Just Like Her

Chapter 6

Tom

I needed my hand to eat, but even when the server approached our table with a steaming plate of food in each hand, I still hesitated.

Her touched was intoxicating, more satisfying than any culinary delicacy I'd ever tasted. When she first moved to better angle her menu for me to read, it took all of my self-control not to pull her into me right there, but then when she leaned back into my chest... 

Feeling the curve of her hip under her dress sent my head spinning—I couldn't even read properly or stop myself from babbling, but of course Emma was too polite to say anything.

Her ability to tease me in one easy breath and in the next ask me questions about myself and my work that I wasn't even sure I knew the answers to still baffled me. 

With other dates, it'd always felt like a dizzying chess game of cool remarks and innuendos, but with Emma, it was easy, like breathing—except in the moments she took my breath away.

When we finished eating, we shared an espresso as I paid the bill (Emma had the gall to reach for her wallet). Our server—much to my chagrin—was efficient as ever and promptly returned with my card. I helped Emma into her coat (a shameless excuse to stand close her again) and followed her outside. 

I glanced down at her warm visage glowing in the light of the street lamps and looped my arm around her waist, not able or even wanting to fight the grin spreading over my lips. "I don't want to take you home just yet."

She looked up at me and blinked as her cheeks pulled into a toothy smile. "So don't."

I closed my eyes and shook my head, forcing myself to think of anything other than the dimples that appeared in flashes, punctuating her most heartfelt smiles.

"We could go somewhere else?" I offered. I could feel her chest vibrate against mine as she laughed.

"I don't actually know where we are," she admitted.

"Oh well..." I glanced around looking for any landmarks, but finding none offered: "We're close to Hyde Park."

"Great, let's go there!"

"In those?" I asked nodding down at her stilts, nearly glittering in the dim lighting.

"Oh yee of little faith," Emma teased as she began to walk in determination.

My hand slid from her waist to her hand as I gave it a gentle tug and nodded in the opposite direction. "It's this way, and I'm carrying you at the first sight of a wobble."

She laughed again and allowed me to lead her down the street, her fingers interlaced with mine.

* * *

The heels impressively made it all the way to Hyde Park, and then somewhat more impressively, they came off.

Emma deftly undid the tight leather laces that ruthlessly strapped her shoes to her feet and around her ankles. She left them discarded along with her purse on the ground as she stepped up onto the cement circle circumferencing the Joy of Life fountain. I offered my hand as a stabilizer and she took it, and to my joy, she kept it.

"Do you always wear heels?"

She laughed but didn't meet my gaze. "You want to know a secret?"

"Course," I said as I watched her gingerly place one foot in front of the other.