Page 80 of Hart of Darkness
I pulled him in. “You’re going to give the women a meltdown.”
His rugged features crumpled as he sat on the edge of my desk in the exact spot where Bruce had been. His gaze scanned the contents of my messy desk.
I lowered myself into my rolling chair. “Don’t be so coy. Hot guy walks into the newsroom with flowers. It’s every girl’s dream.”
He let out a deep laugh. “Is that your dream, Maggie?”
I thought my dream would be round two with him in bed or having him spank me with a ping-pong paddle, but that wasn’t enough anymore. In between writing, I’d had a chance to seriously think about things I wanted. One was a family. I had no one in my life other than Ted, and it was time to do something about that. I wanted a steady relationship with someone, that person being the delicious specimen next to me. I longed for him to kiss me, to touch me as if I were porcelain and breakable, and to tell me I was the only woman he wanted. I’d never wanted any of those things from a man. I was content with who I was and what I had. I was confident and bold and aggressive. If I wanted something, I went for it.
With Dillon, though, I didn’t want to be bold. I believed I had forced him into keeping his distance, hence, leaving our feelings at the door. So I’d come to the conclusion that I had to let him make the next move. I was super stoked his move involved flowers.
I was crushing hard. “What are the flowers for?”
The orchestra of the newsroom restarted, and the pounding of computer keys, the phones ringing, and the voices droning tittered around us.
He handed the bouquet to me. “They’re for a beautiful woman that I want to take to dinner.”
I liked the romantic side of Dillon. “Are we leaving our feelings at the door?”
“It wouldn’t be a date if we did,” he said.
I wondered what had changed on his part while the blood raced through my system at breakneck speeds.
I wagged my finger between us. “This is us letting nature take its course?”
He nodded. “Something like that.”
I’d never been out on a real date with dinner and flowers and wine and conversation. I’d never had a first crush either—one where girls got all giddy and gaga over a boy. Dillon might be my crush, my first love.
He licked his lip ring. “If dating isn’t your thing, then I’m cool.”
I was beginning to realize that him playing with his lip ring was a nervous tick.
“I’m not sure how to date.” But if the date meant a first kiss, then hell yeah. I was on board. He’d licked and kissed parts of me, but he had never touched my lips.
He chuckled. “Neither do I.”
I could hear my neighbor, Rosemary, choke.
“What changed?”
He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. “Time. A week. You. Me. Grace. Life. I realized after leaving Duke’s that I’ve been living in the past. I’ve been helping others and not putting myself first. It’s time I start, and I would like to start by taking you on a date.”
Rosemary peeked over her cubicle, her blue eyes wide and shifting. “What are you waiting for, Maggie? Say yes to the hunk.”
I puckered my lips. Dillon and I were so much alike. We both had a dark past. We both had demons that drove our actions. I for sure was living in the past, but that was about to change. “So boyfriend and girlfriend. Dillon and Maggie. I do like the sound of that.”
Rosemary clapped.
Dillon gave me one of his heart-pounding grins.
I believed all that had happened in our pasts had prepared us for that moment. Whether it was one date or more with Dillon Hart, I was ready for him. I was ready for feelings and, dare I say, love.
