Marking Time

by Marie Force

  “Kate, honey, we have to stop,” he said breathlessly as they stared at each other. “I can’t do this.”

  She sat up and smoothed her skirt with an unsteady hand.

  He got out of the car and went around to open her door.

  The cold air hit her like a slap to the face. The parking lot was dark and still as he walked her up the stairs to her door.

  She rested her head against his chest. “I need…”

  “What, baby?”

  Tears welled up in her eyes. “Will you hold me? Just for a minute?”

  He wrapped his arms around her.

  She kissed his neck and then his jaw. “I know you’re going to beat yourself up for this all the way home,” she whispered. “But I want you to keep one thing in mind.”

  “What’s that?”

  “No one has ever made me feel the way you do, and everything that’s happened between us has happened because I wanted it to.”

  He cradled her face in his hands and kissed her gently. “Good night.”

  “Call me tomorrow?”

  He nodded.

  “No regrets?”

  He kissed her again and was gone before she realized he hadn’t answered her question.

  No regrets? No regrets? Was she kidding? Reid was riddled with regrets. He had practically attacked her. What kind of man kissed an eighteen-year-old girl like that? This whole thing with her was totally out of hand, and he had to put a stop to it. As he barreled south on Interstate 65, the speedometer reached eighty, but he didn’t notice. The ringing of his cell phone jarred him out of his stupor. Realizing how fast he was driving, he backed off the accelerator and reached for the phone.

  “Hello?”

  “Are you beating yourself up?”

  “You could say that.” Why was it so easy to be honest with her? Why was everything so easy with her?

  “Don’t.”

  “I can’t help it, Kate. I shouldn’t be letting this happen.”

  “I’m sorry you feel that way,” she said stiffly.

  “Sweetheart, it’s got nothing to do with you. You’re absolutely perfect, but I was almost twenty-eight when you were born. How do you expect me to forget that?”

  “You’re the only one making an issue out of it.”

  His laugh came out harsher than he’d intended. “Do you honestly think I’m the only one who’ll make an issue out of it? Are you really that naïve?”

  “I guess I am.”

  He knew he was hurting her, but maybe it was better now instead of later when the stakes would no doubt be higher. “Have you spent even one minute imagining what your father would have to say about this?”

  “Why would he have to know? I’m not going to tell him. Are you?”

  “Oh yeah, I’m going to call him up and say, ‘Hey, Jack, your daughter’s got a man in her life, and oh, by the way, it’s me.’ I imagine that would go over really well with him.”

  “I don’t know why you’re getting so upset over a couple of simple kisses.”

  He swore under his breath when he realized she was crying. “If you think those kisses were simple, you’re more naïve than I thought. Go to bed, Kate. It’s late, and you’re tired.”

  “I’m sorry you’re mad with me. I don’t want you to be mad.”

  All the fight went out of him. “I’m not mad at you, baby. I’m mad at myself. I should’ve known better than to let this get so out of control.”

  “So you don’t want to see me anymore?”

  She sounded heartbroken, and he hurt, knowing he had done that to her. “I didn’t say that. Let me call you tomorrow, okay? Get some sleep.”

  “I’ll try.”

  He ended the call and tossed the phone into the passenger seat with a growl of frustration. What am I going to do? When she asked if he didn’t want to see her anymore, a shaft of pain had sliced through him. As he admitted to himself that the thought of never seeing her again was unimaginable, he realized he was in love with her—completely, totally, ridiculously in love.

  “God,” he groaned. “What the hell am I going to do?”

  Kate tossed and turned until about three when fatigue took over, and she finally slipped into a restless sleep. She was awake again at eight. At eight thirty, she reached for the phone to call Jill.

  “You’d better be dead or bleeding to be calling me this early on a Sunday,” Jill muttered into the phone.

  “Bleeding,” Kate said softly.

  “What?” Jill asked, now sounding wide-awake and on full alert. “What’s wrong, Kate?”

  For a few minutes, Kate couldn’t speak through her sobs.

  “You’re scaring me, Kate. Are you hurt?”

  “Not physically,” Kate managed to say.

  “Take a deep breath and talk to me. Right now.”

  “This is big, Jill. You have to swear you won’t tell anyone. Especially Dad. Do you swear?”

  “I don’t know if I can do that. If you’re in some sort of trouble, I won’t keep that from him.”

  “It’s nothing like that. Do you promise? You can’t tell anyone.”

  “Okay, okay. I promise. Now tell me!”

  “There’s this guy here. I think I’m in love with him, and I don’t know what to do.”

  “You’ve only been there a month, how can you be in love with someone?”

  “I just am. I don’t know why or how. Well, I do know why. He’s the most amazing man I’ve ever known.”

  “Does he like you, too?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  “He’s um, well, he’s older than me.”

  “Is it that friend of dad’s son? Dad said he thought you liked him. He’s only a few years older. What’s the big deal?”

  “It’s not his son. It’s him. Dad’s friend, Reid.”

  “Are you kidding me? He’s what? Forty-six?”

  “Not yet. He will be after Christmas.”

