Choosing to take Jamie to Bois de Vincennes for our date night was a gamble that thankfully came up aces.

When it came to this beautiful redhead, there wasn't much I didn't know about her thanks to that whole fake-date thing we did for Harper's wedding. And one of the little facts she mentioned was how much she loved parks and flowers and things like that. And that's why this was so incredibly perfect.

Bois de Vincennes was filled with tons of beautiful flowers and plants. It had many different long walking paths and amazing scenery. Then there was the cherry on top that was happening in a little bit.

Walking beside Jamie down one of the paths, I held her hand while I watched her eyes eat up another colorful and fragrant set of flowers I wasn't sure what the name was. Sure there were little descriptions posted next to them, but I was too busy keeping my eyes on her.

"These are amazing," she said with awe before turning to face me. "Even when my mom and I talked about coming here and planned the trip, we had no idea this was here."

She was talking about her mom. Again. And even though there was an echo of sadness in her voice, she was able to talk about Cherise without completely falling apart. At least most of the time.

"Yeah, this is kind of a hidden gem." I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her body flush against mine. "Just like you are, beautiful."

She smiled shyly before standing on her tiptoes to give me a kiss. I knew it was meant to be a brief one. Just a subtle brushing of her soft lips against mine. Truth was it was hard as hell to keep anything subtle with Jamie Lovette.

I explored her mouth with my tongue, putting every single emotion I felt for her into it. Since I couldn't say the words, this was the only way I could express to her how I felt about her. The smart move would have probably been not to express too many emotions at all, but that was becoming a lot harder as the days passed.

She didn't seem to mind, though. In fact, ever since that one night when she dropped her guard, she never seemed to mind when things got extra passionate. It gave me a little hope for us. But at the same time, it also scared the hell out of me.

Jamie pulled away from me and looked up at me with those heated blue eyes of hers. Eyes that were telling me she wanted a lot more than a kiss right now.

"If this is how you take women on a date, Atticus Lake, then how the hell are you still single?"

Reaching up, I brushed my knuckles against her cheek. "I don't think I need to tell you that I've never planned a date like this with anyone before you, Guinevere. You're different. And special."

Her expression turned quizzical. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Feeling nervous for what I really wanted to say, I shrugged one shoulder. "It's nothing."

"Tell me, please. I want to know what you're thinking."

Her tone was more curious than anything else. And thank God for that, because the last thing I wanted to do was scare her off.

"I'm just so happy that you're enjoying this," I explained. "And...I really want to do it again. You know, taking you on a second date. Maybe a third. Then a fourth."

To my surprise there was no trace of fear or fight or flight in her eyes. In it's place was a deep yearning. For me, I realized. I didn't know how I knew that, but I knew I was right.

She pulled my lips to hers again and gave me a sound kiss. "I want that, too, Ollie." Stepping back, she took my hand. "Now let's enjoy more of this fairytale-like beautiful place."

"It would be my pleasure," I replied, my voice rough.

For the next hour or so, we continued down a few more pathways, Jamie explaining to me all the different names and types of flowers and plants. It felt so good to hear her laugh and to know she was enjoying herself. Almost like a miracle, actually. Even before her mom passed it always seemed like she was in this weird place emotionally. Stuck between anxiety, nervousness, depression, and all the while still trying to be happy.

But that all seemed to be gone right now. She was just...happy. And the fact that I was able to create that for her made my heart feel like it was going to break with how much I cared about this girl. Especially when I was going to see her reaction to a little something I had planned for this date.

When she started veering to the right, I tugged her hand. "Let's go this way. I have a surprise for you."

Her lips curved up in an excited smile. "Another surprise besides this beautiful place?"

She followed along as I led her to it. "Oh yeah. And I think you'll like this even better."

"I don't even know if that's possible," she murmured. "Considering how to today's been going so far."

I chuckled at that. "Careful, Lovette. You're gonna keep feeding my ego."

"I give praise when praise is due," she teased. Then she saw it and her expression changed from playful to shock and awe instantly. "Ollie..." Her eyes met mine. "You did this for me?"

"Do you like it?"

Her brows rose nearly to her hair line. Then she stepped into my body and cupped my face with her hands. "I can't believe you did all this for me. I love it, Ollie."

Hearing the L-Word come out of her mouth in any form made my heart race. I still felt a little guilty that I never told her she said she loved me the night of her mom's birthday. Let alone the fact that I said it back to her. But how was that going to go?

"By the way, Jamie. You said you loved me when you were hammered and I said 'ditto' back to you."

Yeah, fuck that. I couldn't tell her. The even more fucked up part of all this was I was so incredibly ready to tell her I loved her. Like for real. I was so really to give her every single piece of me. Heart and soul. But in this instance, in this relationship—if I could even call it that—it had to come from her.

The colorful paddle boat was ready to go when we approached it. Just as I had arranged it. I helped Jamie inside before joining her. One of the men who worked in the park helped push us into the lake before we were on our own.

Grabbing an ore with each hand, I directed us towards a private area away from other boaters. Once we were in a good spot, I reached down and grabbed the small picnic basket I arranged before picking her up at the loft.

Opening the basket, I pulled out two grilled cheese sandwiches. "Hungry?"

Jamie reached for the sandwich with a giant smile on her face. "Grilled cheese? This is getting better and better." She took a bite before noddng her head towards the basket. "What else do you have in there?"

"Do you even have to ask?" I teased before pulling out two of her favorite things. "For you, beautiful."

She set her grilled cheese on the napkin before reaching for what I held out to her. "Danish and coffee from La Rose De Baguette?"

"It sure is." I watched as she unscrewed the top of the thermos before taking a sip of the coffee. Her eyes closed on a heavy sigh as she swallowed the warm contents. "How is it?"

"Perfect," she basically purred before taking a few bites of her Danish. "So, only two more days until your art show. Are you nervous?"

While she continued snacking on her Danish and sipping her coffee, I finished my grilled cheese. "I guess I'm a little nervous. I think that's normal though. I'm pretty excited about showcasing my work finally."

"I can imagine. If I was doing something like that, I think I would be so anxious. I'd probably be a no-show."

In that moment, all I could think was...God, she was amazing. Her smile faltered when my eyes held hers. In the small space of our paddle boat, there were a lot of things left unsaid between the two of us. Emotions and secrets and wants filling up the space between us.

Was this real? Sometimes I had a hard time believing what was real life and what was make believe. Whatever this was between us felt almost too good.

"I'm so happy you're going to be there with me," I murmured. "You don't know how much that means to me, Jamie."

Leaning forward, she reached out and stroked the side of my face with her fingers. "I wouldn't miss it for the world. It's going to be a night to remember."

I turned my face into her palm and kissed her soft skin there. "One for the books,' I vowed.