by Anne Conley
Chapter 12
Dalton recognized her dusty, silver Saturn when she pulled into the parking lot. Standing nervously, he ran his hands through his hair, belatedly remembering the gel he had put in it. Awkwardly, he waited on the porch of the bakery next to the rocking chair he had been sitting in, wondering if he could hug her. He felt like he was meeting a long lost friend and craved the feel of her, but he wasn’t sure how she would react.
He watched her make her way to the door. Seeing him, her steps faltered slightly, before she pressed forward towards him. He stood and smiled in greeting, and she smiled back, shyly.
“Hi. Alyssa.” He kept his arms at his sides, willing them to not reach around her and grasp her tightly.
“Hello, Dalton.” Her voice was shaky and she kept tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. Good, he wasn’t the only one who was nervous.
“Do you want to get a piece of pie? My sister says this is the best place in town for pie.”
“Sure.”
He held the door open for her to walk inside first, allowing his hand to touch her back gently, as he followed her in. He felt her muscles tense beneath his touch. At the counter, Alyssa ordered a piece of lemon icebox pie, and Dalton ordered the same, reaching for his wallet in the back pocket of his jeans.
“No. I can get mine.” She said to him, looking slightly panicked.
“I don’t mind. I invited you out. My treat.” He smiled as he pulled out money.
“No. Let me get my own. Please.” He paused and decided he didn’t want to alienate her on their first quasi-date, so he relented.
“Alright, separate tickets.”
After paying, they turned to select seats. The restaurant was filled with long tables with benches on either side, and chairs at either end. Alyssa chose to sit on one of the benches, and Dalton slid next to her. After seeing where he had sat, she slid out of the bench and sat in the chair on the end of the table.
“Are you scared of me?”
She looked him in the eye. God, her eyes were beautiful -- deep pools of blue, surrounded by long curled lashes. “A little, yes.”
Those words hit Dalton hard in the gut. He let out an exhaled whoosh of air. “I see. So you’ve been dreaming of me, too?”
She looked down into her lap. “Yes.” No more than a whisper.
Their slices of pie arrived, and they each took a tentative mouthful. Dalton could taste how good it was, but the lump in his throat made it difficult to swallow.
“Please don’t be afraid of me.” He gazed at her impossibly flawless face.“I don’t know what’s happening. Do you?”
“I told my friend Summer about it, once I figured out you were a real person and not just some subliminal dream guy. She’s into occult stuff and the paranormal. She didn’t know anything, but she’s been calling around to try and find me more information.”
Dalton remembered the girl Alyssa had been talking to at the festival when he and Kelly had walked up. “Summer Baum?”
She looked surprised. “Yes.”
“I went to high school with her brother, Brent. Didn’t know them really well, but I remember she was really into weird stuff. Like ghosts and stuff.”
“So, you grew up here?” Alyssa asked cautiously.
“Yeah. You?”
“No. I grew up in Tyler. Went to Lee High School.”
“Ah...well, I had thought maybe you were somebody I used to know or something.”
“Dalton, we’ve never met. I would remember you.” She blushed furiously and looked down into her lap again.
He raised his eyebrows and waggled them at her, trying to lighten up her mood. He was still nervous as hell, but it was obvious her nerves were frazzled. He could see her hands shaking in her lap. Impulsively, he grabbed one of them. “Look at me, please.” A shock of electricity ran up to his elbow at the touch of her hand.
She looked up, and to his dismay, he saw tears brimming in the bottoms lids of her eyes.
“Why are you upset?” He was uneasy because he thought he knew what was coming.
“Look, Dalton. I only agreed to meet you because I don’t want you to think we can...do...anything together.” She withdrew her hand from his grasp. “We’re too different. If you’ve been dreaming of me too...” she visibly shuddered. “Then you know we are too different. I have kids...” Her eyes got an anxious gleam to them as she looked up again. “Have you been dreaming about my kids, too?”
