Chapter 5 #2
Stop kidding yourself and kiss this guy back.
He’s being honest with you, and you know you want him, so be honest with yourself too!
a little voice inside her yelled. Her arms rose, seemingly independent of her will, and when her palms rested against his cheeks, he deepened the kiss.
Gina hadn’t been kissed like that in years—maybe never in her whole life.
His hands drew her closer to him, and he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her up against him.
It was more than a sweet little thing, but he wasn’t trying to eat her face or swab her tonsils. It was … nice. Comfortable even.
He broke the kiss and she wished he hadn’t. She missed his lips immediately, and the naughty woman inside her wondered how they’d feel elsewhere on her body. “I think I liked that kiss and I’d like another,” she whispered.
He kissed her forehead and she almost melted. “Then follow me. I won’t lose you, I promise, and if we get separated by a light, I’ll pull over until you catch up.”
“Where are we going?”
“My house. I wasn’t kidding. I do have Netflix and I do pop popcorn. And it doesn’t mean what you said it means unless you want it to.”
“Okay. Lead the way. I’ll be right behind you.” She climbed up in the cab of her truck and smiled down at him.
“See you in a few minutes.” As soon as his taillights lit up, Gina pulled in behind his truck and began to follow him. She didn’t know what was going to happen when they got to his house, but she knew one thing for sure.
She was excited. She was curious. She was horny as hell. But with Kyle, she wasn’t afraid.
Other than family members, a woman hadn’t been in his house in over five years. Kyle was more than a little nervous. Had he remembered to pick up his dirty underwear after his shower? He couldn’t remember, and that was something he’d have to check on before he showed her around.
God, I hope my popcorn doesn’t have weevils in it!
he thought. It had been a very long time since he’d entertained anybody there.
Constance, Ray, Keith, Monica, and Keith and Monica’s kids came over sometimes and he’d make them dinner.
It was the least he could do for them since the women were so much help to him.
That was about it. And they didn’t eat popcorn.
Then he remembered. He had chips and soft drinks. That was something. And his mom had made him a fresh coffee cake and left it, so there was breakfast.
Breakfast.
Holy shit, I’m thinking about sleeping with her!
It’s too soon. Isn’t it? How do people do this these days?
First date? I have no idea. His thoughts reflected his panic, and for a split second, he believed he’d made a horrible mistake.
But then he thought about Gina. She was so sweet and kind, but she could definitely hold her own.
If she didn’t want him, he was pretty sure she’d be very, very clear about it.
Not only that, but talking her into something she didn’t want to do would be damn near impossible.
No, if she decided to stay the night with him, it would be because she wanted to, not because he’d talked her into it.
Realizing that made him feel a lot better.
By the time he steered his truck into the long drive and saw her headlights behind him, he was feeling a good bit calmer.
If she’d changed her mind, she would’ve called him or just turned around and gone back, but she was still back there, still keeping up.
That meant she really did want to be there, and she’d never know how happy that made him.
Both trucks rolled to a stop and Kyle hustled to get to hers and open the door for her.
When she dropped down out of the cab, he was right there, and he caught her with his hands around her waist and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
“Think you’ll be able to find your way back to town when you leave? ”
“Yeah. I think so. It’s pretty much a straight shot out the highway, so I’ll be fine.” She rounded the front of the truck. “Cute house! Whose was it?”
“It belonged to my great-grandparents. Becky and I remodeled it a bit. It wasn’t our dream home, but it’s nice and it was what we could afford.
We didn’t go overboard. Neither of us were like that.
But it’s comfortable and we chose things that made it easy to keep clean, like laminate floors and ceramic tile.
Plus it wasn’t like we had to pay for a piece of land to put it on. Come on in.”
They strode up onto the porch, but before he got the door open, she said, “I like this porch. Very cute.”
“Yeah. I love that swing. Myla likes to come out here on pretty days and sit in it while she does her homework.” The key turned in the knob and Kyle pushed the door open. “After you.”
She stepped through the doorway and Kyle reached for the light switch, sending the glow of the lamp on the table just inside the door into the room. He watched as she looked around, wondering what she’d say. “This is really nice! What a pretty place.”
