Dallas, Texas

"No more for me, I couldn't eat another bite", feeling Pamela's hand touch his as she reached out to stop him from opening the picnic basket again, Bobby felt almost embarrassed at how little control he had over himself, he was not an inexperienced teenager but his heightened reactions to Pamela made him feel like he was. "What about tonight?" accepting her comment, he asked her a question he hoped she would respond positively to, because there was something about her that pulled him toward her and made him want to spend as much time with her as possible, even if in other circumstances he might think such actions were borderline clingy. Enjoying the way she lightly touched his hand, he found himself carried away by his thoughts for a few moments before her response brought him back to reality.

"I'd love to, but I already made plans with my family, they're not fancy plans or anything, just dinner at home, probably Chinese food if Cliff has anything to do with it, but I would feel bad cancelling on them. You understand, don't you?" Listening to her, he understood exactly what she was saying, his own father was happy to excuse him from family dinner for dates and business trips, but those always came with an advanced warning, he didn't appreciate low attendance at family dinner without prior warning. None of that was new to him, it was just the way she spoke about her family that made him think; they sounded normal, like an average suburban family, which he knew they were, he had briefly met Cliff, and Pamela herself seemed grounded, it was just he'd never really thought of them as so ordinary. In his lifetime he had heard many stories involving Digger Barnes and in the background had been comments about his family, but before right now, they had always been a collective group of characters rather than real people, even though he knew they were real people and it sounded crazy to think of them in any other way.

"I understand. How about tomorrow night? We could go to dinner, then maybe out dancing?" hoping he wasn't expecting too much of her and that she felt the same way about him that he felt about her, he pushed the topic again, this time receiving an answer that made him much happier. "I'd like that, I did have plans to meet up with the girls later though… would you mind that? Going together, but not completely alone?" Listening to her, he nodded, considering they had informally done the same thing the previous weekend, he didn't mind at all. "That sounds good", still holding her hand as he responded, he gently pulled her toward him, leaning forward to kiss her and then leaning back onto the picnic rug, bringing her with him. Lying together in a passionate embrace, he ran his hand through her hair as she traced her fingertips over his chest, only remembering that they were actually in a public park when a cool wind blew past them. Lessening the intensity of their actions to reflect the appropriateness for their surroundings, they eventually came apart, though the closeness they had found with each other was not broken.

"Can I ask you a question?" speaking as she changed position so she was resting on her front, looking up at him, he could tell from both her tone and her facial expression that whatever she had in mind was not serious. "Of course", meeting her eye and smiling kindly, he indicated his interest in what she had to say. "Were you actually in town and decided to visit or was that just a line?" unconsciously letting his smile turn into a smirk, he chuckled lightly at her question; of course she wanted to feel like he had done it all for her, women liked to feel special like that, hell, everyone probably liked to feel special like that. "Both actually, I had a meeting this morning at the office, so I was in town; usually I return to the ranch after my business here ends, but today I decided to delay that. As I'm sure you can tell, I had all of this in my car, so I was hoping you'd say yes", giving her an honest but still flattering answer, he knew he'd said something right when she reached up to lightly stroke his face before kissing him softly again.

"I'll always say yes, this has been lovely, and wonderful, and perfect… thank you", touching his hand again as she spoke, was clear to him that she also highly enjoyed the sparks that flew between them even from small actions, and that gave him a lot of hope about the future of their relationship. Whether or not it was too soon to start considering what they had a relationship, he wasn't sure, but he knew what he wanted now more than any other time in the recent past and what he wanted was Pamela. He had no idea what the details of a relationship with her would look like, they had barely scratched the surface when it came to truly knowing each other, emotionally or intimately, but somehow he knew, he knew there was something there. In the same way he'd known that none of his other recent first dates had been going anywhere or his casual flings were anything more than sexual relief, he knew now that Pamela was something special, more importantly, he and Pamela together had something special.

"You're welcome, and if you promise to always say yes then I'll definitely do this more often, we are after all only a few minutes out of the city… I want to show you everything though, so I hope you'll be open to those things too". Considering it, he really did hope that she would accept his plans as he made them because there were so many places he wanted to show her and things he wanted to do with her and inevitably, some of them were open to him because he had money, which wasn't a crime, she was just sensitive about it. He had been making a conscious effort to be considerate of her feelings about his wealth and he would continue to do so, organising dates based on enjoyment regardless of the cost, but he did wish to know that if he organised something special for her, she wouldn't be upset about how far removed from her reality it was. To him, taking her somewhere spectacular that she truly enjoyed had no price tag, he wanted her to understand and accept that; if she didn't though, he'd respect it and try again later, when they did know each other better. "I'll go anywhere with you", answering his request, Pamela's words put his mind at ease; it appeared that their rocky start had been just that and now that they were on a smoother path, he hoped it would continue that way.

To be continued…