“Your interactions with them.” He wanted to reassure her, somehow, but wasn’t sure what to do. Jesus, he didn’t want her to be scared of him. “Just because we’re different doesn’t mean we can’t date, does it?” He was worried she would say yes. He needed to see her again.
“Do you even date? I haven’t seen you do anything besides...” Her ever-present blush grew deeper, coloring her a deep, beet red, which Dalton found extremely sexy.
“I haven’t dated much, I’ll admit.” He ran his hand through his hair, again forgetting the gel he had put on it. “But you are different. I really want to get to know you, Alyssa.”
“You can always dream about me.” Her voice sounded a little bitter, but he wasn’t sure why.
“I haven’t dreamed about you since Saturday.” Now it was his turn to look down at his lap. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I miss them.”
She looked surprised at this. “You haven’t been dreaming about me?”
“Not since we saw each other Saturday at the festival. The dreams had become a sort of...” He paused here, searching for the right word. “Presence, I guess. I would wake up, and it gave me something to think about all day. It gave me something to compare to my own life, and how fucked-up I had let it become.” Dalton was beginning to feel a little desperate. He couldn’t let her deny him the opportunity to know her.
“What do you mean?” The interest in her eyes gave him a surge of optimism, so he pressed on.
“I mean, I have a college degree. It’s always been expected I’d come back here and work my dad’s ranch. I was just taking a break, a couple of years at the most after college, before starting my ‘grown up’ life. I let it get out of hand, and I lived that life way longer than I ever intended. Dreaming about you helped me to see that.”
He studied her face. She looked stunned.
“I’m not sure why I’m telling you this. I just wanted to make you understand why I want to see more of you. I want to date you. If you can’t do it, I understand. Your kids seem like great kids, and I don’t want to make you feel like you’re messing anything up with them. They are your first priority. I get that. So, if you can’t date me, I would like to at least be friends. Get together for drinks at the Gin, go to dinner sometime, talk on the phone. Anything.” He was babbling now, he could see that. But something about the way she was looking at him made him afraid if he didn’t keep talking, she would bolt.
She thoughtfully put a mouthful of pie on her fork. Her appetite seemed to be suffering like Dalton’s was. “Okay.” She said the word so softly Dalton almost didn’t hear it.
“Can I get a clarification? Are we going to be friends? Or can we try dating?” He asked hopefully.
She paused before answering him. “We can date. On the weeks I don’t have my kids. We can see each other those weeks, but I’m not getting a babysitter to pursue something romantic. I told myself a long time ago, my children wouldn’t take a backseat to my love life. I’m not going to change that for you.”
“I understand. Deal.” He reached out his hand to shake hers, and when their hands touched, he felt the tingle of electricity run up his arm again. Alyssa’s eyes widened at the contact.
“Can I ask you something?” Alyssa was playing with her piece of pie, sticking the fork in it and twirling it around, making a yellow puddle on her plate.
“Sure.” Dalton took a bite of his pie. Considering the worst part over, the lump in his throat had diminished somewhat.
“Are you expecting me to...um...have sex with you?” She looked completel
y uncomfortable asking him this, but her eyes were pleading.
Dalton choked on the pie he had just put in his mouth, sending bits of graham cracker crust flying onto her sweater. Coughing, he held up a finger, his face turning red.
“Hang on. I’ll get you some water.” Alyssa got up to go to the counter and brought back a Styrofoam cup with ice water in it.
“Thanks.” After somewhat recovering, he pushed the pie away from him, wiped his mouth and said, “Alyssa, I don’t expect anything from you. What happens will happen, okay?” He tried to look reassuringly at her, but her question had thrown him. He knew he wanted to have sex with her, but he also knew he wouldn’t push her into anything.
“Okay.” She looked ridiculously relieved. Alyssa looked at her watch and looked back at Dalton. “I’ve got to go. I have papers to grade.”
“No problem. I’ll walk you out.” He stood up and pulled her chair back for her. Pressing his hand to her back, he held the door open for her, as they left the building. It wasn’t enough contact. He wanted to touch more of her, but Dalton knew he had to go easy. She was like a wild animal, and he needed to make slow movements so he wouldn’t startle her.
