Page 45 of Seeking Two Lovers

“That end.” I motioned over my shoulder.

She released her hold on my hand, pulled her cell from her small purse, and texted me, her fingers shaking like mine would have been were they not clenched at my sides. “That’s my address.”

Swallowing hard, I nodded at the vibration of my cell in my back pocket.

“No expectations, Blaine,” she stated quietly, grasping my forearm and peering up at me, her eyes luminous in the fading sunlight. “I just thought we could hang out. Get to know each other better. Maybe kiss some more if you want.”

“I want,” I blurted the words, heat rushing to my damn face for at least the tenth time since our date had started.

Her smile lit me up inside, casting bright sunlight over the garden she had planted in my soul. “See you soon.”

I nodded like I’d been clubbed upside the head, watching her walk away.

“Fuck.” I scrubbed a trembling hand down over my face and turned, grimacing at the discomfort in my groin.

I’d never gone home with a woman before. What the fuck would I do? She would keep the conversation going when I felt like a dumb idiot, and I liked her. I longed to try for more but had no fucking clue how to make the first move.

Grey always did that.

I just followed along where he led, doing what he suggested since he knew as a man what I would enjoy, what would get me off.

Big boy briefs, I reminded myself, turning my truck’s key with shaking fingers.

My stomach rolled again, but more from excitement than anxiety.

“You got this.”

I snorted a laugh at myself. What twenty-seven-year-old man needed to give himself a pep talk when a woman claimed no expectations?

The seven minutes it took to get to Lily’s apartment she shared with her cousin Haley felt like twenty hours. Even with the air conditioning on full blast, my back grew as sweaty as my palms. Until I climbed out of my truck, I had to swipe my forearm across my forehead.

Lily waited for me on the sidewalk in front of her apartment building, her sundress billowing around her knees with the evening’s hot breeze.

“Hey,” she said, grabbing my hand again as soon as I drew close enough. “I thought you weren’t going to follow through.”

Goddamn red face.

Again.

“You’re a tease,” I muttered, not at all upset she’d pretty much figured me out within a matter of hours. I was so damn obvious.

She snickered and tugged me toward the building’s front door. “I love that color on your face is all. And now that I’m getting to know you a little bit better, I expect you won’t go running off.”

“Only because you’re a hypnotizing serpent I can’t say no to.”

A very unladylike snort ripped from her. “In your own little Garden of Eden, are you?”

“Could be…” I bit back a smirk and decided to flirt a bit. “Are you the devil in disguise?”

“Maybe.” She winked up at me and unlocked the door to their fifth-floor apartment the elevator had spit us out right in front of. “Come on in…if you dare.”

My shoulders relaxed, and I moved past her into the small kitchen.

“Ignore the dishes in the sink. It’s Haley’s day to clean up, and they won’t get done until eleven-fifty-nine tonight.” Lily set her purse on the small square table. “Want some wine? I’ve got chardonnay and chardonnay.”

While I enjoyed white wine better than beer or shots, I needed to keep a level head. “Water’s good.”

She poured one for each of us from a Brita filter in the fridge, and I followed her into the adjoining living room. Plants took up space on the windowsills, bringing the outdoors into the small space. A well-worn couch sat in front of a flatscreen atop an end table turned sideways, colorful throw pillows angled in the corners.

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