Chapter 9

The keys jingled as I unlocked the door.
“I don’t know why but I was expecting a huge place.” Marcus chuckled as we stepped inside. I shed my coat and tossed it onto the stand.
“It’s just me.” I sighed and kicked my heels off. “So it doesn’t make sense to have too large a place.”
“The interior’s impeccable, though.”
“I definitely made a big investment in it,” I agreed. “Make yourself at home. Do you like mint lemonade?”
“Sure.”
I went into the kitchen quickly without another word, really needing to be away from Marcus. My social battery felt like it would die out completely if I spent another second around him. It would’ve been nice to know he was such a talker. Not that it was a problem, honestly, but there was only so much I could handle after everything that had happened tonight.
My gaze dropped to the brown file on the island and I almost groaned. Emily’s profile. Snatching it off the marble surface, I pulled open the trash drawer and stuffed it in. Sliding it shut, I breathed deeply and shook it off my mind. I didn’t need that file anymore. If I did, I had a back-up copy at the office.
Spending time with Marcus seemed much more appealing now, and it would likely take my mind off of everything else going on, everything I had no desire to think about at present.
“You don’t watch movies much, I guess?” he called out.
“Not really,” I admitted, “I’m more of a reader. How’d you know?”
“Well, you don’t have Netflix. Wanna watch something?”
“Sure. I’ll get the popcorn.”
A few minutes later, we sat comfortably on the couch with mint lemonade and fresh popcorn.
“Any preference?”
“Honestly, you go ahead and choose,” I said and rose to my feet. “I’ll change into something comfortable in the meantime.”
He nodded and I left, feeling my heart pounding in my chest. I wasn’t sure if I was overreacting, but something was different in the air around him. Not in a bad way, but I could smell something coming. I didn’t want to expect it but, he did help me get home, and I did invite him in.
Ugh, I shook my head and locked the door to change into my pajamas. Nothing fancy, just a gray silk set with thin white stripes. They were my comfort pajamas, especially if I had a rough crying session coming on.
Did I have one coming on? It was better to be prepared.
I found myself back on the couch, sipping my lemonade as a horror movie played on the screen. It was only ten minutes into it and a dead little girl made an appearance. I giggled at the characters’ screaming that followed it.
“You don’t get scared?”
“What’s so scary about this?” I shot back in amusement.
“I mean, they’re clearly going to die.”
“Everyone dies, Marcus.” I rolled my eyes. “Plus, the movie isn’t even remotely relatable.”
“That’s…hmm.”
I waited for a moment, but he had nothing to say.
“I’m enjoying it, though,” I assured him. “The production’s great. It would be funnier if it was crappy CGI from the ’90s.”
“It made the stories better, though,” he pointed out, and I nodded excitedly as we forgot the movie and delved into conversation about anything and everything once again.
It had been an hour of us laughing and chattering away, and I hadn’t noticed how close we’d gotten to each other. I wasn’t really noticing anything because of how comfortable we were, and there hadn’t been any expectations of where this would go to begin with. When he lifted his hand to swipe away a piece of popcorn from the corner of my mouth, I couldn’t bring myself to stop him from leaning in to kiss me.
His lips gently pressed against mine, and I sat frozen, not really knowing what to do. He pulled away for just a moment before he kissed me again, his hand going to the back of my head. I parted my lips slightly to kiss him back, hand going to his knee. It felt…nice.
I’d long accepted not to expect the butterflies and volcano explosions that the books talked about when it came to love and affection. Nice was fine.
Nice was enough.
It’s the bare minimum, my conscience was surprisingly snarky, but I pushed it to the back of my head. I could deal with it another time. I hadn’t had a kiss in an exceptionally long time, and I wanted to enjoy it.
His lips moved against mine intensely, hands sliding around my thighs to pull me onto his lap. I complied without hesitation and straddled him.
“Oh,” I gasped, staring at him, feeling a flush creeping into my face.
“Too soon?”
“Could we…take it slow for now?” I suggested.
He smiled at me softly. “All right.”
I leaned in to kiss him again, letting his hand rub up and down my side, and the other slipped into my hair to tilt my head.
This is nice, I thought.


His phone rang abruptly, startling us.
“Ah, shit,” he muttered under his breath and reached for the phone on the side table. “It’s my alarm. I’m supposed to start getting ready for bed.”
“You have a curfew?” I smirked.
A defeated sigh left him. “And a surgery to perform first thing in the morning.”
“We can’t have that going wrong,” I said and moved to get off of him.
He grabbed my hand before I could stand and drew me down, hand around my waist. His lips pressed against mine and I sighed, kissing him back for just a moment. I pushed myself off in the next second and pulled him to stand.
“I’ve got work, too.” I reminded him. “Come on, off you go.”
He chuckled and picked up his stuff as I cleared the space. Walking him to the door, I wondered if this was enough for me. A nice guy who cared. In all honesty, he seemed more of a best friend than boyfriend material to me, but it wasn’t like we were making anything official.
Right?
How did this dating thing work again? God, it had been so long, it was as if I’d forgotten. Was I even ready to date?
I closed the door behind him and leaned my back against it with a huge sigh.
“What are you doing?” I whispered to myself.