Sparks Fly

by Kris Calvert

  “Besides,” Seth joked. “I want you to be attracted to my big brain and not just my good looks.”

  Grace brought over a selection of cheeses and fruit and set them on the table. “Can I get you anything else right now?”

  “We’re perfect,” Danielle responded.

  “Yes,” Seth agreed as Grace walked away from the table and he gave Danielle’s hand another squeeze. “We are.”

  As the sun set in the town square, Seth stood and asked for Danielle’s hand. “We have more fun activities planned for the evening. Shall we?”

  Danielle popped her brows in surprise and nodded. “Sure. Where are we off to now?”

  “No questions, Miss Trask.”

  Seth wrapped Danielle’s hand around his arm, and when she gave his bicep a squeeze he had to adjust himself after he shut her car door. If she could get him riled with one touch, what would he do if the opportunity arose to have all of Danielle?

  He shook it off and tried to concentrate on their next stop, but when he slid into the driver’s seat he couldn’t help but notice Danielle’s extra long leg that was now on display.

  He took a deep breath and wanted to desperately put on his sunglasses to hide, but the sun was going down quickly and he was caught between watching her legs sexily run along each other, concentrating on the road and wanting to kiss her.

  As they stopped at a red light, Seth couldn’t take it and simply asked her permission.

  “Danielle?”

  “Yes?” she replied as she looked to him with her blue eyes.

  “May I kiss you?”

  Danielle didn’t know if she was more turned on by him or the fact that he was the only man who’d ever asked her permission for a kiss.

  She leaned over the center console of the SUV and he met her halfway without hesitation.

  As their lips touched, Seth leaned further into the kiss and grazed his tongue along her open mouth. He felt her gasp and relax into his advance. Taking his hand from the wheel, he ran his fingers from her shoulder up and into the nape of her neck, cupping it with his palm and pulling her deeper into his mouth.

  When the car behind them honked their horn twice, he knew the light was green and his moment of pure perfection was over.

  He pulled away abruptly and raised his hand to indicate his apology as he accelerated through the intersection.

  “Wow,” Seth confessed as he gently rubbed his own lips, tasting Danielle’s lipstick that still lingered there.

  Danielle knew what he meant. As he’d kissed her, she became tingly all over and she knew this would somehow end with her naked and in his arms. She wouldn’t be able to control her feelings, nor did she want to. Danielle was a woman who knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to get it.

  “You have my red lipstick on your…” she pointed hesitantly.

  “It’s perfectly okay,” Seth grinned with satisfaction as he intently watched the road. “I should apologize for messing up your beautiful lips.”

  “It’s perfectly okay,” Danielle smiled.

  “We’re almost there,” he said, changing the subject and shifting his hips in the car seat trying to calm his erection before he needed to stand again.

  When Seth pulled into the old drive-in movie theatre, Danielle gave him a look and began to laugh. “Are we going to the movies?”

  “Not just any movie,” Seth replied as he rolled down the window and handed the young girl taking cash a twenty and waited for his change. “Roman Holiday. Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. Nineteen fifty-three.”

  “I see,” Danielle said with a smile. “I hope there’s popcorn involved.”

  “There’s more than popcorn.”

  Seth pulled into the center of the lot and promptly backed into a spot.

  “How are we going to watch the movie from this angle?” Danielle asked with a laugh as she turned behind her to see the big screen.

  “Wait here,” Seth commanded.

  Danielle heard the back gate open as the caution bells dinged inside the car. She watched Seth begin to set up what was packed the back of the SUV. A table, two chairs, a picnic basket…and she even saw candles.

  “Do you want some help”? she asked.

  “Just relax and I’ll be ready for you in just a sec,” Seth replied as he began to quickly set up. The square card table and chairs were on loan from Kitty and she’d given him the tablecloth to go with it along with two chair covers. He stood back and admired the setting and worried it might be a little too froufrou for a first date. He pushed the thought from his mind and hoped she would appreciate his efforts, even if they seemed a little cheesy.

  He placed the glass plates, silverware and wine glasses on the table in their proper places and left the food and drink in the basket.

  “Ms. Trask, table for two, your table is now ready,” Seth remarked with a small bow as he took her hand to help her out of the car.

  “I’ve never had dinner at the drive-in before,” Danielle confessed.

  “Neither have I.”

  Seth held her chair for her as she sat down. He pulled a book of matches from his pocket and lit the candles. The sun had almost set and the show would soon be starting.

  Seth sat and began to dig in his picnic basket for what was to be their dinner. “Is there anything that you cannot eat? I mean, are you allergic to any foods or is there something you have a real distaste for? I’d rather know now before I pull something out of my basket that I’ll need to be embarrassed about.”

  Danielle giggled and shook her head no.

  “Tonight we have crab cakes with whipped avocado and chipotle mayo, arugula with a brandy vinaigrette, roast prime rib of beef with mushrooms in a sherry, lobster sauce. And white asparagus with shallots in a lemon butter glaze.”

  Danielle was astonished. “Did you memorize that?”

  “Not really,” Seth said as he stopped to admire her beauty in the sunset.

