Page 84 of Theirs to Take

“I think I have a remedy for that,” he said.

“I can’t wait to hear this one,” Millie teased.

“Go out to dinner with me and get to know me. Then, you’ll see I’m on the up and up and you’ll let me do my damn job and protect your sexy ass.” Ranger’s face turned the cutest shade of red and she couldn’t help her giggle.

“You think I have a sexy ass?” she asked.

“It’s just a term, Millie,” he insisted. “Don’t go getting any ideas.”

“Right,” she agreed. “I won’t get any ideas about my ass being sexy,” she promised. She grabbed her purse and jacket. “You ready to hit up the grocery store then?” she asked.

“Sure, after you agree to have dinner with me tonight,” he said.

“Fine, I’ll have dinner with you, Ranger. Is it safe for us to go out?” she asked.

“No,” he breathed, “I’ll have to order in. Do you have a favorite take-out place?” he asked.

“I know just the place. They have the best Chinese food in the area. You’ll love it,” she assured.

“Great,” he said, “we can order in and get to know each other tonight. It’s a date.” She wasn’t sure if she wanted to correct him for calling their dinner a date or hope that he meant what he had said. It was about damn time that Millie had a date with a hot guy. Her last real date was when she was in college and that was many moons ago. Yeah, tonight was going to be fun—a date to remember.

They spent the morning shopping and Ranger even agreed to run her over to the library to pick up the books that she hadreserved for herself. It was a stack of books tall enough to get her through the weekend. By the time they got back home, he got the name of the Chinese place from her, and she told him her order. Ranger promised to be over at six with dinner, for their date.

Every time he called their dinner that, she felt a little bit giddy, and who’d blame her? Ranger was way out of her league, but she refused to buy into that shit. She was always a little bit different from the other girls, but she had confidence that helped her to push past her inadequacies. Her mother used to tell her that if confidence was enough to get her through life, she’d be golden. It was something that she’d always liked about herself—her confidence, and she wasn’t going to go and change any of that now.

She put away her groceries and freshened up, even cleaning her little apartment before Ranger came back over with a bag of Chinese that smelled like heaven. “Did you get the fortune cookies?” she asked.

“I did,” he said, looking pretty damn proud of himself. “And I got the egg rolls that you asked for.”

“You rock,” she said. “I’d high-five you but I don’t want you to drop our food. Come on in. We can sit at the kitchen table or on the couch. You can choose.” Ranger walked into her apartment and put the bags of food on the table.

“Want to watch a movie while we eat?” he asked.

“That depends,” she said. “What kind of movie are you thinking of?”

“Um, whatever you’d like. I don’t even mind Romcoms if that’s what you’re into,” he offered.

“Really?” she asked, pleasantly surprised by his admission. “Well, while we’re being honest, I don’t mind an action movie.”

“And here I had you pegged as a total Romcom kind of girl,” he teased.

“Let’s see what we can find,” he said. “The second bag has a few beers in it. I didn’t know what you liked to drink.”

“Beer works for me,” she said. “Thanks.”

“Not a problem,” he said. They both grabbed some food, and she handed him a plate and a beer as they settled on the couch to find a movie.

“Thanks for agreeing to a laid-back date tonight,” he said. She leaned into his body and gave him a little bit of a nudge.

“I don’t mind,” she said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a date, so this is actually quite nice.”

“You don’t go out much?” he asked.

“Um, no,” she said, “not since college, really. Work keeps me pretty busy.”

“You know, we could use someone with your job skills at McTavish. You looking for a job by any chance?”

She chuckled, “Not really, but I’ll keep it in mind. Thanks.”

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