Just as the married couple crossed her field of vision, a Beagle wearing a Chicago Bears jersey and dog collar walked down the aisle with its owner – Damon Durant!
Kelsey thought she’d misidentified the man leading the dog down the aisle, perhaps only wishing to see him, considering how she’d reacted in his presence earlier in the day. But no, Damon headed toward her, while looking down and talking to his dog. That made her take one more look at the Beagle: with tufts of white hair scattered across his body, he took his time walking down the aisle. It reminded her of Silly Willy. And if Damon loved canines even one-tenth as much as she did, Kelsey suspected that seeing his dog slowly giving way to old age must hurt a great deal.
Still, seeing the little fella “dressed” in Bears regalia (her favorite sports team) made her heart flutter. Despite his dour expression, the dog looked so cute! Of course, it made her contemplate Damon in a different way. How could it not? It seemed she may have misjudged him. If he cared so much for his pet, maybe Alex had overestimated Damon’s reputation as a player. This possible discrepancy increased Kelsey’s curiosity in him. What else might she have assumed that might not have merit?
Damon stopped talking, raised his head, and looked right at her. He stopped immediately, eyes growing wide, looking like he’d just gotten the breath knocked out of him.
Kelsey kept eye contact with him, feeling her breath quicken, sensing that fuzzy feeling once again in her stomach. But she refused to reveal this in her expression or stature. She remained still and waited for him to respond.
The corner of his lips turned into a smile. He spoke to his dog, but at this distance, Kelsey couldn’t hear his words. Regardless, she wanted nothing more than to find out how Damon talked to his dog. Did he offer comforting words? Did he promise treats?
Within moments, Damon led his dog up to her booth, looking forlorn. Hearing his dog belch, he returned his attention to his pet. “Mind your manners in front of a lady.”
Kelsey broke out laughing. “No date tonight?” How did she allow that thought to slip from her lips? She almost cringed. Her cheeks flared red.
He gave her a vacant stare. “No.” He looked down at his dog. “I’m spending time with my buddy Maximus tonight.”
“Maximus? You must be a fan of the film, Gladiator.”
“It was all right. I named him Max, but I got bored using the same name, so now I use about a dozen nicknames.”
“Really?” she asked, finding common ground with him. “Tell me some of them.”
“Max Attack. Max Payne – Mark Wahlberg starred in that movie. Max on, Max off – that’s from the original Karate Kid. But he looks really vicious right now, so I’ll have to go with Mad Max.”
“After the Mel Gibson movie, long before he went nuts.” She looked at Max, who gazed up at her with a tepid smile. “You’re definitely not intimidating, little fella. Hey, I’ve got a nickname for you; how about Maxi pad?”
“Oh, you did not!” Damon said, raising his voice, offended. He addressed Max: “That was a bad joke. She didn’t mean anything by it.” He faced Kelsey. “That’s harsh for a masculine dog.”
“I thought the term ‘masculine’ could only be applied to a human.” He attempted to respond, but Kelsey cut him off: “Then again, let’s put it to the test. Does he scratch his privates like a man? Does he mark his territory like a man?”
Damon chuckled. “Men don’t mark their territory. Only dogs do that.”
“Oh, yeah? Growing up, my father and brother couldn’t aim a tiny stream into a one foot-wide bowl of water. How is that possible?”
He shrugged. “No clue.”
“Men mark their territory.” She scrunched up her face and hunched over like an early hominid: “My toilet bowl. Females go outside. Use leaves for toilet paper.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
She smacked her forehead. “That’s right. Men have a man-cave, so you’re totally right: that’s not marking their territory.”
Damon didn’t have a response for that one. He just looked at her with a twinkle in his eye.
“Come to think of it, Max introduced himself to me with a burp.” She leaned over the counter to look at the Beagle. “Very classy, Maxi pad.”
“Unbelievable.” He glanced at Max. “Can you believe it?”
Max barked and nodded once. His tongue unfurled, stretching his face into a smile.
