Midnight Run (5 page)

“Love you, too.”

When he hung up the phone, he didn’t go to
bed immediately. Instead, Kingston grabbed a beer from the fridge
and sank back onto the barstool, thinking about his sister and her
failing marriage.
There’s nothing I can do
, he reminded
himself, twirling his phone absentmindedly on the counter.
But
that doesn’t make it easy to watch.

Promising himself that he’d make a point to
call his nephews and Rachel more, Kingston finished off his beer
and finally headed to bed, his thoughts as heavy as his limbs.

Since Nora wasn’t working
on Sunday, she gave her parents a call in the midafternoon, but
nobody answered.
Maybe they’re at a thing at the greenhouse,
she thought idly. Growing up, Nora had almost considered the small
garden center downtown her second home; her mom had volunteered
there every weekend of Nora’s childhood, teaching various classes
on plants and garden care, and as far as Nora knew, she was still
at it. A little prickle of guilt wormed its way into Nora’s mind
when she thought about the greenhouse. Her mom had been after her
for years to drop by and help out when she was home, but she never
made the time. Gardening was a nice hobby, but she’d never caught
the same passion for it that fuelled her mother.

Her
passion had started when she
picked up her first pair of running shoes, but now she had other
things on her mind. The next night, Nora considered smearing on lip
gloss before she headed out to meet the running group, but she
decided against it.
It’s not like he’d notice
, she told
herself, trying to kill the sense of anticipation she felt at
seeing the handsome guy again, but no matter what she said, her
heart was racing by the time she got to Central Park, and she
eagerly looked around the group for his tall, lean frame. She waved
when she spotted him, and he grinned and waved back.

Before Nora could get up enough courage to go
over and talk to him, Lynne blew her whistle, and without preamble,
the group assembled on the pavement. This time, Nora ran near the
middle on purpose; she had a good view of Tex’s broad shoulders
rippling through his tight shirt, and the sound of her feet on the
pavement was drowned out by the thudding of her heart. What would
it be like, she wondered, to run her hands along his back? Every
inch of the Texan was muscular, but he wasn’t too ripped, not like
some photoshopped cover model.
No, he’s just right, and he’s
very real,
Nora thought to herself with a delightful shiver.
She almost didn’t notice the second part of the run, and when they
finally stopped, Nora wasn’t entirely sure if she were panting from
exertion, or from the fantasies her mind had started to spin.

Lynne blew her whistle again, and everyone
turned their attention toward her. “We’ve had a few new runners
join us this week, so I thought instead of our usual cool down, we
could do some partner exercises. So grab a buddy; new folks, find
someone more experienced and get to know them!”

Nora bit her lip.
Would it be too creepy
if I asked him to be my partner?
Before she could decide,
however, someone tapped her on the shoulder and Nora turned around,
steeling herself to be nice to whoever it was. Her disappointment
died as soon as she saw a pair of familiar gray eyes, almost silver
in the darkness, staring down at her.

“Want to buddy up, hon?”

The soles of her feet started to melt, and
Nora nodded at him.
Maybe wishes can come true
, she thought,
following the Texan to a patch of grass near the group and sitting
down across from him, mirroring his posture.

“So,” he began, stretching his legs out in
front of him into a wide straddle, “I didn’t catch your name.”

Nora pressed the toes of her sneakers to his,
opening her legs wide to reach, and tried to steady her breathing.
“Nora. What about you?”

“Kingston.”

She couldn’t help herself; a laugh bubbled up
past her lips. “What, as in Jamaica?” She tried to bite back the
stupid comment, but it was too late.

Kingston just smiled. “Nope. As in Samuel
Kingston Price the third.” He reached for her forearms, clasping
his large hands around her, and Nora shivered in delight. After a
beat, she remembered that she was supposed to be doing what he did,
and she wrapped her arms around his forearms, resisting the urge to
stroke the fine, dark hair that covered his arms.

“Why not Sam?” Nora stammered, acutely aware
of the feeling of his skin against hers.

