“I’m not very good at these kinds of meetings,” she blushed.
“That’s a good thing,” he smiled. “I’m not either.”
“A good thing? Why would you say that?”
“Well, it seems to me the only way to get good at something is practice.”
“Ah, you’re right. It would mean you might be a player, and I might be…picky? Difficult?”
“Something,” he chuckled.
“So, uh, where do we start?” she asked, with how dreamy your eyes are? Or maybe, do you like me? If I knew you liked me I might be able to relax a bit.
“Why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself, like, maybe, how do you earn a nickel?”
“Ugh, it’s boring, well, not boring exactly, but ordinary.”
“If you’d rather not-”
“Oh, no, it’s not that, it’s like I said it’s boring. I wish I could say I was…I don’t know, a fashion photographer, or maybe an interior decorator, but I can’t. I’m a nurse.”
“A nurse? That’s a noble profession. I can’t imagine being a nurse would be boring.”
“It’s not, actually it’s anything but. I’m a trauma nurse, I work in emergency.”
“Wow. That’s impressive,” he exclaimed. “You must see so much.”
“I do, and to be honest I’ve had enough. You wouldn’t believe some of the stupid things people do in the name of fun, or to make a dollar. I swear if I see one more broken limb, or…never mind, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get carried away but it’s infuriating. Life is such a gift, and to put it at risk by racing a car, or jumping off a building, oops…sorry…there I go again. As I said, I’ve had enough. I’m done. I want to get out of the hospital and do something privately, but I’m not sure what exactly.”
He’d sat there quietly listening…and feeling his heart drop.
“Enough about me. What about you?” she asked eagerly. “Are you in the corporate world? Even dressed in all that leather I can imagine you in a suit.”
“Um, no, definitely not in corporate.”
“Then…?”
“The entertainment business. I’m in the entertainment business.”
“Really? That’s exciting. Are you an actor, director, or do you work behind the scenes.”
“Hard to explain,” he said slowly, wishing her eyes weren’t so luminous, and her teeth weren’t so perfect, and the desire to see her over a dinner table wasn’t filling his head. “I guess you’d say, I’m more than a stand-in or an extra, but not exactly an actor, but let’s talk about something else. Shall we be really mundane and discuss your favorite movie?”
“If you want. The original Thomas Crown Affair. Yours?”
“That’s a great movie. The sequel was too, but the happy ending bit…”
“You don’t like happy endings?”
“I don’t have anything against happy endings, but if they’re too pat it can kill a good movie. A happy ending has to be real, and in the sequel couldn’t he have said in that last scene, I’ll spank you, rather than…whatever it was he did say? See, I don’t even remember. I’ll bet everyone would remember if Pierce Brosnan had said to Renee Russo, I’ll put you over my knee and spank you.”
“I think you’re right,” she laughed, though she was blushing too.
“I think the ending of the first Thomas Crown was one of the things that made it so perfect,” he remarked. “At least, for me.”
“I agree. He was so smart, one step ahead of her the whole time.”
“And that worked for you?”
“My favorite scene,” she said wistfully, ignoring his question, “was when they were on the beach at night in front of the fire, and she asked if he’d ever brought anyone else there. Remember? She’d seen the photos of him with that other girl…”
“And Steve McQueen said, hey, she was just a way of putting you in touch with yourself.”
“Oooh, I loved that moment,” she sighed. “That…and the amazing kiss in front of the chess board after he said, let’s play something else and grabbed her by her arms and pulled her to her feet. Oh, I die every time I watch it. I love those old movies, but those scenes are my two, all-time favorite moments.”
“Great moments,” he agreed.
“Yours?”
“I guess…the last scene of Casablanca.”
“Again with the sad ending,” she remarked.
“Oh, yeah, I hadn’t thought about that.”
For an hour they talked, and laughed, and drank the fabulous coffee and consumed several pastries, and she finally dropped her chin in her hand and looked into his smokey blue eyes.
“I have to go. I have a shift in an hour. I really enjoyed this.”
“I did too,” he smiled, and I really want to see you again, I mean really, because I want to kiss you, I really want to kiss you.
“Walk me to my car?”
“Yeah, of course.”
Standing from the table he gestured her forward, and dropped a covert stare at her lovely curves moving against the seat of her white slacks.
I really want to kiss you, and I really want to spank you…like…really.
Following her across to the compact, silver BMW, he stood patiently as she fished for her keys in her bag and popped the lock.
“Would you have dinner…I mean, will you have dinner with me? Soon?” God, I sound like I’m seventeen.
“I’d like that very much,” she replied.
“Can I say something…ungentlemanly?”
“Sure,” she laughed.
“No, better, I’ll text it to you. Don’t start driving until I do. I don’t want to be responsible for you having an accident.”
“Wow…it must be something wicked. Okay, I’ll wait.”
She climbed into her car and watched him in her rear view mirror as he strode to his bike and pulled out his phone. Butterflies dancing she waited, and when her phone chimed, even though she’d been expecting it to, her heart skipped. Opening the message she read: You have a gorgeous ass.
She threw back her head and laughed out loud, then blushing furiously she wrote back: You haven’t seen it yet.
His reply popped up immediately. I like the yet part. I’ll call you soon.
Starting up her peppy car, she drove from the car park with a happy heart and the thrill of his promise running through her veins.
Wow, I can’t believe it. I’m so glad I walked through that door.
Still standing next to his bike, Troy sat on the saddle and shook his head.
Shit. How the hell am I gonna tell her I’m a stuntman?
https://www.amazon.com/author/maggiecarpenter