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“Definitely not.”

“Tomorrow night I’ll take you out on a real date. Just me and you to some fancy restaurant.”

I stopped on the sidewalk. “I didn’t mean it like that. This might have been the best date I’ve ever been on.”

“Really?”

I nodded. “The whole purpose of dating is to get to know the other person. It’s sad, but I don’t think I figured that out until tonight. I’ll be honest, dating for me was always about what restaurant some guy would take me to. I judged men based on what they spent and the designer they wore. Their last name meant more to me than how they treated the people who’d passed down that name. But seeing you up there tonight, I had an epiphany.”

“An epiphany, huh?”

We were still stopped on the sidewalk, holding one hand. I reached out and took Carter’s other hand into mine. Taking a deep breath, in the middle of a retirement community, I decided it was my moment of truth. “I’m crazy about you, Carter Clynes. I’d rather be with you in a Bingo hall sitting between Bertha and Muriel as they argue, than be in a five-star restaurant with a descendant of the Rockefellers. You sing Kenny Rogers because you know they love him, clip your fake father’s toenails, and buy women sneakers to help their bad backs.” I stepped to Carter and wrapped my hands around his neck. Taking one more deep breath, I spoke directly into his eyes. “I’m crazy about you, Carter. There is nowhere else I’d rather be than standing next to you, wherever that might take me.”

Carter leaned his forehead to mine and closed his eyes. He was silent for a moment before he spoke. “Perky, you have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that. I feel the same way, maybe even more. I don’t have all the answers, but I want to be the one to help you find them.”

Tears streamed down my face. “I’m happy, Carter. So damn happy. And I’m terrified at the same time.”

His thumbs at my cheeks caught my tears. “So am I, beautiful. So am I.”

Just then, a small red car slowed to a stop, and the window rolled down. “You need a lift, Cap?”

Carter lifted his hand. “I’m good, George. But thanks.”

The old man waved back. “I look younger in here, don’t I? The babes dig my car.”

“You look great, George. Go slay ‘em, old man. But watch out for that hip.”

The car slowly pulled away and then something dawned on me. “Was that, by any chance…a Targa?”

“It was.”

“That’s your car, isn’t it? The car you traded to a friend who had surgery?”

“He needs it more than I do, anyway.” Carter slung his arm around my shoulder, and we started walking again. “Apparently, I don’t need the car. I can pick up hot little blonde chicks at a Bingo hall.”

IT WAS A TYPICAL FLORIDA NIGHT, breezy with a hint of drizzle in the air. But there was nothing typical about the moon tonight; it was spectacular—magical, even. There was also nothing typical about the way I was feeling, like my heart was about to beat out of my chest; like I was stepping into territory that I’d never ventured into before with Kendall. Like something big was about to happen.

The girl I was crazy about had just looked at me with tears in her eyes and told me she was crazy about me, too. I never wanted this feeling to end, never wanted this night to end. I was on cloud nine. Fuck that…I was on cloud sixty-nine.

The entire time at Bingo, I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off of my girl, couldn’t wait to get her alone again.

As Kendall and I continued our walk hand in hand back to my condo, I intentionally trailed slightly behind her, unable to resist staring at the way the thin silk material of her dress clung to her beautiful ass crack. I felt like the luckiest man in the world to be taking her home.

Adjusting my pants to combat my almost painful hard on, I glanced over at the lake in the distance. Since it was pretty much bedtime in these parts, I knew we’d have it all to ourselves. My neighbors barely ventured out to the lake even in the daytime.

Needing to prolong this night, I asked, “Wanna head down to the water? Go for a swim?”

Head.

There was my dirty mind again. I just couldn’t shut it off tonight.

“I don’t have a swimsuit. This dress is dry clean only. I can’t get it wet.”

Wet.

Fuck.

I raised my brow. “I was thinking we’d swim without clothes, actually.”