Page 19 of A Forever Home
Della nibbled at her lower lip. “I was just working up the nerve to text you back, actually.”
“You had to work up the nerve to do it?” he asked, brows softly pinching.
“Well, I don’t want to risk falling for my pretend boyfriend.” She looked away for a moment. Maybe she’d said too much. She could blame it on that Christmas wine.
“Ah, I see. Yes, that was a concern of mine as I drove down here. Falling for my pretend girlfriend might be complicated.”
She looked at him, finding him even more handsome than she remembered.
“But I was thinking, maybe we could go on a real date sometime,” he said.
Della folded her arms around herself. “That might be hard, considering that you live so far away.”
“There were no flights,” Roman said. “So I drove from Dayton all the way to Sweetwater Springs. Then I drove here.”
Della grimaced. “That’s a long way to drive for a date.”
“It is. But I’ll be spending a lot more time in Sweetwater Springs. I agreed to work on a job there with some guys I know. We’re building a house for a family who lost theirs in a fire.”
“Your current job will allow you to take that much time off?” Della asked.
“No. I quit that job this morning. I am currently unemployed.” He narrowed his brown eyes. “Maybe that doesn’t exactly make me real boyfriend material. An unemployed contractor who doesn’t exactly have a home.”
Della furrowed her brow. “You don’t have a home?”
“Well, I’m planning to sell my place in Dayton. Without the job, there’s not much holding me there. I’m not really sure about moving back to Sweetwater Springs, but I wouldn’t mind being closer to my family.”
“So you’re jobless and homeless?”
“You’d be crazy to agree to a date with me, huh?” he asked. The snow was making a fine layer of white on his coat and hair.
Della’s eyes burned but not because of the cold. This was the sting of happy tears rushing to the surface. She wasn’t going to cry, but she easily could. This was so unexpected and also exactly what she’d been secretly wishing for. “I happen to be great at finding jobs and homes for people. It’s a talent of mine.”
Roman’s gaze was steady on hers. “So I’ve heard.”
“Maybe I could help,” she offered.
“I’d be indebted to you.”
She looked at the beautiful man in front of her. She still didn’t know everything about him, but she knew him. She recognized something inside him as if they’d been friends forever. “I’ve lost track of who is indebted to who. Maybe we can just call it even.” Della nibbled her lip and glanced over her shoulder. “I was just about to have a glass of wine. Would you like to come inside?”
Roman looked past her for a moment as he seemed to weigh his answer. Then he shook his head. “I would love to, Della. But I don’t want to mess things up with you, because I have a feeling about us.”
“You do?”
One corner of his mouth quirked up. “And I want to do this right. That means we need to start with a first date. When are you free?”
She thought for a moment. “My kids are with their father for the next two days.”
“Can I take you out to dinner tomorrow, then?” he asked.
Della hugged her arms around herself as warm fuzzies floated around in her chest like winter snowflakes. “I know a good restaurant here in town.”
“Perfect.” His breath came out in white puffs as he looked at her. “I like to do things in order so the first date comes before the first kiss.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “That’s where we differ. I kind of like to mix things up and do what I want, when I want.”
His half smile dropped as she stepped toward him and went up on her toes. She paused just a few inches from his lips. Then her gaze flicked up to meet his, silently asking for permission. “And I want to kiss you right now.”
