“Is this our dinner?” I ask.

“This?” He sweeps his hand over the strawberries and champagne.

“Yeah.”

“Oh, no. This is just our appetizer. The next course is in there.” And he points to his bedroom. How exciting. I cross my legs. He sees it and uncrosses them and moves in between them. “What’s the matter, Cate? Something bothering you?” His voice is deep and gruff.

“Um, no. Not at all,” I squeak.

His knuckles brush the seam of my jeans and I squirm against them. “Is this what you want, Cate?”

“Yes.” This time, my voice is rough with urgency.

“But, I thought you were hungry.”

My fingers latch onto the collar of his scrubs and I jerk him closer to me. “I am. Starving. For you.”

“Hmm. Well, I’m starving for you, too. What a coincidence. But first, I have a surprise.”

Surprise? What kind of surprise? I want sex, not a surprise. Louise is dying here, not to mention the state of my panties is getting to the point where they’ll have to be wrung out soon. He slides me off the counter and I practically dry hump him.

“Uh, Cate, is there something you want from me?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

He only offers me one of his through-the-roof, deep, sexy chuckles, which only adds to my sexual frustration. Louise quivers.

“Give me your hand.”

Oh, no. Please to god, don’t tell me he wants a hand job! I’m all for that on some occasions, but right now, I just want a good, old-fashioned fuck!

“Cate?”

I place my hand in his and he escorts me to his room, where to my utter surprise, I find it lit in at least a dozen candles. On the nightstand is a vase holding an unbelievable flower arrangement containing roses, lilies, calla lilies, white carnations, orchids, and tulips. There are also two trays on his bed with covered dishes on them.

“I took the liberty of having dinner ready when you arrived. But there’s a catch.”

“A catch?”

“We eat naked.”

“Naked?”

“Naked, as in no clothing.”

“Oh. My. Goodness.”

The left corner of his mouth curves as he unbuttons my jeans. The zipper follows and when he jerks them off my hips and puts his fingers inside the elastic of my thong, he grins. “This is going to be fun.”

“Er, yeah,” I swallow, as I watch him strip. I will never tire of seeing his muscles ripple when he moves. It’s a damned movie to me.

“Cate? Cate?” He snaps his fingers in front of my eyes.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Sit. I want you to taste something.”

“Your cock?”

“What?” He barks out a laugh that shakes the bed I just sat on. “Not yet. I want you to taste this.”

I’ve been so busy watching his abs and arms, I didn’t even notice that he’s taken the covers off our plates and put a bite of food on a fork for me to taste. “Open up.” He slides the fork in my mouth and buttered lobster melts on my tongue.

“Oh, hell, that’s … that’s so good,” I say.

“Good. Let’s get comfortable and eat.”

Jesus, how can I eat with him in the bed, naked? He’s such a distraction. He shimmies up to the headboard and leans back against it, and all I want to do is stare at the lean curves and dips of his firm body.

I follow his actions and find myself against the headboard, next to him, with a plate in my naked lap. The lobster is grilled and so tender, I can’t believe he did all this.

“Did you cook this?”

His brows shoot up to the heavens. “No. I ordered it, because I knew if I tried, I’d ruin it.”

“It’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten.”

“I can’t say the same.”

By now, the food has captured my attention, so I miss his innuendo. “No? Then why did you order it?”

“Because I love it and I remember you saying one time that you did too.”

“But if it’s not the best thing …”

“No, you are, Cate.”

“Me?” I say, around my mouthful of lobster.

“Oh, yeah. You, by a landslide.”

Swallowing my bite is so difficult, I’m afraid I’m going to choke. Grabbing my champagne, I take a huge gulp, hoping to help my issue, but I only end up making it worse. When my coughing subsides, I chide him. “Don’t ever say things like that to me again when I have my mouth full.”

“What if it’s me your mouth is full with?”

“Well, that’s okay I suppose.” I notice his plate is nearly empty, so I move it aside, along with mine, and I climb onto his lap. “Thank you for all of this. It’s truly beautiful. And very unexpected. I’ve never had such a wonderful dinner, and in bed no less.”

“I would hope not!”

“You know what I mean, and you should know I haven’t.”

“I do and I was teasing.”

“The flowers are gorgeous, too.”

He brushes my hair off my neck and presses a kiss to it. “They all have meaning. But I’ll let you look that up later. Right now, I have something else in mind.”

I touch his bottom lip with my index finger. “Oh, and what might that be?”

“This.” He flips me over and kisses me.

Later that night, we use the entire can of whipped cream doing all sorts of things. Drew says he planned it out for dessert. I think he just likes whipped cream and wants to see what it looks like on Louise. I have to confess. I like the way it tastes on his cock, especially with the strawberry on the end. I think I scared Drew when he thought I was going to bite the tip of him by accident. In the end, a shower was necessary because after the whipped cream, we ventured into Drew’s freezer and got into the ice cream, too. I can only say that ice cream is fun, particularly on the nipples.

In the morning, I Googled all the flowers Drew had selected for the arrangement, which was so heavy I had to use both hands to carry it.

The red thornless roses mean love; white lilies mean virginity and it’s heavenly to be with you; calla lilies signify beauty; white carnations indicate pure love; orchids represent love and beauty; and the meaning behind the tulips nearly brings me to tears. There are red ones which symbolize a declaration of love; the variegated ones mean beautiful eyes; and the yellow ones suggest there is sunshine in my eyes. Tulips in general also represent the perfect lover. The fact that he went through all this trouble to select these flowers tells me more than the flowers themselves.

“Drew. I … this is so beautiful. I never knew any of this.”

“I only wanted you to have something that showed my true feelings for you.”

“They’re perfect.”

“Flowers are perfection and should be enjoyed. I’m glad you appreciate them because I intend for you to enjoy them often, Cate.”

Just one more reason to love Drew McKnight.

Our six blissful days together pass like light speed and I find myself seated next to him for the flight home to Charleston. A rush of happiness steals over me. The angst I had over spending time with him was all for nothing. We were great together, like peas and carrots, as Forrest Gump would say. Now I’m dreading the stay at my parents’ house for a week until I can get back to Drew’s.

“Oh gawd,” I moan.

“What?”

“The idea of staying at my parents’ house just plowed into me.”

“That bad, huh?”

“You know how nutty they are. I love ’em to pieces, but …”

Drew chuckles. “There’s always that but.”

“Just wait. You didn’t get the full impact at Thanksgiving. But you will. Trust me.”

“Never lose sight of the fact that they love you, Cate.” His face is all kinds of serious.

“You never have a bad thing to say about anyone. You are the kindest person in the world. Probably the universe.”

“I doubt that.”

“No, I’m serious. I’ve never heard you say a bad word about anyone. I don’t think you have it in your nature. How do you do it?”

“I’m not sure I know what you mean.” His eyes are sincere when he says it.

“Let me give you an example then. Take my family for instance. My parents, bless their hearts, mean well and I love them. But my dad is the world’s biggest hypochondriac and drives me nuts with all his incurable ailments that are a figment of his imagination. You would sit there and listen to him patiently and ease his mind, while I, on the other hand, would brush him off and tell him nothing’s wrong with him. That’s what I mean. You have that way about you. And you don’t think ill of others. There’s only kindness is in your heart.”