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“Yeah,” he said, with a grimace. “And that was just one relationship…with a flight attendant who was out of town as much as I was. In an entire thirteen months, we didn’t spend more than a single month’s worth of days together.”

“Gotcha,” Vivian said, wondering when this conversation stopped being fun jokes and turned so serious.

“I’d like to go on a date with you, Viv. Although, I know we’ve already skipped six or seven steps.”

“At least,” she whispered, her heart suddenly racing. Not out of fear but excitement. Problem was, her head was screaming just as loud, telling her she needed to think this through. There was a hell of a difference between casual hookups and dating.

She wasn’t even sure that was what she had intended to propose. All she knew was that she wanted to see him again, so she’d suggested they set up a time to meet.

Vivian gave herself the old internal eye roll because, yep…she had totally asked him out on a date. What she didn’t know was how they’d jumped from going on a date to this full-fledged dating conversation. Because they weren’t exactly the same thing.

God, she was in way over her head here. Phil was the only man she’d ever dated, and even with him, they’d sort of slowly worked their way into it with all those silly, needless tutoring sessions.

Things were different now.

Dean studied her face intently, and she saw his brows furrow with concern. “You’re freaking out.”

She shook her head…too quickly. “I’m not freaking out,” she said in a high-pitched, overly loud tone that was the very definition of freaking the fuck out.

“Is it Phil?” Dean asked.

“No. It’s not. Not at all. It’s…” She paused, but she needn’t have bothered. Dean was proving himself very adept at reading her mind.

“Pip.”

“You’re not the only one lacking experience,” she admitted. “The only person I ever dated was Phil. I’ve never introduced a man into Pip’s life other than Victor. She’s only five, Dean. This is uncharted territory for me.”

He was quiet for a moment, and she was afraid she’d ruined…whatever this was…before it even had a chance to begin.

“I’m not asking you to choose between me and Pip.”

Vivian startled at that. “Oh my God. I know that, Dean. That wasn’t what I was saying.”

He reached for her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I really need you to hear me. Pip comes first. Every time. All the time.”

Vivian’s shoulders loosened. “I don’t know what this is supposed to look like.”

He gave her a crooked grin. “Neither do I. Besides, I think we jumped the gun, swerved a bit off course. I shouldn’t have confused things by talking about dating. All you really asked for was a planned run-in.”

“So we start small, and back to the beginning,” she joked. “With just a date. One date,” she clarified, making sure they were on the same page.

“One date,” he agreed. He kissed her softly, taking his time. The kiss wasn’t hungry or intense or desperate, like so many of the ones that had come before. This one was…hopeful. When they pulled apart, he gave her that boyish grin that she was quickly coming to adore, resting his forehead against hers.

She looked down at their joined hands, at her bare ring finger. Had Dean noticed it wasn’t there? She wasn’t sure he had.

“Could we keep the date on the down-low?” she asked. It wasn’t just Pip who wasn’t used to her going out on dates, it was Belle and Victor as well. If this thing didn’t go the distance, she didn’t want to potentially damage Dean’s relationship with any of them. He and Victor were close friends, and Pip adored Coach Dee.

He nodded. “I think that’s a good idea.”

“Because you’re afraid of Victor?” Vivian couldn’t resist teasing him.

Dean, unoffended, added to her joke. “I think we’d be pretty evenly matched in a fist fight, but I’d prefer not to test it just the same.” Then he pointed to his mouth. “Spent a fortune fixing up these pearly whites after I retired from the game.”

She laughed. “How many are fake?”

He winked. “I’ll never tell.” Then, Dean lifted her hand and kissed it. “Where should we accidentally run into each other?”

“Well, you’re out of town for the next four days,” she reminded.