“You two need to leave.”
Fuck. The usher caught us.
Micah takes my hand, and we stand up and vacate the theater to the snickers of the younger viewers in the front seats. I guess I wasn’t as slick as I thought. Now everyone knows what we were doing. WhatIwas doing.
Micah’s silent until we reach the parking lot, where he starts his own snicker-fit.
“What? What’s so funny?”
He shakes his head and squeezes my hand. “Sorry. It’s just that I’ve never gotten kicked out of a theater for being serviced before. It’s kind of funny when you think about it.”
“Sorry you missed the end of the movie.”
His head tilts back as he bellows laughter. “Are you kidding? I don’t give a shit about the end of that movie right now. You gave me a better ending.” He lets go of my hand and puts his arm around my waist. “I have the sitter until the morning, you know.”
A sudden bout of nerves hits the base of my stomach, and I pause mid-step. “Are you sure? Karen’s already got the neighborhood talking about me wearing your shirt home last week. If you spend the night at my house—”
“It’ll be worth it. Even if we don’t have sex. We could just snuggle. I promise, nothing’s going to happen if you don’t want it to. I just don’t want this to end yet.”
It’s not that I don’t want to have sex with Micah. God knows, I do! But the thought of subjecting ourselves to the gossip mill again so soon, and him with a kid to think about … I don’t know if we should.
The hand around my waist loosens a bit, and when I look up again I see that his face has fallen. “Or I could drop you off and relieve Becky for the night. No pressure.”
Maybe it’s the beer I had, or maybe it’s the thrill of getting caught still buzzing in my veins, but I reach up on my tiptoes and kiss Micah full on the lips. I almost unbalance us with the force of it, and he grabs hold of me with both hands to steady us. He kisses back with surprising tenderness. We stand there in the middle of the parking lot for what feels like forever, making out under the fluorescent lights.
“Iris …” Micah slips a hand down to cup my ass. “Please tell me this means I get to keep Becky for the night.”
“I’d think you would be more interested in keeping me for the night.”
“Come on.” He pulls away, taking my hand and leading me to the car. The sudden chill brought on by him breaking the contact makes me shiver. Micah stops and rubs my bare arms. “You okay?”
I give him my best come-hither smile. “Yeah, I'm fine. I just need to get home and get warm.”
Despite my reassurances that I'm okay, Micah cranks the heat in his car on the ride back, and he holds my hand the whole drive, rubbing my fingers in his to warm them.
When we get back, I notice several lights on the block conspicuously turn off the moment Micah’s car pulls onto the street. No doubt Karen, Cindy, and the rest have been waiting for our return. They're probably watching to see which driveway he parks in. The mere thought of their scrutiny kills my mood.
“Park at your house, Micah. We can walk back to my place from there.”
“What? Why?”
I point at Karen’s house, where the curtains shift suspiciously. “That's why.”
“I'm not making you walk. Karen can go fuck herself. I feel bad enough for making you walk to my driveway when we left.”
“But—”
“Uh-uh.” The SUV glides straight into my drive, and Micah cuts the engine. “You’re getting the royal treatment tonight. I'm escorting you inside, then we're going to have some wine and just chill out for a while.”
“Micah, I'm serious.”
“So am I.” He opens his door, pocketing the keys. “Don’t make me carry you in. Just imagine what Karen would say about that!”
I finally give in with a sigh and let him help me out of the car. He puts an arm around me while I dig in my purse for my keys. Cleo sits in the sidelight by the door, stretching up against the glass and meowing at me. She's probably been wondering where I've been; the poor girl isn’t used to me leaving for hours at a time unless I get called into the office, and that's never at night.
“Hang on, Cleo, Momma’s almost home.”
“That's cute how you talk to her.”
