Chapter 4: First Dinner Date

On Saturday evening at half past 6, Tony was standing in front of the mirror in his bedroom, making some final adjustments to his appearance. He straightened his dark red tie that went well along with his grey suit and white button down shirt. His hair was neatly in place, he had showered and shaved, had put on a modest amount of after shave and was now ready to go. And it was about time that he left. He had made a reservation for 7 o'clock and had told Kate that he was going to pick her up at 6.40. It was already 6.30 now, but he would be at her place within minutes as soon as he was in his car.

On his way out he picked up the bunch of red roses from the cupboard next to the door. He hoped she liked roses, but they always were a safe bet. While he was waiting for the elevator and then going down to the basement, he was thinking about yesterday when he had called Kate. This time she had greeted him with his name when she had picked up, which meant that by now his number had obviously been added to the register of her phone.

"Hi, Tony!" Kate greeted him.

"Hi, Kate! I hope I'm not disturbing you. I know you are on a later shift, so I wasn't sure when to call. Are you still at work?"

"Yes, but that's no problem. I'm not very busy right now."

"Good. I wanted to ask if you're still on for tomorrow?"

"Yes, I am already looking forward to it."

Tony grinned. "Me too", he said. "I made a reservation for 7 o'clock, I hope that's okay with you."

"That sounds just perfect."

"Very well. Then I'll pick you up at twenty to seven."

"Okay, I'll be ready. But, Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you tell me where we are going? I need to know to choose an appropriate outfit."

"I'm sure I'll like whatever you pick", Tony said, smiling to himself.

"That's sweet, but still I …"

"Okay, I know, this kind of thing is important for a woman", Tony gave in. "Do you remember me telling you about Dr. Mallard, our ME? I asked him if he could recommend a restaurant – since I'm new to this city – and he suggested the French Rose. I think, elegant clothing is recommended. Does this help you?"

"Yes, that helps a lot", Kate said, and he could hear in her voice that she was excited about his choice of restaurant. Tony of course had looked the restaurant up on the internet when Ducky had given him the name and he was quite sure that it was exactly what a woman would want for a first dinner date.

Tony came out of his pleasant memories when he started his car and filed into the weak traffic. Within two minutes he reached Kate's apartment building and found a free parking spot almost directly in front of the door. Taking that as a good omen, Tony left the car and went up the few steps to the door. He pressed on the buzzer with Kate's name next to it and didn't have to wait long until he heard her voice over the speaker.

"Hello?"

"Miss Todd, your car has arrived", Tony said.

Her silent laughter sounded lovely even over the intercom. "Come on up", she said. "My apartment is on the third floor."

Tony took the elevator and soon reached Kate's floor, where he walked down the corridor that was as clean and quiet as the rest of the building. He could very well imagine Kate living here.

With the flowers in his left hand he knocked and waited. When the door opened, his jaw dropped. He had so hoped she would be wearing a little black dress, and hadn't even had to mention it to her in order to have his wish fulfilled. The dress had spaghetti straps and showed enough cleavage to look really sexy, but it was still modest enough to pass as elegant. It hugged the curve of her breasts and her slender waist nicely, and fell from her hips in soft waves. It ended two inches above the knees, showing more leg than the skirt she had worn Wednesday morning. She had put her hair up, leaving some strands down to play around her neck and shoulders.

Tony had enough experience with beautiful women to not completely lose his ability of speech, but he couldn't avoid stuttering a bit in the beginning, when he said: "You … wow … Kate, you look amazing."

Kate smiled brightly at him. "You don't look bad either", she said. Her gaze fell on the flowers he was still holding and she looked back into his face with a smile and one raised eyebrow.

"Oh … uh … right", Tony stuttered. "These are for you. I hope you like roses."

"I love roses", Kate said, taking the flowers and smelling them. "They are beautiful, thank you." She stepped closer to him and raised on her toes to kiss his cheek. But then she grinned and used her thumb to brush her lipstick off his cheek. "Sorry", she muttered.

"Don't worry", Tony said, giving her a look that made clear that he wouldn't mind having more of her lipstick on him.

Kate blushed. "I'll put the flowers into a vase and then we can go", she said quickly, hurrying away.

Tony used the opportunity to have a quick glance at her apartment. The front door was leading directly into the living room, which was small, but cozy. There were loads of pictures on the cupboards and walls, showing smiling adults and children. He wondered whose children they were and left a mental note to ask her later. Kate had vanished through an open door that obviously led into the kitchen, but he couldn't see much of it. There was another door in the wall opposite him and he guessed it led to her bedroom. He hoped he would find out some day.

Soon Kate returned and placed the vase with the roses on the coffee table in front of the couch. Then she picked up a dark red shawl that she threw around her shoulders and grabbed her purse.

"I'm ready", she declared, stepping next to Tony and smiling at him.

Smiling back, he placed one hand in the small of her back and led her out of the apartment.

It only took them ten minutes to get to the restaurant, so they didn't have to worry about their reservation. The receptionist, a stunningly beautiful brunette, looked for Tony's name on her list, before signaling one of the waiters to come over.

