Making the First Move

by Reese Ryan

  “Raine, tonight has been truly amazing.”

  He puts down his menu and folds his hands. “But...”

  I think for a moment, picking up my wineglass and sipping slowly, stalling for time and another way to approach this. A way that won’t make him feel his manhood is under attack. “No buts.” I smile sweetly. “Just eternal gratitude. I needed a night like this. To get away from work for one wonderful weekend.”

  Raine’s smile is guarded. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it, but the night isn’t over. Hopefully you’ll have a lot more to be grateful for by the time we get back to your place.” He winks at me mischievously.

  I roll my eyes but can’t help but laugh. “We’ll see about that.” I refocus, still smiling. “I really want to thank you for such a memorable evening. Let me buy dinner. It’s the least I can do. I insist.”

  Raine smirks. “Afraid we’ll end up washing dishes to pay for our meal tonight?”

  My cheeks grow warm. I bite my lip and look away.

  Raine laughs. He’s getting a kick out of this.

  “Of course not. But you’ve done so much already. It’s only fair.”

  “Would it make you feel better if I told you I was a trust fund baby and the cost of this weekend is inconsequential?”

  “Very funny,” I say. “And this isn’t about the money...”

  He raises an eyebrow, sitting back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest.

  “Okay, it is about the money. I don’t want you to end up paying for this weekend for the next ten to twenty years.”

  Raine chuckles and leans in closer. “God, you’re cute when you’re determined.” He raises his eyebrow. The corner of his mouth is turned up in a smirk that makes me want to scale the table and dip my tongue into it.

  “C’mon, don’t laugh. I’m trying to be serious here.”

  “I’m sorry.” Raine reaches across the table and squeezes my hand. “I know you’re trying to be considerate and I appreciate the gesture.”

  My shoulders relax. “So, you’ll let me pick up the tab for dinner?”

  Raine peers at me intently. He lifts my hand to his lips and gently kisses the back of it. “Absolutely...not. I’ve got this. I wouldn’t have come here if I couldn’t afford it.”

  I open my mouth to object, but he cuts me off.

  “End of discussion.” He squeezes my hand. “Now, I’m starving. How about we order?”

  “Okay.” I look at the menu, trying to ignore the prices. “Grilled pork chop with caramelized apples.”

  He smiles. “Then I guess we’re ready.”

  The server approaches our table, takes our orders and refills our water glasses. Later she brings out our pesto, provolone, andouille and goat cheese fat bread. It’s delicious. I can feel my waistline expanding a little with each nibble, but tonight I don’t care. Tonight is perfect.

  We laugh and talk over dinner. I watch him intently as he speaks, noticing how much of our conversation is conveyed through things we can’t hear over the phone. Body language. A raise of the eyebrows. Opening the mouth to say something but thinking better of it. Shrugging the shoulders. Hand gestures. He’s not even gone yet and already I miss him like crazy. It’s suddenly very clear to me that Raine has become an important part of my life. If only nights like this could be routine, not a rarity.

  I reach across the table and take his hand in mine. “I’m glad you’re here,” I say. “That you didn’t listen to me.”

  He picks up his cell phone and holds it out toward me. “Can you say that again, this time into the microphone?”

  The corners of my mouth lift in an involuntary smile, but I’m sure that the heaviness in my chest—at the thought of him leaving again—is reflected in my eyes. “Tonight was perfect,” I say, the words getting caught in the back of my throat. “Thank you. For everything. I wish you didn’t have to go home on Monday.”

  Raines squeezes my hand and deepens his warm smile. “Hey, don’t get all gloomy on me. That’ll definitely put a damper on my plans for later.” He raises his eyebrow maniacally and I snicker in response. “Besides, we’ve got two whole days to spend together. And by Sunday you’ll be ready to send me packing.”

  I poke my bottom lip out, releasing his hand. “Why? For being annoyingly perfect?”

  “Not true.” He holds up a finger. “I’m a horrible cover hog, as you’ve probably already noticed, and I don’t always remember to put the toilet seat down.”

