Tarnished (17 page)

He was halfway there when he turned around, and in a mildly desperate fashion, he hollered back down to her again. “Come on, just say you’ll be there?”

His enthusiasm was contagious, though, and yeah, maybe screaming down the hill to beg her to agree to a date was a little desperate, but it was also kind of strangely romantic. So much so that she could feel her cheeks getting warm.

Glancing around, Selina made sure he wasn’t making too big of a scene, at least not one large enough to attract Sheila’s attention.

She nodded at him, afraid to speak just then in case her voice didn’t come off as cool and aloof as she hoped it would. She didn’t want the excitement to seep out into her words. She did her best to swallow it and then eventually attempted to speak through it.

“Okay,
oui
. I’ll see you. The Bulls Den. After eight.”

With a satisfied smile, Nathan turned back around and continued the jog back up to his friends.

The rest of the afternoon, Selina went about her job. It was just an ordinary day, except she couldn’t quit replaying their exchanges in her mind. She’d sometimes catch herself staring off with a dorky, broad smile on her face. She kept trying to shake him off, but he was there in the back of her mind all day.

He was a tourist. Tourists didn’t stick. This was fine by her because she didn’t want him to stick. She did, though, want to have a good time with him while he was around. Nathan looked like he could be a
real
good time.

The day dragged on, and when eight finally rolled around, Selina headed home to get cleaned up and changed. Walking through the front door, she was stopped by Angeline, who looked to be on her way out, looking fresh and pretty. Selina vaguely remembered hearing her say something about a date earlier in the week.

“How was your day, love?” Angeline opened the shoe closet in the entryway. She squatted, obviously digging for a specific pair of shoes.

“I don’t know yet.” Selina let out a sigh that had Angeline looking up with a worried expression.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Selina slowly climbed the stairs, turning at the landing to look down at Angeline. “I’ll tell you tomorrow.”

“All right?” Angeline seemed concerned about her sister and was just about to follow her upstairs when a car honked outside. “That’s me.
Au revoir!
” She slid on her shoes.

“Who is honking?” Selina became defensive. Her sister was already half out of the front door.

“My date.” Angeline peeked around the closing door. “I have to go, we’ll talk later.”

Selina shot her sister a look that was full of warning and concern. She did not approve of anyone honking for her sister. It was unacceptable behavior, and she knew that Angeline wouldn’t approve if it had been the other way around.

“I know.” Angeline sent her a sad smile.

Selina knew that Angeline hadn’t had many boyfriends, and the ones she did have were barely men enough to be considered as such. Selina didn’t think that was reason enough to quit being picky. Angeline was beautiful, smart, and courageous. Men looked, but she was often too focused on something else to notice them. Selina was happy she was going on a date, but she thought her sister should be holding out for a gentleman; a man who could, at the very least, walk up to the door and take her out properly.

“No, get back in here and make him come to the door.” Selina snapped her fingers and pointed as she came down a few steps.

Angeline looked over her shoulder at the waiting car and then back at her sister. “I can’t, Selina, I’m already outside.” She laughed nervously.

“I don’t care. Get back in here, or I’m going to come out there and give him the old one-two.” She slapped the back of her hand into the palm of her other hand.

“I’m just going to go. We’ll talk later,” Angeline promised, backing out of the door again and grabbing her keys from the white-wicker entryway table.

“Why bother, Angeline, he’s obviously not the one.”

At Selina’s persistence, Angeline gave her sister a pleading look to drop the matter. Selina did not want to, and she wasn’t happy about it, but she dropped it and waved her sister off.

“
Je t'aime
.” Angeline smiled graciously at her sister before bowing out the door.

Selina hustled upstairs, took a quick shower, and hastily changed her hair into a cute, low and to the side, messy bun. Curling tendrils spilled from her hair tie. She jumped into a pair of faded blue jeans that sat low on her hips and hugged her perfectly. She slid on a sexy, green, lace top with cap sleeves and a completely revealing corseted back.

A beaded and crystal necklace with a pendant of a casting of the Eiffel tower dangled over her modest breasts, nearly to her navel. It was one of her most treasured pieces of jewelry. She wrapped a braided leather belt around her waist and let it hang loosely. The fringe hung down her leg on one side, making her appear taller and accentuating the soft curve of her hip.