So he entwined his fingers in hers and walked with her to her Saturn.
“Thank you for meeting me today.”
She stopped at her car door and looked up at him. “You’re welcome, Dalton. I wish I could say it was fun, but I’m so nervous around you.” She blushed again but didn’t look down this time.
Without being able to help himself, he took advantage of her upturned face. Leaning down, he lightly brushed his lips over hers and withdrew. She closed her eyes and laid her hands on his chest. Expecting a gentle push away, he started to chide himself for moving too fast, when she entwined her fingers in the lapels of his shirt and pulled him back to her.
Her lips met his, hungrily, allowing him the freedom to experience her mouth. He had daydreamed of doing this for a month. His hands went around her waist and pulled her to him, attempting to quench the undeniable thirst for her softness against him. He wanted to feel her trembling body up against his, and he couldn’t seem to get her close enough. His hands went up into her hair, feeling its silky softness, all the while kissing, kissing, kissing her.
He turned slightly and leaned her against her car, so he could feel her body close to him, while still immersing his hands in her hair. Dalton could feel her reacting to the kiss. Her nipples hardened into peaks he could feel on his chest through her sweater. Her hands were around his neck, pulling him down closer to her. He could feel her hips pressing into his painful erection.
Her scent overwhelmed him, a new sensation he hadn’t experienced in his dreams. She smelled like sugar cookies and sunshine, and he wondered if she tasted the same way. His tongue flicked out, tasting her lips. She even tasted sweet. He pulled his tongue back, but unable to resist, he ran it over her lips again and heard her whimper into his kiss. That tiny sound, that whimper, almost undid him completely.
Dalton pulled his face away first, his breathing ragged, as if he had just run a marathon. He leaned his forehead on hers. “Alyssa.”
She was just as out of breath as he was but didn’t move to push his body away. In fact, her hands stayed on his hips, holding his erection against her, brazenly.
“I didn’t mean for that to happen, Alyssa. I want to go slow with you.”
“That’s okay, Dalton. I didn’t mind it.” Her mouth quirked up into a small smile, as she looked at him shyly.
He kissed her nose. “I’d better let you go home, or else I’ll just want to stand here and do that all night long.” He stepped back and again, unsuccessfully ran his hand through his hair. He didn’t want her to leave. He didn’t care if she had papers to grade.
She blushed again, which sent another surge of blood to his groin. “Bye, Dalton.”
“Bye, Alyssa.” Unable to resist, he leaned in for another kiss, this one just a gentle, lingering peck on her swollen lips. He wanted more. So much more.
He waved as he watched her drive away, feeling positively giddy. He knew men didn’t feel giddy, but there was no other way to explain the sudden elation he felt. That was some kiss. Instantly, Dalton felt great about where this was going with Alyssa. The nerves he had been feeling were gone. He whistled as he walked himself to his car and drove home.
Alyssa almost hadn’t made it home, she was shaking so badly. When she got home, the first thing she did was call Summer.
“Hey, I met him for pie today.”
“Oh yeah! How did it go?”
“Well, he seems nice enough. We talked more than we ate, and agreed to try dating.”
“And...?”
“And...we kissed.” Alyssa had to hold the phone away from her ear to not be deafened by the squeal that came over the phone line.
“That is so awesome!” Summer gushed.
“Alright, now you sound like one of my students.”
“Well, it’s about time you got back in the saddle, my friend.”
“I’m going to take this slowly, Summer. I have enough tension already in my life without adding heartbreak to the mix.”
“Whatever. I’m happy for you. When are y’all going to see each other again?”
“I don’t know, we sort of got distracted during the plan-making part of the date.”
“Ah, so now it’s a date. Well, he’ll probably call you to make plans. Let me know how it goes, okay?” Summer listened to the silence on her end while Alyssa digested that last little bit.
“Ummm. I kind of forgot to give him my phone number.”
