Need You Now (Love in Unknown) - By Taylor M. Lunsford Page 0,31
to do with your life since you were that young? I don’t know if that’s seriously impressive or just intimidating. When I was in junior high, I still thought I was going to play drums for the next Rolling Stones.”
Great. Now he thought she was intimidating. “Well, I didn’t always believe it would happen. For a while in college I considered a very…different life. But I love what I do. And I’m happy to be home.”
“I’m guessing you’re really close to your family.” He smiled at her as the waiter removed their plates. “Emma’s always bragging about you.”
Covering her face with one hand, Mel laughed self-consciously. “Oh, God. I hope not. She thinks my education is far more impressive that it actually is.”
“It also helps that you’re beautiful and sweet and charming,” Kevin said, taking her hand in his. Mel held her breath for a second, waiting to feel a spark or even a tiny little sizzle. A flicker might have zinged across her hand. More than what she'd felt with most of the other first dates. Maybe she might let this one kiss her when he dropped her off. She'd decide on the ride over.
By the time they got to her stairs, she’d decided. Polite, sophisticated, handsome— aka a rare find in Unknown, Texas— Kevin definitely merited the Kiss Test. He followed her up to the apartment, a hand hovering over the small of her back, never quite touching her. She stopped in front of the door and turned to find him barely two inches away from her. “So.”
“So.” In the pale glow of the porch light, he smiled down at her.
She smiled back. “I had a good time tonight. Definitely one of the best first dates I’ve been on in a while.”
“I’m glad.” Almost in slow motion, she watched him reach up to brush aside a stray piece of hair, then rest his hand on her cheek. Smooth move. He leaned in just the right amount, waiting for her to meet him halfway. Taking a small breath, Mel started to lean up so she could touch her lips to his. Right before the feel of his breath warming her skin turned to the feel of his mouth, her phone blasted out the first few bars of the chorus to “Make Someone Happy.”
Shit. When Caine programmed his number into her phone after the car incident, he’d insisted on downloading that stupid song and setting it as the ring tone. Their song, he’d said. One time back in college —one time—they’d dance to the song while watching Sleepless in Seattle, and now it was suddenly "their song." And yet she hadn't had the heart to change it.
“I’m sorry. That’s my…friend. He calls every night around this time to make sure I’m home safe.” She dug through her shoulder bag, pushing the ignore button to silence the phone.
“Every night? That’s nice, I guess.”
She shook her head, annoyed as hell with Caine. “He’s just a worry wart. You’ve seen all the posts on Merna’s Matches, haven’t you? With the people breaking into the clinic and trashing my car, he’s just concerned me. I've already told him about a million times that I'm fine, but I can't tell him to stop caring."
Kevin nodded. “No, no. You’re right. I get it. Um. Anyway, I had a great time tonight. I’ll call you later and maybe we can see each other again. Soon.”
Kissing her cheek, he turned and jogged down the stairs. Mel glared at the phone she still held in her hand. She opted to wait until she got in the apartment and turned off the alarm and reset it for the night before dealing with her own personal gnat. But he didn’t wait that long; she barely had the door open when her phone rang again. She’d had it up to here with the hovering! Gage and Micah were mildly annoying, but their overprotectiveness had more than twenty years of solid relationship to back it up. This one…this one was starting to piss her off. “Caine Maddox, swear to God, my own brother isn't half as much of a pain in the ass as you are."
“Why didn’t you answer your phone when I first called?” he asked.
Mel huffed, punching in the pass code on the security pad. “Maybe because I was still on my date, genius. Kinda rude to answer a phone call from one guy when another guy is trying to say goodnight.”