Fast acting, p.5
Fast Acting, page 5
“You ready?” Simon asked Colin.
“Yep. Russ? You ready?”
Russell put down his glass and moved to the corner of the room where his guitar case rested against the wall. Lifting it, he said, “Let’s do this.”
Walking out to the lawn behind the hotel, they made their way to a cluster of chairs set up facing the bay. An older woman in a dark pantsuit stood in front of them, holding a leather portfolio. A few of the guests were already seated. Snagging a chair from the back, Russell brought it around to the side of the officiant, angling it so he could face both the guests and the wedding party. He unsnapped his guitar case and brought the instrument out, tuning it while he waited for the signal to begin. Colin went to the justice of the peace and had a few quiet words.
Activity from the door of the hotel made Russell lift his head. Kathleen was striding across the lawn in a dress that made his heart pound. The top crossed in the front and showed every curve of her breasts and waist. The skirt whipped around her legs in the coastal breeze. And she was smiling at him, her eyebrows lifted.
“I had no idea you were going to be displaying your talents,” she said as she drew near, nodding at his guitar.
“I’m full of surprises. Are they ready?”
She nodded.
He took a deep breath to settle his nerves as she moved to tell Colin. When she turned to sit and Colin gave him a thumbs-up, Russell nodded and began to pluck the opening chords of a Renaissance composition by John Dowland, reviewing the lyrics in his mind even though there was nobody to sing them.
Come again, sweet love doth now invite…
Kathleen held her breath as Russell began to play. The tune was stately, yet sweet, his fingers sure on the instrument. The song conjured up images of a woman at a high window, leaning out to hear a man play a lute in the garden beneath. The guests turned to look back at the hotel and rose as Alicia came out, holding her sister’s hand and a bouquet of lilies of the valley. Kathleen glanced back at Colin, blinking back a surge of emotion when she saw the telltale sheen of tears across his eyes. When the women came to a stop next to Colin, Grace hugged her sister and moved back to join the rest of the guests.
Now it was just the two of them, standing before the justice of the peace as the final notes of the guitar faded away and the guests seated themselves. The ceremony was short and simple, and when the justice pronounced them married, the kiss they shared was brief and tender. Russell started playing again, something sprightly and brisk, contrasting with the earlier tune’s slower tempo.
Kathleen stood, the light, sweet scent of Alicia’s bouquet floating in her wake as the newly married couple walked by. The rest of the group started to move back to the hotel, but Kathleen waited as Russell finished playing and packed up his guitar.
“That was lovely,” she said as he moved to join her.
“Thank you.” His face was happy, yet solemn and she wondered if he was remembering his own wedding, how the marriage eventually ended.
Her belly fluttered with sudden nerves. “Shall we join the others?” Kathleen glanced at the little group that had almost reached the hotel again.
“One moment.”
“What?” Looking back at Russell, he had an odd look on his face. The confident guy she had come to know a little had been replaced by someone who looked unsure, tentative.
“Just wondering if it’s wrong or cool to be wanting to kiss someone right after your friend’s wedding.”
Kathleen blinked, thoughts of his former wife banished. “I think as long as it’s not the bride you want to kiss, you’re in the clear.”
“Okay then.”
“So, it’s not the bride?”
A crooked smile brought out that dimple. “No.”
She could feel her own answering smile curve her lips. “Good. Is it me?”
“Yes.”
“What are you waiting for?”
“That, I guess.” Putting his guitar case on the grass, he stepped up to her and cradled her cheeks in his palms, his eyes roaming over her face before lowering his mouth to hers. Kathleen’s eyes fluttered closed as their lips touched and his hands moved to the back of her head, fingers tangling in her hair. Russell’s mouth moved gently over hers and Kathleen slid her hands around his neck, urging him closer, angling her head to draw him deeper. He complied, his tongue teasing the seam of her lips. Sighing, Kathleen opened her mouth and their tongues slid together, curling and teasing. The faint taste of whiskey made her smile.
