Playing with Fire (9 page)

He tilted his head. “Go where
exactly?”

“I don’t know. I guess getting
involved, being with someone.”

Trent reached out and placed his hand
over hers on the table. “How about we just don’t worry about
wherever ‘there’ is and just enjoy ‘here’. I’ll admit it’s far less
frightening that way.”

She slid her hand off the table and
placed it in her lap, but gave him a soft smile. “I like that idea.
Why do you think it’s frightening?”

Trent laughed. “I’m sure you’ve
already guessed, or else Delphine has said something, but this
whole spending-time-with-one-woman thing is new to me. For years
I’ve never invested more than a night or two in getting to know
someone. And even then it was a pretty superficial
level.”

She nodded, “Yeah, I gathered as much.
So, no long term relationships?”

Trent shook his head. “Nope. I guess I
was trying to sow my wild oats while I could.”

“Delphine told me that,
too.”

Had anyone else been talking about him
behind his back, Trent would have been mad. But he knew Delphine
had a good heart, and if anyone knew where he was coming from
besides his family, it was her. “She’s one of a kind. A little
rough around the edges, but great when you get to know
her.”

Noelle laughed. “That she is. When I
first checked-in, she was asking all kinds of questions to make
sure I wasn’t a drug dealer or prostitute!”

Trent shook his head. “That sounds
like her. She’s been running that hotel for nearly twenty years and
there’s no telling who’s come in and out of her doors.”

They ate in a comfortable silence for
several minutes. When Noelle was finished eating she used her
napkin to wipe her mouth and then laid it on the table. “That was
delicious.”

Trent finished chewing his food and
set his fork down. “Do you want any dessert? They make the best
fried ice cream.”

“Fried ice cream?”

Trent laughed and explained what it
really was. Noelle finally shook her head. “Though it sounds like
heaven on a spoon, I think I’m good. Thank you for tonight. This
was really nice.”

Trent handed the waitress
his credit
card
and turned back to Noelle. “What makes you think this is all
we’re doing?”

She shrugged. “Why? What else do you
have in mind?”

What he wanted to say and what he did
say were two totally different things. “I didn’t plan that far
ahead. All I really want to do is get to know you
better.”

“Excuse me?”

Trent held up his hands. “I don’t mean
it that way. I mean talk and get to know you. I just like talking
to you. I love that southern accent of yours.”

She blushed. “Well I like that accent
you got going on when you say certain things.”

Once the waitress returned and he
signed the receipt, Trent reached out his hand to Noelle. “Shall we
go?”

He saw the hesitation in her eyes as
she stared at his hand. Finally she took hold and nodded. “Lead the
way.”

They walked out of the restaurant and
he rushed to open the car door for her. Once he got behind the
steering wheel he put the car in reverse and headed back to La
Jolla.

He was tempted to drive around for
hours just so he didn’t have to take her back to the motel, but for
now having her by his side for any amount of time was good enough
for him.

Noelle sat in the passenger seat and
watched the city fly past. She felt like there were a million
butterflies congregating in her heart. Trent reached over and
gently put his hand in hers.

She looked up and smiled at him. He
was focused on the road, but when she tightened her grip on his
hand, he turned his head and smiled back.

He used his thumb to rub a small
circle on the back of her hand. It was a nice, safe feeling. She
was amazed how at ease he made her feel.

He pulled over at a scenic area
overlooking the ocean. The waning moon shined brightly in the dark
sky, with a billion stars scattered around it.

“I thought maybe we could sit here and
talk. Do you want to get out? I have a blanket in the
backseat.”

Noelle gave him a sarcastic grin.
“Well, of course, you have a blanket in the back seat.”

Trent laughed. “It’s not like that.
Come on Smarty pants.”

She patiently waited as he laid the
blanket out on the hood of his car. When she finally sat back,
using the windshield as a back rest, she let out a sigh.

“This reminds me of when I was younger
and my momma and I would stargaze. That’s Pegasus over there and
Aquarius is right below it.”

She pointed south at a cluster of
stars and used her finger to drawn imaginary lines between
them.

“Huh, guess there’s some things about
you that are going to surprise me too.”

She smiled. “I guess so.”

“What does your mom think about you
moving out to California?”

Noelle thought for a moment about what
her mother would say. “I think she’d be proud of me. She passed
away last year.”

Trent reached for her hand and gave it
a squeeze. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I’d do without my
mother.”

“It’s been hard. Lots of regrets about
stuff, but since her passing I’ve really started to see that you
only get this life once and you have to make the most of it. She
used to say that all the time.”

He nodded. “That sounds like sage
advice. Your mom must have been a great lady.”

Noelle smiled. “That she was. It was
just me and her for most of my life. I really miss her.”

She was surprised at how easy it was
for her to say those words to him. Any time she’d verbalized her
feelings with Lenny he had mocked her and told her to get over it
already.

Trent slid closer and put his arm
around her shoulder. She’d never had a man comfort her like this.
“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For listening.”

He pulled back a little and looked at
her. Even in the darkness, his chocolate brown eyes made her feel
like she was melting a little, sending warmth across her
skin.

“I’ll listen any time you want to talk
about her.”

Noelle could feel her throat tighten
as her eyes grew damp. After a moment she found her voice and
whispered again, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

He smiled at her, and she wanted more
than anything in that moment to lean in and let him kiss her. But
she stayed where she was, afraid of what opening that door would
bring.

