Shifting the Night Away (28 page)

“Calm down,” I told myself, standing in front of my closet and staring at all the possible outfits inside. “It’s just a date. A first date. Kind of a second, if you count the drinks. And you already know the sex is good.”

As I tried to decide if I was brave enough to show any cleavage, I reflected on how my life would be
very
different if that online date hadn’t fallen through. Finally, I settled on a loose black top and a knee-length blue skirt that set off my legs wonderfully.

Checking my phone, I realized it was time to go. Riker was picking me up outside the dorms and I didn’t want to be late.

“Good luck!” Nora called as I rushed out the door. “Don’t forget to spill all the details as soon as you get home.”

“Always,” I promised, stepping out into the balmy night air.

Our dorm was on the second floor, so had to rush down the stairs to the curb outside. Thankfully Riker hadn’t arrived yet; when I checked my phone, I had a message from him saying he was on his way over.

Another message alert caught my attention. This one was from an unfamiliar number. Frowning, I opened it up and stared at the words.

Leaving town. I’ll be back for you. Tell your boyfriend I’m coming for him.

The area code was Belmont City, but I couldn’t think of anyone who could’ve sent it. It was obviously a wrong number. For a moment I considered returning the message, but a car pulled up in front of me before I could think of what to write.

“Princess.” Riker got out of the car and strode over to the passenger side, bowing comically. “Your carriage awaits.”

He opened the door for me, the picture of gentlemanly behavior down to his toes—except for the tattoos peeking out of his shirt, of course.

“I hope this one doesn’t turn into a pumpkin at midnight.” I slid inside, noticing the sleek interior.
Where does he get the money for all this stuff on a TA’s salary?
I would have to figure that out while I was figuring out why his eyes turned yellow sometimes. Our conversations so far had mostly devolved into more physical things, but I was determined to change that tonight. I wanted—no,
needed
—to find out more about him. Where he was from, what his family was like, if he had any gills.

I had to giggle at the last thought.

“What’s so funny?” Riker asked, as he slid into the driver’s side and put the car into gear. “We’re not even
at
the movie yet.”

“Just a thought I had.” I slid my hands down the leather interior beneath me. Makes and models weren’t exactly my speciality, but even I could tell quality from crap. “This is a nice car.”

“It isn’t mine, to tell you the truth.” There was some strange caution in his voice.

“A lot like that apartment.”

Suddenly there was tension in the air between us, and the date hadn’t even started.

“I know you’re curious,” Riker said, surprising me with his insight, “but it’s a painful subject for me. I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Okay.” My voice came out quiet, whispered. I felt embarrassed for asking. Just as quickly as that emotion came, though, another replaced it: anger.
There’s nothing wrong with being curious.
“We are on a first date, though. It would be nice if you’d tell me a little something about yourself.”

Riker was silent for an agonizing moment. He pulled out onto the main street in front of the university, his attention fixed on the road; for a while it seemed like he was going to ignore the subject, but as soon as we’d stopped at a red light he turned to me.

“Alright. I’ll tell you.” He took a deep breath, and I could see there was pain in his eyes at some memory still unknown to me. “My parents died when I was young. They didn’t have much of anything to leave me, and there was no generous family member to take me into their home. So I wound up in the foster system.”

I swallowed, suddenly regretting that I’d pushed him so hard. “I’m sorry.”

Riker’s eyes were distant, almost as if he were looking through me and into the past. “Someone took me in, clothed me and fed me. He wasn’t my father, or much of a father figure, but I was grateful. The car, the apartment, they were his, and he left them to me when… when he died.”

The light turned green, abruptly ending our conversation as Riker turned his attention back to the road. I could tell that it had cost him to tell me about his childhood.

“So that’s why you said the apartment isn’t yours—because it was his? But isn’t it yours now?”

He cleared his throat. “Something like that. Let’s just say I wasn’t the only person in his will, and leave it at that.”

Compared to my stable nuclear family, his sounded like a huge complication. “I’m sorry if I pried.”

Riker gave me a reassuring smile. “I wouldn’t have told you if I didn’t want you to know. It’s just tough to talk about, and a bit complicated.”

I had a feeling there were more details to the story, but I decided not to pry further. “Let’s talk about something more pleasant.”

“Yes, let’s. Tell me all about yourself, princess.”

For the first time, instead of annoying me, his little term of endearment made me smile.

Chapter Fifteen

A Date

The theater was cold, and mostly empty. I’d never been to this one before, but Riker had promised that it was worth going to; apparently, even though it was small, it was a special place to him.

“They’re the last cinema in this area to still have 35mm film projectors.” Tucking my hand into the crook of his arm, he led me towards the concessions. “I love the way they look. There’s nothing like the cigarette burns in the corner to make me nostalgic.”

“Cigarette burns?” I’d never heard the term before.

“Marks, on the upper right side of the frame. They let the projectionist know where a reel of film starts and stops.” My face must’ve been clueless, because he explained further. “The movie is film strips, right? Like in a roll of camera, but even bigger. So it ships to the theater in several smaller pieces, and the projectionist has to put them together. They even had to switch over manually between reels, before modern projectors were invented. The cigarette burn is a mark at the beginning and end of a reel. You can only see them for half a second, but they’re there every 20 minutes or so.”

