UnWritten

  I gave him halting directions, praying he wouldn’t change his mind, and then he took his leave, giving me one last heart-stopping smile.

  “Lord have mercy,” Sabrina said behind me, peeking out of the office. She must have heard the entire exchange.

  “I know,” I said, sitting down with a thump. Well, at least now I didn’t have to ask him out. He’d beaten me to it.

  But now I actually had to go out with him.

  “He asked you out for tonight?” Sabrina said, leaning against the doorway of the office.

  “Yeah. Is that weird? A Monday night date?” It could mean one of two things: Either he was so eager to go out with me, he didn’t want to wait; OR, he’d had plans that fell through and needed a backup. I very much wanted it to be the former and not the latter reason.

  “That is one tall drink of UK water. He reminds me of someone, but I can’t think who,” Sabrina said, staring off into space.

  “Draco Malfoy?” I suggested with a cringe.

  She snapped her fingers.

  “That’s it. He totally looks like Draco Malfoy. And hey, he’s British to boot. Let’s just hope he’s not evil.” Yeah, that would be good if he wasn’t evil.

  “I’ve got my fingers crossed.”

  Of course I had to call Raine as soon as I could to give her the details. She was over the moon and wouldn’t stop squealing in my ear.

  “You’d think you were going out with him,” I said.

  “Oh no, this one’s all you. And I can’t believe he brought you a book. That is just . . .” She sighed dreamily and I echoed her.

  “I know.”

  “We should totally use that in the book.”

  “Raine.”

  “What? This was the point of dating him, right? And it would work perfectly in that scene where Dixon is apologizing.” It definitely would, but I felt weird about using my own life in our books. We did, all the time, but this felt different. An invasion of privacy.

  “Look, don’t put it in just yet. Let me go out with him first and then we can talk. So, I’m going to need your help tonight with dress choosing.” Raine was even better than a mirror.

  “No need, I’ve already got one laid out for you, along with coordinating jewelry,” she said.

  “Are you home right now?”

  “Yeah, I called in. Again. I’ve been burning through my sick days like crazy, but I really felt like I needed to not go to work today.” I didn’t know how much longer Raine was going to last at her job. She was totally burned out and just hanging on until the first part of our advance for this book came through and then we could live off that for a while.

  “You could just quit.” I could feel her shaking her head on the other end.

  “Nah. I’ll stick it out, but we need to finish this damn book.” Tell me something I don’t know. “But you don’t need to worry about that. You just have to worry about your date tonight.” My eardrums were treated to another squeal.

  “Yeah, thanks. I’ll see you later,” I said and hung up.

  I was one part excited, one part terrified, and one part dying to see where Declan was going to take me.

  “”You’re perfect,” Raine said, putting the last touches on my hair.. She’d gone for old Hollywood glam: silky black halter dress, red pumps, red lipstick and my hair done up like a pin-up girl. One thing was for sure, I felt sexy as hell.

  “He won’t be able to say no to you,” she said, spraying my hair a little so it would stay. “Especially not with those on display.” She pointed to my boobs, which were loud and proud.

  “Yeah, well, it’s hard to hide them,” I said, adjusting the top a little. Having big boobs wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. They got in the way, they were heavy and stretched out my shirts. Plus, boob sweat. Still, I was happy with my body and wouldn’t trade it for anything. Not even Raine’s cute figure.

  “Why bother?”

  “Why, indeed,” I said, giving her an air kiss so I didn’t ruin my lipstick. “What time is it?”

  “Um, six forty-five.” He was going to be here soon. I had the feeling Declan was one of those five minutes early types. I smoothed my dress to quiet my restless fingers.

  “You’re going to be fine. You always are.” Raine gave me a light hug so she wouldn’t muss my hair or my dress and skipped back into the living room. She was working on edits for the first part of the book, so she’d definitely be occupied tonight.

  “Oh, and I put some condoms in your purse, just in case. Can’t rely on the man to do that shit. Even if he is Declan Bennet.” She said his name as if it belonged to a celebrity and deserved reverence.

  “Blair Bennet. Oh my God, is that not perfect?” She said, sitting down in her chair and sipping her coffee. I paced around the room, my heels clicking on the floor in a staccato rhythm. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. Six fifty-five on the dot. I’d pegged him right.

  “And that is my cue to run away,” Raine said, grabbing her coffee and scurrying to her room. I’d decided it was best that I didn’t introduce him to Raine right away. She had a tendency to overwhelm people at first, and I just wanted tonight to go smoothly. Being a first date and all.

  I took a deep breath before I opened the door. It took every muscle in my face to keep my jaw from dropping open at the sight of him.

  Resplendent in a black suit with a black shirt and silver tie, he was absolutely stunning.

  “Good evening, Blair.” I loved the way he said my name with his accent.

  “Good evening, Declan,” I said, feeling quite formal. I actually curtseyed and felt his eyes look me up and down, lingering on my legs and my chest. Well, it was hard to visually avoid my chest.

  “You look lovely. Absolutely gorgeous.” I stifled a nervous giggle and grabbed my purse from where I’d set it by the door, along with a red shawl, in case the balmy night decided to change its mind.

