Page 38 of Laws of Love
He tried to think back to whether it felt that way when he and Mia first started dating, but he couldn’t. There was so much bad that it was often hard for him to recall the good times with her if they happened outside their bedroom.
His attraction to Aiva felt different, conversations with her flowed differently, and he knew that with this coming on the heels of his divorce, that could have been a bad sign had he not been checked out from his marriage for a year before filing. Even then, it had been over long before that.
Dating was new for him again, and he knew that everything he was feeling and the comparisons he was making could stem from him not having done so for years. He wasn’t naïve enough to think that some of it didn’t. However, the connection he felt with Aiva wasn’t something he’d fabricated in his mind because he wanted it to be true.
No, he’d felt it from the moment he’d walked into her office. Physical attraction came first. She’d pulled a response from him he hadn’t felt toward any woman in a couple of years. The intellectual attraction came next, built from conversing about his divorce, as arbitrary as that seemed. Then he wanted to call her just to talk, stopping by her office to see her when he could have asked whatever it was over the phone.
He’d already known that he was going to ask her out, and he’d meant to wait until everything was finalized to let her know. But they’d been in mediation, and Mia made that comment about him paying for Yasmine. It was how she’d calmed him down, the irritation he’d felt from her on his behalf.
Sure, it could have just been her response as his lawyer, but he’d felt it was something different. That feeling had him all but telling her that once the proceedings were over, once he was an unattached man, he planned on asking her out.
He’d also meant what he said to her when she accused him of ruining future dates for her. Knox wanted them to pale in comparison if they weren’t with him. As selfish as it sounded, he wanted her to be let down by them, but he knew she wouldn’t get that chance because she wouldn’t want to date anyone else if he had his way.
Playing for keeps had always been something he strived for, and it’d only worsened when he’d been drafted. It only solidified that he needed to work for what he wanted and then work even harder to obtain it and keep it. He put that philosophy to work at that moment.
She was his, even if she hadn’t realized it yet, and he wasn’t naïve enough to assume that forever was automatically in their cards, but he was confident enough to know that they could take it one day at a time, and he would be capable of making her want no one else.
Dating had changed since he’d been off the market, and he wasn’t sure of the dating handbook anymore. What he knew was that he was going to court the woman sitting before him as if he were attempting to gain favor with the gods. Like the goddess, she was.
He pushed his chair back, standing and Aiva looked up at him, following him with her eyes, as he walked to her side of the table, holding his hand out.
“Dance with me.”
He expected her to tell him that there wasn’t any music, that it would be awkward to dance without any. Knox could remedy those counters. However, she placed her hand in his and stood. They stepped a few feet away from the dome, and he pulled her into his arms. She wrapped hers around his neck, and they swayed in sync as if they heard the same slow, melodic tune in their heads.
Several minutes ticked by as they continued their impromptu dance before Knox took one of her hands from around his neck and spun her, leaning her back in a dip. Slowly, as he brought her up, his lips connected with hers, and as her hair blew on the breath of the wind, he tried to steal hers from her lungs.
Knox brought one of his hands to the back of her neck, holding her hostage as he kissed her, stole her air.Tighter. He pulled her tighter against him, and she released a soft moan into the kiss. It traveled past his lips, settled on his tongue, and he savored it.
When his lips finally left hers, it was for no other reason than they both needed to breathe, yet he still placed delicate kisses on the sides of her mouth.
“I want to take you somewhere,” he spoke against her soft lips.
“Okay,” she breathed in response.
He released her, allowing her to grab her clutch and the rose from the table. Her hand in his, he led them down the stairs to the fourth floor. They stopped off to inform the two chefs they were leaving, and Aiva praised their courses again, as she had after each one.
Back in his car, he pulled out of the parking lot and headed away from town. Where he wanted to take her was only about fifteen minutes outside of town, but it would take them forty minutes to get there. It was tucked off, and Knox wasn’t sure how many people knew about it. He stumbled upon it by accident himself.
The drive was spent with her hand in his as it rested on her exposed thigh. Her dress had been doing hell on his body. Her long, gorgeous legs played hide-and-seek with him all night.
Once they pulled off on the unmarked dirt road, Knox drove as far down as it allowed. He turned the car off, leaving the headlights on to illuminate the small arched bridge in front of them. She looked around for a moment, probably trying to figure out where they were.
Before getting out, Knox grabbed two quarters from his middle console. He took her hand and led her to the middle of the bridge. Pulling her to stand in front of him, he wrapped one arm around her waist as she placed her hands on the railing, looking down into the stream.
“Wow,” she stated, taking in the fireflies flitting about along the grassy area. The moon reflected in the slow flow of water. “I had no idea this was here.”
“I didn’t either until I stumbled across it by accident. I missed a turn, turned down here to turn around, and curiosity got the best of me when I saw the bridge.”
“It’s simple but amazing.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s a wishing stream.”
Aiva looked over her shoulder at him. “Why do you say that?”
“I got hurt in a game a couple of months after finding it, came here, and wished that I’d never sustain a career-ending injury. I ended up here again after Mia told me she was pregnant and was using it as an excuse for everything awful she did or said. I threw a coin in the water and wished for a little girl that was her polar opposite, and got Yas.”
“I don’t know if I’d count that first one,” she teased.
