Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHRIS DE BURGH, “THE LADY IN RED”
Eve
With Fred and Anne visiting, I did not need to watch Josh for the rest of the week, which left lots of time to distract Erin from studying.
“This can’t go on forever. If you love him, you have to tell your parents,” Erin said, looking up from her textbook as I spun in circles in her desk chair while she sat on her bed with Clifford.
My dad insisted I find a new home for the puppy, so I took him with me to work and pretended I was doing my best, but the look on Josh’s face when Clifford ran to him after school prevented me from being serious about my rehoming promise.
“I don’t think ‘Daddy, I love him’ will work. I think Kyle should tell Fred, get him on our side, and then Fred can tell my dad.”
“Do you think Kyle can get Fred on your side?”
“Absolutely not.” I laughed.
“You know how this story goes, don’t you?”
I stopped spinning and gave her the hairy eyeball. “How does it go?”
“Your parents find out. They disown you, like they did with Sarah. But you don’t care because you love him. And then Josh’s mom returns and takes what you risked everything to have.”
I wrinkled my nose. “You are a terrible friend. Why would you say that?”
She shrugged, returning her attention to her textbook while rubbing Clifford’s tummy. “Friends are honest with each other. You have to be prepared for anything, including his past coming back. Have you talked to him about her? What do you know? Was he madly in love, or was it some one-night stand who popped out a kid and dumped him on his doorstep with a note?”
I rocked back in the chair and stared at the ceiling. “I don’t know. He doesn’t like to talk about it.”
“I think you should run off and get married and then tell your parents. Don’t risk everything until Kyle’s willing to be your new everything.”
“We’ve known each other for less than two months. I’m not sure he’s ready to propose.”
“But he’s taking you to a movie after the game tonight. That’s a step. Right?”
I nodded.
“What movie?”
“ Dirty Dancing .”
“What? NO! You can’t see that movie without me. We agreed we’d go together.”
“I’ll see Fatal Attraction with you.”
“I heard it’s a stalker movie. I want to see a real love story.”
“I’m giving you a moment-by-moment account of my love story. What more could you possibly want?”
She slammed her book closed and grinned. “I want to know about the sex. You’re too vague. What position do you do it in? Do you orgasm? Does he go down on you? Does he kiss you after he does? That freaks me out. Like, do you really want to taste yourself?”
I giggled. “I didn’t think about it. He did. It was amazing , and then we kissed, but I was focused on how he looked at me and how he felt inside of me, not how I tasted in his mouth. I must taste pretty good.” I smirked.
Erin covered her mouth to suppress her laughter. “That’s …”
I sighed. “Doesn’t matter. I love having sex with him. I feel like such a perv with a one-track mind. It’s all I think about when we’re together. He’ll talk to my dad about football, and I think about his balls and how they sound slapping against me when we’re doing it.”
“Oh my god!” Erin cackled, falling onto her back.
Clifford jumped on her and started licking her face.
“I have it bad for him. If he dumps me, I will not survive. And it’s not just the sex. It’s the way he smiles. It’s like he gets me. Whenever we look at each other it’s like we’re sharing a secret.”
“Well, you are,” Erin said.
I shook my head. “Yes, but not that one. It’s been this way since the first day we met. It was one look, and this instant feeling like …” I bit my bottom lip.
“Like what?”
I shrugged. “I know it sounds stupid, but it felt like recognition.”
Her nose wrinkled. “Like you’d met?”
“No, like finding something you were looking for. Like, ‘Oh! There you are.’”
Erin gave me a blank stare.
“Doesn’t matter. I’m just saying I love everything about him. He’s playful and such a good dad. I swear I fall harder in love every time I see him just being a dad to Josh. Ugh!” I growled, hugging my fists to my chest. “He’s so manly and rugged, yet smart and caring. He’s just …”
“Perfect?”
I sighed. “Yeah.”
“Oh, Eve, it just feels that way because he’s your first love.”
“I don’t know. I’ve liked other guys, and I’ve wondered if my feelings were love. But this is different. My heart skips so many beats just thinking about him. I may never know what I want to do in life, but I know I want to be with him.”
I curled my hair at home and tucked my dress, shoes, and illegal makeup (not mom-approved) into a bag and headed to the game.
With a few minutes left on the game clock, I left the school and headed to the lake. My car light wasn’t ideal for applying makeup, but I made it work. Then I changed into my red dress. My mom always called it raspberry red. It was one of the outfits I wore for my senior pictures.
Sleeveless.
Long and flowing.
I felt like a woman in the dress, not a girl.
That ache in my heart and the fluttering in my tummy, which could only be described as love, never seemed to ease. It didn’t matter that Kyle had seen me soaking wet, naked, tipsy, and everything in between. I still wanted to look my best for him. I wanted to make his heart skip and dance like mine. If he could love me even a little, that was enough.
Just a seed.
I would nurture that seed and wait for it to grow. And maybe, just maybe, he might find a way for us to be together without destroying everything we had between our families. If Josh’s mom came back, Kyle would still choose me.
When headlights shined in my rearview mirror, I stepped out, adjusting my dress and primping my hair one last time.
Kyle hopped out of his truck wearing his navy suit and Robin’s egg blue tie, which he probably wore to school that day since everyone was dressed up for game day.
“Hi.” I grinned.
“Eve,” he drew out my name, gaze slowly taking me in. When he pressed a hand to his chest, a kaleidoscope of butterflies took flight in my tummy.
I lifted my dress, holding it out to the side and turning in a slow circle so he could see the back.
“I’m speechless,” he said.
I blushed. “Thank you,” I whispered.
His hand ghosted along my jaw and cupped the nape of my neck while he kissed me. I gripped his jacket lapels.
