by Sable Hunter
Once his mood took a downturn, he almost called Bryn to cancel their plans. Why should he be having a good time? He didn’t deserve to be happy. Denver pressed his lips together and considered what to do. By all rights, he should just go home and keep himself company. The familiar wave of guilt washing over him threatened to drown him. Sometimes he felt like he couldn’t breathe from the weight of remorse sitting on his chest. He tapped his brakes and was looking for a place to turn around when he thought of Bryn. She’d be disappointed. She was probably ready and waiting on him. If he canceled, it would hurt her feelings. She would think she’d done something wrong, that he just didn’t want to spend time with her.
Nothing was further from the truth.
Considering the consequences of doing something to dim the sparkle in her angel eyes, he kept the truck pointed in her direction.
He had a lifetime to do penance for his sins.
…Bryn looked down at her clothes. She wasn’t sure she was dressed appropriately for a dinner out on the town. The dress she wore was second-hand, a simple yellow sheath with sheer sleeves. Even though the weather was still hot as a firecracker, wearing anything sleeveless felt wrong. This dress had seemed like a good compromise at the time. Now, it just seemed a bit pathetic. There was no way she would blend in with everyone else. “Oh well, you can take the girl out of the convent, but it’s harder to get the convent out of the girl.” She clasped her hands together like she was praying and bowed her head, not to say a novena, but to hope she didn’t make a fool out of herself tonight.
The prospect of spending the evening with her new friend had her stomach in knots. After accepting Denver’s invitation, Bryn had spent some time trying to figure out why he’d issued it. The man was definitely handsome. He was sweet and considerate with a good sense of humor. Add gainfully employed to those characteristics and no one would argue the man was a catch. Denver Bolden could choose to spend his time with any woman in Kerrville. To her thinking, the only reason he’d chosen to spend it with her was to be kind. She was his good deed for the day. After pacing in front of the door and glancing out the window every five seconds, she decided to wait on the porch. “The least I can do is be prompt.”
The drive from his doublewide to Bryn’s was a bit further than as the crow flies. Still, the distance didn’t take ten minutes to cover. Denver didn’t have time to reconsider his decision and when he saw her standing on the porch in a dress made of moonbeams, choosing her steps carefully across the half-rotten porch, something shifted in his chest and he was beyond glad to be the one privileged to take her out on the town. As he eased his vehicle to a stop, she came flying down the stairs and right to his passenger door, climbing in and bouncing up into the seat with a smile.
“Hey, Denver! It’s good to see you!”
Denver felt his breath hitch in his throat. “Hey, pretty lady, it’s good to see you too.” He waited for her to fasten her seat belt. “If you’d waited a bit, I would’ve walked you to the truck and opened the door for you.”
Bryn glanced at him oddly, as if the idea never occurred to her. “Oh, that would’ve been nice.” She shrugged. “I made it okay though, didn’t step in a hole in these heels or anything.”
Denver glanced at her shoes. The heels were modest, not even two inches. “I take it you aren’t used to wearing high heels.”
“No, I’m not.” She soothed her hands down her dress. “I hope I look okay.”
Denver didn’t hesitate. “You look gorgeous. Just perfect.”
Bryn nodded and sighed. “Good. I didn’t want to embarrass you. Not after you were good enough to ask me.”
“This is a treat for me too, you know.” Denver raised one hand from the steering wheel and waved it in the air. “And you could never embarrass anyone, don’t even think like that.”
Bryn would’ve begged to differ, but she didn’t want to bring up her past failures as evidence. “How long have you lived in Kerrville?”
Denver stiffened. He didn’t like to talk about his past. “Oh, about a year, I guess. Before that, I traveled for a while.” Ran away was more like it. “I did odd jobs here and there. Oklahoma. Florida. North Carolina.”
“Wow, I’ve never been anywhere. You’re lucky.”
