Make That Move

 

A week later, Piper was looking through her closet again. This time, she and Vin were going out to eat.

In the past several days, they’d shared a few dinners. One she cooked, and one he did. It was nice that it seemed to be evenly divided. There were no roles, no expectations, and a lot of teasing going on.

He still wasn’t talking much about himself, but she did an internet search on him and found his consulting firm. He had an office downtown, and though she was tempted to stop in, she didn’t. She did drive by, though, and found it was an office complex, so she’d have to park and go in the building to actually find his office.

She didn’t, figuring that would be pushing it.

But she was paying more attention to when his car was actually in the parking lot. He must leave after her and oftentimes came back after she did, but not every day. Not the days they had dinner together.

He was talking some more, but not much in terms of his personal life. She didn’t know much about him and even though she’d tried to search his name with anything relating to Texas, she came up empty. He was probably just an average Joe, anyway. One that kept his house bare of anything of a personal nature.

Tonight would be different…she was hoping.

She was raring and ready to go. Her body was worked up and primed and she was wondering why he was holding back. Why all they’d done was share some fantastic kisses. Why his hands had only moved around her shoulders and back, and hers having done the same.

Wondering if maybe she was in a place all by herself. Nah. After their last kiss two nights ago—the one where he pulled her in tight on the couch—then pulled her across his lap, she’d felt what he was feeling. It was hard not to. The question was why he was stopping all the time.

Not tonight, though. Tonight she was going to be pushy and make that move. It didn’t have to be anything more than the physical. She was good with that. She figured he was too.

She slipped her heels on to go with her skirt. Part of her was going for a bit sexy tonight.

Her hair was down and had a nice windblown effect to it. Her skirt and shirt were fitted to her body more than she normally wore, and her open-toed heels showed the pedicure she stopped to get when she left work earlier today.

Red-hot lover was the name of the color and it was what she was hoping for tonight.

When she heard the knock on her door, she pulled it open to see him there in jeans and a nice shirt. Button-down, but open at the collar and rolled up at the sleeves. His eyes traveled the length of her, then back up and stopped and stared. She held her breath as he leaned in and kissed her softly. He was doing that more too. Not just yanking her forward and kissing her hard, but being somewhat tender. Something she hadn’t experienced much of in her life.

“Not too much?” she asked, posing for him.

“Just right,” he said.

They drove in silence to the restaurant she’d picked out. She never liked silence before. She figured he knew that, and often tried to talk to her. Keyword was tried. But tonight, she was fine with it. Because she was more nervous than anything and that made no sense to her.

She was the one who wanted to go out. She was the one making plans for the night to end a different way. So why was she nervous?

Because she knew this would change their dynamic. And dynamics were something that were changed a lot in her life and she tried to always prepare. She couldn’t really prepare for this, though. Not like she wished. Not the full scope of the outcome.

He parked his car and they walked to the restaurant side by side, and she did something she’d never done before. She reached her hand over and threaded their fingers together. And he let her.

“I love this restaurant,” she said once they were seated in the corner.

“Why’s that?” he asked. He was smiling at her. He’d been smiling since the minute he picked her up, and she wasn’t sure what to make of that. He smiled now and again, but not this much. It was sexy and gave her hope for the night to come.

“It’s the first restaurant I’d ever been to. Jane took me here for my seventeenth birthday. Just for lunch that day.”

“Your last foster mother?”

“Yep. We went shopping that day and just stopped in out of the blue. They’d been here before. It’s not really that fancy of a place, but for me it was. I’d only ever had fast food a few times in my life, but nothing like this. Nothing like walking in and ordering off a menu. I felt so out of place.”

She didn’t want to say how embarrassed she was that she didn’t know what to do. That she’d felt like the odd one out in a place that was normal. There’d been lots of people in there. Some kids, mostly adults. The lunch menu was just basic everyday foods.

There’d been no reason to be scared, but she was.

No reason to be embarrassed, but her face had filled anyway.

Vin looked around the restaurant. “I guess I could see that if you never had been to one before. It’s harder to experience something for the first time as a late teen than as a young kid.”

“Thanks,” she said, picking up her water and taking a sip.

“For what?”

“For not thinking I’m nuts for having been so nervous about eating in a restaurant at seventeen.”

“We all have our quirks,” he said, laughing.

“We do. I’m sure I’ve got more than most, but not as many as people really think,” she said, winking at him. “Anyway. The Shaffers brought me here a few times. I guess you could say this became our place. Any special achievement or moment in my life, they brought me here. Just Jane and I, or sometimes with Chris, once with Skip and Michele for graduation.”

“Why did you bring me here then? If it was a special place for you and the Shaffers?”

Because it felt right. Because she was lying to herself for the past few days about this just being physical. Because she wanted to take the next step, and she wanted to see what more the two of them could have.

Because she was nervous. For a person who never wanted to get involved with anyone on a serious level, and she was suddenly having ideas of a relationship with a man she didn’t know a lot about, and she was okay with that fact.

“There’s no hidden meaning,” she lied.

“But I think there is,” he said, and left it at that.

They were halfway through their meal. She picked up her wine and took a sip. She’d only drunk half of it. It tasted fine, but the only reason she ordered it was to try to be more sophisticated. It wasn’t working. She couldn’t pull off sophisticated even when she tried.

She went to put a piece of her steak in her mouth and just stopped. There was a tingle at the back of her neck. A twitch in her nose. The hair on her arms starting to rise. She turned quickly but didn’t see anything. The sweat was pooling down her back, but giving her chills on her arms.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, following her gaze. Shifting rapidly and looking around her shoulder, then around the restaurant at everyone and everything going on. Even out the window into the street.

She picked her wine up again, took another sip, then decided it was probably that and set it down fast. Then she heard a laugh and that voice. Karl. She looked around and didn’t see him, though. Nowhere.

“Nothing. I don’t drink often. I think it’s making me lose my mind.” She had to be. He wasn’t there. Not that she could see.

“No. Don’t brush it off. Tell me,” he said again, looking around.

“It’s fine. I’ll just stick to water.”

She could tell he didn’t want to let it go, but she didn’t want to focus on it. It was nothing. Old wounds. Old memories of always looking out for what might be around the corner. Some of the foster families she was in weren’t the best. Dodging slaps and shoves. Yelling and screaming…touching. She cringed a lot as a kid.

Karl had been in the shop again today. She’d heard his voice. It was always loud and booming. He was laughing with Sam. Teasing her, flirting. The nice guy that everyone loved, but no one knew he liked younger girls too.

She wanted to go out and tell him to get out of her shop, but she couldn’t without Sam asking why and she didn’t want to bring it up. She didn’t want to talk about it. That was probably why she thought she was hearing his voice again. Had to be that. Nothing more.

Only she couldn’t seem to warm up now. She had to get through this meal.

“Do you want dessert?” he asked fifteen minutes later, after she was done polishing off her steak and potatoes. That he’d made a comment about her big appetite should have proven she was fine. She wasn’t about to admit that she had a hard time pushing a few of those bites down her throat, but she managed to pull it off.

“I’m good.”

“It wouldn’t be nearly as good as yours,” he said.

“Probably not,” she said, forcing a smile.

Vin paid the bill and they left. There was nothing going on now. Her body was relaxed once they were out of the restaurant, but she was still unable to shake the feeling someone was in there, even though she didn’t see them.

She was ready to go home and show Vin what she really had planned for the rest of the night.