Page 18

“I think the sand moved away from under your feet.” His voice sounded odd.
I was feeling a bit embarrassed. He didn’t need to chaperone me. I was a damn grown-up.
Once we were in his car, though, I relaxed a bit.
“Last chance to change your mind. Want to head home or—”
“Do something outrageous?” I finished for him, feeling even sassier than before.
“I would have said ‘continue to have fun,’ but now that outrageous is on the table, fun sounds boring. So, what do you have in mind?”
I grinned, shrugging. “I don’t know. I haven’t done anything outrageous in a while. Tonight is not the night to start, though.”
He laughed as he pulled out of the parking space. “You still have time to decide before we arrive at your house.”
It was tempting, but I knew it was time to call it a night. Even though it seemed like we had only just arrived, we’d spent three hours here. By now, the twins were in bed.
God, it was as if I couldn’t shut off that part of my brain. I was constantly thinking about them. Were they safe? Were they happy? Could I do more?
When we finally arrived home, Nick said, “And? Change your mind?”
I bit the inside of my cheek.
“We can leave outrageous off the table for now and continue with the original plan—fun,” he added.
“It’s getting late, but thanks a lot. This evening was amazing.”
A strange expression crossed his face. “How about making this a standing thing?”
“What?”
“You and I going out on Saturday evenings.”
My eyes widened. “Nick, I’m sure you’ve got much better things to do on Saturdays.”
“As I said, I’m very good at setting priorities.”
God, this was so tempting for a million reasons. But I had to exercise at least some self-restraint.
“I’ll think about it.”
He nodded. “Good enough. Can I come in and say hi to the kids?”
“That’s very sweet of you, but they’re already in bed by now. It’s past their bedtime.”
He cocked a brow, looking at the car’s digital clock. “Really?”
“Nick, they’re young.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, not sure what I was doing when I was their age, but I’m pretty damn sure I wasn’t in bed. Mom always used to say that we drove her crazy every night.”
“Nora and Jim were very strict about their bedtime routine. Said it was the only way they would be rested enough and not ornery the next day. It was nice seeing you, Nick.”
“I’ll walk you to your front door.”
I shook my head. “Really, don’t.”
“Now, listen—”