Waiting for You (RightMatch.com Trilogy) by Kathryn Shay Page A

It’s nice that you know to do it intuitively.”
    “Hey, congrats again on the award. After I emailed you, I looked it up online. It’s a real honor.”
    “Thanks.” She held his gaze and he knew instantly she wasn’t going to play coy. “So?”
    “So I want to see you. To date. To see where our relationship goes.”
    “Are you sure, Joey?”
    “Absolutely.”
    Dana gave him a pleased grin, which made him wonder why it had taken him so long to come to this conclusion. “What made you decide?”
    “A lot of things. I do have to confess that one of them was a date of sorts yesterday.”
    She didn’t seem upset about that.
    “Don’t you care?”
    “We never said we wouldn’t date others.”
    “No, we didn’t.” Something occurred to him. “Did you date someone else?”
    “Uh-huh. When I started to think you just blew me off. Tell me about your date. Of sorts.”
     “We went hiking, and I could only do half the trail, so while she finished, I laid in the grass and thought about you.” And how she was able to handle her limitations when he hated not being up to par physically. But he didn’t tell her that, because he felt guilty about his reaction.
    “What did you do afterward?”
    “Uh-uh. You tell something about your date first.”
    She explained about a romantic dinner in the park and how this Craig guy had made her feel safe. He clasped his hands, which were dangling between his spread knees. “Ah, well, sensitive guy. Smarter than I am in these areas. Of course, he’s had experience. Time to prepare. Which you never gave me, babe.”
    A purely female smile curved her lips. “You’re not doing so bad, babe . You knew enough to sit. You have good instincts.”
    He rubbed his shoulder. “Sometimes.”
    “What happened after your date?” she asked again.
    “We went to lunch in a place near Letchworth Park. Then I went home.”
    “That’s all?”
    “I didn’t make another date. She asked, but I dodged the idea.”
    “Did you kiss her, like you did me?”
    “No, but she kissed me at the car. I couldn’t stop it. How about you?”
    “Same thing; he kissed me. Though I was in the chair and couldn’t get away.” She arched a brow. “But you could have.”
    Amazed that she could joke about her disability, he smiled at her. “Okay, honesty now. I didn’t have a good time with her. I didn’t want to kiss her. I wanted to be with you. I have all week.”
    “That does my ego good.”
    “My ego could use something.”
    “I told Craig I couldn’t see him anymore. I shouldn’t have been with him when I wished I was with you.” She gestured around the studio. “Why didn’t you just email me today?”
    “I wanted to see you in person. In case you were pissed and might give me hard time. I remembered you said your new session started in a few days and figured you’d be here. Besides, I wanted to scope out the place where you spend so much of your time.”
    For a moment, she just watched him. “I have to admit, I was looking for an email from you.”
    “Thanks for telling me that. You didn’t have to.”
    “We need to be honest with each other, Joe. No secrets, including omissions.”
    Guilt for what he was omitting made him go cold inside. “I know.” He rolled to his feet, bent over and kissed her on the mouth again, though this time he wasn’t so tentative. He grabbed the back of the chair. “This is different from the one you usually use.”
    She raised the arms from the side. “Yes.”
    “Why don’t you use it all the time? Stand more.”
    “I have limits on how long I can be upright. It’s complicated medically. I use it all the time at the studio because it turns into a seated electric chair. I have three different chairs for all different purposes.”
    “I see.”
    “I also don’t use crutches and braces. The pain of trying to stand isn’t worth it. Even with this” --she touched the arms of the chair-- “I can’t even teach a whole class upright.”
    “Does