He took a deep breath and rolled his eyes at the name. “Celia’s…been around forever. Our parents belonged to the same club. She and I dated some, but we aren’t together. She’s no more than a friend to me.”
I narrowed my eyes. “A friend with benefits?”
His hand went to the back of his neck in that universal guy symbol of “oh man you got me.” “Um, she has been.”
There was no sound for a while but the metal-on-metal of the whisk in the pan, the hiss of the gas from the stove.
“Look, Andrea,” he said, stepping in again, “I’m pretty into you, if you can’t tell. But I’m 32 years old, I’ve had other girlfriends. That doesn’t change the fact that it is you that I’m interested in right now.”
My heart was hammering in my chest. I was 24 and I’d had other boyfriends. But not a lot, and not for long. And never anyone like Walker. I just nodded. “Okay,” I said.
I switched off the burner and fished the vanilla bean out of the pudding, wiping it clean as I pulled it out. Walker grabbed my hand before I could wipe it off and lifted it to his lips. He sucked the custard from my index finger, pulling hard with his tongue. I wasn’t sure how I was going to stay standing. It was like there was a direct connection from my finger to the tingle down below. If his mouth felt that good on my fingertip…
But I played it cool. “I see you like vanilla,” I said with a smile.
He held my eyes in his gaze as he lowered my hand, keeping hold of it. “I do. But that’s not all I like. I’m more concerned with the quality of the product than its flavor.”
Smooth.
“And how is the quality?” I asked.
“Delicious and creamy,” he replied, his eyebrows raising just enough to make me wonder if he meant the pudding or me or both.
“Get some bowls,” I said, my voice far huskier than it had ever been before when I’d said that phrase. I poured the rich custard into the bowls, asking, “Are you sure you don’t want to let it firm up in the fridge?”
“No,” he replied, his voice still down in his sexy-beast register. “I like it warm and…yielding.”
“Well, be careful you don’t burn your tongue,” I purred.
He paused and then smiled. “I don’t think I know what that actually means.”
“Me either, but I thought it sounded sexy. Let’s pretend I was only talking about the pudding, in which case just stir it a bit to cool it off.”
He laughed and I decided to laugh with him instead of being mortified by my innuendo-fail.
“You’re so real, Andrea. It’s refreshing.”
My sharp-tongued self wanted to say, “Have you been dating holograms or robots?” and my sexy self wanted to say, “Maybe you should find out how real,” (yeah, I don’t know what that means either, remember what I said about being a little awkward?) and my romantic self wanted to just swoon. Maybe an “Oh, Walker!”
I carried our bowls over to the table. It’s nice to have a task when you’re flustered…
“I can see I’m making you a little uncomfortable,” Walker said, sitting down. “Let’s back this up. So, do your friends call you Andi?”
I smiled. The fact that he knew to pull back a little…well, it made my butterflies even worse, but at least the panic subsided a little.
“Actually,” I said, stirring my pudding, “my mother pronounced my name on-DRAY-uh. She named me after the most boring character on Beverly Hills 90210, if you can believe it.”
“Why didn’t you correct me? And that’s hilarious.”
“Oh, I stopped correcting people when I was maybe ten or so. She just thought that name was so pretty and she’d never known anyone named Andrea, so she didn’t know there were two ways to say it. My friend Kiera calls me Dre. And then sometimes Doc because she’s hilarious.”
Walker laughed, “I like it. Doc.”
I shook my head, “Uh-uh, pal, that’s for Kiera only. Sucking on my finger doesn’t give you nickname rights.”
“On-DRAY-uh.”
“And you can’t get on my mom’s good side if she’s not even here. What about you? Is Walker a family name?”
“I wish I could say that it was. No, I’m named after George Bush. The father. H.W, not G.W.”
“Really? I’m pretty sure my mama spat anytime she had to say his name.”
He smiled, “I’ve only had two glasses of wine, so I’m not ready for a political discussion, but I’ll say I can think of Presidents I’d rather have been named for. Of course, he was only veep when I was born. My father’s family was from Maine. Old family friends. Of course, most people think I was named after the Chuck Norris character.”
“It does make you seem pretty badass.”
“I’ve always said I’m just glad I got the Walker and not the Herbert.”
“No kidding. And I guess I should be glad she didn’t watch daytime soaps. Who knows what name I’d have gotten. But my brother David is glad he didn’t get Brendon or Dylan like every other boy born in 1990.” At his blank look I added, “They were also characters on 90210.”
“Ah!” His spoon scraped the bottom of the bowl as he got the last bits of pudding out. “This was even better than I remembered. I want to lick the bowl.”
“It’s your mom’s house, go ahead.”
“Are you trying to be a bad influence? Here, I’ll take your bowl to the dishwasher. Let’s go sit in the living room, it’s more comfortable.”
The old townhouse had been opened up at some point to create an airier floorplan than was originally built. I walked back to the cozy living room that joined the kitchen space on one side. The furniture looked showroom-new, as if no one ever sat on it. I settled back onto down pillows and soft fabric. Nicer than my futon, for sure.
Walker came in carrying the wine bottle. “Looks like there’s one more glass in here for you,” he said.
What the hell, right?
He emptied the bottle into my glass and set the bottle down before settling beside me on the couch.
“Look,” he said, uh-oh, serious tone. “I don’t have time to drag this part out, as fun as it is. I like you. I’m attracted to you. I’d like to get to know you better and not just as a fantastic cook. If I’m not your type, just tell me and I’ll back off. Reluctantly, but I’ll back off. Well, I’ll probably try to convince you first, which would totally win
you over and then I wouldn’t have to back off…” He smiled and rubbed his chin as if in thought. “Well, I guess really, I just need to know if I need to block out some time to win you over or whether I can just kiss you now.”
Wow.
I took a swig from my glass. “I think I’m ready now,” I said, totally unsure if I really knew what it meant to be ready.
He gently took the glass from my hand and set it on the coffee table. No coaster. Rich boy. Putting his finger under my chin, he pulled me in and his lips met mine.
I’ve had a few first kisses. They’ve ranged from deeply awkward to pretty nice. But now I had something quite off the charts. His mouth was soft, but with an urgency. It wasn’t tender, it was insistent. It was the kiss version of that look he’d been giving me.
When my lips parted, his tongue found mine and claimed it. I couldn’t imagine the other guys I’d dated being able to kiss with such confidence. As I melted against him, he pulled me in closer still. My breasts were pressed against his chest, firm under that fine cotton. As I ran my hands over his back, I could feel the muscles outlined, feel the strength in his body.
He tasted of fine wine and homemade pudding, he smelled of spice and the outdoors. I didn’t give another thought to how little time I had for dating. I forgot all about Celia. I didn’t even think about how I still needed to finish packing for vacation. All my thoughts were of Walker, how it felt to be in his arms.
The hand on my back pulled my shirt out of the waistband of my skirt. I felt his hand on the bare skin of my back and sank more into his chest. My hand was in his hair, so thick and silky. With my other hand, I pulled his shirt up, too, let my hand search beneath the hem, find the hard muscles of his back.
I could hardly breathe. My heart was pounding. I’d never felt this desperate to have a man. To be thrown down on the sofa and taken. Without breaking away from the kiss, Walker pulled at the hem of my shirt, lifting it. I pulled away and lifted my arms to let it lift over my head.
Thank heaven I put on the pretty bra.