Holding Her Breath (Indigo) (9 page)

“I’m starving,” Whitney said after they’d been in the booth for hours. Five solid hours of talking. She had never done that with anyone before.

“You wanna get dinner?” Chace asked.

“Yes.” She hoped that hadn’t sounded too eager. She’d been worried he’d suggest they part ways for the evening. She wasn’t ready to let him go just yet. “I mean, um, what did you have in mind?”

“I was thinking Vito’s. I haven’t had that in a while.”

Whitney closed her eyes, salivating at the very thought of it. “Mm. So good. I haven’t had Vito’s since I got back here for Christmas. I always have it at least once before I go.” Vito’s was a family-owned Italian restaurant in town.

“Then I guess we better get to it.” Chace pulled himself out of the booth as he spoke.

They went out to Whitney’s car since it was already in the parking lot. Chace had walked over since his apartment complex wasn’t far away.

“You know, Rob is the only person I’ve ever met who doesn’t like Vito’s,” Whitney said as she pulled out of the parking lot. She sometimes brought Erika and Rob home with her when she came to visit.

“Oh yeah? Tell me more about this Rob. He seems like a cool guy. All I know is you guys met at a poetry slam?”

“Yeah. He’s so much fun. Not the reliable type, but he’s so loveable you can’t even get mad at him about it. At least he finally moved out of his parents’ house.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, he was living in their basement ever since he dropped out of G.W., trying to get his T-shirt business off the ground. The business is really taking off now. He finally decided to move out a few weeks ago.” Whitney laughed, thinking of her wild best friend. “He said it was either that or kill them, and his parents had kind of grown on him over the years so he didn’t want to have to do that.”

Chace laughed. “Probably for the best.”

“Yeah. Now he’s looking for a roommate,” Whitney said as they pulled up in front of Vito’s. The parking lot lights were on already, casting a glaring white light over the cars parked there. Even though the days were starting to slowly lengthen again, it was still night-dark out at six in the evening. She swung her car into one of the narrow parking spaces and killed the engine.

Chace turned toward her. “Why don’t I move in?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, there’s no reason for me to stick around here anyway and there’s gotta be more opportunities for me to get my work in front of the right people in D.C.”

“You’d pick up and move to D.C. just like that.”

He shrugged. “Why not?”

“I mean, you have an apartment here and don’t you have a job or something? How can you just move on a whim to a completely new place?”

“Life is all about taking chances and living in the moment. Besides, I don’t have family or roots or anything here.” Chace shrugged and gave her a teasing grin. “Some of us don’t plan out every detail of our lives five years in advance.”

“It’s good to have a plan in life,” she said.

“I was kidding. Really. Are we gonna go get this pizza so we can get back to my place and eat it or what? I’m starving.”

“Yep.” Whitney climbed out of the car. She was starving, too, but not just for pizza. Her face reddened as the thought crossed her mind. What was this ambitionless stranger who had an aversion to shoes doing to her? Numbing her mind. But maybe her mind needed to be numb for a while.

“So what do you think?”

“Huh?” Whitney asked, looking up. If he’d said something to her, she’d completely missed it while thinking about what he looked like under his sweater and distressed denim.

Chace grinned. “About me moving to D.C.”

“Um, well, if you’re serious—” She pulled her coat closer to her in attempt to block out the bitter cold of the late December night.

“And I am,” he said. It was amazing. Not even the bright lights in the parking lot could wash out his attractiveness.

She swallowed hard and forced herself to focus on their conversation. “I’ll ask Rob about it. Tomorrow.”

“Good.”

Whitney grinned. “Yeah.” It could be. She certainly wouldn’t mind seeing Chace around. And considering she was at Rob’s place all the time, she probably would. With both of her best friends living in the city, she enjoyed being there more than she did at her own lonely condo in the Virginia suburbs of D.C.

They took the pizza back to Chace’s and ate in his living room. She thought back to the picture she’d seen the night before, but she didn’t mention it. She had to remember that Chace was rebounding and she had to be careful. Besides, she had never had a serious relationship before. Why start thinking about something like that now? She had plenty of guy friends. Chace would just be another one of those.

They sat on the floor in front of his sofa with the pizza box between them and greasy paper plates on their laps. Earlier, Whitney had suggested wine without thinking. When she saw the grimace on Chace’s face, she realized that anything with alcohol was probably the last thing he wanted to see or taste. They had water instead.

“This has been the most relaxing day I’ve had in a long time,” Whitney said.

“I hope your mom won’t be mad I stole you away.” Chace shook his hair out of his eyes.

“Nah. We go shopping basically every day between Christmas and New Year’s. She’ll be fine missing one. Plus, she sounded exhausted on the phone earlier,” Whitney said, polishing off a slice of cheese pizza. They’d gotten half cheese and half mushroom. Neither of them were vegetarians, but neither ate much meat. One of the many things they’d found out they had in common.

“Good. ’Cause I really enjoyed spending the day with you,” Chace said.

She looked at him and smiled. He was dangerous with that handsome face. Square jaw. Long nose and a strong chin. And of course those eyes. She’d never seen eyes quite that shade of blue. Well, on a person anyway. His eyes reminded her of those of a Siberian Husky. He could have been the one in front of the camera easily, but he’d told her that he’d rather be the one behind it any day.

“What?” Chace asked, returning her stare.

“I’m just—thinking.”

“About what?”

She couldn’t tell him that. So instead, she said, “About how crazy the past not even twenty-four hours since I met you have been. How crazy it is that I even met you at all.”

“A good kind of crazy, I hope?” He raised his eyebrows.

“I think it can be.” She scrunched her lips and fidgeted with her paper plate. “Well, I think it probably is.”

