Never Standing Still (The Never Duet #1)(37)
“I gathered that.” I giggled as he kissed me again. His arms came around my waist and he picked me up off my feet, bringing our faces level, kissing me again. When he put me back down he didn’t let go right away, but moved his face into the crook of my neck and just held me. “I’m glad to see you too,” I whispered into his shoulder.
When we finally managed to pull away from each other, he bent down to grab his bag and I led him to the back of the Rover, opening the trunk.
“So, I have some plans for us, if you’re cool with not staying in Seattle.” I gave him a hesitant smile, hoping he didn’t have his heart set on sticking around Washington.
“I couldn’t care less where we are, Kal. I just want to spend some time with you.”
I let out a sigh, still trying to acclimate to having him right in front of me. “Okay, well, my best friend decided to elope, so she’s out of town with her new husband. But his mom called and said there was something up at their house at the beach. Something about the alarm panel battery being low, so the company keeps calling her about it. But she has no idea how to change it, so Ella asked if we could go down to the beach house and fix it.” I gave him a hopeful smile, and pushed up on my tiptoes to give him my best eyelash bat. “We get to stay at their beach house for the weekend,” I added, hoping it would seal the deal.
“Kalli, really, I don’t care where we are. Sounds fun.”
“Okay, but it’s, like, a five hour drive.”
“Kalli, get in the car. We’re going,” he said with a laugh, which caused me to laugh.
I made it to the freeway and once we were on the straightaway he reached over, took my hand, and pulled it to his lap, lacing our fingers together.
“Are Marcus and Nancy meeting us there?”
“Um, no,” I said, trying not to sound nervous. “Actually, Nancy and Mr. Bob took Marcus to the water park for the weekend. So, it’ll be just us.”
“Ah ha,” he said, catching on.
“I’m sorry, is it too soon? I mean, people don’t usually go away together for a weekend on their third date. We can go back if you want, or I can go by myself. I totally understand if you want to back out.” I was rambling because I was nervous, and words were spilling out of my mouth so fast I couldn’t have stopped them if I tried. Riot’s hand reached up and cupped the back of my neck, gently massaging me there.
“I want to spend the weekend with you, and as much as I like Marcus, I’m actually really glad he won’t be there.”
“Yeah?” I asked, turning to look at him, trying to keep the blush on my face from overheating me.
“Yeah,” he said, leaning toward me to place a kiss on my temple.
And the butterflies were back.
He wanted to be alone with me.
Why did Riot Bentley make me feel like a nervous teenage girl? Why did he cause all the tingles and nerves I’d always associated with inexperienced women? I’d had my fair share of men—hot men at that. Actors and rock stars. I’d slept with some men who went on to be very big deals.
“Okay,” I said, trying to smile and not seem like the bumbling fool I felt like. “So, how was your flight?”
“It was good. I got a window seat and I was able to look over my new script for a bit,” he said, moving his hand back to mine, pulling it onto his lap again.
“You brought it? That’s exciting. Do you need help memorizing lines or anything?”
He chuckled. “Maybe. It’s not that big of a part, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“Hey,” I said, turning to him. “It’s still prime-time TV. Don’t sell yourself short. This is a big deal.”
And it was. Riot had landed the role of a new recruit rookie cop on a very popular network drama. He’d told me about the audition the day it happened and had felt confident that the casting director liked him and, sure enough, he’d gotten the role. It was just a three-episode deal, but the producer had mentioned something to him about it possibly extending. Riot had been humble, yet excited, when he’d told me about the job. And, for once in my life, I was excited for someone else, too. I was so proud of him. And, truly, I couldn’t wait to see his handsome face on my TV.
“I just don’t want to get ahead of myself. I want to do good work on this and then maybe they’ll give me more episodes.”
My eyebrows drew in and I frowned a little. “Would you move to LA if they gave you a contract?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve thought about that. I guess it might make sense to move down there if they were to write a part for me. I couldn’t afford to live in both places.”
“That makes sense.” I wasn’t sure why it bothered me to think of Riot moving farther south. He was already a plane ride away; it didn’t change anything really. But I couldn’t shake the feeling of slight panic that came over me when I thought of him being farther away than he already was. He already felt a little unattainable.
“You should come to San Francisco one of these days,” he said, smiling at me. “It’s a beautiful city. There’s tons to do. Marcus would have a blast.”
My heart lurched at the mention of Marcus. What kind of twenty-seven year old Hollywood actor dated a woman with a mentally disabled brother, and at every turn, was amazingly considerate and thoughtful? There were times, especially over the last eight weeks when all our communication was limited to the phone, where I had to remind myself that no one was perfect; that Riot wasn’t flawless. Eventually, he’d have to show me the part of him that would drive the wedge in between us. It was those thoughts that kept me up at night.