by Natalie Ann
When dinner was done, they walked down Main Street again to the theater. There was still thirty minutes before the first show.
“What do you want to see?” he asked, looking at the four shows available. An animation…he figured that was out. A thriller, a romantic comedy, and an action flick.
“How about the thriller? I like mysteries.”
He hadn’t expected her to pick that. Actually, he’d pretty much resigned himself to the chick flick and wasn’t going to say one negative thing about it. “Why’s that?”
“I like solving puzzles, looking for all the pieces and seeing how long it takes before I get an answer. I don’t live a very exciting life, so I can get a little action and excitement from the movie.”
He’d like to give her a little action and excitement, but kept that comment to himself. Too soon to be thinking that…well, maybe not to be thinking it, but definitely too soon to be acting on it, he knew that.
“A thriller it is.”
He held the door open for her, walked up and paid for their tickets. They made their way to the concession stand.
“Dessert,” he said nudging her shoulder. “I’ll take a large popcorn, a box of M&Ms, and a bag of Skittles. Oh and a bottle of water.”
“I didn’t picture you as having such a sweet tooth.”
“I figured I’d mix the chocolate and the candies in with the popcorn. My way of sweet and salty. Just covering my bases if you decided you weren’t going to get anything.”
“Oh. So that was for me?”
“Well, yeah. You didn’t get chocolate on the popcorn last time, so I went the sweet sugary route. But get what you want.”
“I’ll just take a bottle of water too,” she told the clerk. “We can share the rest.”
He wanted to pat himself on the back over that decision. He wasn’t trying to control the show, but he still got his way, sort of. Maybe?
And it was pretty pathetic that the CEO of his own company was doubting himself over candy at the movie theater.
“Not a lot of people here yet,” he said.
“I doubt there will be. I don’t come to the movies often, but I don’t think too many people do either. At least when they’re on vacation. Or I should say, if the weather is nice they don’t. Plus it’s a weekday.”
“Yeah, but school is still out, right?”
He always remembered his grandmother telling him school started after Labor Day in New York, while many Southern states started much earlier.
“Yep, but most of the vacationers left this time of year don’t seem to have kids. Still, it’s better with less people. We’ll probably have the theater to ourselves. Or close to it.”
Her prediction proved correct. Only two other people came to see the movie they chose. He’d heard other people walking in the halls, along with kids, but assumed they were watching the other movies.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been in a movie theater or even watched a movie for that matter. Surprisingly though, his mind shut off from work and he was able to enjoy it.
He secretly hoped Mallory would have jumped or been scared a few times. Maybe he could have comforted her, but she never flinched once. Not even when he did.
In the end, he reached for her hand and held it and she let him. As simple a gesture as it was, and as much as it reminded him of his youth, he was thrilled.
It was progress and he’d take any little bit he could.
***
Mallory was mildly astonished by how much fun she was having on the date. It’d been too long since she’d been on an actual date. Even then it was few and far between.
When she’d first moved here, the last thing on her mind was a relationship. It’d taken her almost a year to go out and do anything for enjoyment. She’d spent most of her time in Trixie’s house secretly writing or spending time on the lake. She’d had no money, and she hated to ask Trixie for anything.
When Trixie discovered her work, she urged her to submit it to a publisher friend of Trixie’s in New York City. One thing led to another, and the next thing Mallory knew her book was being published.
The more popular her books got, the more freedom she started to feel.
She had money put away, and she was able to pay Trixie back for everything she’d done for her. Not that Trixie would take a dime of the money she’d spent in helping free Mallory and then housing her, but Mallory did things anyway.
She’d bought food, she’d bought Trixie gifts, and trips and even furniture when she saw things were getting worn down. She didn’t want anyone to think she’d taken advantage of Trixie.
Then as she felt freer, she ventured out and started to meet people here and there. Still, she never had a dinner-and-movie date before. Not with a guy.
When the movie was done, they got up and walked out, Nick still holding her hand, which felt better than she would have ever admitted. They made their way back to his car and then back to her house, talking about the movie the entire way.
She loved thrillers and she’d been able to figure out the plot almost immediately.
“I can’t believe you didn’t know it was the babysitter,” she said.
“I would have never figured that out. How did you know so early?”
“Guess I’m just smarter than you,” she said, teasing a snort out of him.
She was used to looking for the small details and the little signs. If she’d written that story, she would have set it up the same way, but she couldn’t tell him that, not without giving away more about herself.
“Guess you are.” He pulled into her driveway and shut the car off. “Here we are.”
“Yes, here we are.” Now what? Did he want her to invite him in? She looked over and saw he was eying her with a big grin on his face. “Do you want some coffee or something? Anything to wash down all that food you ate tonight.”
“I wouldn’t have eaten so much if you’d helped out. I don’t think you had more than a few handfuls.”
“That was more than enough for me.”