  The movie previews began and Seth realized he’d not tuned in to the radio station to pick up the sound.

  As a hot dog from the sixties danced across the screen and the sound of an old pipe organ grinding filled the air around them, Seth looked to Danielle as he sat again and placed his napkin in his lap.

  “Everything okay?” he asked.

  “Everything is perfect.”

  June 29th

  Kitty hurried around her small but adorable house as she tried to ready the dining room table and her dinner with Banks Bartel.

  After a cozy lunch in his sister’s wine shop he’d taken her to pick up her car at the garage and said goodbye without even a handshake.

  The problem was, Kitty wanted more. What she didn’t know was if Banks was capable of more than friendship with any woman. After their discussion, she knew that he’d loved his fiancé, Jill, very much. Kitty didn’t want him to get over her, but if he was ready to move forward, she wanted to be the one to help.

  As she hustled around her house, she looked to the clock on the mantle and realized he was already five minutes late. She stared at the table and then back to the clock. What if he decided to stand her up?

  Kitty hurried into the bedroom where her phone was charging and looked to see if he’d called. They’d exchanged phone numbers after lunch, but she’d not heard from him since she texted him her address earlier that day.

  The knock on the door told her what she needed to know. Banks had arrived.

  She opened the door and there he stood in dark jeans, a black V-neck t-shirt and a black blazer. He looked like a cool movie star who didn’t know he was cool.

  “Come in,” Kitty sang as she stepped away from the door and extended her arm to welcome him. “Did you have any trouble finding it?”

  “No,” he shook his head. “I know the area well. How long have you lived here?”

  “Just about three years. I moved here after the storm came through. This house was one of the ones that had some major damage. I bought it about seven months after the storm. It’s been c
ompletely redone.”

  Banks walked through the home and looked it up and down as they went from room to room. He touched the walls and smiled as if he were seeing an old friend again and turned to Kitty. “The house is beautiful,” he said.

  Kitty walked into the kitchen to check on the chicken she had baking in the oven. “I didn’t have anything to do with the reconstruction. I bought it after. The people who lived here didn’t….” Kitty paused. She realized she was about to tell him they hadn’t survived.

  “I know,” he nodded. “It’s okay.”

  “I’m sorry,” Kitty admitted. “I’ve already ruined our evening. Haven’t I?”

  “Not at all,” Banks smiled. “It smells terrific.”

  “Sit. Would you like a glass of wine? Your sister gave me a bottle. Told me it was your favorite.”

  Kitty hurried herself into the kitchen to put the finishing touches on her dinner.

  “Did she?” Banks asked.

  Kitty sensed a sad note to Banks’ voice. “I’m sorry,” she said as she joined him at the table with the wine. “I sometimes forget to be compassionate. It’s not that I’m not. It’s just that I’ve seen a lot of bad stuff – I know you have too – and I deal with it better if I just understand there are things that I can’t control and there are things I can control. I resigned myself years ago to just be happy with each day as it comes.”

  Banks swallowed the lump in his throat. Walking into the home had brought back so many memories, and he’d sat in his truck for five minutes contemplating whether or not he could even walk through the door of what once was Jill’s home.

  “Kitty,” Banks began as he looked down and pushed the fork around his plate. “I don’t know how to say this.”

  “It’s okay,” Kitty nodded. “You can say anything.”

  “This house? This house belonged to Jill. She didn’t die here, she was with me when the storm hit, but this…was her…house,” he said as he tapped one finger into the table with each word.

  Kitty sank in her chair. “I don’t even know what to say.”

  “You don’t have to say anything,” Banks whispered. “You couldn’t have known. I certainly didn’t know until you gave me your address.”

  “Why didn’t you say something then?”

  Banks took a deep breath and let it all out slowly. “Because I like you. I haven’t…” he paused and looked to his fork again. “I haven’t been in a relationship since she died. I’ve been living in my own head, torturing myself for three years. And then I met you at the ER that day and there was something…there.”

  “Banks –” Kitty began.

  “Just let me get through it.”

  Kitty blinked back the tears that had begun to well in her eyes.

  “There was something between us at the hospital that day. You felt it. I know you did. And the other day? I thanked that squirrel a hundred times over for causing you to hit the ditch so I could see you again.”

  Banks stood and began to pace the room. “I never thought I would feel about a woman the way I felt about…”

  “Banks, please,” Kitty pleaded.

  “No,” he implored. “This needs to be said.”

  He walked around the dining room without taking his eyes from Kitty’s. She stood to meet him at the head of the table and he stopped just short of her. “I’m an artist. I’m taught to listen to my feelings and I’ll be damned if I’m not going to listen to them right now. Kitty, I think you’re beautiful and smart. I think you’re caring and funny. Last night I told myself I would be stupid not to see where this went. It feels like…home when I’m with you. And today when you texted me your address, I realized you were leading me home – again.”

  Kitty could no longer hold in the tears and as one rolled down her cheek – Banks brushed it away and smiled.

  “But what if you only want to see where this goes because I’m in her old house? Have you thought about that?” Kitty asked as she turned her face into his hand.