“What? Well, maybe he can look you up. You’re listed right?”
“Not since Jessica’s grandmother called me at home and bawled me out for failing her sweet baby one Sunday afternoon. I didn’t get off the phone with her for and hour and a half. I had my number unlisted after that.” Alyssa sighed.
“Well, y’all will figure something out. Maybe he’s listed? His parents? This will work itself out. Y’all are meant to be together.”
“I’m not so sure about that. We are so different, I’m not sure I can do this, Summer.”
“Of course you can. Some cosmic force somewhere is making y’all dream of each other. It’s meant to be. End of story.”
“Whatever.”
“Now who sounds like a teenager?” Summer laughed at her.
“I’ll call you later, okay?”
“Okay, let me know when y’all go out again.”
After hanging up with her friend, Alyssa fixed herself a glass of wine and a hot bubble bath and got in to soak and replay her date with Dalton.
To her eyes, he acted differently with her than he had in interactions with other women. With the other women he was confident, almost arrogant. Today, he had seemed nervous around her, unsure of himself, as if he was as nervous as she was. Alyssa wasn’t sure what to make of that. It endeared him to her, and ultimately, it was why she had agreed to go out with him again.
Until the kiss...She wasn’t sure what had possessed her to kiss him like that, but wow. All traces of nervousness on his part disappeared, and he had kissed her passionately, with urgency. He had touched her the way she longed to be touched. For a moment, she had known what it felt like to be wanted by a man.
What had surprised her the most, though was the way she had reacted to the kiss, so shamelessly..
At the memory, her breasts grew heavy, and her nipples stood erect. She smoothed bubbles over them, tickling the tips. The dull ache that had been with her since she left the bakery suddenly sharpened, and she felt an intense desire to do something to relieve the ache. Alyssa ran her hands down her breasts, over her stomach, between her legs. She closed her eyes, leaned back in the tub, and began to rub herself.
The ringing telephone interrupted her ministrations. Annoyed and out of breath, she sat up in the bathtub, sloshing water onto the floor. She listened to the phone ring, waiting for the answering machine to pick up.
“Alyssa? It’s Dalton...” His low, smooth voice carried into the bathroom.
She jumped out of the bathtub, grabbed a towel, and raced to the telephone, not caring about the puddles she left in her wake.
“Hello? Hello?” She gasped into the phone.
“Hi, Alyssa. Did I interrupt something? You sound out of breath.”
“I was in the bath.”
“Oh...” Dalton’s voice was suddenly husky. He was silent.
“Hello?” Alyssa blushed, imagining he was probably imagining her in the tub. He had probably dreamed about her in the tub. Mortification didn’t begin to describe what she felt.
“I-I’m here.” His voice cracked a little, and he cleared his throat. “I was calling to see if you wanted to go out to dinner on Friday?”
“Sure. What time?” Alyssa was still breathless.
“Seven? Does that sound alright?” His voice sounded tentative, unsure, and Alyssa enjoyed the fact she could make this confident man so insecure.
“Yeah. I don’t have a football game this week, so that would be fine. Where do you want to meet?”
“Let me pick you up. We’re dating, remember? I want to pick you up and pay and everything.” He sounded more confident, now that he had a set of unwritten rules to go by.
Alyssa sighed. “Okay, I’m in the pink house on Link Street. Behind Dogwood Diner.”
“Thank you.” He paused. “I’ll let you get back to your...bath.” She detected a smile in his voice.
“I was just finishing up. I’m done.”Alyssa had a sudden thought. “Um...Dalton?”
“Yeah?”
“How did you get my number?”
He laughed good-naturedly. “My mom has never thrown away a phone book. We have them going back to 1968, when they first moved here.”
“Oh. Okay. Just wondering.”
“So, I’ll see you Friday at seven? The pink house on Link Street, behind Dogwood Diner?”
“Yes. Sounds good.”
“I’m looking forward to it.” She definitely heard a smile this time.
“Um...me too.” The butterflies in her tummy started swarming again.