Lucky wasn’t how he would define his life. “I’ve seen a lot, done a lot. This is the longest I’ve stayed anywhere.”
“I bet you could teach me a lot,” Bryn said in all innocence, her eyes wide with the possibilities.
Denver’s mind strayed off the straight and narrow, just like his truck. He jerked the wheel to the left and got back in the road. “Sorry” Yea, he’d like the chance to show her a few things. “Anything you want to know, just ask.”
“I will.” Bryn grasped the end of her skirt and yanked on it. She was too excited to be still. “Are we still going to the arcade? I brought some quarters.”
“Hey, this is a date, I’m paying for everything.” He gave her a wink, noticing her surprised expression. “What did you think this was?” An uneasy feeling hit Denver in his gut.
A date? Bryn pressed her lips together tightly, her eyes looking straight ahead. She hadn’t even considered the possibility. “I’m so…flattered. Thank you. I thought you were being neighborly.”
“Oh.”
The handsome man looked so crestfallen that Bryn knew she had to do something to steer the evening back in the right direction. “No, I’m glad. I just didn’t know…for sure. We’ll have fun!”
“Right. I do know how to show a girl a good time.” He smiled, determined to make his words come true.
When they arrived in downtown Kerrville, Denver parked as close to the arcade as possible. “Hold it,” he told her, urging her to sit still until he could get around to help her out. “Now, that’s the way it’s done.”
As he took her hand, Bryn giggled. “Very gallant.” One date didn’t mean anything. She could enjoy one date.
Denver offered his arm and she took it. “There seems to be a crowd. We might have to wait for a few games.” He steered her toward the arcade entrance. “What’s your favorite?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never played any of them before,” Bryn confessed. “I used to walk past one in Boerne and the sounds fascinated me.” She held out her arms and spun around. “Look at everything. The colors are so bright, and everyone is smiling. This is a happy place!”
Denver paused, turning in the same direction as Bryn, trying to see the aging arcade through her eyes. When he did, the room seemed brighter, the machines newer. “You’re right. Everyone seems to be having a good time!” He squeezed her shoulder. “Just give me a moment and I’ll buy a cup of tokens.”
“Okay.” She felt a momentary guilt at letting Denver use his money. Offering to pay her way would probably insult him. “Thank you.” While he was gone, she immersed herself in the new and different surroundings. Where she was from, peace had prevailed. No loud noises. No raised voices. No emotion. Sometimes the silence had been so loud it had hurt her ears. The only thing she noticed that bothered her was how all the other ladies and girls were dressed. She was the only one who looked like she’d just left a church lady dinner. Everyone else was dressed in jeans, she was the only one in a dress. A vintage dress they’d called it. A garage sale dress was more accurate. Bryn felt out of place and uncomfortable. Maybe, they should leave…
“Ready?” Denver stroked her hair. “Wanna play?”
Unbidden, a thrill shot through her. She did want to play. She wanted to know all the things she’d missed in life. “Yea, please.”
Her innocent allure wasn’t lost on Denver. He felt powerful, protective. Protective? He hadn’t protected Louis. What made him think he’d do better with anyone else? Pushing aside his doubts, he concentrated on the matter at hand. Bryn Harmon. Whatever her reasons for being here tonight, she was with him and Denver was determined to have a good time. To make her glad she’d said yes. “See anything you like?”
Bryn raced from machi
ne to machine. “They all look so fun.” Some lines were longer than others. She finally settled on one where they didn’t have to wait. “How about this one?”
“Adams Family Pinball. A classic.” He came up behind her, standing close enough that his front blanketed her back. Near enough so she could hear him speak. “Are you a fan of the movie? Or did you watch the old TV show on the Nostalgia Channel?”
“Neither.” She glanced over her shoulder, looking up at him through her eyelashes. “I like spooky stuff.” The ghost nun who wandered the convent garden came to mind.
