SEVEN
Still fuming, I soon ducked into Polly’s Java Café, finding the place deserted, which wasn’t very surprising, since it was now a quarter to eleven in the morning, probably right smack between the breakfast rush and the lunch rush or at least thereabouts, I figured. What was surprising about the café was that within a few minutes of entering it, I was pretty sure I’d made my first real friend in Somerset. After Polly had introduced herself, she insisted that my coffee order would be on the house, and then we quickly became engrossed in conversation before she even served me my drink.
When she finally did, she smiled, making a dimple in one of her rosy cheeks, before coming out from behind the counter and gesturing for me to follow her. “Let’s grab a table together. I’ve got a little time to talk before the next rush.”
Soon, at a little café table by the front windows, we were again engrossed in conversation together, talking mostly about my status as a supergene woman. Polly wanted to know all about it, how I’d come to find out, and things like that, and when I told her the whole backstory with my mom, she wanted to hear all about that, too. Once I’d filled her in on all the important details, she said she was so sorry to hear about everything, including the loss of my mom’s formerly good health.
I thanked her, then said that I understood that she’d experienced loss in her life, too. “Reed told me that you lost your husband, Sean, and I was so sorry to hear that.”
Not wanting to cause Polly pain, I’d been hesitant to bring up the subject of Sean; however, I’d ultimately figured that it wouldn’t do our new friendship any good to pretend that I just hadn’t heard about what had happened to him.
In response to my condolence, she said thanks with her eyes holding unmistakable pain. “It’s been about four years now, and although my heart has never fully healed from losing Sean, things have gotten easier. I’ve gotten stronger, especially in the last year or so, I think. Sometimes I even think I might be ready to start dating again, but I don’t want to hurt Marie, you know, since Sean was her son. I just don’t know what it would do to her, to have her see me spending time with another man.”
I told Polly that although I was sure it would be hard for Marie, I was sure that Marie probably just wanted to see her happy, and Polly agreed that this was probably true. She then changed the subject, asking me how things had been going with Reed.
I briefly filled her in on the chilly relations between Reed and me, but then, not sure exactly how close she was with Reed and not wanting to offend her, I changed the subject back to her, asking her to tell me about how she liked owning the coffee shop. After grabbing us a plate of cookies and refreshing our cups of coffee, she told me all about how much she loved it, restoring my good mood of earlier that morning.
We spent the next hour or so talking more and having a few laughs. However, around noon, when a few young women came bustling into the coffee shop, I said I’d better get going, promising to come visit again soon.
Once back at the house, I lounged around a while, flipped through some books from a tall bookshelf in my room, and then showered for the second time that day, not that I’d gotten exceptionally dirty since my first. I had, however, gotten a little dusty from walking along the dirt shoulder of the road going to and from town, and I wanted to look and smell my best for dinner with Reed, despite the fact that I was still none-too-pleased with him, and his “all business” attitude.
After my shower, I checked in with my mom via phone, then somehow managed to fall asleep while watching TV, despite the fact that I’d slept long and hard the night before. When I awoke, I smelled something delicious and found Marie out in the kitchen, already preparing dinner for Reed and me.
Noticing me eyeing some flowers and candles that I guessed she was going to put in the formal dining room, Marie said that she just thought that Reed and I could use a “special” meal. “You see, sometimes a man just needs the right atmosphere to snap out of a ‘business’ sort of mood.”
I gave Marie a little smile, heartened by the fact that she seemed to want to play romantic matchmaker to Reed and me. However, at the same time, my smile masked a bit of sadness, because I was starting to think that there was nothing anyone could do to get Reed to “snap out” of his “business sort of mood.” And I was beginning to think that I really wanted him to. Maybe I’d even wanted him to since the moment I’d felt the “quake” that my great-great-grandma had told me to wait for.
Not entirely sure how formally or informally I should dress for my dinner with Reed, I ended up going with a semi-dressy-though-not-over-the-top look, choosing a knee-length, scoop-necked dress in a deep shade of emerald green that matched my eyes, paired with a short black jacket and black ballet-style flats. I accessorized the outfit with gold bangle bracelets and dangly silver-and-gold earrings, then applied some makeup with a light hand, giving my eyes just a subtle smokiness. Then, a few minutes with a large curling iron gave my straight hair a little wave and bounce.
After that, I dashed out of my room, jogged downstairs, and began striding off to the formal dining room, realizing I was a few minutes late, unbelievably. As badly as I wanted to see how Reed’s and my “formal” dinner was going to go, I had thought I’d be early.
When I entered the spacious formal dining room, which was paneled with wood just a shade or two darker than amber, Marie had already served dinner and was nowhere to be seen, which didn’t really surprise me. She’d said that she planned to “take off” to give Reed and me some “quality time” alone.
The feast that Marie had laid on the candlelit table was impressive, but it wasn’t the sight of the food, the flowers, or the candles that drew my attention, though. That wasn’t what made the first word of an apology for my tardiness get stuck in my throat.
Reed was already seated at the head of the table, same as he’d been the night before, and when I entered the formal dining room, he stood immediately, dressed in black pants, black dress shirt, and a gray-and-black striped tie. His dark hair glinted in warm light from a Tiffany lamp above the long, polished table, and candlelight from several tall burgundy-colored tapers by our plates made his lightly tanned skin almost seem to glow. In a word, Reed was magnificent. His presence was strong and commanding even as he just stood looking at me, with his pale blue eyes slightly wide.
Frozen in place just gazing at him, my very first thought was that I wanted to slow dance with him. I wanted him to hold me in his muscular arms while we swayed, hardly even moving. I wanted to lift my cheek from his hard chest, offering my mouth for a kiss. A kiss that would hopefully go on for several minutes before Reed would scoop me up in his arms and carry me off to I didn’t even know where. His room or mine. The living room. A closet in the hallway. It didn’t even matter to me. Just anywhere our hands and mouths would be free to explore.
