First Visions (20 page)

“No, nothing,” he said and abruptly turned
back to her. Looking her up and down he pronounced, “You look
amazing.”

The compliment threw her off balance and she
knew her face must have revealed her surprise. “Thanks,” she said
primly.

When he didn’t say anything, she started, “I
mean I’d invite you inside, but I’m pretty much persona non-grata
as it is with the whole news story thing. My family keeps looking
at me as if any minute I’ll set up a table in the back of the room
and start charging the guests tenners for a psychic reading.”

Kate grew more uneasy under his piercing
stare and the heady silence. “I’ll probably be missed if I stay out
here for too long. So, I’ll just head back in…”

“Nikki and I are broken up,” he stated flatly
without forewarning. His gray eyes probed her and she wasn’t
certain what he was searching for. It felt like he was testing her
to gauge her reaction to the confession.

“I’m sorry?” She said it as a question and
shrugged her shoulders.

It seemed to take a strong effort for him to
move his eyes away from her face and focus on the ground between
them. “It was mutual. We both realized it wasn’t working anymore
and we haven’t been in sync for a long time.”

“Oh?” she said lightly although her heart
began hammering in her chest. Folding her arms against her chest,
she was able to slow down the trembling that now racked her
body.

Jared looked at her hopefully. “And I guess
she knew…that something was happening….between you and me.”

“Something was happening? That’s news to me,”
she said tersely.

Jared looked surprised and ran a hand
anxiously through his hair. His confidence was gone and it seemed
to take a lot for him to admit how he was feeling. Yet, Kate knew
he would have to be on crack if he thought she was going to make
this easy on him. “Oh, sorry, I thought maybe…”

“You thought what, Jared?” she questioned
with bite. “You thought you would come here and tell me you were
broken up and I’d still be
interested
? That I would be your
rebound girl?”

He looked taken aback and shot her a guilty
look. His face revealed he likely thought she would launch herself
frantically into his arms at the news of him breaking up with
Nikki. He started, “I didn’t say…”

Kate interrupted him. “Do I look that
desperate that you figured you’d come here and I’d drop trou for
you?” She cast a look at his car parked in the rear of the
reception hall. “Or I don’t know…we would get into your back seat
and play tonsil hockey?”

He raised an eyebrow and butterflies erupted
inside of her.

“Ouch!” Kate cried as her elbow slammed into
the car window. She winced and began to rub at it.

“Sorry, but I’m going to have to remind you
that this was your idea.”

“It was meant as a rhetorical question,” she
responded and began to giggle as Jared kissed her neck.

He caressed her cheek and then planted
several soft kisses on her lips. The kisses grew more heated and
she gripped him tightly. His lips were seductive as they moved
against her mouth expertly. Within seconds, she literally felt like
she was melting. Without a word, his lips had told her everything
she needed to hear. His need for her was obvious by the way he
couldn’t keep his hands off of her. It was apparent she hadn’t been
the only one harboring feelings this entire time. The idea of
breaking away and
not
kissing him was unimaginable. Nothing
else seemed to matter but this moment between them.

Gently, he pushed her back into the leather
seats of his car and began exploring her body with his hands. She
put her hands under his shirt and kneaded his back. His body was
perfect and Kate swore she would have to ask him for some workout
tips if she could ever pry her body away from his.

Her lust grew as he covered her with more
intense kisses and began to nuzzle her chest. His hands rested on
her thighs and were slowly inching up. She wanted him more than she
wanted anything in her life. However, once his fingers made it
around the sides of her panties, she grew anxious. In a broken
whisper, she stammered, “Um…maybe we should talk.”

“Yes?” he smiled down at her. He was
completely sexy, even after a backseat make-out session. His shirt
was scrunched up around his belly and his jeans hung low revealing
the top of his boxer shorts. His lips seemed swollen from their
kisses and his eyes gave her a tender look. It was almost
impossible to say what she needed to when he was looking entirely
too delectable.

“I’m not sure what your….um, expectations
are. I mean I’m not well versed in any sort of sexual gymnastics,”
she confessed. Thankfully, the car was dark and he wouldn’t likely
see her blush.

