Then Kiss Me

by Jade C. Jamison

“No, not the little ones. The big ones.”

  I took a deep breath and repeated myself, telling him the same spot.

  A pause. “Are you sure? I can’t find ‘em.”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” I got up, crushing out my cigarette, and moved toward the storeroom. I was not ready to deal with him. I was falling in love; he was not. And I didn’t want to anyway. Shit. I could be so stupid sometimes. Well, at least he was helping me to avoid the falling in love part…right?

  I stepped in the dim storeroom (which was just a glorified shed) and into the back where Scott stood. I spied the boxes he was looking for immediately. “They’re right there. Are you blind?” I asked, pointing to them. But he wasn’t looking there; he was looking right at me…and the expression on his face was not what I’d expected. I felt a shiver crawl up my spine as he quickly grabbed me around the waist and pushed me up against the wall. My voice weak, I said, “I thought you weren’t talking to me.” But I knew he could tell by my expression that I wasn’t objecting to his hands on me.

  “This answer your question?” And he kissed me, making all the memories of the other night come flooding back. All the bad things I’d been thinking melted away in those few seconds.

  I caught my breath. “Yeah, it does.”

  “I’ve got to get back in there. But I want to talk to you before you go.”

  “Okay.” I was curious—and nervous. What did he want to talk to me about that he couldn’t say now? The note, the sex, the fact that I was falling in love? Or did it have something to do with our working together? I had no idea. I was almost…scared. I shouldn’t have been, though, because my instincts were steering me in the wrong direction when it came to Scott. Whatever the case, it would have to wait until after the lunch rush.

  As he turned to walk out of the storeroom, I grabbed a bag of the boxes he’d come for. “Don’t forget these.”

  He took them from me and grinned. “Fine. I didn’t really need them anyway.” He winked and headed back in.

  That boy… I smoked another cigarette, finishing my break. I pondered it but couldn’t figure out what was on his mind. After Scott had thrown me for a loop this morning, I really couldn’t guess what subject he wanted to broach with me. I’d have to be patient.

  So I went back inside and tried to concentrate on the task at hand. I wasn’t doing a very good job of it, though. I was fumbling and klutzy, dropping the occasional fry on the floor, making rookie mistakes. Jim showed up right after I got off break, and his presence didn’t help at all. During breaks in the rush, Scott would look at me and grin for no reason or wink, but Jim was on the other side of him and he’d make weird faces or mouth things, things I couldn’t understand. I tried to avoid eye contact with him, hoping he’d give up. Inside, though, he was annoying the shit out of me. And I grew even more irritated when I realized that, klutziness aside, Scott and I could have handled the lunch rush alone and then I wouldn’t have had to deal with Jim’s stupidity.

  Was that maybe what Wendy had meant when she said Jim liked to share? Maybe the two came as a package? And how fucked up was that anyway?

  Finally, it was two o’clock and time for me to get off work. I clocked out and asked Scott if he still wanted to talk to me or if he wanted to call me later. Instead, he said, “Yeah, I’m gonna take my break.”

  Jim, always acting like he knew exactly what was going on, bounced his eyebrows up and down. Scott didn’t see him and I tried to ignore him. When Scott turned to Jim, Jim acted normally. Scott said, “Cover for me. I’ll be back in a few.”

  So Scott walked with me out to my car. My shy side had gripped my internal organs and was squeezing, but I fought past the discomfort. “What did you want to talk to me about?” God, I was tense.

  We stopped at my car. Scott looked me in the eye, then surveyed the landscape just over my head as though searching for the right words. “Well, I’ve been thinking…” Oh, God. This didn’t sound good. My heart sunk. I steeled myself for disappointment and bit my bottom lip to stop any tears that might think their appearance was welcome. I took a deep breath as his eyes drilled into mine. “We’ve gone about this all wrong, Casey. So I thought maybe tonight we could go out for some pizza, maybe shoot some pool…”

  Ah, that weight crushing my organs relaxed and my heart lifted. Once I caught my breath, I said, “Sure. What time?”

  “About six?”

  “Okay. I’ll come by your place then?”

