My God, the man is an incredible kisser.
Every inch of my body feels like it’s turned to jelly. I literally have to lean against my car to not just slide down onto the pavement. The moment the kiss ends, I immediately want his lips back on mine.
“That—that was…” I stammer.
Rex laughs. “I know what it was. I was there, too.”
“Uh huh,” I say dreamily.
“Let me take you out, Millie. On a real date.”
I shake off the trance I’m in and give him a smirk. “Are you asking me out on a date? Because that didn’t sound much like a question.”
“Okay. Let me start over. Will you go out on a date with me, Millie?”
“I don’t know.” I squint at him. “What kind of date are we talking about?”
“It’ll be a surprise. But I promise you’ll like it.”
I raise an eyebrow at him. But I nod.
“Okay,” I say. “Sure.”
4
Rex
With the right soap, the axel grease comes right off.
As for the rest of me, well, a guy like me hardly ever needs nice clothes. But that doesn’t mean I don’t own any.
I’m not a total caveman, you know.
The evening of our date, I pick up Millie at six from her apartment. When I get there, I look up and see her sister peering at me out a third-floor window and chuckle at the sight.
I buzz the apartment number and Millie’s sweet voice comes through a second later.
“Hey! I’ll be right down.”
I stand back and wait. When I hear the front door of the building open, I look up and am greeted by a wide-eyed, drop-dead gorgeous Millie.
“Holy shit,” she says. "You clean up well.”
“You look gorgeous, Millie,” I say. She’s wearing a hip-hugging dress and has done something different to her hair. When she smiles and blinks at me, glitter shimmers on her eyelids.
“Thanks, Rex.”
Suddenly, a voice comes from above: “Have fun, you guys!”
We both look up and Millie’s sister is sticking her head out of the apartment window, flashing us a smile.
“Go back inside, Addison!” Millie yells back. Her eyes move over to me. “Guess I should have mentioned I live with my sister.”
“It’s nice you two have such a close relationship.”
“We’re just doing it to save on rent. It was a business decision that sometimes I regret.” Millie laughs. “I love my sister to death, but honestly, it’s a lot to work and live together. She’d say the same thing if you asked her.”
“Oh, shit, sorry—did you want her to come along on our date, too?”
I’m already grinning when Millie gives me a look.
“No way. You’re all mine.”
The burger place I take Millie to doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it has the best damn burgers in the city. When we walk in, the head waitress, Fanny, hollers out a hello and tells us to grab any open booth.
Millie and I slide into the booth in the corner, and Fanny brings waters over to our table a few seconds later.
“Hey, Rex,” she says. “Lookin’ snazzy tonight. And you brought a date! Hey, sweetie. My God, you’re pretty.”
“Oh, thank you,” says Millie, blushing a little.
“Be back in a sec to take your orders,” Fanny says.
By the time Fanny comes back, Millie and I are deep in conversation about her shop, and after we order, we get right back to talking about it. I’m in awe of Millie as she tells me about the origins of Fizz & Glow and about her and Addison’s vision for the company.
When our burgers come, Millie eats a bite of hers, then says it’s the best she’s ever had. While we continue to eat, Millie asks about the auto shop. I talk about it for a little while, but really, I just want to hear more about Millie’s life.
We’re just finishing up our meal when Millie catches me checking the time.
Millie smiles curiously at me. “Have someplace to be?”
“We have someplace to be,” I say.
“Movie?”
“Nope. The ballet.”
She lets a beat pass. “We’re going to the ballet?”
“You look surprised.”
“That’s because I am surprised.”
“Your face really lit up when you talked about it the other night. I figured you’d enjoy going to a performance.”
“That’s really sweet of you, Rex.” Her smile brightens. “I can’t wait.”
We finish up dinner and head over to the venue. When we walk into the building, the atmosphere around us shifts. Not gonna lie, I feel out of my element. This place is classy as fuck.
An usher welcomes us and hands us each a program. We enter the main auditorium and find our seats. We’re in the middle section, about a dozen rows away from the stage.
“Oh, wow,” says Millie as we get settled. “These seats are amazing. I hope they weren’t too expensive.”
I admit it: when I went online to buy the tickets, I sought out the most expensive ones first. I may not look very well-off, but between the auto shop turning a healthy profit and my low-maintenance lifestyle, well, let’s just say I can afford to splurge.
Besides, I can’t think of a better way to spend my money than spoil Millie with it.
“There was a buy-one-get-one-free deal,” I tell Millie.
“Liar,” she says, laughing. “Well, thank you, Rex. This really is a treat.”
The seats around us gradually fill up, and then the lights go down.
Here’s exactly how much I know about ballet: jack shit. But as I sit there next to Millie, watching the dancers on stage, I get why she loves it so much.
The grace, the precision, the athleticism of it all?
Yeah, it’s pretty damn breathtaking.
During the intermission, we go out into the lobby. Millie is cute as hell as she raves about how amazing the dancers are.
“And this building,” she says, looking around at our surroundings. “It’s so majestic!”
“Feel like exploring it?” I say. “Sounds like we have time.”
She smiles. “Sure.”
We take the stairs up to the second floor and walk around the space as we continue to talk. After several minutes, we realize we’ve unintentionally ended up in a tucked-away corner of the building. Absolutely no one else is around.
There feels like no better moment than now to kiss Millie. I slip a hand around her waist and she smiles at me as I pull her toward me. When our lips meet, a spark of electricity shoots up my spine.
I don’t intend for that kiss to be anything more than just a brief kiss. Honestly, I don’t. But once my lips touch hers, a brief one won’t do. As our kiss draws out, I can even feel Millie’s heart beating like crazy as she presses up against my chest.
We pull apart to look at each other for a second, the heat between us palpable. Then my eyes drift to an unmarked door a few feet away from us. When I look back at Millie, she’s looking at the door, too.
“Probably an office or something,” she murmurs.