I want You Deeper

“Long day, huh.” It was a statement, not a question, made to Charlie as they

stood at the elevator. Nicholas had hoped to have dinner with Justin since they hadn’t spent time together in weeks-today didn’t count because it was work. But, not surprisingly, Justin had plans with Brooke. Brooke, whom he actually saw every single day.

Nicholas knew he was jealous-not of Brooke taking his friend away, but of Justin having someone he was so into that he’d rather spend time with her than anyone else. Nicholas wanted that for himself.

“Yes. Thanks for all your hard work. I think it made a difference.”

The elevator dinged, and the doors slowly slid open. Charlie stepped inside. As he followed, Nicholas couldn’t help but think, again, about how poised she was. Her confidence and grace were just…fascinating. It was hard to take his eyes off her.

“Usually it does.”

As soon as the words were out, Nicholas wanted to take them back. Just snatch them out of the air between them. The last thing he wanted to do was sound arrogant. But the reason Justin called him here was that his workshops often got results. There was even a series of videos online. To the world, he appeared to know what he was doing up there, but inside, he always felt like he was an actor playing a role.

“So…got big plans for the evening?” he asked Charlie as the elevator began its descent.

She looked at him. It was a look he couldn’t quite interpret, and he usually was pretty good at reading body language.

“Just the usual.” She faced forward again.

Okay, he had to ask. “What’s that?”

“I take my dog for a walk, have some dinner, and watch a little TV. Then I read until it’s time to go to sleep.” She shrugged. “Nothing all that exciting.”

She wasn’t kidding there. Nothing even the slightest bit exciting. “It’s Friday night,” he said. Just in case she’d forgotten.

“Yeah?”

“You don’t go out on weekend nights?”

Maybe he shouldn’t make her feel bad about that. He definitely didn’t want to shame her. He’d planned on grabbing some pizza from the hot-andready place near his condo and heading home for a night of watching baseball until bedtime. He’d actually be less ashamed to admit he was going home to watch TV and read. At least a book would be involved. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d read something that wasn’t a website.

“I’ll take you to dinner,” he blurted out before he could talk himself out of it. He certainly didn’t expect her to say yes. But it was one hundred percent what he wanted to do. Just to be able to spend more time with her. Otherwise, they’d go their separate ways and never see each other again.

He didn’t like the idea of that, even though he’d known her less than twelve hours at this point.

“I…”

The rejection was clear in just that word, but for some reason, she didn’t say more. She had a confused expression on her face as she stared ahead at the still-closed elevator doors. The elevator dinged again as it slowed to a stop. The doors slid open, and she stepped out.

Would that be it? Just “I” and she’d take off, with no elaboration?

Should he follow her out until she gave him an answer?

No. He couldn’t do that.

But she stopped outside the elevator and turned to look at him. “You know what? Let’s do it. Let’s go to dinner.”

Had she suggested they fly off to Europe together and enjoy a long weekend, he wouldn’t have been any more surprised. It just didn’t fit what he’d seen of her after a long day, stuck in a conference room, watching her demonstrate, over and over, that she did not like change. She thrived on routine. On knowing exactly what came next. On not taking any risks.

Not that dinner with Nicholas would be any type of risk. It was just dinner. Still, he felt this pressure to make it special. And if there was one thing Nicholas could arrange, it was special.

“Have you ever been to Valore’s?”

Charlie looked around. The lobby was empty, although Nicholas had a feeling there was a security guard sitting behind the desk around the corner. They’d been working with Justin all day, coming up with ways to motivate the team over the coming weeks using what they’d learned earlier that day, and everyone in the office aside from Justin had emptied out a while ago.

“No,” Charlie said.

He could tell, right then and there, she’d never heard of it. How could he impress her with his ability to get them into the hottest new restaurant in town…when she didn’t even know how hard it was to get into the hottest new restaurant in town?

The options flew through his head. He immediately dismissed each of them. Telling her that there was a two-month wait for reservations, mentioning that he knew the owner, discussing that he’d been part of the preview group who attended the restaurant’s soft opening… All sounded too much like bragging, and bragging would put her off. He’d known her just long enough to realize that.

“Italian food,” he said instead. “It’s delicious. You in?”

He made every effort to sound casual as he asked that. No big deal. Come to dinner with him or not. Either way, it was all good.

“Sure.”

Her response surprised him, but he wasn’t going to give her a chance to change her mind. “I’m parked right out front,” he said. “Follow me.”

She didn’t move at first. He was halfway toward the door-and, yes, the security guard was seated behind the desk he’d seen when he’d entered- when he realized she wasn’t right behind him.

“You got a parking space out front?” she asked.

“I was here pretty early.”

“Right.”

He hit the button to unlock his car, even though it would unlock automatically once it detected his key nearby. The plan was to open Charlie’s door for her, and he wasn’t one hundred percent sure that side unlocked automatically. It had been a while since he’d been on a date- mostly because he’d been so busy. In fact, he couldn’t remember if he’d been on a date since he’d traded for this car just a few months earlier.

Wow. He definitely needed to stop working so hard and enjoy life a little more.

“Hmph.” Her gaze scanned the length of his car, which was a Porsche 911. He was pretty darn proud of this car, but she seemed to be sizing it up -sizing him up via the type of car he drove. All of a sudden, he wished he’d just grabbed a rideshare to the restaurant.

