The Playboy's Proposal (Sorensen Family) (14 page)

Chapter Fourteen

Benny had managed to swallow enough wasabi-drowned sushi to convince Luke that she’d enjoyed her meal nearly as much as he had. Even if her stomach was now at odds with its contents and she was trying to appease the uprising by downing lots of water.

“…the people of Sudan were so welcoming and the work so rewarding, I couldn’t help but sign on another year. You really would enjoy it, too…” Luke was going on after she’d pressed him for details about his work through Doctors Without Borders. He hadn’t stopped talking for a good five-minute stretch at least, so enthralled with his topic.

This was what Henry had encouraged. An open ear, letting Luke do all the talking because men liked nothing more than to hear themselves speak about themselves—provided one showed sufficient interest. Her nodding and smiling must have been all the encouragement Luke had needed to warm to his subject and then some.

Even if Benny was a little bored.

“You haven’t touched the sashimi,” he said and pointed to three pieces of obviously raw fish that she’d been hoping to avoid. At least with the rice and cucumbers in the sushi roll, she could almost forget she was eating raw fish. But the limp, slimy pieces would offer no such distraction.

“Come on. You’ve got to at least try one. Here.” He reached across and, with his chopsticks, clamped one of the pieces and held it up to her mouth. “This is the salmon, and I promise you won’t be disappointed.”

Really? What choice did she have here?

Reluctantly, she opened her mouth, trying not to feel self-conscious at the fact that Luke Seeley was feeding her, looking into her mouth right now.

She hoped she didn’t have any food stuck on her tongue or teeth.

He pulled the chopsticks back, leaving a fat, slimy piece of cold fish in her mouth. He smiled encouragingly at her. “And?”

Unlike many things that tasted better than they actually looked, this wasn’t one of them. It had looked like a thick pink slug—and eating it was even worse. Like eating an extra-salty fish-flavored slug.

She wouldn’t lose it. No, she could do this. Just swallow with as minimal amount of chewing as possible.

But it was so chewy.

She forced as smile and nodded. “Mmm. You’re right. Delicious.”

Okay, time for water.
Lots of water, which she quickly chugged down while Luke picked up one of the other pieces and shoved it in his mouth. “Mmm. Did you see Dr. Paulson yesterday?”

An image of the older doctor came to mind. Particularly the fact that his usual salt-and-pepper hair had been dyed a dark brown that looked somewhat unsettling with his pale skin. “I’m afraid so.”

“He stopped me to talk about a concern he had for one of his patients, and I had the hardest time not chuckling outright. What is he thinking?”

She lowered her voice conspiratorially. “I understand from some of the nurses that he just finalized his third divorce, so my bet is he’s already looking to find wife number four.”

“Really?” He looked perplexed. “I don’t get men like that. Not respecting the sanctity of marriage. You don’t just marry someone based on attraction alone, but mutual respect. Common interests. Take my parents. Married forty-four years. Both on the greens bright and early five days a week. They took up Spanish and then Italian and are now both fairly fluent. They do everything together—it’s great. They’re like two peas in a pod.”

See. There were men who believed in marriage and commitment and family. She’d try and ignore the part about his parents’ golfing.

Almost. Every. Day.

Her parents enjoyed doing things together, of course, but they also had other interests. Other hobbies. It was that variety and independence that made it so much more fun to come home at the end of the day—or so her mother said.

But, hey, he was into family. That was good. She just hoped that he wouldn’t expect her to golf with him as frequently. Okay, if at all.

“How about you? Tell me about your family.”

For a few minutes she regaled him with stories, finding encouragement in his smiles and nods. She leaned forward again, happy to bask in the glow of that smile. She noticed that his eyes dipped a time or two down to her cleavage, and although ordinarily she might have objected had anyone ever suggest that one should lower herself to such physical and wanton displays, she leaned a little more forward. If you got ’em, flaunt ’em, as her aunt Bessie would say.

His eyes seemed brighter now as he smiled at her.

Good. This is good
. Aside from the sushi and sashimi deal, things were improving.