  I giggle. “You’re a cover hog because you’re a fitful sleeper, you toss and turn all night.”

  There’s a momentary flash of sadness in his eyes. But then he smiles again. “So let’s not think about how much we’ll miss each other on Monday until it actually comes.” His voice is as warm and comforting as a cozy sweater.

  “Let’s not.” I lean across the table and whisper, “Let’s go back to my place instead.”

  He waves his hand in the direction of our server. “Check please.”

  In the back of the cab we can’t keep our hands off each other. It starts with a simple kiss, but the romantic evening and the bottle of wine we drank at the restaurant propel us forward. We manage to keep our clothes on, mostly.

  Once we’re through the doors of the condo, we’re glued to each other. Hands searching, removing stubborn articles of clothing. Mouths exploring each other. Lips kissing their way along warm flesh filled with heat and electricity.

  Afterward we cuddle under a throw blanket on my sofa. Laughing, kissing, touching. Making up for lost time. We attempt to satiate ourselves until we can be together again.

  That night we lie in bed, our limbs entwined. He drifts off to sleep, but my heart is still racing. A million thoughts keep me awake. I press my ear against his chest. I find comfort in its rise and fall beneath me. Snuggling against him, I bring my breath in sync with his. I will remember it when I am here alone, trying to recollect how he felt, smelled, tasted.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Saturday afternoon we venture out. Raine wants to see the Cleveland Museum of Art, one of my favorite spots in town. I did two internships here while I got my undergraduate degree in art history and museum studies at nearby Case Western Reserve University.

  I was practically a fixture. When I wasn’t working, I’d roam the galleries, revisiting favorite sculptures and admiring the collection of Impressionist art. Paintings by Monet, Renoir and Mary Cassat. Sometimes I’d sketch pieces from the impressive collection of Asian art, including a terra-cotta warrior more than two thousand years old.

  In the summer I’d sit in the courtyard and do my homework. Occasionally I’d grab a bite from the overpriced café. As long as I was here, I was happy. Being back at the museum feels like coming home.

  It’s my first time seeing the place since the most recent renovation. I’m glad the older portion, dating back to 1916, wasn’t torn down. Instead, the original building serves as the crown jewel to the modern additions. The newer glass and steel portion, with its expansive, light-filled atrium, gives the museum a modern feel, the shine and polish visitors expect.

  “What a great old building,” Raine says as we approach the front of the gleaming white marble structure. A reproduction of Rodin’s The Thinker greets us in the courtyard.

  “It is a great old building.” I grin like a mother showing off baby pictures.

  We climb the stairs and enter the front door of the 1916 Building, which leads us into the Court of Armor. Glass cases along the wall are filled with full-body armor, enormous swords and coats of mail.

  Next we visit Portrait of Isabella Brant by Peter Paul Rubens—a favorite painting of mine. I show Raine a magnificent furniture piece, a huge oak wardrobe with ebony and rosewood veneers from seventeenth-century Holland. The wardrobe’s veneers are laid out using a complicated mathematical
system. It’s breathtaking.

  He holds me closer, our cheeks flushed as we stand in front of Jacques Louis David’s enormous painting of Cupid and Psyche lying naked in an elaborate bed, basking in the afterglow of their lovemaking.

  Raine kisses the side of my face and whispers in my ear, “I know how that guy feels.”

  Before I can tell him I know how Psyche feels, too, I’m interrupted by a familiar voice.

  “Melanie!”

  My spine stiffens. There are times when my mother’s voice echoes in my head. It stopped me from going to third base on several occasions in high school. But it’s never quite this vivid.

  “Melanie!”

  Raine and I both stop to look at the woman quickly approaching.

  It’s my mother!

  Mimi tries to keep up, laden with her huge purse and the boys’ jackets. Mickey and Dusty are nowhere in sight.

  “Mom? Mimi? What are you doing here?”

  “We actually came to see the art.” Mom grins and winks at me as she leans in to give me a hug. “Who’s your handsome friend?”

