Breathless Secrets by Elizabeth Lennox
Chapter 3
Molly paced across the small expanse of her apartment, shaking her fingers as if that might ease the tension that had taken hold of her.
She hadn’t slept well last night, too busy wondering what it would be like to be kissed by James Morgan. Would he be gentle and persuasive? Or was he a hard kisser? Demanding?
Whichever way he kissed her, she was pretty sure that she would like it.
Perhaps she should have asked him to kiss her last night. Had he done that on purpose? Had he known that holding back would drive her wild with wondering? She’d been so distracted all day today, even the kids had noticed.
So when the doorbell rang, she yanked it open, glaring up at James.
“I didn’t do it,” he announced as soon as he saw her mutinous expression. He even held his hands up, as if she were pointing a pistol at him.
Molly couldn’t help it. After all of the tension, the mental back and forth, and the fifty times she’d decided to call him up and cancel tonight, she couldn’t help it. She burst out laughing. How could he have such an effect on her? He just…she was tense and angry and he completely disarmed her with a single comment.
Stepping into the apartment, James carefully closed the door and took her into his arms. When his lips finally covered hers, she shivered, shocked at the soft texture of his lips against hers. It was a soft, gentle, coaxing kiss, that she felt shimmer all the way down to her toes. The kiss went on and on and Molly felt herself melting into him.
When he straightened, Molly blinked, suddenly realizing that she was in his arms, her fingers tangled in his hair, and every inch of her body was pressed against him.
“Oh!” she gasped, pulling away. Carefully, she smoothed her shirt down, wondering how it had gotten so twisted. The skin on her back felt hot, almost burned, and she realized that his hands had been on her bare skin.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” she whispered, putting a hand on the counter to help support her wobbly legs.
“I was. Ever since I left last night, I’ve been thinking about kissing you.” He stepped forward, but stopped suddenly, shoving his hands back into the pockets of his khaki slacks. “But perhaps we should get out of here…like, right now.”
Molly’s dark eyes widen. “What…?” then she realized that he was looking at her bedroom, his jaw clenching. “Right!” she whispered, pushing away from the counter and grabbing the two bags, one a cooler and the other a fabric bag in which she’d packed the nonperishable items.
“What’s this?” he asked, taking both of the bags from her.
“Dinner,” she announced after taking a deep breath. Even looking at his hands as they held the bags was turning her on!
“We’re eating…where?” he asked.
She grinned, pleased she’d managed to throw him off balance for a change. Lord knows that he’d done that often enough over the short span of time since she’d met him. Was it only two days ago?
“We’re having a picnic. You said I could choose my favorite place. So, I chose the airport.”
He’d already turned towards the doorway, but at her words, he froze and spun around, staring at her in surprise. “Your favorite place to eat, in all of the Washington, D.C. area, is the airport?” He looked stumped for a moment, then chuckled. “You’re teasing me, right?”
She grinned up at him, shaking her head. “Nope. There’s a place on the edge of the river at the end of one of National Airport’s runways. And the planes are landing today. It’s my favorite place to eat,” she told him.
He stared at her for a long moment, then shrugged. “Okay, lead the way.”
Fifteen minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot of a small park right off Route One. It wasn’t an easy place to get to because of the traffic patterns, nor was it a place that many people knew about. Probably because it didn’t look particularly inviting. There wasn’t a whole lot here to look at.
“Seriously?” he asked, peering around. “This is where you want to eat dinner?”
She laughed and pushed open the passenger door. “Yep. I promise. You’ll love this.”
She walked to the back of his Mercedes and waited until he popped the trunk. She started to reach for the bags, but he beat her to them. “Not while I’m around,” he grumbled.
She grinned, feeling special for some odd reason. She was perfectly capable of carrying the bags. They weren’t heavy, and even if they were, she was strong and could handle them. But she couldn’t deny that it was really nice to have James carry them for her.
“Where are we going?” he asked, looking around.
She pointed to her favorite spot. “It isn’t crowded today, so let’s get as close as possible. Over there is the best place,” she said, indicating the spot closest to a bunch of weeds.
“Is that the runway?” he asked, following her.
Her reply was drowned out by a plane coming in for a landing. James looked up, startled by the loud noise. The plane was flying so low, it seemed like one could reach up and touch the bottom of the plane!
His head swiveled, watching as the plane skidded onto the runway on the other side of the water. And Molly felt a sense of pride that she’d surprised him. She suspected that not many people managed to surprise James.
“Wow!” he muttered, still watching the plane.
Molly laid out the blanket. “Told ya.” She started pulling things out of the bags. Cheese, crackers, sliced meats, and then she set out the container filled with the cookies that Norma had baked especially for her. They were chocolate on the bottom and caramel on the top and they snapped when you bit into them.
