Blind Kiss(14)

Last month, after dating Kimber for only four days, I got the word Kimbird tattooed on my chest. Three days after that, she was sleeping with a guy from the basketball team and I didn’t even care. A month before, it was Chelsea, who had a pet rat named Amadeus that sat on her shoulder like a parrot. Before that it was Lena, who liked to be spanked—hard—every time we had sex. I loved women, especially the weird ones. But Penny was more unique and talented and beautiful than any girl I had ever met.

I looked at my watch. I had to be at the garage in fifty minutes.

Screw it; give me the damn tights.

“I can help, but I only have about twenty minutes before I have to bolt.”

“Oh, bummer,” Penny said. “I was hoping you could look at my car in the parking lot. It’s broken down and I actually do need a ride.”

Doug was confused.

“Did I say twenty minutes? I meant an hour and twenty minutes.” Who cares if I was late? Pete could deal with it. I hadn’t been to work late in over a week.

“Take off your boots,” Penny said as she stretched.

“Gladly. Anything else you’d like me to take off?”

God, I couldn’t stop looking at her underwear through her sheer tights, or were they pantyhose? Who cares.

She smirked. “Gavin, get serious. This isn’t a social experiment. If you drop me, I’ll kill you.”

“I won’t drop you.”

“Work on the superman lift first,” Doug said.

“God, that lift is hard,” she said under her breath. She was nervous. “Okay, stagger your legs like this.” She showed me and I mimicked her. “You need a solid center of gravity. I’ll jump and you’ll lift me over your head.”

“Like Dirty Dancing?”

“Kind of, yes. Just don’t drop me, Casanova. I’ll handle the rest.”

“I won’t, I promise.”

She placed my hands on her hips. “This is where you’ll be lifting me from, which means most of my body will be over your head and back. If you lift me too hard and fast, I’ll go flying and come crashing down, probably on my head. I could die or be paralyzed.”

“No pressure,” I said.

“How tall are you anyway?”

“Six-two.”

“Great.” She wasn’t smiling. “I don’t know why I’m agreeing to do this.”

The music came on but it was different. I recognized it immediately. It was a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Just Like a Woman,” sung by Jeff Buckley. How fitting.

“God, I love this song,” I said.

“I love him, too. You ready?”

“I can play this for you later if you want.”

“I’d like that,” she said.

“It’s such a perfect song for right now.”

“Why do you say that?” she asked.

“I’ll tell you someday.”

We were five inches apart. Our chests were heaving. And we liked the same music. How the hell was this happening?

“You ready to throw me in the air or what, Gavin?”

Right at the lyric, “She makes love just like a woman,” she ran toward me, I picked her up, and a moment later she was over my head. I could feel her strength in my hands. We were steady. I knew she made love just like a woman; I could feel it in my fingertips.

Doug clapped. “Beautiful. Hold it. Beautiful, just beautiful.”

It felt like she weighed nothing.

“Okay, Gavin, you’re going to cradle her now. Watch her knee.”

When I dropped her into my arms, she giggled, but I was frozen . . . mesmerized.

“What?” she said. “Why are you staring at me?”

“I don’t know.” I held her.

All of a sudden I didn’t want to fuck her anymore. I mean I did, but more than that, I wanted to get to know her.

When I set her down, she said, “Well done. You’re an old pro.”

“That was easy.”

Doug came onto the stage. “Don’t worry, that was it,” he told me. “We’re not going to ask you to dance. I wanted Penny to test something. How’d you feel?” he asked her.

“Strong,” she said.

“Good. Keep your head up. I’ll bring Joey in for extra conditioning. He needs to regain his confidence.”

Doug shook my hand and said, “Thanks a lot, Gavin. This whole thing is about trust. It seems like you two have it.”

She trusted me?

“Penny and Joey have struggled with their lifts lately. It’s not always easy to find the right partner. It requires a subtle alchemy. You know? A little bit of magic.”

I looked over at Penny, who was squinting at me with the same peculiar look I’m sure I was giving her. I didn’t take my eyes off her when I responded to Doug. “Well, she is my best friend, so yeah, the trust is there.”

Penny laughed and shook her head.

After she gathered her stuff and we headed to the door, she turned to me. “Sure you don’t mind taking a look at my car and giving me a ride? I live really close by.”

Giving me a ride?

“I’m sure I don’t mind. Let’s hit it.”

I was converting every word of our conversation into a sexual proposition. I needed to get a grip.