calls home. It’s one of the ones I didn’t get a chance to see when we were hunting for housing. It was all such a whirlwind that I barely remembered the apartment I chose.

“What do you think so far?” he asks, opening my door.

“Impressive.” He ushers me into an elevator that whisks us to the top floor. The first thing I notice are the bay windows with a view of the river. His apartment definitely has a better view than mine.

“What do you think?” he asks.

“I’m not sure it can rival the Grand Canyon, but it’s nice.”

“One of the slips in the marina down there is mine also for when we want to go boat shopping.” I smile to myself. Every time he says we, my heart thumps a little harder. “If you look to the left, you can see the south edge of downtown.”

“I like it.”

“Do you really?” he asks. I turn to find him watching me. “You’ll be comfortable here?”

“Of course, it looks perfect to spend a lazy Sunday in,” I answer. “I do have one question though.”

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