Page 20 of Over the Moon (Rosewood River #3)

fifteen

. . .

Clark

I was grateful that Eloise and I both felt better the following day, and I was well enough to get in a good workout, even if she insisted on going a little easy on me because I’d been down for forty-eight hours.

I made up for it by playing loud club music and finally getting her to dance with me in the gym.

We’re calling that a win.

And as much as I’d been focused on getting back to work, I only had one thing at the forefront of my thoughts—to impress the hell out of her.

She was far more concerned about where this would go than I was, if I were being honest.

I didn’t let myself go too far in the future. We liked each other. We were attracted to one another. I wanted to just see where it would go.

This wasn’t about sex. This was something deeper, and I knew it in my gut.

If it were to turn into something that we didn’t want to walk away from, then we’d cross that bridge when we came to it.

But I sure as hell wasn’t going to say that to her and freak her out.

She was counting on this kiss sucking, and I was counting on kissing her until her lips ached.

I knew it wouldn’t suck.

Though I knew she was right, and it would be a hell of a lot easier if the kiss was awful, and we just remained friends.

I just didn’t think that would be the case.

But time would tell.

I pulled up at her house and jogged to the door.

I was fucking excited. I spent almost every single day with this woman, but I couldn’t get enough of her. When she wasn’t with me, I missed her.

It made no sense.

I talked to my mom this morning, and she helped me come up with a few ideas for the date. I’ve never wanted to impress someone the way I wanted to impress Eloise.

Of course, my mom loved being brought into it.

It was a first for me. I’ve never brought her into my dating life. But my mom was a hopeless romantic, and she and I both agreed that me making dinner at my house and eating out by the water was a good idea.

Simple yet romantic.

And then, of course, my brothers all inserted themselves, and Lulu and Henley got involved, so even though I was bringing Eloise back to my house, I’d try to make it special.

She deserved that.

Even if this was a one-time thing and she didn’t want it to go anywhere after tonight—the least I could do was make it nice for her.

I knocked on the door, and when she opened it, I had a hard time keeping my cool.

She wore a long blue dress that ended just above her ankles, with her favorite cowboy boots on beneath. Her hair fell in loose waves over her shoulders, and she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on.

I thought that the first time I saw her, and every day since.

“You look gorgeous,” I said, reaching for her hand after she pulled her door closed behind her, and we walked to the truck.

“Thank you. I feel like I’ve lived in shorts and a tee since arriving in Rosewood River, so it was fun to get fixed up a little,” she said, chuckling when I opened the passenger door and gripped her hips, lifting her up before setting her on the seat.

“Well, you look good in everything, Weeze, but this dress in particular is something.”

“I figure if this is a onetime thing, we may as well have some fun with it,” she said with a laugh.

I made my way back to the driver’s side, trying not to be offended by the hope in her voice that this was a one-and-done.

We drove the short distance to my house.

Yes, I could have walked.

She could have walked.

But I wanted to show her that this date mattered to me.

“Oh, we’re going to your house?”

“We are,” I said, pulling into the garage and coming around to help her out.

“Good, I think it’s better we don’t make this a big deal. No sense being seen out in public together when we aren’t in workout attire.”

Buckle up, sweetheart. It’s a big fucking deal.

“Sure,” I said, reaching for the button on the garage door and smiling when I noted the sun just tucking behind the mountains.

I timed this perfectly.

“Oh, it smells so good,” she said when we stepped inside.

“Yeah, I made some spaghetti sauce, but I wasn’t sure if your stomach was ready for that, so we also have just noodles and butter,” I said, making my way to the kitchen and lifting the lid on the sauce to smell the perfect mix of garlic and oregano.

“That was thoughtful,” she said, moving to stand beside me as I heard her stomach rumble, and I barked out a laugh.

“Are you hungry?” I turned to face her, ready to kiss her right here. Right now.

But timing was everything.

Eloise was different.

Special.

I couldn’t rush this. The last thing I wanted to do was to scare her off.