“What are you smiling about, Irish?” His soft murmur teased at her lips.
“You’ve got a little Irish in you. I can taste it.”
Russell chuckled. “Well, you taste like champagne.”
“And I’ll be very careful not to go overboard today. I don’t want you leaving me at my hotel room door tonight.”
“You sure about that?”
“Very.”
He picked up his guitar case and offered her his free arm. “Well, then. Let’s go celebrate.”
Chapter 6
For a guy who’d just experienced a world-rocking first kiss with the woman he’d been lusting after for twenty-four hours straight, Russell felt oddly calm.
Did he want to skip the cocktail hour before dinner, carry Kathleen off to a room, and continue what they had started? Sure.
But he was also okay with waiting. The anticipation had a pleasant edge to it, a buzz like the moment before unwrapping a present.
Kathleen was beside him, describing some outing to help Alicia pick out a dress—no, not just a dress, a ball gown—to Brandon’s wife, Mari. Russell had met Colin’s law partner and his wife a few times in the past. They were an odd pair, but they seemed to suit each other. Brandon, solid and reliable, was counterbalanced by his creative, even somewhat obsessive video game designer wife.
“We were at the party she wore that to! The USA Science Fair Gala.” Mari said. “That dress was phenomenal.”
Brandon’s eyebrows lifted and he looked into his drink with a small smile. “It’s not every day that Mari gets excited about an item of clothing that doesn’t have a superhero or a robot on it.” It was probably true. Even the dress that Mari was wearing now was patterned to look like the BB-8 droid from Star Wars. The orange design complemented her bright copper curls.
“That’s super cute, though,” Kathleen said, nodding at the droid dress.
“I’m a programmer. I live in jeans and tee shirts.” Mari shrugged. “Go geek or go home.”
Kathleen laughed and Russell admired the line of her throat as she threw her head back. His eyes traveled down the length of her neck, then the chain of the necklace that had enticed him yesterday. That green dress that clung to every curve…
Yes, just like unwrapping a present.
Russell selected an hors d’oeuvre from a tray offered by a waiter and popped it in his mouth, chewing slowly, focusing on the taste of savory beef, tangy horseradish, and crunchy baguette while trying to ignore the urge to wrap his arm around Kathleen’s waist and pull her against him the way Brandon was with Mari.
Brandon and Mari were married. He and Kathleen just met yesterday. Was he starting to feel like they had known each other for much longer? Yes. Was his ease with her lulling and comfortable?
Oh, hell yeah.
But his inner gentleman was giving him the side-eye. Don’t rush it. Don’t assume. Don’t make a scene at your friend’s wedding. Wait.
This little group knew each other or knew of each other. They all had to know that he and Kathleen had only met for the first time yesterday. Too much public display of affection would be taken the wrong way. And for excellent reasons.
The private display that was promised—no. Don’t think about that right now.
Keep on the straight and narrow.
Savor the anticipation.
“How did you guys meet?” Kathleen asked Brandon and Mari. The question was almost automatic. While she usually loved hearing a couple’s “how we met” story, she didn’t feel her usual burning curiosity. But she needed to fill time. Her entire body was thrumming with anticipation. Russell’s kiss had been so promising, left her with so much unsatisfied desire.
And she had a cocktail hour and a dinner to get through. At the very least. She was pretty sure even at this unconventional, casual wedding, the notion of putting on music and dancing after dinner was going to be proposed. For a wedding, this group was tiny—a discreet slipping away to bed for one guest? Maybe unexceptional. Two? Especially two who had been flirting with each other for the last twenty-four hours? It would definitely be noticed.
It wasn’t exactly a scandal for two consenting adults in this day and age, but Kathleen felt echoes of the old family pressure at events like this. Her parents, ever concerned with how things looked, had rigidly enforced the Fitzgerald kids’ behavior, at least in public. Things like Kathleen’s joking had to be toned down, her brother’s restlessly jiggling knee in Mass would be clamped on by her father’s big hand.
