Satellite of Love. Christa Maurice
his irritation? Since she didn’t have a lot invested in this relationship yet and it might be too hot for her to handle anyway, her need to know was more important than his delicate ego. “It didn’t look like nothing.”
“Trust me. It was nothing.” The light changed and he turned onto the main road.
“Really? Because I saw something and I’m still seeing something. Something really grumpy. I’ve never dated any of the seven dwarves before, so I might be wrong, but it really does look like Grumpy.”
He struggled to hold on to his stiff, annoyed expression for a few seconds before caving and grinning at her. “Grumpy?”
“Yes. So are you going to tell me what was going on or do I have to reference a few more kids’ movies?”
“My brother doesn’t think I should be seeing anyone local since I’m not going to be around long.”
Hands clutching steering wheel. No effort made to meet her eyes. Carefully chosen words. There was at least half a lie in there. Instinct demanded she run it down, but that could be another reason her first dates so rarely turned into second dates and those almost never turned into third dates. Michael was not nine and her natural suspicion needed to take a hike. “You’re going to need to go over a block. This street doesn’t have an exit onto the highway.”
Now he made an effort to meet her eyes. “You don’t care that I’m...not local?”
See, this was where she was growing as a person. That little hesitation should be driving her nuts, but it wasn’t. Or it was and she was ignoring it. Personal growth. “It’s a date not a courtship. Besides, I’m not sleeping with you.”
Michael turned onto a side street, but didn’t hit the gas. Instead, he let the car coast. A wise decision since he was staring at her. “You’re not?”
“No. Were you under the impression I would?”
The car drifted to the right, but he corrected it without looking. “I was still working on where we were going to eat lunch.”
“Anywhere’s fine with me. There isn’t a lot around the museum though and it’s going to take almost an hour to get there, so we should probably eat before we get out of town.” Maureen fixed her gaze out the windshield. He still stared at her with about the same expression he’d had when agreeing to go to the museum. He stopped the car at the end of the block without looking at the sign or the traffic. When he made no effort to pull out, she turned to him. “There’s a Subway about a block that way. If you’re in the mood for a burger, there’s a great local place called The Station, but it’s kinda out of the way.”
“I don’t mind out of the way.”
“Then go straight to the next stop sign and turn right. We have to go over the highway to the other side of town.”
* * * *
Bear squeezed Maureen’s hand and studied the artistically arranged bones. Definitely a dinosaur. He had to take them at their word that it came from China. That she’d wanted to go to a museum still warped his mind a little. A museum. He hadn’t been in one since he got out of school. More proof Maureen wasn’t your average, ordinary, everyday girl.
Then again, maybe she was and he’d just been steeped in wacko, weird girls for too long. To flat out announce she wasn’t having sex with him couldn’t be what regular girls did. He hadn’t even thought that far ahead.
That was a lie. He’d been thinking about it since the moment he’d glanced over his shoulder and seen her leaning against the Satellite, her dress accenting her trim little waist and the swell of her breasts. A lotta dreams last night had his greasy handprints all over that dress. And her creamy flesh.
Yeah, that would be the woman holding his hand in a natural history museum, wearing jeans and a turtleneck, who had announced on the way here she wasn’t having sex with him. He studied her profile as she read the plaque. No way he was getting any of that unless he played the fame card. Which might only get him a slap in the face. That would suck.
No matter what he did, this experiment was going to be a failure. Sure, he had a couple of days when he got to pretend to be a guy with a girl, but he wasn’t going to get the girl in any way. He got to enjoy the illusion without anything else.
“The kids’ll love this.” Maureen sighed. “They are going to go bonkers.”
Bear admired the glow to her face. She was already excited for the kids. Once upon a time, he’d had that glow about his shows. When he knew how excited the fans would be to see them and he’d been excited for them in advance. Someday, he hoped to get that back.
“So, do you want to see the rest of the exhibits?” Maureen asked. “There’s a really cool fish.”
“Well, if there’s a really cool fish.” Bear draped his arm around her shoulders. “Are you wearing perfume?”
“No.”
“What is that sweet scent?”
“Probably shampoo. What does it smell like?”
“Lemons.”
“That’s the body wash.” She guided him out of the special exhibit and past the planetarium.
“Lemon scented body wash?” Why was it perfect that Maureen would use lemon scented body wash? He brushed his nose across her velvet cheek. Yep, lemons.
“I have one or two indulgences.”
“Really?” Really? Beater car, cheap lunch, tiny house. What could she be indulging in? Better question. What did she consider an indulgence? And how difficult would it be to fulfill those indulgences? “Like what?”
“Why?” She stopped in the middle of a display of volcanoes and looked at him. Her eyes sparkled. “Do you plan on bribing me for some reason?”
Busted. “Maybe I’m just trying to learn what makes women tick.”
“I don’t know that I’m the best one to study for that.”
“Why?”
She quirked one corner of her lips. “Don’t you think I’m special?”
“Of course.”
“Then why are you using me to figure out what women in general are like?”
“Got me. Maybe I am trying to bribe you.”
“Now I have to wonder what for.”
He hooked his finger under her chin. “Life is better with mystery.”
“Is it?”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something glittering. “What’s in there?”
“That’s the gem room.”
“Let’s look.” He towed her into the gem room. Hundreds of stones sparkled under pinpoint spotlights. Several cases held semiprecious stones the size and shape of eggs. Bear leaned over a case full of different colored diamonds. This was more his element. “This is pretty cool.”
“They’re neat.” Maureen stood beside him with her head cocked.
“Which one would you want?”
“I’m not much of a jewelry person.”
“You’re not?” His eyes went out of focus for a second. A woman who didn’t like jewelry? When he could see straight again, he turned to her and realized that, other than a watch, she wasn’t wearing a single link, stone, or bead. “You don’t wear jewelry at all?”
“I used to, but when I was student teaching I leaned over a kid to help her with something and my necklace got caught in her hair. After that I stopped.”
“But nothing at all? I can’t imagine a woman who doesn’t love jewelry.”