“Okay, let’s see what you can do.” He slipped a token in the slot and the machine came to life. He watched Bryn’s face brighten as the colorful mushroom bumpers began to light up and flash in time to the theme song of the show.
“Oh, this is beautiful!” she squealed. “What do I do?”
He showed her where to place her hands and how to maneuver the flippers to send the steel ball ricocheting through the table, bumping into obstacles that gained her points. The voices of the real actors giving commentary added a weird vibe to the game. “Watch this.” He sent her ball flying to the back down a narrow lane and she laughed aloud when the iconic Adams Family disembodied hand reaching eerily out of a red box to collect the ball.
“I love this, Denver! Thank you!” She wheeled around and flung herself into his arms.
He caught her to him, relishing the way her soft, womanly body felt against his hungry one. “You’re welcome. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”
She turned around and launched another ball, laughing and bouncing on the tips of her toes as the game progressed. More often than not, she lost her ball down the drain, but her lack of skill didn’t seem to discourage Bryn. She was playing for the sheer fun of playing. Denver tried to help her when he could, but mostly he just ate her up with his eyes. She was charming. Elegant. Graceful. He became so enamored watching her move, he missed what she said. Pretending he hadn’t been able to hear her clearly for the noise, Denver held his hand up to cup his ear. “What?”
“Let’s try something else, shall we?”
“Of course.” He was ready to follow her lead, but when she clasped his hand in hers, he couldn’t think of anything else.
She pulled him toward a racing game. “Come on, Denver. I have a need for speed!”
The game of the same name beckoned them. “All right, settle down, Danica.” He called her by the name of a famous, female race car driver. “We have all night.”
They stood for a few moments, waiting for a pair of boys no older than ten to finish their turn with the game. Bryn smiled and giggled at how serious the young boys were taking it, over-exaggerating their steering controls and oohing and ahhing every time one took a turn too hard or drove into the other. “Looks like fun, doesn’t it?”
Denver, for his part, smiled along with them. Being here with Bryn did wonders taking his mind off Louis. He felt good, especially with her fingers wrapped around his bicep. “Yea, it does,” he agreed with her.
The boys dawdled for a bit in their seats after the game. “I smoked you,” the sandy haired one said in teasing, still pushing the glowing buttons on the game console.
“Barely.” His freckle-faced compatriot fired back. “My gas pedal was stuck and my nitros didn’t work right. The game is broken.”
“All right, you little rascals,” Denver said when he felt the duo was making his girl wait longer than he wanted her to have to wait. “Beat feet. The lady and I have a race to run. It’s our turn.”
Both the boys looked up to see the voice commanding them to scram. “Damn, he’s a big fella, Troy,” freckle-face said. “We’d better get out of here.”
“Sorry, mister,” the sandy-haired boy said once he was up and out of his seat.
Bryn reached out and tousled the kid’s hair. “That’s okay, boys. Now run along and have some fun.” The boys took off like lightening. “And mind your mothers!” she called out as they ran. She’d heard the other nuns say that so often at the convent school, Bryn just felt it was appropriate.
“I see you were an early-century school teacher in a past life, Miss Bryn,” Denver teased.
“It’s just something people say.” She defended her nonsensical remark.
The machine they were waiting for made a loud series of noises, culminating in the squeal of tires and Bryn jumped a touch. “Whew! Everything in here is so noisy and fun.” Once they were in the special chairs behind the controls, she reached over and squeezed his arm. “This is so exciting. Thank you, again. You’ll never know what this means to me.”
“You’re welcome.” Denver had been on his share of dates in his time, but he’d never been shown such gratitude for so little.
“What car do you want to drive?” her asked, popping a few tokens into her side of the machine.
Bryn looked up at him with a frown. “You aren’t going to play with me?”
“Of course, just making sure you’re situated first.”
Something about showing her new things and taking care of her made him feel incredible. This girl was so fresh-faced and innocent, she turned Denver on like he couldn’t believe. Lord above, if she was as innocent sexually as she was everywhere else in life, he would damn near be willing to kill for the right to introduce her to the pleasures of the flesh.
