by Noelle Adams
“Nonsense,” Chris quickly interjected. “We have room at our table. Why don’t you join us?”
“Are you sure?” Dave asked, smiling.
Heather, on the other hand, looked less than amused. “Yeah, Chris,” she said dryly. “Are you sure?”
“Of course! What could be better than dinner out with friends?”
“I can think of a few things,” Heather murmured as they made their way toward the table.
Chris slid into his side of the booth—because he’d already been sitting there with his drink—and waited to see where Heather and Dave would end up. Dave slid in next to him, Heather next to Janet.
All in all, it wasn’t so bad. They laughed and ordered dinner, and the conversation flowed perfectly. Well, almost perfectly. He made sure that he and Dave and Janet had a lot to talk about—things about job sites and materials—while Heather didn’t have much to contribute to the conversation.
When Dave excused himself to go to the men’s room, Chris looked at Heather and grinned. “Your boyfriend’s a great guy. And he knows so much about landscape materials.”
She merely stared at him with a tight smile and practically dove for the check when it arrived.
“What’s the hurry?” Chris asked.
“We have a movie to get to.”
“Ooo! A movie!” Janet said with delight. “That sounds like fun. Chris, we should go too!”
His thoughts exactly.
By the time Dave got back to the table, things were already in motion, and he seemed equally pleased for them to be continuing with their double-date.
“We’ll meet you over there,” Chris said.
“Nah, the parking is going to be crazy. It’s such a small lot. Goes with the whole one-tiny-theater-in-town when there’s a new movie out. You can just ride with us.”
“That’s not really necessary,” Heather argued lightly, but no one was listening. Within minutes, they were all seated in Dave’s SUV and heading across town to the theater.
“So we’re seeing that new Western, right?” Chris asked.
“No,” Heather interrupted. “We’re seeing the romantic comedy.”
“Oh, well that’s too bad. Because I heard the Western—”
“Is not what we’re seeing.” she quickly cut in.
“I didn’t think you were serious, Heather,” Dave said, glancing over at her as he drove. “I mean, I guess it’s not the worst thing to see but I’m with Chris on this one. I’d really like to see the Western.”
If he could have high-fived himself without looking like a complete ass, Chris would have done it.
They made it across town, parked, had their tickets in hand, and were walking into the theater in no time. Janet tried to hold his hand, but Chris didn’t want to lead her on. Better to keep it casual. He already knew they weren’t going to go on a second date, so he wanted to at least be decent about it.
As they made their way to their seats, Chris felt like he was stuck in a time warp. The theater was tiny, and although there were two screens in the building, each theater was small and out of date, carrying movies released several months earlier. He thought about some of the massive multiplex theaters he’d seen while he traveled and couldn’t help but wonder how Preston had stayed behind the times. Although, as he looked around, he noted how the building would benefit from a historical-style rehab. Maybe they’d have to look into that.
He turned to mention it to Heather, but she was glaring at him.
As she had been for the last eighty-seven minutes.
They found seats and—as it turned out—he ended up sitting next to Heather. “What do you think about a rehab on this place?” he whispered.
“What do you think about going to hell,” she replied pleasantly.
“Aww, don’t be mad. I’m sure you’ll enjoy this movie just as much as that chick flick. You want some popcorn?”
Heather looked at him like he was crazy. She looked at Dave and then Janet. Then to her lap and back at Chris. “Do you see any popcorn here?”
He rolled his eyes. “I meant that I was going to get some and was asking if you wanted any too. Sheesh. Unclench.”
“Un…” she sputtered to say something else, but he simply patted her hand and stood up.
“Believe it or not, I know we just finished dinner, but I can’t watch a movie without popcorn. Anyone interested?”
Dave was just about to answer when his cellphone rang. He held up a hand to them and Chris turned to Janet. “You want anything? Soda? Candy?”
But she was looking over at Dave. “Um, no. I’m good.”
He shrugged, stepped around her, and went out to the lobby and bought their largest bucket of popcorn, a Coke and a box of Snow Caps. Everyone liked them, right? With his arms full, he made his way back to his seat and noticed that Dave was still on the phone, Janet was texting on her phone, and Heather was looking extremely peeved at the whole situation.
“Snow Cap?” he asked, shaking the box in her direction after he sat down.
“No, thank you.”
He turned to Janet, but she declined too.
The lights went down, and Dave excused himself to go finish his call. So Chris was left sitting between Heather and Janet and was suddenly not feeling so comfortable. Janet had noticeably started leaning away from him—as did Heather—and he had enough junk food to feed all four of them, but no one was eating.
Fan-freaking-tastic.
The movie started, and then Chris forgot all about the ridiculous situation and let himself get sucked into the story. He noticed that after a little while, Dave had come back and Heather was sharing his popcorn. Two hours later, when it was over, they all stood and stretched. The popcorn was long gone, his drink was empty, but the Snow Caps remained. Not a big deal, he thought. They certainly wouldn’t go to waste.
Heather was quiet as they walked out. Janet had enjoyed the movie and was talking about it, a lot.
With Dave.
