Lizzy woke up the next morning to the sound of the phone ringing. It was Jane asking her if she was free to go to dinner with them in the evening. Lizzy would have wanted to go but for this new development in her life. She grinned to herself as she quickly made her excuses to Jane. She knew she would not hear the end of it if she told Jane the truth that she was actually going on a date with Will. She wanted to tell her sister the truth but it seemed too soon and she was not in a mood to put up with her sister's i-told-you-so's. She promised to meet Jane soon and hung up. She did not want to meet anyone today before her date. Today would have to be assigned towards some honest soul-searching, to clear her head and be frank with herself about her feelings for Will. She would have to be stupid and childish to still think she wasn't attracted to him. She decided that she would have to go with the flow and put her best foot forward and see how their relationship grows. She had to put her past behind her and she made up her mind to look forward to whatever the future might hold with Will.

Feeling positive she grabbed a coffee and decided to go for a run. She ran for a few miles around her neighbourhood at a comfortable pace and picked up some groceries on the way back. As she was stepping into her apartment her phone rang. She was surprised that it was Will calling her. It was only 3.30 in the afternoon.

"I was thinking I could pick you up at 4 pm" he said.

"4 pm?" it was already 3.30 and she hadn't even figured out what to wear. "Will, I know you guys in royalty eat early and often but don't you think 4 is too early even for you?" She teased. "And I'm not even dressed," she added.

"Well about that, I do remember I have an article of your clothing and I thought I could bring it back and help you with the err dressing up," he quipped.

She giggled despite herself. God, why did she love it when he flirted with her like this and who even knew that he could flirt so effortlessly.

"Will, don't be a flirt," she said in fake anger.

"Alright, alright," he agreed. "It's just that I couldn't wait to see you," he said softly. "I'll pick you up at 6 if that's ok with you. See you soon," he said and hung up happier than he had ever been in the past few months.

Will too had realized that if he wanted this relationship to go anywhere, he would have to be honest with himself and her. He couldn't bottle up his feelings anymore and still he didn't want to scare her away with the depth of his feelings. He decided he would bring out the old charm and be sincere and warm with her. They would have their arguments about this and that he was sure for two such opinionated individuals but he could take that as long as he knew she wanted to be with him. He realized he had instigated many arguments between them in the past, just to see her riled up and get a reaction out of her. And how right she was at times with her strong will and how it had hurt his pride. But if this had to work he had to get over his pride and his need to be in control.

Lizzy quickly slipped on her black peep toe wedges when she heard the doorbell ring. There were butterflies in her stomach but she knew she looked good, so she hoped that would make her seem confident. She was wearing a black v-necked dress with a slightly deep open v at the back. She had accessorized with a rusted bronze broad bangle and earrings and some lipgloss and she was all set. She opened the door to see Will leaning on the door jamb with a bunch of what seemed like freshly picked flowers in his hand. He grinned when he looked at her and she saw his jaw clench as he took in her appearance.

"You look gorgeous, Lizzy," he said giving her a quick peck on the cheek and handed her the flowers.

"Thank you. Will" she said eyeing the flowers and wondering where he was able to find a perfect bunch of wild-flowers at this time of the day.

"Ready to go?" he asked, "I got reservations at a little Italian restaurant. Hope you don't mind eating Italian," he said.

She nodded and said "Italian sounds great," as she wore her jacket and found her purse.

As she got into the plush leather seats of Will's car she bit her tongue to not make a tongue-in-cheek comment about how rich and snooty the car looked. "Get used to it Lizzy," she told herself. "Just because he is rich doesn't mean he is an uptight brat." She had to get over her prejudices if this had to work.

William drove with his hands safely positioned on the steering wheel. He was worried that he would launch himself on her if he did not focus on the road. She looked amazing. She always did even when she wore track pants and mussed hair lounging in Bingley's house but today she had dressed up and she looked bewitching. He had caught sight of the open back of her dress and was so tempted to run his fingers on her spine.. no, let's not go there he decided and stopped himself in time. He had to find a safe topic to talk about. Lizzy was having trouble too making conversation. She tried to look everywhere but at him for she was afraid she would end the evening before it had started, considering he looked so dashing in his dark jeans and grey sweater.

"So did you talk to Georgie this weekend?" she ventured thinking it was a safe enough topic.

