Chapter 9 #2
When I arrive at the theater, a retro sign flashes the theater’s name, The Princess, with lightbulbs and everything.
As if I needed another reason to fall in love with this quaint little town.
Nolan waits out on the pavement near the old-fashioned ticket booth, which is manned by an android assistant dressed in an antique costume, boxy hat and all. They’re talking, all friendly smiles.
Warmth spreads through me, a strong affection I’ve never before experienced, just from watching him interact with another android that isn’t trying to throw him through walls.
Do they have their own language, their own culture, their own understanding of the world none of us can comprehend?
Does Nolan have bionic friends? I want to know everything there is to know about him, and even after weeks of chatting, I know there’s plenty more for me to discover.
Nolan sees me as I walk toward him, and his disguised brown eyes light up with the briefest flash of backlight, shuttering pupils narrowing on me briefly.
Focusing on me. Then they return to normal.
Suddenly it hits me—maybe that’s the tell, to know when he’s scanning me, reading me like a book.
So unfair. I’ll have to ask him about it later.
For now, I throw my arms around him and let this feeling finally overtake me as he steals a brief kiss.
“I missed you.” I drape my arms over his broad shoulders as his hands move gently to my waist.
“Missed you too,” he says with a smile.
That’s when I know something’s up.
I can’t claim to be a Nolan expert—hell, we’ve only been involved for a few weeks—but with one flash of that grin, I’m usually done for, weak in the knees, ready to surrender.
This time? He’s holding back. He’s reserved beneath that expression. Almost like he’s concerned about something and hasn’t decided whether to tell me or not. I might be overthinking, but I have a sixth sense about these things.
“Is everything okay?” Searching his gaze, I lean into him. Perhaps closeness like this can coax whatever it is out from behind those always-processing eyes.
“I’m fine,” he replies with a little half smile. “Don’t worry.”
I’m fine. Oh god, no. Not I’m fine. Anything but I’m fine.
Something’s definitely wrong. I manage to give him a light squeeze as I explore every possibility, internally panicking.
Maybe he’s in some kind of trouble. Or is it his boss? Did someone find out we did it in his room at the fire department? Are they mad about the broken bed? Did the chief or Apollo say something to him?
“Are you sure?” I press ever so gently, trying to remind myself that men are wired different, so maybe androids are too. Just because some people are never fine when they say “I’m fine” doesn’t mean he’s not okay. Maybe I’m reading into things.
But Nolan’s touch is gentle, and his smile is sincere. The affection shining for me in his gaze is unmistakable. “Don’t worry,” he replies, and my hackles go down just a little. “Let’s just enjoy the movie.”
My woman senses aren’t giving up, but I’m never going to get anywhere here in the street.
After paying for our tickets, I take his hand and let him lead me inside to our theater, then to our seats against the back wall.
We’re seeing a romantic comedy, and a rather sleepy one, it seems, as there aren’t many people showing up.
He wraps his arm around me and buries his nose into my hair.
“You smell amazing,” he whispers, nuzzling me and pulling me close.
Maybe I really am overthinking. Wouldn’t be the first time.
He trails his fingers through my hair, sending tingles up my spine.
I devolve from curious about the movie to wanting him to just keep playing with my hair.
I don’t know how he could’ve guessed this is one of my favorite sensations, but here we are, and I don’t care.
It’s hard to focus on the movie. Nolan proves to be the most wonderful distraction, tracing circles on my shoulder, my back.
My body is his instrument, and only he knows how to play it.
I don’t make it thirty minutes. I pull him in, and his lips devour mine.
His hands wander cautiously over me. Occasionally we break away just to make sure we’re being quiet enough, discreet enough.
But we’re in the very back row, everyone else is closer to the front, and nobody seems to notice us.
I’m beginning to think we should’ve just skipped the movie. I couldn’t name any of the actors, follow the plot, or see what’s so funny about it anymore. All my thoughts are of Nolan. The way he’s kissing me, how my body is on fire with yearning for him.
“Should we stop?” I whisper in his ear.
“Do you want to?” He nibbles my earlobe, causing me to shiver and melt simultaneously.
“No.”
Then he unbuttons my jeans and slips his hand down beneath my panties, testing my heat.
“You’re so wet,” he whispers in my ear. My breath hitches as his middle finger finds my clit and begins circling, teasing.