He laughed softly. “Good.” Tracing circles on the carpet with his finger, he asked, “You have any plans for New Year’s?”

“I’m planning to go back to D.C. that day. To hang out with my friends for New Year’s. Why?”

“Could I tag along? Maybe be your date?”

Whitney had never had a date for New Year’s. She’d never really thought about it because she went out with her friends every year in a big group. But why not? Chace was coming to D.C. anyway. He wouldn’t know anyone.

They already had their tickets, but Rob knew the promoter for the club they were going to, and Whitney was sure getting Chace in wouldn’t be a problem. She couldn’t leave him alone on New Year’s. And if he would be with the group anyway, sure, he might as well be her date. She tried not to think of it in any terms different from that. Any interest he had in her was probably rebound interest. And she wasn’t looking for anything serious anyway. But there was no harm in making new friends. And if those friends were fun to look at, all the better.

She smiled. “Sure.”

“Great. Well, thanks.” Chace flashed those white, even teeth at her again. He had to know the power of that smile.

“For?”

“For turning the worst Christmas of my life around.”

She laughed. “You’re welcome.” No one deserved to get dumped on Christmas Eve. Surely not someone as sweet, funny, and gorgeous as Chace. What was wrong with this Kelly? Or was the better question what was wrong with Chace? She’d only known him barely a day, after all.

Chace put his plate on top of the pizza box and turned toward her. “I know you must think some crazy things about me after last night, but I want to make a good impression on you.”

“You have. That’s what you did all day today. I think we’ll be good friends,” Whitney said quickly before Chace could say something more damaging. She felt it coming. Could see it in the serious look in his eyes.

Chace grinned. “I look forward to it, too.” He moved the pizza box from between them after she set her plate on top of his. She turned toward him and with them both sitting cross-legged, he moved closer until their knees were touching. Her temperature rose through the roof and she was no longer capable of swallowing. For a moment, it seemed as if he were going to reach for her, and then he clasped his hands together and put them in his lap.

“So what do you do anyway? I never asked you that.” She realized that most of the talking they’d done had been about her.

“Well, to pay the bills, I’ve been doing a little of everything. Most recently, work on a cleaning crew that cleans offices at night in Richmond. But what keeps me going? Photography.”

“Yeah.” Whitney looked around the room, surprised she hadn’t made the connection before between the photos and the little comments he’d made throughout the day about taking pictures. The room was full of stunning photographs. Mostly landscapes and people she’d never met before. But Kelly was conspicuously absent.

There were also pictures of random things. Like hands. Feet. An overflowing garbage pail that somehow didn’t look disgusting. A close-up of a cluster of leaves.

“You’re good,” Whitney said.

“Eh. I can’t seem to really find the spark in anything. I haven’t had inspiration for any of it in ages. But I’ve had a few paying gigs. Mostly high school girls who want me to do their senior portraits.”

Whitney grinned. “Yeah. I bet they are girls.”

Chace laughed, his face reddening. “Yeah, whatever. My high school groupies.”

“Ah, dreamy, dreamy Chace.”

“Like you don’t have a line of admirers waiting for you every time you step out of your door. Just because you ignore them doesn’t mean they don’t drool.”

He reached over and brushed a lock of hair away from her face. “Well, there are the admirers.” He moved closer so that his lips were inches from her ear. “And then there are those who are admired.” His hands moved up her arms and stopped at her shoulders. “Guess which one you are.”

No. This was wrong. No distractions allowed. She was coming up for partner in a few months. Nothing was going to derail that. She cleared her throat and leaned away from him a little. “I should get going.”

He nodded. “I guess it’s getting kind of late.”

Chace walked her to her car and before she could slip inside, he surprised her by wrapping her up in a tight hug. Taken off guard, all she could do was hug back. She was almost certain he could feel her heart thundering through both of their jackets.

It was both weird and wonderful to her that she’d had kisses before that didn’t have intensity and intimacy equaling what she felt just wrapped in Chace’s arms. A lot of kisses. She wondered what it would be like to kiss Chace. That was when she knew she had to pull back from him even if she didn’t want to. She definitely didn’t want to.

The next morning, Whitney sat in her room with the door locked after sneaking away from her mother while she was on the phone with Aunt Brenda. It was driving her crazy not checking her email. And every time her mom caught her with her laptop or her BlackBerry, Whitney felt the guilt full-force. So she found it easier to sneak away throughout the day.

There’d been nothing important the day before, but that day Whitney opened her email to find a message from Kim with a copy to the leader of the practice group, Andersen. She rolled her eyes, opened it, and found an inter-office memo attached. Apparently they had a new case coming in, and Kim wanted a memo concerning the legal issues presented and the areas of law that were probably applicable by New Year’s Day. It was a big case and they had to move quickly. Yeah. Kim always said that.

Kim was handing off the preliminary memo to a couple of first-year associates and she just wanted Whitney to look over their work and report to her. Whitney deleted the email and buried her head in her hands. She wasn’t looking forward to dealing with Kim when she got back. Her supposed mentor was the bane of her existence. Unfortunately, Kim was going to be instrumental in deciding whether Whitney would make partner or not.

She sat back from her computer and decided to call Rob, since none of her other emails looked urgent. After grabbing her cell phone, she went over to her bed, buried herself in the mound of pillows there, and dialed Rob’s number.

Rob picked up on the first ring. “Yo, Whit. What up, what up?”

She laughed. “Hi, Rob.”

“Merry Christmas, I miss you, you didn’t call me for Christmas. Did you like my present? I loved yours. You know me too well. Did I cover everything?”

She’d had a Brandon Lee
The Crow
collage T-shirt made for him since
The Crow
was his favorite movie, and he had an obsession with graphic tees. Which probably explained his vocation.