Excerpt 5!

They continued to the restaurant in silence. Once he had parked the truck, he walked around, and opened her door, taking her hand in his as she slid out, her feet touching the ground. He tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow, shutting the door behind her.

Once inside, the waiter who met them said, “Hey Tanner. How's it going?”

“Good Matt. How have you been?”

“Not bad, working a lot. Who's the pretty lady with you?”

“This is Amy Russell. She's a friend of Chris Robins from Dallas,” Tanner grinned proudly at the beautiful woman on his arm.

“Nice to meet you Amy. Let me see if I can find you two a nice table.” Matt moved toward the podium with the restaurant seating sketched out. “This way. I have the perfect table.” Matt grabbed two menus and pointed the way for Tanner and Amy to follow.

Amy was acutely aware of the man next to her, all six feet of him as they walked side-by-side. The smell of musk and man reached her sensitive nose, making her feel all-liquid inside, her heart thumping to its own tempo.

The table they were led to, sat back in a secluded corner of the room, with a small candle burning and a single rose lying across the placemat. The table was obviously reserved, so she didn't quite understand why Matt was seating them there, until Tanner pulled out the chair where the rose sat.

Raising her surprised gaze to his she said, “What's this?”

“Call me a romantic. I thought you'd like it.” He shrugged.

“It's beautiful,” she whispered, her eyes going a little misty. None of the men she had ever gone out with before thought to do such a small thing and it quickly raised Tanner to the top of her list. “Thank you.”

“You are welcome, but it wasn't really anything.” Tanner blushed as he took the seat across from her.

You have no idea how much it meant, she thought as she watched him sit.

“Order anything you like. The rib-eye is really good here.”

Picking up the menu and setting the rose to her left, she tried to focus on the selection of food. She kept peeking over the top of the laminated pictures to look at the man before her, unable to decide if he was for real. If she didn't know better, she would think he had just walked out of one of her romance novels.

Once they had both selected what they wanted to eat, Matt took their order and disappeared toward the kitchen.

“So what would you like to do after we eat?” Tanner asked, sipping the water sitting before him.