Underneath It All. Lori Borrill
He’d wanted all his sons to keep going what he’d nourished, and though he’d been realistic enough to know not all the kids would want it, Devon doubted his father would expect him to be the one to opt out.
Devon had always been the easy one, the kid that went along and never made waves. And he supposed in order to please his parents he felt he owed them a shot at taking over the business. But now that he had, he’d confirmed this wasn’t the life for him, and though pleasing the folks was one thing, living for them was an entirely different matter.
“I don’t know,” he said. “How did your parents feel about your move to Atlanta?”
She shrugged. “I think they were as upset with the career change as the move. The show I produced back in San Francisco had a lot more exposure than Just Between Us. That and they’ve only got me and my brother, Nate. I think my parents had wanted a bigger family, but it didn’t turn out that way. With just the two of us kids, it’s been even harder for them that I moved away.”
He sensed an undercurrent of discomfort every time she spoke of her family, as if there was more going on where that was concerned. So he backed off the subject, preferring to leave his first dates on a high note—this one in particular, since he was hoping this would be the first of many.
Backing from the table, he motioned for the check then asked Nicole, “How would you like to go for a drive?”
The fire returned to her eyes. “Do you really own a 1959 Cadillac convertible?”
“Yes, and I happen to have it with me tonight.”
“This is Gabe,” Devon said after they left the restaurant and made their way to where he’d parked his old Caddy. He motioned to the car, a monstrous red Cadillac with white interior and a white canvas roof. “Gabe, meet Nicole.”
“You call your car Gabe?”
“Every old car needs a name. Gabe just seemed to fit.”
She chuckled. “Please don’t tell me you’re one of those people who names their home, too. That’s so pompous.”
“No, just the car…and a stuffed alligator named Crikey, but I don’t usually talk about that on first dates.”
He opened the passenger side door and she slid in, one long, silky leg after the other, and he had to remind himself he’d vowed to remain a gentleman tonight. Every moment he spent with Nicole furthered his feeling that she was the one, the woman he’d been waiting for to come along and turn his head. When it came to the right woman, Devon never had a specific list of attributes he was looking for, but always felt he’d know her when he found her.
And tonight confirmed that notion.
He wanted to see a lot more of this woman, which meant she wouldn’t be his one-night-stand. He’d made enough mistakes in his past to learn how to approach that one lover he wanted to keep, and now that he’d found her, he intended to learn from them.
His every move tonight would be honorable, right down to leaving the evening with nothing more than a goodnight kiss.
Even though it would probably kill him.
Slamming the door, he rounded Gabe and slipped into the driver’s seat, then turned the ignition and started them on their way.
Nicole looked behind them. “This thing’s a boat. How do you avoid hitting things?”
“I don’t,” he teased. “The beautiful thing about cars like these is you can run them into a train and step away without a scratch.”
She smiled. “I’ll take your word for that one.”
“Seriously, I don’t drive it often. It sucks up gas and you can’t park it anywhere. I only pull it out of the garage once a week to keep the juices flowing. It’s a real kick on a day when the temperature’s just right. I put the top down and take it for a spin.”
He pulled onto the street and drove her out of town, making his way toward one of his favorite vista points overlooking the city. He loved how readily they could talk, the easy comfort of her company and that west coast manner she had of speaking her mind without thought to propriety. It was refreshing, stepping away from the typical guessing games and double-speak he’d had to deal with on other dates.
She pointed to the red tomahawk hanging from his rear view mirror. “You can’t be a Braves fan.”
“Till the day I die.”
She sighed and shook her head. “And here I thought you had such promise.”
“Oh, come on. What’s wrong with the Braves?”
She quirked her brow and crinkled her nose in a way that made him want to kiss it. “How much time do you have?”
“So I suppose you wouldn’t be interested in going to a game with me one of these days.”
“And suffer through that stupid tomahawk chop and that incessant chanting? There’s not enough aspirin on the planet to get me through that.”
He deadpanned, “You’re a Giants fan.”
She smiled. “Till the day I die.”
“Do you think we can get past this?”
“No, I’m afraid I’m just going to have to use you then toss you aside with the other Major League misfits.”
Her wink said she was only kidding, but he still found himself picking up speed, interested in finding out more about how she might intend to use him.
She glanced into the backseat. “Speaking of which, there’s sure a lot of room in here. I’ll bet a couple could do all kinds of things in the backseat of this puppy.”
The comment nearly prompted him to pull over right there. He could think of a half dozen things he’d like to do with Nicole in the backseat of his Caddy, and her expression said she’d already considered several of them. If he’d intended to remain a gentleman tonight, this drive might have been a bad idea.
“Like?” he asked, not entirely sure he’d be able to handle her answer.
“Come on,” she teased. “A guy doesn’t have a car like this just for the bad gas mileage. These bench seats are roughly the size of a small bed. And you know,” she added, tugging at the belt at her waist, “they don’t make seat belts like they used to.” She flicked a brow. “I imagine these could hold a guy pretty firmly in place while a woman has her way with him.”
Was she talking bondage? The arid wasteland that had become his mouth said she was.
“I actually hadn’t considered that one,” he said, his voice hindered by a slight wheeze.
Unbuckling her seat belt, she slid over the long bench seat and placed an arm around his shoulder, resting her other hand on his thigh. Every muscle in his body twitched with electricity, and when he turned onto the access road to the vista point, he had to work hard to keep himself from barreling down the road.
“And here I thought you were a man with a vivid imagination,” she said, her lips close to his ear.
“You know, it’s dangerous to ride without a seat belt,” he said, his voice getting tighter by the minute.
“Then you should probably pull over pretty soon.”
Sliding her hand farther up his thigh, she stopped right before the junction of his legs and an erection quickly moved in to take up the space.
His hands sweaty and his neck tight with anticipation, he made the final turn and brought the car to a stop at the turnabout where a splattering of cars had parked to enjoy the view.
This spot offered a beautiful view of the valley and the night was exceptionally clear, but for all it mattered, they could have been parked behind a warehouse by the railroad tracks. The moment he turned off the ignition, Nicole snaked her hand up the nape of his neck and moved her body closer,