My (Mostly) Secret Baby - Penelope Bloom Page 0,66
green and strong-smelling. I squinted at it but didn’t see any flowers or recognize it. “Are these weeds?” I asked.
He deflated a little. “I thought flowers would be too cliché. They’re also pointless. So I brought you something practical. They’re herbs. I picked them from an organic rooftop garden. It’s dill, rosemary, and thyme. I thought you could make some roast potatoes with them or something.”
I laughed, taking the bundle of wild greenery and sniffing. “That’s actually sweet, even if it’s a little weird. So… Should I go put these in water?”
Damon nodded.
Grant gave me a baffled look when I set all the herbs down on the counter. “I’ll explain later,” I said, giving Luna a quick kiss and hug before heading back downstairs to Damon.
He was dressed in a suit and tie that he wore so comfortably I wasn’t sure he ever took them off. The tie tonight was a navy blue that made his eyes look startlingly bright.
“I see you decided against the steak dress,” he noted as he stuck his elbow out for me.
“Are we walking to our date?” I hooked my arm in his with a little smile. “This is very formal.”
“Dick got lost on the way here. He’s parked like two blocks away. I had to tell him to stop trying to get closer because he kept getting farther every time I tried to guide him.”
I chuckled. “How does he get lost? It’s just a bunch of squares. He’s also been here before.”
“Dick is a shit driver. He bangs up his car almost every week, and I’m starting to suspect he even ran someone over once.”
We joined the late evening crowd of people traveling the sidewalks, heading North at an easy pace. “I’m starting to think you’re nowhere near as hard as you led people into believing.”
“Only when it comes to certain people. I’m just very particular.”
“So I met your particular criteria? Is that it?”
“Something like that. Yes.”
We walked in silence for a while, then. It was just his strong arm hooked with mine and his steady footsteps. There was the occasional honk of a car and the wet sound of tires rolling through streets still wet from the evening’s rain.
It was a beautiful night, and I felt completely alive next to him.
Except I couldn’t relax into the moment and this idea. I couldn’t just accept that we’d arrived, and everything was going to be okay, because I still didn’t feel like the chapter on this Trish woman was closed. I didn’t know why I felt that way, but she loomed in my chest like a blockage—something hard and unforgiving standing between us and where I wanted to be. I knew I was getting close to a solution with her, but I still couldn’t completely shake the feeling of dread.
Maybe it was just that I didn’t trust her not to show up with her arms outstretched and a crazy glint in her eyes—to say no, you shall not pass! It was ridiculous but knowing so didn’t help me shake the feeling.
We reached Dick’s car after a pleasant walk and found him doing a crossword puzzle on the steering wheel. He grinned wide at us, showing off a squared off gap from where he’d lost a tooth. “There’s the lovebirds.”
Damon played the gentleman and opened the door for me. Except when he put his hand on my lower back to guide me into the seat, I noticed he managed to make it feel far, far more sexual than the simple touch should’ve.
I sat there trying to calm down the explosion of warmth between my legs as he walked around the back of the car to get in. Damon’s touch triggered a chemical reaction in me. He made me realize there were three states of consciousness—not two. Asleep, awake, and those moments when our skin was pressed together. The promise of what was to come from his fingertips was an electric shock to my system that vaulted me into an absolute height of awareness.
Damon stole a glance when he sat down, then scooted close enough for our legs to press together. I’d imagined a night of deep conversations. Of revealed vulnerability and open hearts. Now all I could think about was the hardness between his legs and how full I’d feel when he gave it to me tonight.
God. How was I supposed to function around this man?
Dick looked up at us through his rearview, tapping his ear. “Now I can turn my hearing aides off if you