And frankly, sneaking out of your friends’ wedding early to get it on with someone you only met yesterday was tacky.
Belatedly, she realized Mari had started speaking, answering her question. Kathleen returned her attention to the conversation.
“—Dad’s attorney for his business and then for family stuff. And my dad liked him, so he got invited to family dinners a lot. So, we—my sister Ellie and I—got to know him pretty well. And he helped us sell the business when dad died. Then Ellie and I hired him when we started our own mobile gaming company.”
“So it was just my legal skills you valued. Nice to know,” Brandon said, his eyes twinkling as he looked at his wife.
“You were always there. You took care of us,” she said, looking up at him with a weight of meaning in her expression that said he had done more than just review contracts. The intimacy of the moment was almost too much for Kathleen and she looked away, only to meet Russell’s gaze. His expression was understanding, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking.
Or maybe she wanted to be understood so badly she was imagining things. Either way, the appealing dimple had reappeared in his cheek and she wanted to press her lips to it.
“How did you two meet?” Mari asked.
Odd question. “Um. He offered to help me with my suitcase.”
“Aww. That’s sweet—when was that?”
Awareness dawned. Apparently not everyone knew they’d only met the day before. Mari clearly thought they were a couple. Kathleen bit her lip to keep from smiling. “Just yesterday, in fact. When we arrived. Here.”
A deep flush mantled Mari’s round, densely freckled cheeks. “Oh, I thought you were dating…you seem so…I feel stupid now.” Her eyes slid sideways in a wry glance at her husband.
“Don’t. I thought the same thing,” Brandon said, his brows rising.
The dimple in Russell’s cheek deepened. “I guess weddings bring that out in people.”
Kathleen wondered if he meant Brandon and Mari’s inclination to mentally pair people off or their semi-clandestine kiss and promise for later. Was she just an embodiment of the cliché of weddings making people horny? No. She had been interested in at least meeting Russell from the first moment she had heard about him in the dressing room she’d shared with Alicia and Wendy.
This was something more.
“What say we have a bit of a dance?” Colin asked after dinner. “Who’s got a phone stuffed with excellent music? Does the hotel have a sound system we can plug into? Why didn’t I plan this better?”
“Because you hardly planned it at all, dearest. You left most of it to me and I had no interest in planning anything,” Alicia said with a lifted eyebrow. “But dancing would be fun. Can anyone come to our rescue?”
Simon waved his phone and Grace said she had some wireless speakers in her room. As she went to retrieve them and the guests began to rise and push the tables and chairs to the side of the room, Russell leaned over and murmured in Kathleen’s ear, trying to ignore that elusive perfume, tantalizing his nose. “You mentioned you can sing? So well that you’ve got it on your résumé?”
“Yes.” Her eyes danced with curiosity and even a bit of mischief.
“Do you know The Very Thought of You?”
“By heart.”
“Good. Come with me.” Interlacing her fingers in his, he led her to the end of the room where an upright piano sat. Praying it was in tune, he sat and opened it, playing a few experimental chords. Phew. Good enough.
“Russell, you’re going to honor us again?” Alicia asked.
“I’m going to do you one better. Ladies and gentlemen, the vocal stylings of Miss Kathleen Fitzgerald,” he said, nodding at her as he began to play the intro to the smoky jazz standard. Turning to fix Colin with a wry look, he said, “Your first dance as newlyweds shouldn’t be to a song played off a phone.” Swiveling back to the piano, he focused on his fingers moving over the keys, hoping this improvisation would come off.
Kathleen picked up the tune smoothly and his eyebrows rose. Her speaking voice was low and throaty and he had assumed her singing voice would also be in the alto range. But she came in an octave higher than he expected, her voice soaring in the chorus, sustained and sweet in the verse. He caught her eye, saw a twinkle, and knew she had registered his surprise. Then her gaze shifted and softened, presumably taking in the sight of Colin and Alicia dancing. He couldn’t turn around and play at the same time, but at least for now the appreciative glow on Kathleen’s face was enough.
