“Pete, should I go?”
He looks at me with surprise.
“No! Why would you say that?”
I shoot him a look.
“It’s just that your hands have been shoved in your pockets since I got here, and you’ve been keeping your distance.”
A dark flush graces his cheekbones.
“My hands are in my pockets because I don’t trust myself. I want to take those pouty pink lips and crush them to mine. I want to tangle my hands in those corkscrew curls and see if you taste as good as you smell. The scent of you, when you’re standing so close to me drives me mad, so I step away.”
I’m overwhelmed with his desire but my own is crashing into it and I need to tell him.
“I don’t want you to exercise restraint. You smell like the forest after it rains, and dressed in black with those taut muscles you look like a panther ready to pounce.”
I stand up now, trembling a bit.
“You make me feel so desired and sexy, Peter, I’m not sure who I’m looking at in the mirror any more but I know I like her.”
He’s still for a moment, but then he becomes a blur. Peter crosses the room in two strides, and big, strong hands tangle in my curls and he pulls my mouth to his, taking me with the ferocity of a man taking his first drink of water after days in the desert. Heat rises in my core as I slide my hands up under his shirt to feel the corded muscles in his back. Hot kisses trail from my lips, down my jaw line, to my ear. Peter gently pulls my head back to expose my neck and places gentler kisses on my racing pulse.
“Hellooo, Pete? Yoo-hoo!”
We’re both ripped from our passion-induced haze by a voice from downstairs. Pete takes a deep, steadying breath and closes his eyes, leaning his forehead against mine.
“Dinner’s here,” he says in a raspy voice. Then he turns to the door and calls, “We’ll be right down, John. I’m giving Whitney a tour.”
He smiles at me.
“I need a minute before I go see one of my employees,” Pete tells me glancing down at the very prominent bulge in under his zipper.
“I’ll go introduce myself,” I offer and give him a chaste kiss on the cheek while unsuccessfully suppressing a giggle.
“Laugh it up,” he teases, “but I’m going to go look at this book about torture techniques of the Spanish Inquisition.
“I don’t even want to know why you have that title.”
He grins.
“I bought a lot of antique books at an auction. John’s a college kid who’s worked for me since he was sixteen; a friend of the family. Try not to bewitch him with your feminine wiles before I get down there.”
I find my way back to the stairs and Demeter finds me. The adorable little ball of fur accompanies me to the kitchen.
“Hi John, I’m Whitney,” I say to the man standing there. He’s tall and gangly, with a kind face.
“Hi Whitney, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Wow, who is all this food for? There are only two of us here.”
John shrugs cheerily.
“Pete said to bring one of everything on the menu because he didn’t know what you would like. Hot food is in these two insulated containers and shakes are in that cooler.”
I’m impressed.
“Thanks for coming out here with all this.”
Peter has emerged from the library and hands John a one hundred dollar bill.
“How’s delivery been today?”
“Good. It’s one of the warmer days we’ve had so far this season, so lots of shakes.”
“What’s with all the talk about milkshakes?” I ask a little confused.
John looks at me weird.
Pete shakes his head at John. “She doesn’t know.”
“Lady, you’ve never heard of Shake Place?” John demands.
I look back at him.
“Of course I have. I love their burger with barbecue sauce and onion straws and they have the most amazing seasoned fries.”
John opens one of the insulated bags and hands me fries and the barbecue burger, and then it dawns on me.
“You own The Shake Place? All of them?” I ask Peter accusingly.
“Pete, I gotta go, Brenda called out sick because of the pandemic, so Mick’s all alone at the bar.”
“Okay, thanks again John, and tell your dad to give me a call when this is all over and we’ll go sailing.”
John nods his head in agreement and Peter turns back to me.
“Eat your burger before it gets cold,” my obnoxiously rich date orders with a smile.
I’m speechless, but I really do love these burgers, so I just go with it. As I take a bite, the flavorful patty almost melts on my tongue. I chew silently while staring at my date with wonder again. Who is PeterC? And where do we go from here?
9
Whitney
We have so much leftover that Pete calls the front desk attendant to offer them the extras. He really is kind and generous. We take our wine back up to the library and this time, Pete sits beside me on the leather couch.