“Named for my daddy, and his father before
him.” He shrugged. “Too stuffy for me. Now, don’t get me wrong; I
loved my granddaddy, and I respect my daddy, but Kingston suits me
better.” He leaned back, pulling her arms, and Nora let herself
hinge forward, feeling the muscles along her back unwinding the
deeper they moved into the stretch. Nora exhaled sharply when she
realized that her face was hovering dangerously close to Kingston’s
groin, and she shut her eyes, feeling the blood rush into her
cheeks. When he began to bend toward her, Nora forced herself not
to watch as his dark head crept closer and closer to the inside of
her thighs, but her body was acutely aware of his presence. Nora’s
palms were slick by the time the stretch was over, and when
Kingston let go of Nora’s arms, she realized how cold she suddenly
was without his breath between her legs.

“What’s next?” She tried to sound nonchalant,
but her body was on fire from the first stretch.
If they’re all
as intimate as that, I might as well die right now. Heaven can’t be
any better
.

“Why don’t we do hamstrings next? You can go
first.”

Wondering how he was going to turn this into
a partnered stretch, Nora folded her left foot into her groin and
flexed her right foot. She started to lower her torso over the
extended leg, and suddenly, warm hands pressed against the small of
her back, urging her deeper into the stretch. Her lips parted and
an involuntary sigh escaped from her mouth, and the pressure on her
back instantly eased.

“Too deep?” His voice was low and soothing,
more suited to a bedroom than a midnight run in Central Park, and
Nora took a deep breath, trying to catch hold of her runaway
emotions.

“No,” she finally managed to say, “just
right.”

“Good,” Kingston put his hands back on her
and gave her one final, gentle push. “Now the other side.”

A warm, tingling sensation had started to
build between Nora’s legs, and she wasn’t sure she could make it
through another stretch without blurting out something utterly
inappropriate. She gritted her teeth and tried to focus on anything
but the hands at her back, but this time, instead of light
pressure, Kingston rubbed a few gentle circles on her spine.

“Relax,” he said. “I can feel how tense you
are.”

If you only knew!
Nora bit back a
giggle and tried to fold deeper into the stretch, but every muscle
in her body was acutely aware of Kingston’s hands, and he shook his
head gently after the stretch.

“It’s no good to stretch out when you’re
tense. You might injure yourself.”

“I’ll be okay,” Nora managed to say. “Your
turn?”

He sat down in front of her and began to bend
effortlessly into the hamstring stretch. Nora studied the way his
muscles rippled across his back for a moment, and then, gingerly,
she placed her palms on his lower back.

“You can push harder than that, hon. Not
going to break me.”

Self-consciously, Nora leaned into him,
bearing down as he folded even deeper into the stretch. His
breathing was deep and even, and Nora took a slow, deliberate
breath, trying to steady hers to match his.
Get a grip
, she
admonished herself.
This isn’t as hot as you’re making it
sound
.

But it was. Every time she touched Kingston
or felt his hands on her, Nora’s pulse raced and her body responded
in ways that she didn’t know it could. By the end of the cool down,
Nora was more wound up than before, and she knew there was no way
she was going to get any sleep that night. Just when she was
gearing up to head to the diner with the rest of the group, her
phone vibrated against her arm.

She glanced at it, but the number was
unfamiliar. “Probably a junk call,” she reasoned, setting the phone
to silent and letting it go to voicemail.

To Nora’s disappointment, Kingston didn’t
join them at the diner, but she’d already said she would go, so she
didn’t want to back out. It ended up being a small group; Lynne,
the guy with the flashy light, who Nora learned was named Jerome,
and Nora. Jerome led the way to a corner booth, and Nora slid onto
the cracked vinyl after him.

Lynne smiled at her across the table. “I’m
glad you decided to come out. Sometimes, it’s a bigger group than
others.”

Jerome laughed. “Remember that time when we
literally cleaned them out of pie?”

Lynne chuckled. “For a bunch of runners,
sometimes we sure eat like crap.”

Nora smiled, enjoying their easy banter. “How
long have you both been doing the midnight thing?”

Lynne scrunched up her face in thought. “I
started running after my divorce, and I got into the midnight runs
by the end of that year. So I guess for me it’s been seven
years.”

Jerome nodded. “You joined the group right
after me, and seven sounds about right.”

