Read Online Love Takes Time (Christian Romance) by Kaci Hart - Free Book Online Page B

simply guarantees me at least a
second date so either way I come out a winner.”
     
    “Good. 
Now I won’t spend the rest of the night worrying.  I’ve already told my
best friend about you so you  have  to be there now or else I just look like the lonely
desperate girl that lies.”
     
    “I
wouldn’t want that at all.  By the way, before I say anything else, I
would be remiss if I didn’t stop and tell you just how amazing you look
tonight.  I mean really perfect.”
     
    He
liked when she blushed.  Even more, he loved when she tried to hide the
smile that he’d worked out of her.  She was doing that right then. 
Little did she know it but she was setting herself up for a major cheek workout
every time she tried not to smile because it made him want to make her do so
even more. 
     
    “Thank
you Ryder.  I figured if I was going to come to one of the most expensive
restaurants in New York City that I at least needed to get a little dressed up.”
     
    “Well,
if this is a little dressed up, I don’t know if these eyes are ready for what
I’d see if you were to really try.”
     
    “Oh
stop it!  It’s not like you don’t see pretty women everyday as a world
jaunting stock broker.   And look at you.  I don’t know if this
is lost on you, but you don’t look too bad yourself Ryder.”
     
    “Wait.
 Rewind for a second.  Now I’m a ‘world jaunting stock broker’?
 I don’t mind that at all but the part about the pretty women, who let
that slip?  It was supposed to be an industry secret.  Now they will
probably kick me out of the old boys’ club and my Friday nights will be
perennially free from dates.  Unless I can figure a way to get a pretty
young lady to help me out with that. Any ideas?”
     
    “I’ll
work on it.”
     
    ***
     
    Ryder
had momentarily left the table to go to the men’s room.  It was funny
because part of her didn’t want him to leave, even for two minutes. 
Chelsea was enjoying her tête-à-tête with him.  It had been ages since she
even remembered what it was like to have a man show real interest in anything
with her outside of her body.  Her usual were the guys who tried to hit on
her because she was a waitress and they thought she would be easy or the ones
who asked her if she could move like that all the time or just on the dance floor.
 
     
    None
of those men held her attention long.  Ryder was a different kind of guy
from the start though.  He was a gentleman in every definition of the word
yet he didn’t let his respect make him boring.  Even better, she could
tell that he was probably as attracted to her as she was to him, but he didn’t
let that physicality dominate.  She liked that he was in control of
himself, and intelligent enough to know how to treat a lady.  It was going
better than she expected.
     
    He
finally returned after a few minutes though it seemed like much longer to her. 
     
    “Thank
goodness you came back.  For a second there I thought you’d left me.”
     
    “Not
a chance.  I plan on taking every possible second with you that I can
tonight and hopefully in the future.  But before I can work all that out,
I imagine we need to eat tonight.  In my absence, have you ordered
anything yet?”
     
    “No
but I am famished.  I warn you, I don’t eat like a dancer.”  
     
    “Good.
 I wouldn’t want you to starve for my sake.  I’m going to go ahead
and call the waiter over so we can get started.”  
     
    She
glanced in his direction and their eyes locked.  
     
    “I
want to be able to enjoy as much of our time together as possible this evening.”
     
    He
certainly had a way with words.  Every statement that he made flattered
her in one way or another.  She didn’t know what kind of poet she had
bumped into on the street but she could definitely get used to it.  Not to
mention the fact that he was apparently the richest person she had ever met in
real life, let alone gone on a date with.  Each time