Her Unexpected Admirer Page 0,11
thinking that the best thing a woman could do was to like being by a campfire and sleeping in a tent. He must have been about fifteen or sixteen, when he and all of his friends had gone out to the back yard to spend the night, laughing and joking around a fire, roasting marshmallows and seeing how long it took for a potato chip to catch on fire. It was one of his fondest memories.
Kate was clutching her linen napkin in her hands nervously. “I’m just being silly,” she said, shaking her head.
“Here,” he said, taking her plate and lifting the silver top off. The smell of the food wafted to her nose more quickly now that it wasn’t covered and she realized how hungry she was. “We’ll sit over there,” he told her, thinking that she really was incredibly beautiful, more so now by the light of the fire.
Kate’s eyes lit up as he carried both of their plates over to the big chairs by the fire. She grabbed their napkins and utensils, hurrying over to sit down again.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked. “Wouldn’t you be more comfortable at the table?”
He shrugged and handed her the plate. “It feels nicer out here,” he explained. “Besides, you were going to tell me about your first dance and I’m intrigued.”
She laughed and accepted the plate, hungrier than she had been in a long time. Normally, she lost her appetite when she was under stress. And that stress could be from having to go to work, stay at work, actually anything to do with work, being at the office during work hours…so her appetite wasn’t the healthiest. When she got home from work, she lost herself in her painting and sometimes forgot to eat dinner. She knew she’d lost a lot of weight over the last few months, and she didn’t look very healthy because of it.
Yes, finding a new job was pretty important on many levels.
She sat back and had him laughing at the story of her first dance, how she’d stepped on the boys’ toes so badly that none of the others would bother asking her to dance.
“But now you’re a fabulous dancer, right?”
She blushed but was grateful that he couldn’t see her cheeks. “Not even close,” she laughed. “I haven’t danced again since that night.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged. “My mother died of cancer soon afterwards. It was pretty sad for a long time. When my father and I started to…well, to live again, I had to study hard to get my grades up.”
“And then?”
She looked at the fire. “Well, life happened. I’d always dreamed about taking dancing lessons, but I just haven’t found the time.”
“So what do you do for yourself?” he asked.
She opened her mouth to tell him about her painting but stopped. That was something that she’d never admitted to anyone other than her best friend from college who was the gallery manager where she’d sold all of her paintings. It was her secret, her world away from the craziness of her real life.
Why she’d even started to admit her secret to this man, she didn’t understand. She’d kept it to herself for so long, it was just a habit now. “Well, I have little hobbies that I do to get away from the problems of the day.” She looked at him. “What do you do to handle all of your stress?”
He thought about his horse back at his mother’s place. “I ride horses. I fly. I work out.”
Her eyes dropped to his shoulders, much more visible now that his suit jacket was off. “Obviously,” she mumbled, taking a bite of the delicious parmesan crusted chicken. “Oh my, this is delicious!” She savored the bite, loving the way the sharp cheese contrasted with the tender chicken. And the asparagus tips were perfectly cooked, tender and delicious with just a bit of salt to ease the bitterness.
Davis was initially struck by her mumbled response to him working out. He liked that she’d noticed his body but he shouldn’t have looked up. He shouldn’t have noticed the way she was eating the meal, as if she were having some sort of orgasmic response to the food. It was erotic and insane and the lust that surged through him while he watched her teeth take the asparagus tip was like nothing he’d ever experienced before. He wanted to toss the plates aside and pull her onto his lap. He wanted to make love to her right here by