Physical Touch (24 page)

He was dressed casually in a charcoal gray
Helly Hansen sailing jacket and jeans and appeared comfortable in the silence that stretched out between them. He blew on the hot liquid in his cup and then took another sip of his coffee.

Finally, when she couldn’t stand the silence any longer, she spoke. A little more curtly than she had meant.

“You came here looking for me. So what do you want to talk about?”

He raised his brows and grinned. She gnawed on her lip, scanning his facial expression which indicated a piqued interest. 

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I hoped you could suggest who I should play in my fantasy football league this week? Or maybe what exercises I should be doing for my knee, since my therapist didn’t leave me with my daily instructions before she left Miami? Or perhaps we could talk about why I can’t get you off my mind and I’ve lost all semblance of concentration?” He set down his cup and leaned in toward her. “We can start with whichever question you’d like.”

Rylie made an audible gulp, her rattled nerves vaulting through her body.

She decided to go with the easiest question. Something she had confidence to explain. “If I were you, I’d play Marshawn Lynch from the Seahawks this week. They’re playing strong and are assured a win and he’s a running back on fire. And if you need a QB in your line-up, Drew Brees is a sure pick for TD points.”

He nodded, his lips upturned in a small smile. She loved his smile. She loved his lips. Shit, she loved what his mouth could do to her.
Gah
.

She grabbed a napkin and borrowed a pen from the guy sitting at the table next to them. Making a few notes on the makeshift writing tablet, she slid the napkin across the table to Mitch, watching his confused expression. 

“Sounds like your therapist is an ass and left you with no instructions for your continued therapy. So here are three exercises you can do this week at home to keep strengthening your knee.” 

He smiled as he read through them, laughing when he came to the fourth.

“You said there were three, but I see there’s a fourth listed here.”

“Yep,” she nodded affirmatively.

“I don’t think the fourth is going to help my knee very much.”

“Probably not...but it will help me say what I need to say.”

She sighed deeply, placing her elbows on the table and her head in her hands. After a second, she looked back up at Mitch, who was watching her intently. She’d never been very good at apologies. Wasn’t a very often occurrence in a household of men, who would typically just grumble a “sorry” or “my bad” when they fucked up.

So here she was, sitting across from a man she knew intimately well, who was looking to make amends, and she was the one who had to “man up” and take ownership for her mistakes. She owed him that. She needed to gain his forgiveness.

“The fourth is my advice for how to deal with me. You need to have patience and be willing to run after me and accept my apologies...because I am an idiot,” she dipped her head again, feeling regret and guilt. Mitch’s hand came out and under her chin, lifting it gently to meet his eyes.

“Ry…don’t do that. Don’t ever hang your head in shame. Whatever you were feeling or whatever drove you away is not your fault. If anything, it was probably me. I pushed you too far and too fast. What can I say, I’m a Type A personality?” he shrugged and then placed his hands on the table, opening them up for her to take hold of him. She tentatively reached forward, laying them down on his. He squeezed them gently; reassuringly.  

His voice was soft and sympathetic. “Will you tell me what happened? What did I do to make you run off that way?”

“Mitch, it’s not you…” she laughed at how cheesy and cliché her words sounded. “It’s me. It’s my history. It’s the circumstances. It’s just that I’m not equipped to handle this kind of stuff.”

“Stuff?”

“Yeah, you know. Relationship stuff…or whatever label you want to use to describe our little fling. I got caught up in it and it was off-the-radar intense. As they say, if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. So that’s what I did.”

He nodded thoughtfully at her explanation.

“And then, well, I don’t know. I wasn’t sure what you’d want from me after that, or if you would be coming back to Boston to your girlfriend.”

He shook his head vehemently in denial.

“Ry, I do not have a girlfriend. I’m not seeing anyone. And if I was, I would have been open and told you about it. And I certainly wouldn’t have slept with you if I did. That’s not the kind of man I am.”

Her thoughts raced back to the text she saw on his phone that last day in Miami.  If he didn’t have a girlfriend, who was Elle to him? And why would he lie to her right now if he was being so open about his relationship status? She swallowed her questions, partly because she was too scared to ask for the entire truth and partly because she didn’t really want to know. Call it passive-aggressive denial. That was exactly who she was.  