"Luc is going to show you to your table", she said. "Have a nice evening."

Tony smiled at her, trying not to make it look flirtatious because he didn't want to annoy Kate by flirting with the receptionist. So he offered Kate his arm and she gently placed her hand on it.

The waiter led them to a table near the high windows in the back where they had a nice view over the lantern lit garden outside. Tony pulled the chair out for Kate, not for the first time in his life thankful for his distinguished education, which had been so important for his mother.

"Madame, Monsieur, la carte", Luc said, handing them the menu. "Puis-je vous offrir un apéritif?" he asked after having illuminated to candles on the table.

"Shall we order wine?" Tony asked her.

Does he really speak French? Kate thought excitedly. But maybe he had only recognized the word 'aperitif'. But when she agreed to ordering wine, she watched in awe as Tony turned to the waiter again and asked him which wine he recommended – in French! Luc listed several names and Tony chose one, asking Kate's agreement with his eyes.

"Where did you learn to speak French so well?" Kate asked as soon as the waiter was gone.

"I had some French at school. But when I didn't make enough progress, my mother hired a private teacher for me. She absolutely wanted me to become fluent."

"Wow", Kate said. "Is your family wealthy?"

"My parents are. But I don't live on their money anymore." He left out the fact that it hadn't been him who had made this choice. He smiled at her. "Now you know that I grew up with a lot of money. That means you can now blame all my faults on that circumstance."

Kate chuckled. "Okay, I will", she said.

Tony raised one eyebrow. "Does that mean you already found any faults?"

Quickly, Kate put on her most innocent expression. "Of course not", she said in her best scandalized tone.

Chuckling, they opened their menus, but Tony quickly sighed and said: "You know, in moments like these I'm glad I speak French so I won't end up eating snails or frogs without knowing it."

"I actually ate snails last week in France", Kate admitted. "They are not that bad – but still I closed my eyes and tried not to think about what it is I'm eating."

So they chose bouillabaisse as an entry. Kate ordered chicken as a main course and Tony decided for beef; then they handed back the menus and engaged in conversation while they were waiting for their food.

"I wanted to ask you something", Tony started. "Back at your apartment I saw all the pictures of small children on your walls. Whose children are they?"

"I have three older brothers", Kate explained. "The children are my nieces and nephews."

"How many have you got?"

"Five so far. Number six is on its way and will be born in December."

"Wow", Tony said. "Sounds like a full time job as a babysitter for you."

Kate smiled. "They live too far away for me to be of any use as a babysitter. Two of them live in Indiana, about three hours from here. But the third moved to California. He's the one whose wife is pregnant. Do you have any siblings?"

"No, I'm a single child. And again you can blame all my faults on this circumstance."

"If I find any." She grinned.

"If you find any", Tony said, stressing the 'if'.

By the time the first course was served, Tony had already learned the names, ages, likes and dislikes of each of Kate's nieces and nephews. She wasn't sure if he asked out of interest or politeness, but either way he gave her the feeling that he was really listening to her.

While eating their soup Kate asked Tony about his time as a cop in Baltimore and gave him the opportunity to brag a bit. He was sweet when he was trying to show off in front of her.

There was not one single uncomfortable silence between them throughout the whole meal. They switched from subject to subject without consciously thinking about it and it seemed like they found something to say to almost anything. Tony was having a great time. He couldn't remember having ever enjoyed the conversation with one of his dates so much – perhaps because the girls he usually dated had other qualities than being good in keeping conversations interesting. And it wasn't only the things that she said that he found entertaining. He also liked watching her features while she talked, the way she raised her eyebrows or frowned or how she smirked when she was being sarcastic. He was so preoccupied with watching her face that he never even tried to let his eyes wander down to steal a glance at her cleavage – not that he didn't want to, he did. But he was content with watching her face and, in addition to that, he was very sure that she would find this kind of behavior very rude.

But even though he was enjoying himself very much, he also longed to get something more from her, get closer to her. So, when they had finished desert and their plates had been taken away, he leaned forward and reached over the small table to put his hand on Kate's. Her fingers were warm and the touch of her soft skin was electrifying. With his thumb he drew a small circle inside her palm, looking into her eyes while he did so.

"I am really lucky because the most beautiful woman in this restaurant is sitting at my table", he said with a soft voice. He saw that he had made her blush and had to bite back a grin. He loved making her blush! "Would you like to stay a bit longer?" he asked. "Maybe have another drink?"

"Yes", Kate said silently, her eyes never leaving his.

This was another thing Tony had never done before. Normally, the point in a dinner date was to impress the girl as much as possible as quickly as possible and then get her out of the restaurant as quickly as you could so that she had the possibility to ask you inside for a coffee. Wasn't it? But now that he thought about it, this method appeared very cheap to him. And, in addition to that, he wasn't so sure if Kate would really invite him in, no matter how much of a gentleman he had been today. It just didn't seem likely with her.

Damn, he needed a whole new game plan for this woman! But for now he thought the right thing to do was to make her stay with him a little bit longer so that he would have more time to make her laugh and hold her hand. Maybe she'd kiss him later.

