Chapter 2: Home field advantage: Initial Contact

Pulling my silver Audi into the parking lot, it was full. Being 7pm on a Saturday evening I wasn't surprised. Bradington Village, where I lived, was full of two income families who did a lot of eating out. The restaurant choices had doubled in the last two years with new ones being built faster than I could believe. But the town had grown just as fast so the restaurants were still full. The town was occupied, primarily, by professionals since it was only 20 minutes north of the city. The transient nature of 45% of the community meant new guys moving in regularly, much to my delight.

I knew I was going to have a great night when a car started backing out of a space almost in front of the doors, right in front of me. Flicking on my turn signal, I grinned at my good fortune. Then I sat, waiting patiently, while the older couple maneuvered their Cadillac out of the space cautiously. After they cleared the space I whipped into the parking space and began to get butterflies in my stomach. "What are you doing Bree?" I whispered to myself in response. "This is just a first date, just like any other." Why was I feeling these belly fluttering reactions in anticipation of meeting Cole?

Turning off my radio and then my car, I took a deep breath and exhaled. Then I took another deep breath and slowly deflated my lungs like a child's balloon until I felt the flutter leave me. My cell phone was now stuffed into my purse and I opened the door, swung both of my firm legs out of the car and stood up.

A light wind passed me and I inhaled the sweet smell of the spring evening, pulling it into my lungs. Soon I realized that I felt the breeze swirl up my short skirt. Feeling eyes on me, I looked back over my left shoulder in time to see a 30 something, handsome guy about ten feet away, gazing hungrily my way. I giggled to myself, wondering if the wind had obliged him with a peak at my bare ass cheek. His eyes meet up with mine as he kept walking to his car. In the light of the setting sun and the parking lot lights I saw that he was smiling seductively in my direction and nodded. I twisted at the waist further and raised my right hand, wiggling my fingers to wave and smiled. He broke into a toothy grin jerked his head to the side in a way that seemed like he was embarrassed at being caught peeking. I saw three guys about five feet behind this peeping tom and presumed they were his friends. I believed they had noticed me exchanging glances with their friend because I heard one of the guys whistle. One shouted, "Go for it Jim!" as they chuckled to themselves.

Normally I would signal an invitation to talk after such an exchange, since he was cute, but tonight I didn't care. I had someone waiting inside for me. Activating my car alarm with a high pitched chirp I turned my back to the young men and headed for the door. At least I hoped Cole was already here. I wanted to enter second. Perhaps I felt I was making an entrance or maybe it was because I didn't want to sit and wait nervously. If he wasn't here already I would just have to deal with waiting. I just hoped he wasn't late because I didn't want to get too nervous. Besides, when I was anxious I tended to down drink after drink and I didn't want to seem like a lush.

As I passed through the restaurants' foyer, a very thin teenage girl chimed, "Good evening." I smiled and replied in kind as I made my way past the hostess station through to the bar. The smoke was filling the air and the sound of a baseball game playing on the numerous TV's was competing with the people conversing in the area. As I approached the bar I believed I spied Cole. He was off to my right in a bar stool toward the middle of the bar. I noticed he had a beer in front of him and was engrossed in the TV while a hefty middle aged woman talked at him. She seemed desperate to get his attention as she leered at him. He must have sensed my eyes on him because he tore his tunnel vision from the game to me. I laughed a little thinking the game was a good excuse to ignore the clingy woman beside him, whether he was a baseball fan or not.

His eyes met mine and my heart leapt. I smiled and gulped trying to stuff my heart back down into my chest cavity. What the hell was going on with me tonight? Why was I so damned aflutter, like a school girl with a crush? I was behaving ridiculously and it was time for me to get a grip. Reaching my hand back, I flipped my hair from my shoulder and sashayed my way to his seat.

