She’d have a quick bite at the end of her shift, change, and then head straight to the dance.
The guys had been a mite ticked that she insisted on driving herself to their date and then driving herself home at the conclusion of the night. But in the end, they’d bowed to her only qualifier for their evening together. She wasn’t really sure why she’d insisted on that one stipulation.
Just my very cautious side holding out against the inevitable. Of course, when Lewis had asked her why, she’d shrugged and held his gaze. The fact that he’d given her a very sly grin, something she’d expect more of Randy than him, might have been his way of telling her he knew.
He knows that, after an evening spent dancing with the two of them, I’d probably bring them into my house, and then into my bed.
Michaela dismissed that thought and instead focused on the job in front of her.
I’m just going to keep on living in my own little fantasy world for a while longer. That world where she believed she was in complete control of her own life and that there really was no such thing as inevitability—or fate.
* * * *
“Maybe she’ll change her mind.”
Lewis had been focusing his attention on the laneway into the parking area beside the community center. He could just see it through this window, and that was good enough. They’d opted to wait inside until Michaela arrived before heading out to assist her out of her car.
It wasn’t much of tradeoff when they both would have preferred to have picked her up. Picked her up and taken her home and….yeah, he knew why she’d insisted on this little bit of boundary-making. Of course, neither he nor Randy believed her insistence on a little self-reliance was a deal breaker.
If that’s what she’s offering, we’ll take it.
At Randy’s announcement, he turned to look at his best friend. Lewis couldn’t recall a time when he’d seen him appear quite so… nervous? Excited? He shook his head. “She won’t change her mind.” Though he had wondered that himself as they were parking in the lot beside the building.
“Well, she wouldn’t let us pick her up. Doesn’t that show a lack of commitment on her part?”
Lewis looked at Randy, who met his gaze for only a moment, then looked down. Not in time to hide the way his cheeks turned pink, but that was okay. Why the hell he’d use that C word is beyond me.
“I’ve never seen you like this, brother.”
Randy exhaled. “Probably because I’ve never felt like this.” He met Lewis’s gaze. “I’ll admit that I noticed her even before we met her. It was as if something about Michaela just drew me to her. I thought it would fade, though. Because…well, because we’re not settled, yet. We’re not ready yet.” He snapped his mouth shut as if he’d said too much then shrugged. “It’s not fading. What I feel around her or right now, waiting for her, it’s not fading, Lewis.”
“I know. It’s getting stronger.”
“For you too?”
“Yes, for me too.”
To hell with waiting inside and out of sight. What had that decision been about, anyway? Them, not wanting Michaela to know how badly they wanted to be with her? Or them, lying to themselves?
Maybe they’d scare her off if she knew just how much they really wanted to be with her.
He turned around and headed to the door. Giving it a good push, he headed out and, with Randy following close behind, reached the driveway to the parking lot just as Michaela’s Honda made the turn into it. She was going to know the first time either of them pulled her into their arms to dance exactly how much they wanted to be with her. Lewis knew he’d not be able to hide his reaction to holding her.
And he knew Randy probably wouldn’t be able to, either.
What the fuck are you doing, man? You said you weren’t going to fall into this trap. You told Randy that before you left Montana. This was not what you were coming here for.
All true. Also true, they weren’t thinking about getting down on one knee and popping the question to her. They were going to see her, dance with her, and maybe, if the chemistry was right all the way around, they’d have some good times between the sheets with her.
This was the twenty-first century, and unmarried people the world over took opportunities to indulge in recreational sex all the time.
Lewis pushed away the sense that that had been a tawdry thought. He pushed away everything else except setting one foot in front of the other.
Michaela turned off her car, and Lewis opened her door, extended his hand, and waited.
She met his gaze and something almost visceral passed between them. Then, so slowly he wondered if it was even going to happen, she laid her hand in his.
It took every bit of his willpower not to yank her to him, to let her power herself out of the vehicle. Still holding her hand, he took two steps back from the car. Randy closed the car door for her, but she didn’t take her gaze away from Lewis.
Raising one eyebrow, daring her to deny what they both knew was going to happen next, he gently, inexorably, drew her to him.
“Hello, Michaela.”
“Hello, Lewis.”
He felt her trembling. A wave of something that felt damn near spiritual swept through him.
“Say my name again.”
“Lewis.”
He closed his mouth over hers before the sound of the last syllable of his name faded into the ether. He drank her down in one long, tongue-delving, honey-dripping kiss. Her flavor went straight to his bloodstream, more potent than the best Tennessee whiskey. Lewis Benedict knew one nanosecond of total panic,
