True Bliss (17 page)

Bring on date one, two, and three because if the real Kate is as feisty and up for it as my dream Kate is, we're going to have a lot of fun.

KATE

I wait in bed until I hear Zander go into the bathroom and turn the shower on-that definitely got the mind wandering-then off again a short while later before walking down the hallway. When I know it is safe, I dart in the bathroom, brush my teeth and make my hair a bit more manageable-if you haven't had naturally curly hair before, in the mornings, things are crazy! One final check in the mirror to make sure I'm looking approachable and kissable, then I check my bed attire in the mirror one last time before venturing out into the living area.

“Morning, babe.”

Tingles. Down there. Don't think I'll ever get used to that.

“Hi,” I reply meekly, unable to look at him. I pad over to the coffeemaker, and reach up on my toes to grab a mug from the overhead cabinet.

“Damn.” I hear him growl from behind me. I stand level again and turn around, catching Zander's eyes zeroed in on my stomach.

“What?” I ask, confused.

“Warn me when you're going to do that again.”

“Do what?” I'm still lost.

“Reach up and show me even a peek at what you're hiding under that top. A guy can only take so much, babe.”

I look down at my stomach, which despite my curves, is still surprisingly flat, and realized that my top must have ridden up. “Oh, shit. Sorry,” I say, my cheeks flaming bright red. 

I turn quickly to pour my coffee, and to hide my embarrassment, when I hear him get up and walk behind me. He places his hands on my hips, his fingers only slightly squeezing me. His lips are by my ear again.

Clean up, aisle seven. He really has a thing about whispering into my ear.

“I hope you're blushing because you're flattered, Kate. I'm trying really hard to be the gentleman my mom raised me to be which means not kissing the shit out of you in your kitchen when you're still waking up and haven't had your morning coffee yet. Which…” one hand leaves my hip and reaches around, grabbing the coffee mug out of my hand and placing it on the kitchen counter in front me, “you'll find, is already poured and waiting for you.” He kisses my cheek as I stand there, unable to breathe.

This must be a dream. It has to be. No way is this my real kitchen, my real morning, my real life. No way would Zander, the God of Gorgeousness, be in my kitchen with his big strong hands on my hips, telling me that he wants to kiss the shit out of me.

Breathe, Kate. Breathe in. Breathe out.

“Thank you,” I croak as I turn around and grab the coffee he's poured for me.

“Anytime, Kate. I can make you breakfast too if you like,” he replies, the sly smile on his lips making sure I know that he knows what he's doing to me.

“Is it dinner for breakfast?” I ask, raising a brow and smirking at him, trying to hold back a grin.

“Very funny. I'll have you know that pancakes for dinner works every time. It worked last night, didn't it? You agreed to go on a date with me.” He walks around the island and sits down in front of a coffee mug and a bowl of cereal. 

“You kind of told me I was going out on a date with you.” I lean forward, resting my elbows on the counter opposite where he's sitting, cradling my coffee.

“You still said okay,” he says with a smirk, drinking his coffee as my attention falls to his Adam's apple and then down to his chest. He's wearing a grey wife beater that gives me an unobstructed view of his toned arms. Actually, toned is too tame of a word; muscular, herculean even.

“I'll give you that one, but I don't eat till a bit later. So, our date today. Where are we going? A woman needs to have at least an idea of what to wear.” I look up and see him staring intensely at my cleavage. Oh yes, Zander. Two of us can play this game.

“They, I mean, you look gorgeous in anything.” He shakes his head, and his eyes rise to meet mine. He looks like the kid that has just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

I raise an eyebrow at him, and he grins at me. “Hey, I can't help it. I'm a guy, and it's a gorgeous rack.” He shrugs his shoulders, and I giggle.

“Boob man?”

“Anything Kate man.” Oh my god. Swoon!

“I'll let you off this time,” I say, smirking at him. “So clothes. Should I dress up, or down, or what?”

He raises his hand to his jaw and rubs his chin as if he's contemplating a chess move or something. “Okay, dress casual, comfortable, and able to walk for a little bit. Does that give you enough to work with?”

“That is perfect. I know just the thing. What time should I be ready by?” It's about now that I get lost in his eyes. I can see his mouth moving, but it's almost like a blur to me.

“Babe?” he asks, snapping me out of my blatant daydream.

“Ah, yeah. Sorry. So this afternoon?”

“Around one, babe. That work for you?”

“Of course.” I drink the last of my coffee and stand back up, putting my mug in the sink. “Well, I might go do some laundry, and maybe pop out and get groceries, but I'll make sure I'm dressed casual, comfortable and able to walk by one o'clock.”

“That reminds me. I need to give you some money for food.”

“Don't worry about it, Zan. It's fine.”

“No, it's not.” He stands up, grabs his wallet from his back pocket, and pulls out four fifty dollar bills before holding them out to me. I can't help but see that there was at a lot more where that came from. An invisible bucket of cold water drenches me as I remember how he earns that money. “Take it, Kate. I need to pay my way. You're doing me a favor by letting me stay here, so let me pay for the groceries,” he says. His voice is determined, so I just nod as he puts the money in my hand.

“Ok. Thank you. Well, I'll just see you later on then.”

“For sure. I'm looking forward to our first proper date,” he replies, smiling at me like I'm the most beautiful girl in the world. Shit, I could get used to this kind of attention.

I start to walk away, but then I stop, turn around and look at the fine specimen of a man that wants to date me.

“Zan, just so you know, I'm really looking forward to today too.” I turn and walk away with an extra swing in my hips for good measure as I feel the heat of his stare on my ass as I reach my room.

ZANDER

I have a confession.

