type. She’s more than willing to share me with the right girl.”
“Good to know,” I say, wrinkling my nose.
Ew. Snakes. What’s wrong with him?
“Not a snake fan?” he asks.
“How could you tell?”
“Everything you think shows on your face,” he says with a laugh. “But I like that. At least Clare and I will always know where we stand with you.”
“Clare and I aren’t going to stand anywhere together. I’ll stand on the floor, and she can slither around her very secure glass enclosure, which is never opened in my presence. Yes?”
“Absolutely.” Nick’s expression grows serious again. “I’ve got your back, Mel. You can count on me any time you need me. Even if this—whatever it is—between us doesn’t work out.”
My forehead pinches. “Can we call the whatever it is dating? Does that work for you?”
Nick’s dimple pops. “Yeah. That works for me.”
“Me, too.” I grin.
“And I’m sorry about the other night,” he says, an almost shy note in his voice that makes my heart squeeze. “I shouldn’t have asked you to come home with me. That’s not how I want it to go with us. I just…I kind of lose my ability to think straight when I’m kissing you.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I say, my lips tingling. “I can’t think straight when we kiss, either.”
“So maybe we shouldn’t kiss?” Nick arches a teasing brow.
“Yeah, right.” I shake my head as I loop my arms around his neck. “I’m not in this just for the friendly conversation, mister. I want the bennies. All the bennies.”
“Those are pretty nice,” Nick agrees, his lips moving closer to mine, making me ache for a taste of him. My pulse is already picking up, anticipating the way he makes my blood rush when he adds, “But maybe we should just put a few limits in place.”
“What kind of limits?” I murmur, my focus already slipping as his warm breath feathers across my mouth. Even his breath is magically delicious.
“No sex. Not for at least ten dates,” he says, making me wrench my head back.
“What?” My brows snap together. Surely, I must have heard him wrong. “Why?”
“Because I want you to be sure. And I want it to be special,” he says with a steadiness that makes it hard to argue with him.
Still, I find myself saying, “How about four dates?”
Even now, with the stress of going to the police station hanging over my head, I’m still dying to kiss him. More than kiss him. Once this night is in our rearview, I know I’ll be right back to being desperate to get naked with him and ten dates could take a really long time to get through, considering we both work hard at our jobs and have family obligations and friend relationships to nurture, as well.
“Seven,” Nick counters, grinning as he runs gentle fingers through my hair, even that enough to make me tingle.
“Five,” I say firmly. “And that’s my final offer.”
“You drive a hard bargain, March, but…I’ll take it,” he says, and then he kisses me, a tender, careful kiss that warms me all over, turning my insides to liquid sunshine.
I didn’t think anything could be hotter than Nick’s passionate kisses, but this sweet kiss…
Oh my...
I feel it all the way down to my toes, buzzing in my fingertips, wrapping around my heart, breaking through to that hidden place inside me that Brian was never able to touch, that place that longs for more than friendship or casual affection. Deep down in my most secret self, I want to ache for someone, burn for them, need them like the air I breathe. And not just in a physical way. I want that kind of heart connection, too.
I haven’t stopped to wonder if Nick might be that person before, but even just a few minutes in, I can already tell that this is going to be more than a fling.
“Don’t stop,” I whisper when he pulls away, my eyes still closed and my head spinning.
“The sooner we get the shitty stuff over with, the sooner we can get started on our first date.”
My eyes open a crack. “Tonight?”
“I don’t have to be back at the shop until noon,” he says. “After we talk to my brother, we could go for late night breakfast at the diner by the highway. Get some greasy eggs and toast.”
“And waffles,” I add.
“And waffles,” he agrees, taking my hand in his bigger, warmer one. “Come on, we can call Nash on the way to the station.”
As I follow Nick through the