She glanced at the sitting pendulum clock on her dresser and realized it was nearly an hour later than she’d figured on meeting him. She hurriedly took the stairs two at a time. Reaching the bottom step, she pulled on a pair of scruffy, brown leather boots that had been her sister’s when they were teenagers. Selina took one last look at herself in the entryway mirror, and she was finally out the door.

— • —

“Nate, look at all these girls in here.” Dylan stood there allowing some blonde girl, who had a few too many shots of Cuervo in her, to hang all over him. “They’re hot, they’re drunk, and they’re riding a bull for Christ’s sake.” Dylan pointed across the dance floor to the giant bucking, mechanical bull.

Girls had been flocking to it for hours. Nate checked his watch again; it had been hours.

“Seriously, stop it.” Charlie slapped Nathan’s hand. The Bulls Den bragged of an extensive beer list from “local breweries,” some in Canada and some across The Falls in New York.

Charlie had been hitting it hard and fast, alternating between Genesee, Buffalo Kolsch 716, and something called Doggy Style. The last one had a pretty sick-looking label. He’d pounded one right after another. He seemed pretty sloshed from the first whiff he took coming into the bar. “There has got to be sixty girls to one dude in here!” Charlie exaggerated, having only come back to the table for another glug or two from his beer before he followed another alcohol-enhanced beauty out onto the lively dance floor.

“Yeah, dude, seriously, she’s not going to come.” Dylan looked down at the girl draped all over him. “Annie, do you have any friends here?” She didn’t stop nuzzling his neck; she just pointed toward the mechanical bull.

“She said she’d be here.” Nathan tried his best to not start believing what these guys were saying.

“She’s not coming,” Dylan said again, this time more tenaciously. “Time to move on with one of these other women.”

“Who isn’t coming?” Nathan felt a warm hand on his shoulder and an unmistakable lilting voice behind him. He just smiled at her, and she looked from Nathan to Dylan, who put his hands up in admitted defeat.

“Babe?” Dylan spoke to the vampire at his throat. She pulled her face away to look at him. “Let’s get you in line for that bull.” He dragged her away from the table.

Selina hopped onto one of the tall stools, putting her at almost eye level with Nathan.

“I thought you were going to stand me up,” he admitted, leaning in and speaking close to her ear so she could more easily hear him over the loud clamor of the bar, the music, and the squealing that came from a redheaded girl riding the mechanical bull.

“Oh, ye of little faith.”

Nathan laughed and then so did she. Even her laugh was sexy—he never would have thought a laugh could be sexy, but hers was. He hoped to hear more of it.

“What are you drinking?” she asked as the waitress approached.

“Uh, not much of anything yet.” He hadn’t wanted to be drunk when she got here. He’d been a mess of nerves waiting for her. He’d never been so clumsy and awkward around a woman in all his life. He’d never been so concerned with being stood up before, either.

“Can I get you something?” The blonde, frizzy-haired waitress pulled a red notebook from her apron.

“Pitcher of the white peach sangria.” Selina then looked to Nathan, who just shrugged. “And some chips and salsa.” Selina motioned to their table.

The waitress pulled her notepad out but hadn’t written any of it down.

“Sure thing.” She winked at the both of them before she moved on to the next table.

“You are in for a taste of the best chips and salsa in all of Canada,” Selina raved to him with a smile.

“In all of Canada?” He laughed at her embellishment.

“You think I joke, but I am serious. They make their own chips. They come out warm. The salsa gets made daily. It’s delicious.”

He believed her.

The pitcher came with frosted wine goblets. Nathan had never seen that done before. Their drink was unquestionably girly with balls of fruit floating in the pitcher.

“What are we drinking?” Nathan leaned in to ask as she poured them each a glass.

“Sangria.” She looked up, and he found himself staring into her hauntingly dark eyes. “This kind is white wine, peach schnapps, and fruit juice.” She handed him his glass.

Nathan clinked his against hers. “Cheers.”

“
À la vôtre
.”