The middle aged woman seemed to have stopped her yammering in his ear and noticed his attention had shifted to me. I felt her glance at me from head to toe but I never acknowledged her glare that she used to size me up. He was here to meet me so I figured she would get the hint eventually and move on. As I neared Cole he stood up and I was surprised by his height. I think he was just under 6' and incredibly handsome. His photos didn't quite do him justice. His triangular chest was in a light-weight, red knit sweater and I could make out the lines of his firm chest. His khaki pants and brown casual shoes finished off his ensemble and I was pleased with just how dashing my date was. I finished surveying him to notice him seemingly doing the same to me. My cheeks flushed and I smiled even bigger and my thought was, "I feel like a damned Cheshire cat."

"It is nice to finally meet you Bree." Cole said in a deep rich voice that sent chills up my spine. He wasn't a bass mind you, more like a baritone, but his tone was so rich and soothing.

"It is nice to finally meet you too Cole." I replied in as sexy a voice I could muster. I am flustered now. I rarely have difficulties invoking my sexy voice but something about him truly unnerved me.

Noticing that he offered me his right hand, I slipped my hand into it. He grabbed it in such a gallant shake, not like when a man gripped another man's hand, but in a soft and chivalrous way a man holds a woman's. I felt his thumb caress the top of my hand as we stood, jittery, for a second. I considered hugging him since I felt like we had met before. I refrained from doing so because my nerves got the better of me.

"Shall we sit down?" he questioned as he motioned to the stool to the left of his. I noticed that the hefty woman had moved her stool closer to the man on her right side now. She got the hint quickly, good.

"I would love to, have you been waiting long?" I inquired. I hoped I hadn't been too late and glanced down at my watch. I settled up onto the stool, which was always slightly difficult for me because of my height. Normally I wouldn't care about such things. Why was I worrying so now? To my relief I seemed to glide up onto the stool with grace.

"No," Cole retorted, "Maybe five or ten minutes, traffic was lighter than I expected. You are right on time sweetie." Taken aback by him calling me sweetie I noticed that he didn't seem shocked that he used that term of endearment.

"Good, I was a bit worried my watch was wrong." I laughed a bit and looked up into his face. He had high, strong cheek bones and his face seemed perfectly chiseled. His skin was a caramel-tan with a fresh shaved look but he seemed as though he could grow a beard quickly. His nose was strong and distinct, large but not too large, but it was his eyes that drew me in. They were a rich chocolate brown with flecks of gold that sparkled in the light. His lashes were lush and long and as he smiled I noticed the dimples that flanked his cheeks. After appreciating his exquisite face, I flashed him a warm smile.

"You have the most amazing green eyes." Cole stated casually as he smiled deeper.

"Thanks." was all I could utter in response, my cheeks now hurting from my wide grin. I was unable to comment on how amazing I thought his eyes were and was tongue tied for the first time in my life.

The bartender broke the brief silence, "Can I get you a drink Ma'am?" I pulled my eyes from their lock with Cole's and ordered a Captain and coke with a twist, my beverage of choice these days. Cole ordered another bottled Labatts Blue. I noted our similar taste in beer and complimented him. We began to discuss our favorite brands of beer. As it turned out we had remarkably identical favorites with only a few exceptions. We then eased into a comfortable conversation sharing stories about our lives. We talked about college, and it was then, and only then, that I pondered the fact that he was eight years older than I. It was easy to move past since our conversations came so easily.

My first and second drink went down fast as I sipped while we conversed. The game continued on the TV, and to his credit he never glanced back up to watch it, not even to catch the score. We ordered some finger food, I was completely engrossed in every word he spoke. His mannerisms and gestures were smooth and fluid yet so sexy that I sat taking him in completely. He finished sharing a comical story about a friend of his and his girlfriend. It was so funny that I laughed, throwing my head back slightly in reaction. We had scooted closer together so we could hear one another better, since the bar was getting noisy. I noticed the place was filling up now, which was not surprising since it was a Saturday night. His laughter pleasantly danced in my ears and I watched his eyes twinkle.

