Chapter 5
Josie
"I had made a few short films, and I knew I wanted to make a longer project one day, but this story… it just fell into my lap, and there was nothing I could do besides write and produce it."
I turned toward him in my seat, the driver's seat of the rental. I handed him the keys absentmindedly. "Did you say it was your great, great, great grandma who did the whole thing where she switched lives? Three times great?"
"Yes."
"That's not that far," I said. "That wasn't that long ago."
"I know, and it's an amazing story. I didn't even have to try that hard, and I wrote a great screenplay. We have six episodes. I just have to go back to the drawing board on timing and logistics."
We sat in the parking lot of his hotel talking for another hour.
It was well past midnight when I looked at the clock.
Alex's demeanor was different, more somber, than it was that morning when I met him.
He didn't look at me much, and his tone was quieter.
But he held a good conversation. I liked him a lot.
He had an engaging personality despite the melancholy mood.
"I'd better let you get going," he said, finally.
"I know, Audrey will wonder where I'm at."
"Yeah, okay." He sat up in his seat, and I could tell he wasn't thrilled about saying goodbye.
That gave me feelings in the pit of my stomach.
Was this what it was like to have butterflies?
I normally wasn't the type to be whimsically attracted to guys.
I had very few crushes, and they had taken forever to develop.
"I thought you were going to walk me upstairs," he said.
"Do you… need me to?" I asked hesitantly, uncertainly. Was I flirting? That had to be what I was doing. We both knew he didn't need me to get out of the car and walk upstairs to his room. I waited for his answer, and my heart pounded in my chest like he was my biggest crush.
"Yes, I need you to," he said simply.
He turned and opened his car door, and I did the same, grabbing my bag and going to meet him on the sidewalk. We walked inside the resort lodge hotel. I had seen it from the outside but never been in. I stopped in the lobby and looked around as if that was as far as I could go.
"Come upstairs with me for a second," he said.
He took hold of my hand just long enough to pull me along for a second before dropping it again.
He was large and stoic next to me, and it gave me a gut-clenching sensation that was enough to get me to follow him.
I even liked the way his body moved when he walked. What was going on with me?
"I know you can't stay, but I thought you were going to walk me all the way up to make sure I made it to my room."
We got into the elevator, and he pressed the button to take us to the third floor.
It was late.
It had been a long day of working two different jobs.
I had started my day over eighteen hours ago.
I was delirious from exhaustion, and the feelings of attraction toward Alex caused my judgment to feel impaired.
I blamed that for what happened next.
We got out of the elevator on the third floor, and he reached back for my hand as we fell into stride in the hallway.
My goodness. He was touching me, holding my hand.
I was so stunned and shocked that I held his hand back.
I didn't protest or pull away, I held onto him.
This wasn't a situation I would normally ever find myself in.
Maybe I shouldn't have trusted him, but I did.
I held his hand, following him down the hallway toward his room. My skin felt alive where he touched me.
"I know you're turning right around and leaving," he said, trying to put me at ease.
He took a card out of his pocket with his other hand and easily opened the door. He held it open for me and then made sure it closed behind me.
He was standing so close. He stopped and pulled back a little, glancing at me from only a foot away.
"Josie Wells."
He only said my name, and I could hardly stand or breathe or perform basic human functions, much less think of something to say back to him. I didn't have to because he continued speaking.
"You can leave anytime you want. You could leave now if you want. But I was hoping you would, I was wondering if you would let me… just… barely… kiss you goodnight."
I could not breathe properly. I took an uneven hitching breath inward, smiling a little at him.
I had never been kissed, and inexplicably wanted this unlikely stranger to be my first. I had wanted my first kiss to happen a long time ago, but I had never been in this type of situation with anyone I felt comfortable enough with.
How? This person was a stranger to me, but I was comfortable with him. Maybe it was that I had a long day.
I was certain I would not see him again, which was a good thing. By the time he was ready to come back to Montana to film, I would be finished helping my sister and back in Colorado.
I tried to tell myself it was a bad idea to kiss him, but I wanted to so badly. I was insecure and on the verge of telling him it was the first time anything like this had ever happened to me.
"You can go, Josie. Thanks for the ride and for the good company. It really helped me out, talking to you tonight." He spoke softly when he noticed the look on my face.
He stepped back slowly, and I took a sharp, inward breath, my chest rising.
He looked at me when I breathed, and I slowly let out the breath, making eye contact with him.
Those light brown eyes pierced through me.
They had a feline quality about them, and I glanced away because it was hard to think straight when I looked at him. I could not concentrate.
"I, I've never done that, so if I'm acting weird it's just because I've never…" I trailed off, feeling mortified that I had said that.
I figured I had made things weird, and the next logical thing to do would be to leave.
He had already stepped back and cleared the path for me to go.
I went to move, but he blocked me. I felt his mouth on mine.
