Kyle reached out to push it down again. “I’m trying to be sensible here.”
“I’m not stopping you, am I?”
“I think it’s better if we don’t spend a lot of time alone today.”
“Right. I got the message. So, go.”
“Fine. I’ll give you a call when your car is ready.”
She refused to look up from the book. “Do that.”
Still he didn’t leave. He just stood there. Looking at her.
She glared up at him. “Do you want to go or not?”
“I don’t want to go.”
She closed the book, her heart starting to beat a lit tle faster. “Then stay.”
“You know what will happen if I do.”
She wondered almost absently how her heart could be pounding in her chest and her throat at the same time. She hadn’t really expected Kyle to admit where they had been headed these past couple of days. His strategy so far had been to pretty much pretend it wasn’t happening. When he wasn’t kissing her senseless, anyway.
“Nothing has to happen if we don’t want it to,” she said reasonably. “We could just talk or play cards.”
He looked doubtful. “I guess we could give it a try.”
If she hadn’t known better, she’d have thought he wanted to stay with her. Maybe…maybe he was afraid to stay. And wasn’t that an intriguing thought? Kyle afraid of her?
She tried to make her smile reassuring. “I promise I won’t jump you if you stay.”
A mere hint of a rueful smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “And if I jump you?”
She didn’t think he would find it at all comforting if she told him she wouldn’t even try to fight him off. It was probably better to say nothing at all.
Kyle looked at her smiling at him, then glanced out the door toward the gray, wet parking lot and the rain that was still falling in sweeping curtains. She would like to think she was the more inviting prospect.
Several long seconds passed before he made his decision. She let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding when he closed the door.
“Get out the cards,” he said.
She reached for her bag.
With the steadily falling rain as a backdrop, they played gin rummy all morning. Perhaps they were rather stilted at first, but Kyle seemed to find Molly’s cut throat competitiveness amusing. He even laughed a couple of times.
And Molly learned all over again that Kyle’s laughs were definitely lethal where she was concerned. It was all she could to do to speak coherently after he laughed, much less think clearly enough to play cards.
The rain was still falling, though more lightly now, when they grew tired of the game at just after noon. After calling the garage to learn that it would still be another couple of hours before the car would be ready, Kyle left to pick up some lunch. Molly could tell that he was much more relaxed about returning this time; their platonic morning of casual games had put him at ease that they could be together without losing control.
She put the cards away and stretched out on the bed to put her foot up for a few minutes while he was gone. It didn’t really hurt since she’d been sitting all morning, but she had been instructed to keep it elevated as much as possible for the first forty-eight hours. Nestling her head on the pillow, she thought about how much she had enjoyed spending time with Kyle.
He wasn’t the most loquacious of companions. He certainly wasn’t one for flattery or flirtation. He didn’t keep her in stitches, as some of her funnier friends did, nor did he engage her in clever repartee that kept her on her toes verbally. He wasn’t the best-looking man she’d ever met, though his eyes could make her melt. He certainly wasn’t the sunniest natured.
So what was it about him that fascinated her so much? What made her think he was the one who could make her fall head over heels in love for the first—and maybe the last—time in her life?
Listening for his footsteps outside the door, she allowed herself to drift into daydreams.
Her recent restless nights caught up with her as she lay there, and she fell into a light nap. She didn’t hear Kyle’s arrival until after he had entered and closed the door behind him. Her eyelids flew open when she realized she was no longer alone.