My hands were on the bar. Clutching my drink in my left hand allowed my right hand to gesture freely while I shared my own stories. At the moment my right hand was sitting on the bar motionless for one of the few times during the evening. Before I realized it he had placed his hand over mine and grasped it. I lost all touch with the rest of my body as it seemed my blood rushed to the point of our contact. My focus shifted to our hands and the connection sent erupting sparks through skin and up my arm. I prayed that no goose bumps would sprout or I might die of sheer embarrassment.

He entwined his fingers with mine and held it as I turned to face him more openly. I felt completely giddy in reaction to his attentions and I knew in that instant that something was different for me with Cole. I got petrified. I had made it perfectly clear to Cole that I was not looking for a serious relationship. Now, here I sat and in a millisecond could see my future with him. What the hell was I thinking? What was going on? Was I having a crazy dream that I would wake from and laugh? I was thinking that if I fell for him he would get mad at me for lying to him. And that almost assured me that I was dreaming. Me? Thinking about falling in love? Right! I snuck a pinch to my hip with my free hand and jumped a little in response. Nope, I was most certainly awake. I sighed and pushed down my thoughts and fears. I also pushed down my budding feelings and decided to just go with the flow as best I could.

We continued talking about everything and anything as hours passed like minutes and minutes passed like seconds. We rotated from just sitting and talking face-to-face to touching a shoulder or a leg in the natural course of our conversation to holding a hand or two. In a break in our conversation, some laughter drew Cole's attention in another direction and I peeked at my watch, astonished by how fast time had passed.

"Do you need to be somewhere?" Cole asked with his brows slightly knit.

"No." I exclaimed quickly, embarrassed at being caught looking at my watch, "I just can't believe how fast the time has passed."

"Yes it has." he replied checking his own watch, "It is so easy to talk with you, I feel like I could talk with you until dawn."

"I feel the same way." I almost whispered looking down at my hands that were now on my lap. His hand was under my chin lifting my face until my eyes met his. Cole leaned into me and placed a soft and sensuous kiss onto my lips. He held his lips to mine for what seemed like forever as the rest of the world melted away from me. My body warmed from the passion in that small quick kiss and I kept my eyes closed for a bit after he backed away. Looking up and around the full bar I turned to Cole, "Would you like to get out of here and go back to my place? I don't live far from here. The smoke is getting to me and we can talk without shouting there."

"That sounds great." he replied as he downed his last swallow of beer. He pulled out a tip for the bartender and stepped off the bar stool. He helped me off my stool. I straightened my skirt and slipped my left hand into the hook of his arm.

He walked me to my car, "I am parked over there, I will follow you." he told me as he pointed to a red BMW parked under a lamp light.

"Sure, see you back at my place." I instructed.

He stood holding my door open for me. I felt him watching me swivel my legs into my foot-well. I reached for the door handle and smiled at him as he helped close it and walked off to his car. I took my time buckling my seat belt and starting my car as I watched in my rear view mirror for him to get into his car. I backed out, pulled forward and waited for his headlights to appear behind my car.

I pulled into my garage as he pulled up behind me in the concrete driveway. I climbed out of my car in time to see him stepping onto the driveway. He was looking up at my two-story home; I presumed surveying it with his architect's eye. In my opinion, it was a beautiful brick home, with a two car garage. The lot was professionally landscaped and highlighted with landscape lights. The spot lights pooled onto the façade of the home, making it quite impressive.

"You have a lovely home Bree." Cole complimented.

"Thanks, it's my dream home." I stated as he walked into the opened garage door.

"Well it is quite nice." was his response. He followed close behind me as we stepped up into my kitchen and I tapped the garage door opener to close it behind us. I flicked on the recessed lights in my large oak kitchen and adjoining family room. I put my purse and keys on the nearest counter and glanced at my answering machine to see I had a message. I chose to ignore it since it was too late to return any calls and I just wanted to be with Cole.

"Can I get you a something to drink? A beer perhaps?" I asked.

"I would love a glass of water, if you don't mind." he replied, "I don't want to get drunk and then drive home."

"Sure, no problem," I said pivoting to the kitchen for a glass, leaving him in my family room to make himself at home on my red leather, sectional sofa. "So is your apartment in town?" I asked as I fill the glass with ice.