Page 40 of Road Trip
She kicked me under the table.
“Ow! What else should I call them? They didn’t play sports. They hung out at the gym and stuff, but yeah, they were pretty guys.”
“Pretty, huh? So were you dressed for these calendars? And where can I get one?”
She was looking at me like she could see me naked before her. She looked kind of excited about that.
“I was dressed. Well, in my underwear at least.”
She set her glass down hard. “That is so fucking hot, Kelly. I can only imagine. I’ve seen you in your underwear. It’s almost as hot as you naked.”
Oh, man. Now I was blushing hard. “Anyway, a couple of times there were other guys who hinted that they wanted to go out or something and I just said ‘no, thanks.’ Some of the other guys weren’t as respectful, of course. But I was never turned on by them. Girls, though. Yeah.”
“What kind of girls? Did you have girlfriends?”
“Yeah, I had one in high school for a couple of years. Nothing major.”
“Only one? Girls weren’t following you around? I find that hard to believe.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t have time for all that. I dated some in college, too, but nothing serious. I was just so driven to finish school and I was busy with sports and the ranch when I wasn’t in class. Then once I started working, the only women I was around were other officers or people I met out on calls. Not the best way to start a lasting relationship with someone. The one time I gave it a try, well, let’s just say the job was not attractive to her.”
“Always so serious,” she murmured, looking a little sad. For me? She ran her hand up my arm. “You were just waiting for someone to come along and save you, is that it?”
“Maybe you’re right. Come here,” I said, pulling her closer. I needed to kiss her. So much. I needed to get her under me.
“Will you be needing anything else, sir?” The server was frowning at our display, which was getting a little heated.
I glanced around and noticed more families had been seated near us and I blushed. Crap. I didn’t want to be the cause of any problems.
“I’m sorry. No, just the check, please.”
He nodded and sped off.
“This has probably been his worst day ever. I bet we’ve caused some of these parents to have ‘the talk’ with their kids a little early. I probably shouldn’t have grabbed your crotch,” she said.
“You are bad,” I whispered as I signed the bill.
I took her hand and was leading her out as she said, “And you love it.”
I stopped her and took her face in my hands. “I do love it.”
She smiled up at me and winked. I let her lead me up the stairs because face it, the view was so much better that way. We got upstairs and walked across the bridge just in time to get stopped by a parade. We watched for a bit until most of it had passed.
“So those kids in there were a trip,” she said, sneaking a look at me out of the corner of her eye. This could become a loaded conversation.
“A trip. Yeah. Mom had her hands full with a husband who didn’t do his part.”
“Yeah, when I have kids, they will tow the line or there will be hell to pay. I’m not about to mess around with that nonsense.” She bit her lip and looked at me with wide eyes. “Or I can keep my mouth shut about that.”
“Kids, huh?” I asked her. I was hit all of a sudden with that dread. Kids and a wife? With my job? Again I questioned whether or not I could keep going as a cop. How much more would I give up of myself to help others? How much more did I have to sacrifice for a job?
“Yeah,” she said and then frowned. “But I obviously haven’t been in a hurry. It will happen or it won’t.” She looked away and pulled a stray hair out of her eye. She looked sad, and I hated that I may have had anything to do with that. She continually brought out this need in me to make her happy. What did that mean?
“So what else do you want to do tonight, doll?”
“Why do you call me doll?” Her question stopped me. How did I explain this?
“When I first saw you, you looked kinda like a rag doll. I don’t know why, just seeing you in that parking lot with your stockings and boots and that dress…but after we spent time together, you just became this beautiful, precious, perfect doll. I know I’m a dork.”
“Rag doll? Like Raggedy Ann?” She was laughing. “You are a dork, but you’re a cute dork. I guess if I called you farm boy, you can call me doll. It’s kinda classic, like 1950s-ish.” She rolled her head around on her neck.
“You ready to call it a day?” I asked, thinking maybe we could use some downtime. It had been a fun day that had gotten pretty heavy.
“No way, I want to ride that!” She turned around and pointed at the tallest building in the park.
“Really? You want to ride The Tower? After we just ate. While it’s getting dark…man…”