I wasn't expecting it, but suddenly Alex took a step toward me and ducked, kissing me.
His lips were warm and soft, and even though the kiss was quick, I had time to feel the sensation of being lip to lip with this man.
He pulled back afterward and stared at me.
"Now, what did you say?" he asked me seriously.
"I said I've never done that—what w-we just did."
I wasn't looking at him when I spoke, so I didn't know to expect it, but he did it again.
I saw him start to move, and suddenly his mouth was on mine again.
This time, he held the contact for a long, heart-pounding, torturously gentle second.
My goodness gracious. I felt his hand come up and touch my face as he pulled back.
He licked his lips, and then he kissed me again.
And there went that heart-stopping feeling again.
His mouth was perfection. My knees were weak.
My bones and joints seemed to be made of some kind of warm liquid, and I wanted to fall into him, throw myself at him.
I wanted so desperately for this to continue.
It was as if he was reading my mind, because he reached out and put a soft, steadying hand on my back, holding me lightly.
I reached out and touched his arm, and he leaned in again and kissed me two, three, four more times.
These were slower, and his mouth was open a little.
I felt the heat and wetness of his open mouth on my lower lip, and my heart might have stopped.
My world stood still. He kissed me slowly and with that same open mouth a few more times. Oh, it was good. It was really good. Alex was not new to this.
Finally, he pulled back far enough to stare at me.
I let out a breath. "Whoa," I said, glancing to the side. It had been a couple of minutes since we had been standing there, and the whole time, my heart was beating out of control.
"I’m sorry to put it this way, but I'm barely kissing you right now, Josie. You know that, right?"
"I guess so," I said with a shrug, feeling like 'barely' was not the way to describe how we kissed. I honestly felt thoroughly kissed and a little dazed.
"Surely you've done that before," he said softly.
"No."
"Are you actually kidding me?"
"No."
"How? How did that happen?" he asked with a stunned expression that made me laugh.
He moved to kiss me again, catching me while I was smiling. His mouth stayed on mine until my mouth softened again. We held contact for a sweet couple of seconds before he pulled back.
I touched my mouth with the back of my hand.
"I just have never put myself into a situation where that happened before.
I have a set group of friends, and I go to school and work, and I'm just a lot more sheltered than my sister.
I've never done it, done this." I felt shaken, and I regretted talking, so I made myself stop.
"Should I be sorry?" Alex asked, scanning my face. He was wearing a concerned expression, like he cared about me.
"Please don't be sorry," I said, shaking my head. "It's just a kiss. I've done other crazy things these last few weeks since I've been here helping my sister."
"Like what?" he asked.
I shrugged. "Like taking over her life. I never dreamed I'd be waiting tables. I've met more new people in the last two months than in the rest of my life combined. Denver's a big city, so that's weird to say, but I'm sheltered. I have my bubble."
"I'm sorry if I rushed you into it."
"No, it's not your fault. You're drunk, anyway, right?"
He squinted his eyes at me, and the playful expression caused a whooshing, rushing wave of heat through me. "Would you have come up here with me if you really thought I was?" he asked. He still had his hands on me, gently holding me near him.
"I’m not answering that," I said. "I will say I trust you more than I usually trust strangers."
"You're right to trust me," he said. A few charged seconds passed.
"Yeah, I know," I said.
He squinted. "Is that permission to do it again?"
My heart. It would not stop pounding.
I shrugged, trying to look casual. "It wasn't the worst experience I've ever had."
Alex let out a breath. "It feels like I could improve on that," he said.
"No, I didn't mean it like that," I said, shaking my head a little.
He put his hand on my cheek and stared at me. "Josie, I'm kissing you again, okay?"
We stood in the entryway of his hotel room for what must have been ten or fifteen minutes, kissing softly.
He was so gentle with me that I was aching to be closer.
By the time we decided to break away from each other, I had experienced what it was like to kiss a man.
He was slow and tender with me, but our kiss had progressed, and I had felt the inside of his mouth.
I felt all sorts of physical sensations I had never felt before.
Alex had told me that I was a good kisser, and he made me promise it was my first time. I told him a few specific stories about coming close with a few guys, and that seemed to make him believe me. He didn't want to stop, and he didn't want to let me go, which was sweet and made me feel good.
But we both knew I had to be going.
"This was the perfect way for this to happen to me," I said, stepping away from him, finally. "Doing that with someone like you gives me a confidence boost. I felt like I couldn’t mess up with you. And it's good that we'll never see each other again."
"I guess. Did you… like it?" He seemed a little disappointed, and I sighed and put my hand on his arm.
"Oh, yes. That's what I'm saying. You're so good there's no way I could be bad. I really did like it. I just, I know you are just passing through town, so I was just making sure you knew I was good with it."
"That you're good with never seeing or talking to me ever again?" he asked.
"Yes, but in a good way," I replied.