Nine-tenths of the Law

Chapter Nine

Throughout the day, I tried to throw myself into my work rather than think about Nathan, but that was virtually impossible.

His card was burning a hole in my pocket. Every time an auditorium door opened, my heart jumped into my throat in anticipation of his presence even though he’d left hours ago. When I went into the third auditorium to deal with a problem patron, I swore I saw Nathan’s silhouette out of the corner of my eye. I tried chewing a piece of gum to settle my nerves-something I’d always done since I quit smoking-but the mint reminded me too much of Nathan’s kiss. For the first time in years, gum had the exact opposite effect and wound me up that much more.

Good thing Nathan was a smoker. If the taste of a cigarette didn’t have “Nathan” written all over it, I might very well have broken six years of not smoking today.

As the afternoon wore on and the clock inched dangerously close to six, when I intended to leave, my excitement gave way to nerves.

What was this about? Did he just want another one-night stand? Something to get over Jake? Or did he specifically want me? Did this have anything at all to do with Jake?

Drumming my fingers on my desk, I looked at the paperwork in front of me with unfocused eyes. Staring, not seeing. I wasn’t even sure why I bothered trying to work at all. Every word on the page was Nathan’s name, and every number was his phone number or his address.

This couldn’t be a good idea, hooking up with him. Even if it was just another one-night stand, he probably hated me. Though it was Jake’s infidelity that ended both relationships, I was sure Nathan still partly blamed me.

But that kiss in the auditorium was anything but angry. He’d kissed me like he wanted to kiss me.

I chewed my lip, still staring through my paperwork. Nothing good could come of this, could it?

I pulled his card out of my pocket and stared at his address and phone number. There were two choices: Call the number and cancel, or drive to the address and see what happened.

Something deep down told me that the wiser choice was to call him and back out. The lingering mint of my gum told me how much I wanted another taste of his kiss, regardless of the consequences.

I leaned back in my chair and looked at the clock over the door. Six o’clock was still an agonizing, merciful half hour away. Too soon to know if this was a good idea. Not nearly soon enough to satisfy this craving.

The minutes passed by too fast and too slow, and before I knew it, it was finally six. I grabbed my jacket and headed for the door, not sure if I was more excited or nervous about this. All the way home, I worried about it even while the anticipation of his kiss made my mouth water.

I took a quick shower and changed clothes. The whole time I shaved, I tried to ignore my own scrutiny, avoiding eye contact with my reflection. It was easier to convince myself this was a good idea if I didn’t have to look myself in the eye.

By the time I was out the door, it was quarter to seven. I guessed from his address that he was about fifteen minutes away, so my timing would be perfect. I’d be right on time.

Fifteen minutes was short enough to keep me from overanalyzing the situation and convincing myself this was a bad idea. It was also too long to wait to see him again.

A few second thoughts tried to cross my mind, but I pushed them aside. I wanted this. Whether I needed it or not, whether it was a good idea or not, I really didn’t care.

But what if he’d had second thoughts in the hours since we parted ways? If I was this conflicted about seeing him, about sleeping with him again, I could only imagine what was going through his mind. Then again, he’d sought me out. If he’d had any agonizing to do about it, he’d likely done it well before he stepped into The Epidauran with a pre-written note and mint to temper the taste of smoke in his mouth.

He wanted this. I wanted this. That wasn’t all that mattered, but it was all I gave a damn about.

Fifteen minutes after I left, I pulled into Nathan’s driveway and parked in front of the garage door. The creak of my parking brake raised goose bumps all the way up my spine.

I’m here. This is it.

Thankfully there were only a few steps from the driveway to his front porch. Just thinking about him, knowing he was this close, was already giving me a hard-on.

As soon as the door was within reach, I knocked. No hesitation. No last-second pre-regret. I was here and I wasn’t turning back, so why delay it?

He opened the door and all the air around us disappeared. I held what little breath I had left. For all my worry and uncertainty over the last few hours, there was one thing that hadn’t crossed my mind: I’d never seen him like this.

No harsh shadows to hide his features. No anger to darken his eyes and tighten his lips. No black cloud of Jake hanging over us.

In the fading light of day, without the mask of fury, his face was sharply angled in all the right places and smooth in all the others. When one side of his mouth lifted just slightly, the barely there grin emphasized the unmistakable lust in his eyes.

We stood in still, stunned silence for a long moment before something seemed to jar him back to life. He stepped aside, gesturing for me to come in. I walked past him, sucking in a breath when he shut the door behind us.

The grind-click of the deadbolt knocked that breath right back out. The sound wasn’t threatening, not the sound of an implied imprisonment.

It simply made everything about this real.

Inevitable.

Right.