Page 109 of Trust Again

Spencer had let his dough fall onto the board and was staring at me. His eyes flew to my mouth. I want to kiss you, was written on his face.

“Your dough looks done,” Tony said to me, and I pried my eyes away from Spencer. Tony inspected his dough and wrinkled his nose. “Yours needs a little work.”

After we’d thrown on some toppings, we shoved our pizzas in the oven. We took off the aprons and washed our hands and arms. Spencer and I helped each other remove the flour from our faces; I took every opportunity to touch the corners of his mouth and let my fingers follow the line of his chin.

Spencer put his jacket on and took me back through the restaurant until we came to the pianist. There, on the parquet in front of the piano, he pulled me close. I stumbled briefly and stared up at him, perplexed.

“What’re you doing?”

He took my hand, stroked his thumb over my skin and reached the other arm around my waist. “Dancing,” was his simple answer.

“Is that in the dating manual?”

He pulled me even closer “No. But I’ve always wanted to do this with you.”

Then he began to move. The pianist played a tune that sounded vaguely familiar. I leaned my head back; Spencer smiled softly when our eyes met. “I behaved terribly, Dawn.”

I shook my head. “This is our first date. What happened before isn’t important anymore.”

Spencer let his hand drift down to the skin between my top and skirt again. His fingers snuck under and stroked my lower back. I melted in his arms.

“I just wanted to tell you again that I’m sorry.”

“Me, too. Are we done?” I asked.

“In no way are we anywhere near done with each other, Dawn Edwards,” he said gently, lowering his face until our lips were nearly touching. Then, a soft, sweet kiss. A promise. “This is just the beginning.”

After Tony brought us our pizzas in boxes and Spencer had paid, we left the restaurant. I’d assumed we were going to eat there, but that obviously wasn’t the plan.

Sitting in the driver’s seat, Spencer turned to face me. “Dawn, I’d like to introduce you to my sister.”

My eyes widened.

“I know this is our first real date, and I don’t want to put you under any pressure, but… Olivia’s an important part of my life and I’ve been wanting to introduce you to each other for a while now…”

I jumped on him. Literally. Within two seconds I was on his lap with my arms around him.

He encircled me with his arms and held me tight. “I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean, but I like it.”

Tears sprang to my eyes, and I felt an aching in my chest.

“Are you sure?”

His expression was gentle. With one hand, he brushed my hair from my forehead. “I think Livvy would kill me if I didn’t bring you over. She’s waiting.”

“What?”

He nodded. “I gave her your present after we spoke on the phone, but asked her not to open it until I brought you.”

I punched his shoulder. “You can’t put a gift in front of her nose and tell her not to open it!”

“True, I didn’t really think it through.”

“Then we’d better hurry!” I tried to crawl off his lap, but he was holding my hips firmly.

“One more thing,” he said.

“What?”