Bryn shivered at the idea of how he wanted to get her situated first before taking care of himself. An odd thought invaded her mind. Would he act like this if they were married? She didn’t know much about sex, but she couldn’t say she hadn’t thought about it. She just never considered the possibility that any of it would apply to her. After placing her hands on the wheel, she tried to shake the thought from her brain and pointed. “The red one!”
“The Corvette, good choice.”
“Is that what it is? I’ve seen cars that look like it, but I don’t know much about them. It’s so shiny and pretty.”
“It’s also a classic American muscle car. A personal favorite of mine. But I also like your reasoning.” There she was, being all cute and innocent again and it drove Denver around the bend. “I’ll drive the cop car and chase you. What do I get if I catch you?”
Bryn put a finger to her lips. “Hmm...”
Denver watched her think about it, but he already knew what he wanted. He wanted to catch her, cuff her hands behind her back, strip her naked and lick every inch of smooth, supple skin on her body from head to toe and back up again.
She wiggled in her seat. “I don’t know. Points?”
“I was thinking more about kisses.”
Bryn blushed and looked back at her screen, ringing the wheel with her hands. “First, you have to catch me, Officer. Then we can decide on a punishment.” She couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth, but they were. If she cut her eyes to the side, she could Denver was looking her up and down. The realization made her warm.
“Sounds good.” He licked his lips in anticipation. “Let’s do the mountain course. Is that okay with you?”
“Yea, I’ve never been to the mountains. Let’s go!”
Briefly Denver pointed out what Bryn needed to know, explaining the wheel, the gears, the gas, and the brake. “A lot of it is like a real car. Just obey the rules of the road – except stay ahead of the black and white, of course.”
Bryn stuck her tongue out at him. “Catch me if you can!”
Denver was all ready for a chase when his date took off like a bat out of hell, but he quickly figured out she didn’t have a clue what she was doing. She hit everything, ran off the road, and drove straight off the top of a mountain. “What happened to you?”
“Oh, no!” She didn’t seem too unhappy about it. “I don’t know what I did wrong!”
“That’s okay.” He hit the brake on his own car and waited for her vehicle to reanimate on her screen. “And we’re off again.”
This time Bryn hammered the gas pedal again and was off, careening all over the place.
&nbs
p; “Brake,” Denver advised as she approached another cliff.
“Awwww!” Bryn threw her hands up in the air and watched her Vette tumble to its demise again.
The game suddenly stopped, and a clock appeared on their screens, counting backwards from ten with instructions to insert more money.
“What happened?” Bryn wanted to know.
“We timed out,” Denver informed her. “No problem.” He fed tokens into the machine. “Let’s try again.”
She might be a terrible driver, but Denver had to say, if she showed half this much enthusiasm for sex, she’d be a wildcat in bed.
“Yes!” She grabbed the wheel again and widened her eyes, setting her mouth into a half-smile/half grimace. “Here I go!”
Again, she flamed out fast. Hitting trees. Running into rocks. Crashing into him. Only a few seconds passed before she ran off a bridge and into a river. “Oh, my goodness! Bless me, Peter, Paul, and Mary!”
“Peter, Paul, and Mary? The folk group from the sixties?”
Bryn frowned. “No, the disciple, the apostle, and the virgin.” She laughed at his expression. “I’m not very good at this. Sorry.”
Denver didn’t care, he just wanted to gaze into her eyes. “You can’t drive worth a flip, darlin’. How did you ever get your license?”
“I don’t have one. I don’t have a car.” She laid her head on his shoulder. “I can’t drive at all.”
“At all?” He was surprised. “How do you get into town?” He knew cabs were expensive and she didn’t have a job.
“I walk,” she said simply, standing to her feet. “Walking is good for the soul.”