  “Thank you. Um, are you ready to go?” I’d thought about giving him a tour, but didn’t want to answer questions about the prominence of the large desk and two laptops in the main room.

  “Absolutely.” He held out his arm and I took it, wishing I had a pair of elbow-length gloves. It felt like that kind of evening.

  “You really look . . . I’m not sure how to describe it,” he said, pausing to let me enter the elevator first. The perfect gentleman.

  “Ravishing is good. I like that word. Stunning. Beautiful. Exquisite.” I was so used to writing with Raine and coming up with synonyms that I did it without thinking. Great, now he thought I was full of myself.

  “Those are all good words, and all accurate,” he said as the elevator reached the first floor. He held the door open for me and then we walked toward a sleek black car. I knew it was his because of the dossier. I’d have to be very careful not to talk about things that I shouldn’t know.

  “Your chariot, my lady,” he said, opening the door with a flourish. I smiled and got in, sinking into the plush leather seats. I’d always read leather described as “buttery” but never knew what that meant in relation to leather until now. Yup, this was what buttery leather felt like.

  He got in and started the engine.

  “Are you hot? Cold?” he asked.

  “I’m fine.” We had entered the awkward pre-dinner period. “So, where is Drake tonight?” Talking about his son on a date would normally be a no-no, but since I’d already met said child, I figured it was safe territory.

  “He’s with Ada.”

  “Does he know you’re on a date with me?” He was three, so his concept of dates was probably pretty hazy.

  “He knows that daddy is having a playdate with the pretty lady from the library.” I blushed and wished the sun was already down so he couldn’t see my blazing cheeks.

  “He’s a sweet boy.”

  “He can be. When he wants to.” Like his father? I wondered. Declan seemed reluctant to talk and I prayed the magic we’d felt in the library wouldn’t disappear. Maybe this was a bad idea.
>
  “Would you like some music? I always listen to it when I drive and it’s strange not having it on, but I didn’t want to be rude,” he said.

  “No, no, I love music. I mean, I love most music. Go ahead and put on whatever you want with the knowledge that I will judge you based on what you choose.” You could tell a lot about a person from what music they listened to. Something told me Declan would have good taste in music, but that might be because he had good taste in everything else.

  “I think I can handle that.” He fiddled with the touch screen on the dashboard, purposefully blocking it from my view. I stared out the window and tried to guess where he could be taking me.

  Music filled the car and I couldn’t hold back a smile. “Pompeii” by Bastille. One of my current favorite songs. What were the chances of that?

  “Well?” Declan said.

  “I can’t judge you based on one good song. Even though this one is fantastic.” I couldn’t help but drum on the dashboard and Declan laughed at me. It was the first time I’d heard him fully laugh and I decided it had joined the ranks of my favorite sounds in the world.

  “It is a fantastic song,” he agreed. “Aren’t you curious where we’re going?”

  “Yes, but I was going to be more stealthy about asking and trying to figure it out. Lure you into a false sense of security.”

  “You’re doing an excellent job already,” he said.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re most welcome.”

  We lapsed into silence as we listened to the rest of the song and then Declan switched it to “Peace” by O.A.R. Man, he was two for two.

  I held up two fingers.

  “You’ve got two points so far. But a bad song can take all those points away, so watch it.”

  “Is that so? How many points do I need to win?” I thought about that for a minute.

  “I don’t know. But I’ll let you know your points tally throughout the evening.”

  “And what do I get if I lose?” His voice was turning me on, stirring things up that I hadn’t felt for a while. At least not with another person.

  “I’ll think of something,” I said. Was I flirting?

  “I’m not sure if I want to win or lose now,” he said and turned onto the highway. Where on earth were we going?

  “I’ve planned for both contingencies,” I said.

  We drove for a while and Declan earned five more points. I’d decided he had to get to ten to win. The prize would depend on if he actually got to ten points. If he lost, I was going to torture him a bit. With Declan I felt sexy and adventurous, like one of my characters. I always thought that they were more aggressive than I was and I envied them. Most of the time in books, being that way with a guy paid off, but in the real world it could blow up in your face.

  “Seriously, where are we going?” I finally caved to my curiosity.

  “That is for me to know and you to wonder about,” he said, smirking at me. The setting sun made his hair look like gold. He really didn’t look that much like Draco Malfoy. So what if he had the blonde hair and the accent and the wealth? They had nothing else in common. Besides, Draco was fictional.

  “You’re mean,” I said, crossing my arms and sitting back as we listened to “The Walker” by Fitz and the Tantrums. He’d been along with the song, but stopped when I said something.

  “No, I’m just keeping you in suspense. There’s a difference.” I just shook my head at him and tapped my hand against my arm to the beat of the music. This was one of those songs that you couldn’t help but dance to and I kind of wished I could rock out, but the space and the occasion didn’t allow for that.

  Finally we pulled off the highway and headed out into the country. My eyes were greeted with farms and cows and silos.

  “You’re not going to take me to a deserted barn and murder me, are you? Because in that suit and with the accent, you’d make the perfect villain.” Damn me and my active imagination. I always went worst case scenario.

