Page 65 of Worthy of Sunsets and Second Chances

“There,” Eli says when he’s done, and I practically have to pick my jaw up off the floor. He might look a bit more casual, but he’s still the sexiest man I have ever seen. All those People magazine covers have nothing on the one standing in front of me right now.

He is real.

He is rugged, funny, kind, passionate, flawed, human.

He is trying.

And for this moment, he is mine.

“You look incredible,” Eli says. “I am the luckiest man on Earth. You could have on a trash bag and I would still take you out.”

I double over in laughter, wiping a few tears on my way back up to meet Eli’s kind eyes.

“What?” he asks with amusement.

“It’s just that Sutton told me that you wouldn’t care if I wore a potato sack, so I guess she was right. Trash bag is pretty dang close.” I snort at him.

Stepping closer to me and palming my cheek, Eli says, “I will take you any way I can have you, sweetheart. Any way you want to package yourself is perfect, and I will have fun unwrapping you no matter what.” He leans down and kisses my cheek with a sweetness that contradicts his dirty words.

“Let me just put my flowers in water before we go.” I rush off to the kitchen before I jump on him and we never leave the house at all.

Dimly lit, Gino’s is back to its semi-casual, cozy atmosphere after Rem and Lainey’s wedding. I was worried that Eli was planning to take me out of town to some crazy fancy place with the way he was first dressed, but this is perfect. It also makes my heart flutter knowing that he was so dressed up for me, because it was our first official date and he wanted to pull out all the stops to impress me.

“Reservations for Hargrove please,” Eli tells the red-headed high school girl at the hostess stand when we walk in, his hand wrapped firmly around my waist.

“Since when do you need a reservation for Gino’s on a Wednesday night at four thirty?” I smirk at him. He’d insisted that we have a very early dinner. I originally assumed he wanted to pick up Wren for her bedtime before he said she was staying at his mom’s tonight.

“Since I have a surprise after dinner and I needed to be sure we got a table,” Eli says, following the blushing teen, who keeps peeking back at him as she leads us through the sparsely filled tables and booths.

“Here you go, sir.” The flirty little hostess bats her false eyelashes at Eli as she presents the best booth in Gino’s to us, intimate and tucked away but still with a good view of everything.

Eli doesn’t give her more than a cordial half smile and thanks, helping me slide into the booth first, then following close behind, leaving no space between us, his warm leg brushing up against mine.

“Your server will be with you soon,” the girl says disappointedly when Eli doesn’t look at her again, handing us each a menu and then trudging off back to her station.

I tip my head back and laugh, unable to help myself.

“What’s so funny?” Eli asks, shocking me with a trace of his thick, calloused finger down the side of my neck, still pulsing with laughter.

“Just you breaking hearts wherever you go. First with Candace at the salon the other day and now with that girl.” I nod to the front of the restaurant.

“Kimmy was rude,” he says. “And I don’t like when women throw themselves at men that are obviously taken, so I don’t give a shit how she felt.”

I snort at his constant, intentional misuse of names to rile people up when he doesn’t like them. He can’t help himself, even when they aren’t here. He’s not doing it in a malicious way like Lainey’s mom did with Rem; it’s more playful and clearly helps him set a boundary.

“And that girl”—Eli cocks his head—“is like sixteen pretending she is twenty-six. All I ever give a child like that is a kind, brotherly smile.”

“Good answers.” I lay my hand on the white linen tablecloth and Eli covers it with his.

“The only heart I care about is yours,” he says with a raw honesty that I am not ready for this early in the evening . . . on our first official date.

I slip my hand away and snatch up the menu. “Hmmm, what should we order.” Eli leans back, slinging his muscled arm around the back of the booth behind the top of my shoulders, deep blue eyes assessing me. “Want to have an appetizer, or no?” I ask.

Sighing with resignation, he replies, “I think we should have at least two and share a bottle of wine. They have your favorite kind here.”

“How do you know what my favorite wine is?” I lick my bottom lip, watching as his eyes track the movement, knowing I’m playing with fire.

“You and Lainey drink it on most of your girls’ nights. We can get that or something else if you don’t want it tonight.” He leans in, tracing his thumb along my wet bottom lip.