Page 21 of One Whopper of a Love Story

After another glance in the mirror, I pulled off my shirt and ducked back into my closet. I flipped through all my shirts, then put the original shirt back on.

It was so sweet of Nico to hide a frog for me each day. But how did he get one into my car?

“Lettie, did you help him with his frog project?”

She peeked around the door again, but now she had a toothbrush in her mouth. Her grin was answer enough.

“You’re a sneak! And thank you.” I walked toward her, intending to hug her.

Shaking her head and pointing at her toothbrush, she backed out of the room. Lettie wasn’t really the touchy type. Even I could admit that hugging while brushing teeth was weird.

Staring at my purse stuff dumped on my bed, I made an impulsive decision. My credit card got slipped into my phone case, and the phone went into my boot. I wouldn’t take a purse at all.

Standing right by the door, I yanked it open at the first sound of a knock. Nico looked just as amazing out of uniform as he looked in uniform.

He grinned as his gaze swept over me.

“Let me tell Lettie that I’m leaving.”

Nico stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “You look amazing.”

“Are you trying to make me blush?”

“Is it working?” He crossed his arms and leaned on the door frame.

“As if you can’t tell.” Forcing myself to walk away from him, I walked down the hall. “Lettie, he’s here. I’m headed out.”

“Have fun... talking.” She wiggled her fingers. “I can’t wait to hear about it tomorrow.”

Before walking back into the living room, I sucked in a deep breath. A tiny part of me was concerned about Nico’s penchant for not calling women after the first date. Not only did I want tonight to be fun and memorable, but I also wanted to talk to him tomorrow and the next day.

When I stepped back out, he was still leaning against the wall. “We should go if we’re going to make our reservation time.”

“Reservations?” In this area, reservations meant one place, a place with a chef I really didn’t care to see tonight, but since Nico had gone to the effort of planning such a nice dinner, I was going to keep my mouth shut and hope we didn’t bump into The Cowboy Chef.

“At the winery.” He held out his hand.

I laced my fingers with his, then locked the door one handed. After staring at the keys a second, I glanced down at my boot. I hadn’t planned for where to stash my keys, and I didn’t have the option of not taking them with me.

“I’ll put them in my pocket.”

I dropped them into his hand. “Thanks. I guess that means I can’t ditch you in the middle of the evening.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Ditch me?”

I pressed up against his chest, inching up on my toes. “What would be the fun in doing that?”

A chuckle rumbled in his chest.

We strolled out to his truck, and he helped me in as always. Well, not exactly as always. He didn’t pick me up and set me in the seat this time. And I didn’t grab his shirt and kiss him before he walked away. As much as I wanted another kiss—because so far, every kiss had been better than the last—I was enjoying getting to know him.

The drive to the restaurant didn’t take that long, and I was sorry it was such a short drive. Nico’s thumb brushed over the back of my hand as he drove. Protective and kind, he made me want to skip ahead—way past the first date—and think about weddings and white picket fences.

When we were almost to the door of the restaurant, I tugged on his arm. “I need to tell you something.”

“What’s up?” Still holding my hand, he tucked our joined hands behind me and pulled me close. “Everything okay?”

“I’m fine, but in case it gets weird—I’m just going to tell you.”

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