Page 6 of Strawberry Cake
“You paid for the coffee,” she protested.
He crooked a brow, but Hope had already paid.
“And it was my idea to come here anyway.”
“So, if I invite you somewhere and make the plans you’ll let me pay?” he asked, tucking that information away for future use.
“Sure.” She took the bag and stayed by his side as they left the store. “Well, unless it’s like something extortionate and fancy. Or if we made the plans together. I have a rule: I don’t invite anyone to places if I can’t afford it myself.” Then she laughed when she saw his buffooned look. “You wouldn’t go on a date knowing you couldn’t afford it, so why would I expect that?”
“Well, when you put it that way…”
“Does it make you uncomfortable?”
Not as much as getting into the car while you’re watching…
Decan shook his head.
He’d had a few dates over the past few years, but he never let them see him drive. He preferred to meet them somewhere. Just like before, Hope paid him no mind, setting her books in the back seat and waiting for him in the car.
As he backed out of the spot, she tilted her head slightly and looked at him. “Do you want me to offer you help? Or do you prefer doing your own thing?”
Decan sighed with relief. “I prefer doing it on my own. I’ll ask if I need help.”
Decan relaxed further when Hope pointed to her right as he approached the exit of the lot. “The next one isn’t far, down on Kempwood and Gessner.”
He nodded, speechless. Her question had been so simple, yet so thoughtful. She hadn’t been awkward about it either, just straight forward and he fucking loved it. People often assumed he needed help when in reality, he simply needed extra time to get things done. He hated when people interfered with things—it only slowed him down and made him feel like an invalid. Hope asking what his preference was had been the sweetest thing someone had ever done during a first date. Mind-blowingly sweet to be accurate.
“So how often do you work out?” Hope asked, pulling him from his thoughts.
“At least three or four times a week, depending on workload.”
“What a dedication. I go through phases of either thinking I need to work on myself or just giving up and saying I need to love myself the way I am.” Hope shrugged her shoulders. “I always admire people who can make a habit of it.”
He loved her curves, had never understood why women struggled with their self image. As he’d grown older, he’d seen more clearly that society was the devil’s tongue for them so to speak. Wanting her to feel better about herself, he said, “That could also be your regular.”
She laughed and shook her head. “Don’t say stuff like that. I’ll just use it as an excuse not to go.”
“So if I tell you that you look gorgeous no matter what, would you use that as an excuse not to go too?”
That adorable flush washed over her cheeks again, and Decan made it his personal mission to make sure he saw it as much as possible. “I might.”
“Ah, what a shame—I like giving compliments to a beautiful woman.”
Hope’s gaze burned into him, bottom lip fixed between her teeth. He’d have given anything to know what was going on in that mind of hers.
The next store was just like the first, but Hope didn’t seem to like any of the books she saw. She commented that she already owned two of them, and none of the others intrigued her. They visited two more stores on the way back to the coffee shop, where she only bought one more book.
“You seem disappointed,” he pointed out when they left the parking lot of the last store.
Hope offered him a soft smile, her kind eyes finding his. “With the book hunt, not the company.”
“Does that mean I can join you more often?”
Her eyes sparkled as her smile widened. “I would enjoy that very much.”
When they arrived back at the Starbucks where he’dpicked her up, she pointed at her silver sedan.
“That one’s mine.”