Frustrated by how impotent her lack of experience made her feel, Della wandered toward the large curved bank of floor-to-ceiling windows staring out over the lights of Denver. The top rail of the horseshoe-shaped Mile High Stadium gleamed in the moonlight. The distant Rocky Mountain foothills stood out in stark contrast to the darker, craggier peaks behind that sliced into the perfect canvas of night.

Della sighed. “I love this view.”

She sensed Tucker approaching well before he entered her peripheral vision. “Yeah, it’s something, isn’t it?”

He fell in beside her, not close, but Della could reach out and touch him if she wanted, and, as his aftershave invaded her space, God…she wanted. “I think if I lived in this place, I’d set up a chair about here and just watch the changing faces of the mountains all day.”

He chuckled, and it slid softly over her, softly as the moonlight. “Not a bad ambition,” he murmured.

Della glanced up, studying his profile. He’d removed his hat, and his hair, which was getting longer again, had that rumpled look. Her palms itched to touch. “Thank you for tonight,” she said, her voice quiet in the hush of the apartment. “For the”—she mimed air quotes—“date. I had fun.”

He nodded but didn’t look in her direction. “Me, too.”

“You actually made me forget I was stood up.”

Now he looked at her, a V forming between his brows. “The guy’s an idiot,” Tucker growled.

A little beam of pleasure lanced straight through Della’s middle. Maybe it was her hopeless crush, maybe it was those three daiquiris, but his quick defense of her made her warm all over. “So, did I pass?”

That V deepened. “Pass?”

“My assessments?”

“Ah.” The frown smoothed out, and he laughed, his dimples flashing in the night. His gaze drifted over her face to the swing of her left earring. He watched it for a beat or two before pulling his attention back to her face. “With flying colors.”

It was ridiculous that such empty praise should go to her head. The whole assessment thing had just been Tucker messing around, but it was nice here in the moonlight with his aftershave and the warm buzz of three daiquiris. It felt very much like it had in the cab of his truck that night. Just the two of them. Close. Cozy. Intimate.

“I think you…left out the most important assessment,” Della said, a spurt of sudden daring riding her, despite the tremble of her voice betraying just how far out of her comfort zone she was flying.

“Oh yeah?” His eyebrow kicked up, a smile playing on his mouth. “What’s that? We covered small talk, light flirting, and menu choices. That’s pretty much all the first-date territory.”