Never Standing Still (The Never Duet #1)(25)
“Nancy, I need you to stay with Marcus for a little while.”
“All right, is he awake?” She looked around the house, her eyes looking at the kitchen table and the couch, then back at me with confusion.
“No, he’s asleep, but I’m going to be leaving in an hour or two.”
“So, you need me to go to sleep and be here when he wakes up, like normal?”
“Yes,” I said, pointing at her with an index finger. “That’s exactly what I need you to do.”
“Okay,” she said, crossing her arms. “What’s going on?”
“I met someone a few weeks ago, and he’s going to be in town in a few hours so I’m going to meet him.”
“He’s going to be here? You’re going to meet him?”
I rolled my eyes at her. “Yes, it’s a guy.”
“Who is it?” Her voice turned soft and curious, almost teasing.
“His name is Riot Bentley and he was the male lead in the video shoot I did for Lexi Black.”
“Oh,” she said, and I could almost see her brain working, trying to piece together all the information. When the last puzzle piece fell into place her eyes widened and fell back to me. “Oh….” Now she was definitely teasing me.
“I’m going to go try and sleep for a bit before I go.”
“Why are you meeting him at such a strange time?”
“He’s driving down from Victoria and didn’t want to wait.”
“Couldn’t wait until daylight to see you?” Her eyebrows raised, lips pursed, as if she was waiting for me to come to the same conclusion as her, waiting for me to catch up with her.
“Don’t,” I pleaded. “He was going to pass through Seattle on his way back home anyway.”
“All right….” She winked at me as she walked to her bedroom door. “If you don’t come home or text me by ten a.m. I will send the police to search for your body.”
“He’s not a serial killer.”
She just shrugged in response. Then she went into her bedroom but I heard her voice from the other side of her door. “Ten a.m., Kalli.”
“All right,” I replied, trying to keep my voice down, not wanting to wake Marcus.
Chapter Eight
It Could Be Wonderful
Three hours later I was sitting in my car, heater and headlights on, waiting for Riot to appear. I hadn’t given it much thought beforehand, but the viewpoint was closed after sundown, so the gates were locked. I was parked right outside them and I figured we’d find somewhere else to go once he arrived. I’d left my house and nearly turned around three different times. I couldn’t recall another time in my life I’d been so nervous.
Riot had said he couldn’t stop thinking about me, but I wasn’t sure what context we were meeting under. I wondered why he wanted to see me, wondered if he couldn’t imagine being with anyone else, wondered if he found it hard to concentrate on simple, everyday things for thoughts of me. But I also tried not to think of anything, because that made me nervous too.
Headlights appeared around the bend in the road and I watched as a car slowed, passed me, then turned around and pulled up right behind me. Suddenly, I was awash with all the reasons why this was a very stupid idea. The headlights turned off and I saw someone exit the vehicle. I saw the outline of a man walking toward my car and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I couldn’t see any fine details, but for some reason I was mesmerized by him.
When he came to my door, I watched as he bent down, and then Riot’s beautiful face was filling my field of vision and the corners of my mouth curled up into a shy smile. He motioned for me to roll down my window, and I quickly moved to do so, silently cursing myself for just sitting there like an idiot, staring at him.
“Hey, you made it,” I said once my window was down.
“Yeah, it wasn’t a bad drive at all.” He stood up a little straighter, looking around, then his eyes came back to me. “You wanna go for a walk?”
“The viewpoint is closed. I’m sorry, I didn’t even think about the fact that it might not be open. We can go someplace else if you’d like.”
“Do you always follow the rules?” His question caught me off guard; no one had ever asked me that before. Especially not with the implication that he wanted me to break them. He had no idea that just by meeting him there I had already broken almost every rule I’d made for myself.
“What are you suggesting?”
“I’m suggesting you get out of the car, walk with me through those gates, and live a little.” His smile was radiant, and it reached all the way to his eyes. It was impossible to say no to that smile. So I opened the door, unfolded myself from the car, and shut it behind me, my smile matching his.
“Hi,” I said, grinning widely, now standing right in front of him.
“Hey,” he replied, his eyes roaming over my face. “Thanks for agreeing to see me.” His hand reached out and I watched as it wrapped around mine, palm to palm. The same butterflies that invaded my stomach the first time he held my hand came out from their hiding places and fluttered through me, sending a blush all the way to my cheeks. I was thankful at that point for the darkness that hid my reaction to his hand wrapped around mine.