“Can I get my check, please?
Brett looked at him. “Add it to mine, I got it.”
I stood from the stool. “Well, thank you very much for dinner. And for the conversation. You seem like a nice guy and I appreciate the apology.”
He looked like he wanted to say something. Instead, he just smiled at me, and nodded.
“Well, again, thank you, and good luck to your sister-in-law. I hope…” I stumbled, pushing in the stool. “I hope her business is very successful.”
He just kept grinning.
“Good night, then.”
He rested his elbow on the bar and put his chin in his hand. “Good night.”
I said my good-byes to my friends and made my way out to the dimly lit gravel parking lot. The freshly fallen snow brightened the surrounding trees. When I reached my Toyota SUV, I dropped my chin to my chest, closed my eyes, and exhaled.
“Elizabeth?”
I jerked, startled. My hand flew to my chest. I turned to face him. “Oh, geez! You scared me.”
Brett approached me slowly, as if not to frighten me further. He spoke with a voice as soft as a lullaby. “Elizabeth. I know this is crazy. Please know that I don’t even know what’s happening, but you have captivated me. I know it sounds like a line, but it’s not.
I dropped my arms to my side.
“When you left the bar just now, I felt like a piece of me left. I know it’s crazy. You feel like something I need. I can’t explain it. If I had never seen you after my inexcusable behavior earlier today, I might have been ok. I would have chalked it up to a stupid incident on my part.” He stopped a few feet in front of me. “But I will never be ok now, after talking with you. Your voice. Your face. Your beautiful hair. You’re just really nice.”
He reached out and caught a wisp through his fingers, looking at it as if he’d never seen hair before. He curled the blonde strand around his fingers as he continued. “It’s like golden wheat, shining in the sun. It’s so soft.”
My mind raced. What was he saying? Was this real? Was he for real? No one talks like that.
And yet, a part of my heart responded. His words sounded genuine, and something in me wanted them to be. I was speechless. My lips parted, and he stepped a foot closer.
“I’m leaving tomorrow night and I know this is insane but I need to kiss you. To taste you. You may have ruined me forever, and I just can’t leave without knowing if this was real.”
My body moved without my permission. I leaned against him, resting my right cheek against his chest.
With his right hand, he removed my beanie and pulled me closer. He rested the palm of his other hand on my head, cradling me against him. He kissed my head and whispered. “What am I going to do?”
Against my better judgement, I lifted my head, stood on my tip-toes and kissed the side of his neck, just below his ear, whispering, “Kiss me.”
He lifted me a few inches off the ground and walked me backwards. My jacket inched up and the cold glass of my car door window touched my back. The solid muscle of him held me firmly in place as he placed one knee between my legs. I rested, confident in his ability to hold me. Soft, warm, full lips touched mine. Like a padded pillow. He pressed his lips, waiting. My lips tingled. He nuzzled, pulling my lower lip between his, and then returning to kiss me fully.
White stars danced behind my closed eyes. I opened my mouth. His tongue danced with mine. I moaned. Fire leapt through me. I pulled him tighter to me. I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t want to breathe. A desire like I had never felt consumed me. Wrecking me. We became a tangled mess of arms and lips.
“Elizabeth. Sweet, beautiful Elizabeth, let me come home with you.” He said against my lips, my cheek, my ear. He planted kisses on my nose, my forehead, my temple. “I need you.”
My eyes stayed closed. I allowed the words to flow over me, warm and rich. I needed him, too. Then the fog cleared in my brain. His words clinked against the logical part of me. I put my hands to his chest and gently pushed. As if handling a fragile doll, he slowly settled me to the ground and stepped back.
I held my hands up, palms facing him. Fearful of my desire for him, I said, “Please step back.”
He brows raised with worry. “Elizabeth?”
“I’m not… this isn’t who I am. I’m sorry.” I fumbled with the door handle and jerked my car door open. He handed me my beanie, and held onto the window frame as I stepped in to leave, preventing me from shutting the door.
“Elizabeth, don’t leave like this,” he begged.
I stared through the windshield. “Please let me go.”