“Maybe I’m a thoughtful guy,” I said, arching a brow before turning to place the bread in the oven. Something seemed a little off with her, almost like she was nervous, but I wasn’t quite sure. “How about a glass of wine?”

“That sounds great.”

I poured us each a glass of red and handed it to her. I held up my glass and waited for her to do the same. “Cheers to seeing where this goes.”

“Put your glass down, Clark.” Her voice was firm, and I internally groaned, because I knew she was going to put a stop to things right now. She couldn’t get out of her own head with this.

I set my glass down, and she did the same. I prepared to hear all the reasons why this wouldn’t work, because that was her MO.

But she shocked the shit out of me when she lunged forward, one hand on each side of my face, and her mouth crashed into mine.

My hand found the back of her neck before tangling in her hair, while the other moved behind her ass and scooped her up easily, setting her on the counter. Her legs opened, allowing me to stand between them, and our lips never lost contact. My tongue slipped inside and tangled with hers.

I groaned into her mouth as I tilted her head to the side and took the kiss deeper.

Her hands moved to my chest, pressing against me the slightest bit, and I pulled back to look at her.

Her dark, heated gaze told me everything I wanted to know.

She liked it as much as I did.

“Okay, glad we got that out of the way. Sorry for jumping the gun. I couldn’t handle the anticipation anymore,” she said, her words breathy.

“Don’t ever apologize for kissing me. You can do that anytime you want.” I winked, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “Let’s eat and sit with this for a little bit.”

“Sounds good,” I said, turning around to grab an oven mitt as I pulled the bread out and set it on the counter.

I dropped it into the basket, and she moved without me saying a word and added the dressing to the salad I made before giving it a little toss. “Let’s take this outside.”

“Oh, it’s a great night to eat outside,” she said.

I had the basket of bread in one hand and reached for the bottle of wine and my glass, as well. Eloise had the salad bowl and her wine glass, and she followed me through the kitchen to the French doors that led to the backyard. When I pushed them open, I motioned for her to go first.

She took a few steps and then came to an abrupt stop.

“What is this?” She turned around to look at me, eyes wide, and a big smile on her face.

“You’ve never been out here at night with the lights on. It’s pretty spectacular.” I moved to the table and set everything down before taking the salad from her, as she was still mesmerized by the setup.

The table had flowers and candles and two place settings that were well-lit by the strands of lights that hung above the yard.

The lights had always been here, as had the table, but I’d gotten a little help from Henley and Lulu with making it look like something you’d see in a magazine with what they did to the table.

“Clark,” she said, her voice just above a whisper. “This is… unbelievable. It’s so pretty. And what is that over there?”

She pointed at the large screen I put up in the yard this afternoon.

I moved the outdoor couch over on the lawn, and we had blankets and pillows and a movie ready to go.

I picked up some candy and popcorn for later, and she already told me her favorite movie was How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days , which seemed fitting, since she was hoping she’d be kicking my ass to the curb by tomorrow.

I downloaded the movie on Prime, and we’d stream it after dinner.

“I thought we’d do a movie night after we eat.” I cleared my throat, feeling slightly anxious because I’d never done anything close to this for a date before.

Maybe it was too much.

“And then I kissed you in the kitchen before we even started,” she said, shaking her head like she’d done something wrong.

“I’m just glad you didn’t kiss me and end the date because it sucked,” I laughed.

“It was all right,” she said, teasing, and her cheeks flushed pink.

“I don’t know, Weeze. The way you were grinding up against me, I have a hunch you enjoyed it.”

Her head fell back in laughter. “Well, I’m hoping you mess up the next kiss. I’m counting on it being awful, and you sort of ruined my hopes of that with the first try.”

“That means there’s a next one. I’ll take it.” I motioned to the table. “You sit, and I’ll go grab the pasta.”

I carried the rest of the food out, and just like always with this girl, we fell into comfortable conversation.

“You never told me why you fell in love with hockey,” she asked, as she reached for her glass of wine.

“You’re going to laugh at me when I tell you.” I twirled my fork in the mound of pasta, getting a bite ready to go.

“I promise, I won’t.”