Page 29 of Stay With Me

“Fine,” she agreed.“But let me buy lunch.”

He scoffed and tugged her close to him by the waist. “Absolutely not.”

“Why not?”

“Because then it wouldn’t be our second date.”

“I thought this weekend was our second date.”

“Nope, that will be dates three through six.”

She laughed. “What! Now I think this whole thing is a ploy to get to ten dates as quickly as possible.” She narrowed her eyes flirtatiously. “Is that what’s going on here?”

He chuckled and kissed her cheek. “Well, maybe somewhat.” Then he moved his lips to the spot below her ear. “But do you blame me? You’re captivating. And I love your bum.”

She couldn’t help giggling wildly. “No, I don’t blame you. I’m personally looking forward to date number ten as well.”

“You know,” he whispered. “There’s nothing wrong with breaking the rules.” His lip grazed the tip of her earlobe and she was tempted to ditch the whole ten dates thing right then. Take him home with her and not let him leave until morning.

But, no.

Not after the Eddie nightmare. Nick seemedperfect, and if this ended up being a sequel of that nightmare, she’d probably swear off men completely. Stick to her steamy books where the truly perfect men existed.

She couldn’t help having a good feeling about Nick, though. Why would a guy willingly attach himself to a girl for seventy-two consecutive hours after knowing her for only about a week?

Of course he wanted to sleep with her; he was a guy.Guys want sex. That doesn’t necessarily make them bad. But Nick seemed to want time with her too. And that gave her hope that this time would be different.

This time was going to have a happy ending.

“Well, that may be true,” she replied. “But I promise if you stick it out and stay with me until date number ten, I’ll give you something totally worth the wait.”

He simpered and lifted an eyebrow. “Worth the wait, huh?”

She did her best to give him a thoroughly seductive look and lowered her voice as she spoke into his ear. “I’llblowyour mind.”

His eyebrows shot upward as he gave her a truly devilish grin. “Sounds good to me.”

“It will be. So just think of the time between now and then as an investment.”

* * *

Whole Foods was conveniently located right across the street so Samantha and Nick loaded up plates with salad and sat across from each other at a small table in the corner of the café.

Samantha was starving.Must’ve been the lingering effects of her hangover. Plus, the shopping had been kind of exhausting. She had no idea camping required so much equipment. In addition to a sleeping bag, mat, a change of clothes or two, water containers, and a jacket, there was the tent, dehydrated food, utensils and cook set, flashlight, first aid kit, and the extra water, among other things.

Halfway through scarfing her salad, she caught a glimpse of him gazing at her with a soft smile, chin resting in his hand. He’d been watching her eat, and she suddenly became a bit embarrassed.

She wiped her mouth and gave him an amused look. “What are you smiling at?”

“Just you. I’m kind of liking this whole date thing.”

“You make it sound like you’ve never dated before.”

He shrugged. “I haven’t really.”

She looked at him incredulously. “Like, ever?”

“Well, I took a girl to the prom,” he offered, chuckling.