by Amber Nation
I walked closer to here where her eyes were still trained on the floor. I placed my hand underneath her chin to tilt it up to where she was looking at me. “Well, then I’ll have to be sure to make this extra special for you.”
A small smile flitted across her lips. All sense of nervousness seemed to flee.
“Let’s get your coat on, so we can be on our way, shall we?” I said, going to retrieve her coat from off of the back of her couch.
I held it up for her, and she shrugged it on with my help. I carefully lifted her low ponytail so it wouldn’t get caught on the collar of her jacket, and smoothed the collar out moving to where my hands were on her shoulders. I felt her tense underneath my palms, so I decided that I needed to back off and move to a brighter territory.
Moving my hands off of her, I decided to lighten the mood. “You want to know the first thing that I thought of when I saw you open your door?”
“I guess so.” She said warily as we moved down the hallway of her apartment building.
“It’s kind of cheesy, are you sure?”
“You thought of something cheesy when you saw me open my door?? Oh now please do tell, I’m intrigued.”
“Ok. You asked for it. I was going to ask you if you were religious,” this caused her to stop in her tracks and look at me quizzically with a brow raised, “'cause you're the answer to all my prayers.”
She continued to stand there staring blankly at me until she cracked a smile, then threw her head back and laughed.
Dear Lord. That musical sound went straight to my jeans, causing my cock to twitch.
“Oh my God! You thought of a cheesy pickup line when you saw me? What does that say about me? Or you? Does that sort of thing actually work on women?” she said, still slightly giggling.
We continued on our way down the flight of stairs and out of her building.
“I don’t know. I don’t normally use pickup lines on women. I usually just have to flash my award winning smile,” she looked to me and I dashed her with my best smile, “and then they are fawning all over me.”
“I’ll bet they are.”
“Seriously. It gets quite obnoxious.”
Walking her to my Camaro, I opened the door for her to get in. “You chariot awaits, milady.” She took her seat, swinging her legs in so I could close the door. I had to take a deep breath as I made my way around to the driver’s side. I didn’t want to screw this up tonight, but the underlying guilt of keeping my occupation a secret and what my current position is, was gnawing at me.
I opened my door and folded myself into the seat, putting the key in the ignition and hearing my baby roar to life. I spared a small glance at Maggie and saw she had a small shy-like smile on her face.
“What?” I asked her. Just the sly gleam in her eye indicated that she wanted to say something.
“Are you from Tennessee?” she asked.
What the… Where did that come from? I went to ask her what she meant, when she continued.
“’Cause you’re the only ten I see!”
Her eyes went wide, and I could tell she was struggling to keep from laughing.
Her composure was short-lived as she burst out laughing. She was pretty proud of herself. But I really did love hearing that sound, seeing her light up with laughter was wondrous to experience.
I started to grin but she was laughing so hard that she let out a loud snort.
Immediately she covered her mouth, obviously not expecting for that to come out.
Now, it was no holds barred. “What the hell was that?” I barely got the words out before I too started laughing.
We continued to laugh so hard that I actually saw tears spring in the creases of her eyes.
After several long minutes, we each were finally able to stop laughing enough in order to catch our breaths.
I was at last able to begin our journey to our first destination.
I couldn’t resist the chance to poke a little fun at Maggie. “So you think I’m a ten, huh?” I asked teasingly.
While down-shifting my car, she forced a laugh and said, “You are so full of it, Mr. Are You Religious?”
“Full of it I can definitely be, but you gotta admit I’m pretty irresistible.” I gave her a sly wink.
“Well that still remains to be unseen.”
Oh, burn! I pounded my palm against my chest to feign being hurt. “Oh sweetheart, you wound me. I hope you know CPR…”
“Well, of course I do. What kind of nurse would I be if I didn’t? But, why would you want to know?”
She actually seemed a bit concerned which made my heart swell in my chest.
Too bad I was being an ass.
“Because Mags, you take my fucking breath away.”
She narrowed her eyes at me, as I shifted my car again. I quickly flashed my orthodontist induced smile and fluttered my eyelashes to try and soften the blow I knew I was about to ensue. It always worked when Toby fluttered his lashes to the girls, so it would work in this situation too, right?
“You are such a smartass,” she yelled as she sucker punched me in the arm. And although I would never tell, it actually stung a little bit. She packed a hell of a punch. But, her feisty attitude was hot as hell though.
“Well, it’s better to be a smartass rather than a dumbass.” I mocked.
“I recant my answer,” she said crossing her arms over her chest, which really did nothing but distract me since it pushed up her luscious breasts. “You aren’t anywhere near irresistible.”
She really tried to appear offended and annoyed, but the small upturn of her lips told me otherwise.
I decided to push my luck a little more. I was quite enjoying the banter between the two of us. If anything it definitely broke the ice.
“You know, I’m really not trying to impress you or anything, but…” I just let my statement hang in the air.
I could tell that she was trying her hardest not to take the bait, but in the end she relented, “Oh alright, but what?”
“But, I’m Batman...”