The server stopped and left the check, which Benny tried to pay half of—something that Chip had usually taken her up on—but Luke refused and dropped some cash in the bill folder. Another reminder of why he was so perfect. Humanitarian, gentleman, great with kids, and hot as heck.

Everything she could ever want in a man.

For a brief moment, dark caramel eyes flashed in her mind, a lazy grin that melted her more than she’d like as he told her to move closer so he could teach her the fine art of kissing. The unabashed desire in the depths of those eyes as he stared at her just before they came to their senses and broke apart.

“You ready?” Luke asked. He’d come to his feet and stood next to her, his hand out and ready to help her up.

She nodded and pushed away the memories of the previous night and accepted his hand.

Nice.

Sweet.

This was what she wanted.

“I feel like I’ve been dominating the conversation here,” Luke said a few minutes later as they stepped off the elevator at Benny’s condo and made their way down the hall. “You’ll have to forgive me. Sometimes when I get on a subject I’m passionate about, I just lose myself.”

“No, it’s been so interesting, all of it. I had no idea that the rules of the PGA could be so complex.”

It was amazing how far a few well-placed words like “really?” and “mmm-hmm” could take a person. She hadn’t dared venture much more in the conversation, not at the risk of displaying her real ignorance of the game of golf.

They arrived at her door, and she fished awkwardly for her keys in the tiny purse that Henry insisted she use instead of her larger leather satchel. It looked less high maintenance, he’d told her. She’d bowed to his wisdom, even if she did have a heck of a time fitting everything in it.

“There,” she said in triumph and brought them out before sliding her key in the lock and turning it. The door opened, and she turned again to face Luke, unable to put off the most nerve-racking moment of the whole date.

The good-bye—and kiss if she were lucky.

She glanced up briefly to see his hazel eyes watching her, but she dropped her gaze again, suddenly feeling all of about thirteen years old.

“I was hoping,” he said slowly and waited for her to look up again at him, which she did, reminding herself to take in deep breaths, “since I had to take a rain check last weekend, you might have an opening in your schedule for me on Saturday? I have a commitment to some friends for golf, but I’d love nothing more than for you to consider joining us. Then after, maybe we could just spend a little more time getting to know each other. Catch dinner and a movie or something.”

“Saturday?” she asked, trying to buy time. That had happened much faster than she expected, and her mind reeled as she tried to remember if Henry had covered this. Was she supposed to accept another date at this point or throw in a rejection? “I think—I think I might be available…I can let you know.”

“You do that, but be prepared. I am not taking no for an answer this time. I might just have to camp out outside your door until you give in.”

“Is that right?” She bit back a laugh. Luke Seeley was insisting on a second date—with her.

Former chubby tomboy Benny Sorensen.

His smile faded, though, and it was hard to miss the way his eyes had dropped to her mouth.

He was going to kiss her.

The air was suddenly stifling, and she drew in a deep breath. Then his mouth was lowering to hers, and he was standing so close to her that she fought a tiny sense of suffocation.

This was it. This was the moment she’d been dreading and anticipating, a moment she wanted to be perfect.

The jarring slam of a door startled them both, and she nearly jumped out of her red heels.

“Sorry about that,” a chipper male voice said from down the hall. Too chipper.

It was Henry.

Seriously? What kind of timing was that? What, was he just waiting at the door for the important moment so he could ruin it for her? But why would he do that?

He smiled in apology as he neared them, a white bag in his hands. “I was just throwing this in the garbage chute. Don’t mind me.”

Only, it was kind of hard not to, as he walked past them and down to the end of the hall and into the small utility room, where he proceeded to make such a ruckus—stuffing whatever the heck was in that bag in the chute and then slamming the chute door so loudly she almost could feel the vibration—that they could only stand and wait for him to finish.

He appeared again, looking so darn casual in khakis and a white T-shirt so thin that she swore she could see his pecs outlined underneath.

“I’m Henry, by the way,” he said and stopped to hold out his hand.