“Coffee would be nice if it’s not too much trouble.”
“No trouble.”
Together they got out of the car and made their way to her house. She unlocked the door and walked in, knowing he was following behind her.
She never made it to the kitchen, though, before he grabbed her arm and turned her around, then pulled her close. “I need to get this out of the way. I need to know if it’s the same.”
She didn’t have time to ask what he meant before he placed his mouth over hers. Softly, he moved his lips around, nibbled at the corner first and then urged her to open. There wasn’t much fight in her and she complied. Then he swooped in and took charge. It was everything she remembered before, only better.
He’d improved his technique over the years, but then again so had she. This wasn’t her first kiss like the last time with him and she wanted him to know it.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled him closer and kissed him harder. Wanting to feel his body next to hers, wanting to know if he was feeling what she was. The urgency and the thrill of it all. The tingling in her legs moving up to her arms and into her chest.
When his grip tightened around her arms, she knew he was feeling it too.
His lips left hers and traveled over her cheek and to her ear. “It’s not the same. It’s better.”
She couldn’t agree more. Leaning back, she looked into his eyes, searching the brown depths of them and seeing the emotion. Seeing the arousal, but much more than that.
“So, the coffee?” she said, clearing her throat, trying for some semblance of control.
“Yeah. Probably should get to that. Anyway, now that the kiss is out of the way, maybe you’ll relax more around me.”
She didn’t know she wasn’t relaxed around him, but maybe she hadn’t been.
Maybe she spent a lot of time wondering what was going on, what his motives were and where things would lead. But now all she could think abou
t was that kiss and wonder when he might do it again.
Call the Shots
It’d been three days since Mallory had heard from, let alone seen Nick, and she was starting to wonder what was going on. Was he playing her again? Was she just the one that got away? She wasn’t stupid enough to forget what happened before, and even though she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, it was hard.
When he’d left her days ago—after another toe-curling kiss goodbye—she’d thought for sure they really were starting over. Starting fresh and there was the possibility that something was going to work out between them.
She was relaxing and she was comfortable and she wanted to tell him more. Not that he’d asked her anything more about her life, because he hadn’t. All they did was talk about the movie they’d seen and Trixie.
Nick was worried that Trixie was lonely now that Mallory had moved out. Mallory had assured him that wasn’t the case. That Trixie had an active social life, more than Mallory did.
“But she’s been around the house more than normal. If what you’re saying is true, why isn’t she going out?”
“Maybe she wants to spend time with you? Or maybe she is watching over you?”
“She doesn’t need to,” Nick argued. “I’m fine. I’m here working.”
“I don’t think she believes that any more than I do.”
He gave her a funny look then, but didn’t dispute her claim.
So maybe she was making a bigger deal out of things. Maybe he was just spending time with Trixie.
Which she would’ve known if she’d bothered to visit or call Trixie. But she hadn’t because Nick was there and she didn’t want it to seem like she was stalking him.
She’d been busy though, she argued with herself. After she’d closed the door on Nick, she’d run and gotten her laptop, then continued on with her story. Not the one her agent wanted, but the one she was writing for herself. Her little secret romance.
Hours later she could barely keep her eyes open, so she went to bed, only to wake up bright and early and start right back on it. When she was wrung dry, she pushed it aside and started on the book she should have been working on, and kept at that until late last night. Only taking breaks to eat and stretch, do a little housework, and then get back to it. Sleep had been rare in the last several days.
Now she needed to leave the house. She needed to let everything fester a bit before she went back to it. And since she wasn’t focusing on her writing, she was focusing on Nick.
Sick of second-guessing everything, she decided to kayak around the lake and clear her mind.
An hour later it was no wonder she found herself pulling up to the dock at Trixie’s.
“Hi,” she said when she saw Trixie in the yard weeding her garden.
“How have you been, sweetie? Coming up for air?”
“I am. You know how it goes.”
She knew Trixie would understand why she hadn’t visited in a while. Trixie knew how Mallory worked. When she had nothing else to write, she’d spend time with Trixie, sometimes visiting days in a row.
“You aren’t the only one that hasn’t been up for air lately.”
“Oh?” Mallory asked. “Who’s that?”
Trixie laughed. “Like you need to guess. He’s locked away in his room right now too. I swear it’s like having a prisoner. I knock on his door and bring him food; he grunts at me and I rush back out. I go back and find the plate empty, so at least I know he’s eating.”
“You should be used to that kind of behavior.”
“I am. I witnessed enough of it with you. Pull your kayak on the dock, get out and come visit with me. Maybe you can convince Nick to take a break.”
Mallory reached for the dock, pulled herself out, and then tugged the kayak up and out of the way, taking her life vest off and laying it on top.
“I’d love to spend some time with you and catch up, but I don’t want to interrupt Nick. I know what it’s like if you’re on a run with something.”
“We’ll play it by ear. But you aren’t leaving here until you talk to him.”