  “Oh, that makes a big difference. Thank goodness he’s only forty-five. Jesus, Kate! Dad would flip a nut if he knew this!”

  “You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone. You can’t tell him.”

  “Is the guy hard up or something? What does he want with someone your age?”

  “He’s definitely not hard up. If you could see him, you’d never ask that. I don’t know how it happened. We just clicked. I think about him constantly, and I want to be with him all the time. He makes me laugh, I can talk to him about anything, and he’s so sexy. You can’t even imagine…”

  “Wow,” Jill said. “So why are you so upset?”

  “Because he’s freaking out about the age difference, and I’m so afraid he’s going to tell me we can’t see each other anymore.”

  “I’m glad to hear he has some sense. He’s right, you know. If Dad ever found out about this… I don’t even want to think about it.”

  “He’s not going to find out.”

  “Are you sleeping with him?”

  “No, but I want to.”

  “You’re playing with fire. I hope you know that.”

  “It might not even matter.” Her eyes filled with new tears. “He was so pissed off last night that I may never hear from him again.”

  “Why was he pissed?”

  “Things got kind of intense, and he freaked.”

  “Intense how?”

  “He finally kissed me—really kissed me. It was unbelievable.” She shivered, remembering how it had felt to be in his arms.

  “I don’t know what to say except be careful, Kate. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  “You won’t tell Dad?”

  “No, but I want you to keep talking to me about this. Will you do that?”

  “Yeah. Thanks for listening. I was having a total meltdown, but I feel better just telling someone about it.”

  “Be careful who you tell. This is not something most people would understand.”

  “I’m not going to tell anyone else.”

&n
bsp; “When are you coming home?”

  “Christmas Eve, but I have to come back on the twenty-sixth. We have a gig on the twenty-seventh.”

  “I’ll see you then. Be careful, Kate.”

  “I will. Thanks.”

  “Anytime.”

  Kate waited all day for Reid to call. By five o’clock, she was weepy again. By six she was despondent, and by seven, she had convinced herself she would never see him again. Yet she refused to give into the urge to call him. The next move had to be his. She just wished he would call. I guess we’re not going to Graceland.

  When the doorbell rang at seven thirty, her heart nearly jumped out of her chest. She ran down the short flight of stairs and flung open the front door to find Ashton on her front steps holding a pizza.

  “I come bearing gifts,” he said with a cheerful smile on his handsome face.

  Kate ran a self-conscious hand through her hair and forced a smile. “Hi. Come on in.”

  “Hey.” He took her chin and tilted her face up to his. “What’s all this? Have you been crying?”

  She rubbed her nose. “No. I have a cold.”

  “Now, darlin’, I wasn’t born yesterday. I can tell when a girl’s been crying. Come on up here and tell old Ashton what’s going on.” He took her by the hand and led her up the stairs to the living room. Putting the pizza on the coffee table, he sat down next to her on the sofa. “Who made you sad, and where can I find him?”

  Kate swallowed hard. “How did you know it’s a him?”

  “Because all men are scum. Don’t you know that by now?”

  She grinned weakly. “Except for you, right?”

  “That goes without saying. What happened?”

  “It’s no big deal. Just this guy I met at Mabel’s. It’s not going to work out between us. End of story.”

  “Anyone I know?” he asked with genuine concern.

  She picked at a piece of lint on her sweatpants. “No,” she said without looking at him. “What kind of pizza did you bring?”

  “Are we changing the subject?”

  “Can we, please?”

  “Pepperoni.”

  “My favorite.”

  “My lucky day.” He got up to get some paper towels from her kitchen and served them each a slice. “I heard something about you today.”

  “You did?”

  He nodded. “I was in the office for a while, and I got talking to one of the partners who happened to be at your party last night. He was going on and on about this girl singer who’s going to be a huge star.”

  “Shut up,” she said, pushing him. “You made that up to make me feel better.”

  “I did not! I swear to God. I didn’t realize he was talking about you until he mentioned the Rafters.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  They shared a smile before he launched into a story about one of his diva clients who’d had him chasing his tail for weeks trying to finalize a contract for her to appear in a dog food commercial.

  Kate laughed so hard she forgot she was supposed to be sad. They ate the pizza, watched a movie, and by the time he got up to leave at ten, she felt much better.

  “Thanks for the company tonight,” she said when she walked him to the door.

  He kissed her forehead. “My pleasure. You gonna be okay?”

  “I’m fine. Go home. You have to work tomorrow.”

  “I’m right over there if you need me,” he said, pointing across the parking lot.

  “I know.” She waved to him before going back upstairs to clean up the living room.

  The phone rang. “What’d you forget?” she asked when she answered without checking the caller ID.

  “Forget?” Reid asked.

  Her heart jumped. “Oh, hi, it’s you.”

  “Who did you think it was?”

  “Ashton was just here. He brought a pizza over. I thought he forgot something.”

  “Oh.”

  “What’s up?” She made a huge effort to sound like she didn’t care one bit that he’d called. He didn’t need to know she’d waited all day to hear from him.

