“Clearly, I’m too nervous to eat much.”

“Same here.”

“And there’s something else.” Lou’s voice grew a little sultrier.

“What’s that?” Mia tilted her head.

“I’ve wanted to kiss you ever since I let you in the door.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Did she really just say that? Lou glanced at the bottle of wine and it wasn’t even empty yet. She hadn’t had that much to drink. She must really want to kiss Mia then, if her desire sat so readily on the tip of her tongue. She glanced at Mia, examining her reaction after she’d spoken the words and Mia’s face could not reveal anything but the truth about how she really felt about Lou’s statement.

Mia smiled. Not her usual easy smile, but a less brazen, more subtle one. She didn’t say anything, just pushed her chair back, got up, and stood next to Lou, holding out her hand. Lou rose.

Mia brushed Lou’s hair away from her ear with her hand, and whispered, “The thought had crossed my mind as well.”

Their date had moved to the next level. And despite that dream Lou had had, and the hours she’d spent analyzing it, and the one or two times she had intentionally brought Mia into her sensual fantasies, Lou had not dared to dream that their very first date would go in this direction. She hadn’t deemed it possible. Not with their history. She had believed they would talk and talk, and then talk some more. But now it appeared that all the things that needed to be said for them to reach this stage had already been said. Lou knew enough. She’d known as soon as Mia had kissed her on the cheek when she arrived. That thing between them that was becoming less of a mystery every minute they spent together. Lou knew it was because of who they once were to each other that they stood in this position here tonight. Getting ready for their first kiss. It wasn’t fate or destiny or coincidence. It was redemption. For both.

Just because of that, it was implied that Lou had to instigate, that she had to be the one to open the door to what was to follow. And she wanted so much more. She had asked Mia out. Mia had come to her house. Now it was up to her to kiss Mia. And to set in motion whatever would happen next. It had to be her, even though Lou didn’t much feel like being pushed into that role just because of their past, and she instinctively knew Mia was much better at that sort of thing than she was.