CHAPTER 3 #2
Lainey shook her head. “Oh God, no!” She cringed her face. Then immediately said, “I mean, I don’t mind yours. It was never my thing. For me! Yours are fine. For you, of course.” She grabbed her beer and shoved the bottle in her mouth so she’d shut up.
“Do I make you nervous?” He looked at her sideways. “Because you talked to me like an old friend when I was a random stranger on the sidewalk last weekend.”
Lainey took a deep breath, then exhaled, “If I’m being honest. Yes.
It’s not you, it’s me.” She reached out and touched his arm, then quickly yanked her hand back.
“I don’t know why I just touched you. I’m sorry.
It’s been fifteen years since I’ve been on a date, and I don’t know how to act. I’m kind of a mess.”
Robert chuckled. “It’s okay. I was nervous too.”
“Yeah, what’s with that? You were a completely different person during dinner with Jake and Emma than you are now.”
“Like I said, I completely panicked and shut down. I had no idea they were setting me up with you,” he motioned. “But now that the shock has worn off, I’m functioning normal again.” The sheen along his strong jaw when he smiled made her toes tingle.
Lainey was not used to this type of attention. “Emma didn’t show you a picture of me? She showed me one of you.”
He raised one eyebrow. “What picture does Emma have of me?”
“She snuck one on her phone when you were at their house,” she rolled her eyes, “but it was far away and you weren’t even looking at the camera.”
He took another bite of pizza, contemplating the info. “Sneaky,” he smiled. “Um, no. No pic. Jake just said I’d like you and that you were tall.”
“You like tall women?”
“Yes, but you’d be the tallest I’ve ever dated. How tall are you?”
“I’m only five-ten, maybe five-nine when it’s cold,” she giggled.
She never thought of being tall as some amazing attribute.
Words like cute, petite, delicate were never used to describe tall women.
She towered over her friends growing up and finally accepted it by her twenties and stopped walking hunched over.
They discussed the different places he’d been stationed around the country and globe, plus his tours in the sandbox, as he called it. She also learned he spoke Farsi and German almost fluently. And he learned she had never traveled anywhere outside of the US.
She explained she was from the Kansas City area originally, which is where she met her husband, but he was from Abilene. Robert never asked her anything about her late husband, and at first it bothered her, but then she realized Emma must have filled him in on the details.
They finished the pizza and beers. Robert settled the bill and walked her to her car. She hit the key fob and said, “I had a nice time getting to know you. Thanks for asking me out,” she smiled.
His hands were in his pockets. “Me too. Thanks for letting me redeem myself.”
Silence settled between them.
“Do you,” he cleared his throat, “I mean, would you want to do this again?”
“Yeah, absolutely,” she nodded. “Do you want to meet up next week?”
He scratched the side of his face. “Yeah, that’s the thing. Starting next Monday, I’ll be working fifteen hour days for like ten weeks straight. I’ll eventually get Sundays and maybe a Saturday here and there free, but this really is my last free week until after Thanksgiving.”
“Oh,” she looked down at her feet. “Well, what about this coming Thursday night?”
“I thought that’s why we met tonight, cause you couldn’t do Thursday?”
“Oh,” she waved her hand, “I can move stuff around.”
“Okay, Thursday then,” he grinned. “I’ll text you, and we’ll figure it out.”
“Great!” Without thinking, she raised up on her tiptoes and gave him a peck on the lips. She gasped as soon as she realized what she’d done. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I did that.”
She was mortified. It was like her body was having a physical reaction completely separate from her brain being able to control it.
She turned towards her car door, but he caught her wrist. His voice was low. “Do it again. I wasn’t ready.”
Now she felt obligated to repeat the involuntary movement, but this time she was shy and aware of it.
As soon as her lips closed in to give him another quick peck, he wrapped his broad arms around her, dipped his head and took her mouth. The kiss began soft and slow as they familiarized themselves.
She felt the intensity of his heat pour over her. His cologne was masculine, like leather, tobacco, and sandalwood. He was intoxicating, new and exciting.
With the tip of her tongue, she lightly licked his bottom lip.
He squeezed her tighter and delved his tongue into her mouth with hunger.
His carnal desire made her knees weaken.
She melted into a feeble creature enveloped in his arms. She could feel him struggling to pull away, taking one more taste for the road, then another.
But finally he managed control, leaving her lips instantly noticing his absence.
She blinked into those green eyes. He released one arm from around her torso and opened her car door, helping her inside. “I’ll reach out soon,” he smirked.
Words would not develop, sound could not be produced from her vocal cords, so she simply nodded and shut the door.
It had been a long time, a very long time since any man had kissed her like that. Her head was spinning. Her lips were tingling. Her feet were floating. She had a dizzy buzz from that kiss.
She started the engine, taking a moment to say, “Wow” under her breath before shifting into gear and regaining her senses.