“Did you grab Ben’s ice cream?”

Nick held up the brown bag and followed her inside, taking his final licks of his ice cream before biting into the cone. It had been a wonderfully relaxing evening for the couple. Couple. Yes. Their first night out as just that. And it felt fantastic. A casual dinner, brainless action movie and homemade ice cream from a hole-in-the-wall parlor.

“Ben?” Solana tossed her keys in a basket and followed the sound of the TV to the back of the house, popping the last bit of cone into her mouth.

Suddenly unsure of his role, Nick plunked the bag on the counter and hung back in the kitchen. He knew he’d take Ben home, but then what? Did he just automatically come back? Should he wait for an invitation? What if she just blindly expected him to return and he didn’t? What if she didn’t want him to and he did? And more importantly, when did dating get to be so complicated? When did time with Solana get so complicated?

Finishing off his cone, Nick licked his fingers and went to see where she’d disappeared to. One step at a time, he figured.

“Ben, honey…we’re home.” Solana nudged the sleeping teen and turned off the television.

“Huh? Oh.” Ben smiled in his half sleep state, stretched his growing body and rubbed his eyes. “I’m sorry, Miss Romero…I fell asleep.”

“It’s okay…just so Rosalie fell asleep first.”

Chuckling, he sat up and groggily waved to Nick. He had not only nodded off, but had fallen into a deep sleep. “Oh yeah…she’s been down for a couple of hours. What time is it anyway?”

“Just about midnight. Nick will take you home, okay? Oh, and we brought you some ice cream.”

“Mmm…good.” Running his hand through his hair, he fell back on the couch again. “God, I can’t wake up.”

“Come on, sleepy head. Your mom will be worried. Up and at ‘em.” Solana took his hand and sat him back up, wondering if Rosalie would ever be this lethargic. Seemed she was active even when she was asleep. With one more stretch, Ben finally stood and numbly walked toward the front of the house.

When he was out of the room, Nick and Solana looked to each other, both feeling the discomfort Nick had experienced when they’d arrived only moments before. Now what?

“Um, I’m gonna go check on Rosalie.”

“Okay…”

“And,” she sighed, frustrated at her nerves, “I’d really like it if you came back.”

Her deep brown eyes were glistening in the dark room, begging for mutual desire from him, relieved when she saw it reflected in his smile. “Yeah, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

She nodded and bit her lip, amazed at how fast her heart was racing, thrilled that she could feel this again. Or was it for the first time? It had to be the first time. No man had ever had this effect on her before. “Just leave the door unlocked and come on in, okay?”

He leaned down and softly kissed her, trying to contain his nerves, grateful for the momentary reprieve to take Ben home, so he could gather his wits. Nerves. This was new. It was kind of exciting.

Finding Ben leaning on the door, almost asleep standing up, Nick chuckled and bopped the boy on the head. “Come on, dawg. Time for bed.”