“How can I love this dress on you so much yet want nothing more than to take it off ?” he asked, kissing down my neck as I closed my eyes and grinned.
“We’re overdressed for a movie,” I said.
“Not yet.” He reached into his truck and came out with a plastic container.
“You got me a corsage?” I beamed.
He pulled the white rose corsage from the container and slid it onto my wrist. “ Now we’re overdressed for a movie.”
“If you’re trying to make me not love you, you’re doing a terrible job.”
Kyle smirked, hooking my arm around his as he walked me to the other side of his truck and opened the door. He helped gather my dress, so it didn’t brush along the bottom of his truck as I climbed inside.
“This is the most unforgettable night of my life,” I said.
He eyed me for a few seconds before a slow grin slid up his face, along with a tiny blush. “How can you say that already?”
“No one has ever looked at me like you are now.”
He winked and closed my door.
I picked up the corsage box as we pulled out of the parking lot. “Why does this have Drew’s name on it?”
“In the locker room after the game, he was complaining to his friends that his homecoming date wasn’t as hot as you. And while that’s a no-brainer, I thought he was being an asshole for saying it. So I took the corsage he had next to his suit in his locker. If he’s going to be an asshole, he might as well look like one too.”
As we cruised down the highway, I rolled down my window just enough to toss out the corsage.
“What are you doing?” Kyle whipped his head in my direction.
“You can’t give me someone else’s flowers. I don’t accept it.”
“You steal alcohol, but when it comes to flowers, you’re a purist? I thought we had a Bonnie and Clyde thing going.”
I kept my gaze on the road and fought to keep a straight face, but I liked the idea of being the Bonnie to his Clyde.
After my silence convinced him to give up on the corsage discussion, I flipped through the radio stations.
“Stop,” Kyle said. “Go back.”
I turned the dial.
“There.” He grinned and started singing the song. Of course, he was a better singer than me.
But I focused more on the words.
It was Chris De Burgh's “The Lady in Red.”
I knew the lyrics, but I let him sing them. No one had ever serenaded me. And I wanted to know if he would sing the entire song because the last line would mean everything to me if he whispered it the way Chris did. As the end approached, I held my breath.
He sang the second to the last line.
My heart flipped and flopped in my chest.
And then he sang the last line, whispering it like in the song.
“I love you.”
I didn’t look at him because I was afraid he might roll his eyes or smile in a way that made it clear he was just singing lyrics. My heart latched on to hope, and I refused to let my mind ruin it.
When we arrived at the theater, I felt like a princess with my prince at my side, opening doors, resting his hand on my lower back, and something in his expression that felt like pride.
He was proud to have me on his arm.
His lady in red.
We caught plenty of looks being so overdressed for a movie, but it didn’t matter because his gaze was the only one that mattered to me.
“Butter?” he asked, ordering our popcorn.
I nodded, finding it impossible to control my grin, and he gave me an extended glance as if my excitement was contagious.
“Come on, gorgeous.” He handed me the popcorn while he stuck the candy boxes in his jacket pocket and carried our drinks.
No one had ever called me gorgeous.
When we found seats in the middle of the theater, an older couple behind us smiled as we sat down.
“Your dress is beautiful,” the lady said.
“Thank you.” I smiled.
She glanced at Kyle. “You’re a lucky man.”
It was too much for my young heart. We were secret lovers in Devil’s Head, but at the movie theater in Filmore we were a couple. I never wanted to go home.
“Thank you,” Kyle said. “I agree.” As soon as we sat in our seats, he leaned toward me, lips at my ear. “The luckiest,” he whispered.
We ate our popcorn and candy and watched the movie. Had I not met Kyle Collins, I would have envied Frances Houseman’s character. I would have watched the movie with Erin, and we would have left with our hearts stolen by Johnny Castle.
The movie was good.
My love story was better.
The man who set our popcorn bucket and candy boxes on the floor midway through the movie so he could hold my hand was a million times better than any man I had seen on the big screen.
And that was a tall order because Top Gun released the previous year, and Tom Cruise had starred in most of my dreams.
“I knew it was my story. Older man. Forbidden love,” I said on the way back to Devil’s Head.
Kyle laughed. “But I teach math instead of dance.”
“Exactly.” I looked at my watch.
“Are you going to miss your curfew?”
“Depends.”
“On?” He shot me a sideways glance.
“If I go straight home when we get back to my car.”
“Then that’s what you’ll do.”
“What? No.” I unfastened my seat belt to scoot across the bench seat next to him, angling my body to kiss his neck. “You can’t take me to a romantic movie and not give me some romance before I go home.”
“I’ll kiss you good night.” He grinned.
I loosened his tie and undid the top buttons of his shirt so I could kiss his chest.
“Eve,” he warned.
“I don’t want just a kiss good night.” I kissed along his collarbone and slid my hand up his leg until I felt the hard bulge in his pants. “Even though I love the way you kiss me like you do.”
“Eve,” his warning came out a little harsher, a little more desperate as he pulled into the parking lot at the lake. “How do I kiss you?”
“Like you want me to know that no other man will ever kiss me again.”
A tiny smirk pulled at his lips.
“By the way, I have nothing on under this dress,” I whispered in his ear.
“What’s your punishment for being late?” His question thrilled me because it meant he was considering it.
“I’m grounded for a week from going out with friends.”
He shoved it into Park and unbuckled. “Good thing we’re not friends.” His fingers dove into my hair and he paused—of course he paused—a breath away from my lips.
“Then what are we?” I asked.
“You know what we are.” He grinned.
“We’re lovers.”
“Lovers,” he echoed as our lips touched.