“This looks fantastic,” he gushed as he settled down and stretched his long legs out in front of him. “What’s to drink?” he asked.
Molly grinned, pulling the small cooler closer. “I can’t afford the fancy wine that you’re used to, so I didn’t bother.” She held up two bottles of flavored seltzers. “Which would you prefer? I brought different flavors since I had no idea which you’d prefer.”
“I’m a berry person,” he announced, accepting the raspberry flavored seltzer. “This is really nice, Molly. Thank you!”
She beamed, warmed by his compliment. “Here,” she said, handing him the cheese knife. “There’s a cutting board in there too.”
For the next several hours, Molly and James sat on the blanket, nibbling on the cheese and crackers, talking about astronomy, of all things. He loved the space program, the shuttles and the international space station. She sat there, admiring him as he wowed her with his knowledge. Because it was an unusually clear night for August, he pointed to the various constellations that came into view once the sun went down.
In fact, she enjoyed the evening so much that she was smothering her yawns, wishing the night would never end. The sexual awareness was still there, still thrumming in the background. But it was muted at the moment.
“Why are you so tired?” he asked, keeping pace with her as they made their way back to her apartment.
She glanced up at him out of the corner of her eye, and then let her gaze drop back to the sidewalk in front of her. “I didn’t sleep well last night,” she admitted.
A sense of rightness filled him with her words. “Because I didn’t kiss you?”
She laughed softly. “That may have had something to do with it.”
They were at her door now and he set the bags down beside her. “I’m not making that mistake tonight,” he warned. “But I won’t go inside.”
“You won’t?”
“No,’ he replied, shaking his head. “That would be too dangerous.”
He watched as her tongue darted out, wetting her lips, making his body tighten.
“Yes. Probably dangerous.”
He stepped closer, resting his hands on her hips. “I’m going to kiss you now.”
“We should probably–”
He interrupted her with a kiss. For a long moment, their lips simply brushed together, back and forth, caressing and testing, teasing and tempting. But when Molly inhaled slightly, he deepened the kiss, feeling her fingers tentatively touch his shoulders. He didn’t want tentative. Not with Molly! He wanted all of her. He wanted to pull her against him, hold her tight, and never let go.
Kissing her now was more of a desperate, aching need than a temptation. When her mouth opened and he felt her trembling reaction, James fought to control himself. But her fingers caressing the back of his neck distracted him. Her touch was his undoing. Ravenous now, he pulled her more firmly against him, needing to touch and feel every inch of her and he silently cursed the clothing between them.
“Molly, are you okay?” a male voice called out.
The sound was like a douse of ice water. Startled, he looked up to find an older man glaring at him as if he wanted to shoot him. James debated the possibility of telling the man to go to hell, but Molly pushed against his chest and, before he could do anything, she pulled out of his arms.
“Hi Mick,” she greeted the man.
The guy didn’t look happy, even with Molly’s reassuring greeting.
“You okay, Molls?” he asked again.
Molly stepped further away from James and it took all of his control not to pull her back into his arms.
“I’m fine, Mick. Thanks for checking on me.” She smiled at the man who looked to be in his early sixties. His skin was a shade of dark chocolate, and his hair was black, with gray streaks gracing his temples and sideburns. His hands were gnarled, as if his arthritis was too painful for him to straighten his fingers.
“It’s pretty late,” he commented, staring pointedly at James.
“Yes,” Molly said. “You’re right. And we all work tomorrow.” She glanced up at James. He couldn’t see her expression clearly, but he saw the sparkle of humor in her eyes. “I’ll see you later, James. Thank you for a wonderful evening.”
James clenched his hands, wanting to finish that kiss. Hell, he wanted that kiss to go on forever! He didn’t want to leave!
Still, he knew when he was being dismissed. He might not like it, but he understood. Molly obviously respected this man and didn’t want to upset him. Or was she avoiding disappointment? The man seemed a bit like a father figure to Molly.
He wasn’t sure. Since he didn’t know who his father was, and his mother had been out of his life since he was very young, he’d never experienced parental disapproval before. It was a foreign concept.
“I’ll call you later,” he said, and just because he didn’t want to feel dictated to, he bent down and brushed his lips against Molly’s one more time.
She responded, but he pulled back before they fell back into the haze of lust. With a curt nod to Mick, James turned on his heel and walked back to his car. Forcing himself to drive away, James wondered how many dates it would take before he could take her back to his place where they would have more privacy. Molly’s apartment complex was startlingly lovely, but the courtyard, where all of the other residents could look out and see what was going on, felt a bit too public.
