Page 18 of Come A Little Closer

Large, reclining armchairs took up most of the space in the room, with a snack counter running along one of the side walls. Underneath it was a fridge that I kept stocked with all kinds of drinks, and tucked right into the corner, I’d recently added a popcorn machine.

Since I’d switched that on before I’d gone to grab a shower, the room was starting to smell like fresh popcorn and the lights were already turned down low. I nodded slowly as I looked it over from top to bottom, but I was satisfied we had everything we needed. I also thought there was a chance I might impress her tonight which, for some godforsaken reason, felt important to me.

As I headed downstairs and started puttering around to kill the time until she got here, I was lost in thought. Tallulah had been heavy on my mind all week, and that was new for me too.

All of it was new for me, but perhaps the most disconcerting was it crossed so many of the boundaries I’d set up for myself. I’d been a bachelor for my entire life and I liked it that way, but simultaneously, watching a movie or two with someone felt like a nice change of pace.

I’d always been set in my ways, though. Changing it up didn’t come naturally, nor had I ever done it for anyone else.

The front door opened and I heard my driver’s voice filtering into the kitchen from the foyer. “Have a good evening, ma’am.”

“Thank you,” she replied, sounding surprisingly shy.

It made me smile, knowing I wasn’t the only one who was feeling a little out of sorts this evening. Tallulah had hardly struck me as the kind of person to be shy, so I knew she was probably second-guessing our arrangement for this evening as much as I had been.

Thankfully though, she’d shown up and I hadn’t canceled. Something we had in common, it seemed, was pushing through the discomfort simply to rise to the challenge of having escaped our comfort zones.

Feeling instantly more at ease, I left the kitchen and met her in the foyer just as the driver was shutting the door behind him. “You know, I was wondering if you were going to follow through with this.”

She spun to face me, a smile appearing on her lips, but not before I’d seen the nerves in her eyes. “It’s for work, right?”

“Of course,” I said easily, motioning for her to proceed me. “Can I give you a tour or would you like a drink first?”

“I’ve already had a tour, remember?” she teased lightly. “That’s how we met.”

“How could I forget?” I allowed my tone to match hers for once, happy to banter with her now that we were alone, off the clock, and on my home turf. “It’s not often that I happen upon beautiful women skulking around my halls.”

“You thought Cathy was beautiful?” she asked without hesitation.

I shook my head. “I suppose she was fine too.”

Tallulah’s hazel eyes widened and a rosy flush spread across her cheeks. “Oh.”

A smirk started creeping onto my lips until I remembered that she was supposed to be just an employee here to do research for the festival. I cleared my throat. “In any event, you haven’t seen the more private spaces yet. That’s the tour I was offering. The parts of the house the public guides aren’t authorized to go into.”

“Like the bedrooms?” she guessed, glancing at me with something not-so-professional in her eyes.

Lust suddenly burned in my veins when I realized it was a flicker of flirtation. Perhaps even an invitation, but I swallowed past the desire and nodded. “The upstairs bedrooms, yes. There’s also my office, several living areas, the kitchen, and the theater.”

“Right.” She blinked a few times rapidly, the flirtation gone and replaced with what I assumed was professional interest when she smiled up at me. “Of course, I’d love to see them.”

I contemplated taking her arm for the tour but eventually, I just stuck to her side and slid my hands into my pockets so I wouldn’t give into the temptation. “Now that your first week is done, what do you think of your new job?”

She shrugged, but she couldn’t really hide her excitement from me. It lit her whole face, making her seem radiant in the low light of my passage. “It’s okay. It’s been really fun. I met another one of the guides today and she was nice. We had dinner.”

“Sayra?” I guessed. It was an educated one though, considering that she’d been doing the Saturday tours at the Carmichael Plantation for a number of years.

Tallulah’s lips parted in surprise, but then she giggled. “Of course, you know her. Sorry, I’m not sure why I was surprised.”

I winked at her, surprising myself more than she’d just surprised herself, I was sure. “She is nice. I agree. I should’ve thought to introduce you two.”

She nudged my elbow with her own as we walked. “Oh, you think she’s nice, do you? Do you also know that she’s taken?”

I frowned. “Yes. Andrew, if I’m not mistaken. I’ve met him on a number of occasions. He’s nice too.”

It was only as I said it that it occurred to me that she’d sounded a little jealous, which I liked far more than I should’ve. My hands twitched in my pockets, begging me to let them reach for her and show her just how nice I thought she was, but I held back.

Alone with her in a great big house with no chance of interruption for the second time in just one week was proving to be a little more challenging than I’d expected, however. It was inappropriate to even be thinking that way, but I certainly felt like there was some kind of chemistry between us.