Last Call (12 page)

As we walked toward the exit, I grabbed a bottle of champagne that was sitting in a bucket of ice in the corner of the room. Spencer shook his head and chuckled, taking the bottle from me and taking a quick swig before handing it back. We left the club through a back entrance that came out closer to the parking lot. Spencer intertwined our fingers and we walked quietly to his little black sports car, hand in hand. After a few long pulls of bubbly from the bottle, my frantic nerves began to calm.

When we reached the passenger door, Spencer took the bottle from me again and stared into it. It was empty.

"Sorry I didn't leave you any," I admitted as I leaned against his sleek car.

"No drinking and driving allowed anyway. So, what about your parents? Won't they be looking for you?"

"Psh, they were well on their way to being drunk an hour ago, Spencer. I doubt they remember why they’re even
at
a party."

"So where to, party girl?" he teased. He swung the passenger door open and bowed to me playfully.

"To the manor, Jeeves!" I giggled as I slipped down into the soft leather seat.

Dashing around the front of the car, Spencer jumped in and cranked the engine. Music blared and he quickly turned it down. "Sorry," he mumbled.

When we reached the main road leading out of the club property, he slowed and turned to me. "Savannah, I can take you home if you want." His eyes looked me over and he rubbed the back of his neck with one hand while we sat there.

My voice was barely a whisper when I responded, "Do you
want
to take me home?"

Spencer was breathtakingly gorgeous, and his beautiful eyes closed for a moment while his face scrunched like he was in deep thought. I knew that he was debating what to do, and right when I was about to give him the out, he spoke. "No."

It was a quiet but firm 'No', and my lips pulled up into a smile when he opened his eyes and leveled them on me. He reached out and plucked my hand from my lap; intertwining our fingers. "You should smile more often - it's dazzling."

"So take me somewhere and make me smile, Spencer," I dared him. I knew there was a definite innuendo in my words, but I didn't bother to correct myself. The two glasses of champagne I’d drunk earlier at the party, along with the half a bottle we snuck out was going a long way towards loosening me up. Without a word he turned to the front and put his foot on the gas. The club and the disaster that was Daniel and Mary Anne became a dim reflection in the rear view mirror.

As he drove, Spencer's thumb rubbed along my hand; caressing it tenderly. I opened my fingers, holding my palm face up so he could continue to trace the outline of my hand. I kept my head facing forward, but my eyes kept dipping to watch his hand. He would run his fingers around and then stop, his hand hesitating and then starting again. After watching him do it a few times I realized that every time he stopped, his hand actually drifted a few inches away from my hand, almost like he wanted to place it on my thigh. Then, as if he thought better of it, he would return to my hand and the cycle would begin again.

After watching this pattern for the fourth time, I decided to take matters into my own hands. When he lifted his fingers away for a moment I removed my hand. Thinking and feeling all sorts of dirty girl thoughts, I stretched my arm across the seats. I was about to stroke the back of his head but chickened out at the last second; placing my hand on the back of his headrest instead. It worked though, because after a moment of hovering there his large, warm palm moved to my lower thigh.

It was then that the real magic began to happen. Spencer massaged my bare knee and thigh as he drove. I rested my head on the headrest and closed my eyes as his strong fingers kneaded my muscles into relaxation. His fingers slid up my thigh ever so slowly, working themselves under the short hem of my dress. My body sighed as I slid down deeper into the chair. Liquid heat was beginning to flow through my veins. When his hand began massaging my inner thigh, I thought I might actually die from his scorching touch.

It was dark in the car, with the only illumination coming from the glow of the blue dashboard lights. I wished I could see his face better; see what he was thinking. I couldn't, and then I decided that might be for the best. The lack of light brought courage, and after a moment I finally slipped my own hand into the hair at his nape and began to play with the soft strands.

His fingers dug into my thigh for a moment when I touched him, and then they began to creep up my leg some more. When his finger brushed the silky edge of my panties, my reflexes caused me to jump. A low chuckle rumbled through the car as he worked his finger up and down the elastic at my leg, tucking it under the seam as best as he could, considering the position I was in.

The car came to a stop and I pulled myself from the foggy daze that Spencer had drawn me into. I was surprised to find that we were parked at a small home. Spencer went to college out of state, so I just assumed that he lived at home when he came back for the summer. He turned the car off and I rolled my head on the headrest to look over at him. He stared at me; desire evident in his tightly drawn face.

His voice was low and raspy when he finally spoke. "The ball’s in your court, Savannah. I can take you home now…or I can take you inside."

I started to open my mouth, but he put his finger up to my lips to stop me.

"Wait," he interrupted. "I want to make sure there are no illusions about what will happen if we go inside. I want you Savannah, and I'm pretty sure you want me too. But this won't be about your damn ass of an ex. This will be about us and the mutual attraction we have for each other. Got it?"

I couldn't speak. Nodding my head yes, my hand was practically shaking as I clicked the seatbelt undone and sat forward. My hand had stilled on his neck when we’d stopped the car, and now I put pressure on it to pull him my way. The best way I knew how to let him know what I wanted was to ask for it.

"Kiss me," I asked boldly, and he
did
.

Our lips crashed together with the force of raging ocean waves against a cliffside. There was a hunger that I'd never known before in his kisses, and I tried to feed it the best I could. The rest was a blur. Somehow we made it into the small house and he pulled me to his bedroom.

We fell onto his bed, and I could see a dim light in the room peeking in from somewhere outside. It didn't occur to me to stop him, to tell him I was still a virgin. The fire he ignited in me would not be contained. All the care that I'd taken previously to hold out for marriage, to make my man wait, went swirling down the drain.

