Maleficent sprang to his feet, alerted to my surprise. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Spreading his hands in front of him as if feeling for me, he took a step in my direction. “Where’d you go?”
“I’m right here.” Kneeling, I felt the grass around me until, aha, my fingers wrapped around a shoe. “I think I found one of your high heels.” And yes! The second shoe was right beside it. “Both of them!”
“You did?” Sounding excited, Maleficent hurried forward. “That’s great.”
Since I was still kneeling, I tugged on his skirt, so he could feel where I was and wouldn’t trample me. But then an idea struck. Since I was already down here, I lifted the hem of his dress and reached for his ankle.
“Whoa!” He lurched backward, obviously not expecting me.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” I rushed out the apology, my face flooding with heat as I popped upright in mortification. I hadn’t realized how forward I was being until he jumped.
Horrified by what I’d done, I tried to explain. “I was just trying to be cutesie and funny. You know, the mighty Power Ranger coming to the rescue and slipping the distressed damsel’s shoe back on for you.”
“Oh.” He cleared his throat, sounding vaguely embarrassed. “Sorry, I didn’t realize that was you. My first thought was snake, which… Isn’t likely, now that I think of it, since it’s too cold for snakes tonight.”
I laughed. “No. It was just me being totally inappropriate. I’m sorry.” I held one of the shoes out toward him. “Next time, I promise I’ll buy you a drink first before getting so fresh.”
He chuckled and took one of the shoes. But he didn’t retrieve the second when I extended it next. He stared at me through the dark so long, I asked, “Everything okay?”
He shook his head and murmured, “Yeah. It’s just your mention of buying me a drink…” Then his voice faded before he said, “So you and Carmichael? You punched him in the shoulder for something he said, and all he did in return was laugh before he went off to hit on the bartender. Am I correct in guessing it’s a platonic relationship between you two? Nothing romantic?”
My mouth fell open and shock consumed me. I hadn’t meant to open this can of worms when I’d said I’d buy him a drink. But now that I had… Holy wow. My skin buzzed with excitement, thrilled to learn he seemed interested in me as well. And not just interested. He’d freaking noticed me in the ballroom, like, noticed me enough to watch me and tell me things I’d done in there. And he must’ve liked what he’d seen since he was currently fishing to discover if I was single.
Oh Lord! And what was more shocking, I wanted to know if he was single too.
How strange. My fingers curled into a fist around his shoe and my mask when my breasts tightened. I was making sparks with a guy whose face I hadn’t even seen, and I wasn’t sure what to do about it.
Licking my dry lips, I croaked, “I, um…”
Before I could think up a reply, he added, “I’m just asking, you know, to make sure you’re not cheating on me or anything.”
Wait, what? “Cheating on you?” What the heck was he talking about?
He made a humming sound in the back of his throat. “Yes, well, you did just have your hand up my skirt without buying me that drink. So, I say that makes us, what, practically engaged. Right?”
I couldn’t help myself. I threw back my head and laughed. “Oh my God! You are so… So…”
He shifted closer. “So what?”
Shaking my head, I had no answer. “I don’t know.” I wanted to tell him he was unexpected and different in the most delightful of ways, but there hadn’t been anything to expect in the first place since I hadn’t had a clue I’d run into anyone out here. I didn’t even know who he was.
“Is it too late to ask what your name is?” I hedged on a wince.
I swear I could actually hear his smile. And it was smug. So damn smug. “I will gladly tell you my name, yellow Power Ranger,” he answered, his voice going low and seductive. “If you tell me I’m right.”
“Right?” Now what was he talking about? “Right about what?”
“The relationship between you and Carmichael,” he pressed. “Tell me you two are just friends.”
Oh gosh. This conversation was definitely headed in one direction, and I was actually excited for it to go that way. I’d met this man minutes ago, literally minutes ago, and I already wanted hot, delicious, sweaty things with him. That was so unlike me.
Yet, I didn’t even care.
“Yes,” I blurted out, a bit breathlessly. “We’re just… I mean, Brick. He’s like, you know, a brother to me. There’s nothing romantic there at all.”
Maleficent nodded. “Good.” He sounded pleased and expectant. “I figured that was the case, especially when you started flirting with the older Carmichael at the snack table as soon as Broderick walked away.”
