into the house. “Come in out of the cold. I just need to grab my coat.” I dashed to the hallway closet and pulled it off the hanger before shrugging it on. “You gonna tell me where we’re going?”
“To dinner,” he answered.
“Oh, so you were serious about the food.” I turned to him with a smile and walked over. “I thought that was code for you were gonna eat me. Or me eat you. Both ways work.”
“Not everything is about sex, Reed.” Daniel tugged me to his chest.
“Um. In my experience it is,” I said as my heart picked up pace. That tender look in his blue eyes never failed to send it racing. “Guys will take me out just so they can get some ass at the end of the night.”
“I’m not them.”
Wasn’t that the fucking truth.
“I know.” I rose up on my tippy-toes and planted a kiss on his lips.
He smiled against my mouth and wound an arm around my waist. “Ready to go?”
“You’re the boss. You tell me.”
“Very well.” Daniel let go of me and opened the door.
I followed him onto the front porch before locking up the house and walking at his side. The January air cut right through me, and when I shivered, he stepped closer to me. I didn’t know if it was intentional or out of reflex, but it made me smile. We fell into an easy silence as we got into his car and backed out of the driveway.
“I hate how it gets dark so early,” I said, staring out the window at the very faint brightening of the otherwise dark sky. It was right at the edge of dusk, where the last traces of sun faded and welcomed the night.
“Days should gradually get longer soon,” Daniel responded. “The dark won’t last forever.”
I focused on him. “I like that.”
“What?”
“The dark won’t last forever,” I quoted. “It can be said for a lot of things in life. When I was growing up, it seemed like the sun would never rise again, you know? Each day I waited for the oppressing dark to lighten, and it did. Eventually.”
He kept his eyes on the road, quiet in his thinking. Then, “It did for me too.”
“Can I ask you something?”
The edge of his mouth curved up. “Do I have a choice in the matter?”
I breathed out a laugh and rested my head back against the seat, peering at him. He looked too damn handsome: freshly shaven jaw, black hair falling a bit across his forehead, and lips that just begged to be kissed.
“What are we doing?” I asked, fighting the sudden bubbling of anxiety inside me.
His brow pulled together. “Going to dinner.”
I laughed again, but my nerves showed through that time. “No. I mean…” I swallowed hard. “This thing between us… is it only casual sex? A no-strings-attached type of thing?”
Daniel turned left at a stop sign, and the wheel slid through his fingers as the car straightened back up. “What do you want it to be?”
“Totally not what I asked you,” I said, both amused and irritated by his dodging of the question. “I usually don’t bring this shit up, especially this early on. But. I’ve been burned too many times before. I assumed the relationship was one thing, and it turned out the other guy wasn’t on the same page. It’s okay if you only want something casual. I’d just like to know that before I start assuming shit.”
As seconds passed with nothing but the slight humming of the engine to fill the silence, I began to freak out a little. Had I ruined everything by asking something most people never mentioned until date three or so?
“I’m sorry I brought it up,” I said as my cheeks heated. I tore my gaze from him and looked out the window instead. “Forget about it.”
“I haven’t been in an actual relationship in years,” Daniel said. “I dated here and there after Olivia, but I was always afraid to get too close to anyone else. Casual sex is easy. Safe.”
That damn metal rod was back, jammed into the center of my rib cage. With each of his words, it twisted more and more. I’d told him casual was okay, however, I wanted more than sex with him.
“That’s not what I want with you, Reed.”
I snapped my head toward him. “Huh?”
“Sex with you is incredible,” he said, squeezing the steering wheel a little tighter. “But I want more than that with you. I understand if you don’t want