Things didn’t impress her. He could respect that. In fact, her own boss was a billionaire, and a bit showoff-y at times, if Nicholas was honest about it. He’d met more than a few women in the area who turned and ran the other way if a man started throwing around money. The type of woman who was impressed by the car he drove and the expensive dinners he bought was not the type he wanted to date.

“You aren’t really in the mood for Italian, are you?” he asked.

She looked over at him, then frowned. “Not really.”

“I know this place. You up for an adventure?”

He was running on instinct here. Charlie had been oddly agreeable to everything. It made no sense. Even though he’d just met her, she’d made it perfectly clear that she was not an adventurer.

“What did you have in mind, exactly?”

There it was. The side of her that wanted to know what they were doing. He could see in her eyes that she was forcing herself to do this. She wasn’t enjoying the spontaneity of it at all, and he didn’t know if anything he did could change that.

“What’s your favorite restaurant?” he asked.

“There’s this taco stand near my apartment. They make the best street tacos. I sometimes indulge.”

“Let’s do that, then. I’d love to try out your favorite place.”

Out of the corner of her eye, he could see she looked horrified. “I never eat there.”Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

“Why not? Don’t they have seats?”

She gave him a strange look. He saw that out of the corner of his eye, as well. “Of course, they have seats. Why wouldn’t they have seats?”

“I don’t know. Just the way you said you never eat there, like the mere thought is horrifying.”

“No, it’s just…it’s one of those to-go places. It’s not really set up for fine dining.”

“Perfect. I’m not in the mood for fine dining.”

He thought they’d established that last part, but he probably hadn’t made that clear. He wasn’t sure what he was doing. Apparently, he had zero game. He decided to let the whole thing drop.

Charlie gave him directions to her place-which merely required he circle back to where they’d just been and take a right turn, then go three blocks down. She lived within walking distance of work.

“I can walk to work most days,” she said, as though hearing his unspoken question about how she got to work every day. “It’s great

exercise, and it saves me from having to buy a car.”

“You don’t have a car?”

“Nope. Don’t need one. I can grab a bus or rideshare if I’m meeting up with friends. I visit my mom the first two weeks in July and at

Thanksgiving and Christmas, but that’s just a rideshare to the airport.”

Nicholas found a parking space just steps from the taco shop Charlie pointed out to him, ignoring her annoyed expression as she commented that he had “parking space luck.” He supposed he did. His office building had its own parking lot, so he didn’t have to worry about street parking or multistory garages.

“Where does your mother live?” he asked as he opened her car door and waited for her to step out. Even though it seemed like he might be just trying to make conversation, he actually was curious about her. He genuinely wanted to know where she was from, who she was.

Cheesy. He needed to get that under control.

“Milwaukee,” she said. “She married a guy she met online and moved up there a couple of years ago.”

He’d come to a dead stop, staring after her as she started toward the building. She didn’t seem to notice he wasn’t following. He rushed to catch up.

“Your mom moved to Milwaukee to be with a man she’d never met?”

“Yep. She’s a bit…impulsive like that.”

He worked to process this new information as he opened the door to the taco shop and waited for her to enter. Her mom was impulsive. Charlie was the opposite. He was no therapist, but he had a feeling there was a connection there.

“We have to get guac,” she said as she stepped inside. “Their chips are amazing.”

Amazing seemed a little dramatic for food, but he decided to let that one slide. He was liking this side of her. She seemed carefree. Maybe he’d completely misjudged Charlie McLaughlin.

Why she’d said this was a to-go place, he had no idea. Sure, there was a to-go counter, but the place was packed with tables, and half of them were occupied. Also, hadn’t she called this a taco stand? He’d define it as a fullon restaurant.

He watched Charlie interact with the person taking orders as though they’d never seen each other before. Wasn’t she a regular here? Maybe he’d misunderstood. But there was no sign of recognition, no pleasantries. All business. Nicholas stepped up to the counter, smiling at the man who was taking Charlie’s order.

“I hear that I have to try your guacamole,” Nicholas said as the guy punched Charlie’s order into the computer.

The guy’s face immediately lit up. “Best in town. I’ll tell you what, I’ll throw it in for free just for trying it out.”

“And an order of street tacos, steak.” Nicholas slid his credit card out of his phone case. “Two margaritas.”

“Oh, I don’t drink.”

Nicholas’s smile fell. Why didn’t that surprise him? She was so orderly and in charge of her life. Of course, alcohol wouldn’t be something that appealed to her.

“Do you have virgin margaritas?” Nicholas asked.

“They’re out of a machine.” Charlie pointed over to the right, where, indeed, a large machine advertised both lime and strawberry frozen varieties. “I doubt they can take the alcohol out.”

But the guy behind the counter was still smiling at them. “No worries. I can whip one up for you.”

“Make it two virgin margaritas, then.” Noting Charlie’s puzzled look,

Nicholas shrugged. “Margaritas are part of the experience.”

They took the number the guy handed them and headed over to a table next to the big window that overlooked the street. It wasn’t the best view in town, but he had the best view seated across from him. She still looked troubled, but his goal was to do something about that.

His number one mission was to make her feel at ease with him. He had a feeling that wouldn’t be an easy feat.