“Hey, what’re you doing? Don’t smile at her. She just insulted you.”
Max whined and inched closer.
How he stepped in her direction charmed Kelsey in a way that no other dog had managed to do since Willy Wonka had passed. She couldn’t help but let out an “Ooohh!” as she curved around the table and knelt down beside him to slide her hand across his head and down his back. “How are you feeling, little guy?”
“I’ll have you know,” Damon said, “that he may look small, but he has no problem in that department.”
She smirked at him. “Wow, you look pretty offended. You must have heard that line a lot in the past.” She gave Max her attention and rubbed the back of his ears. “Maybe he still hears it now and then. What do you think?”
“Unbelievable! First you insult my dog. Then you insult me. Who let you speak for this Fennel Kennel Club anyway?”
“I’m volunteering for them tonight.”
A knowing smile appeared. “You were all they could get, huh?”
She wouldn’t dignify that question with a response. “I admitted that your dog is masculine… what else do you want from me?”
“You didn’t admit it.”
“I just said that I admitted it. Do you want a confession or something? Do you have a pen? Maybe I could jab my skin and write it in blood to make it official.”
Damon allowed a smile before concealing it a second later. “And you’re supposed to be trying to get people to adopt a dog?”
“I bet I could convince you to get another one.”
“No, it’s just me and my buddy here. We’re loners. Right, pal?”
Max looked up at him and blinked. He blinked again. Then he returned his attention to Kelsey and nudged his head under her arm.
“Way to show solidarity,” Damon said. “But no, I’m not looking for another dog. Max is a handful as it is. He still has a little of that snobbish attitude in him.”
“Still? What do you mean?”
“It’s from his time with the Queen of England.”
Confused, Kelsey just shook her head and awaited an explanation.
“Max is royalty. After birth, he was trained to lead the Royal Family’s horses to hunt game. He lived the Royal lifestyle for about six months, and then, he…kind of got deported.”
Although this story sounded too outrageous to regard as truth, Kelsey wanted to hear more. “How does a dog get deported?”
“Max prefers not to talk about that.”
“So he talks, too, huh?” She looked down at Max. “You must be one special doggie.” She turned her attention to Damon.
A tiny smirk lifted the corners of his mouth.
She fell into those sparkling eyes for a long moment and didn’t even realize that he’d closed enough distance between them that his breath touched her left ear. The heat behind their subtle contact made her shiver with delight. That he caught her by surprise, even though he’d taken his time approaching her, made this move all the more intimate.
Damon whispered, “A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.” He lingered there a moment, taking in her scent.
Kelsey tensed in anticipation, not certain what might happen next. She hadn’t felt this alive in…too long to remember. From a sidelong glance, she felt him gazing at her lips. Her heartbeat knocked so loudly, she assumed Damon could hear it, which would give him all too much pleasure, so she reluctantly drew away from him.
“He’s a gentleman?” Kelsey asked, regaining her wits.
“He sure is,” Damon said, straightening. “He was knighted for his service.”
“Your dog…is a lord? That’s quite an accomplishment. Did he serve in Parliament, too?”
“No, it was solely for his role in contributing to the Royal Family’s happiness. But they were afraid that Max’s stature as the resident hound, when it came to the females, would cause a scandal, so they tried to sneak him into Spain.”
“Why Spain?”
“The Spaniards are a passionate people. The queen thought he’d fit in better there. But he had it in his mind to live in the land of opportunity. So he stowed away on a ship to America. From there, he worked odd jobs across the east coast until he reached Illinois and…found me.”
“Odd jobs, huh?”
“I can only assume they were odd jobs.” Baffled, he shook his head. “I grilled Max about it, but he refused to spill the details. He can be pretty stubborn sometimes.” He knelt down to Max and rubbed the spot under his chin. “Aren’t you? Filled with mystery and secrets. I bet you were a Royal spy. Probably worked with James Bond, didn’t you?”
