Page 11 of New Girl in Town
“Us.” I gestured between us even though I knew Grant wouldn’t see it, considering he was driving. “I mean, us dating—or, I mean, if we end up dating? I mean this date.” I shook my head, aware that my foot had made its way into my mouth. “I’m not trying to say that we are going to do this again, but—”
“Why not? I already want to do this again and we haven’t even left the parking lot,” he said, gesturing at our apartment building.
“Exactly my point. How can you know you want to go on another date when we haven’t even finished this one?”
He laughed. “I don’t need to sit across from you with good food to know that I want to date you.”
“Oh,” I breathed, feeling a nervous flutter in my stomach. I was incapable of doing anything else but blushing in the dark of the truck.
“Don’t get me wrong. Dinner with you is going to be amazing. You’ll love the food, and I’m looking forward to getting to know you better, but I can already see you’re a woman worth knowing. I’m really glad you said yes, Aurora.”
The sound of my name falling from his lips felt different—significant, even. It made me feel like maybe this, the drive with Grant, this town passing by in a parade of lights, signs, and still unfamiliar streets, could be permanent.
That one utterance of my name made me realize that this could be home.
And hell if I didn’t like it.
* * *
Glancing up,I snuck a look at Grant, who studied his menu and looked entirely too comfortable for my taste. I scowled at the realization, because on the other end of the first date spectrum was me.
I was the antithesis of calm. A basket of nerves, really. Turning my face away under the guise of reading the menu, I fiddled with the napkin in front of me and tried not to look as nervous as I felt.
I’d never been this indecisive about a single thing in my life. Why was it starting now with Grant? One second I felt an undeniable pull toward the man, and the next it was all I could do not to run from him. Sure, we had only known each other for approximately 48 hours, but if this was proof of what the duration of my lease was going to be like, then I was going to get whiplash.
I needed to get out of my head and fast. He had been nothing but sweet and kind to me. But still...there was something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on that had me on edge, that went beyond how comfortable Grant looked while I melted into a puddle of sweat.
I glanced over the top of my menu at him and jerked in surprise when I saw him staring back at me. He shifted in his seat, and just like that a switch flipped in me. My eyes latched onto the way his fingers looked against his beard and suddenly my hands itched to reach out and touch this man.
“What is it?” he asked, breaking me from my thoughts.
My eyes snapped up to his. “Sorry?”
“You just look tense,” he said, and put his menu down and leaned forward, elbows going down on the table in front of him.
“You make me nervous,” I confessed.
Grant’s mouth dropped open and he swallowed hard, eyes sliding away from mine for a beat before he looked back at me. “You weren’t nervous before.”
“That’s not entirely true,” I said, hands clenching on the menu in front of me. “I just didn’t realize I was nervous before.”
“What changed?”
“I think…” I shifted, suddenly uncomfortable, but powerless to stop the words from coming out once they had a mind to. “It’s safe to say that I’m into you.”
He grinned. “That’s a good thing, sweetheart.”
“Not your sweetheart,” I shot back. He shrugged and drummed his fingers against the table top, looking far too smug for my liking.
“Details,” he told me. “What’s wrong with being into me? I think that’s great.” He let his eyes move over me and I swallowed hard, feeling my mouth go dry at the focused look. It was like everyone else was gone, like the restaurant wasn’t there, like we were the only ones in the room.
Boy, oh boy. A look like that could get a woman in trouble.
“Oh, you do, do you?” I took a quick sip from my glass of water while I fought the urge to squirm under the weight of his gaze.
He gave one decisive nod. “Of course. It plays right into my long game here.”
“Which is?”