“It’s a little … dated. Becky decorated it. I’d like to paint, do some new furniture, things like that, but I’m no good at that stuff.” That was no lie. He could barely put a shirt and pants together, much less decorate a house. That was way above his pay grade.
“No, really, it looks like a place where a family can sit around, put their feet up on the coffee table, watch TV, talk, laugh … It’s a family home, Kyle. A nice one. Very warm and inviting.”
“Come on. I’ll give you the tour. Kitchen,” he said as the made their way around.
“Dining room. Hallway. Those two rooms on the left are Myla’s room and my little office.
The one on the right is my bedroom. There’s a bath right here in the hallway and another one in my bedroom.
Okay, I’ll warn you, I’m not a nasty person, but I can be a little messy.
And I never dreamed you’d be coming here tonight, so I can’t remember what you’re going to see, but I hope it won’t change your opinion of me forever.
” He swept his arm toward the room to let her enter and waited.
As she looked around, he watched her face and was relieved when she smiled. “It’s not that bad, Kyle. I don’t always take time to make my bed, and sometimes I leave clothes lying around. We’re busy people. It happens.”
“Yeah, like I said, it’s messy but it’s not dirty. I pay my niece, my brother’s oldest kid, to clean for me once a week. She takes care of the bathrooms, laundry, stuff like that.”
“How old is she?”
“Oh, she’s nineteen. Community college.”
“You must be the baby of the family,” she said with a grin.
“Yeah. Constance is four years older than me, and Keith’s three years older than her.”
“That’s nice. It’s just me and Sabrina. My dad was really disappointed. He wanted a son to leave the business to, but instead he got the two of us. Took him years to finally understand and accept that we could do the job as well as a boy would’ve been able to.”
“Parents can be thick-headed like that sometimes. But I’m guessing he’s happy with the job you do now?”
“Yeah. He’s still working there, but he’s planning to retire in about eight years. Then Sabrina and I will run it by ourselves. It’ll be fine. He lets us do most everything anyway. He’s really just the face of Pritchard’s Farm Co-op.”
“Cool! So, um, do you want something to drink? I’ve got tea and soft drinks and I think I’ve got a bottle of wine in there,” he said with a grin that he hoped put her at ease.
“Wine sounds good! My ex is an alcoholic, so I don’t let the kids see me drinking. I don’t have a problem with it, but they say some of the tendencies for addiction are genetic, so I don’t want them to ever get started.”
“Don’t blame you there! So one glass of wine coming up.” Kyle almost ran to the kitchen. “I’ve got cheese and summer sausage in here too, if you want some.”
“Nah. I’m still full from dinner! But thanks.”
“Sure. Just go on in and have a seat and I’ll bring it.”
When he stepped back into the living room, he grinned so widely that his cheeks hurt.
Gina had her shoes off and was turned sideways on the sofa with her legs up.
“Here we go,” he said and set the glasses on the coffee table, then tried to sit as far down the sofa as he could to give her room.
But before he could, she pulled her legs up and when he sat down, she stretched them out over his lap.
Ohhhh. I like this, he wanted to say, but he didn’t.
“You know, Kyle, I’m really comfortable around you.”
Well, that was a shock—and a pleasant one at that. “I’m comfortable around you too. It’s like we’ve known each other for a long time.”
“Exactly! I like it.” He watched as she took a sip of wine and set the glass down. “Got something specific you want to watch on TV? Or would you rather just sit and talk?”
“Either is fine, but honestly, I’d rather sit and talk with you.”
Wow, he loved that smile! “Suits me just fine! So what have you got going on next week?”
“Well, let’s see, I’ve got a field I noticed some jimson grass coming up in, so I’ll have to take care of that, and …
” From there, the conversation shifted to the co-op, and she talked about the live plant vendor who’d accidentally gotten his own pot grow mixed in with a shipment of herbs he delivered to them.
Kyle got a laugh out of that. After that, they talked about rodeo, and she told him which country music artists she’d seen in concert and who she wanted to see.
And Kyle was excited. They had more in common than even he and Becky had shared. It was like he’d custom-ordered a woman and they’d dropped Gina off at his door. They’d had two glasses of wine apiece and were laughing about something one of the kids had said when he glanced at the clock. “Uh-oh.”
“What?”
“It’s getting really late. Hope that’s okay.”
She shrugged. “Sure. Unless you need to get to bed.”