Page 174 of Home Game

I felt my cheeks go hot. “Thank you.”

“These are for you.”

He handed me a massive bouquet of pink roses. “Ryan.”

“I would have bought out the entire flower store for you, but I thought you’d be pissed.”

I laughed. “Come on. Let me put these in water.”

I didn’t have a vase, so I needed to empty my Brita water container and stick them in there.

“They smell gorgeous,” I stuck my head in the bouquet.

He stood there, his hand in one pocket and a smile on his face. “Ready to go?”

It should have felt awkward, especially when he opened the car door for me and helped me in, but it didn’t. It felt like somehow I could breathe again.

“Where are we going?”

He glanced over at me. “It’s a surprise.”

“Is it Eki?” I secretly hoped it was Eki. That was a date restaurant.

“Better.”

“What could be better than Eki?”

He smiled. “You’ll see.”

La Tortue was better than Eki. It was a French restaurant that looked so fancy, when we sat down at the table, I was almost afraid to touch anything. Even the waiter was intimidating with his French accent and serious ways.

I almost had a heart attack when I looked at the menu.

“Ryan, my menu doesn’t have any prices.”

He winked at me. “That means you should order what you like.”

So I ended up ordering the lobster and Ryan ordered the Ribeye steak.

“This is the best meal I’ve ever eaten,” I moaned.

He smiled, holding my gaze.

“What?”

“Just you.”

I paused and looked at him. “You said you’d tell me why you’re scared.”

He cleared his throat. “I fucked up, Zoey. So bad. Will you let me explain?”

“I was too inexperienced when we fooled around,” I blurted out my worst fear.

“No.” His eyes widened. “Not even close. If you knew how many times I’ve relived that night, you’d blush.”

I blushed anyway. “You said we weren’t even.”

He reached across the table and grabbed my hand. “When youwere living with me, I wanted to start a romantic relationship with you more than I ever have in my entire life.”

---