A/N: My apologies for taking so long with this chapter. I started college and for some strange reason (smirk) that's been taking up quite a bit of my time. I think I lost both my betas, too, so there are probably plenty of errors in this chapter. Oh, well.
She laughed and started towards the door. She locked it behind us, and relaxed against me as we walked out the car.
If these first minutes were any indication, this is going to be one incredibly wonderful evening.
I was right. It was an incredible evening.
"Have you ever tried Indian food?" I asked Calleigh as I opened the car door for her.
"No, I don't so," she answered.
"You wanna give it a try?"
"Sure," she said with a smile.
Wow, I thought, She is so gorgeous when she smiles.
"There's a little Indian restaurant that's been here about two years. Copper Chimney. They have the best Indian food in town." It's one of my favorite restaurants in Miami. It's a family owned restaurant. The food is incredible and the atmosphere is perfect.
It only took about 10 minutes to get there. I walked around and opened the door for her, offering my hand as she stepped out of the hummer.
"Thank you, kind sir," she said. She threw me a flirtatious look.
I took a deep breath. That woman has no idea what she does to me. She is the sexiest woman on the earth and when she looks at me like that I just want to pull her close and kiss her until she can't think of anyone but me, just the way she makes me unable to think of anyone but her.
"Eric?" she asked, sounding a bit worried. "Are you alright?"
I draped my arm over her shoulders and pulled her close. I kissed the top of her head.
"I'm fine, Calleigh."
"Are you sure? You didn't look fine?"
"What's wrong with the way I look?" I teased. "You seemed to like it earlier."
"That's not what I meant!"
"Then what did you mean?" I challenged.
"Oh, you!" she said in mock exasperation. "You know perfectly well what I meant."
I might have been a little shocked at this outburst if it weren't for the smirk I saw her vainly trying to hold back.
"What? Am I a mind-reader now?" I returned.
"You…you looked a little lost for a moment." She said, seriously.
"Oh, that." I was hoping we wouldn't get back to that. I wasn't quite sure how much she was ready to hear. The last thing I want to do is scare her away. "Let's just say you look – "
"Eric? Calleigh?" It was Alexx. I groaned softly.
"Hi Alexx," Calleigh said cheerfully.
"I didn't know you liked Indian food, Calleigh," Alexx said.
"I've never tried it, but Eric thought I might like it." Calleigh answered.
"I'm sure you will. You two have a good dinner." Alexx winked at me.
The girls hugged and Alexx left.
Calleigh's POV
We walked into the restaurant and waited a few minutes.
"I'm sorry, I didn't think about the fact that Alexx loves this place," Eric began.
"Don't worry about it, Eric. I don't mind if Alexx knows. She's not one to gossip."
"I know, Cal, but I still feel bad for –."
"Eric, it's just a risk we're going to have to take. Why don't we just try to enjoy the evening?."
"Thank you, Querida."
Our waiter came back and seated us at a corner booth in the back. The lighting was soft and the music exotically beautiful. The smell was heavenly. Our waiter brought us a basket of something called onion kulcha. They looked like fat tortillas. Eric said it was delicious, so I hesitantly took a bite.
"Oh," I moaned, "this is so good."
"I am glad you like it, Miss," the waiter smiled. "Will you be ordering this evening, or would prefer to try our buffet?"
Eric looked at me. "Up to you, Querida." I felt a shiver go down my spine at the endearment and snuggled closer to Eric.
"The buffet sounds nice," I decided, "as long as you'll show me what's good."
"We'll take the buffet," Eric told the man.
I looked up at Eric. I was just so comfortable in Eric's arms; I didn't want to get up. Eric looked down. Our eyes met. He leaned down slowly, giving me time to escape if I wanted to. I didn't. Our lips brushed. That wasn't nearly enough. His lips were warm and firm. I wanted to feel them again. I leaned up, closing the gap again. This time we did not break apart so quickly. We kissed once, twice, thrice, and then I lost count. I couldn't think of anything except Eric and his incredible lips. I moaned. I'd often thought they were sexy, but kissing him left me in no doubt of that fact. His lips were insistent and his teeth nipped my lip before his kisses soothed the gentle pain.
Eric pulled back first. "No," I said drowsily as I tried to pull him back down.
"This is probably not the place for this," he said regretfully.
I blushed. I had forgotten where we were.
"Probably not." That didn't stop me from resting my head on his shoulder while we caught our breath.
We stayed like that for a moment before Eric spoke, "You ready for some food?"
Not as ready as I am for you, I thought, but I decided that it probably wasn't the appropriate response.
Eric helped me through the line, pointing out the best dishes. There were several he didn't know the name for, and I hadn't heard of the rest. Onion Pakora? Chicken Masala? Butter Chicken? It didn't look like there was any butter in it, but I took a little bit of everything anyway. I had to admit it all smelled wonderful.
The final thing Eric recommended was a thin tapioca-like pudding. "You can never tell what will be spicy, it changes every time."
We took our plates and went back to the table. Everything was wonderful. The fried onions – onion pakora were delicious, and I couldn't decide whether I preferred the Masala or the Butter chicken. Both were incredible, and the kulcha rounded the meal out perfectly. Our conversation during dinner was light and we didn't really discuss anything of substance, but we had a wonderful time. For this short time, no one else existed.
After we finished our meal, Eric suggested some mango ice cream.
"Mango? Where do you find mango ice cream?"
"Wait right here, I'll bring you some," Eric said, rising.
A few moments later Eric returned with a dish of mango ice cream in an unusual looking syrup. It looked like a thin corn syrup, but tasted much better. Eric looked at me, gauging my reaction to the dessert. It was every bit as good as the rest of the food.
We lingered a bit after we finished, enjoying the time together.
"You feel like seeing a movie?" Eric asked.
"I don't know. What movie do you want to see?" I asked.
"I haven't really paid any attention to what's in theaters," he confessed.
"Then would you mind terribly if we watched a movie at home instead?" I requested.
"Your place or mine?"
I thought for a moment.
"Yours."
A/N: Please leave a review. I'll try to get the next chapter up much sooner than this one!