The affection and attention he lavished on Max melted Kelsey’s heart. She found herself grinning as she considered their relationship. The canine had walked by Damon’s side, not ahead or behind him. Max didn’t bark at strangers or run up to them, hoping to get his head stroked. In short, not only had Damon trained his dog well, but they also seemed more like equals and friends than the standard – owner/pet relationship.
Just as Damon stopped petting his dog, Kelsey started stroking Max’s coat again. “You’re not one of those dog owners who dress up their dogs every day, right? You don’t let him sit on your lap when you’re driving, do you?”
“No and no.” Damon shook his head. “You sure have a bunch of unsubstantiated opinions about me. Given that misinformation, I could see why you’re afraid of falling for me.”
“My brother told me all about you. And all of the women you’ve…dated.”
“What if I just never found the right woman?”
“What if you’re just using that as an excuse?”
“What if your brother doesn’t really know who I am or what I want?”
And in that instant, she wanted nothing more than to know what he wanted in a romantic partner. “Next thing, you’re going to tell me that you’ve changed. Men like to use that line.”
“From someone who knows first-hand, no doubt.”
She didn’t want to admit the truth in that statement. “Well, men don’t change.”
“How do you know? Maybe you’ve never met someone who loved you enough to change.”
She couldn’t resist: “We’ve barely met and you’re already in love with me?” She raised her arms and looked toward the ceiling with feigned annoyance. “Why does this always happen?”
“Nice try. But I’m serious. Besides, I never said that I needed to change. I only said that I haven’t found the right woman.”
That irritatingly confident smile returned, and she wanted to slap it off his face.
“I think we’ve worn out our welcome,” Damon said to Max. “Let’s go look for that bone. Your choice. Remember, price is no object, so don’t analyze price tags this time.” He said to Kelsey, “He’s kind of frugal.” Then he turned back to Max. “And don’t forget, we have to pick up a toy.”
Max looked at him. Then he turned to Kelsey and stepped toward her.
“Come on, pal. We should get going. I believe this young lady would like to insult some other customers before the store closes.” He winked at her. “See you around.” He turned and walked in the opposite direction. Momentarily torn between seeking another stroke of the ears from Kelsey or returning to Damon, Max chose the latter and trotted toward his owner before slowing his pace on lumbering legs. He glanced back at her for a split second then followed Damon around the corner.
Kelsey had no idea that her flesh tingled and how jacked-up she felt with excitement until both Damon and Max disappeared from view. At the diner this morning, she’d written off her chemistry with Damon as the last vestiges of an ignorant woman who disregarded her feelings time and again, only to obey a rational mind that recommended that she neglect the physical desires that wracked her more secret places. Yet, she had never shared such an electrically-charged moment with another man. She couldn’t deny the strong pull she felt towards Damon, but experience taught her not to trust those sensations.
And she wanted to believe that maybe her brother didn’t quite know Damon as well as he thought. Because if Damon hadn’t met the right woman to share his life with, why should he settle down with someone he didn’t imagine loving for the rest of his life? After all, isn’t that what she held out for? A man she could love and respect and share her life with?
For the next hour and a half, after speaking to almost two dozen customers, some of which took brochures about the shelter, Kelsey didn’t spot Damon or Max again. Just as well. She had to trust her past and ignore feelings that would only end up hurt and anguished. Besides, she had a date with Paul to look forward to on Monday night. But she just couldn’t summon much interest in that date. If only Paul made her light up the way Damon did….
CHAPTER FIVE
After a restless night of thinking about Kelsey and how much he enjoyed talking with her, even though he tried not to give that impression – she made it pretty clear that she had no interest in dating him – Damon decided to try a different tactic to nudge her to give him a shot: he visited Alex’s girlfriend, Marisa Moretti, on Sunday afternoon to get an idea what Kelsey looked for in a man. Plus, he wanted to make sure that Marisa didn’t have any regrets about falling for Alex. He’d known many women who wanted a nice guy like Alex but didn’t find him exciting and soon left him.
