no actually, that wasn’t what I was asking,” he grinned. “I don’t really want to know about that. Is that weird?”
“No,” I laughed. “I don’t really want to know about the other women you’re dating either.”
“Well, actually Gemma...”
“Yeah?”
“I’m not seeing any other women.”
“Oh, really?” I was shocked. This gorgeous, handsome, successful man was not dating anyone else?
“Yeah, I mean, I signed up for the app. I met two women before you. We went on two dates and I wasn’t feeling it, so I didn’t ask them out again. And then I met you and right away, I thought you were someone special and I wanted to see where it was going. And here we are. I still think you’re special and it seems to be going really well.”
“I think it’s going well too,” I blushed. “Wow, I didn’t expect you to say that.”
“I think you know how much I like you, Gemma.”
He got up from the table and walked over to me. He grabbed my hand and he pulled me out of the seat. “What are we doing?” I said and looked back at the dishes on the table. “Shouldn’t we put them ... “
“We’re not going to put them anywhere. Follow me.” He led me into the living room and I stared at him in surprise.
“What are we doing? Is this where the cheesecake is?”
“Don’t be silly. I think we can have some cheesecake later,” he said and pulled me into his arms. “Let’s dance.”
“But there’s no music playing,” I said giddily, excited as he pressed me up against him.
“Hold on a second. What do you want to hear?”
“I don’t know. What do you think?”
“How’s about some Frank Sinatra,” he said. He cleared his throat and then he said, “Alexa, play Frank Sinatra.” And suddenly, “Strangers in the Night” started playing in the room. “Da da da da da,” he hummed along to the music and grabbed my hand and then started moving me across the room.
“You’re a good dancer,” I said in surprise.
“I took lessons when I was younger. My grandparents had me and my brother take lessons.” He made a face. “Hated it then. But for situations like this, I’m glad that I took them.”
“Yeah. Oh yeah, I forgot you had a brother. You said he’s on this app as well?”
“Yeah, but he’s not actually looking for a relationship. I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually hasn’t met anyone yet.” He made a face.
“Oh, he’s not looking for a relationship. So why is he on it?”
“I think I told you, my grandparents signed us up because they want us to get married. We have a significant inheritance coming to us, um, that is currently in trust, but there are some stipulations as to how we get the money.”
“Oh, don’t tell me you have to be married.” I looked at him, freezing. If he was about to tell me the only reason he was seeing me was because he wanted to collect his inheritance, that was it. I mean, I wanted a love story. I wanted a love match. I didn’t want to be someone’s contract date. That wasn’t romantic. I hadn’t waited all these years for something like that.
“Oh no, no, no,” he chuckled. “There’s no way anyone in my family would do anything like that. Far too many divorces. No, actually our grandparents just want to ensure that we’re happy because they’re happy. But they don’t understand that my brother and I, we’re very different people. I’m looking for a relationship. I’m looking for love and marriage. And my brother? Well, he just wants to play the field.”
“Oh, trust me, I’ve met plenty of guys like that.” I shook my head. “But enough about your brother. Let’s just talk about us.” I wanted to change the subject. Because the more he spoke about his brother, the more he reminded me of Connor. Connor also didn’t want to be in a relationship. Connor also just wanted to play the field. And as much as I enjoyed being here with Lucas, I could still feel a slight pang as I thought about Connor and the way he’d just ditched me. Yes, he’d spoken to me and told me why, but it still burned slightly.
We moved across the room smoothly as if we were made to dance together. One Frank Sinatra song turned into another and then Bing Crosby was singing Christmas songs. And I felt like I was floating on air.