drinks with Cory last weekend and had been texting him all week, her sudden jitters seemed a little late in coming.
A pair of hands covered her eyes and she jumped, biting back a yelp. A laugh came from behind her, and the hands moved away from her eyes as quickly as they’d appeared. She turned around to see Cory, who bent his head down and pressed his lips against hers, keeping them there for longer than a quick hello kiss.
“Hi,” he said, his eyes as warm as his smile. Looking into them, Emily caught the reflection of the streetlight behind her.
She returned his smile. “I guess that makes the end of the night less awkward,” she kidded. “And I guess I can’t tell you I don’t kiss on the first date.”
He moved his hand down to hers and gave her fingers a squeeze. “I couldn’t help myself. I’ve been wanting to do that since last weekend.”
Side by side, they walked to the Rainbow’s entrance. Emily felt her nervousness begin to fade.
“Have you met Mike?” Cory asked.
Emily shook her head. “Who’s Mike?”
“He’s the manager here. He’ll hook us up with a table if it’s busy.”
“You know people in high places,” she teased him, before noticing he’d stopped walking. “What’s wrong?” She also stopped.
“Absolutely nothing.” He bent his head over hers again. “Just tell me if I need to be good,” he murmured, before capturing her lips with his.
Emily felt a flutter in her stomach. In her mind, she pictured every women’s magazine article and relationship blog post about the rules of dating screaming at her in bolded, underlined, and italicized font that she shouldn’t be kissing him yet. They were five minutes into their first date, after all.
What did the article and blog authors know about the date she was on right now, though? She dismissed the thought and tilted her head up, softly brushing her lips against his again. “This is good,” she murmured.
Cory brought both of his hands up to cup the sides of her face. “So, dinner?”
“That sounds familiar,” she said, feeling a little breathless.
Cory took her hand and led her to an empty table on the patio. After she was seated, he moved to the other side of the table and sat down.
“You’re so far away.” He gave her a pouty little-boy look from across the table.
“Well, the chair’s over here,” she pointed out.
“Yeah, you’re right. They did that wrong.” He stood up and walked over to her chair. “Can I see this for a sec?”
“My chair?” she asked.
“Mmm-hmm.”
“Um... okay?” She stood up, puzzled by what he was looking for.
He grabbed the back of the chair in his hands and moved it to his side of the table, placing it next to his chair.
“This is a better spot,” he explained. “We should really talk to them about that.” He looked at her, waiting for her to sit down. She walked around the table to where he’d moved her chair and let him seat her again.
“Points for originality,” she told him, trying to mask her surprise. There was no arguing that so far, this was definitely the most interesting first date she’d ever been on.
He sat down beside her. “So where were we?”
“You were looking crestfallen that I was so far away,” she recalled. “Then you kidnapped my chair. I think that’s where we left it.”
“Do you know why I moved your chair?”
“I could guess, but I’d rather hear your explanation.”
“I was looking at the bracelet you’re wearing and wanted to see it.” He touched her wrist with his hand while he spoke, gently moving the gold bangle she wore.
“Really?” The feeling of his fingers against her wrist made it hard for her to focus.
“No, not really. I just wanted to be able to do this.” He leaned over to kiss her again.
“Hey guys, welcome. I’m Danielle. How are you doing tonight?”
They quickly drew apart at the sound of their server’s voice. Emily cleared her throat and looked up. “Hi.” She hoped she at least looked composed.
Danielle could have been a world-class poker champion, because her face lacked any sign of witnessing their makeout session just seconds before. “Can I start you two off with some drinks?” she asked, her voice pleasant.
“Definitely,” Cory answered. He moved his hand to rest on Emily’s shoulder and gave it a light squeeze.
“I’ll have a lemon drop martini, please.” It was the first drink that came to Emily’s mind. With Cory this close to her, she was having trouble thinking.
Danielle looked at