Chelsea was right. She deserved this. But she also didn’t want to end up on the floor after the first half hour, so she took a bite of the wrap, which was oh so good.
“I’ll bet you do this a lot,” she said, trying not to devour the wrap in two bites once she realized how hungry she really was.
“Do what?”
“Go out. Eat. On dates.”
He’d fixed one of the wraps for himself and had taken a bite. He chewed thoughtfully, took a drink of water, then leaned back in the chair. “Well, I do eat.”
She pinned him with a look. “You know what I mean.”
“I do know what you mean. And no, I don’t date a lot. For the past several years I’ve been on the night shift. There aren’t a lot of women to date during daylight hours.”
“You had weekends, though.”
“I had night shift on a lot of the weekends, too. I wasn’t exactly high man on the totem pole. You get the shit shifts when you’re working your way up.”
“Oh. I hadn’t thought about that. Must have really screwed with your social life.”
“What social life?”
“Okay. Point taken. So what have you been doing?”
He shrugged. “Sleeping. Going to the gym. Hanging out at home or going out for a beer with my friends when I do get some time off.”
“Sounds about as exciting as my life.”
He shot her a smile. “Minus the kids, but yeah, it’s hard to have a relationship when you know you’re not going to be able to take a woman out on a Friday or Saturday night, or when you know your schedule is going to be the kiss of death before you can ever get anything started.”
She lifted her sake. “Welcome back to regular working hours, then, Will.”
He clinked his glass of water against her sake. “Thanks. It’s good to be in the land of the living again. And the same to you.”
He had a point. “Thanks. It’s nice to be out without the kids. I don’t get adult conversation all that often.”
“You should have been out well before now.”
She took a deep breath. “It was important the kids had me around.”
“For a while at the beginning, yeah. For two years? Come on. You don’t need to sacrifice your entire life just because Vic took a hike.”
She lifted her beer and took a long swallow. “Oh, how about we don’t talk about Vic tonight?” Or…ever.
“Sure. Okay, sorry.”
“No. I’m sorry.” She’d snapped at him. Wasn’t she turning out to be a fun date?
“You don’t have to be sorry. You have a right to not want to talk about…that.”
“No, I need to stop pretending he doesn’t exist. I just wanted a nice night out tonight without thinking about my kids or my ex-husband. Is that selfish of me?”
He picked up her hand, and there was that zing again. “You have a right to have anything you want tonight.”
“That’s a dangerous thought.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Yes, it is. I am, after all, with an officer of the law.”
His gaze went dark. “Do you have illegal intentions?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. Like I said, I don’t get out much. I might want to let my inner bad girl out tonight. What if I want to go skinny-dipping in the lake?”
“I can make that happen.”
She laughed. “And you’d protect me when our local law enforcement shows up to arrest me.”
“I just happen to be best friends with local law enforcement. So, yes, you’re in the clear.”
“Good to know.” Not that she’d ever do that, but it was fun to think about.
Will watched the myriad of emotions cross Jane’s face.
God, she looked pretty tonight, her hair down like a dark cascade around her shoulders. And those bare shoulders were driving him crazy. He wanted to kiss them. Or at least start there, and work his way up to her neck, maybe nibble on an earlobe, then her lips.
Her mouth was distracting. She had lip gloss on tonight, calling attention to her lips, which were full and kissable. He was getting hard, probably a bad thing to do at the restaurant.
He adjusted his napkin in his lap.
She’d been so tense and nervous earlier, which was cute, because it was so obvious she wasn’t used to going out on dates.
Hell, he was a little rusty, too. He wanted this night to be good for her. He wanted everything to be good for her. He wanted to make her laugh, and then later, he wanted to make her scream—in the fun way.
“So, are you ready to get naked and do your skinny-dipping now, or wait until after dinner?”
Her lips quirked. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s not even dark yet. And the park is still open. Way too many people wandering around to see my naked butt.”
“Okay. We’ll do it after dinner. When the park closes.”
Jane loved Will’s sense of humor. And speaking of dinner…her continued buzz reminded her they needed to order. She picked up the menu and perused it. The next time their waitress wandered by, they ordered food.
She wanted this to last all night.
CHAPTER SIX
For the next hour, Jane lost herself in conversation and one of the best meals she’d had in too long to remember. By the time Will paid the check, she was stuffed, and her buzz had lessened somewhat.
“Thank you for that,” she said as he held the door to the car open for her.
“It was my pleasure.”
No, it was definitely hers. She’d remember this for a long time.
Figuring he’d take her home, she was surprised when they headed downtown, and even more surprised when they ended up parked across from Cain’s Ballroom.
“I thought maybe you’d like some music.”
“I love music.”
He held her hand as they crossed the street and continued to hold it when they went inside. “There’s an indie rock band playing tonight. I’ve heard they’re pretty good, so I thought we’d give it a shot.”
They were more than pretty good. She and Will were on their feet the whole time, dancing and getting down to the band’s music, which was a little alternative, a lot loud, and raucous. She had worked up a good sweat by the time the band took a break and they headed toward the bar.
“A beer?” he asked.