Page 18 of Storm Warning

Yep, he figured as much. “You remember where it is?”

The boy nodded. “It’s okay?”

“Sure. Just don’t dawdle in there. We’ll be landing soon.”

“I won’t.” Christopher hopped up and hurried to the bedroom.

Andre turned his attention to the woman curled up against him. He kissed the top of her head and said, “Riley.”

Immediately, she sat up and stared into his eyes. “Andre?”

“That’s me.”

“You shouldn’t have let me sleep on you for the entire trip. You couldn’t have been comfortable.”

“Shows what you know. I enjoyed it.” Weak description of how much he craved holding her. “If you let me, I’d do this every time we traveled.” And at any other time she’d allow him to hold her. Man, he was such a sap.

A ghost of a smile touched her mouth. “Good to know. Questions?”

Might as well find out where things stood. “Yeah. How do you feel about dogs?”

She blinked. “What does that matter?”

“I’m a dog person myself. Cats might be independent, but they have too much attitude. They have to adopt you, not the other way around.”

She stared. “I love dogs. They love you unconditionally and don’t judge you for your actions as long as what you’re doing doesn’t hurt them.”

“Are big or small dogs your favorite?”

“Medium.”

He gave a slight nod, already rifling through his mental file of dog breeds. He settled on a Golden Retriever. Perfect. They were a great fit in a family, plus he and Riley could take the dog on runs when they were training. He wanted to laugh at himself for planning so far ahead. She might not agree to date him.

At the moment, he hadn’t even secured the first date, and she couldn’t say yes if he didn’t open his mouth and ask her to go to dinner with him. The worst that could happen is she turned him down flat. Wasn’t it better to know now than fall even deeper for her only to have his heart ripped out and stomped on?

Andre opened his mouth to ask how she felt, but what came out was, “Have dinner with me.” Holy smoke. He wanted to smack himself on the side of the head. He hadn’t asked her to go to dinner, but demanded it. Good grief. He was hopeless at this dating stuff.

“Yes.”

He froze. “Yes, you’ll go with me?”

She laughed. “You seem surprised, Andre. I’d love to go to dinner with you. No Oriental food. Everything else is fine.”

“You’re sure?”

“Definitely no Oriental food. The MSG doesn’t agree with me.”

He shook his head. “Are you sure you want to go to dinner with me?”

“Are you trying to talk me out of the date?”

“No way. I just thought you might be second-guessing yourself.”

“In the past ten seconds? No, Andre. I want to date you. I’ve waited for months to have this chance, so I’m not changing my mind.” She tilted her head. “Are you trying to convince me to back out because you changed your mind?”

“No, never.”

Christopher chose that moment to return.