With these unexpected and sexy thoughts racing through my mind in the span of a second, I found myself struggling to recover from my abruptly cut-off apology for being late.
After taking a deep breath, trying to get my brain to refocus, I tried again. “Hey. I apologize for being a couple of minutes late. I was just...”
I hadn’t exactly been planning on saying what I’d been doing, because of course, what I’d been doing had just been simple getting ready, doing my hair and makeup and such, without paying very close attention to the time. But now that I’d said “I was just,” I felt compelled to finish the thought, or else trail off into complete awkwardness, never completing it.
“I guess I was just taking my sweet time getting ready. I was just doing my makeup and things like that.”
With twenty-twenty hindsight, I realized I should have just left the thought incomplete. Because now, what I’d just said struck me as a hundred times more awkward than a trailed-off thought ever could be.
“I took my time picking out my jewelry. I curled my hair a little bit.”
Now that I was off and running, apparently, I couldn’t stop finishing the thought.
Judging by the way Reed had me choking on my apology for being late, and now, had me rambling like a complete fool, a person would never know that I’d spent my teens and early twenties in a state of complete calm and cool around members of the opposite sex. They’d probably think I’d never even had a dinner date before.
Reed didn’t seem to mind my being so incredibly flustered around him at present, and in fact, he seemed faintly amused. It was just slightly odd to see him with a faint smile playing around the edges of his mouth, since usually, it seemed that all he did around me was frown.
After I’d said what I had about my hair, jewelry, and makeup, he just fixed me with a momentary look, eyes twinkling, before speaking. “Don’t worry at all about being late. Everything you were busy doing to make you late was well worth it. You look absolutely beautiful.”
Now I was rendered speechless, not able to say a word, let alone do any babbling. However, I hadn’t been rendered speechless just by what Reed had said. It had been the look in his eyes while he’d said it. It had been a look of unmistakable warmth and sincerity, the first flicker of real, unmistakable warmth I’d ever seen dancing within his icy blue eyes.
However, to my extreme disappointment, within a moment or two, that glimmer of warmth was gone, replaced by a frown as he hastily and wordlessly pulled out my chair for me, to his right at the head of the table. Completely dejected to see his eyes devoid of warmth once again, I walked over and had a seat.
We barely spoke for the first ten minutes or so of our special dinner. We exchanged a few brief comments about the incredibly tender filet mignon Marie had made, and Reed asked at one point if I’d like more wine, and I said yes, please, but that was it. Really, we barely even made eye contact. Marie had put on some very quiet classical music somewhere, just loud enough to be heard. I couldn’t even see the source of the music itself; I could only see just a speaker in one corner, up near the ceiling. At any rate, I’d never been happier to have music playing during dinner in my life, because it helped fill the near-silent gaps between quiet, awkward clinks of our silverware on our china plates as we cut our steak.
Intrigued by the affectionate glimmer I’d seen in Reed’s eyes earlier, I wanted to know what had made him reel back his warmth after showing me a brief flash of it. The tension that was currently hanging in the air between us certainly wasn’t helping to assuage my curiosity any. Not to mention that what wasn’t helping the tension itself was quick little looks Reed kept giving me from beneath his long dark lashes while still frowning, as if he really didn't want to be giving me those little looks but almost couldn’t help himself. I knew on my end, I was giving him a few quick little glances as well, which I didn’t really want to be doing. Each peek at his handsome face caused a wave of butterflies in my stomach, a sensation that though not exactly unpleasant, just served to key me up even more in my current state of uncertainty and anxiety.
Finally, when we'd both nearly finished with our meal, Reed said something other than a brief comment about food.
“Another Bloodborn spy tried to break into the village today, and it took me and no fewer than eight of my men to kill him. I’m not trying to put undue pressure on us, Samantha, but… the sooner you get pregnant, the better for all of us.”
So that’s what that flicker of warmth I saw in his eyes was, I thought. It was fake. He’s just eager to get me back into bed again so we can do more “work” on trying to impregnate me. And he just thought that casting a little flicker of warmth in my direction might help in that effort.
Feeling more resigned than rankled, I swallowed a bite of potato, took a sip of wine, and then nodded. “I completely understand… and no one wants to get pregnant faster than I do. My mom’s life literally depends on it, remember? So, don’t worry. We can get down to the ‘business’ of baby-making again later tonight if you want, and hopefully, I’ll start having pregnancy symptoms before too long. And in the meantime, as far as you and your shifters having to deal with the Bloodborn bears, I actually think I can help.”
With his dark brows lifting a degree, Reed looked maybe just a bit surprised to have me offer any sort of help with the Bloodborn. “What do you mean? What kind of ‘help’ do you think you can give us?”
Feeling a little self-conscious, I told him about my weird talent of knife-throwing, adding that it wasn’t just a stupid parlor trick. “Or… well, I’m sure it is a stupid parlor trick in a way, but I also think it could be a huge asset in any fight against the Bloodborn. Like, say, for example, if several of them try to creep into the village at once. You and a few dozen of your men could go after a few of them, and I could try to take one out with a carefully-aimed knife to the eyeball.”
With his fork and last bite of steak suspended in mid-air, Reed just looked at me for a long moment before breaking out with a fairly long, loud chuckle. While he laughed, actually laughed, I just sat stone-still, with my blood feeling as if it were turning to lava. At the same time, the room seemed to shift, or spin slightly or something, as if my anger were somehow affecting my vision, even though I knew it wasn’t. It was just that Reed’s laughter at what I’d said had just about enraged me. And instead of soon making a trip up to the bedroom with him like I’d thought I soon might, I was about to give him a piece of my mind.