Elevator Kiss

“No, I mean she’s smart and funny.”

“Are you saying that’s not my type?” I totally went for smart, funny women. “Or are you saying not funny ha-ha but funny weird?”

“I’m not bagging on your girl. Geez.” He pushed my shoulder. “She’s not like the vapid women you usually date. It was a compliment. But also a red flag. How much are you paying her?”

I felt all the blood drain from my face. “Dude,” was all I could manage against the pinch of the Viking helmet and the nearly audible jeers of Rhinos season ticket holders.

At that moment, however, Amanda skipped my direction, her soaked dress clinging to her in all the right ways. She draped herself across my torso and gazed up at me with the sweetest look I’d ever received. My insides didn’t know what to do with it.

“Cal, guess what. The hamster sphere guy said we won by a split second.” She broke into a broad grin worthy of a Hollywood starlet, her lips tempting me to dip down and meet them this instant. “How should we celebrate?”

Uh, by making out? Right here on the grassy hill? “What do you suggest?” I placed a kiss on her forehead, hugging her to me tighter than if we were koalas. She was supple and warm—and completely unexpected. I was getting caught up in this hug, couldn’t take my eyes off her pretty smile.

“How about a hot shower and a change of clothes?” she said.

“Together, you mean?” I couldn’t help myself. She’d left that one wide open.

The actress she claimed to be, she didn’t bat an eye. “You scamp!” She pecked my cheek and then took my hand and turned to Parley and Ellen. “You don’t mind, do you? We could both use a freshening up from our long trip.”

My skin pulsated where she’d kissed it. Was she wearing pepper spray lip gloss, or was I affected by her this much? I touched the area lightly as we headed for our car. “Good timing,” I said while helping her inside. “Parley was giving me the third degree about us.”

“I heard. That’s why I came running. Were they convinced?”

Maybe not, but I had been for a moment. “It’s still iffy. Parley is dying to humiliate me at the Rhinos game.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means”—I explained the terms of the bet, in all the horrifying details. At least to me.

Apparently not to Amanda, however. She blinked, as if in disbelief. “Why do fans even care what hat you wear to a sporting event? Seems trivial.”

“Would you wear orc rags to a fancy elf wedding at Rivendell?”

Amanda’s mouth dropped to her chest. “Riv—? How—?”

“What? I wasn’t raised in a cave.” Though, she might’ve debated that. “I went to junior high movie marathons. Tolkien isn’t obscure.” I’d seen both series. A few times, actually, and read the books. More than once. “In fact, I dressed up as Legolas—that warrior elf with the long blond wig and the good archery skills, in case you forgot who he was—for Halloween three years in a row as a kid.” It had gotten all the girls’ attention, for sure.

“I know who Legolas is.” She folded her arms over her chest.

“Are you mad about something?”

At the bottom of Ben Lomond’s winding road, she finally replied. “It can’t all be my responsibility to convince your buddy that we’re a couple. You have to be convincing, too.”

We pulled into the parking lot of the posh-looking Lake Wakatipu Hotel at the base of the mountain. “Oh, trust me. I can be convincing.”

“You’re not even bothering.”

“Do you want me to bother you?” I shut down the car and walked around to open her door. She made me want to do old-fashioned things for her, like get her door and carry her luggage. And also say suggestive things. “I can make you very bothered, Amanda.”

I helped her to her feet.

Angling her back against the car, I placed a hand on either side of her, palms flat against the steel, kind of like when she’d let me pin her to the panel in the elevator. My engines revved. “For instance, I can bother you like this.” I came in close, my lips nearly grazing the skin of her neck.

“Calvin.” Her voice was sultry.

I traced a fingertip along her jaw, and then lightly across her collarbone. “Are you feeling bothered at all?”

Her pupils dilated, and she inhaled a tiny gasp. “Calvin. They’re not even here to see.”