Clare giggled. “Have some self-control, will you?”

“I have none. Zero. Zippo.”

“Look at the view.” Clare directed his face to the skiers on the well-lit trails below.

Aidan returned his attention to her neck. “I’ve seen it before.”

The gondola moved slowly up the mountain and delivered them to the top after a brief ride through the darkness. The operator at the top of the mountain also knew Aidan. They walked across the wood deck into a restaurant, where again he was greeted like an old friend.

“How do you know all these people?”

“I renovated the home of the owner, and we got to be friends.”

They walked into the quiet dining room. “Where is everyone?”

He gestured to a sign that read “Closed for Private Party.”

Clare gaped at him. “You reserved the whole place?”

He leaned down to kiss her. “I didn’t want to share you with anyone.”

A tuxedoed maître d’ came out to meet them. “Good evening, Mr. O’Malley. Right this way.” He seated them at a candlelit table for two next to a window overlooking the mountain. “Your waiter will be right with you.”

“I cannot believe you did this.”

Aidan moved his chair closer to hers. “Since you were only expecting pizza and beer, the bar was set awfully low.”

“You continue to surprise me, O’Malley.”

“My goal in life.” He grinned as their waiter poured champagne and left the bottle in an ice bucket next to the table.

Aidan lifted his glass and looked into her eyes. “Here’s to you and me and the last first date of our lives.”

Clare touched her glass to his. The implication of his toast hung in the air between them as they were served an elaborate meal that Aidan admitted wasn’t on the restaurant’s regular menu.

“You must’ve done a hell of a job on his house,” Clare said as she finished her filet mignon.

He gave her his now-familiar offended look. “Of course I did. You can ask him yourself. Here he comes.”

Aidan introduced her to Michael Donnolly, the restaurant’s owner and head chef. Clare could tell by the banter between the two men that they were good friends. Michael confirmed that Aidan had, in fact, done a spectacular job on his house.

“See, I told you,” Aidan said to Clare.

“Was everything all right with your dinner?” Michael asked.

“It was excellent, thanks, Mike,” Aidan said.

“Nice to meet you, Clare,” Michael said and left them alone.

They were served a sinful chocolate dessert, and Clare fed Aidan the first bite.

“I need to check something,” he said with a serious expression.

“What?”

Under the table, he ran a hand up to where lace met leg. “Yep, still there,” he said with a deep sigh of frustration.

She pushed his hand away. “You’re like a twelve-year-old boy. When are you going to be forty anyway?”