  I take a deep breath. I’m not prepared for this, introducing Raine to my mother. Should I call him my boyfriend? “Mom, I’d like you to meet Raine Mason. He’s...a friend of mine.” I give him a look that begs forgiveness in advance for anything inappropriate my mother might say. “Raine, this is my mother, Ellie Gordon.”

  She rakes her fingers through her hair and stands a bit straighter.

  “Mrs. Gordon, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot about your magnificent cooking.” He extends his hand.

  A wide grin spreads across her face. She slips her hand into his. “Well, it’s certainly a pleasure to meet you, Raine. Though I’m at a disadvantage. You’re apparently my daughter’s best-kept secret. She hasn’t breathed a word to us about you.”

  Mom glances back at Mimi. My sister looks as guilty now as she did when she was seven and she’d denied stealing my mother’s makeup with pink-stained lips and clown-red cheeks.

  “Well, she hasn’t breathed a word to me, at least,” Mom continues. “I have no idea why she’d be hiding such a handsome, polite young man from her mother.” She raises an eyebrow at me.

  I rub my forehead, wishing it were a genie lamp that would grant my wish to have never left the condo this morning. “I haven’t been hiding him, Mom. Raine lives in San Francisco.”

  Her smile widens. “You came here, all the way from San Francisco, to see my Melanie? You two sound like more than just friends.” She pokes me in the side with her elbow.

  I cough. Mimi stares, wide-eyed.

  “We are more than just friends,” Raine says sheepishly. He seems to feel the need to explain to my mother why he was draped all over me a moment ago. “I’ve been trying my best to convince your beautiful daughter to be my girlfriend.”

  “My daughter is a little gun-shy and a bit of a workaholic. But keep working on her.” She speaks to him in a loud whisper behind her open hand, as if only he can hear her.

  “Mom!” Mimi says sharply.

  Raine is clearly amused.

  “Raine, this is my sister, Michele.”

  Mimi shifts her purse and the boys’ coats to her left arm and extends her right hand to him. He shakes her hand.

  “Good to meet you.” He smiles. “Melanie’s told me so much about you and your boys.”

  She smiles approvingly. “Nice to meet you, too.”

  “How long will you be in town, Raine?” I can see the plot brewing in my mother’s head.

  “Just for the weekend. I flew in on Thursday evening to surprise Melanie. I leave Monday morning.”

  “Melanie, you should’ve brought Raine over to the house. I could’ve kept him company on Friday while you were at work, shown him around town.”

  “Maybe next time I’m in town.” He beams at her.

  Mom smiles then elbows me again. “What a darling!” She looks at me as if I’ve just won the lottery. “Raine, you have to join us for dinner tomorrow. You were going to bring him to dinner, weren’t you?” My mother looks at me accusingly.

  I clear my throat. “Actually, I was thinking...since Raine’s only here for a few days...”

  “Look, I don’t blame you for wanting to spend the weekend shut in with this one.” She jerks her thumb toward Raine and bares her teeth at him in a flirtatious grin I’ve never seen my mother use before and hope never to see again. “But you’ve gotta come up for air sometime and you two have to eat. I’m guessing there’s only an assortment of condiments in your refrigerator.”

  My cheeks flush. My head throbs. I bury my forehead in my hand.

  Raine can’t hold back anymore. His entire body convulses in a raspy chuckle as he drapes an arm around me. “I’d love to come to dinner.” Raine flashes that irresistible grin at my mother and I’m pretty sure I see her swoon. “But I know Melanie has a lot planned for me this weekend.” Mom looks at me as if to say, “I’ll bet she does” and it seriously makes me throw up in my mouth a little. “How about if we promise to get back to you with an answer by the end of the day?”

  “Fabulous!” Mom can barely contain her excitement at the possibility. She squeezes Raine’s hand and kisses me on the cheek. I breathe a sigh of relief, thankful for the reprieve.

