Page 61 of From That Moment

“I guess I’ll have to do better from here on out.”

“I suppose you will,” she said, and we went on to talk about work of all things, our conversation progressing easily as if we had done it a hundred times before.

We’d always been slightly caustic to one another, maybe just our large personalities clashing, but now it felt as if we knew each other a bit better.

I didn’t know everything. I knew there were secrets, dark ones from the glimpses I had gotten, but it wasn’t my right to know those. At least not yet.

I wanted to know. I wanted to know everything.

And that should have scared me far more than it did.

We made our way to the restaurant, a little chophouse that I liked to go to, one that Paris had mentioned before in passing. I knew she had been here, and it wasn’t a place I had taken Allison. Not that I hadn’t wanted to take her here, but it had never come up. I wanted my first date with Paris to be somewhere different than where I had taken Allison, and not the two places where I had caught Paris on really shitty blind dates.

“I love this place,” Paris said as we took our seats and leaned back as the hostess handed us our menus.

“Your waiter will be right with you.”

“Thank you,” I said, and then the young woman winked at Paris, gave her a once-over, and I grinned.

“Stop it,” Paris said, blushing all the way to her ears and down her chest.

It seemed she might just blush all over. That was interesting—something I would have to discover more of.

Down, boy.

“Well,” I said, grinning.

“Shut up.”

“I’m just saying. She’s hot.”

“Yes, and she’s probably a good ten years too young for me.”

“Maybe five, but not ten.”

“I don’t know if you’re calling her older or me older.”

“Neither. And, anyway, it’s kind of nice to watch you blush like that. You’ve never gotten embarrassed in front of me before.”

“I’m on a date with you. Nobody else is allowed to check me out.”

“True, but you do look fucking hot in that dress.”

She blushed again, and I smiled.

“Thanks, now I feel like I need to cover up.”

“Don’t. You look great.” Besides, my dick would regret it.

“I had it in the back of my closet, and I figured I’d try it out. Only now, I feel exposed.”

“You’re covered. Don’t worry about it. Seriously.”

“Maybe. I don’t usually dress like this. My typical attire is what you see me in at work.”

“Same here, although mine’s a little easier, I just added a jacket. I don’t usually wear them every day at work.”

“True, and you do clean up quite nicely.”