Chapter 7
Seven o'clock Saturday evening was only three minutes away by the time Kaylee pulled into the parking lot at Huntingdon's and shut off her engine. Deep in her gut, she had a feeling tonight's outing (it was not a date, after all) with Jordan wasn't going to go well, but she hadn't called to cancel, so standing him up at the last minute was out of the question.
Gathering her purse and jacket, she noticed several familiar vehicles: Jo and Michael were both here, and so was Mindy and Lain and even Marc. Add one from Jordan's side of the “friend or family” to include Sam and Kaylee felt like a freak specimen on display. With an effort of will, she pushed aside her irritation and the disquieting agitation she felt and started inside.
She was half-way to the door when Jordan walked out.
“It's kind of crowded in there,” he said after they exchanged greetings. “But given the time, I suppose you weren't interested in grabbing a coffee anyway. Were you?”
“No.” She didn't elaborate and he didn't seem to need her to. Nodding, he motioned toward a vehicle parked near the edge of the lot under a big oak tree. “We can head out whenever you're ready.”
Shouldering her purse, Kaylee started in the direction he had indicated. “I'm ready now.”
Five minutes later, they were standing in line for drinks and popcorn at The Grove Cinema. In ten, they were seated and waiting for the movie to start, but Kaylee wasn't paying much attention to the screen. Instead, she was biting back the few choice words she wanted to shout every time she saw one of her acquaintances move down the center aisle, grinning and waving in her direction. They had followed her, the cretins.
“Hey, why the scowl?” Jordan asked. “The show's just getting started.”
He popped a handful of popcorn in his mouth and settled back in his seat, getting comfortable for the viewing, but Kaylee couldn't make herself relax enough to do more than sit, ramrod straight and fuming, in her chair. Were they planning to watch her all night? An irritated sigh slipped out.
“This is ridiculous,” she muttered under her breath. To Jordan, she said, “Sorry. I just remembered something I forgot to do at home.”
He stopped chewing and sat up. “Is it important? I can drive you over if you left the stove on or something.”
“No, it's nothing that can't wait,” she said, waving him back. Tomorrow, however, a few people were going to get phone calls they'd probably rather skip.
“Great. Here, have some popcorn.” There was a note of mischief in his tone and when she turned to accept the cup of warm, buttery popped kernels from him, she found out why. He tossed a particularly fluffy piece at her lips. It bounced off, of course, and landed in her lap, where he eyed it carefully before looking up at her face again. “Ah, I'd risk retrieving that and try again if I didn't think you'd smack me half-way into next week, but...”
One corner of his lips rose in a wry smile. Kaylee blinked, then blinked again. Why had he thrown popcorn at her?
“You're tense, Miss Dean, and tonight isn't supposed to make you jumpy,” he explained. “Was it something I said?”
There was both curiosity and mischief in his gaze and for the life of her, Kaylee wasn't sure how to respond to either. It wasn't his fault her friends were nosy. Nor had he asked them to follow her. She shook her head. “It's just that I don't go out often anymore.”
Crunching another handful of popcorn, Jordan nodded. “I know how you feel. It's been six months—no, make that eight—since I last stepped inside a movie theater but who can resist the popcorn, right? There's nothing like movie theater popcorn. Mmm!”
Again, that teasing gleam in his eye tempted her to respond in kind. Relaxing a bit in response to his playful attitude, Kaylee managed a smile and reached for a handful before retrieving the errant piece from her lap. “I haven't been here in almost three years. Nothing's changed, though, that I can see.”
Turning her head, she looked around to verify her words, and her gaze clashed head-on with her sister's, one row back and three seats to her right. Beside her, Michael tipped his head and grinned. She groaned, then mouthed, “Jo? What are you doing here?”
A mistake, she realized immediately, because Jo stood, leaving her seat to move closer to Kaylee. Once she found a suitable spot behind her sister, Jo leaned up and met Kaylee's squint-eyed glare with one of her own.
