Page 12 of A Night With You
"I am." I swallow thickly and let him lead the way.
Bennet waits while I lock up, then offers me his arm and escorts me to the truck. With my hand wrapped around his forearm, skin against skin, more of last night comes back to me. The stolen glances and blush that came to his cheeks when he saw me across the bar.
It’s almost too good to be true. He reaches ahead of us to open the door for me. I hold his hand tight as I climb into the truck. Again there’s this shock and pull and the idea that all of this must be a dream.
"What a gentleman," I say, holding his hand for a few seconds longer.
"I'm trying," he says, then squeezes my hand and lets go. The truck jostles slightly as he closes the door.
"You're doing a good job, in my book," I tell him through the open window and he grins before jogging around the truck and climbing behind the wheel.
“The flowers especially. Brownie points,” I tell him with a grin although I can’t look him in the eyes as I do.
Bennet flashes another smile at me, and my heart skips a beat. "I'll keep it up, then."
He drives us to a little restaurant downtown. There aren't many upscale places in a town this size, and this one's known as the ‘date’ restaurant.
"Oooh, you’re going all out tonight," I remark and Bennet laughs.
“It’s the least I can do to say thank you for what you’re doing for Steve,” he tells me and I wonder if that’s really what he thinks this is.
"Don’t forget,” I tell him, “we're here to be seen." As if this date is only for Steve.
"You're right," he agrees, then hops out and comes around to my side of the truck to help me back out. “I will definitely be playing it up for the crowd,” he says with an uncontained smile.
“I guess I’ll play along too then,” I tell him before biting down on my smile to keep it from being a bit too much. It feels almost like a dare. Almost like the rules don’t matter.
Bennet threads his fingers through mine on the way to the front door, giving me a wink as we go. The hostess looks between us, her eyebrows going up for a fraction of a second. I smile at her like I have no idea what's going on.
"Reservation for Thompson," Bennet says.
"Right this way." The hostess smiles even wider, then leads us to a table in the front windows of the restaurant. We're surrounded by glass on three sides. Anybody walking past can see that we're here on a date.
Bennet pulls my chair out for me. "This okay?" he murmurs.
"More than okay. This is the whole point, right?"
"Mmm," he says. That's not a yes. My heart speeds up again as he takes his seat across from me and spreads his napkin over his lap. "Now. A lot’s changed since high school… mind catching me up."
"That's a lot to cover in one date,” I tell him with a simper as I smooth my own napkin over my lap.
Bennet shrugs, like he'd actually sit here in this restaurant until I'd told him absolutely everything about me. "Start at the beginning."
"I was born in town, went to school here..." I say jokingly.
"Oh, I remember that." His eyes light up. "But go on."
"I got into editing during college.”
“You went to state right?” he asks and I nod, surprised he knew that.
“And when I saw the open job here, it just made sense to interview."
"Had enough of the city?"
"Yes." Memories resurface from my time away from town. "It wasn't bad. I had some really happy times in college. But I guess I just felt like I was meant to be here."
A waitress with a simple black shift dress leans in to fill our water glasses and take our orders, and we're off.