  “Are you two just getting here?” Mimi asks. She blushes when she finally notices we’re standing in front of Cupid and Psyche.

  “We’ve been here for a while, exploring the original building. We’re about to make our way to the new galleries.” I try to regain my composure. “What about you guys?”

  “I took your advice and enrolled Mickey and Dusty in the art classes here. We decided to stay and explore the museum while they’re in class, maybe grab lunch at the café.”

  “Lunch! That’s an excellent idea.” My mother claps her hands together. “Why don’t we all go for lunch at the café? That’ll give us a chance to get to know each other.”

  I glance at Raine. He seems about as eager as my mother does. “Fine,” I say. “We’ll do lunch.”

  “Great,” Mom says, “that’ll give me plenty of time to talk you two into coming to dinner.”

  Before I can object, Raine has already extended his free arm to my mother. “I’m starving, Mrs. Gordon. Lead the way.”

  Mom grabs Raine’s elbow. “Call me Ellie,” she drawls like a Southern belle, which she is not. She was born, raised and has always lived in the Midwest.

  “Yes, ma’am, Ellie.” Raine flashes that damn adorable grin.

  I want to protest, to tell her he’s mine. I want to spend the weekend with him. Alone. But there’s no use fighting it. All I can do is prepare myself for an hour of uncomfortable questions. Questions I can’t answer.

  “Why don’t I meet you guys in the café?” I say. “I’m going to the restroom.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Mimi says.

  My mother grins. The thought of having Raine to herself to poke and question is a delicious prospect she hadn’t anticipated.

  Mimi and I make a beeline for the bathroom in silence. Finally, when we’re at the sinks washing our hands, she says, “C’mon, Melanie. I know you have something to say.”

  I look at her reflection in the mirror and sigh. “What do you want me to say?”

  “You should’ve told me he was here this weekend,” she scolds. “I’ve been dying to meet him.”

  “That’s the point. I didn’t want anyone to know.” I turn the dryer on with my elbow. “I mean, what would you have said if I’d told you he was here this weekend?”

  “I would’ve insisted you bring him over so we could meet him.” She turns on the dryer next to me.

  “Exactly. And we aren’t at the ‘meet the parents’ stage in our relationship.”

  �
�I knew this was a lot more serious than you’ve been letting on.” Mimi tries to hold back a smile. “You guys were practically making out in front of the most erotic piece of art in the museum.”

  I shoot her a look. “We weren’t making out. We were just... Look, the point is I don’t know what we are right now. But for the first time I feel like I want this to be...more. He flew all this way to surprise me. He got backstage passes to the Jace LeRoth concert because he remembered that I’d said maybe a year ago I’d love to see him in concert. Then we had the most amazing dinner last night.”

  I stand against the wall and wait for Mimi to finish.

  “Are you shitting me? Marcus and I have been together for seven years, and he never remembers anything I tell him I want.” Mimi grabs the kids’ coats and her purse, which she wedged between her knees to keep them off the bathroom floor. “This guy has it bad for you.”

  I frown, crossing my arms.

  “What? That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

  I bite my lip and nod. “Yes, of course. And I adore him, I do. But what did Dad always say?”

  “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,” we echo in unison.

  “I know, I know.” She grabs my arm, and we walk out of the ladies’ room, toward the café. “I’m not saying he’s perfect. But maybe, just maybe, he’s the perfect guy for you.”

  I look at her, holding my breath, a question mark emblazoned in my furrowed brows. “You really think so?”

  She smiles. “I saw the way he looked at you, Melanie. I think he’s—”

  “Don’t say it.” I hold up one hand. “I’m definitely not ready for that.”

  * * *

  After lunch, which goes well thanks to Mom being on relatively good behavior, Raine and I finish our tour of the museum then head back to my place.

  We enter the lobby of my building and step onto the elevator. As soon as the doors close, Raine leans into me. He glides his hands underneath the lapel of my red wool jacket and lays them gently on my neck. They’re freezing. I shiver, yet I’m filled with an intense, growing heat.