When the song ended, Russell held his foot on the sustain pedal to allow the final chord to fade away naturally and swiveled on the stool to catch the last moments as Colin and Alicia swayed together, her body tucked up against his, neither of them having eyes for anyone other than each other.
Russell suddenly wanted very much to dance.
“Damn.” Kathleen’s eyes felt in imminent danger of flooding in a way they hadn’t during the brief marriage ceremony, despite that tiny moment of teariness when she’d witnessed Colin’s emotion. The wedding had been perfectly nice, but it had felt like what it was: the simple, no-frills formalizing of the relationship Colin and Alicia already had.
This dance was the actual expression of it.
Gulping, she sent up silent thanks that she had been able to keep her emotions at bay while she sang. She didn’t have the talent some had of being able to sing and cry at the same time. Her throat would close up and her voice would go almost entirely away…and what remained wasn’t something anyone wanted to hear.
Russell stood up from the piano stool, closing the instrument. “That was lovely. Thank you.”
Blinking and hoping her face didn’t show her sudden rush of emotion, she forced a smile. “No, thank you. It was nice to be able to do something for them.” Her gaze flicked over to the other side of the room where Simon and Grace were setting up the music. Simon appeared to be searching for something on his phone, then tapped the screen and set it down. Dianne Reeve’s version of How High the Moon streamed out of the speakers.
Russell extended a hand. “I’ll give it to Colin’s brother. He knows how to extend a theme. Jazz standards are perfect for a wedding in my not so humble opinion. Shall we?”
Kathleen laid her hand in his. “I’d love to.”
Backing toward the impromptu dance floor, Russell drew her into the curve of one arm, his other hand clasping hers as they began to move across the floor. Kathleen, resting her hand on the smooth wool of his jacket and responding to his guidance, glanced up at his face, her jaw sagging in astonishment at the confident, practiced grace of his motion across the floor.
“You’ve taken ballroom classes.”
His eyes crinkled with his smile and that damn dimple reappeared again. “Blame my parents. And my older sisters.”
Her mind whirred and stuck. She had met few non-actors with actual ballroom dance training. “How? Why?”
He chuckled, the vibration against her body making her tingle. “My parents were…proper. Very concerned with rules and etiquette.”
Kathleen laughed and let her forehead rest briefly on his shoulder. “Oh, I know that one.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yes. The Fitzgeralds may have been demons on the croquet court and at home, but we were required to be very…correct in public. Dad’s reputation as a scholar, you see.”
“Interesting. Well, by the time I was called upon to learn to dance with a lady, I already had plenty of experience. My older sisters had taught me so they could practice for their own classes.”
“Wow. Well…” she let the sentence hang as he spun her out and reeled her in, his touch sure, anchoring and supporting her as she responded to his lead and came to rest against his chest. “You were an apt pupil.”
“You’re not such a bad dancer yourself.” The glint in his eye communicated the real compliment behind the nonchalant words
Kathleen laughed, her heart thudding from the exertion and the heat of Russell’s chest against her own. “You’re forgetting. This kind of stuff goes on my résumé. It’s practically a professional requirement to know how to dance.”
“Even for a Shakespearian actress?”
Kathleen arched an eyebrow as she twirled under his arm. “You don’t know much about actresses if you think all I do is Shakespeare.”
“True enough. Alicia’s doing television now.” Her premium cable political drama was into its second season with more than enough critical buzz and popularity to assure it a third.
“And Alicia’s lucky,” Kathleen said, her eyes drifting to her friend swaying in her husband’s arms.
“Oh, really? Is Colin all that? I can tell you for a fact that his prowess on the weight bench is…well…” Russell paused, eyes rolling towards the ceiling as if searching for difficult words. Finally heaving a dramatic breath, he continued. “Okay, fine. It’s impressive. Dude can lift. I tried to hide it, but I can’t.” Russell’s chest deflated and his head dipped, then rose again, his eyes twinkling with humor.
