Page 33 of Her Exception 2

“Damn right. It’s taking everything inside of me not to take you to my car and have my way with you.”

She pulled her hair behind her ears as she blushed. “Babe,” Milli cooed. “I’m still getting used to this side of you.”

“I need you to, because there’s a lot that outfit makes me want to say to you.”

“Like what?” she asked, licking her lips.

“Like… I need your body more than I need to breathe right now. I can’t stop thinking about how good you feel. It’s truly wild how damn sexy you look. Ripping those clothes off you tonight and making love to your body until morning will be my highest honor and pleasure.”

The sight of her gulping her glass of wine made me chuckle. “Is there anything else we need to discuss, baby?”

I considered saying yes just to draw this out, but as much as I wanted her, I wouldn’t tease her and play that game.

“Nah. I think I have enough information to plan the perfect first date.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

I put enough money on the table to cover our wine and small bites before helping her out of her seat, grateful it was a Saturday and AJ was with his GiGi, so we’d have my home to ourselves.

Twenty-Two

Amelia

I loved Amaru. With each day that passed, that love turned into something… deeper. It was the weekend before Thanksgiving and Ru chose that for our first date. He flew me to New York, where I was able to experience Broadway for the first time. Tonight, we sawChicagolive. Tomorrow, it would beWicked, and Sunday,Aladdin. As much as I loved plays and musicals, I’d never come to New York to see one, so Ru doing this for me was something I’d always remember.

We were finishing up cocktails and dinner at Raoul’s, which was recommended as one of the most romantic restaurants in the city. The small, two-person tables were cozy and intimate, which I could appreciate. The French cuisine was pretty good. I played it a little safe with Maine lobster risotto while Amaru opted for Steak Naturel au Poivre with hand-cut fries. We had to laugh at our selections because neither of us was very adventurous with our food while we were traveling. We liked to stick to what we knew, or at least a version of it.

He gained extra points for bringing me here, though, and allowing us to try something new together. We’d finished dinner and were trying our hardest not to talk about or check on the kids for the millionth time. It felt like we were a married couple trying to enjoy date night, and we were failing horribly.

“I have an idea,” he said.

“What is it?”

“We should go to a bar or grab a bottle, and whoever mentions the kids first has to take a shot.”

“Ooh, that’s dangerous. I’m with it.”

Amaru laughed as he gained our waiter’s attention. After paying, we left and headed back to the hotel. We had an Empire State presidential suite at the Langham Hotel. When we first arrived, there were pink flowers and a bottle of champagne waiting for us, which was a nice touch. I was most excited about the Saks Fifth Avenue shopping spree Ru was going to take me on tomorrow afternoon before we had dinner back at the hotel. We ended up going to the bar at the hotel until they closed at ten, then we took a bottle of Hennessy up to the suite.

My favorite parts of the suite were the Hermes accents and art pieces along with the floor-to-ceiling windows that provided the perfect views of the Empire State Building and city skyline. We showered and crawled into bed, cuddling up and enjoying the closeness of one another.

“What would your ideal relationship look like?” he asked me.

I took some time to think about it before responding. “A true partnership. One that’s a small taste of the goodness that’s to come in marriage. It should be a safe space filled with love and peace. Fun and spontaneity. Commitment and understanding. Honor and nasty sex.” I giggled. “That sounded really cliché.”

“Not really, sweetheart. Cliché would have been listing rules and demands on a shallow level. You showed more of your heart with that.”

“Yeah, I mean, I haven’t had a lot of expectations and conversations like this when it comes down to relationships of my past. Most men didn’t ask what I wanted; they just assumed they were it. And if they weren’t, they didn’t really care.”

“Well, I want to make sure I can give you what you need before we take this journey. My ego tells me I can, but logically and emotionally I need to be able to confirm that.”

“And I appreciate that. It’s one of the things that makes me feel safe with you. That’s one of the biggest things to me. Feeling safe and secure in all ways—physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, spiritually—all that. It doesn’t matter how great the sex is, how much money a man has, how fun he is, or how good he looks… not even how much I love him… if I don’t feel safe and secure with him, we won’t work. Not for the long run.”

“To me, providing safety and security, provision and protection, those are acts of service in marriage. Because of my parents, I was raised to view marriage as a partnership for service and the betterment of two individuals. Two individuals who, in their oneness, make each other the best versions of themselves through the love of God. Happiness, good sex, fun… all that shit’s a plus.”

Looking up at him, I smiled. “That was probably the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Though he laughed and held me closer, I was serious. I couldn’t count the amount of times a man thought sex or his wallet would make him a great catch. What Amaru provided and believed in, that’s what made him thebestcatch. I truly hoped I’d be the woman blessed enough to be loved by him in marriage.

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