“I’d never noticed,” I said, knowing that from now on, I’d be watching the screen for one. “You know a lot about this.”

“I’m a bit of a film buff.”
 

We’d reached the front of the concessions line. Riker asked me what I wanted, then ordered it for me; I tried to pay, but he was insistent. Between the tickets and the concessions, he was treating me quite a bit—and I was the one to ask him out.

“You’re going to make me have to give up my modern woman card,” I grumbled, even as I smiled at him to show it was a joke.

“It’s a mammal thing. The male of the species has to court the female, after all.” He handed me my small popcorn and drink, and we headed off to our theater.

So far, this date had been shockingly normal, especially when held up against my other experiences with Riker. This was no drunken make-out in the storage room of a bar, no one-night stand that ended awkwardly, and it definitely wasn’t a quick hookup on top of a professor’s desk. This was a
real
date, and somehow it was more nerve-wracking than any amount of casual sex could be.

Eyeing the careful way Riker opened doors for me and escorted me with my hand on his arm, I couldn’t help noticing he seemed at least a little nervous, too.
Good,
I thought, satisfied.
I’ll tame the bad boy yet.

We sat together near the back of the empty screening room.

“Remind me again what movie we’re watching?”

Riker chuckled. “You’re really not a classics fan, huh?
Bringing Up Baby
. It’s a classic Katherine Hepburn film.”

“I thought we were going to see some slapstick comedy,” I said.

“That wouldn’t be romantic.”

The tone in his voice made me melt into my chair just a little. More than a little, really. I tried to concentrate on the trailers instead; they quickly melted into the opening credits, by which point Riker had his hand on my knee. It stayed there all through the intro of the main character, a somewhat goofy paleontologist. The movie really picked up speed when the leading lady was introduced.

“You know,” he said, a moment after Katherine Hepburn waltzed onscreen, “you remind me of her.”

I tilted my head, trying to imagine my face next to hers. She had such classic, delicate features; next to Katherine, I was an oaf. “You’re only saying that because of the hair. I look nothing like her.”

His fingers curled around the inside of my leg, gently pulsing against my skin. “I think it’s the attitude as much as anything. She’s almost as fiery as you.”

“You think I’m fiery?” Warm sparks ignited inside me.

“When you want to be, you are.” His hand, which had been resting there through the whole intro, traveled up to my thigh. “I hope you’re not too into the movie, because I wasn’t planning on watching it too closely.”

We turned towards each other, the magnetism between us undeniable. I felt like a high schooler as we kissed, sneaking our passions in the dark. His lips were salty from the popcorn, his stubble rough against my lips. My thighs fell open to the touch of his hand as he slid it further and further up, caressing me beneath my skirt.

“What are you doing?” I whispered to him, afraid someone would notice.

“What do you
think
I’m doing?” His eyes seemed to glitter in the dark. I gasped when his fingertips pushed aside the edge of my panties, pressing up against my skin. Our lips met in a rough kiss, the theater and the movie falling to the background at the touch of his lips to mine.

Riker’s fingers curled up towards my clit as he pushed up the arm between our chairs and slid in next to me. With a curious hand, I reached over and pressed my palm against his crotch, feeling his erection through layers of fabric.

“No,” he said, pulling my hand away. “I want to feel you come. Just you.”

I whimpered at the desire in his voice. “Then do it. Make me come.”

He growled, that strange feral look in his eyes. Riker’s hands were insistent on me, his fingers dipping inside my entrance. I moaned, the sound soft but unmistakable in the near-empty theater. He silenced me with the palm of his other hand, pressing my head up against the back of the chair.

Moaning against his skin, I let my eyes fall shut and gave in to his fingers. They pressed against my clit and dived inside my wetness at the same time, curling up inside me. Riker’s breath was hot against my neck as he buried his face against me; it was clear he got off on touching my pussy, which turned me on even further.

“That’s it baby,” he said, pushing deeper inside me, “take what you need.”

I twisted in my seat, writhing against him as his fingers picked up rhythm, working and twisting on and inside me. The anticipation was unbearable; for a moment it was all I could do not to cry out or bite down on his hands.

A moment later, he coaxed me just right, and relief came as I orgasmed against his hand. He groaned as my pussy clenched down on his fingers. I rode him through my orgasm, all-too-aware that my skirt had hiked up to my thighs and if anyone looked closely they’d see me on display.

“Good girl,” Riker murmured as I relaxed into my seat. He took his hand off my mouth and rearranged my skirt so no one could see that his hand was still touching me, caressing me as I came down from that high. “I couldn’t resist you. Your face right now…” He kissed my cheek.

I chuckled and squirmed against his hand. “How can you even see my face? It’s pitch black in here.”

It might’ve been my imagination, but Riker seemed to stiffen uncomfortably at my words. He pulled his hand away and adjusted back into his own seat, leaving me cold.

“I have good eyes.”

There was something strange about him beneath all the chemistry and attraction we shared. My question seemed to have shut him down, and for the rest of the movie his eyes barely drifted from the screen.

***

I came back to the dorms practically floating on air.

After the movie, Riker and I strolled down the main thoroughfare in Belmont, the cool night air whispering around us. He lent me his jacket to cover my cold shoulders, and our hands shyly brushed up against each other.