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“Dirty bastard,” I said.
“You wouldn’t want anything to do with me if I wasn’t.”
“You’ve got me there.” I winked at him. As we headed down the short hall that led to the seating area, it occurred to me that this was the same place we’d shared that smoky mint-flavored I never thought I’d see you again kiss. Oh, the things I’d have done to him then if there hadn’t been anyone else in the room.
If we’d been alone.
Like we were now.
I swallowed hard and willed myself to get my job done. There would be time for everything I wanted to do to Nathan later. For now, there were things I had to do, no matter how much his presence made me trip over my own feet.
Nathan leaned against one of the seats in the front and watched me walk row by row to make sure there wasn’t any trash or anything left to attract vermin.
“I can see why this place is so much cleaner now than it was back in The Looking Glass days,” he said.
I nodded. “That’s exactly why I do this. It took us months to get rid of the mice. I am not going through that again.”
“Don’t blame you.” He paused. “You guys really did an amazing job on this place. Hard to believe it’s the same theatre.”
I smiled. “Glad you like it.” I stooped to pick up a couple half-empty soda cups and a tray of nachos. “Though I swear sometimes my employees are trying to turn it back into the dump it was before.” I shoved the trash into the garage bin.
He laughed. “I think you’ve got a ways to go before that’s an issue. My friends and I used to wonder when the building would get condemned, but…” He looked around the dimly lit auditorium, nodding as if with approval. “I don’t think that’s a problem now.”
“One would hope.”
“So where did you come up with the name, anyway?” he asked.
“The Epidauran?” I smiled. “There’s an old theatre in Greece. In Epidaurus. I visited it while I was traveling Europe, and when Dylan and I were trying to think of a name for this place, it just fit.” Then I smirked and gestured at the walls of the auditorium. “Pity our acoustics are nowhere near as good.”
His eyebrows jumped. “I didn’t think the acoustics here were that bad.”
“They’re not bad,” I said. “But nowhere near as incredible as Epidaurus.”
“Can’t imagine their sound systems were that great back then, were they?”
I laughed. “It’s more to do with the construction, I guess. They’re not really sure if it’s the type of stone, the location, or just the way it was designed-and hell if anyone knows if it was deliberate or not-but the acoustics are unbelievable.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. When I was there, the tour guide told everyone in the group to go stand somewhere in the seating area. Anywhere.” I rested my hip against a seat. “Spread us out, all over the place. Then she went onto the stage and lit a match.” The scritch of the match being struck still echoed in my mind and raised goose bumps on my arms. “Even from where I was standing, I heard it like she was right there.”
He blinked. “Wow, and that place is how old?”
“Very,” I said. “Ancient Greece, so, centuries at least.”
“I have got to see that place.” He looked at me and, maybe it was just wishful thinking, but I was sure there was an unspoken with you right on the tip of his tongue.
Don’t get your hopes up. This isn’t anything serious. It’s just a-
“Zach?”
I cleared my throat. “Sorry. Was just-” Thinking about things I have no business thinking about. “Why don’t I show you the projector room?”
His eyes darted up to the window above the seats at the back of the auditorium, then back to me. There was something in his expression, some unspoken thought just beneath the surface, but all he said was, “Lead on.”
I held his gaze for a second, trying to decide if it was amusement or mischievousness that crinkled the corners of his eyes, then gestured for him to follow me. We walked in silence down the dark hall. The air in the hallway was cooler than in the seating area, so when I shivered, he didn’t question me. He didn’t need to know that the air temperature had nothing to do with it. The chill was anything but unpleasant, and a direct result of my mind jumping back to the afternoon he’d appeared at The Epidauran. When I stood in this very hallway, my flashlight illuminating his business card as the taste of his kiss lingered on my tongue.
I shivered again just before we stepped into the lobby, but either he didn’t notice or just didn’t say. From the lobby, I keyed us into a door marked Employees Only, and we went up the stairs to the projector room.
I shut the door behind us and gestured at the dormant projectors. “This is where all the bullshit and cursing happen.”
He eyed me and laughed. “I thought this was where the magic happened.”
“You would think. But really there’s just a lot of cursing and bullshit. Especially,” I said, stabbing a finger at the center projector, “because of that piece of shit.”
He chuckled. “That’s the one that keeps breaking down?”
I nodded. “I swear to God, if I develop a drinking problem in the near future, that thing will be directly responsible for it.”
“Ever thought about replacing it?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Ever seen how much one of these fuckers costs?”
“Point taken.” He laughed. He glanced around the room. “So do you ever catch your employees using this room for things that aren’t outlined in their job descriptions?”
“From time to time,” I said, trying not to grin.
The mischievousness in his expression was unmistakable when he turned to me. “Ever used it that way yourself?”
I swallowed hard. “A time or two.” Or ten. Or maybe a few more.
“Is that right? Do tell.”
I shrugged, trying to look i
“No,” he said, putting his hands on my waist. “I don’t.” He kissed me lightly. “Come on, tell me. What sorts of evil things have you done in here?”
“I once subjected an entire audience of unsuspecting people to a series of films by begi
He grimaced. “Ouch, that is evil.” His hands went from my waist to my back, and he pulled me to him. “But that’s not the kind of evil I was referring to.”
“It’s the only kind of evil I know,” I said, trying to keep my tone playful even as he tilted his head and came a little closer. He didn’t make me nervous, per se, but damn if I didn’t start losing my mind at the mere thought of his kiss.
“Somehow I doubt that,” he said, letting our lips just barely touch. “I think you’ve done all kinds of things in here.” Then he kissed me full-on, parting my lips with his tongue and gently but insistently exploring my mouth as if he thought he could find the real answer to his question that way. He wasn’t that far from the truth. With the way his kiss short-circuited my mind, there wasn’t much I would hold back if he asked.
Keep kissing me like that, Nathan, and I’ll tell you everything I’ve ever done in this room and give you the PIN to my debit card.
But when he broke the kiss, he seemed more interested in the present than the past.
“Aren’t you afraid you’ll get in trouble if you get caught?” he teased, kissing just below my jaw.
“Oh, yes,” I said. “Whatever would I do if the boss walked in and caught me?” He laughed, his hot breath on my neck making me bite my lip.
“Depends,” he murmured. “Is he hot?”
I sucked in a breath as he nipped my earlobe. “I’ll leave that up to you,” I said.
“In that case…” His hand drifted down my side, then followed my belt toward the buckle. “I’d say your boss is smoking hot…” He nudged me back. “…and probably not the type to protest if a guy like me wanted to do something in here that I probably shouldn’t.”
I put a hand on the windowsill behind me for balance as he breathed against my neck. Swallowing hard, I managed to find my voice and whisper, “Such as?”