  “Yeah…I guess that’ll work.” He seemed a little confused, but then he leaned over and kissed me, long and slow. It made me feel faint as my body remembered…remembered what this man had just done to me two nights ago. That very same tongue in my mouth had brought my body to the apex of heaven. When his lips released mine, I had to force my eyes open. “See you tonight.” I got in my car, and he closed the door for me. He stepped away from the car enough so I could drive off, but he stayed in that same spot as I left the parking lot.

  Trying not to seem obvious, I looked in my rearview mirror and saw him still standing there as I drove off. Holy shit, I thought. That is one fine-looking man…and I guess he’s all mine.

  Chapter Nine

  A DATE! WHO’D have thought?

  And I had no idea what to fucking wear. If Carla and I had been better friends, I would have called her, but all my friends were back in Denver, and—really—they were all Barry’s friends too. Hell, they were probably only his friends.

  So I scoured the internet and came up with so much bad advice and so many bad ideas it wasn’t funny. Scott had seen me naked, for fuck’s sake, so I didn’t need to wear anything suggestive. He knew what was underneath it all…and it was his if he wanted it. But he also usually saw me in the stupid “uniforms” we wore to work every day. He knew what I looked like in jeans. So I settled on a denim miniskirt. Not jeans, not too sexy, but not boring either. It was the top that I was having problems with. It was summer, so something light would be fine, but I couldn’t settle on anything. Finally, I grabbed a light white cotton tank decorated with sequins, so it was a little dressy. I found a pair of white sandals to go with and then grabbed a jacket to wear after the sun went down. One last glance in the mirror and I decided I looked pretty good.

  I drove to his place and got there a few minutes after six. When I knocked on the door, David answered it. “My little chickadee,” he said. “Date tonight, huh?”

  I grinned. “Like you need confirmation from me?”

  He pulled on my hand. “Come on in.” He brought me to the kitchen and asked, “Want a beer?”

  No, I want Scott. “No, thanks.” I didn’t want to settle in and I didn’t want to get started on the alcohol.

  David sat at the table and motioned for me to sit too. I wanted to ask where the hell Scott was but instead just took a chair. “He’s pretty sweet on you, ya know.”

  I grinned but wanted to keep my cool. I didn’t want to talk about this with David. And I still wasn’t exactly sure where I stood with Scott either. So I said, “No, I don’t think so. But that’s nice of you to say.”

  David took a deep breath. “You like him too, don’t you?”

  I hadn’t been prepared for that question. I gulped. “Oh, well, you know…” I reached in my purse and pulled out my cigarettes, lighting one, hoping to hide my true feelings behind a mask of smoke.

  David sensed my discomfort (will wonders never cease?) and changed the subject. “He should be out of the shower in a minute.”

  Well, thank heavens. That meant he wouldn’t have heard our embarrassing though ultimately unrevealing conversation. But just then he came into the kitchen and seeing him took my breath away. He was the dreamiest man I’d ever seen…with or without the tattoos. He wore dark blue jeans and a black t-shirt. He must have known how good he looked in t-shirts…they just sort of clung to his musculature, highlighting it, leaving little to my imagination, reminding me exactly what he looked like underneath it. Jesus…the pecs on him made me hot.

 
; He smiled at me as he approached the table. “You ready?”

  “Yeah.” I snubbed out my cigarette, hardly having touched it, grabbed my purse and jacket, and stood.

  Scott saw the skirt and whistled through his teeth. “Very nice.”

  “You like?” I could feel myself blushing under his gaze. He grabbed me around the waist as we walked to the door. “See ya, David,” I said.

  Scott laughed. “Don’t wait up.”

  As we walked out the door, he asked, “You’re coming with me, aren’t you?”

  Shit. I should have let him pick me up at my house. It had just seemed so much simpler for me to meet him here. And besides…what if I wanted to spend the night…and run again? I just said, “Of course,” as we walked to his older black Ford truck and he opened the passenger door.

  I couldn’t figure out how to get in since my skirt was a little too short and tight to maneuver climbing up by myself. He grinned and held my hand so I had the leverage I needed. Once he got in on his side, he started it up.

