“No, that was his long-lost brother,” Nina corrected.
“I thought his long-lost brother was the guy with all the tattoos.”
They stared at each other for a long moment, then burst into laughter. “Okay, this movie didn’t make any sense,” Nina admitted.
“None at all,” Theo agreed, laughing. “The time-travel element was completely ridiculous.”
She turned towards him, still giggling. “I can’t believe you gave up an evening of work for this.”
“Me neither.” Theo gave a long-suffering sigh. “I could have made ten thousand dollars, but instead I had to watch a man go undercover as a gorilla for a case.”
Nina’s eyes widened. “Ten thousand dollars?”
Theo chuckled. “No. Not really. Or probably not. Anyway, I had a nice evening here with you, even with the weird movie. And the food was good, too.”
He’d had a nice evening with her. Nina tried to pretend that those words didn’t warm her heart, but they did.
“I had a nice time, too.”
“Good,” Theo smiled, “we should do it again.”
“Yeah,” Nina smiled back, “we should.”
“But next time,I’mpicking the movie.”
She threw a pillow at his head, which he narrowly avoided. “No way. I know lots of great movies. This just wasn’t one of them.”
“So you say. But I have yet to see any proof of that.”
“That’s why we need another movie night.”
They smiled at each other again. It reminded Nina of lazy college days, lying on her twin bed while her roommate lay on hers, chatting. Except that Nina had never wanted to lean over and kiss her roommate, and she did want to lean over and kiss Theo.
Every time she thought she had him figured out, he showed a new side of himself. A caring role model for Jack. A friend. A confidant. A handsome man who didn’t mind spending the evening watching a terrible movie. A handsome man in general…
And now he was looking at her with those warm brown eyes. She could see the curve of his jaw and the dusting of five o’clock shadow across his cheeks. He smelled masculine, somehow, like an aftershave she couldn’t name. And one of his hands was just inches from her leg.
If she shifted a little closer, she could kiss him. It was all too easy to imagine those warm, broad lips on hers, him wrapping his hands around her waist to draw her closer, his breath against her cheek…
Nina quickly sat up and started to gather the takeout boxes. She needed to get out of here before she gave in and actually kissed him. Maybe this was a sign that she needed to start dating again. Dating people who actually wanted to date her.
“Listen, I’d better call it a night. This has been fun, but I need to be up at six tomorrow.”
“Six?”
“I need to get a little work done before Jack gets up.” Nina stood, her hands full of takeout boxes. “Have a nice evening.” She turned away, but before she could leave, Theo called out.
“Nina.”
She turned back. He was sitting up straight and looking at her, his brown eyes intense, as though he had something important to tell her. Nina’s breath caught. Could he have felt the same spark of attraction she had? Was he about to close the distance between them and sweep her into his arms?
“What’s up?” she asked. Her voice sounded breathless to her own ears.
“Just… let’s talk tomorrow,” Theo said, “about the Charles Ackley meeting.”
“Of course.” Nina smiled, though she didn’t quite feel it. “We can talk over breakfast.”
“Pancakes?” Theo asked.
