Читать книгу This Winter Night - Janice Sims - Страница 12

Chapter 4

“What would you like to do today?” Lauren asked once they were back in the warmth of the cabin.

Colton turned to her with a humorous glint in his eye. “I want to take you on a date.”

She laughed shortly as she shrugged off her coat and hung it on the hall tree. “A date, huh? Where are you planning on taking me?”

“A movie, dinner and then, dancing,” he said with confidence.

She looked at him as if he’d taken leave of his senses but she was excited by the idea, so she accepted. “What time will you pick me up?” she asked.

“Let’s make it six,” he said. “I’m eager to get to know more about you.”

“What am I supposed to do in the meantime?” she asked. She had thought they would spend their last day together in bed, like any normal snowbound couple.

“Do whatever you would do if I weren’t here,” he suggested.

So for the remainder of the day she worked in her office. She devoted a considerable amount of time to making a three-dimensional model of the building she was designing in Raleigh using a program on her computer. It allowed her to see the building from all angles and to visualize it more accurately. At around one o’clock her stomach growled, and she went in search of lunch to find Colton in the kitchen already fixing them sandwiches.

“Hello, Miss Gaines,” he said. “You don’t mind if I call you, Miss Gaines?”

“Not at all,” she said, going to him and planting a kiss on his cheek. She hadn’t kissed him since this morning. Colton put down the knife he’d been using to cut the sandwiches in two and pulled her into his arms for a proper kiss.

When he let her go, Lauren was breathless. “Are you sure tonight’s our first date? That kiss was kind of fresh if it is. Actually, we should only be shaking hands at this point. And don’t even think about getting lucky tonight. Sometimes I don’t even kiss a guy good-night on the first date.”

When Colton grinned, she noticed he had a dimple in his left cheek but not his right. How could she have missed that up until now? She peered closer. “What happened to your other dimple?”

“A genetic anomaly,” he said with a short laugh. “I’m the third Riley who has only one dimple. What can I say? I’m a freak of nature.”

“Another bit of Riley family trivia?”

“I’ve got a long list.” He handed her a smoked turkey sandwich on a plate. “Will you be having your lunch in here with me, or will you be taking it back to work with you?”

“Oh, I’ll have it in here with you if I’m not disturbing your date planning,” she said with a bit of skepticism.

He let it slide. She may not have confidence in his ability to pull this date off but he was having fun. They sat down at the island and ate their sandwiches. “What kind of movie are we going to see?” Lauren asked after swallowing her first bite.

“Unfortunately, this theater has a shortage of romantic films starring African Americans,” he told her regrettably. “However I trust the owner’s taste and I’m sure whatever’s shown will be worth watching.”

Lauren smiled. It was true. She hadn’t brought many DVDs with her on her visits to the cabin over the years. Her real collection was at home in Raleigh. “Well, how’re you doing on dinner and dancing?”

“The restaurant I’m taking you to has a wonderful menu. You’re going to dine on roast chicken, twice-baked potatoes and broccoli in a butter sauce.”

“Wow, the chef must be a genius,” she quipped. “The last time I visited that restaurant they didn’t have roast chicken on the menu.”

“Roast chicken, canned chicken, why quibble?” he asked good-naturedly. “It’s going to be a culinary masterpiece.”

“If you say so,” Lauren said. “And dancing?”

“Ben Harper, Ray Charles and Otis Redding are all appearing at this little club tonight,” he told her proudly. “I was able to get reservations.”

“How nice of Ray Charles and Otis Redding to make the journey back from the Other Side to entertain us,” Lauren said with laughter in her voice.