“Sorry about that,” a chipper male voice said from down the hall. Too chipper.
It was Henry.
Seriously? What kind of timing was that? What, was he just waiting at the door for the important moment so he could ruin it for her? But why would he do that?
He smiled in apology as he neared them, a white bag in his hands. “I was just throwing this in the garbage chute. Don’t mind me.”
Only, it was kind of hard not to, as he walked past them and down to the end of the hall and into the small utility room, where he proceeded to make such a ruckus—stuffing whatever the heck was in that bag in the chute and then slamming the chute door so loudly she almost could feel the vibration—that they could only stand and wait for him to finish.
He appeared again, looking so darn casual in khakis and a white T-shirt so thin that she swore she could see his pecs outlined underneath.
“I’m Henry, by the way,” he said and stopped to hold out his hand.
Benny had to give Luke points for taking Henry’s hand without hesitation the way he did, knowing the guy had just been dealing with the trash. “Luke Seeley. You look familiar. Have we met before?”
Henry shot a sly look at her before meeting Luke’s gaze again. “Don’t think so. Well, sorry again for intruding. I’ll let you two get back to whatever you were doing…”
She narrowed her eyes at his retreating back. This was far too contrived for it to be an accident. At his door, Henry took one last glance at her and waved his hand in a salute before heading inside.
Leaving her and Luke alone again.
“Where were we?” Luke asked, a small smile playing on his lips. “Oh, that’s right. I was about to kiss you.”
He’d said it, and she could only wait for him, even if she was strung so tightly from waiting—and now wondering whether Henry could somehow be spying on them from his peephole—that she could have spun like a top.
But she didn’t have to wait as long this time, and Luke’s smooth soft lips were on hers, soft and yet firm. She closed her eyes, forcing herself to relax for the moment, to remember that she wasn’t half bad at this kissing thing after all.
This is nice.
His mouth parted and he deepened the kiss; the touch of his tongue darting into her mouth, however, didn’t give her the same heart-stopping feeling as another kiss. Rather, for a horrible moment, Benny remembered this same mouth chewing and swallowing piece after piece of raw fish—was that a hint of wasabi she could taste? Or the freshwater eel he’d gone on about?
Luke’s hands were now at her hips, bringing her fully against him.
Stop, Benny. This is what you want, and he is doing an incredible job of this kissing thing.
And he was. He was a pretty good kisser, and after another moment, she stopped thinking about raw fish and another set of lips that had left her breathless and focused on the pleasant feelings Luke’s kiss was arousing.
Maybe not as skin tingling, but right up there in the top three on her short list of kisses, for sure. Without the usual anxiety about her performance, she was finding that she rather enjoyed this kissing stuff.
Finally, he ended it, resting his forehead against hers. “I think we had better stop here.” She nodded and watched as he stepped back, a smile tugging on his mouth. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Dr. Sorensen.”
Benny slipped inside and shut the door, aware of the sound of the elevator a minute later as it took him down to the main floor.
The coast clear, she dropped her purse onto the counter and did a spontaneous dance, enjoying the heady feeling of success.
Not only had she had a wonderful evening with the future father of her kids and delivered a pretty great kiss once she threw out all the other nonsensical thoughts, but she had procured the even more important second date.
Ten seconds later, there was a knock on the door.
Had he forgotten something?
She bounded to the door and peeked out of the peephole.
Henry leaned against the doorjamb, a smug smile on his face.
She swung the door open, her hands on her hips, and stared at him, remembering the suspicious timing of his trash trip just moments before.
“So how did it go?” he drawled.