“Don't you dare lump me in with them,” she whispered loudly, motioning to the other side of the theater where the others sat. “I didn't come here to spy. It's date night for Michael and I and we always do the cinema during Couples Night.”
Kaylee immediately felt sorry for having done precisely as Jo had accused. She glanced around and found Jordan sitting with his head twisted to the side, avidly following their conversation. Against her better judgment, she decided she might as well introduce them.
“Jordan Parker, this is my sister, Jo Leavy. Jo, Jordan Parker.” Waving toward her brother-in-law, she leaned close and whispered, “And that's her husband, Michael.”
Jordan nodded, smiled, and reached back with buttery fingers to shake hands, then snatched his hand back to reach over with the other.
“Popcorn,” he explained sheepishly, keeping his voice low so as not to disturb the other viewers. “It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Leavy. Michael.”
Jo smiled. “You, too, Mr. Parker. And now that I've saved myself an ear-blistering phone call tomorrow, I'm going to go back to making out with my date!”
Kaylee's eyes widened and she could feel her cheeks flush, but Jordan, who was staring even more curiously at her now, only grinned. “Wow. Your sister and brother-in-law still make out at movies? They must seriously be in love!”
“She's only teasing,” Kaylee whispered after her sister had gone, but she couldn't resist a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure.
Jordan sputtered with barely subdued laughter. “Ignore them, Kaylee. Older siblings live to embarrass younger ones but we don't have to give them the pleasure.”
Sinking slightly in her seat, Kaylee nodded. He'd guessed right—she was embarrassed, but not by Jo, or Michael, or even Marc and his date, and Mindy and hers, who were barely three rows back to their right. Instead, she was very much chagrined to realize the reason she had been so upset to see her friends and family both here and at Huntingdon's was because she wasn't prepared to bear their scrutiny. She hadn't been out in more than four years—perhaps she had forgotten how one was supposed to behave?
Looking around at the other couples, she saw them dipping into shared cups of popcorn and leaning close now and again to whisper low—quiet threads of conversation kept low just like hers and Jordan's had been a moment ago. Satisfied she hadn't made any blunders, she turned her attention to the screen, but the movie was barely more than halfway through when she realized without a doubt that tonight had been a mistake.
It had nothing to do with Jordan or her friends and family but everything to do with the romance playing out on the screen. The male lead was scared. He was leaving. The female lead was upset, but Kaylee was worse. In the movie, she knew the guy was going to come back, but in real life—in real life it didn't happen.
When the movie ended, she barely said a thing as she gathered her things. Somehow, she managed not to spill her drink or topple her cup of popcorn in her rush to get to her feet. Beside her, Jordan stood up and stretched, content to loiter while the credits rolled, looking for all the world as if he were in no hurry to leave.
“Come on,” she whispered, and grabbed at his hand before making her way up the side aisle. Behind her, she could hear her not-date date for the evening hurrying to catch up, but she didn't wait. In the lobby, she quickly slid into her coat and headed up the sidewalk toward the park, ignoring the fact that Jordan's truck was parked behind her in the other direction.
“Kaylee, hold up.” Jordan called, but she only shook her head. She couldn't stop. Not yet. She was too irritated, too emotional. He would expect her to explain, and given that she'd ru
shed him out of the cinema, she would owe him that much, at least. But not now. Her emotions were wired, and the words probably wouldn't come.
She was wrong.
“Kaylee?”
He'd caught up to her and reached out to halt her flight. His hand landed somewhere in the vicinity of her neck instead of the shoulder he'd obviously meant to catch, and his touch—the warmth of his strong, bare fingers, the way he'd compensated for missing her shoulder by curling his hand to splay his fingers into her hair, and the gentle way he used his thumb to caress the line of her jaw as she turned—sent her barreling headlong down a path she'd never meant to tread.
