Connexion

Part 28

He glanced at his watch, and wondered why Melanie was taking so much time to collect her bag and coat. He peered over Jena's shoulder but could not see Melanie in the hallway. So he thought it best if he restarts the conversation.

"Have you lived here for long?" Innocuous question, surely she would not take umbrage and or become testy. But given their experience, anything would result in an argument, albeit coating with shrewd words.

"Depends." She knew she was being awkward but she maintained her smile. Her heart was still racing. She folded her arms. This was silly. This man means nothing. Obviously handsome, even with the scars, but given his personality does not meet her requirement, why was her heart racing?

"Depends on what?" He looked back at her. He also recognized that while his pulse was racing, it was not racing because of Melanie. That is something he would think about later.

Jena shrugged, "Your definition of 'long'. You know, how long you know someone, five minutes, five days..."

"I see." He interrupted and again banked his smile. He was startled by a thought, when he recognized he liked stubborn women, well, just this one! "Say, five years or two years?" He thought her fractious statements revealed her mood.

The man was definitely teasing her. Enough! "Under five years." She unfolded her arms and narrowed her eyes.

He kept his eyes on her. Pasted a smile and nodded before asking, "And you like living here?"

Yes." She raised an eyebrow, challenging him again.She liked living here. Like the simplicity, the fact it was close to her work, no commute, and she love the fact it was beside the water. She would come home, and if she had a bad day, within seconds, all her problems and anxieties would vanish. Well, until this piranha and cockroach!

"Unusual abode." He mumbled beneath his breath and took note of the interior revealed by the hallway. It was very different to the outside. Outside, no-frills, functional concrete! Inside was sumptuous, revealed style, but unpretentious. "I am told a house mirrors the owner. Does it match you?"

Then a car pulled into the driveway, its lights making a sweep through the front door as the headlights beamed and then winked out.

Jena ignored Caleb's question and stepped past Caleb, she was pretty sure she knew the owner of the car. "Excuse me." In her bare feet she sauntered down the two steps and along the grass and pebble verge that tracked the gravel footpath.

Caleb's eyes tracked her movement, and again it gave him an opportunity to review his reaction to this woman. Something about this woman. He was intrigued and aroused by her, he accepted that. Obviously she had piqued his interest, probably because she had challenged him, and his decisions about his social life. His heart was racing, while his mind warned him he was here, because he was taking someone else on a date!

He thought he was not interested in mulish women, or pig-headed people, but he was enjoying this repartee with Jena. And he also knew he valued tenacity and trustworthiness, and this woman has spades of obstinacy, and her actions showed she was also very loyal. But there was more. And his intuition suggested he had barely scratched the surface of her character. Something about her was now lodged in his mind and heart. Something about this connection suggested it was not temporary. It was unusual. And unexpected. And thrilling. Something in him was stimulated, beyond just a lust connection. Awakened feelings that was new to him. But again, he thought he would review at a later time.

She had just reached the car when Kevin turned off the engine. "Kev, hang on a sec. You're going to have to move your car, Kev." Jena told the man in the car. She was pretty sure she left Caleb at her door, because she could not stop her pulse racing, because her interest in him was surfacing in her heart and mind.

Kevin rolled his car window down and his head peaked out of the window, "What? Why?" He could see his friend's cars and he assumed they would leave together, or at least depart around the same time, later this night.

Well dinner would be interesting tonight, because he noted there was an expensive car in the drive. And he knew his friends could not afford the Bentley currently parked on Jena's drive. Kevin wondered who Jena had invited to join them. For none in their tax-bracket-friends drove expensive cars. Kevin was definitely impressed by the car parked directly in front of his car. His mind was focused on resurrecting what details he knew about Jena's social group. Kevin frowned, he was pretty sure, none of Jena's friends would have a Bentley Continental GT convertible!

Melanie and Caleb appeared at the front door. Kevin looked at Jena "Isn't that Caleb Harland?" Kevin's eyes rounded when he recognized the man leaving Jena's house. Kev blinked and again looked back at the front door, "Isn't that Caleb Harland?" Kevin repeated his question. Awe in his voice. His hero was at Jena's door!

Jena replied not bothering to watch Caleb or Melanie. "Yes, Kev! " Jena muttered. What was the problem with the male of this specie: just because someone races a car or a motorcycle they are wonderful!

"Really?" Kev blinked. Perhaps Jena had invited Caleb Harland to her house. Unlikely!