“Wow,” Nora admitted, “I haven’t even been
running for seven years!”

Lynne eyed her with a smile. “You look like
you know what you’re doing. Is this your first half?”

Nora nodded, a little embarrassed. “I haven’t
signed up for it yet; I’m not sure I’ll be able to run it by
March.”

Before either of them could respond, a
chipper waitress with curly black hair bustled up to their table.
“There’s my finish liners! Light group tonight, huh?”

Lynne nodded. “Cassidy, this is Nora. She’s
new to the group.”

The waitress beamed at Nora. “Welcome,
sweetie. Hope I’ll see you in here often with these fools.”

Jerome just laughed. “You love us. I’ll have
a short stack of pancakes and a coke.”

“And coffee, two creams, no sugar, right?”
Cassidy looked at Lynne, who nodded. Then the waitress turned her
attention to Nora, who’d been fiddling with her phone. “What about
you, new girl?”

“Um,” Nora glanced up, distracted. “Pancakes
sound good.”

Cassidy headed back to the counter without
writing their orders down, and Nora picked up her phone. “Whoever
called when we were back at the park left a message.”

Lynne frowned. “It’s a pretty odd time to
call.”

Nora hesitated, staring at her phone for a
moment. “Do you guys mind if I step out for a sec?”

Jerome and Lynne both shook their heads. “I
hope nothing’s wrong,” Jerome said as Nora stood up.

She nodded absentmindedly, but she already
had her phone to her ear as she opened the door to the diner, and
her dad’s familiar voice had a twinge of panic to it, and Nora felt
her heart clench as she played his message.

“Sweetie, call me as soon as you get this.
It’s your mom.”

That night, Kingston
barely slept.

He went through his usual post-run wind down,
complete with a long, hot shower to get his blood flowing again,
but in all honesty, he didn’t have any trouble getting his blood
flowing that night. He’d barely noticed the cold for once;
stretching out with Nora had provided a welcome distraction from
the winter weather, and Kingston flushed when he remembered the
feeling of her body under his hands.

“Get it together, boy,” he muttered, plumping
up his pillow and trying yet another position. “She’s a run buddy,
nothing more.”

But his body clearly disagreed with him, and
the more Kingston thought about her, the more turned on he found
himself getting. Flipping onto his back, he closed his eyes, trying
to dispel the vision his brain had conjured up of Nora in bed
beside him.
Don’t be a flake,
he admonished himself,
dragging his thoughts away from Nora and focusing on the barista
he’d been mooning over.
How can you forget those big brown
eyes?
Sure, Nora was fine to look at, but he was pretty sure he
was only obsessing over her because of their intimate cool down
session.
Quit thinking with your balls, boy.

Drawing his thoughts firmly away from the
runner, Kingston tried to recall the details of the other face that
had filled his mind for days.
I wish I knew her name.
He
focused on remembering every detail from the few times they’d met;
the way her hair hung in loose waves around her face; the sweet,
simple honesty that shone out of her gaze; the particular way her
apron clung to her in all the right places. Kingston smiled, but
his thoughts couldn’t quite let go of Nora, and in his tired state
just before he finally dropped off to sleep, Kingston decided that
the runner sort of reminded him of the barista.

He woke up with a stiff neck, and when he
rolled over to check the clock, he cursed softly. He’d slept way
past his alarm, which he realized with a sinking heart he’d never
set, and he sprang out of bed and started pulling on his clothes.
There was only one clean suit hanging in his closet, and Kingston
cursed himself again. “How did you forget to send out the dry
cleaning this weekend? Get it together, boy.” As his fingers
hurriedly buttoned up his crisp blue shirt, he promised himself
he’d stop mooning over the girl at the coffee shop. In fact, he
decided, he wouldn’t even go there for a week.

His resolve lasted until lunch time. No one
had chastised him for his late arrival at the office, although
Carrie had pouted angrily when he swept in, and Kingston had thrown
himself into work that morning to make up for being tardy. But
despite his best intentions, when he left the office at noon, his
feet led him directly to the little coffee shop, and he scanned the
space eagerly, hoping for a glimpse of her.