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I lifted my pinky. “Pinky promise.”

His soft laugh soothed me and his finger slipped in mine. “Pinky promise.”

His lips latched to mine and I barely managed to pull back after a moment. “I should get going. I’ve already made you late enough for your meeting.”

“Let me take you on a date tonight,” he suggested.

“Oh, um… I’ve never been on a date.”

“Another first,” he growled. “You’re feeding my inner caveman.”

“Oh, then I will stop,” I laughed, standing. “We wouldn’t want that to get any bigger.”

He smacked my ass as I walked away. “I’ll plan something for seven.”

Perfect. That would give me plenty of time to run to a store after work and get an outfit for my first date. I did nothing but smile the rest of the day. Any stray parts of my nightmare trying to take up residence in my head were shoved aside for thoughts of what I’d wear tonight or where we’d go or how the night would end.

“Holy shit,” Erik breathed, watching me walk down the stairs.

His heated gaze made me feel like I wore a designer gown rather than a black and gold geo dress I picked up at Target. I dragged my hand against the wall as I walked down in a pair of new heels. I wasn’t used to the staircase with no handrail yet and adding four inches to my height had me extra cautious.

“You like?” I asked when I stood in front of him.

“Hell, yes. I’m tempted to say fuck dinner and keep you here.” His eyes scanned up my body before meeting my gaze. “You look stunning.”

“Thank you,” I muttered past my smile, tugging one side of my hair over my shoulder. “Who knew you’d be such a gentleman.”

“I sure as hell didn’t,” he said, laughing before pulling me close, aligning our hips up so I had no doubt how much he appreciated the dress. “But I’m enjoying the hell out of it with you. Something about you urges me to try harder—to be a better man.”

My stomach flipped over itself. He wanted to be a better man for me. The words had tears burning the backs of my eyes. “I think you’re an amazing man.”

He pressed a hard kiss to my lips but quickly pulled back. “Okay. We have reservations and if I stand here with you in that dress a moment longer, I’m going to forget dinner and take you here.”

He interlocked his fingers with mine and didn’t let go the entire drive. This Erik was different than the one I’d been with the past month. Or not so much a new man, because I’d always noticed how caring he could be, he’d just had his guard up too high to relax and let himself be at ease. I tried to keep my expectations low knowing there was a chance he could push me away again, but staring at the man smiling at me over a candlelit dinner, nothing was able to slow the way my heart thudded in my chest. Nothing was holding back the happiness that filled me to the brim and had me almost bursting.

“How long did you live in Ireland?”

“Ten years. My parents were never married and separated when I was born. Mom was young and didn’t fight our dad when he said he was leaving with us. So, he took us to Ireland and we lived there for ten years.”

“How did he die?”

“A heart attack.”

“I’m sorry, Alexandra.”

“It was a long time ago.”

“But you still have bits of your accent.”

I smiled, pulling myself out of the slump talking about my father seemed to send me in. “A little. And not much. Leah and I would practice our American accents all the time because the kids at school would make fun of us.”

“I like it when it comes out.”

“It’s mostly faded, but you can hear it more when I’m tired or mad.”

“Or a little tipsy,” he said with a wink. “That must be why I’ve heard it so much. You’ve been all three around me. More mad than any others.”

“You bring out the best in me,” I joked.

“Did you like it there?”

“I loved it there,” I answered quickly, my tone wistful. “Maybe I painted a prettier picture because I was young. Not that it took much to be better than when we moved with our mom, but I remember being happy. I remember our dad being happy. We lived close to the ocean. It was cold as hell, but the water was beautiful and peaceful. We’d go to play there as often as we could. Leah was always there by my side, never getting in trouble.”

“So she wasn’t always crazy?”

I laughed. “No. But our mom wasn’t around much, and when she was it tended to be better when she wasn’t.” He frowned and I hated putting a damper on the dinner with my mess of a life. “It wasn’t always bad. Leah stayed by my side. Defended me and taught me how to be strong against all the catty girls. It wasn’t until our mom died that things started spiraling.”