What the…
It didn’t matter. If anything, it made things a little less awkward right now. They climbed back into Dave’s SUV and returned to the restaurant where Chris was parked.
“Look, maybe this is a bit…strange,” Dave said, “but it would probably be easier if I took Janet home and the two of you went together since, you know, you live together.”
“You live together?” Janet cried. “You never mentioned that!”
“It’s not what you think,” both he and Heather replied at the same time, but then neither bothered to explain. What was the point?
In minutes, they were climbing out of Dave’s SUV. Janet thanked Chris for a nice night but made no mention of doing it again. And from what he could hear, Dave wasn’t asking for another date either.
They stood and watched Dave and Janet drive off before Chris shrugged and began to walk over to his truck. He had it unlocked and the door open before he realized Heather hadn’t followed.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She didn’t answer.
He sighed wearily. “Come on, Heather,” he began. “We should get home. Lucy’s probably dying to go out.” He knew that the mention of her dog would get her to move.
And it did.
They drove in silence. Weird, tense silence. The kind of silence that made you dread what was going to happen next.
By the time they were back at the apartment, Chris didn’t even wait for her. He made his way inside, up the stairs, and down the hall—thankful that Estelle was probably asleep—and straight to their door. Sure enough, Lucy was dancing around anxiously, and rather than wait for Heather, he grabbed her leash and made his way back down the stairs, passing Heather along the way, who didn’t even stop to acknowledge the dog.
Definitely not a good sign.
When Lucy had done her business, they went back inside, and dread was slowly creeping up his spine. As an act of preservation, he picked the dog up and cradled her to his chest—certain that if Heather was going to do
anything to him, she’d reconsider if he was holding the dog.
He was perfectly fine with using the dog as a shield.
And being a coward.
Back in the apartment, all was quiet. Too quiet. He kept Lucy in his arms, and she was licking his chin, perfectly content that she was getting this attention. He walked around a bit and tried to figure out where Heather was and what she was going to do.
Behind him, he heard a noise and turned and saw Heather standing in the doorway to her bedroom. She looked at him, then Lucy and then back at him, one perfectly arched brow mocking him. “Give me my dog.”
He shifted and held Lucy a little more securely against him. “Why?”
“Because I’m asking you to.” Her voice was very calm. Eerily so.
“Um, she can just hang with me for a bit. We’ll watch some TV.”
Heather took a step toward him. “Chris?”
“Yeah?”
“Give me my dog,” she repeated.
Crap. Slowly, he crouched down and let Lucy go. He stood up just as slowly. “Look, Heather, about—”
“Where are the Snow Caps?”
“What?”
“The Snow Caps. Where are they?”
He reached into his back pocket and pulled the unopened box out and held it out to her. “You want some?”
She took the box from his hands and smiled tightly at him. Chris thought he was out of the woods, that maybe he was making more out of this than there was, when she called his name. He turned and was hit square between the eyes with the box of candy.
“Dammit, Heather! What the hell?”
Nine
Heather couldn’t remember ever being so angry with anyone.
In her entire life.
Except maybe Chris himself, when he’d walked out on her dad and the business three years ago.
She wasn’t even sure where the anger had come from. It had just been building throughout the evening and culminating her conflicted feelings over the last few weeks. She’d tossed the Snow Caps, thinking they’d land on the floor and make a satisfying thud.
But the box was heavier than she’d expected, and her aim had been surprisingly good. She blinked in surprise when the box hit Chris in the face.
She’d been furious, but she certainly hadn’t intended to hit him in the face.
“What the hell?” he growled again, looking genuinely angry for the first time that evening.
“Sorry,” she gasped, still processing her surprise at the accuracy of her aim. “I didn’t mean to…I mean, not that you don’t deserve it, but—”
He scowled at her. “Why the hell did I deserve that?”
He sounded so sincerely outraged that she suddenly remembered all of her righteous indignation. How dare he make himself sound innocent and her sound guilty, when he was the one who had always been an ass?
“You know damned well why you deserve it,” she snapped. “What were you thinking, sabotaging my date that way?”
“I didn’t sabotage your date. I was just being friendly. What the hell?” He muttered out the last words, and he was actually turning away, as if he were fed up with her.
As if he hadn’t done anything wrong.
Heather didn’t know what had gotten into her. She never lost control, and she almost never reacted with anger. She was normally a peace-maker, trying to make sure everyone else was happy. But this was absolutely the last straw with Chris—acting like she was unreasonable and he was completely blameless. It was like some sort of alien force had taken over her body, and there was no way she could stop her hands from clenching into fists at her sides or her mouth from saying what she knew would only make the argument worse. “You were not being friendly! Do you really think I’m that stupid? You can act innocent all you want, but I know you did it on purpose.”
Chris turned back around with a jerk, his eyes narrowing over obvious resentment. “You’re imagining things,” he said, slightly more controlled than she was.
“I am not imagining anything. You knew I didn’t want me and Dave to hang out with you and Janet, but you maneuvered it anyway. You managed to ruin the whole evening for me, and you did it on purpose.”
“Why would I try to ruin the evening for you?”