“Maybe,” she said, but knew Trixie was going to have her way. She always did.
***
Nick heard the voices downstairs, immediately recognizing Mallory’s. It took her long enough. He closed his laptop and decided to go stretch his legs…maybe be a little neighborly.
When he walked into the kitchen, he saw both women had drinks in front of them, so he decided to help himself and join them at the table. “Hello, Mallory.”
“Nick,” she said back quickly.
“What, you can’t greet your grandmother when you come out of your cave?”
He leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Thank you for feeding me.”
She smirked at him. “You came here to heal. I can’t have you wasting away now, can I?”
He looked over at Mallory briefly, caught her glance before she turned her eyes back to her glass. He didn’t care for the comment his grandmother just made, regardless of the fact there was some truth to it.
“You’d never let that happen.” He turned to Mallory and decided to make her feel a bit more uncomfortable than she seemed to be acting. “It took you long enough.”
She looked up quickly. “What does that mean?”
“I mean it took you three days to contact me.”
“I’ve been working. It seems you’ve been doing that too. Was this a test or something?” she asked, frowning.
“No. Like you said, I’ve been busy. But I also didn’t want to be accused of calling all the shots, so I figured I’d give you time to make the next move.”
He was wise enough to not react to the narrowing of her eyes. “So it was a test.”
“If you want to call it that.”
“So,” she said leaning back and gathering some confidence now. “How did I score?”
“I don’t know your exact grade,” he said, bantering with her.
Unfortunately his grandmother ruined his fun. “She passed. We know she did. You’ve been burning the candle at both ends waiting for her to call. Don’t think I haven’t seen you checking your phone for messages when you’ve come out of your room.”
“Thanks a lot,” he said to his grandmother, trying to hide his annoyance that she just rained on his parade.
“Don’t be mad at Trixie. I like knowing that I scored well.”
“Do you now?” he asked, smiling again, glad that she wasn’t upset or annoyed over the conversation.
“I do. Not that I knew what was going on in your head, but it’s nice to know I won.”
“Hey, wait a minute. Who said anything about winning?”
“Now, now you two,” his grandmother said, standing up and putting her glass in the sink. “I think Nick needs some fresh air. Why don’t you two go out on the lake and paddle around?”
“I’m game, are you?” Nick said.
“Sure, why not? I hope you can keep up.”
He wasn’t sure he liked the smirk on her face just now and was starting to wonder what he’d just gotten himself roped in to.
“We won’t go too far,” she said twenty minutes later.
They’d gone further than he really wanted to already, but he hadn’t said a word. “No worries. You can call the shots,” he said laughing.
“Will you stop saying that?”
“I’m just joking.”
“I know. But it sounds like one of us always has to tell the other what to do. Why can’t we just discuss things and come to an agreement together?”
She was right; he knew that. “I suppose, if you want to take all my enjoyment away.”
“You get enjoyment out of telling someone what to do?”
“No. I didn’t mean it like that. I meant the enjoyment in picking on you. But I’ll find something else to tease you about.”
“You always did like to tease,” she said, then looked away, out toward the trees in the distance.
He hadn’t teased a woman i
n a long time. Probably not since her. Definitely not Kendra. Kendra didn’t have much of a personality and he’d known that going in.
Then again, he was to blame, too, for just accepting things back then because it was easy to do, knowing someone else was always taking care of the details and arrangements.
“It’s been a while since I’ve done it. Maybe that’s why I’m doing it now.”
She looked over at him again and nodded her head, then silently started to glide through the water. He was working up quite a sweat now and wasn’t pleased about it. She barely seemed out of breath.
“Are you doing this on purpose?”
“What?” she asked, looking confused.
“Making me sweat my ass off out here.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I’ve been kayaking for years and just get out and go. I never pay attention to my speed, but I’ll slow down.”
He felt like a wuss even saying it, but knew if he didn’t mention it, he’d never make it back.
Another five minutes went by and she turned them around and then headed back. “It’s a nice day,” he said, trying to break the silence.
“Yes. It’s getting cooler already at night. I like this time of year where I can open the windows and cool the whole house down. The leaves will start changing soon too. The lake is always beautiful when that happens.”
“I remember.” He’d come to visit his grandmother in the fall a few times growing up and was amazed how the lake seemed transformed and filled with yellows, oranges and reds. “Do you have any plans tonight?”
“No. How about you?” she asked.
“Nothing. I’ve hit a snag coding and need to walk away from it for a day or so.”
“Same here. I could keep writing, but I know if I walk away and go back it will be better in the long run.”
“So how about dinner tonight?” he asked.
“Sounds good. I could cook for you, if you’d like.”
His pulse picked up a bit and he wasn’t sure why. It was just dinner at her house. He’d been there plenty lately, and they’d talked about a lot of things. Well, a lot of things other than her past and his. Maybe tonight would be different.