Page 58 of Thrust & Throttle

“You and I getting together isn’t going to change that.”

“It will.”

“Itwon’t.”

“You sound pretty sure of it. Nothing is absolute. Nothing is for sure.”

Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Mama Leonardi. She placed three plates in front of us, pointed to each one and explained what they were in Italian. I caught the wordscalamariandcapresebut didn’t catch the third.

She poured more wine into our glasses and then left.

“Smells good,” I said.

“Yep.”

I took my napkin and placed it in my lap. And then I loaded up my plate with a little bit of everything.

Duke did the same. He took a piece ofcalamari, dunked it into the marinara sauce, and then plopped it into his mouth.

“Fuck, that’s good.”

His voice came out a growl, reminding me of the first night we’d spent together. My nipples pebbled underneath my sweater at the memory.

“What’s this?” I asked, pointing to the ball of fried dough.

“Fried mozzarella,” he said with a grin.

“Oh, hell yes.”

“See? I knew you’d love this place.”

“You were right.”

“Because I know you.”

“Back to that, are we?”

“You know me, too,” he pointed out. “The other stuff? The relationship stuff? The sex stuff? We get to find that out together. It could’ve been bad, you know? That night we spent together. We could’ve had sex and realized there was no chemistry there.”

“Yeah,” I snorted. “Thatsodidn’t happen.”

“Why do you think that is?” He cocked his head to the side. “This isn’t me fishing or being arrogant. I really want to know why you think we were so good together.”

I stared at my plate as I ventured to answer. “Because youdoknow me so well. And because we have a history. I felt like…like I could really be vulnerable. In a way that I couldn’t be with other men in my past.”

“Say it, Willa. Say what you really mean.”

“Safe. You make me feel safe. Safe enough to let go.” I met his gaze. “Safe enough to fall.”

He reached out to cup my cheek. “Because you know I’ll be there to catch you.”

Chapter15

“So,you never did tell me why you were suddenly able to meet me tonight,” he said, obviously shifting the conversation to lighter topics.

“Waverly’s taking a CPR class with Dylan. Every Wednesday for the next four Wednesdays.” I let that settle between us, letting him do with it what he would.

“So that means I get to take you on a date every Wednesday for the next four Wednesdays.”

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