Play With Fire

Chapter 10

Alex's POV

I was absolutely speechless. This man that I met less than a week ago already had me in a chokehold. I won't deny that when I looked away from him out of habit, and he grabbed my chin and made me look at him it stirred something in me and made heat pool in my stomach. Most of the time, the guys I interact with are my coworkers. We laugh and joke and have a good time, but there are no feelings or gestures made to each other beyond that of friends.

I was also never the type of girl that went out on dates growing up. Sure, I had relationships, but they never lasted more than a few weeks. I was always too focused on my education and bettering myself, and preparing for my dream job as a firefighter. The one long-term relationship that I had was emotionally abusive and toxic.

When I truly think about it, I don't think any man had ever taken me on a proper date like Noah was doing now. And before I met Noah and agreed to this date with him, I hadn't even tried dating for 3 years, I just focused on work.

"Noah?" I said, after we had been seated at our table, "Um... well, I think this is the first time I've actually been on a real date with a guy."

The look he gave me was of complete shock. He had dropped his menu to the table and turned his completed attention to me. His look of shock turned to confusion, so I elaborated.

"I've only really had one serious relationship, and we never really went on dates where we would dress up and preplan to go out. We just kinda started hanging out and then dating, and all the times we went out to fancier places, we were always with his friends. It was never actually a date with just me and him. So I guess I'm trying to say I'm not really sure how to do this whole date thing," I shyly said. He smiled reassuringly and reached to grab my hand.

"You don't have to know how to do this whole date thing. It's just about you and me enjoying a wonderful meal together and talking and getting to know each other. So order whatever you want and then tell me all about yourself," Noah spoke softly to me.

I blushed and smiled at him. He continued to hold onto my hand as he picked his menu back up to decide what he wanted. When he had seemingly made his decision, he dropped his menu to the table again and looked at me. As he was about to speak, our waiter returned to the table to take our orders.