Mitch scooted his chair closer to her, so their shoulders were touching. He grabbed her hand with both of his, bringing it to his lips, brushing them across her knuckle before kissing it fully. Tingles shot up her arm, sensations flooding through her body, echoing a tune of their time spent together.

“Rylie, can I ask you something?” he asked, dropping her hand in her lap. 

She smiled hesitantly. “Sure.”

“Go out with me…on a date. Since
technically
our time in Miami was strictly business and professionally motivated.”

Rylie snorted.

“Well, the majority of our trip was business and the rest was all my pleasure,” he replied with a devilish grin. “But you weren’t there as my date. So, I’d like to take you out this week on an official date. We go wherever you want. Do whatever you want to do. My only ask is that you set aside any and all preconceived notions about me and just have fun. You up for that?”

Fun. She could hear Sasha giving her the first degree about how she should go out and have more fun. Live a little! Fine – okay. Why the hell not?

Rylie nodded her head in agreement, downing the final gulp of her nearly cold coffee, as well as her anxiety. 

“Okay. But just so you know…I don’t put out on a first date,” she snickered.  “Maybe first base, if you play nice.”

The rain had moved from a light drizzle to a downpour since she’d gone into the coffee shop earlier, and they were soaked as soon as they walked outside together. Mitch took her hand as she jumped across a puddle, as they made their way across the street. At the corner, he took off his jacket and held it above their heads, sheltering them from the downpour. He leaned in and placed a kiss on her forehead.

“Don’t worry, I can play nice. You’ll see…”

After trying to coordinate schedules and come to agreement on which night of the week would work the best for their first date, they agreed on Wednesday night. Rylie had thrown out the typical Friday or Saturday evening, but Mitch admitted he was too eager to see her again and couldn’t wait that long. 

Taking time out for lunch, Rylie and Sasha had just ordered their soup and salads at the sub shop across from the clinic and sat down at a table. Pulling out a few napkins, Sasha gave a handful to Rylie. 

“Where did you decide to go tonight?” Sasha asked, wiping the crumbs left from the previous table’s occupant and pushing them on to the floor. Rylie gave her a look of disgust. “What? If they don’t have time to come over and clean off our table, I have no qualms about messing up their floor.” She wiped her hands in a show of defiance.

Rylie rolled her eyes at her beautiful and vocal friend. They were so opposite in so many ways, but somehow clicked as friends. She’d always secretly hoped that Sasha and Dylan would end up dating and falling in love, even though the thought of Dylan’s sex life made her stomach turn. That’s not something she ever wanted to know about. Hearing about Sasha’s anonymous exploits was sometimes even more than she could handle. But it would have been a nice thought if she’d have become her sister.

“Mitch is taking me on a brewery tour and to dinner.”

“A man who knows a way to your heart – food and beer. Very nice. And how about afterward?” she smirked, winking at Rylie as she took a bite of her salad.

Rylie held up her hands. “Who knows? Maybe a walk around the harbor, or visiting the elderly in the nursing home or baking some bread…”

Sasha kicked her under the table. “You know what I mean, bitch,” she laughed.  “I’m asking if you’re going to have hot and dirty sex…because one of us has to get some this week. I’m in a drought.”

“Living vicariously through me and my sex life. Now that’s a first,” Rylie joked, pushing her plate to the side and taking a drink of her iced tea. “I actually told Mitch that I wanted to take it slow.”

Sasha’s mouth dropped open. “Sweet Baby Jesus – why in the world would you want to do that? That man is sex on two legs! And you’ve already tested the goods, so what’s the point in waiting?”

“Has your mouth always been this filthy? Good grief. And yes, I know we’ve already gone down that road,” she lowered her voice a little, turning in both directions to make sure the tables next to her weren’t interested in their conversation. “I just want to make sure it’s not just all about the physical attraction. I know we already have the chemistry – I just want to see if we have a connection elsewhere.”

“Sounds boring as hell, but whatever.” Sasha flung her hand in the air in annoyance.

“Mitch’s a really smart man, Sash. And he’s investing in and constructing some pretty amazing state-of-the-art eco-friendly buildings. He’s a visionary and a very progressive thinker. I like that about him.”

Sasha moved her hand in a flapping motion, the universal sign for ‘blah, blah, blah.’ 

“Yeah, snore. If things were that hot in Miami, do you really believe you’ll be able to contain it now that you’re back home? Puleeez. You’re kidding yourself, Ry.  Why not just admit it and let it happen? Although, I do admire your sincerity in the matter.” 

