I Love How You Love Me(The Sullivans)(39)

“Claudia is very sweet and generous, and Mason obviously loved playing with her, but—”

“It will make her day knowing she’ll get to see him again.”

When he put it that way, how could she keep arguing? “My mother would have felt the same way.” It was a beautiful sunny day, and she was eating ice cream with her perfect son and the gorgeous man she was having “fun” with. She shouldn’t feel sad. Still, she’d never figured out how to shake her sorrow that both her parents were gone.

Obviously, Dylan sensed it, because he put his hand over hers and said, “They see him, Grace. And you, too, the daughter they’ve always been so proud of. Watching you raise Mason…I know they’re prouder of you than ever.”

The sun, the ice cream, the smile on her son’s face, Dylan’s hand over hers—all helped her hold the tears at bay. “I had a friend in high school who came from a big family, and she hated it. Hated the lack of privacy. Hated that someone was always into her things. My parents tried for more kids, but my mother couldn’t...” No, she absolutely refused to ruin their afternoon by breaking down. She focused instead on slicing off a piece of banana from the split and feeding it to Mason between his own licks of sorbet. “What I’m trying to say is that you’re very lucky to have such a close family.”

“I agree,” he said. “Although I’m a little pissed off at my brother Adam right now.”

“Why? I thought he helped you with the boat yesterday.”

“He did, but only after he walked in on us, which meant you put your clothes on long before I was ready.” She was blushing by the time he added, “And I was planning to ask you on our first official date for tomorrow night, but it turns out that Adam needs the two of us to go with him to a swanky cocktail party at the old Maritime Museum, put on by the board members. They’re thinking of tearing it down and putting up a modern glass and steel showcase. He wants us to help talk them out of that and into letting him get his hands on it to restore the building.”

“I’m glad he wants to fight to save the historic building. It’s a truly beautiful one. And it makes perfect sense that he’d want you there. But why would he want me to come?”

“You’re smart. You’re beautiful. And I’m guessing that, from the way you research the topics that you write about, you already know more about the history of Seattle sailing than anyone on the museum’s board.” He leaned forward to lick a drop of ice cream from her lips. “Come with me tomorrow night, Grace. We’ll do the rounds for my brother as fast as we can, then sneak off and have our own private night on the town without anyone from my family around this time.”

The brush of his tongue against her sensitive skin had knocked her brain cells off-balance, far enough that she couldn’t quite focus on what her answer to his question should be.

“Say yes,” he murmured against her lips as he leaned in again to kiss her this time.

Spinning even faster now, she said, “You’re doing this on purpose. Making it hard for me to think.”

He nuzzled her earlobe. “Is it working?”

“Almost.”

But what he was asking her was too important to be decided on a dizzy, aroused whim.

A date.

She hadn’t been on one of those in a really long time. Dinner at his parents’ house had been an interview, though it had ended with a kiss. And the aquarium hadn’t started as a date, either, though it had ended with much more than just one kiss. Even this trip to the ice cream store could simply have been two friends and a baby out for an afternoon break. A fun break for sun and sugar in the middle of the day. Friends with benefits, but still nothing official. Not a date that could potentially lead to so much more.

“Tell me I’m going too fast, Grace, and I swear I’ll figure out a way to back off and give you more space.”

It should have been exactly the right thing for him to say. But she was shocked to realize that the thought of Dylan backing off had her gut clenching far tighter than did the risk of dating him.

Was she wary about going down that road with anyone again? Yes, and she’d be crazy not to be. But she had to start to live again at some point, didn’t she? And having a full life didn’t only mean stolen kisses and crazy hot orgasms.


“Yes,” she said, smiling up at the man who had been waiting none too patiently for her answer. “I’d love to go on a date with you tomorrow night.”

Dylan sealed her affirmative reply with a kiss that was hot enough to melt what was left of their ice cream. At least until Mason climbed between them, planting wet, sticky kisses on both of their cheeks.



* * *

Grace was still smiling ten minutes later as she headed for their apartment with Mason falling asleep in his stroller. Before they’d parted, Dylan had quickly pulled out his cell phone and checked in with his mother about babysitting both tomorrow night and then again during their sail when Dylan returned from Australia in a couple of weeks. If Grace’d had any doubt that Claudia would be excited to see Mason again, his mother’s happy exclamations—loud enough for Grace to hear from the other side of the bench—put them to rest.

After Dylan had left to meet with a potential new client, she’d been walking around with a silly smile on her face. At least until she realized that she had absolutely nothing to wear!