They laid back and watched the sky
progress overhead as the minutes ticked away. Noelle snuggled
closer to him as a cool breeze floated across them.

“I have a sweatshirt in the trunk if
you’d like it.”

She shook her head. “No, this is
fine.”

His teeth gleamed white in the
moonlight when he smiled at her. “I’m enjoying myself. I hope you
are too.”

“I am. More so than I thought I
would.”

“Do I really seem like I’m that bad a
guy?”

She looked at him for a moment. “It
was never that you seemed like a bad guy, it was that you seemed
like you wanted to charm the pants off me.”

He laughed. “I will admit that was my
initial thought, but I promise you it turned into something more
very quickly.”

“Well, I figured you were either
really persistent or totally desperate.”

He laughed again. “I don’t know if
I’ve even been desperate, but you definitely make me want to work
to win you over. How am I doing so far?”

She squinted at him. “Hmmm, I’m not
sure I want to answer that just yet.”

Had she been standing at that moment,
the look he gave her would have had her knees buckling. Her breath
caught in her throat as the air around them seemed to grow thick
with anticipation.

“Will this help my case?”

He leaned in and pressed his lips
softly to hers. Slowly, he increased the pressure and she couldn’t
stop the moan that escaped her. The kiss was brief, but left her
lips feeling as if they would be permanently marked as
his.

After a moment, he drew back and
brought his hand up to cradle the side of her neck. He rested his
forehead on hers and let out a labored breath. “I’m sorry, I
shouldn’t have done that. I told myself I wasn’t going to rush
this.”

Noelle pulled away to look at him. She
rested her hand on his chest for balance and felt the rhythmic
cadence of his heartbeat. “Don’t be sorry. I’ve wanted you to do
that all night.”

He smiled. “Really?”

She bit her lip and nodded. “Honestly
I’ve had a few thoughts about it these last few days.”

He raised her hand off his chest and
to his lips, where he placed a kiss on the back of it. “I hope it
lived up to your expectations.”

Noelle tried not to smile, wanting to
make him squirm just a bit longer. She shrugged. “Eh, it was
alright.”

Trent froze for a moment and then
laughed. “I’ll show you alright!”

And for the next while he did just
that as he kissed her senseless under the stars.

CHAPTER
SEVEN

The next morning Noelle clocked in
almost an hour late. She forgot to set her alarm when she’d
returned from her date and overslept. But it was well worth
it.

She ducked her head as she opened the
office door and muttered an apology to Delphine.

To her surprise, Delphine
laughed in response. “It was
that
good of a date?”

Noelle couldn’t stop herself from
smiling. “Yeah, it was that good.”

Delphine whistled. “Well, look at you
Miss Thang. I told you he was your lover boy!”

Noelle batted the comment
away. “It wasn’t
that
great! It was just ‘stayed up all night and kissed into the
wee hours of the morning’ great.”

“I told you he wasn’t a bad
guy.”

Noelle walked back to the supply
closet and started preparing her housekeeping cart. “You were
right. But we aren’t talking about it.”

Delphine tucked a stack of fresh
towels onto the second rack and shook her head. “Honey, with a
smile like you got, you don’t need to say a word.”

Noelle rolled her eyes. “Really
Delphine, I don’t wanna get too far ahead of myself. The last thing
I need is to get all head over heels.”

“Ok, I’ll zip it.”

Noelle tilted her head and nodded.
“Thank you.”

Delphine held up her hand, “I’ll zip
it right after I ask when are you seeing him again?”

Noelle shook her head and pushed the
cart out the door. “I don’t know that yet. I just said goodbye to
him four hours ago.”

“Four hours! And all you did was kiss
the entire time?”

Noelle stopped and put her hands on
her hips. “Delphine please! We talked, too.”

Delphine arched her eyebrow. “I find
it hard to believe Trent Torres spent most of his night with a
pretty woman just talking.”

A sultry voice broke into their
conversation. “Well believe it.”

Noelle and Delphine both turned to see
Trent standing at the front desk.

Noelle tried to hide her blush and
hoped he hadn’t heard much. “What are you doing here? I thought you
had to get to work.”

He nodded. “I don’t start for another
twenty minutes so I figured I would stop by to thank you for last
night and see what you thought about going out
tomorrow.”

Delphine slapped the counter and said,
none-to-subtly, under her breath, “Holy shit. I think Hell is about
to freeze over.”

Trent ignored her. Noelle was
surprised when he walked over and gave her a gentle peck on the
lips. She knew she was probably beaming as bright as the sun at the
PDA, but didn’t care.

“I’d like that. What time are you
thinking of picking me up?”

Trent shrugged. “Does six work for
you? My best friend just got back from his honeymoon and I’d like
to introduce you to him and his wife.”

Delphine fell back in her chair.
“Trent Torres is having a woman meet his friends. Noelle, honey,
what the hell have you done to this kid?”

Noelle shrugged and tried not to
blush. She failed.

Trent answered for her. “Whatever it
is, I hope she keeps it up. And be nice Delphine. You knew this day
would come eventually.”

She smiled and nodded. “Yeah I guess.
I just assumed I’d be dead by then. But good for you. Now you two
get out of my office before you make me sick with those
doe-eyes.”

Noelle waited until they were out in
the parking lot before she asked, “What day is she talking
about?”

Trent put on his sunglasses and gave
her another kiss. He began to walk away and turned so he was
walking backward toward his car. “The day I found someone to tame
me.”