They walked outside the restaurant and entered the busy street, full of afternoon traffic and pedestrians, bundling up against the cold rain. Deep down, Rylie knew there was truth in what Sasha was saying. She probably was kidding herself to expect she’d be able to control herself around Mitch tonight and not want to tear off his clothes and see his beautiful, naked body. He’d give her one of his charming smiles and she’d melt into a puddle at his feet. Good Lord, she was a pathetic mess. 

They headed back into the clinic to finish up the remainder of the day’s clients.  Picking up her charts as she entered the office door, Sasha turned back to Rylie. 

“I realize you’re all smitten and stuff right now, but don’t forget you’ve already promised to be my date at this charity event on Saturday night. So don’t go making any plans with
Loverboy, because I’ve got dibs.”

“Oh, that’s right, it’s this weekend. It did actually skip my mind so thanks for the reminder. Do we need to go shopping or do I just get to raid your closet?”

“I have the perfect dress for you! Do you remember my client Stefanie Trieger?  She’s a designer and works for Zac Posen. She had some samples from last season and gave me three of them. They are absolutely fab – and we are going to look so freaking hot!”

If the dress was anything like the little number Sasha sent down with her to Miami, she had no doubt it would be killer. Truth be told, Rylie was actually excited about the possibility of dressing up again. She had felt so sexy when she wore the
silver sequined dress the night of the party. Or it might have had something to do with the way Mitch looked at her that night.  

Rylie hugged her friend, who was taken by surprise and nearly fell over. “We’ll have a girl’s day. How about I make appointments at that spa you go to and we can get our hair and nails done, too?”

“Whoa – what happened to the real Rylie?” she asked, feigning surprise and looking her up and down and behind her, as she stood in front of her with an amused look. “Did aliens land and take over your brain? This is a first.”

Sasha grabbed hold of Rylie’s arms and started spinning her around in glee.

“Good grief, get over yourself. Maybe your girly-girl ways are finally rubbing off on me a little, but don’t get too excited. I’m still watching football with the guys tomorrow night.”

Sasha laughed and twirled around once more. “My wish has finally come true!  I actually have a ‘girl’ friend now!
Woohoo!”

****

By the time five-thirty rolled around and Rylie was finishing up her daily paperwork, the butterflies and nerves began to jumble in her stomach. She couldn’t wait to go out with Mitch, but now she was getting cold feet. She hadn’t thought about it like that while in Miami, only because she thought it was just a fling. But now that it had taken a different turn, the vibe was weightier. 

She went directly home, showered and changed into her favorite pair of jeans and was deciding on what top to wear when her door buzzer sounded off from downstairs.  Crap, he wasn’t supposed to be there until seven and a glance at the
clock showed it was six thirty. She hastily threw a sweatshirt over her head and ran out to the living room, where she pressed the Talk button.

“Hello?”

“Yes, this is Carlson Floral. We have a delivery for Ms. Rylie Hemmons.”

What? A delivery? She wasn’t expecting that. Checking out her front window, she saw the distinct red and white Carlson Floral van parked out on the street in front of her building. Thank God it was a delivery and not a very early Mitch. She rushed back over and buzzed him in.

Feeling like a caged animal, she paced back and forth in front of her door, waiting for the guy to make his way to the third floor. The knock on her door had her swinging it open in excitement to find the man holding the biggest, most ginormous bouquet she had ever seen. Not even at Aunt Cynthia’s funeral had she seen anything quite this breathtaking. She took a step toward him and wondered how in the world she’d even get it through the door. 

“Please sign here,” the man said, shoving a clipboard and pen in her hand. She dutifully scribbled her initials and handed it back, exchanging it for the flowers in his hands. “Thanks, Miss. Have a nice day.”

Rushing them over to the table, she set them down and found the card. Her breathing had accelerated and her pulse raced, and with shaking hands she looked down to see what she assumed was Mitch’s handwriting.

Looking forward to beer and your beauty tonight.

Oh Wow
. She was a goner. 

Rylie was not, nor had ever been, a gooey hearts and flowers kind of girl. There was never any need to be. She was no nonsense and practical. Romance was nothing she’d ever needed nor wanted. But holy hell…this was unreal. The bouquet took up nearly all the space on her small kitchen nook table. She didn’t know much about floral arrangements, but this had to have cost a small fortune. And the smell…the aroma was downright intoxicating. 