His eyelids lowered and he gave her a lustful
look. “Sexual gymnastics? I’m intrigued, tell me more.” He nibbled
at her earlobe and starting working on the zipper at the rear of
her dress.

She pulled back with a concentrated effort.
“I’m being genuine with you. It’s pretty embarrassing to admit, but
I’m like seriously inexperienced.” He gave her a questioning look
and she continued, “Like practically a virgin.”

He climbed off of her and planted himself
down in the seat. He straightened out his shirt and said
resolutely, “Well then, we better stop…”

Kate crawled over and sat on his lap. Turning
to face him, she said, “I didn’t say we couldn’t do
it
. I
only wanted you to know I might not be that good at it. Simply a
pre-sex advisory.”

His grin was devastating and she thought it
should be a crime that someone would be this good looking. Also,
the way he was staring at her was making her all lightheaded as if
he thought she was beautiful as well. He ran his thumb across her
lips before cupping her face in his hands. “Well, if you’re
practically
a virgin, we should make it special, not a
quickie in my backseat.”

Kate gave him an uncertain look. “I mean you
want to, right?”

“Even though we’re not going to do it right
at this moment, it doesn’t mean I don’t have plans not to ravish
you in the near future.” The way his eyes were undressing her, she
had no doubt he meant it.

She was about to argue, but figured he
probably had a good point. Not to mention if they waited, she could
start doing some sit-ups or something in the meantime. Her poor
eating was definitely catching up and making her feel flabby. She
wanted to look extra sexy if he was planning to ravish her. She
pressed up against him and asked, “What am I to you?”

Jared seemed slightly amused by the question.
“Not sure what you mean.”

“Am I your quarter life crisis? Nikki came by
and told me that’s what I was to you. Is it true?” she questioned
and began chewing on her lower lip as she waited for his reply. She
knew it was completely against dating rules to ask a guy from the
get go what his intentions were, but Kate didn’t want another bout
of emotional torment in the near future.

“When did Nikki see you?” he countered.

“The day after you drove me home from the
bar. You still didn’t answer the question,” she reminded him.

His amusement seemed to build. “What do you
want to be?”

She pulled away and huffed. “Well, I
definitely don’t want to be your girlfriend. You would make a
terrible boyfriend. Probably go around to weddings and accost poor
girls outside and seduce them into your cars. Perv.”

He grazed his fingers down the length of her
arm. She quivered under his touch and again began to rethink their
decision to not go all the way right then and there. “Forgive me. I
thought you were enjoying being seduced.”

Wrapping her arms around him, Kate
surrendered to his kiss. She felt breathless when she dragged her
mouth away from his. He held her face between his hands and his
expression grew serious. “Kate, I am sorry about hurting you. I
hope you understand if anything had happened last week it would’ve
tainted anything that might develop between us.”

“It doesn’t matter, you’re here now,” she
whispered and moved in for another kiss. Kate swore under her
breath. “And so is my mom apparently.”

Out of the rear window, she spotted her mom
exiting the doors of the reception hall and glancing around. While
pushing Jared’s head down, she simultaneously ducked further down
in the backseat. Kate poked her head up and saw her mother seeming
to give up on her search and reenter the building. “This feels like
a prom night or something. We snuck out of the dance to make out in
your car and now the principal is going to catch us,” she
joked.

“Now I do feel like a perv,” he responded.
“My prom would’ve been ten years ago.”

“Would’ve been? You didn’t go?”

“No,” he replied. “I didn’t have a date.”

“You didn’t have a date? How is that even
possible? I figured you for the player in high school who would’ve
had to beat the girls off with a stick,” she laughed as they both
sat up again. Leaning over, she rested her head against his
shoulder. It felt painful to not touch him now that they were
together again. Spotting her mother clued her into the requirement
to return to the wedding straightaway, but it was the last thing
she wanted to do.

“Not at all. When I told you I get you, I
meant it. I felt like an outsider in middle school and high school.
My aunt was gossiped about and called the town witch. I was tall
and gawky with barely any friends,” Jared confessed.