But my jeans are in the way, and his movements are constricted.
Biting back a soft gasp, I wiggle the jeans partially off my hips, again nervously glancing toward the screen.
So far, so good. As he continues fingering me, my legs only spread farther as I grind back against him, willing myself silent.
He holds my gaze, grinning slyly as he continues stroking. My mouth, slightly open, beckons him for another kiss, and he claims my mouth again. I’ve never done anything like this, not even when I was a teenager. The back seat of cars is one thing. But a theater with other people in the same room?
It both scares and excites me.
I can feel the pressure building. I’m so close. Nolan trails kisses along my jaw to my ear, whispering, “I love how soaked you are for me, baby girl.”
Thrills coarse through me, bringing me closer.
Baby girl. I didn’t know he was capable of talking like this.
Did he learn it from someone else? Did he research it?
Do I really care, when he’s here with me?
I’ll do anything he wants, if it means he’ll call me that again.
I can’t say a word. If I open my mouth to even respond, I’ll moan or whimper, and everyone will know precisely what we’re up to.
Then he slips his hand down, slowly pumping two fingers into me. “You like that, don’t you?” he rumbles, teeth teasing my earlobe. “You love being pleasured in public by an android.”
I stifle a sound in my throat, not daring to answer, rocking my hips as he fucks me with his fingers. They move faster, in and out, then they curl.
And I shatter.
My entire body is pulsing. Nolan puts his free hand over my mouth, nuzzling me as my legs spasm, heat flooding between my thighs.
I melt like butter in my seat, a breathless, trembling mess, and Nolan holds me close, whispering my praises. I don’t even try to keep up with the movie anymore. Nolan holds my every thought.
I’m falling for him. No, no, it’s already happened. I’m past tense. How do I tell him so?
After the movie is over, we cuddle through the credits as everyone else leaves. I’m playing the will I say something, or won’t I? game with myself and finally settle on won’t.
If I tell him I’m falling in love with him, will it be too fast? I don’t think I could recover from a rejection from him. Nolan is the ultimate sweetheart, and I know deep down he would never hurt me. But even if he let me down easy I don’t think I could take it.
We enjoy our session of stolen kisses in the dark until ushers wearing vests and bow ties come in to clean up the place. We exit together, hand in hand, out to the street.
“You, sir, are not a droid, you’re a devil.” I’m grinning as he pulls me to him after I playfully try to pull away. “I can’t believe we did that.”
“Believe it,” Nolan replies, rubbing the small of my back as he gazes into my eyes. “Sorry, I can’t keep my hands off you.”
“Are you really that sorry?”
“No.” He laughs. “Not even a little bit.”
As we walk past the cute little brick shops on Main Street, Nolan slows. “Mia, about before—I do need to speak with you about something.”
Uh-oh. That off feeling I had before the movie returns with a vengeance. That must be bionic for “we need to talk.” Nolan’s expression is soft, almost apologetic. My thoughts are flying wild, a mile a minute.
Is he breaking up with me? Can he even break up with me? Is he my boyfriend?
Settle down, Mia. Chill out. He’s not a dick. He wouldn’t have just fingered you to oblivion if he meant to break things off.
“What is it?” Apprehensive, I turn to him, gazing up into his eyes.
Nolan sighs. “Look, I didn’t want to ruin our date. But there’s no way around this, and if you don’t hear it from me, you’ll hear it from Apollo, and I don’t want that to be the case.”
Every muscle in my body tenses. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m getting deployed,” Nolan says.
All the warmth he brought me goes cold like ice inside my veins. I pull my hand away from his. “Deployed?” I repeat. “When? Where are they sending you? For how long?”
“Southern California.”
“To the wildfires?” I remember how my parents weren’t keen on letting me stay in their home while they vacation. My heart is on the verge of sinking.
“Yeah, it keeps growing and getting worse.” Nolan rests his hands in his pockets as he studies me, his usual disarming smile completely absent from his face. “So they’re sending me.”
“Well—” I can’t even hide it. I’m upset by this news.
It’s nothing I want to hear, like soaring sky high only to crash and burn a second later.
I’m Icarus, flying to close to the sun. I appreciate that he tried to give us a chance to enjoy our time together rather than douse the mood with this uncertainty, this fear.
But I remember him saying that wildfires were a true danger to him, more than others.
Everything’s going so good, and now he’s being sent away?