There were no words spoken between us. It was all lust and desire. He took his time kissing and touching parts of my body that had never been touched by another. He was careful as he slid between my legs, but when he finally pushed his body into mine, a sharp pain like none other ripped through me; causing me to gasp.

"Savannah," he whispered, his voice full of regret. "You've never…?"

I twisted my head to the side and closed my eyes as a single tear slid out.

"Why?" he questioned me, still fully embedded inside of me but unmoving. He leaned down over me and gently moved my head so he could look at me.

I was overcome with roiling feelings. Grief at what I had allowed to happen was at war with the pleasure that I felt. Anger at Daniel for pushing me to want to do this. Fear that Spencer would think I was a child bent on seducing him.

"I'm sorry," I croaked, pulling my hands over my face.

"Oh my God," he breathed gently, pulling out of me and cradling me in his arms as he lay beside me. "I'm sorry, honey. I should have known." He cursed at himself, which only made me cry harder. He pulled a sheet over us and we lay there not speaking while I cried.

As my crying began to calm down, he spoke again. "Damn it - I was so selfish, Savannah. It’s just that you looked so beautiful tonight, and you flirted with me so sweetly. I…"

"No," I hiccuped. Pushing off of him and clutching the sheet to my body, I tried to explain. "Don't apologize, Spencer. I knew what I was doing and it's my fault. I'm just a stupid girl."

"You're not stupid, Savannah. I've known you for years, and while most of those years you
were
just a girl, this past year you’ve grown into a beautiful, kind and caring woman."

"Oh stop," I muttered, shaking my head.

"It's the truth. I was drawn to you this past winter. Why else do you think I would have escorted you to your coming-out? When I saw you over the holidays at all the Christmas events, I was caught off guard at how you've grown. I could tell that you were miserable, and I wanted to do anything I could to make you happy. You know, I overheard my mom talking to yours on the phone - that's how I became your date."

"What? My mother said she asked
you.
"

"Nope," he grinned; smoothing tear-stained hair away from my cheek. "They didn't have to ask. I overheard the conversation and I waved down my mom's attention to make sure she knew I was volunteering for the task." I smiled a teary smile at the way he was acting out the moment. "Hell, I was practically playing charades with her, pointing at myself while dancing in place."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You were so sad, Savannah. I knew after that night that you weren't ready to think about another guy." He rubbed my upper arm softly as he added, "So I decided to bide my time."

I was taken aback at his revelations. "You did?"

"Yep," he boasted. "I don't typically make a habit of going to parties thrown by my parents’ friends. However this one was a must. I wanted to see you again."

"I'm so sorry, Spencer. I hate myself for this - for turning you on and then disappointing you. I swear I'm not a tease." Embarrassment swept through me as I spoke.

"Oh, Savannah, I know you're not. Obviously if you were, we wouldn't have stopped. I'm not mad at you, but I am sorry I hurt you. If I'd known you were a virgin I could have been more careful."

"If you'd known, I doubt this would have ever happened," I acknowledged; thinking he probably would have run for the hills if he’d known I was this inexperienced.

"Hey," he bit out almost angrily. "What makes you think that?"

"Let's not lie to each other, Spencer. You asked me if I knew what I was doing by flirting with you. If you'd known I'd never…done this, you wouldn't have wanted a part of it."

"Oh honey, you are so wrong," he admitted. "I already told you that I've been biding my time, Savannah. I wanted you too badly to say no. I didn’t bring you to my house because I just wanted a good time. I brought you here because I genuinely wanted to be with you. All that would’ve been different is how quickly I would have allowed things to progress. I would have preferred to wine and dine you first."

"You would?" I asked again incredulously. When he shook his head yes, I leaned forward and kissed his mouth softly. "Thank you."

He reached out and kissed me again before I could pull away, and then he spoke, "No,
thank you
."

"For what?"

"For trusting me with something so special. Will you stay the night?" My face must have shown some of my fear because he quickly added, "Not for sex. I would like to hold you through the night, and I'm afraid that if you leave now you might just hide away from me."

When I agreed to stay he showed me the bathroom where I could clean myself up, and then he gave me a large t-shirt to wear. When I was done freshening up I climbed in bed next to him and let him wrap his arms protectively around me.

"Spencer?" I whispered in the dark after a while.

"Yeah?"

"You don't have to bide your time anymore," I told him.

"What do you mean?"

"If you're still interested after all of this, I'd like to…um, well I guess we could start to see each other." I wanted to crawl into a hole even as I said it. There I was, already sleeping in his bed and wearing his shirt, and NOW I wanted to talk about dating?

"I'm more than interested, Savannah," he admitted, kissing the top of my head. After another moment he added with a chuckle, "Besides, I wasn't going to let you leave here until you agreed to go out with me anyway."

Tuesday - April 30, 2013

Date #4 - Brian

My Tuesday was a walking blur. I hadn't called Spencer yet, and every time my phone rang I leapt with fear that it was him. Working at the art gallery that morning helped pass time, but I couldn't help being on edge.

I kept Candace and Sara in the dark about Spencer calling me. Thankfully Sara wasn't there when I got home so that left me to only worry about deflecting Candace's curious glances, and she was easier to fool. She, however, was so excited about my date with Brian that night that she soon ignored my behavior.

Walking into The Garage, my nerves were heightened to a new level. Candace helped me get ready for the night, but still wouldn't let me in on who I was meeting for this "special" date. My new white eyelet dress helped me feel flirty and fresh. When I arrived, it was still early. The bar was littered with a few people sitting at tables with laptops or chatting, but was, for the most part, empty.