“A movie?”
It had been an impulsive offer, but now that he thought about it, it sounded like a pretty good plan. Sitting in a movie theater wouldn’t be too taxing for her, yet it would be much safer than spending too much time alone together at a motel. “Sure. Why not? It isn’t as if we have anything better to do.”
Actually, he could think of several more interesting ways to pass the time, but the movie definitely sounded like the wisest option. “I’m sure there’s a theater around here somewhere. I’ll ask the hostess on our way out.”
“Yeah, okay.” Molly seemed intrigued enough to smile again—which made him feel absurdly smug. “It’s a date.”
No, he almost refuted immediately, frowning again. It wasn’t a date. That word implied an end to the evening that wasn’t even a possibility. Seeing a movie together was just something to do to kill a couple of hours before going to bed—in their separate rooms, of course. It was definitely not a date.
He decided to let her statement go unanswered before he steered them onto a conversational path that was much too precarious.
Chapter Eight
It wasn’t a date, Molly reminded herself more than once during the evening. Even though it sort of felt like a date, sitting in a darkened theater next to Kyle, sharing a bucket of popcorn, their hands colliding occasionally, knees almost touching.
The movie they had selected was hardly a romantic “date flick.” Instead, they saw a noisy, frenetic action film, complete with bullets flying, bad guys and heroes, fast cars and faster women. Just her type of movie.
She had needed this diversion. For two hours, she was able to forget about her leg, her car, the big party that was coming up entirely too soon, the fact that her brother was exasperated with her and that Kyle was probably thoroughly sick of her. She didn’t think of the kiss they had shared more than two or three times during that two-hour interlude—which was much less frequently than she had replayed it during the rest of the day.
Unfortunately, it all returned to her when the lights came back up at the end of the film and Kyle extended a hand to help her out of her seat.
His palm was rough against hers. His skin so very warm. She felt the strength in his arm when he boosted her upward, and she realized that he was much more
muscular than his slenderness indicated. She had seen the exercise equipment in his home. He must put it to good use.
It was a new experience for her to be so primally aware of a man’s strength. Of the way his hand felt at the small of her back. To be so focused on the sound of his breathing, and the scent of his soap and shaving cream.
She’d had a few crushes in her teens, a couple of boyfriends in college, but she had never spent as much time reliving every touch or obsessing over a single kiss as she had today. She couldn’t remember ever aching quite this deeply for more.
Kyle parked the loaner car in the motel lot, then helped her to her room, even though she assured him she was okay on her own. Once again, their rooms had a connecting door, so he entered with her to ask if she needed anything else before they turned in.
She gave him a weary-feeling smile. “I’m okay. But thank you for taking such good care of me.”
Pushing his hands into his jeans pockets, he shrugged. “It was my negligence that caused you to be hurt.”
“Stop saying that,” she ordered, tossing her crutches aside. “A board broke. I fell. You’ve more than made up for it by everything you’ve had to endure since.”
“It hasn’t been that bad. A couple of days in a car. Even the breakdown today was hardly a disaster. Waiting around most of the afternoon was sort of boring, but the steak I had for dinner was good. And that’s the first movie I’ve seen in a theater in longer than I can remember. It was a nice evening.”
He was trying to make her feel better, she realized, touched by his effort. He must have sensed her guilt that he had been so inconvenienced on her behalf. Maybe he’d picked up on her mounting tension all day, though she devoutly hoped he didn’t suspect that it was her strong attraction to him that was causing her to be so nervous.
“I had a nice time, too,” she told him quietly.
He stood there looking at her for a moment, and then he cleared his throat and nodded curtly. “Okay. Let me know if you need anything during the night.”
He had said that the evening before, too. And, as had happened the last time, her mind immediately filled with fantasies about summoning him during the night. She was quite sure he hadn’t meant anything along those lines when he’d made the perfunctory offer, but the images alone were enough to leave her flushed and restless.
“Well…” he said, taking a step toward his room. Impulsiveness had always been a part of her personal ity. Sometimes the trait had been a help to her, other times a hindrance, but she had long since accepted that there were times she simply didn’t choose to fight her instincts.
It had been her impulsiveness that had started her out on this quest to bring Kyle back to the ranch. It was a similar urge that made her blurt out, “You still haven’t told me why you kissed me last night.”
He shot her a warning look. “I thought you agreed to forget about that.”
“I can’t. I’ve been thinking about it all day.” “Well, don’t.”
He looked away, but not before she had seen the truth in his eyes. She wasn’t the only one who had been thinking about that kiss.
It took only one step to put her between him and the door. She made it somewhat awkwardly because of the brace, but she managed to block his way just as he was preparing to bolt. “Kyle.”