“Ok. I’m done talking to you now,” she smiled. “You are absolutely incorrigible.” She leaned forward to turn on my radio, “Let’s see if you listen to anything good.”
The sounds of Queen’s “Under Pressure” flooded through the speakers in my car. Not everyone understood my love of Queen. Even Toby didn’t agree, out of everyone I thought he would be on board, which may have been a bit stereotypical on my part.
I wondered what Maggie would think. What she thought of me actually seemed to matter for the first time in my life. I knew I was always following in my father’s footsteps because he more or less forced me to, but I never really actually cared what he thought of me. It was suddenly all in perspective for me. I wanted to be a good man who deserved Maggie’s time and attention. I wanted her to be proud to be mine. I just wasn’t for sure if this was all possible being I was hiding a really crucial part of myself.
“Oh, I love Queen!” she said which shocked the shit out of me.
“You do?”
“Yeah, I am a lover of all music. I guess you could call me a music connoisseur. Music is a big part of my life and I listen to it every chance I get. I’d honestly rather listen to my iPod over watching TV.”
Be still my beating heart. Was this woman made just for me? Could I be falling for her already?
“I love music too, which is why I’m in a band, The Nation’s Capital. You might have heard of us, we used to play at Emmy Lou’s quite a bit. We don’t play too many gigs anymore. Ever since Brock and Tessa had Blake, the band has kind of been put on the backburner. Which is ok, I just miss it sometimes.”
“I sort of recall hearing that name before, but I’ve never actually been to one of your gigs. Actually, Wednesday night with Gio was the first time I had ever been to Emmy Lou’s. I pretty much keep to myself and my apartment. What do you play?” she asked with an air of sadness in her voice. I was really thankful that she had Gio in her life, but now she h
ad me and everyone I came with.
“I play the bass guitar.”
“Oh really? That’s cool! Are you any good?”
“Nope, not even going to touch that question. I’m not walking into that trap…If I say yes, you will think that I’m even fuller of myself than you already do. You’ll just have to come see us play. I’ll talk to Brock and get it set up. Besides we have arrived at our destination.” I put the car in park as I turned to look at her.
She looked at me with a confused look on her face, “We are going ice skating?”
“Yup! Have you ever been before?” I asked.
“No, I definitely can’t say that I have never been ice skating.”
I wasn’t even going to mention the fact that I had played hockey back in high school, she already thought I had an overinflated ego.
I got out of my car and hurried around to the passenger side so I could open her door. I wasn’t above trying to be a perfect gentleman. Once she was out of the car, I closed the door and jogged to catch up with her. Grabbing her hand, I asked, “Is this alright?”
Her hand was perfectly intertwined with mine. It was an ideal fit.
She looked down at our joined hands, smiled, and said, “Is what alright, the fact that you are holding my hand or that you took me ice skating? The answer to both is, yes.” Her cheeks turned the faintest color of pink. I loved seeing her blush. It reminded me that she was in fact a shy and purely innocent woman.
I felt ashamed of myself for having her investigated, but it all went with the territory. Severin had informed me earlier that Maggie did in fact earn everything she had on her own, through hard work and determination. I was relieved that she wasn’t into the same shit that her brother was. Since I was quite privy to the Intel on Mason Walker, her brother, I now knew the extent of her childhood neglect. I would never lead on to the fact that I knew this information. I also wouldn’t force her to open up about it either. I would leave it all up to her on whether or not she wanted to divulge in those memories.
The vile things that she had gone through during her life pissed me off to no end, and ultimately drew me in even more to her. I wanted to be the one to protect her and keep her safe.
But I knew I couldn’t be relied on with the occupation I was in. I needed to get out of the FBI and into something more remote and stable.
This wasn’t something that I was necessarily going to do just for me. No, it’d also be for Maggie and the hopes of a family.
A Family? Was I getting way ahead of myself? Assuming Maggie and I would actually work out. Perhaps, but I had someone else’s happiness on the line. And right now her safety and happiness were my number one priority. The rest was just details.
I guaranteed it wouldn’t be a pleasant conversation to be had between my father and me, but it was something important enough that it couldn’t be put off any longer.
We entered the skating rink and I hoped that Maggie would enjoy herself and continue opening up to me.
I knew it would be tough to break down her barriers, but I wouldn’t give up easily. No, giving up was not an option.
I paid our way in and we each got our rental skates and quickly laced them up.
It had been a good while since I’d been on the ice, but I knew it wouldn’t take me long to get the feel of things again.
“Ok Maggie, we are going to walk to the edge of the rink. You need to get the feel of the skates in order to keep your balance and to feel comfortable out on the ice.” I made sure she understood everything I was telling her before I moved on. “Walk a little on the slower side in order to help maintain your center of gravity.”
I detected her unease so I felt that I needed to give her a little reassurance.
“When we step out onto the ice, you will be a little wobbly. Just keep your legs as steady as possible. You can hold onto me as little or as much as you would like. You definitely won’t hear me object to being your crutch especially if you squeeze me tight.” I raised my eyebrows several times while she smiled. “You may fall, but don’t be afraid to. I will be right with you the entire time.”