“What?” My lust-induced haze fizzled. Setting my hands on my hips, I scowled. “Excuse me? I did not flirt with Hayden.”
“You gave him a cookie,” he challenged softly.
“Um, yeah. So?” What did that have to do with anything?
“I was jealous,” Maleficent admitted. He moved closer. Seductively closer. “You seemed so sweet and kind when you insisted he take it. I wanted you to give me a cookie the way you’d given him one.”
“Uh…” I swallowed before licking my suddenly dry lips. “Oh.”
Yeah, that’s all I had. Oh. The man had successfully stolen all brain function from me, filling me with delicious shivers, and all I had left in my arsenal was a freaking lame oh.
He leaned in confidentially closer, smelling like temptation incarnate. “Can I confess something to you?”
“Uh…” Dammit. I seriously needed to come up with other words besides uh and oh. “Didn’t you just confess something?”
“Yeah, but this one’s worse than mere jealousy.”
“Worse? Really?” I moved closer to him, nearly licking my lips with how nice this all felt. “Tell me.”
“Promise you won’t get mad first.”
I laughed. “No way. I reserve the right to get mad about anything I want.”
“Damn.” He let out am impressed whistle. “That should make me not want to tell you, but I really liked that answer, so now I think I have to tell you.”
“You do. You definitely do,” I agreed, grinning, just as I realized I was leaning toward him as much as he was leaning toward me. “If you don’t tell me, I won’t give you your second shoe back.”
“Well, we can’t have that.” With a chuckle, he once again reached for the stray lock of hair by my left ear. Running it between his fingers, he gave a long, dramatic sigh. “So I guess I must confess that I objectified you when you entered the ballroom earlier with Carmichael. I’m a total ass man, you see, and yours…” He let out a low whistle as he dropped my hair from between his fingers and took a step back. “It looks really good in yellow spandex. I got a little obsessed with watching you wherever you went. In fact, I came out here to cool off because I was worried I was staring too much. Then, lo and behold, there you appeared in the doorway. Like something had beckoned you to me.”
My lips parted with awe. “Wow,” I whispered. “Sounds like some serious evil maleficent work in action, there.”
“I was thinking more along the lines of good magic,” he said, glancing toward the Marcella statue.
I glanced toward my mother as well. The moon glinted off her raised hands as if she might be summoning some kind of supernatural power. The good kind.
“So?” Maleficent asked. “Are you mad?”
Mad? How could I be mad about something so good and magical bringing us together?
Oh, wait, yeah. Mad because he’d objectified and ogled my butt. Well…
I guess I probably should be. But I wasn’t. I wasn’t even a smidgen uncomfortable by it, not like the way I’d been when Christopher had looked at my breasts, or you know, when I thought he’d been looking at my breasts but had only been checking out my stained shirt.
“I think I’m actually flattered. There were a lot of really slinky costumes tonight. A slutty nurse, slutty Minnie Mouse, slutty pirate. They all certainly had a lot more cleavage and leg showing than I do. But you saw little ol’ me, the Power Ranger.”
He laughed and reached for my piece of hair again. “Were there other women in the ballroom? Hmm. Didn’t notice.”
I grinned even as I rolled my eyes, though he probably couldn’t see the move. I was about to tell him his sucking up to get in good with me was pathetic, even though I actually liked it, but he spoke again.
“You stared after him when he walked away.”
“What?”
Seriously, it was hard to follow his thought process sometimes. He jumped from topic to topic without warning. Except I liked that too. He had quirks, just like I did. Plus, it kept me guessing and on my toes. Interested.
“Hayden Carmichael,” he explained. “You watched him walk away with the cookie you gave him. Like you might be interested in him.”
“Trust me, I’m not.” I laughed, amused as much as I was flustered. He was kind of like a dog with a bone when he wanted information. It was as endearing as it was aggravating. “Not the way you think. I was just happy I got him to smile. You might not know this about Hayden, but he doesn’t smile often.”
“So… No flirting there, then,” Maleficent surmised with an approving nod.
“No.” I rolled my eyes. “Geez. If you think that was me flirting, you seriously need to learn a few things, buddy.”
“You’re right,” he murmured, moving in closer. So close. “I suck at flirting. I’m much better at just plain kissing.”
And he swept his mouth against mine.