“I would’ve never guessed it,” she admitted.
“I bet you can’t wait to go to your high school reunion and tell
everyone to suck it.”

He chuckled. “Something like that.”

“As much as I hate to cut this short, I
probably should go in before my mom has a meltdown looking for me,”
she sighed. Opening the car door, she climbed out and smoothed out
her dress. He followed her out. She turned to him expectedly.
“Well?”

“Well what?”

“Well, are you going to ask me to dinner or
something? Or is the backseat of your Beemer the only place you
plan to take me?”

“Sure, dinner works. I know your fondness for
fast food, so I imagine you’ll be a pretty cheap date.” He leaned
against his car and a slight smile played on his lips.

Giving him her most withering gaze, she
socked him in the arm. “Better, watch it buddy. I’m going back into
a wedding with plenty of hot and single guys who are
dying
to wine me and dine me.” She did a little hip shake and head roll
which almost made her lose her balance and fall flat on her butt.
He had the grace to stifle his laughter.

“Hope this helps put any of those guys out of
your mind.” He grabbed her around the waist and pressed her body
against his.

His hand worked its way through her hair as
his mouth moved in rhythm with hers. Kate tilted her head and
parted her lips. The intensity of the kiss deepened and she felt
dizzy from the heat between them. When he finally pulled away, she
felt a physical pain.

“Call you tomorrow. Now you better go before
I refuse to let you out of sight and take you back to my apartment
and have my way with you,” he whispered and gave her a playful
nibble on her ear.

“Ok,” she mumbled dazed.

Stumbling away from him, Kate tried to regain
her composure. Daring a glance back, she saw him watching her
closely with an affectionate smile. He met her eyes and gave a
small wave. She had no idea how he could maintain his cool while
she felt completely weak in the knees. If he wasn’t so damn hot,
his confidence would almost be infuriating.

Once in the foyer, Kate dared a look in one
of the decorative mirrors. Her face was completely flushed and
covered in smeared lipstick. Her previously coiffed hairdo now
looked like a hair don’t. Hastily, she made a beeline for the
bathroom and did her best to pull herself together. She tried to
work out the hair knots with her fingers and wiped off the lipstick
with the help of several sheets of paper towels. Her coloring
seemed to refuse to return to normal. She guessed because her head
kept replaying Jared’s parting kiss and she couldn’t stop
blushing.

Her mother did not look pleased in the
slightest when she made her way back to the table. “Where have you
been
? They already did the bouquet toss and cake cutting,
it’ll be over any minute.”

“I needed some fresh air,” she said and hoped
she was keeping a straight face. She felt like Jared was embedded
inside of her and anyone would be able to discern she had just been
kissing him.

“I looked outside, I didn’t see you,” her
mother accused.

“I took a walk around, wanted to see the
gardens.” Even as she said it, she knew how lame the lie was. It
was pitch black outside, she wasn’t likely to even find the
gardens, no less admire the flora.

Her mother looked like she wanted to continue
the conversation, but Kate was quick to cut her off. Looking at her
empty dessert plate, she demanded, “Hey, where’s my cake?”

Her mom gestured over to her preteen nemesis.
“Logan was still hungry and asked me for it. And since you were
nowhere to be found…” Her mother trailed off with a shrug. Logan
looked at her smugly and she wondered if she could get away with
throttling him. Her body was really craving the sugar after her hot
make out session with Jared.

She still couldn’t wrap her head around what
had happened between them. The idea that he had shown up here for
her seemed like such an implausibility before. Although she had
tried to exude confidence during their encounter, she was a mess
inside. She never craved someone like this before and wasn’t
positive how to get a handle on her feelings. Instead of gazing at
her like she was some sort of science experiment, he looked at her
as if she was beautiful and he wanted her as his own. She still
tingled with the memory of his hands and lips on her. Drawing in a
deep whiff of her hands, Kate found his clean scent of soap and
aftershave lingered. With little control over her raging emotions,
she knew a huge goofy grin erupted on her face.