'Huh?' a quite irritated voice inside him asked. 'What are you? A teenager on his first date ever? Don't act like you don't know ways to get a woman to kiss you goodnight!'

Tony had to agree, there were a lot of methods one could use to charm a woman into kissing you. But he didn't want any of those cheap moves. There was this amazing woman in front of him and he was quite sure that he had managed to make her really like him. He wanted to prove to himself that just being himself was enough.

They ordered Martinis and while they were waiting Kate excused herself and left for the bathroom. She wanted to check her hair and makeup and have a few moments to herself to think about what she was planning to do later when he took her home. She enjoyed this evening so much and she really liked Tony, but still she thought it was too early to take their relationship to the next level. No, that wasn't right. The next level would be to kiss him, properly, not like the last time, and she was definitely willing to make that step. But actually asking him in would be one step ahead of schedule.

But oh my god she really wanted to kiss him! And she feared that if she didn't make a clear decision right now that she could still think rationally, she would ask him in later anyway, just because her mind wouldn't work properly anymore. No, she couldn't spend the night with him. After all, ten days ago the guy had been a complete stranger to her and she wasn't a person who built up trust easily. Maybe it was because of her problem to trust others that she still was a little bit afraid that all Tony wanted might be to have sex with her and that he wouldn't call her again as soon as he had managed to get inside her pants. She really didn't want to believe this, but she couldn't help it and she knew, if she asked him in today and it turned out that she had been right, she would feel cheap and it would take months until she was over it.

'You are being stupid', she told herself. 'He's not like that. He's nice and polite and he definitely knows how to treat a woman.' She didn't want to ruin this perfect evening with her stupid worries, so she quickly checked her make up and hair and returned to their table.

They stayed in the restaurant for more than another hour and still didn't find it difficult to keep up the conversation. But shortly after eleven they both agreed to leave, because it was definitely getting late.

Tony decided not to take his car to go back because even if he wasn't drunk, he'd definitely had too much alcohol to drive. So he left his car in the restaurant's parking lot and asked the receptionist to call a cab for them.

While they were waiting in front of the restaurant, Tony took Kate's hand in his and gently squeezed her fingers. He leaned closer to her and said: "I'll give the driver your address and walk from your place, okay?"

"Yeah, okay", she said, fighting back a wave of excitement.

Then the cab arrived and they both climbed into the back seat, where they spent the short ride in companionable silence, still holding hands. Tony was playing with Kate's fingers, but she noticed that he did it unconsciously, while he seemed a bit lost in thought. She smiled.

When they reached Kate's building, Tony paid the driver, got out of the cab and walked around it to open the door for Kate. She took the hand he offered to help her out of the car and didn't let go while he pushed the door closed. When the cab drove away, they were standing alone on the sidewalk.

Tony looked down into Kate's face, but soon his eyes locked on the loose strands of hair that were playing around her neck in the light evening breeze. He lifted one hand and gently touched those stray locks, running his fingers through them. And then he couldn't resist brushing his fingertips over the side of her neck, because he was dying to find out if her skin was as soft as it looked. He smiled. Of course it was.

Slowly Tony's hand wandered up to her face and he carefully put two fingers under her chin to lift her face up. He looked at her and watched how her eyes wandered up and down between his eyes and lips, begging him to come closer. Who was he to deny a lady's wish?

Tony bent down, moving his hand from her chin to her cheek and up into her hair. When their faces were so close that he could feel her breath on his skin, he closed his eyes and gently pulled her to him. When their lips touched, he felt how his entire being focused on Kate. He felt her body move closer to his as her arms came up to wrap around his neck, felt the softness and warmth of her lips and tasted their sweetness. He could smell her intoxicating perfume and heard the shaky breath she let out, mixed with the sounds of his own breathing and his heartbeat, thumping loudly in his ears.

He opened his mouth, running his tongue over her lips, and when he felt them part to let him in, he slipped one arm around her back to pull her closer and let himself be consumed by the kiss.

Minutes went by without them noticing. They were completely oblivious to the world around them and they might have stayed like this forever, but at some point Tony's wish to look at her and see the expression in her eyes became so pressing that he finally broke out of the kiss. Cupping her face with both hands he looked down at her, fascinated by her hazel eyes and the soft expression in them. He also noticed that her fingers had closed around the lapels of his jacket and she didn't let go even now, holding on as if she needed it to keep her steady. So he wrapped one arm around her back again to hold her and slowly he felt her hands relax. They wandered up to the nape of his neck and pulled him down until their lips met again.

They stayed on the sidewalk in front of the house, kissing and holding each other for a very long time, but it passed like the flicker of a flame. When Tony kissed her cheek and whispered that he would go now, Kate desperately wanted to ask him to stay, but she bit her lip. Not yet, she told herself, and she was sure it was for the best. She'd see him again soon and if he really was the man she thought he was, they'd have all the time in the world.

So she whispered her okay and accepted the last kiss he placed on her lips.

"And now get in", he told her softly. "I don't think I will be able to leave as long as you're standing here."

She smiled at him, lifting one hand and gently brushing her palm over his cheek, then she turned and quickly entered the building in front of her.