Page 26 of Outside The Wire

“Humor me,” I asked, my voice low and soft. “It’s cold outside and I don’t want you to be freezing.”

She pursed her lips in this pouting sort of way that just made her even more adorable. I grinned, unable to even be upset withher for wanting to look nice for me, forgoing safety. She was just too damn endearing.

“Fine, but if I have wild hair in the restaurant and everyone’s staring at me, it’ll be all your fault.”

“I’ll make sure everyone knows,” I promised.

“You’d better,” she grumbled, stomping out the front door.

I almost made her go back for snow boots, but I figured that was pushing it. I flicked on the wall light before we left and shut the door behind me. There was no way she was entering a dark house at the end of our date.

Tonight was gonna be a good night.

“Stop with the hair,”I told her for the fifth time since we sat down. “You look amazing.”

She let her hands fall into her lap, but I knew she thought she looked a mess. In truth, I liked her not perfect, but how did you tell a woman that without it sounding offensive?

“Would you like some wine?”

“Sure. What do you like?” she asked, picking up the menu.

“I’m not much of a wine guy, but I wouldn’t mind trying some. What would you recommend?”

She cocked her head at me with a smile. “If you don’t like wine, why would you drink it?”

“I didn’t say I don’t like it. I’ve just never really drank much of it before. Maybe tonight is the night I fall in love with it.”

“Well, it really depends on what you’re going to eat.”

“Steak,” I said without hesitation.

“Then I would try red wine. Though, the waiter could give you better suggestions than me.”

“Not a wine connoisseur?”

“Not really. I’ve always wanted to go on a wine tasting.”

“Then why haven’t you?”

“I think it’s one of those things that looks like a lot of fun and you always say you want to do, but you never find the time to actually do it.”

“That sounds about right.”

“What about you? Anything you’ve always wanted to do, but never got around to?”

Being a former adrenaline junkie, there wasn’t a lot I hadn’t already tried. Jumping out of a plane? Done it. Riding a parachute down a mountainside as a sled? Check. Bungee jumping? Child’s play. “Not really.”

“Wow, not a single thing?”

I thought it over again, and shrugged. “I guess I’m doing it right now.”

She frowned, looking around. “What? Eating in a restaurant?”

I shook my head. “Going on a real date with a beautiful woman.”

Her jaw dropped open and I cursed myself for being such an idiot. I had been married before and the bomb I just dropped would lead to questions. Many, many uncomfortable questions that I didn’t want to answer right now.

I huffed out a laugh, shaking my head. “That…didn’t come out exactly how I meant it.”

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