Patrick was momentarily speechless. Savannah had just blown him away. And when she moved back, licked her lips and whispered, “Thank you, I enjoyed that very much,” he fell completely under her spell.
“That was sweet, Baby. But I want more.” Not one to let an opportunity pass, he took her by the hand and pulled her over into his lap, fitted his mouth to hers and proceeded to kiss her like there was no tomorrow.
Savannah didn’t know what to do! How did one find the strength to stop rapture? She put her hands on his chest to push him away – she had to! Turning her head to break the kiss, she whispered in anguish – “No, please no.” Instantly, Patrick let her go. She was still in his lap, but his arms fell to his sides.
“Sorry, my mistake,” Patrick went instantly cold. And when she grabbed a napkin from the table, his guts twisted because he thought she was about to wipe his kiss from her lips. Instead, she turned to him and began to frantically wipe his mouth.
“I’m sorry, so sorry. It’s my fault; I shouldn’t have kissed you on the mouth.”
Patrick was baffled. “Shouldn’t you be wiping your mouth instead of mine?”
“No, I liked your kiss.”
Now, he was confused. “You’re not making sense.” She looked so stricken that all he wanted to do was comfort her. Taking her hand, he kissed the knuckles. A jagged sigh escaped her lips as he turned her hand over, unfurled the fingers and tenderly kissed the palm. “Tell me what’s going on, Savannah. I need to know.” Titters and murmurs from the other patrons of the restaurant tore his attention from her sweet face. “God, Baby – let’s get out of here. The only thing I care about is you and this is too public of a place to talk.”
Savannah didn’t argue. Actually, she didn’t know what to say. The unbelievable events of the day had her completely off balance. She stood by while Patrick got their food to go, paid for it and then escorted her back to the Camaro. “I don’t have a heck of a lot of time, but let’s go to that park you told me about earlier. Do you have a blanket in the car that we can sit on?”
“The historic site has picnic tables, but I have an afghan in the trunk.” Her voice broke; she was just about to cry.
“You’re in no shape to drive, let me.” When he escorted her to the passenger side, Savannah didn’t say a word. If dreams could come true, Patrick would drive her car, have the keys to her front door and leave his shoes under her bed every night.
“I’m sorry about everything.”
“Don’t be. How do I get to the park?” Patrick followed the directions she gave him to the Evangeline State Historic Site which was just out of town on Highway 31, but his thoughts were just a tangled web of questions. Suddenly a wave of fear washed over him. “Are you sick?” Please, God, no – don’t let her be ill, he prayed.
Savannah jerked in the seat next to him, but quickly and emphatically replied, “No, I’m not.”
Patrick let out a harsh breath of relief. All right. Then whatever it was – was conquerable. He was a damn Marine Special Op and there was no enemy big or bad enough that he couldn’t kick its ass. So, he decided to woo her into smiling. He’d get to the bottom of this – eventually. It may not be today, but he wasn’t about to give up. “Are you a lesbian? I like lesbians.”
“No,” Savannah hiccupped a laugh. “I like men.”
“I’m a man.” He informed her solemnly.
“I know.” Savannah sounded sort of wistful. “I can tell.”
“Hmmmmm, let’s see.” He pretended to ponder the quandary. “Are you a man-eating alien from outer space who’s on a diet?”
At that absurd suggestion, Savannah let out a little giggle so sexy it made his cock throb. “No, I’m just a plain ole’ girl.”
“You aren’t a ‘plain ole’ anything, Baby.” Patrick reached over and covered her hands with him. “Savannah, I am so glad you walked into my world. Whatever is going on, whatever is bothering you, I’d like to help you with it.”
Savannah stared down at their joined hands. “There isn’t anything you can do, Patrick. It’s just something that I have to live with. But, thank you.”
When she met his gaze, he could see trails of tears down her cheeks. “So, what does this mean to us?”
“Us?” What a wondrous, amazing concept – us. “I’ll be glad to help you with your granddad’s research. We can talk about that, if you’d like.”
“Friendship is a good place to start.” Patrick couldn’t watch the road for wanting to look at Savannah. Stopping at a red light, he took advantage of the few seconds to make eye contact with her. “Will you write me every day?”
“Sure, if you’d enjoy hearing from me.” She couldn’t imagine that to be true. Patrick was saying all the right things, but Savannah didn’t have enough self-confidence to believe any of it. If he knew the truth, he would reject her. Everyone always rejected her. It wasn’t their fault; no one could get past millennia of misinformation. “I could write you every evening.” If he only knew how tempted she was to just throw caution to the wind and grab hold of him with both hands and never let him go. Noticing how far he had pushed back the car seat, she asked, “How tall are you?” There was no doubt about it, the man was built - muscled to perfection. His thighs were as big around as her waist and there was no way she could reach around his biceps with both hands.
“I’m six-three,” he made the turn into the park. “So, you’ll answer my emails