I took her hand in mine once again and guided us slowly to the entrance of the skating rink. It wasn’t as busy as I imagined it would be being it was a Saturday afternoon. That gave us the advantage of not having a big crowd, which might have spooked her more.
I unclasped her hand at the edge of the rink and watched as her eyes grew the size of saucers.
“I…I thought you weren’t going to let go of my hand!” Panic was laced in her voice.
“Relax,” I raised my hand to her face to brush back a fallen lock of her hair, caressing her cheek in the process. “I just needed to zip up my coat.”
“Oh ok,” she said, sounding a bit relieved.
I made quick work of zipping up my black military-style coat and grasped her hand once again.
I pivoted my foot a little to turn back to her and I looked into her eyes as I spoke, “I want you to know that I wouldn’t ever do anything to harm you. Not even put you in a position for anything to harm you.”
I saw her physically swallow as she nodded her head.
“Are you ready?” I asked which in return earned me another nod of her head, this one just as tentative.
One thing I’ve noticed was that when Maggie was in an uncomfortable situation she didn’t talk. She had barely said five words to me since we’ve gotten inside the skating rink.
I stepped out onto the ice first and waited for her to muster up enough courage to take the first step.
She inhaled and exhaled quite loudly, then said, “It’s now or never.” Then she lifted her foot up over the lip to the entrance of the rink, carefully placed it on the ice, and did the same with her other foot all while clenching my hand in a pretty uncomfortable death grip. The girl had some strong arm muscles, first with my arm punch, and now with this grip of doom.
“Ok Maggie, we are going to stick close to the edge of the rink until you get a better feel of things. You’re going to need to bend your knees slightly and lean forward. I know it goes against what you really want to do but you’ll have to remember do not lean back, that’s a good way to land right on your ass.”
She made a few movements and got her bearings together. Once she felt a little more comfortable with her actions she finally loosened up on my hand a bit. My fingers were grateful for the relief.
We had made one complete circle around the outside of the rink when she let go of my hand completely. She still skated quite slowly but she moved fluidly and to be honest quite gracefully. She looked like a natural. And you could tell by the way that her face lit up with her smile that she was truly enjoying herself.
“How ya doing there, babe?” I asked.
“Great! I am having so much fun! Thank you for this, Charlie.”
“My pleasure babe. If you are alright with it, I’m going to take a quick lap around the rink.”
“Be my guest,” she waved her arm in the direction of the rest of the rink. She started moving a little closer to the edge, I’m guessing so she could grab ahold in case she felt as if she was going to fall.
I sped off skating away from Maggie. Once I built up my speed and momentum, I thought that I’d show off a bit and do a few tricks. I wasn’t ashamed to admit that I took a few various figure skating classes, it helped with my overall hockey performance. I did a crossover as I turned the corners to keep up the pace that I was at. I made sure that no one was around when I stopped abruptly, causing the ice to spray towards the windows. I turned around so I could skate to her backwards. I moved each foot back in the shape of a ‘C’. This took the most time to master, being a defensemen you spent most of your time skating backwards, so your technique needed to be flawless.
Being out on the ice made me realize just how much I missed it. I have always been a competitive person, but I truly never had more fun than I did while on the ice. It even trumped playing bass. Well, I supposed I should revise that statement. I’m hav
ing the time of my life so far with Maggie.
Music started playing in the overhead speakers so I made quick work of doing a ‘C turn’ which I executed perfectly so I could skate forward the rest of the way to Maggie.
Approaching her she didn’t make any attempt to hide the smirk that she was giving me. “Let me guess, you played hockey perhaps?”
“Yeah,” I said almost shyly. Where did that come from? “Hockey was my sport growing up. I absolutely loved to play the game.”
“I never played sports growing up. I spent all of my time focusing on my academics. If there was one thing in life that I wanted, it was to get away from my family, and getting a full scholarship to the University of Georgia was how I did it. Sorry you probably don’t want to hear about all of that… Just forget it.” She said, the fire had gone out in her eyes. I wanted to reignite that fire.
“Maggie, I want to know anything and everything you are willing to tell me. I want to know all of you.” I didn’t think there could have been a truer statement. I wanted to get to know her, inside and out. And when I was able to get to know her on the outside, I would take my sweet time exploring every wondrous inch of that delectable body.
The song changed and Maroon 5 came blaring through the speakers.
“Sigh…I love Maroon 5.” Maggie said as she smiled and had stars twinkling in her eyes.
The song ”Love Somebody” was playing and I wondered if Maggie had ever actually been loved before in her lifetime. The unconceivable things her parents did to her were obviously not construed out of love. Which led me to my next thought, could she ever love me? It was strange to have all of these feeling and emotions swirling around in my brain on only the first date. But I feel like I’ve known her for such a long time. I guess I could say that I had watched her for a long time, but that just makes me sound like some kind of crazed psycho, which wasn’t the case at all.
I knew all of her carefully controlled actions, and I knew that she wore her heart on her sleeve. I knew that no matter how hard I tried and no matter how hard I resisted, I could not get her out of my head.