He knocked on the front door, wondering how Marisa would respond to his unexpected social call. Would she welcome him because he’d helped Alex tap into the more masculine aspects of his personality, which made Marisa see him in a different light? In addition to a best friend, did she now view Alex as a strong, confident man who just might be the love of her life? Or would Marisa dislike him because Alex had shared with her how Damon’s typical romantic entanglements imploded soon after they began?
On the other hand, she could look at Damon with skepticism because she might have noticed the romantic fireworks that went off when he’d flirted with Kelsey at the restaurant. As one of Kelsey’s closest girlfriends, Marisa probably wouldn’t encourage her friend to get involved with a man who didn’t have a great track record when it came to long-term romantic relationships. Damon could understand her hesitation, but she had no idea what he wanted from a relationship, and the way he saw it, why should he stay with someone if he knew it didn’t have potential to develop into a lifelong love?
But instinct told him that, in Kelsey, he’d found an intelligent and unique individual with a great sense of humor and a streak of loyalty that, once established, could never be broken. Seeing how well she hit it off with Max, who also seemed smitten with her, further embedded the idea that he’d found someone of great kindness and warmth. So how could he give up on her? He’d grown tired of gorgeous women who couldn’t discuss a variety of topics, let alone someone who only wanted to party and had no interest in a serious relationship.
In most cases, these women discussed things they didn’t do anything about: fake “friends,” the types of guys they hated, family members who resented them. After all, if you didn’t like a “friend,” stop hanging out with that person. If you didn’t like certain men, try going out with a different type of guy. If your family disliked certain aspects of your personality, tell them why you acted that way so you don’t leave both sides upset and divided. That’s how he would handle it – if he had lots of friends…and a family.
Since moving to the Chicagoland area, he’d met women at bars and a couple clubs, but none of them held his attention the way Kelsey did. She didn’t censor her words. If she felt something, she said it. He wanted to keep talking to her, but he refused to overstay his welcome. If she had no intention of datin
g him, he wouldn’t stand around like an idiot, trying to show her aspects of his personality to persuade her to find him attractive. If anything, using that strategy would result in her finding him annoying and looking for a way to end the conversation.
But that smile! It made his body turn into silly putty. And he avoided glancing at those lean legs and that sublime neck he wanted to trace with delicate kisses. Because if sexual thoughts entered his mind as he stood beside her, Damon wouldn’t be able to concentrate enough to chat with her.
Damon knocked on the door again, this time a little harder. A few seconds later, from behind the door, he heard a seductive voice: “Can’t get enough, can you?”
The door opened and Marisa Moretti, wearing a push up bra, shorts, and gym shoes, greeted him with a smile…for the briefest of moments. Then her excited grin turned to horror. She let out a scream and kicked the door shut.
“Not really the welcome I’d hoped for,” Damon said. Alex said that he’d never seen a more beautiful woman in his life, and although Damon thought Kelsey would challenge that assertion, he had to admit that his friend hadn’t exaggerated about her appearance.
“What are you doing here?” Marisa asked from behind the door.
“Knocking on doors, trying to find out which women answer practically nude.”
“I thought you were Alex.”
Based on that response, Damon smiled, glad that his friend spent the night, only to leave a short time ago.
“What do you want?” she asked.
Even though he suspected that she’d closed the door to retrieve a T-shirt, he said, “To talk. Are you busy?”
“I’m working out.”
“Right now? Because that would be pretty weird: you exercising while talking to me from behind a closed door.”
“You’re such a smart ass.”
“Better than being a dumb ass.” He waited a few seconds. “Are you decent yet?”
The door opened. She now wore a faded blue T-shirt with the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street lifting a dumbbell in each hand with cookies on either end of the bars instead of weights. The shirt read: “One Tough Cookie.” She held the door halfway open while leaning against it. “A heads-up before you dropped by would have been nice.”
One Last Promise (A Bedford Falls Novel Book 2) Page 5