Last night I carried out some reconnaissance and gathered some intel on Kate from Mac. I mean, who knows a girl better than her best friend? She told me to do something simple and easy going, don't try too hard to impress her straight off the bat, and to just be myself. So in short, Mac didn't really help me a lot. But since I've been thinking about what I would do and where I would go if I were to go on a date with her, I already knew where the date will start off.

Sitting in the living room waiting for Kate to come out of her room is torture. I'm actually nervous about a lot of things, the date included, of course. Will the date be what she imagined, or will it be too low key and casual for her? You can't imagine all the scenarios that are running through my head right now.

This morning, when I was messaging her as nightdancer, I felt really guilty about the whole internet dating thing. I should be honest with her. I should just come clean and tell her that I'm nightdancer and that I'm the one she's been talking to for the past five weeks. It should be as simple as that, right?

I'm worried about possible awkwardness if this dating thing doesn't go well between us. Amazingly, some of my normal dating concerns are null and void with Kate. I know she doesn't just want me for my body, but I know she likes what she sees because I've caught her checking me out a few times now, but I'm totally fine with my firebird checking me out. Every which way from Sunday, she can look and touch and…well, you get the picture. I definitely felt relieved when she said to me online this morning that she wasn't worried about awkwardness.

I hear her clear her throat, and I look up to be met by the hottest pair of legs I've seen in a long, long time.

My eyes travel up to a sunshine yellow dress, her hands clutching a silver handbag in front of her, then up to a silver drop necklace falling in the lush valley between her breasts. I see her beautiful face, her blue eyes sparkling down at me, and I'm completely and utterly hooked. Holy crap, I totally underestimated the effect this woman has on me. I stand up and run my hands down her bare arms from her shoulders down to her wrists.

“You look beautiful, Kate.”

I see the slight pink tinge of her cheeks as she looks down at the ground. Damn she's cute. 

Leaning forward, I press my lips to her warm cheek, resisting the urge to wrap my hand around her waist, pull her up against me, and crash my lips against hers. “Shall we go?”

“Yeah. Let's do this.”

I put my hand on the small of her back as I lead her to the front door. Her skin is warm, heating my blood so quickly that I have to snatch my hand away. She glances at me briefly, and I cover the gesture with a quick smile and open the door, letting her leave first.

When we reach the sidewalk, she turns and looks at me. “So where too, Mr. Roberts?”

“Ah yes, the million dollar question. Well, I wanted to take you on a fun, easy going date. You know, the one that you remember forever and hold up against all other dates because it was just that cool?”

She giggles, and it is the sweetest most satisfying sound in the world. “Sounds awesome. So are we embracing our inner child?”

“But of course, my dear,” I reply in a bad Sean Connery impression.

“Righteous.”

I put on my best surfer impression. “Bodacious.”

“Holy crap, we sound like the teenage mutant ninja turtles. This can't be good,” she says with a smile.

I laugh, then look down at her. She's just standing there, watching me.

“What?”

“You should laugh more often. I like it.”

I can't wipe the smile off my face. It's only the start of the date, but I'm already thinking of the second, and third and fourth. I'm glad that Kate is everything I expected her to be and more.

“The first stop is the Lincoln Park Zoo.”

“Are you serious?” she squeals, clapping her hands with glee. “I haven't been there in ages! It used to be one of my favorite places to go as a kid.”

“Well, I guess stop one for our day gets your tick of approval then. I must be doing well.”

I reach my hand down and grab hold of hers, entwining our fingers. She looks down at our now joined hands, and I don't miss both the surprise on her face, and then the slight grin she gets when she likes something.

Since Kate and Mac's apartment is only four blocks away from Lincoln Park, and it's a nice sunny day, we walk to the zoo, holding hands and chatting about Kate's job, and how Zach burned down our kitchen, and before long we arrive at our first stop for the afternoon.

I have to admit, this zoo idea was brilliant. We held hands for most of the way, stopping when I bought us an ice-cream. Our conversation never waned, and I was so relaxed with her that I didn't even think about whether I was making a good impression, or whether she was having a good time. It was like hanging out with a best friend, who just happens to be someone that I'd like to get to know a whole lot better than a friend. And best yet, I've managed to restrain myself from calling her firebird three times already.

After a few hours of seeing rhinos, monkeys, flamingos and even the snakes which freaked Kate out so that she stopped holding my hand and clung to my side-still not complaining-we left the zoo and started to walk back toward the apartment.

“So how are the repairs on the apartment going?” Kate asks as we stop at an intersection.

“Good, and not so good. Unfortunately, the damage was worse than they first thought, so it's going to be a few more weeks at least. Are you okay with that?” I ask, worried that maybe I've been totally misreading her, and this date was actually a sinking bomb.

“Hey now, you just went all tense. Please don't think I was asking about it because I want you to move out. I've had an awesome time today, Zan. It's been fun.” She looks up at me, and I'm struck by how gorgeous she is. The sunlight and blue sky serve to make her eyes shine even brighter, and when my eyes drop to her mouth, I know there is going to be no stopping this.

I lean my head down, my gaze lifting back to her eyes as I stop just a touch away from her lips. “Can I kiss you?” She nods and that is all the permission I need. I gently brush my lips against hers before pulling back.

“Again. Please,” she whispers. Her tongue darts out and grazes my lips as I open my mouth and let her take the lead. She wraps her arms around me, joining her hands behind my neck as she strains to deepen the kiss. I place my hands on her hips and move her closer as our tongues lazily move with the other. My cock is hard as rock, and I know she can feel it, but neither of us move against the other. It's like time stands still. With one last stroke of her tongue, she goes to move back, but not before I gently bite her lower lip, sucking on it gently before letting her go.

“Wow,” she says, looking around and realizing that we're still standing in the middle of the sidewalk, and we've missed the crossing signal. “Shit! We should probably move.”