Page 23 of Until the End (The Lost Letters #3)

Carson

“ T his is no big deal. Just a regular first date like you’ve been on a million times before,” I murmur to myself. “Except it’s with Ginny. And if you fuck it up, you’ll ruin your entire friendship and likely take a wrecking ball to your friend group.”

Awesome. That was helpful.

I blow out a breath to release the tension in my shoulders before getting out of my car.

I can’t believe I’m going on a date with Ginny.

I’ve dreamed about this day for years, but I never thought it would actually come to fruition.

Yet here I am, walking up her front steps with flowers in hand.

Ryan made her a beautiful bouquet of multicolored lilies—her favorite flower.

I pause at her front door, debating whether to let myself in or ring the doorbell.

If it were anyone else, I’d never barge into the house uninvited…

but this Ginny. I’ve always just walked right in, and I have a feeling she wouldn’t want me to treat her any differently than I normally would.

I glance at the flowers. Well, with a few exceptions .

Decision made, I key in her code and open the door. “Knock, knock!”

Ginny’s muffled voice comes from upstairs. “I’ll be down in just a minute.”

I stand by her front door and do my best to curb the urge to pace.

I shouldn’t be this nervous to go on a date with the one person I trust the most. She’s my best friend.

She’s been there through my best and worst times.

I’ve had my most embarrassing experiences with her by my side.

Our whole lives have led us to this moment.

We’ve shared everything, and now we’re simply taking the next step in our relationship.

I whip my head up as her heels clack down the stairs.

“Goddamn,” I whisper. The sundress Ginny’s wearing would be indecent if it wasn’t so fucking adorable.

The light blue material has tiny white flowers printed across it, but that’s where the innocent appeal stops.

The top of the dress is tight across her chest, pushing her boobs up to give her a mouthwatering cleavage line, while the bottom flares out around her hips, making them look round and grabbable.

I have never lusted after a woman the way I’m drooling over Ginny. I don’t know where to focus my eyes—her long legs in the strappy white heels, the curve of her waist, or the bounce of her tits as she walks downstairs. Jesus, this is going to be a lot harder than I ever imagined.

“You look…beautiful. Sexy. Fucking drop-dead gorgeous. Take your pick of adjectives, and it applies.”

Ginny’s face flames, her smile turning bashful when she looks at me. “You look amazing, too. I’ve never seen you in a sports coat like that.”

Fancy is not in my vocabulary, but Mom got me this jacket when I moved out of the house. She said I’d be glad to have it at the most random time, and she was right. I’ve never wanted to wear it until tonight .

“These are for you.” I hold out her flowers. Her blue eyes light up when she takes them from me.

“They’re beautiful.”

“Ryan arranged them, of course.”

She tilts her head in understanding. “Of course. I’ll have to send him a thank you.” Ginny walks to a side table in the kitchen and pulls out a vase. I’m mesmerized by the way she moves. Every step is graceful yet purposeful. It’s as if she’s dancing to music only she can hear.

It hits me then what we should do tonight. I can’t believe I hadn’t thought about it before now. I have this whole fancy date planned, and now I’m wondering what the fuck I was thinking. Ginny might be a celebrity now, but that hasn’t changed who she is on the inside. Fancy isn’t what she’d want.

“Hey, Goose. I need to step out to make a phone call real quick. Give me a second?”

A line forms between her eyebrows as she looks at me over her flowers. “Sure. I hope everything’s okay.”

“It’s perfect.”

She relaxes at that. It only takes me a minute or two to cancel the original reservation, and then I’m walking back inside.

Daren is standing by the door to the garage, his hands in his pockets. He turns to me when I get into the kitchen. “We were discussing whether security would be needed tonight.”

I look at Ginny. “It’s up to you, Goose. We’ll be in Westlake. Do you think you’ll be safe there?”

Ginny scrunches her face. “I don’t know. Probably?”

“If you had a panic button or something, we could have a couple of guys posted outside just in case. I don’t think anything’s going to happen, and you know I won’t leave you alone the whole time we’re there, but it might make us both feel better.”

“That’s a good idea. I’ve got something we can use. Hang on.” Daren heads back to the guard house, I assume, leaving Ginny and me alone.

I sidle up closer, my hands settling on either side of her neck. “Have I mentioned you look gorgeous tonight?”

Ginny grins. “A couple of times. Thank you.”

I lean in to kiss her, unable to hold back now that I’m allowed to do it. God, her lips are so fucking soft. I could kiss her for hours, and I’d still want more.

“We’re not going to be late for a reservation or anything, right?”

I shake my head. “We’re good. Besides, your safety is way more important than making a reservation.” I press my lips to hers in a soft, teasing kiss. I can’t afford to get too worked up, otherwise we’ll never leave.