  Once inside, I felt a little awkward. What the hell should we talk about? But he took the pressure off, pulling down the visor on my side where at least a dozen CDs were stored. “Pick one,” he said.

  I started sliding CDs out and considering which one I’d want to hear. The third one I pulled out, though, was a writable CD. Someone had written in a black Sharpie marker the words Pain and Agony Demo on one line and then For Casey on the next. I smiled and looked over at him. “Seriously?”

  He grinned. “Yeah. That’s the CD we played the other night, the one you missed.”

  “This is for me?” He nodded. “Thanks.” Well, I didn’t want to hear anything else if I had this opportunity. “Can we listen to this right now?”

  “Sure.” He pointed to the CD player, indicating I should put the disc in myself. So I ejected the one already inside (Soulfly) and popped in the CD in my hand. The first track was one I’d never heard before. And then I realized that if this really were a demo CD, all the music would probably be original. What a sweet surprise that was.

  I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, just absorbing the music while Scott drove wherever it was we were going. A few minutes later, he parked his truck on Main Street. I knew there were some restaurants there (many of them the art gallery type), but I didn’t know where we were going. He smiled at me and got out. Ordinarily, I would have hopped out of his truck myself, but I knew I’d need his help getting out again. So I opened the door and swung my legs to the side but waited for him to come to my side. “Hey…thanks for the CD.”

  He looked almost bashful when he shrugged and said, “Yeah. I wanted you to have a copy. But there’s a catch.” His placed his hands on my waist to help me slide out of his truck.

  “What’s that?”

  “You need to tell me what you think after you’ve listened to it.”

  “I can already tell you I’ll love it.”

  He smiled and lifted me off the seat down onto the pavement in front of him. He pulled me close and kissed me. Oooh…not a good idea. That made me horny right then and there. His kiss was warm and sensual and supercharged. Then he looked at me and said, “Hope you like pizza.”

  I really didn’t care about the food, but I wasn’t going to say that. “Love it.”

  So we walked in the restaurant and waited for someone to seat us. Scott asked for a quiet booth near the back. That was nice—he wanted to be alone. I glanced at the menu, but Scott said, “Would you be okay with a pepperoni pizza and a pitcher of beer?”

  I smiled. “That’s fine.” I took a deep breath and hoped I wasn’t pushing it, but I had to say it. “We can split the tab if you want.”

  He shook his head but didn’t seem offended. “Nope. I got it.” After the waiter took our order, Scott asked, “Do you like to play games?”

  I cocked my head. “What kind of games?”

  “Video games.”

  I shrugged. “Sometimes. They’re okay.”

  He grinned. “Well, I have a reason for asking…they’ve got some games here, and I wondered if you wanted to play.”

  “No, but I would love to watch you play if you want.”

  I could tell by the look on his face that I’d scored a point or two. Just because I didn’t want to play a game didn’t mean I wanted to ruin his fun. So he found a game he was interested in and dropped the money in the slot. I watched a little of the game, but more than that, I watched his muscles flexing while he worked the controls. God, what he was doing to me…and he wasn’t arousing me on purpose. I wanted to wrap my arms around his waist, but I knew that would distract the hell out of him. So I stuck my hand in his back pocket.

  In retrospect, I realized that probably wasn’t a good idea either, but I wanted to touch him in a way that wouldn’t disrupt his game…at least not directly.

  He played two times. When his game ended the second time, he said, “Damn it.” He looked at me. “Sure you don’t want to play?”

  “Positive.”

  He grabbed my hand and led me back to our booth. Oooh. That was nice. His hand felt warm and strong in mine, comforting somehow but also…suggestive. I now knew all the things his hands were capable of.

  We sat down and the pitcher of beer and two glasses were waiting for us. Scott took a glass and poured some beer for me. While he was pouring the second glass, he said, “You know, we don’t know very much about each other.” Well, maybe I had an unfair advantage. I knew some about him. “What do you do during your spare time?

