He left after dinner. I gave him one kiss—on the lips, but no tongue—before sending him on his way.

"I'm not giving up," he whispered in my ear.

I hugged him, not quite sure how to reconcile our friendship and what I knew about his romantic past with the sincere plea for my affection he had made in my kitchen.

"I don't want you to," I said honestly.

"Don't go on that date tomorrow," he pleaded. "Please."

"I'm not making any promises, Edward." But at the desperate look on his face, I relented. "I'll tell Alice I don't feel well."

"You could just tell her you're going out with me instead."

His words gave me pause. "You want to tell people at work? Doesn't that seem a little...risky to you? Once we tell them, there's no going back. And I can say with absolute certainty that no one suspects a thing right now."

"I'm not ashamed of this." He cupped my cheek with one hand and smiled down at me. "Are you?"

"I don't even know what this is." I laughed. "But your cheesy response is noted."

"Girl, you haven't seen cheesy yet."

With that ominous remark, he got into his Volvo and drove away.