Infatuated (6 page)

“Memory loss?” He eased back but kept his hand on my hip. “Ouch. That one’s really ahead of schedule, by about four and half months. But see,” he said, his tone serious now, “I drove here and I’m pretty sure you walked—”

“Not here physically,” I said, laughing. “I mean here…physically. Shit.”

“You like that word, don’t you?”

“Do I?”

“You say it a lot. Your lips kind of do this pucker thing when you do and it makes me want to kiss you, so I’m okay with it.”

“Now who’s the one thinking about sex?”

“I’m thinking about kissing, which is completely different than sex. Perv.”

I laughed again.

“Back to your question. Are you having an existential crisis on me?”

“Maybe.”

“Because you don’t know how we got here?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

His face went serious. “What exactly are you questioning?”

“I’ve known you twenty-four hours.”

“It’s been about twenty-six by now, but okay.”

“And…I don’t know. Doesn’t it seem…fast? Maybe I’m an over-thinker.”

He took my hand in his, wrapping his fingers over mine. Instinctively, I did the same. He studied our hands for a second, lifted them, and looked into my eyes. “Some things just fit together without a lot of work.”

I stared at our linked hands. What he said was…the truth. About our hands, and maybe more. Some things did just fit, and it made perfect sense when he said it like that. Whether it should have, I couldn’t say, but it did.

I smiled at him. “That almost sounds like kismet talk again.”

His eyes went serious. When they did, the green specks dulled and the blue stood out more. “Kismet is too…flimsy. Too open. Too easy. It’s like saying all roads would have led us right where we are, and I don’t think that’s fair to people or gives them due credit. Some things are just chance or lucky draws—I believe that. But I don’t believe that, no matter what happens, all roads lead to the same destination or point. I think some things happen the way they should, though.” His fingers tightened around mine and his gaze went to our hands. “If I’d been five minutes later yesterday, I might not have gotten to talk to you. Who knows when, or even if, I would have? Who knows if we would have gotten to the point we’re at now? Maybe I wouldn’t have sat beside you and tried talking to you. You wouldn’t have turned me down or left your keys behind, and I wouldn’t have brought them out to you. What if you’d had a better night and hadn’t come back inside
to
leave your keys? So I believe some things happen for a reason, and maybe I even believe in a fate a little, but I don’t believe things like kismet.”

“Aren’t fate and kismet basically the same thing?”

“Maybe. To some. Fate is more…luck, I think. Kismet and destiny are more predetermined, the set-in-stone stuff.” He shrugged his free shoulder. “At least that’s my take on things.”

I liked his take on things when I always assumed, or thought, they all meant the same thing. I liked thinking there was a difference between them. I peeked at our hands again, the way his fingers rested between mine, the way they felt around mine. They just…fit.

“That sounds a little poetic, Kale,” I said, laughing softly. “Where’s ‘get poetic’ on that schedule of yours?”

“About six months down the line, so I think we’re both running ahead of it now.” With his free hand, he lifted my head again and ran his thumb over my chin. He stared at me like he had nothing in the world better to do, like he could stay there all night and be perfectly content with that task alone.

“You’re staring,” I said.

“I guess that happens when you’re around.”

I smiled up at him.

He shook his head, then leaned forward and nipped my lip. “Stop smiling at me like that unless you want to keep kissing in the back of my car where anyone can see. Personally, I don’t really mind. I never thought I’d like being an exhibitionist, but hey. I’m game to try anything once.”

I blinked at him and then cringed. We were in a pretty small town and the traffic on Edison Street this time of night wasn’t that heavy, but still. Anyone could have seen us.

A predatory gleam came into his eyes that had heat rushing to my cheeks. “Then you stop looking at
me
like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like…you want to gobble me up in one bite.”

“One bite? No.” His head shook again. “I’d definitely take my time savoring you.” He started to lean forward again, but caught himself. “God, you’re trouble.”

“Maybe next time you’ll bring me my date somewhere less public.”

“Hey, if you want to go to your place or mine, I’m up for it.”

I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Figuratively, anyway. I think literally would—”

I laughed. “It’s hot enough as it is. Maybe we should sit quietly for a few minutes.”

The thought of going to his place or mine sounded really good. The fact that I had to come up with bad reasons not to…that shook me. I wasn’t a one-night-stand girl, or even a sex on the first date girl. If a guy even hinted at sex on a first date, I usually called it off then and there. I was sure, had I made the offer, Kale would have taken me up on it, but I didn’t think he expected it or had offered it seriously.

“What are you thinking?” he asked after a few minutes. “You’ve got that sexy furrow going on again.”

“Honestly?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m thinking I’m either stupid or insane.”

“I don’t dig stupid chicks,” he said. He rolled away from me smoothly, back to his original place in front of me. Reaching to the front of the explorer, he pulled a small cooler between us. He opened it, reached inside, and handed me a Capri Sun. “Verdicts out on insane. But I don’t think you’re either. What are you thinking you’re stupid or insane for? Being out here with me?”

“No.” I stabbed the package with the straw and took a sip to give myself time to think. Did I lie or tell him the truth? I didn’t want him to think I was trying to tease him when I wasn’t. “For…not inviting you back to my place. Or for wanting to in the first place.” If he thought I was a tease, then it was better to know now, wasn’t it?

He groaned. “You are trying to be the death of me, aren’t you?”

“You said to be honest.”

