Страница 10 из 42
The a
Nathan didn’t.
The rest of the lights went down.
My heart rate didn’t.
It was only when the previews had finished and the film started rolling that someone off to the far left stood. I caught his face in profile, with only the faintest hint of flickering light from the movie on the screen, and knew it was him. He paused, looking my way, probably letting his eyes adjust to confirm that it was me.
Then he came up the steps and down my row. He sat beside me and we exchanged a quick look, his face unreadable in the low light. We both looked forward. I wondered if he was paying attention to anything on the screen. I sure as hell wasn’t. I couldn’t think of anyone or anything that had ever been able to divert my attention from a Bertolucci film, but at that moment, I could have been staring at a blank screen for all my ability to focus.
I took a breath and caught a hint of smoke. My heart jumped. He said he only smoked when he was nervous, and I guessed his last cigarette was fairly recent. Probably on his way down the sidewalk to the theatre.
I wanted to ask him why he’d come, why he was nervous, but I stayed quiet. Talking during movies was a huge pet peeve of mine-I’d thrown more than a few people out of The Epidauran for it-so I wasn’t about to disturb the other patrons.
We’ll just have to talk without making a sound.
Chewing my lip, keeping my gaze fixed on the screen, I reached across the armrest and put my hand on his knee. He sucked in a breath, but neither recoiled nor pushed me away. After a moment, the warmth of his hand over mine sent goose bumps prickling up my arm.
The hand on mine told me he wanted to touch me. The tip of his thumb ru
I turned toward him, and he met my eyes. Darkness eclipsed half his face, the shifting light from the screen only sporadically illuminating the other, but the desire in his expression was unmistakable.
His other hand appeared out of the shadows a second before it touched my face. It was surreal, this soft touch of his. There was nothing rough or angry about it, nothing but gentle contact. And when his fingertips drew me toward him, his kiss was just as sensual.
When his tongue gently parted my lips, cool mint tempered the taste of smoke. He was nervous enough to need a cigarette before he came in, but he’d obviously thought this through. He wasn’t surprised to be kissing me now. Whether he knew it would happen or not, he’d hoped it would.
I wondered how much more he hoped would happen.
The longer he kissed me, the less I could believe this was the same man. I had to run my fingers over his goatee just to remind myself that, yes, this was Nathan. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, I was a different person the other night, too.
Even still, I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe he was here.
I broke the kiss, but still touched his face. Whispering just loud enough for him to hear me without disturbing anyone else, I said, “You know, it’s a crime to sit through a Bertolucci film without paying attention.”
“Maybe so.” His fingers ran through my hair and he leaned closer. “But it would be sacrilege not to kiss you right now, so I’ll take the lesser of two evils.” And he kissed me again.
A clatter and some muffled voices from the projector room caught my attention, reminding me that I was still at work. I glared up at the window, wondering what my employees were destroying now, then looked back at Nathan.
“I should get back to work,” I whispered.
“What time are you off tonight?”
I smiled. “I own the place. When and where?”
He laughed and kissed me gently. Turning away slightly, he reached into his pocket, then slipped a small card into my hand. In my ear, he whispered, “I’ll be home around seven. Any time after that.”
“I’ll be there.” I kissed him one last time and stood.
As soon as I was in the hall leading out to the lobby, I stopped, taking a few deep breaths to undo all the tension and arousal that Nathan’s gentle touch-hell, his presence-had sparked. I couldn’t believe it. He was here!
With the aid of the small flashlight I carried, I looked at the card in my hand. It was one of his business cards.
Nathan D. Forrester-Attorney At Law
Jesus. Even seeing his name was enough to make my pulse jump. I flipped the card over, and on the back, he’d written his address and phone number.
I clicked off the light and slipped the card in my pocket.
Pre-written card with his address.
Mint to mask the taste of his nerve-calming cigarette.
You pla
I took a few more deep breaths, willing myself to be calm until I saw him again. In just a few hours. At his place. In his bed. Soon. Not nearly soon enough.
Zach, calm down. Gotta work. He’ll be there.
When I could finally step out into the light of day without letting anyone know what was on my mind, I went into the projector room to see who I needed to strangle.
Chapter Nine
Throughout the day, I tried to throw myself into my work rather than think about Nathan, but that was virtually impossible.
His card was burning a hole in my pocket. Every time an auditorium door opened, my heart jumped into my throat in anticipation of his presence even though he’d left hours ago. When I went into the third auditorium to deal with a problem patron, I swore I saw Nathan’s silhouette out of the corner of my eye. I tried chewing a piece of gum to settle my nerves-something I’d always done since I quit smoking-but the mint reminded me too much of Nathan’s kiss. For the first time in years, gum had the exact opposite effect and wound me up that much more.
Good thing Nathan was a smoker. If the taste of a cigarette didn’t have “Nathan” written all over it, I might very well have broken six years of not smoking today.
As the afternoon wore on and the clock inched dangerously close to six, when I intended to leave, my excitement gave way to nerves.
What was this about? Did he just want another one-night stand? Something to get over Jake? Or did he specifically want me? Did this have anything at all to do with Jake?
Drumming my fingers on my desk, I looked at the paperwork in front of me with unfocused eyes. Staring, not seeing. I wasn’t even sure why I bothered trying to work at all. Every word on the page was Nathan’s name, and every number was his phone number or his address.
This couldn’t be a good idea, hooking up with him. Even if it was just another one-night stand, he probably hated me. Though it was Jake’s infidelity that ended both relationships, I was sure Nathan still partly blamed me.
But that kiss in the auditorium was anything but angry. He’d kissed me like he wanted to kiss me.
I chewed my lip, still staring through my paperwork. Nothing good could come of this, could it?
I pulled his card out of my pocket and stared at his address and phone number. There were two choices: Call the number and cancel, or drive to the address and see what happened.
Something deep down told me that the wiser choice was to call him and back out. The lingering mint of my gum told me how much I wanted another taste of his kiss, regardless of the consequences.
I leaned back in my chair and looked at the clock over the door. Six o’clock was still an agonizing, merciful half hour away. Too soon to know if this was a good idea. Not nearly soon enough to satisfy this craving.
The minutes passed by too fast and too slow, and before I knew it, it was finally six. I grabbed my jacket and headed for the door, not sure if I was more excited or nervous about this. All the way home, I worried about it even while the anticipation of his kiss made my mouth water.