Just then her phone vibrated and a text appeared from Mitch. 

I can’t wait to see you.

Double Wow
. 

She wondered if he had already been outside waiting and saw the delivery van pull up. She stalked back over to the window to covertly look around, but didn’t see his yellow Tesla. 

Knowing she only had another thirty minutes to get ready, she went back into her bedroom and put on a tank and a navy cropped sweater, and pulled on her favorite black riding boots. She brushed her hair and left it down and loose, remembering Mitch liked it that way. She brushed her teeth, applied a light berry tint to her lips, a few strokes of mascara to her lashes and she was ready. 

Seven o’clock on the nose, Rylie’s door buzzed. She was conflicted as to whether she should let Mitch up to her apartment or just meet him downstairs. She chose the latter, grabbing her coat and keys and barreled down the three flights of stairs to the front door of her building. 

Mitch had his back to the door and turned around as she stepped over the threshold. Her breath caught when he smiled, greeting her with his lust-worthy dimple. 

“Hello gorgeous,” he purred in his sexy baritone. “And may I say you look stunning.” Mitch reached out his hand to grab hold of Rylie’s, but she abruptly pulled back and stopped
him. His head swiveled back around. 

Stepping in front of him so her eyes were level with his, she placed her hands on his face, getting a zing of exhilaration from the texture of his five o’clock scruff against her hands.

“I have to properly thank you for the flowers.”

He quirked his eyebrows, but couldn’t get out his next thought as her lips came up to meet his in what started out as a tender kiss, but grew immediately hot with pent up desire. Mitch groaned against her mouth, as she let her tongue roam and stake her claim.  His hands wrapped around her, soon slithering up her back under her unbuttoned coat. The feel of his cool hands across her warm back had her shivering with desire. Maybe she should have had him come up to her apartment first. Then again, she wasn’t so sure she could have kept things on track if they’d been anywhere else. 

Quickly realizing that they were out in the open in front of her building, Rylie pulled herself away, dazed and breathless – shocked by her own wanton behavior. 

Mitch stepped back a few paces and shook his head. “That is not how I normally begin first dates. But damn, if that’s the beginning, I can’t wait
til the end.”

Rylie blushed, shoving some loose strands behind her ears. 

“I don’t normally start them off that way, either, but things with you aren’t exactly typical.”

He chuckled, placing his warm arm around Rylie’s shoulders and walking her to the car. “So how has your week been so far?”

She settled into the car seat and waited to respond until he was buckled in. “It was good. Long. Torturous.”

“You’re not kidding. I had back-to-back meetings and contract negotiations every day this week so far. I swear
Jax was about to clock me because I was so unfocused.” He turned to give her a quick look. “All I could do was fantasize about you.”

“I’m glad I wasn’t the only one,” she said, sighing deeply. If only he knew the truth. She had turned into a wanton and horny woman. She’d fantasized about Mitch in every position she knew existed, and even got pretty creative with others. She’d catch herself during the middle of a therapy session, staring off into space, picturing Mitch running his hands up and down her spine. Covering her body with hot, sultry kisses, her mouth taking shape, just as someone would give her a questionable look and ask her if everything was okay, because she looked a little flushed. 

Mitch interrupted her this time. “I know you want to take this slow, like a true first date – but I’m just warning you in advance that if you kiss me like that again, the way you just did, all bets are off.”

His admission only had her wanting him even more and rethinking her need to pace things with Mitch. She’d already had dessert
– and it was sinfully delicious - so why go through the hassle of starving herself? 

“Well, I know you enjoy challenges. Am I right?”

“Of course – it’s what I do for a living – I like to take risks and I like a good challenge. But I’m not a fan of denying myself pleasure,” he added.

She stifled a laugh. “Or getting what you want, when you want.”

“That, too. So where are you going with this?”

“I was thinking we could use the old baseball scoring analogy
- each time you see me this week, you get to move to a new base. You know, first, second, third...home.”

He gave her a sly grin. “
Mmm-hmm. Could be fun.”

“But if you try stealing any bases, well, you lose.”

Mitch scratched his head. “Exactly how would I lose? Seems like a win-win either way,” he chuckled, placing a hand on her knee. She slapped at his hand.