Page 73 of The Homemaker

I slid my hands along her silk kimono robe, grabbing her backside. “What’s under this?”

She shook her head, retreating from my grasp. “You’ll find out later. Let me slip on my dress and shoes.”

“I’m rethinking this date.”

Alice laughed from the bedroom. “AllI’ve been thinking about is this date, except the bowling. You should absolutely rethink that part.”

Her enthusiasm and humor calmed my nerves. All I’d been thinking about was her leaving me the following day with nothing more than a promise to come back.

When she stepped out of the bedroom in a black mini dress with buttons down the front and thin straps, the nerves returned in full force. I didn’t want her to leave. The risk of not seeing her again hurt too much.

“I’m speechless.”

Her cheeks turned pink. “That’s what I was going for.”

I held out my arm. “Shall we?”

She took it. “We shall.”

We bowled, wearing warm rentals, and as expected, she won. I didn’t care. It was her laughter and nonchalant shrugs after bowling a strike that I knew I’d never forget. After two rounds, we headed to dinner.

The restaurant was on the thirty-fifth floor of a bank building with a stunning view of the city.

“You know food is my love language. And right now, I could orgasm,” she said after the server filled our table with dishes of Japanese fare that looked likeart.

I sipped my Negroni. “Do you want to orgasmnow?” My gaze said I’d happily slide into her side of the booth and hike her dress up her legs to snake my hand between them.

She squirmed in her seat and wet her red lips while nodding. “But I want to wait. It’s more fun this way.”

“You mean wait until I’m ripping that dress off you because I’m too impatient to unbutton it?”

She pinched the nigiri between her chopsticks and lifted it to my lips. “I look forward to it.”

Why did I wait so long to ask her out on a real date? I couldn’t get enough of her flirty grins and unbridled laughter where she tipped her head back and rested her hand on her chest.

“No pouting, mister,” she said halfway through dinner as I tapped my chopsticks on the side of my plate.

I glanced up at her. “I’m not pouting. I’m …”

“Pouting.” She smiled enough for both of us.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket. “I don’t even have your number.” I brought up a new contact and slid my phone across the table.

Alice stared at it. “I thought you were waiting for me?”

“I am. Does that mean I can’t have your phone number?”

She continued to stare at my phone. “We’ll exchange numbers when I get back. Trust me.”

After a few seconds of inspecting the flicker of worry across her face, I pulled my phone away from her and slid it back into my pocket. “Feels like you’re not coming back.”

“Are we getting dessert? Please say yes.”

Dessert? My appetite was gone. How could she think about dessert?

As only an actress could do, Alice pinned a smile to her face and filled the rest of the meal with meaninglessconversation. I wasn’t as dedicated as she was to pretending everything would be just fine, but I gave it a half-assed effort anyway.

“We should go dancing,” she said, hugging my arm as we strolled to the car in the parking garage.