Looking up at him, eyes wide, she asked, “How can the directors live with themselves? It's all lies. All of it. Real life never works that way, and you know they have to know it. They do! So why do they pretend? Why encourage us to make believe along with them through stupid, gushy movies like that one? Why?”
Jordan couldn't know she was talking about the brokenhearted lovers on the screen, couldn't guess she'd become upset because the hero of the piece had walked out on his heroine, the same as Daniel had done to her, only there had been no happy ending for the two of them like there was for the leads in the movie.
He remained silent, but then, given how confused he must be about what had set her off to begin with, what could he say? So he said nothing, and did the next best thing instead. Without removing his fingers from her nape, he reached out with his other hand to pull her against his chest, into his embrace, and simply held her close for a moment.
Kaylee welcomed his warmth, the comfort and sense of security she felt while he held her in his arms so much she didn't even think about what she was doing or with whom. She simply held on for dear life, her fingers clenched in the material of his dark shirt beneath his open coat, while she quietly relived all the pain and anguish of her own real-life heartbreak with her head on his shoulder as she stared off into the night.
“He came back before the end of the movie. The hero. Right when she thought he never would, and everything was alright for them. He told her he was wrong, that he loved her, and she had to confess that she still loved him, too. Their world was complete.”
Her snort of disdain was muffled by his shirt, but she continued. “In ninety minutes, all was set to rights and you know there was a happily ever after for them.” Pushing slightly back out of his embrace, she gazed up at him and said, “But it never happens that way for us. Not in real life, for real people. Never.”
For a long moment, he simply stared at her, his fingers doing things in her hair while he studied her face in silence.
“It does, Kaylee,” he finally said, and she blinked, surprised more by the confidence in his tone than his actual words.
“When?” she demanded. “When does it happen, Jordan Parker?”
Looking away, she shook her head in denial. “Forgive me for disbelieving you, but I'm afraid you'll have to prove it, because right now I don't think I'll ever believe anyone about it ever again.”
“When it's real,” he stated simply, quietly, and something in his voice made her look at him again. Everything inside her went still. There was something in his eyes, in the way he was looking at her when he spoke that made her breath catch.
Reaching out, he smoothed an errant strand of her hair back from her cheek and tucked it gently behind her ear. “They come back when love is real, Kaylee, I promise. Every. Single. Time.”
There was such sincerity in his tone, so much certainty in his gaze, she found his words hard to refute. It was obvious he truly believed what he had said, and so, for the moment, she found herself believing it, too.
Kaylee couldn't say precisely what happened to her in her thoughts, in her heart and head in that moment to make her reach up to him, or what made her curl her fingers around his neck, threading them through his hair much the way his had done in hers just moments before.
She couldn't explain why she rose up on her toes, allowing her body to mold itself to his right there beneath the streetlights half-way between the Grove Cinema and Hawthorne Park.
She didn't even pretend to understand the mixed courses of emotion and reaction flowing through her right then. But one thing she did know, without a doubt—the moment her lips touched his, she was lost.
Chapter 8
Jordan had known from the minute he'd first seen Kaylee tonight that something was bothering her. She'd seemed agitated on the drive over from Sam's and her tension had only gotten worse as they'd waited for the movie to start.
From what her sister had said, he gathered her annoyance had something to do with her friends but he didn't think they were responsible for what was happening now. He had a feeling this was tied to her ex-fiance somehow and the movie they'd been watching had brought her emotions rushing to the fore. Still, he couldn't deny he was enjoying the moment.
Slowly, he let his arms come around her, his hands supporting, consoling, without actually holding her. He was afraid if he tried to gather her into his embrace the way his body was urging him to do, she would bolt in sheer panic, so he held her lightly and gave her the lead, which she took.
Her fingers threaded through the hair at his nape while her lips closed over his. The kiss was not a hungry one, fueled by passion or anger or pain. Instead, it was more of an exploration.
Soft, slow, she brushed her parted lips against his.
Questing.
Feeling.