The garage door cracks open, signaling Daren’s return. I take a small step back but keep my hand on the back of Ginny’s neck. I massage the muscles there, and the little noise that escapes her throat sends a bolt of lust straight to my cock. Jesus.

“Here. Put this on your cell. It’s similar to those Pop Socket things. All you have to do is pull it out, and it’ll trigger the alarm.”

Ginny takes it and sticks it to the back of her phone. “That’s handy. Now I don’t have to worry about accidentally pressing it or something. Plus, my dress has pockets, so I won’t need to worry about not having it close at hand.”

I hold my hand out to shake Daren’s. “Thank you. This is going to give us both peace of mind. Are you going to be with the guys tonight?”

“Yes. There will be three of us. One by your car, one on the front door, and one by the back.”

“Sounds good.” I squeeze Ginny’s neck. “You ready to go? ”

She nods, anticipation gleaming in her eyes. I am so fucking glad I changed our plans.

“You know, for a very talented singer/songwriter, you’re incredibly bad at dancing,” I tease.

Neon strobe lights flash across Ginny’s face as she throws her head back laughing.

I hold her close to me, one arm around her waist, the other pressing her hand to my chest. The music is loud, a bass line thumping through the speakers.

I haven’t recognized many of the songs playing, but I couldn’t care less.

They’ve all given me the chance to hold my best friend in my arms all night.

When we first arrived at the bar in Westlake, Ginny was confused.

It wasn’t until we got inside that she realized where we were.

Years ago, Ginny had been home for a short visit, and our friends decided to go out to a bar.

Well, the only one we could get into legally was this one…

because they were holding dance classes.

They had space available, and while it wasn’t a night of drinking and poor decisions, the six of us had a blast learning to two-step.

“All of my concert moves are choreographed, and I practice them religiously,” Ginny argues. “I haven’t done this in years.”

“Then we’ll have to keep practicing.”

“Yeah, we will.” The walk down memory lane opened up the floodgates of things to talk about, and after we got a couple of drinks in our systems, we relaxed into our date.

The music is loud, but it’s not too overwhelming.

The bar has a wall of tables that are raised off the ground and set back away from the dance floor.

If you can snag one, it’s the best seat in the house.

It’s quieter over there, and with high walls separating each table, it feels a little more private .

I shamelessly used Ginny’s celebrity status to have the manager reserve a table for us.

I didn’t want her to have to deal with people constantly coming up to her while we were standing around at the bar, and so far, they’ve been pretty respectful.

I’m prepared to have Daren come in and act as a wall between us and the other patrons, but it hasn’t been necessary yet.

As the song winds down, I lean in to speak in Ginny’s ear. “Do you want to go sit down for a bit?”

“Yes. I could use some water.”

I hold her hand as I guide us back to the table. As we walk away from the dance floor, the noise dims enough that we won’t have to yell at each other to be heard.

Ginny slides into the wooden booth, and I get in next to her.

That way, I can block any overzealous fans.

I can’t let myself get too comfortable. While Westlake is also a small town, people here don’t know Ginny the way the folks in Sonoma do.

They only see her as their favorite singer, and for whatever reason, people don’t believe that their favorite celebrities have boundaries.

I’ve seen it enough times at this point to know it only takes one fan to ruin the entire night.

I flag down a waitress to order us both water before turning my full attention on the woman I’ve only fallen more in love with tonight. I reach out for her hand. “I hope this was an okay idea for a date.”

“It’s perfect.” She beams at me. “I thought you’d do something fancy based on your outfit, but I’m so glad you brought me here.”

“Full disclosure, I was going to do that, but then this idea hit me across the head, and I canceled our reservation before we left.”

“Ooh. That’s what you were doing?”

“Yep. I had a feeling we’d both be more comfortable here. ”

“You were right.”

The waitress sets a couple of glasses down on our table, along with a pitcher. “Do you guys want anything to eat?”

I raise my eyebrows at Ginny.

“Yeah, two cheeseburgers and fries with all the stuff on the side, please.”

The waitress nods. “You got it.”

Ginny looks at me. “I’m starving. How come you didn’t order anything?”

My mouth drops open, but no words come out. Until Ginny snorts and peals of laughter rock her body.

“You little turd.” I jab my fingers into her rib cage to tickle her. She squeals and shoves me away. Instead of going anywhere, I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her close.

She’s pulled her hair up into a long ponytail, and I’ve had fantasies of wrapping my fist around it and kissing the hell out of her.

I won’t in front of all these people, but god, do I want to.

“Thank you for giving me a chance,” I murmur into the little bit of space between us.

“Thank you for giving me the courage to do it.”