“Damn my need for the truth.” He shook his head at himself. “Look, I’d be lying if I said the idea didn’t appeal to me or that I wouldn’t take you up on it in a second if you offered it, because I would. I’d be an idiot not to. At the same time—and if you tell anyone I said this, I’ll call you a liar—I’m glad you didn’t. I’ll have a reason for thinking that in a few minutes, maybe. In the meantime, I’ll admit to liking the fact that you’re thinking about it. I like knowing the idea appeals to you.”

And it did, more than I could admit, more than I could explain why.

“This is your game, Ally. I’m here to play, but we’ll go by your rules, your schedule.” He glanced outside. “But if we don’t get out in the open, I might try to expedite your game a little.” He smiled, one of those mischievous yet charming ones. “’Cause, maybe it’s just me, but it’s still really hot in here.” He jumped out, pulling the cooler with him, then set it aside to help me. “How about dinner?”

“Dinner it is.”

He opened the cooler again and dug inside. After a second, he laughed. “I think our dinner melted,” he said, holding up a plastic package filled with liquid. “Popsicles.” His smile was slow and sexy. “Told you it was hot in there.”

CHAPTER 5

S
ince our dinner melted, Kale pulled out dessert, which had, thankfully, fared a little better: strawberries. He admitted to eating half his share while he waited for me to get off work. When I told him the truth, that I’d thought his kiss tasted like them, he then admitted that it may have been on purpose. He said, now, whenever I saw or ate strawberries, I’d think of him. I didn’t doubt for a second that he was right.

“Part of me wants to invite you in,” I said a few hours later when he walked me home. We were standing outside my door. “But I’m not going to.” He could change my mind easily, we both knew it, and I think we both knew a part of me wanted him to.

If he regretted my decision, he didn’t show it. “I need my beauty sleep, anyway. You’d probably talk all night.”

The fact that he didn’t press me gave him brownie points, because any other guy probably would have.

I rolled my eyes. “Please, you’re the chatty one.”

“That’s…damn accurate. Okay, you win.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’m not kissing you goodnight.”

I tried not to frown, but when he laughed, I figured I’d failed.

“It’s not you. Trust me, I want to. But if I get my hands on you again…I’m not sure you could get them off without a crowbar.”

A shiver ran down my spine. The idea thrilled me. I almost said as much, but maybe some things were better left unsaid. “Probably safer then.”

“Not as fun, though.”

I grinned. “No, not as fun.”

“I might have to take your suggestion and make sure our next date night is somewhere public. Very public.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I might have to watch you walk home, too, instead of walking you. Just to be safe. I shouldn’t be trusted so close to your door. I mean, it’s right there. One step…”

“And here I thought you had better restraint than that.”

“So did I,” he murmured. “But you’re a dangerous woman, Ally Cat.”

I’d never been told I was dangerous, at least not in the way he said it. I didn’t know if he meant it, but the fact that he said it made me feel good. Powerful. I smiled. “I don’t think I mind that.”

“And that right there makes you even more dangerous.”

Still smiling, I unlocked my door. “Thanks for bringing me a date. He was kind of cute.”

“Glad you think so. I might be available to deliver another one tomorrow.”

“Then I might make myself available to receive another one tomorrow.”

He made a low growly sound. “God, you’re sexy when you smile.”

“I’m sexy when I frown, I’m sexy when I smile. Is there a time when you don’t think I’m sexy?”

“I don’t know. Walk that way a few feet.” He hitched a thumb over his shoulder.

My brows creased together. It was the oddest request he’d ever made, but still, I did as he asked.

I made it only a foot away before I heard him say, “Damn. Nope. You’re sexy leaving, too.”

I glanced over my shoulder at him and found his gaze on my ass. “Well, I guess that answers that question.”

Slowly, as if he had to force himself, he looked up. “Sorry, what question?”

“Whether you’re an ass man or not,” I said, laughing.

“I’m an equal opportunity Ally-man.”

Still laughing, I said, “Go home, Romeo.”

“Once you’re inside and I hear the door lock,” he said, serious now. “You work at six, right?

“Yeah.”

“So, do you want a before-work date, or an after-work date?”

“I’m ea—either one.” I caught myself, knowing if I said ‘I’m easy’, he’d pounce on it like a hyena.

The quick grin told me he knew exactly what I’d almost said. “We’ll go for lunch, then I’ll convince you to go out with me for dinner, too. What time do you want me to call you tomorrow?”

Call. I didn’t have my phone back yet. “Um, my phone’s getting fixed. I have to pick it up tomorrow at noon, so calling before then won’t help. But any time after that should be good.”

“I’ll drive you, if you want, then you can tell me what you did to your poor phone.”

I almost told him then, but shook my head mentally. Why ruin a perfect night with that story?
And I’m not thinking about it myself.
“Okay. Works for me.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then. Sleep well, Ally Cat.”

“Why do you call me that? Ally Cat.”

“Alley cats are fierce, and sometimes a little scary if you mess with them.” He grinned. “I figure you’re definitely both.”

“Fierce. I like that.” I smiled. “Thanks again, Kale. For walking me home, and for the date. Drive safe.”

When I didn’t move, he made a shooing motion at me. “Inside first.”

I went inside, peeked outside the door through a small crack to see Kale still there, making shooing motions at me again. I laughed and closed the door.

“Now lock it,” I heard him say. When I had, he added, “Thank you.”

I leaned against the door, grinning like a fool.