Absorbing.
Her tentative, gentle seeking was causing reactions he hadn't expected and when he felt her tongue slide over the fullness of his bottom lip, he almost forgot he was letting her control the moment. His instinctive urge was to pull her close, to plunge into her mouth, to suckle and devour her sweetness. Instead, he forced his hands to remain where they were and responded in kind.
He heard her swift intake of breath an instant before her mouth opened more fully over his, inviting his tongue inside. His long-denied passions having been ignited, Jordan was more than willing to oblige. Bringing his hands up to cup her jaw, he deepened the kiss, plundering the softness of her mouth with his own. His fingers slid upward, tangling in her hair while he tasted her, their tongues sliding together in a rhythm-less dance that transported them both into a world of their own making.
Time slipped away.
How long they stood there, bodies close and lips fused, he did not know. The only thing he was conscious of at that moment was how good she felt in his arms, how sweet she tasted, and how right it felt to be with her there.
Breaking away slightly so he could taste more of her, Jordan placed a trail of little kisses from the corner of her lips up to her earlobe where he nibbled for a moment before sliding further down to taste the curve of shadowed skin where her neck and shoulder met.
She shivered from the contact and he lifted his head to see her reaction. The molten passion he saw in her eyes, in her expression, jolted him back to awareness and he reminded himself of the promise he had made to her for the evening: no strings.
He had to stop.
Swallowing back his groan of disappointment, he reached up, cupping her jaw in his palm. He would ask. He had promised her no strings and even though she had been the one to instigate the kiss, he would let her choose whether or not to go on, to further explore this searing new passion that had unexpectedly flared high and bright between them.
“Kaylee?”
Her eyes started to focus, the passion he saw in her gaze began to wane, and he speared his fingers through her hair, holding her for another quick kiss. But his conscience would not allow him to continue and he broke away with a sigh.
“Kaylee, I would love nothing more than to hold you and kiss you for hours, but—and please don't take this the wrong way—I need you to want it, too.” He leaned in for another sip. “Is it okay for me to kiss you?”
Again, he let his lips move softly against hers, allowed his tongue to rim the edges closest to the warm sweetness of her mouth before he leaned
back again, putting the barest space between them. “I know I promised no strings tonight and I meant it, but—you're all fire in my arms and I suddenly rather desperately want to do things with your mouth, but you have to tell me it's okay. Kaylee? Baby, you're killing me here.”
He sensed her withdrawal before he felt it in the slight stiffening of her arms before she pulled her hands away and took a step back to stare up at him, hesitant and momentarily dazed. The look of bewildered confusion in her gaze swiftly gave way to one of horror and abject humiliation. Drawing her arms around herself, she backed away, putting even more space between them.
“Oh my God, I'm sorry. I—I don't know what came over me, but I—I am so sorry, Jordan.”
“Don't,” he said, reaching out to stay her words more than her flight. “I'm not sorry and neither should you be.”
His fingers curled around her shoulders, pulling her to him until his forehead rested against hers. He couldn't resist planting a quick kiss on the end of her pert, slightly upturned little nose. “You taste like a dream, Kaylee Dean. A promise that is all sweetness and fire. Innocence, and passion, and pure bliss, and I—I loved every minute of it, so don't you dare apologize.”
Her expression turned rueful and she cut her eyes away, avoiding his gaze. “So much for no strings, huh?”
Jordan smiled. “Hey, is that what your fingers were doing back there in my hair?”
The sound she uttered was some kind of cross between a snort and a laugh, and her cheeks were still flushed—whether from their kisses or embarrassment, he didn't know—but he was glad she hadn't run away or demanded he take her home immediately.
Sliding his hands into his pockets, he stepped back a couple steps. “Are you cold?” he asked solicitously. “If you are, we should head back. But if you're not, we could walk. I don't think I've seen the park yet. You could show me around.”
Something Magical (Witches of Hawthorne Grove Book 1) Page 6