They clinked their glasses together again as Nathan attempted to repeat Selina’s French version. She laughed at his weak attempt, and Nate blushed. In an effort to conceal it, Nathan took a sip of the drink Selina had ordered for them. He was pleasantly surprised. It was sweet and tangy. Nathan actually thought it was delicious. He was a little jealous that he wouldn’t feel comfortable ordering this himself at a bar.

“You like?”

Nathan caught her gaze and nodded slowly. “I do.” He maintained their eye contact through another sip.

“It’s sexy, no?” She took another sip of her drink, and he watched her closely. He realized just then that she was even more beautiful now than he remembered her being earlier. He wouldn’t have thought it possible.

“Very.” Nathan’s voice had fallen a few octaves. He found himself looking at her in an unabashedly hungry way.

Selina responded by biting her lip and turning her head away from him.

“Here you go.” The waitress came back, setting a stack of tiny bowls down with the basket of freshly made chips and a small pitcher of salsa.

“Thank you.” Selina smiled and grabbed two tiny bowls from the stack and poured her and Nathan each their own bowl of salsa. “Here. Try this.” She slid the bowl toward him. “So good.”

Nathan watched Selina scoop some salsa on a chip and hold it out for him. He leaned forward, opened his mouth, and took a bite. It crumbled from her hand, and some of the salsa spilled onto his lip. He chewed what was in his mouth, but he couldn’t concentrate on the taste because Selina was wiping the spilled salsa from his chin and lip with her thumb. She brought to her mouth what she’d caught from his lip. Selina licked the salsa from her thumb, closing her eyes on a small moan. Nathan tried not to look too surprised, but everything this woman did turned him on.

Selina opened her eyes to find him slowly chewing. She shrugged while she took a sip of her sangria, eyeing him over the rim of the glass. “Too good to waste on a chin spill.”

Nathan swallowed before he let out a laugh. His head spun with this one. One second she seemed reluctant and reserved, and then the next she was saying their drinks were sexy and licking salsa from his chin. Nathan didn’t usually mess with confusing, complex women, but Selina seemed worth it. Besides that, he was completely intrigued by her and incredibly turned on.

He looked down at Selina, whose shoulders were exposed by a wide neckline that dipped to a low scoop-front. The back of her shirt was completely open except for the lacing of the corset. Her jeans hugged tightly to her thighs. Inches of her skin all over her body played peek-a-boo with his eyes. She was beautiful, outspoken, and brazen, and he wanted to get his hands on her.

“Dance with me.” He motioned with a nod of his head toward the dance floor. He didn’t usually do this, but he was desperate to get closer to her, and dancing was the perfect excuse to do so.

“All right.” She finished her glass quickly and so did he before she allowed him to pull her out onto the floor. They passed Charlie and his dance partner as they were headed back to the table. Charlie had been stopping to chat, but Nathan reached out and patted him on the shoulder and just kept dragging Selina farther out onto the crowded dance floor.

The D.J. had been playing soulful R&B with a great bass line. It wasn’t slow enough to slow-dance to, but it was perfect for holding onto one another and taking slow, long dips with your hips. That’s how the other people were dancing. As for Nathan and Selina, they weren’t even touching each other. The other girls all moved in the same way. They all popped their bodies to the beat of the song, but Selina’s arms found their way above her head. Her hips swayed side-to-side.

He realized, watching Selina dance, that he’d never truly understood it until then. The other women who Nathan had thought were dancing were just going through the motions. Now, watching Selina move like she was, he understood dancing wasn’t just swaying in step or grinding your hips with the beat, but it was exactly what Selina was doing. It was obvious she was feeling it with her soul. Nathan wasn’t the only one who had noticed. Lots of other people’s heads had turned to watch Selina move. He couldn’t blame them; he was swept up in it too. Nathan wasn’t even shuffling his feet to and fro any more.

If Selina noticed that she’d drawn attention to herself, she didn’t react to it. She was a mystery to him. She seemed complicated in the greatest fashion. She was beautiful, bright, and sexy. She was lithe, and her movements were sleek and circuitous. She was like a sexy, French-speaking panther of a woman. Every layer that he pulled away from her, instead of bringing her into focus, just left him even more mystified.