  “You have a bit of a morbid imagination, has anyone told you that?” he said, putting on his turn signal and taking a right turn. We passed a few restaurants, but he didn’t pull into any of the parking lots.

  “Yes, actually. It’s a hazard of reading too many novels. Jane Austen warned of it, and no one listened.”

  “Well-read women are a valuable commodity, I think,” he said. Was he trying to seduce me and get me to sleep with him?

  “Man, if you’re trying to earn bonus points, it’s definitely working.”

  He took another turn and pulled into a parking lot with several other cars. There was a little building that looked like a snack shack ahead of us.

  “Is this what I think it is? Is this a drive-in movie?” The giant screen kind of gave it away, along with the speaker next to my window.

  “If I said yes, would that earn me another point?” he asked.

  “Hell yes,” I said, still in shock that this was where we’d ended up. I didn’t even know drive-in movies still existed.

  “This place has been restored and this is the first summer it’s been up and running in twenty years. I, ah, know the blokes who own it, and they said I could come whenever I wanted. This seemed like a good night for it.” He pushed a button on the car and the top slid back. I hadn’t even noticed this car was a convertible.

  “You really want to earn those points.”

  “I really want you to have a good time,” he said with sincerity.

  “Well, you’re heading in the right direction.” He looked at me, his hair ruffling a bit in the breeze now that the top was down on the car.

  It was one of those moments when a kiss feels right, but you’re not sure if you should or not. We were both waiting for the other to make a move, thus neither of us made a move and the moment passed.

  “Are you hungry?” he said, pushing a button on the microphone next to his window. It had a keypad on it and I quickly figured it was an intercom.

  He spoke into it and asked for a menu. A few minutes later, a girl wearing a polo shirt and a bored expression came up to his side of the car and handed him a laminated menu. I had to lean close to Declan in order to read it, our heads almost touching.

  The fare was basic, burgers, hot dogs and so forth, and they actually had poutine. It was rare finding that south of Aroostook County, Maine. The concoction consisted of French fries covered in cheese and gravy and it was pretty much the most delicious and fattening thing every created.

  “What are you thinking about?” Declan said, his mouth so close to mine if I turned just a little bit, we could kiss. I had kissing on the brain. It didn’t help that he had full lips that looked like they’d be both soft and demanding at the same time.

  “Um, poutine. Have you ever had it?” His eyes sparkled in the setting sun.

  “No, I’ve never heard of it,” he said, his eyes scanning the menu. Well, sure, I bet they didn’t have it in England.

  “Okay, then we’re definitely having it. And, um, a cheeseburger. I’ll tell you right here, right now, that I’m not a girl who’s going to order a salad and only eat two bites. Obviously.”

  He laughed again and bumped my shoulder lightly. I wanted him to touch me. My face or my hair or something. I wanted him to do a lot of other things. A subtle buzz had taken up residence in my erogenous zones and was making itself known.

  “I’ve never fancied girls like that,” he said, his voice low.

  “So you’re saying that you fancy me?” Please say yes. I want to be fancied.

  “Yes, Blair. I fancy you. Very much.” God, I wanted him so much at that moment.

  “I don’t have a response for that,” I said, once again blurting out the first thing that came to my mind.

  He smiled.

  “Do I get another point?”

  “Definitely.”

  Declan ordered our food and it arrived within minutes, on trays we could rest on the doors of the car.

  “Are you ready for poutine?” I asked
, holding the plate out to him. He looked at it like it was going to bite him and I burst out laughing.

  “I’m not trying to poison you, I swear. It’s delicious, I promise.” I waved the plate in his face.

  “All right. You win. I’ll give it try.” He reached for a fry, and put it tentatively in his mouth. He chewed, swallowed and thought about things for a moment.

  “That is bloody fantastic.” His accent was so pronounced I laughed out loud as he grabbed for another fry.

  “Don’t eat them all, I want some.” I grabbed a fry. “Oh, what movie are we seeing by the way? Not that this hasn’t already been an awesome date.”

  “Tonight it’s a classic: Night of the Living Dead.”

  “Shut up, really?” I nearly dropped the plate. “The original or the remake?”

  “Look and see,” he said, pointing at the screen. Mere moments later, the strains of the opening music blared from the speakers next to the car and the opening shot of the road filled the screen.

  “I know this isn’t exactly a romantic comedy, but you didn’t seem like a romantic comedy kind of girl.” I loved romantic comedies, but this was ten thousand times better. And besides, watching romantic comedies was another occupational hazard of being a romance writer.

  “It’s pretty much perfect,” I said, popping a fry in my mouth.

  “Good,” he said, grabbing another fry and putting it in his mouth before leaning the seat back to watch the movie.

  I’d seen this movie multiple times before, but never like this. I also watched Declan out of the corner of my eye and he watched me. There was a whole lot of watching going on.

  We finished the plate of poutine and ate our burgers. I was freaking out about getting anything on my dress, but we had enough napkins that I draped them over myself and basically made a drop cloth. They should really give you a raincoat or something with this messy food.