"As soon as possible," he said carefully, looking down chagrined at his hands folded on the table. He wished he hadn't had a pretense like that to ask her out to discuss, actually. He'd have rather just had a friend - a dinner. Now it felt more and more like he'd asked her intentionally to use her, even though she'd offered.
"I'm anxious to - " Get it over with, he thought. "Begin."