"Yes, I in fact did. Umm, she was happy to know we met but I made sure to be careful not to divulge details about the said meeting."

She looked at him then and smiled, "Yeah, Jane called too. In fact i didn't tell her that we were meeting tonight," she faltered a bit before continuing "I wanted to make sure this was a viable thing before getting her hopes up," she added.

They arrived at the little Italian restaurant and were seated at a table for two. The waitress introduced herself and handed them their menus.

"Would you like some wine Lizzy?" asked William.

"Sure," she said as she looked at the menu, "I'm thinking of the ravioli for my entree."

William decided he would have the spaghetti bolognese and ordered an accompanying wine.

After the waitress finished taking their order Will turned to see Elizabeth fiddling with her thumbs. She was nervous he could see.

"Lizzy, I heard about this game from a psychiatrist friend to break the ice." He started "where I say a word and you say the word that comes to your mind right after.."

Lizzy had heard of the game too. "Ha, yes, I heard about that game too, but why would I want to play with you?" She smirked.

"I didn't say you should play with me."

"Actually I want to play with you Will," she admitted suddenly not wanting to spar unnecessarily with him, "I want to get to know you better. What comes to your mind if I said - Blue?" she asked.

"Sky," he answered.

"Snow," she said next.

"Ski"

"Work"

"Interesting"

"Relationships"

"Hard"

"Parties"

"Boring"

"Me"

"You?"

"Yes, what comes to your mind when you think about me?" she smiled. She liked putting him on the spot.

"Lizzy.. " he groaned "that's a trick question."

By that time their food arrived and Lizzy decided to drop the subject. They got into a discussion about the book that Lizzy was reviewing for her work. By the time they finished dinner and dessert Lizzy had decided that spending time with Will wasn't that bad after all. She always had found their discussions or arguments like some called it, interesting. Will was having a great time too. It was always insightful to talk about things with her. There was a lull in conversation as the waitress came to clean the table. When the waitress left, Will saw Lizzy was nervously twiddling her thumbs again. He gently caught hold of her wrist and brought it to his lips.

When she looked at him he breathed, "Your bare back," still holding her wrist to his lips.

"My bare back?" Lizzy wasn't sure she had heard him correctly.

"You asked me what's the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about you. When I think about you today Lizzy all I can think about is your bare back," he said and grinned wickedly.

"Ugh, I'm going to kill you," she said leaning forward to slap his chest playfully.

Will caught hold of her wrist again and pulled her to him as he brushed his lips to hers. He continued somewhat seriously, "Lizzy, when I think about you today, I'll always think about the second chance I have got with you. I want to do everything right by you and I'll. I'll go as slow as you want but all I ask for you is to give us a second chance."

"Yes, Will, I would very much like that too," she breathed as he held her eyes with his.

They finished at the restaurant and Will drove them back to Lizzy's apartment and parked. He walked her to her door.

"Will I had a lovely evening, thank you," she said.

"I did too, Lizzy. Thank you. If you hadn't seduced me yesterday we would never have gotten here," he chuckled with a smug grin. She smacked his chest as he caught her waist and brought her to his chest. "No, seriously, if you hadn't come to return the blasted books yesterday, we would have never gotten here. So thank you for that," he smiled genuinely.

"Yes, Will, I guess we have our sisters to thank for the first and second chances," she quipped as she saw his eyes drop down from her eyes to her mouth.

"Hmm, hmm," he replied as he bent down to kiss her.

Just when she sought to deepen the kiss he broke apart. Lizzy was aghast when he said "Lizzy, I'm sorry, you said you wanted to take it slow but I just cannot stop myself from kissing you."

"It's ok, you idiot. Do not apologise. I need to kiss you just as much." She grabbed him and pulled him back.

He pushed her to the wall near a covered part of the porch as his hands roamed her back. His fingers danced on her spine as she quivered. They were gasping as they broke apart as a car drove by on the road in front of her building.

Will started to apologize again as Lizzy put her finger to his lips to stop him. "No, uhuh, don't apologise again. Do you want to come up?"

Will was sorely tempted to take her up on her offer but at the same time he knew he had to respect her interest of taking it slow. He declined her offer and instead walked back to his car. She opened the door to her apartment and blew him an air kiss before slipping inside.