Page 103 of Can't Take My Eyes Off You

‘Oops,’ he says, kissing my knee.

‘I thought we shouldn’t touch?’ I ask, a heavy breath leaving my lips as he kisses my thigh.

‘I can’t help it.’

‘I like this Will.’

‘Good,’ he says. ‘Maybe by the end of the night you’ll love him?’

What that, he slides back on his glasses and grabs the plaid dress pants, pulling them on. He then steps out of the SUV in only his pants, standing in the door so no one can see past him to me. Luckily, I’ve already got the dress over my head when he opens his door.

‘Holy hell,’ he says, shaking a leg, adjusting things inside the pants. ‘I’m not gonna lie; I bet my ass looks fantastic,’ he says with a turn, displaying his ass, glancing over his shoulder as he attempts to see it for himself.

‘Yes, Will. Your ass looks, uh,goodgood.’

‘Then, I love ’em. Consider these my new favorite pants,’ he says, grabbing the dress shirt.

I try not to watch as he buttons up his shirt, tucking it into the pants, but he’s boiling hot. I do eventually force my eyes away from him and strap on the shoes he requested I bring with me tonight, making absolutely no effort to make it graceful or tactful when I notice his eyes meandering to me and my panties. This feels incredibly flirty, and I like how it reminds me of us so long ago.

‘Can you zip me?’ I ask, stepping out of his car once my shoes are laced up.

‘If I do, can Iunzip you later?’

‘I probably won’t say no.’

He grins, slipping on his shoes before walking around his SUV to me, zipping the back of my dress, kissing the tattoo of his initial on the back of my shoulder as he does. He then steps back to look me over as he pulls the jacket over his green ruffled shirt.

‘Wow,’ he says, running a hand through his hair. ‘I thought you’d look good but damn, girl, you’re gorgeous.’

He squeezes past me, reaching into his car and pulling out the Febreze, giving us each a once-over. When I can no longer breathe through the cloud of chemicals in the air, he tosses the bottle back into his car.

‘Weirdo!’

He laughs, nodding his head to confirm. ‘Ready for the next part?’

‘Thenextpart?’

‘You thought the outfits were it?’ He holds up three fingers. ‘There are three parts of tonight’s date. Ready for part two?’

He’s put some work into this. ‘More than ready,’ I say, my insides filled with a cloud of butterflies that are spreading through my entire body with every glance, word, touch.

‘Next up, Ground Kontrol,’ he says, getting into the driver’s seat.

‘The arcade?’

Without a word, he lifts the center console lid and pulls out the trophy from our high-school days. AMario Karttoy glued to the top of a bowling trophy. When he was sixteen, he sawed off the bowler on top and created this ridiculous masterpiece that still graces my apartment to this day. I didn’t think he’d noticed it.

‘You stole this from me?!’

‘I happened upon it and thought what better way to re-introduce our relationship than with aMario Kartwar like we used to have. Maybe I’ll win this back tonight? If I do, it’s moving to my bedside table until you earn it back.’

‘No way will you win,’ I tease. As we drive, I realize I’m not really wearing shoes for ‘driving’. ‘You chose these shoes because it’ll be impossible for me to win, didn’t you?’

‘I chose those shoes because I love them. When I go to sleep tonight, I’m dreaming of you in an arcade seat, inonlythose shoes.’

‘Can’t say I hate that dream…’

He laughs as he drives towards an arcade one might assume will be full of children, but it’s primarily adult dudes reliving their childhoods. We strut through the place, people turning to look and realizing who he is. He’s cordial, shaking people’s hands if they approach him, but ultimately his eyes are on me, and he’s reading my every expression. He grips my hand tightly in his, our gaze now on theMario Kartgames. A rope sits across the chairs with a handwritten ‘RESERVED – ADLER’ sign hanging from it.

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