  Maybe I was reading too much into it, but his question blew me away. It told me he was sincere when he said we’d gone about it all wrong…by just jumping in the sack. It also told me he liked me enough to want to learn more about me. But I slammed on the brakes in my brain. It would be stupid to turn all giddy schoolgirl this early in the game. Still… “I’m an artist.”

  “You’re shitting me.”

  I started laughing. “Why? Is it that hard to believe?”

  He laughed too. “No. You just don’t seem like the type.”

  I raised my eyebrows and swallowed the beer in my mouth. “Oh? Is there a type?”

  He shook his head. “God…no wonder you called me an asshole.”

  I nearly spat beer out of my mouth. “No, you’re not really…and it made you smile, right?”

  “Yeah.” He was still grinning. He said, “I used to date this girl in high school. She was...uh…a total artist.”

  Now I was curious. “What the hell does that mean?”

  He sighed. “She was…what’s the word I’m looking for?” He took a swig of his beer. “Pretentious. She liked to pretend she was something she wasn’t…and it drove me crazy.”

  “That why you broke up with her?”

  A shadow crossed over his eyes. “I didn’t break up with her.”

  Meaning…she broke up with him. Oh, God. So I was managing to royally fuck up our first date. “Oh…sorry.”

  He shook his head. “No. Don’t be.” He smiled and poured more beer into his glass. “Ancient history.” God, I hoped so. I didn’t want to ruin everything. I took another sip from my glass, not sure where to go from there. But he said, “So what kind of art do you create, Casey?”

  I grinned. “You name it. I paint, draw, sketch.” I looked down at my hands. “Someday I hope to make my living that way.”

  “No shit. I’d love to see your work sometime.”

  “I’d love for you to see it. I gave Carla one of my paintings, and I have a couple showing right now at the Main Street Art Gallery. Oh, I sold one too.” I started feeling like a bug under a microscope. “But…what about you? I know about the band, but is there anything else?”

  He looked serious. “Does there need to be anything else?”

  “Oh, no…I don’t think there has to be. Do you guys have any big plans?”

  “I was just happy playing whenever we had the chance, but Lee and Andrew want more.” He took another swig of beer. “Thus, the demo.�
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  “Ahhh…but…are you okay if it winds up going somewhere?”

  He shrugged. “Yeah, I think I’d be okay with it.”

  The waiter brought our pizza and two plates. “Can I get you anything else?”

  I shook my head and Scott said, “No, we’re good. Thanks.” While Scott topped off our glasses, I put a slice of pizza on both our plates. I didn’t have much of an appetite…not for food, that is. But I forced myself to eat just the same. I managed to eat a slice and then Scott slid another on my plate. I put up my hand to indicate I was good, but he said, “Oh, you’re gonna need your energy later.”

  I laughed. “All right then. Bring it on.”

  When the waiter brought the check, I don’t know what came over me, but I said, “Seriously, Scott, let me pay half.”

  Oh, yeah. That was a definite misstep. He was not pleased that I’d asked again. But his voice belied his eyes. His words sounded calm and steady when he said, “No. This was my idea.”

  But he’d misunderstood. I didn’t want him to think he had to buy my affection. I already dug the shit out of him, and he didn’t have to buy me anything. I didn’t want him to feel obligated. I wanted whatever was happening between us to be free and easy. So I touched his hand and said, “Really, Scott. I don’t mind. It’s not like we have the best jobs in the world, you know?”

  “Casey, don’t be a fucking pain in the ass. I make a lot more than you do, ‘cause I’ve been at Bob’s a long time.” He sighed. “Look…you can give me a cigarette outside and help me finish the beer, but I’ll pay.”

  There was finality in his last sentence and so I knew I should drop it. I nodded and decided to try to lift the mood. “Since when do you smoke?” I knew David did, but you?

  “I do off and on. Why are you acting freaked out? You’ve seen me smoke before. I used to smoke full-time but I quit a while back. Watching you smoke makes me want one, though.”

  I shrugged. “Fair enough. Then let’s get out of here.” Scott placed some cash inside the money tray and then drank the rest of the beer in his glass. He stood up and then offered his hand to me, helping me stand.