Michael's Discovery - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,60
lips.
His legs were protesting the strain he’d put on them. His powerful arms were the only things keeping him upright, which meant he had to get through this next part in a hurry. Still standing, he met her gaze.
“Have dinner with me tomorrow night,” he suggested.
She blinked rapidly. “What?”
“It’s not a difficult concept. I asked you to have dinner with me.”
“Why?”
He grinned at her reaction. “The usual reasons. Man meets woman. Man is attracted to woman. He asks her on a date. That is how it goes, isn’t it? I’m not that much out of touch.” He shrugged, trying not to make too much out of it. “Besides, I think we’re past due for a celebration. You certainly deserve one for putting up with me all this time.”
“Tomorrow’s Friday,” she pointed out.
Michael grinned. “I know that.”
“You usually go to the pub on Fridays, and I told you how I feel about going there.”
“You don’t want to give my family any ideas about the two of us,” he recited. “I know that, too. This is a date, Kelly. I’m asking you out on an honest-to-goodness date. No pub. No family. Just the two of us. You’ll have to drive, but other than that I’m in charge for a change. We’ll go wherever you want. Someplace fancy with candlelight and good wine. I’m afraid dancing’s out, but who knows, maybe I’ll buy you a corsage.”
She laughed then. “Nobody buys corsages except for proms.”
“Too much?”
“Definitely.”
“Champagne, then. What do you say?”
She took so long answering that he thought she might actually turn him down, but finally she nodded. “I would love to go to dinner with you, Michael. What time should I pick you up?”
“Seven sound okay?”
“Perfect,” she agreed more eagerly. “I’ll pick the place and make a reservation.”
He shook his head. “Tell me. I’ll call. I need to remember how it’s done.”
“I think it will all come back to you fairly quickly,” she said wryly.
Her belief that he’d been a bit of a scoundrel was very flattering, but the truth had been something else entirely. Before joining the navy, he hadn’t wanted to get distracted by a woman. During his years as a SEAL, the unpredictability of his life had kept him from getting too close. His relationships had been hot and steamy for a time, but there wasn’t one he could look back on as being remotely meaningful.
“This is different,” he told her with total sincerity.
“How? Because it’s been so long?”
“No.” He met her gaze and felt the familiar thunder of his pounding heart. “Because it’s you.”
Because it’s you. Because it’s you.
Kelly couldn’t seem to stop Michael’s words from echoing through her head. What had he meant? It had almost sounded as if he was genuinely worried about getting it right because she mattered to him in some way all the other women had not.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she muttered as she tossed aside what had to be the tenth outfit she’d tried on. She had deliberately picked an informal restaurant, despite Michael’s offer of champagne. He was still taking occasional pain medications and had no business drinking more than the occasional beer he indulged in with his pizza at home. Besides, her wardrobe was far more suited to casual than fancy.
Even so, she couldn’t seem to find a blasted thing in her closet that satisfied her. She finally settled for a sage-green cotton sweater that somehow made her gray eyes seem more the soft green of jade. She added a pair of camel-colored wool slacks and a gold locket that her mother had given her for her thirteenth birthday. Inside, still, was a tiny picture of Michael she’d clipped from a snapshot that had been taken of him and Bryan on a trip to Cape Cod that summer. She’d kept that locket in her jewelry box for years, but something told her tonight was a perfect night to bring it out again. Of course, if he happened to ask what was inside, she’d probably die of embarrassment.
Michael’s exuberant mood from Thursday afternoon had faded by the time she arrived to pick him up. His face was tight with pain. She took one look at him, assessed that he was paying for having overdone it the day before, and firmly closed the door behind her.
“Did you take your pain medication?” she asked as she moved briskly past him and headed for the kitchen where he kept the pills.
He shook his head.
She whirled on him. “Dammit, Michael, that’s what the medication’s for.”
“Who said I