Benny had to give Luke points for taking Henry’s hand without hesitation the way he did, knowing the guy had just been dealing with the trash. “Luke Seeley. You look familiar. Have we met before?”

Henry shot a sly look at her before meeting Luke’s gaze again. “Don’t think so. Well, sorry again for intruding. I’ll let you two get back to whatever you were doing…”

She narrowed her eyes at his retreating back. This was far too contrived for it to be an accident. At his door, Henry took one last glance at her and waved his hand in a salute before heading inside.

Leaving her and Luke alone again.

“Where were we?” Luke asked, a small smile playing on his lips. “Oh, that’s right. I was about to kiss you.”

He’d said it, and she could only wait for him, even if she was strung so tightly from waiting—and now wondering whether Henry could somehow be spying on them from his peephole—that she could have spun like a top.

But she didn’t have to wait as long this time, and Luke’s smooth soft lips were on hers, soft and yet firm. She closed her eyes, forcing herself to relax for the moment, to remember that she wasn’t half bad at this kissing thing after all.

This is nice
.

His mouth parted and he deepened the kiss; the touch of his tongue darting into her mouth, however, didn’t give her the same heart-stopping feeling as another kiss. Rather, for a horrible moment, Benny remembered this same mouth chewing and swallowing piece after piece of raw fish—was that a hint of wasabi she could taste? Or the freshwater eel he’d gone on about?

Luke’s hands were now at her hips, bringing her fully against him.

Stop, Benny. This is what you want, and he is doing an incredible job of this kissing thing.

And he was. He was a pretty good kisser, and after another moment, she stopped thinking about raw fish and another set of lips that had left her breathless and focused on the pleasant feelings Luke’s kiss was arousing.

Maybe not as skin tingling, but right up there in the top three on her short list of kisses, for sure. Without the usual anxiety about her performance, she was finding that she rather enjoyed this kissing stuff.

Finally, he ended it, resting his forehead against hers. “I think we had better stop here.” She nodded and watched as he stepped back, a smile tugging on his mouth. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Dr. Sorensen.”

Benny slipped inside and shut the door, aware of the sound of the elevator a minute later as it took him down to the main floor.

The coast clear, she dropped her purse onto the counter and did a spontaneous dance, enjoying the heady feeling of success.

Not only had she had a wonderful evening with the future father of her kids and delivered a pretty great kiss once she threw out all the other nonsensical thoughts, but she had procured the even more important second date.

Ten seconds later, there was a knock on the door.

Had he forgotten something?

She bounded to the door and peeked out of the peephole.

Henry leaned against the doorjamb, a smug smile on his face.

She swung the door open, her hands on her hips, and stared at him, remembering the suspicious timing of his trash trip just moments before.

“So how did it go?” he drawled.

“Tell me you didn’t know that Luke and I were out here earlier. That you hadn’t planned on interrupting us like that.”

He looked the picture of innocence as he raised his brows. “I had no idea you were out here, not until my door had already shut behind me. Why? Did I interrupt something?”

She still wasn’t sure if she was buying it, but then again, what motive would he have to try and sabotage her and Luke’s first kiss? She’d give him the benefit of the doubt. “You happened to interrupt us at the very moment we were about to kiss.”

He burst out into laughter. “That is lousy timing. I trust that he managed to get things back on track, though. I mean, from the way your lipstick is smeared and your mouth is a bit puffy, you either were soundly kissed or are having an allergic reaction to something.”

She smiled, unable to stay mad, feeling more certain it was all unfortunate timing. “It was better than I expected. Thank you again for the, uh, practice session last night. It made the whole experience more than I could have hoped.”

He nodded, and she wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw a flash of something other than amusement in his eyes. “Well, you look absolutely amazing. Stand back for me, I want the full effect. I don’t think I’ve seen you with the entire makeup treatment before,” he said more thoughtfully. “Is that what my stylist recommended?”

“It is.” Only he was giving her the same perplexed look she’d seen before. On Daisy. “What? What’s wrong?” Her hands went to her face, self-conscious. Maybe she’d applied it wrong, had been doing the whole thing wrong all week.