  “I’ve thought about everything, Kitty. I thought about everything from every angle. And what I really want to do right now is not explain why I feel the way I feel. I want to kiss you. I want to kiss you because I’ve thought of nothing else since you walked into the exam room.”

  Kitty stepped in closer and tugged at the lapels on his black jacket. “You’ve forgotten something,” she choked out through the tears she’d been swallowing.

  “What’s that?” he asked as he placed his arms around her waist and pulled her flush to his hard body.

  “I may not like you,” she smiled through her tears and tried her very best to make a joke.

  “If that’s the case,” Banks grinned. “Then I’m going to have to find ways to make you love me.”

  “I’ll take that challenge, Banks Bartel.”

  Banks leaned in and gave her lips a sensuous lick with his tongue before pressing his open mouth to hers, taking her completely off guard. She gasped and leaned her body into his strong arms allowing herself to let go of every apprehension she had. Kissing Banks felt right. It felt more than right.

  “God,” he moaned as he walked her backwards and pinned her against the wall of the room. It had been so long since he’d kissed a woman. It had been so long since he’d allowed himself to feel– and he did. He felt alive. He reclaimed her mouth with his tongue and pushed his hips into her body with a moan.

  The hard warm muscles of his chest pressed against her and she slipped her hands down to cup his tight ass.

  Banks pulled away from Kitty and took her face in his hands. “I don’t want to do this if you think it’s wrong. If I’m going too fast or if you don’t want to,” he gasped.

  Kitty swallowed hard and kissed his lips slowly and tenderly. “There’s nothing I’d like more than for you to sweep me off my feet and carry me to the bedroom. But…”

  “But?” Banks repeated as he allowed space between their bodies.

  “But I worry that you’ll think of making love to her while you are having sex with me.”

  Kitty looked to the floor a little ashamed she’d confessed that thought to Banks in the middle of a passionate moment. It was true. She did want him to make love to her – to her. Kitty deserved it. And she knew deep down that Banks was the kind of man who understood that.

  Banks kissed her on the forehead and held his lips there for what seemed like an eternity. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to rush. I want to be mindful of your feelings.”

  “And I want to be mindful of yours. Maybe we should just have dinner and get to know one another better.”

  “Okay,” Banks agreed. “But I need you to know something.”

  “Yes?”

  “Never would I make love to you and think of her. I mean, I loved her and I was destroyed when she died, but I’m thirty-one years old and my life is ahead of me, not behind me. I want to live. I want to be happy. And I didn’t know that until I met you.”

  Kitty nodded and kissed him on the cheek. “I want you to be happy.”

  “You make me happy, Kitty. You. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Now, I smell something so good it’s probably sinful.”

  “Sinful?”

  “Yes. After that kiss, I have sinning on the brain. Your home-cooked meal is going to help me shake that off.”

  “Shake it off?” Kitty asked.

  “Only temporarily.”

  July 1st

  Matt waltzed into his sister’s office bright and early on a Monday morning. He didn’t have any appointments until the afternoon and he needed to talk. Usually when he got together with Danielle it was to hear her cry about her life. When she was living in Los Angeles she would call and cry to Matt on a regular basis. Finally he told her to move. He would take care of her. He promised to get her on her feet, help her open her own PR agency and that was exactly what he’d done one year ago.

  “Matt,” she smiled as she walked into the lobby. It was early and her male receptionist had yet to make
it in. Matt was glad – he wanted the entire office empty so he could talk about himself – something he rarely did.

  “Hey sis,” he replied as he pulled her in for a quick hug. “How’s it going?”

  “Great!” she laughed.

  “Jesus,” Matt deadpanned. “What does that mean? What in the hell is going on? You’re never this happy.”

  “That’s mean,” she chided with a smile.

  “Seriously though. What is up with you?”

  “Maybe I met someone,” Danielle replied as she did a little twirl before sitting across from him in the room. “Do you want some coffee?”

  “No,” Matt replied. “I want some answers. “Who is he and where did you meet him and where can I find him so I can check him out?”

  “Jesus, Matt,” she sighed. “He’s a doctor at the hospital. He runs the emergency room. I met him at the town meeting to discuss the Red, Black, White and Blue ball.”

  “And where is this guy now?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Where can I find him?”

  “Matt.” Danielle shook her head. “He’s probably working a seven to seven shift in the ER today. Why?”

  “I might need to go and check him out.”

  “Shut up,” she laughed. “Just stop. Let me be happy. He’s super tall, he’s super smart and he’s –”

  “Let me guess, Superman?”

  “Matt, I really like him.”

  “You like him how much?”

  “Why do you care anyway?”

  “I care because I’ll be the one picking you up off the floor if he treats you poorly. Now if this bastard has a reputation for being a dick, I’ll find out about it.”

  “He doesn’t have a reputation for being a dick. He’s a well-liked and prominent doctor in town. He moved here after the tornadoes and helped. He’s worked for Doctors Without Borders for a few years in horrible places and even worse conditions in order to help people, Matt. He’s like you, Matt. He does for others and expects nothing in return. You’d like him.”

  “Okay,” Matt said with skepticism. “Is he going to the party and dedication on Friday night?”