  “I’m in town. Can I come by?”

  “That depends.”

  “On?”

  “Are you still mad at me?”

  He sighed. “I was never mad at you, Kate. We do need to talk, though.”

  “That doesn’t sound good. Come on over, I guess.”

  “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

  Kate ran for the shower. When she answered the door twenty minutes later, she’d changed into jeans, a sweater, and the sexiest underwear she owned.

  Just in case.

  Chapter 17

  Kate sat on the sofa and watched Reid pace back and forth as he concluded his speech.

  “So for these and many other reasons, we can’t see each other anymore. I’m sorry, Kate. The last thing in the world I want is to hurt you, but this is wrong.”

  If his pained expression was any indication, his words were hurting him as much as they were hurting her.

  “Aren’t you going to say anything?” he asked with his hands on his hips.

  She chewed on her bottom lip and studied him. “Does this mean we aren’t going to Graceland tomorrow?”

  He let out an exasperated sigh. “Honestly, Kate, that’s all you have to say?”

  Realizing her nonchalance was getting to him, she shrugged. “You got me all excited last night to go to Memphis, and then you kissed me and freaked out. That doesn’t seem fair, does it?”

  “First, you kissed me. And I did not freak out. I’ve just had a chance today to think about it. This isn’t what I want.”

  She didn’t believe him for a minute. “I guess I’ll just have to get to Graceland some other way,” Kate said, biting her thumbnail to give the impression she was in deep thought about Elvis when what she really wanted was to shriek. He can’t end it now! Not when I’ve only just discovered that I love him.

  Reid put his jacket back on and whipped up the zipper. “Fine. If all you care about is Graceland, be at the house at seven.”

  She smiled. “Seven it is.”

  He shook his head, stormed down the stairs, and slammed the front door behind him.

  As she heard his car start, she lamented that her fancy underwear had gone to waste. “Oh, well. There’s always tomorrow.”

  When Kate arrived at Reid’s house the next morning, he came out to meet her wearing a dark blue suit and tie, carrying a briefcase and another bag. Kate had worn jeans, a pink sweater, her new cowboy boots, and a sheepskin coat.

  “I feel underdressed,” she said, admiring how sexy he looked in the suit.

  “I had to dress for my meeting, but I have jeans with me for later.” He held the door to the Mercedes open for her.

  She noticed he went out of his way not to look at her as he closed her door. To Kate’s surprise, they drove around the house rather than down the driveway. “Where are we going?”

  His knuckles tightened on the wheel in apparent irritation.

  “You know what? Why don’t we just forget about this? I can tell you don’t want me here.”

  “I said I’d take you, and I will.”

  “Gee, don’t do me any favors.”

  They drove in tense silence for several miles on a dirt road until they reached a large white metal building. He parked the car and came around to open her door. Even when he was angry, he was courteous.

  “What’s this place?”

  “It’s where I keep my plane.”

  “We’re flying?”

  “Of course we are. I don’t have six hours to spend driving to Memphis and back today.”

  “You didn’t say anything about flying.” She looked around, noticing the runway and light towers at either end of the strip. “Where’s the pilot?” she asked with trepidation.

  “You’re looking at him.”

  “No way.” She folded her arms. “I’m not going.”

  He snorted with disg
ust and pushed open the hangar doors. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, darlin’, but I’ve been flying since before you were born.”

  She stood back and watched him use a small Jeep to pull a gleaming Cessna out of the building. He tossed his briefcase and bag into the airplane’s cabin and then took several minutes to walk around the plane, touching various parts and kicking others.

  “Last chance.” He held up his keys. “You can take the car back to the house if you don’t want to come.”

  “How long does it take to get there?”

  “Twenty minutes.”

  “Fine. I’ll go, but I’m keeping my eyes closed the whole time.”

  “Suit yourself.” He ushered her inside the plane and directed her to sit next to him. After he completed a series of preflight checks, he reached over her shoulder for the seat belt. The back of his hand brushed her breast, and her eyes flew up to meet his as he snapped the buckle into place.

  Tearing his gaze off her, he focused on the control panel as the engines roared to life. He adjusted a headset and taxied to the far end of the runway.

  Kate said a silent prayer as they hurtled down the runway and lifted off. Despite her best intentions, curiosity won out, and she opened her eyes. Gasping at the exquisite view of his property from the air, she saw the house, the creek where they’d watered the horses, the guesthouse, and the miles of white fence and rolling green hills.

  “I thought you weren’t going to look.”

  “Shut up and fly the plane.”

  He laughed. “Want to give it a try?”

  “No!”

  True to his word, they touched down twenty minutes later at Memphis International Airport just behind a commercial flight.

  “You can look now,” Reid said as they taxied to a hangar set back from the airport’s main terminal.

  “I’m working on breathing. Looking is next.” She glanced over at him. “I’m impressed.”

  “With what?”

  “That you’re a pilot,” she said, nodding to the plane’s controls.

  “It’s just like driving a car after all these years. I have business interests all over the state. It saves me a lot of time.”