“I have no idea, but you did! And now you’re acting like you didn’t do anything. Go ahead and make me sound irrational and melodramatic, just like you did before when I was mad at you for leaving my dad the way you did. But you were wrong then, and you’re wrong now, and I’m not just going to put up with it anymore.”
That was another thing she hadn’t intended to say. Best not to bring up their conflict from the past, since it was a sure way to cause things to unravel between them now. But she’d done it anyway. She just couldn’t seem to help it.
His eyes flashed darkly. “So now you’re throwing that in my face too? What the hell do you expect from me, anyway?”
“I expect you to be a decent guy. I expect you to care about other people’s feelings. One day, I’m going to have to learn that’s just way too much to expect from you.”
“Damn it, Heather. You know that’s not fair.”
“Not fair? You’re the one who pushed his way into my date, just to be an ass.”
“I didn’t do anything to your date.”
“If you didn’t do anything, then why is my date going home with another woman?” Heather actually didn’t care that much about Dave. She wouldn’t have minded at all if this was the only date she ever had with him. She didn’t even mind that much that he’d seemed, at the end of the evening, more interested in Janet than in her.
What she minded was that Chris had somehow engineered the disaster of the evening.
“He was just taking Janet home,” Chris said, sounding more natural now, as if he’d gotten his own feelings under a tighter rein.
“Yeah, sure he was. Maybe your date was just a prop to you, but Dave wasn’t just a prop to me.”
Chris immediately snapped back into anger. “What is that supposed to mean? You really think I just use people that way?”
“I don’t know. Do you?”
“No! And I didn’t realize Dave was the love of your life, or I would have kept Janet away from him.”
She made a frustrated sound and reached out to clutch the doorframe to her bedroom, mostly to keep her from lashing out again. “He’s not the love of my life! That’s not even the point.”
“Then what the hell is the point?” Chris had stepped a little closer to her, and he was glaring just as hotly as she was.
“The point is you were acting tonight like a spoiled child or a jealous ex-boyfriend, and I’m not going to put up with it.”
He took another step closer to her, so she could almost feel the hot tension radiating off his hard body. “A child?” he asked in a low, rough voice.
She gulped, suddenly hit with the knowledge of how far from a child he was. He was a man. A big, handsome, masculine man who was suddenly making her think all about sex.
All. About. Sex.
“Or an ex-boyfriend, I said,” she managed to reply, hoping she didn’t sound as breathless as she felt.
“Oh, you’d know if I was your ex-boyfriend,” he murmured, even more thickly than before.
“How?” That wasn’t at all what she’d wanted to say, but she couldn’t hold back the slightly trembly question.
He moved even closer to her, so there were only a few inches between their bodies. “I’d make sure you knew. Although, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be an ex.”
She was shaking now and hoping he couldn’t see it. “Yes, you would. If I was ever crazy enough to go out with you, it definitely wouldn’t last very long. You’d be an ex before you could blink.”
“It would never happen.”
“Yes, it would. There’s no way I would put up with you for long. You might delude yourself into thinking all your arrogance is sexy, but it’s mostly just obnoxious.” She had no idea why she was saying this. This wasn’t
at all how the conversation was supposed to have gone.
“But you like it,” he said with a hint of a smile.
“I like what?”
He moved even closer. “My arrogance.” And then even closer. “And my obnoxiousness.”
She was holding herself perfectly still because she was struck with the most powerful desire to touch him. “I do not,” she whispered.
“Prove it.”
“How?”
“Like this.”
Before she knew what was happening, he’d grabbed her head with both of his hands and pulled her into a hard, urgent kiss.
Again, it was like that alien force had taken possession of her body, but instead of rage, it was now throbbing with a bone-deep hunger. Her body was out of control again, pressing itself against the hard length of his and clawing at his shoulders as his tongue delved into her mouth with a possessiveness that thrilled her.
Her head spun as Chris slid his hands down to her bottom, cupping her there as he claimed her mouth completely. Then he was lifting her up, and she was wrapping her legs around his waist, and he was carrying her into her bedroom.
Over to her bed.
It was exactly what she wanted. She pulled him down on top of her after he lowered her to the bed, trying to feel his body in every way she could.
Chris seemed to be just as on fire as she was. His body was tight and hard, and his hands and mouth eager and skillful. He climbed over her so he could kiss her again, and she rubbed herself shamelessly against his weight.
She was hot and throbbing all over when he finally raised his head. He raked his eyes over her sprawled body and hot face. “Damn, you drive me crazy, Heather.”
“You drive me even crazier,” she said, gasping as he began to strip off her clothes, so quickly she was naked before she knew it.
He stared down at her hotly some more, his deeply possessive eyes missing no cleft or curve of her body. “No one could drive a person crazier than you drive me.”
“You think that because you’ve never had to put up with you.” She gasped again, squirming as he reached out to caress her, his hands stroking from her hips to her breasts.
He was smiling slightly as he leaned back down to take her in another kiss. She responded eagerly, fisting her hands in his hair and rocking her body up into his. She was already so aroused it was almost painful, and she couldn’t understand how it was happening.