“That was just to hold me over until later,” he murmured when he released her.
Her expression held just a hint of reproach. “You are a fresh one, Mr. Bingham.”
“Want me to stop?”
With a smile brilliant enough to make him blink, she murmured, “Don’t you dare.”
He was grinning when she turned to walk away, adding a seductive swish of her hips to her movements. He really liked this woman.
There were only two movie theaters in the immediate area—downtown Binghamton’s old-style movie house, the Bijou, which offered a selection of new and classic family films, and a more modern four-screen metroplex in an adjoining town. Geoff took Cecilia to the latter, since that was where the superhero film was playing.
There was a good-size crowd at the theater on this nice summer evening, and once again there were a few who obviously recognized both Cecilia and Geoff. Once again they exchanged nods of greeting without getting entangled in conversation. Cecilia couldn’t imagine what the gossips were making of her second public appearance with Geoff, but she wouldn’t worry about that for now.
They shared a buttered popcorn during the movie, their hands brushing with almost suspicious frequency as they reached for popcorn at the same time. Funny how Geoff always seemed to be hungry at the same time she was, she thought with a glance at his blandly innocent profile.
When the popcorn was gone, he abandoned subterfuge and simply took her hand in his, entwining their fingers in a loose, warm clasp. He sat closely enough that their knees brushed, and even through the fabric of his jeans and her chinos, she felt the impact of the contact.
It was a good thing the action-packed and plot-thin film required little thought or attention, Cecilia decided. Geoff had her so addled that she couldn’t even remember the names of the characters.
Even though they had both agreed their relationship was temporary and based on a specific purpose that had little to do with romance, he still seemed to enjoy these nice gestures. Flowers, dates, holding hands. A charming man, this Geoff Bingham—the family politician, she reminded herself.
Still, she couldn’t help but enjoy his attentions. What woman wouldn’t?
As the film came to an end—finally—Geoff lifted their hands to his lips, brushing a kiss across her knuckles. “My place or yours?” he murmured into her ear.
“Mine’s a bit closer,” she whispered back, as anxious as he seemed to be to be out of the public eye.
The credits rolled and the theater lights came up, and Geoff pulled Cecilia to her feet. “Let’s see how fast we can get there.”
It sounded like a good plan to her.
Chapter Seven
Because of the usual rush for the exits, it took Cecilia and Geoff a few minutes to get into the aisle. They had almost reached the back of the rapidly emptying theater when Cecilia noticed a very pregnant young woman still seated about halfway down one of the rows of high-backed seats. The woman was doubled over, apparently in pain, while an anxious-looking young man sat beside her, talking to her.
Cecilia had to stop. Stepping around one of the theater employees who had entered to pick up trash between screenings, she walked sideways down the aisle to get closer to the woman while Geoff waited curiously behind her.
“Is everything okay?” she asked the woman, who was moaning quietly in a way that had Cecilia’s midwifery instincts kicking into overtime.
The young man, whom she would guess to be about twenty-two, looked around quickly. “Katie—my girlfriend—isn’t feeling good. Maybe she shouldn’t have eaten so much candy during the movie.”
Cecilia bent down to check the pregnant woman—girl, she corrected herself when the extremely pale Katie looked up at her. This mother-to-be couldn’t be older than seventeen. “Where does it hurt?”
Katie’s brown eyes swam in tears. “Everywhere.”
“When is your due date?”
“Next month. The fifteenth.”
Three weeks away, Cecilia figured rapidly. “My name is Cecilia Mendoza, and I’m a nurse-midwife. Tell me about the pain. Is it steady or does it come in waves?”
Looking relieved to have an expert at hand, Katie whispered, “It hurts all the time, but it comes in waves, too. They start in my back and move around to the front. I…I don’t think it was the candy.”
“I don’t think so, either,” Cecilia murmured, watching as Katie stiffened against another sharp pain. “How long has this been going on?”
“About…about an hour. Maybe a little more, wasn’t it, Rusty?”
“I told her we could leave if she didn’t feel good, but she wanted to see the end of the movie,” Rusty said defensively. “She said it might be a long time before we’d get a chance to come to another movie because of the baby and all.”