Modern - Chapter 3

I relaxed against Derren's muscular body and wrapped my arms loosely around his waist, returning his gentle hug. I had never been so affected by a kiss before. Sure, I'd had boyfriends, and I enjoyed kissing, but this was something else entirely!

Remembering Jace again, I started to pull back, but Derren held me close. "Who are you looking for?" he asked when I peeked over his shoulder to see if Jace was coming yet.

My eyes met his. I decided I should probably come clean. "I invited my downstairs neighbor to meet me here."

Derren looked at me for a second, then burst into laughter. Offended, I tried to pull away again, but he was really strong. I was considering taking more drastic measures when his laughter finally died off. "You don't know."

"What don't I know?" I asked, annoyed.

"I'm your new downstairs neighbor." He smiled a friendly, charming smile with just a hint of laughter still dancing in his eyes. "Nice to meet you."

I felt my anger drain away. Jace was gone already then. I expected to feel disappointed, but I felt surprisingly fine. In fact, knowing that Derren was the one who knocked and agreed to meet with me was actually a relief.

"Nice to meet you too." I returned his smile, then started giggling. He joined my laughter and we stood there, laughing and hugging, for a few minutes.

"Wow. I must have looked like a fool," I said when our mirth had subsided.

"Not a fool. Just a woman in a potentially difficult situation. You knew the guy who lived here before I did then?"

I felt a blush heat my cheeks as I shook my head. I looked away in embarrassment.

Derren hooked a finger under my chin and raised my eyes to meet his. "Hey, no worries. So you were interested in knowing him?"

I nodded, still too embarrassed to speak.

"Well, he's a fool for not giving you a chance. How long have you lived here?"

"Two years."

"And he was here the whole time?"

I nodded again.

"Yep, definitely a fool. He had no clue what he was missing out on." As if to illustrate his point, Derren leaned down and kissed me again. Unlike our first two kisses, this one remained soft and gentle. It was sweet.

When Derren pulled away, he looked surprised. "I don't know how you keep doing this to me. Are you some kind of enchantress?"

I laughed again. "You have quite a way with words. But I would say you're the one working magic here."

His expression turned tender. "Maybe we just make magic together."

I smiled softly back, caught in the gentle look in his eyes. He was looking at me like he was in love.

The thought acted like a bucket of water. I jerked back and frowned. I barely knew this man. Literally, I only knew where he lived, his name, and that he was an incredible kisser. What was I doing running forward with him like this? And thinking that he might love me? What did I think this was? Some kind of cheesy romance novel with a swoon-worthy hero and a delicate heroine and a bunch of love-at-first-sight garbage?

Derren frowned as well. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I don't even know you! We are complete strangers! This is crazy!"

His frown turned into an amused smile. "I would agree that it's crazy, certainly. But we aren't complete strangers. I know your name is Emmy. I know you live here, and that you have good taste in music. I know you're a great kisser." He added the last in a provocative whisper and I blushed again.

"Sure, but you don't know who I really am. I could be a psychopath or a serial killer for all you know."

"Technically, even people I know fairly well could be psychopaths or serial killers," he said very sensibly. "They're generally very good at hiding their true selves from those close to them."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Okay. Still, I feel like we should know each other before we. . . well, I'm not exactly sure what we're even doing."

He smiled again. "We're on a date. We're going to go to the pool and swim and talk and laugh together and I'm going to get to know you and you're probably going to learn more about me than you care to. Then I'm going to walk you to your door like a gentleman and ask for your number so I can take you on another date soon."

His deep, earnest voice gave me butterflies as he outlined what sounded, quite honestly, like the perfect evening.

"Do you need to change into a swimsuit?" he asked, looking at my cute dress with an appreciative smile.

"Nope. I came prepared."

"Then let's go." He let go and held out an arm like an old-fashioned gentleman escorting a lady. I laughed and took his arm, allowing him to lead me to the pool.

When we arrived, we busied ourselves with getting ready to swim. I definitely did not sneak peeks at his very muscular, attractive torso as he pulled off his t-shirt. And I definitely didn't catch him looking in my direction as I quickly stripped off my dress.

Once we were both in our suits, we jumped into the pool. The tension of our earlier shared kisses disappeared and I found it very easy to talk to Derren. He was in town for an unknown length of time to help one of the offices of his company with some problems. He grew up in New York City and loved it there.

He was the third of four children, the rest all girls. He was close to his sisters and his parents and visited them all as often as he could.

I told him about my parents, who lived in California and were pretty disappointed in me, and about my sister, Jenna, who was my best friend, even though she lived in Virginia. I also told him about my job, which I loved, as an administrative assistant in a large business.

We swapped fun childhood stories and embarrassing moments from high school. We were just starting to talk about more personal topics, like favorite foods and biggest fears, when a loud chorus of "That's Rock and Roll" by Shaun Cassidy began to play. I looked around in surprise, but Derren quickly swam to the edge of the pool and hopped out. Drying his hands on his t-shirt (neither of us had remembered towels, unfortunately), he picked up a phone and quickly answered.

"Jones," he said in a serious voice. I listened to his side of the conversation, wondering who had called him so late.

"Yep."

"It was smooth."

"I'll head in tomorrow."

"I know. I want to catch them off-guard."

"Tonight?" His sober expression turned into a frown.

"Yes sir. Alright."

"Thanks. You too. Goodbye."

He hung up and turned to me. "I've got to head in and do some last-minute work for my boss."

"Oh. Okay," I answered, disappointed.

"I'll see you again soon. I'm sorry to run off like this." I could hear the frustration in his voice and it lifted my spirits a little. At least he seemed as unhappy as I was to have our time together cut short.

"It's okay. We can finish this another time."

"I'd like that." He tossed me a half-hearted smile, grabbed his shirt and phone, and hurried off.

My heart fell. He didn't ask for my number. Or make new plans. I sighed. Apparently he wasn't as interested as I thought. Oh well. It wouldn't be too hard to forget him, right? But the last thought I had before I fell asleep that night was a memory of those kisses, and I knew it would be a long time before I forgot about my handsome, funny new neighbor.