Page 56 of Empty Net

I pretend it doesn’t bother me, placing my hand on her lower back and waving her forward. “After you, ma’am.”

She lets out a loud laugh, shaking her head. “Always the gentleman, Fox.”

She rushes off to hug Auden goodbye, and Locke leans in close.

“Always the gentleman, even when you don’t want to be,” he says, low enough so only I can hear him.

I shoot him a warning glare over my shoulder, which causes him to laugh, and then I meet Lilah by the door.

“You looked a little upset back there. Everything okay with Locke?” she asks as we step out into the cold January night.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. We’re fine,” I say, brushing off her worry. “He was just being an ass.”

He was being an ass, but he was also right. Iambeing a gentleman, but for the first time in my life, I don’t want to be, especially when it comes to Lilah.

CHAPTER 11

LILAH

“Holy shit.”

Fox stares down at me with his mouth agape. Those beautiful brown eyes that I seem to be getting lost in more and more often are wide with appreciation as they drag over me.

“You look incredible,” he says quietly, still unable to take his gaze off me.

It’s been a week since I last saw him, which means I’ve had time to let my nerves build about this date of ours. It seems so silly because we truly are doing things backward, getting engaged and then dating, but it didn’t stop me from panicking about tonight. I changed my outfit no less than five times and even left my apartment just to get down to the lobby of my building and race back upstairs to change again.

I can’t recall the last time I was nervous like that. Maybe in college, when I went on a date with the star quarterback, only for him to never call me again? I don’t know. All I know is until Fox opened the door, I had a giant hole in my stomach.

But now, with the way he’s looking at me… Well, all I feel is beautiful, even if I am wearing something simple. I finally settled on a maroon long-sleeved top that hugs me in all the right places and dark wash jeans that look stitched for me and me alone.I paired the outfit with heels and went light on my makeup—something that says,This is a date, and I tried hard but not too hard.

Looks like Fox went the same route with jeans and a simple gray button-up shirt that’s undone just enough to show a tuft of dark hair peeking out the top, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. And no socks. I have no idea why I find that part so ridiculously attractive, but I do. His hair is still wet like he just got out of the shower, and he runs a hand through it, another thing I find entirely too alluring.

“Come on in,” he says, stepping aside to let me pass, fresh Irish Spring hitting me as I do.

When I step into Fox’s apartment for the first time, it’s nothing like I expected. With soft gray walls, dark furniture, and low lighting, it’s cozy yet modern and perfectly suits him.

“It’s not much.” He closes the door behind us, his warmth seeping into me as he stands at my back, pulling my coat from my arms and hanging it next to the door, right beside his. “But I don’t spend much time here during the season and even less in the summer since I often go back home or travel abroad, so it is what it is.”

“It’s cute,” I tell him, glancing around, wanting a closer look at everything. “I’m sure making something yours is hard when you spend so much time traveling and never knowing if you’ll be traded or not.”

“It definitely makes settling in difficult, that’s for sure. Come on.”

Fox motions for me to follow him, leading me right into an open-concept kitchen with a large island in the center, matching appliances, and an oversized fridge tucked into the wall. There’s a breakfast bar and a table for two near a giant wall of windows that is already set.

He rounds the island in the middle of the room, settling in front of the stove as he stirs this and that, adding a few sprinkles of seasoning. Whatever he’s making smells incredible, and my stomach rumbles loudly at the scent.

Fox doesn’t miss it, laughing at the sound. “Dinner will be ready in just a few,” he promises. “Would you like something to drink while we wait?”

“Sure.”

He moves to the fridge, pulling out a pitcher of something light green. “I made some sparkling jalapeño lime lemonade, if you’re interested.”

“Youmadeit?”

He shrugs. “It’s not too hard, and I enjoy being in the kitchen.”

Every other guy I’ve ever dated has dropped fortunes on fancy meals that leave me hungry, soof courseFox is nothing like that.

---