Page 37 of Touch in the Dark

I feel Joel watching me and turn to him.

“Your face is practically glowing,” he laughs, touching both of his palms to my cheeks. “And you’re freezing! Here,” he takes off his scarf and lifts it over my head.

“No, you don’t have to,” I protest but he is already wrapping it around me, making sure it’s tucked up against my neck.

“I don’t need it, I run hot.”

“Do you now?”

I give him a coy look and he stares at me. “Joel,” I nudge him.

“Yeah?”

“Someone is calling you,” I laugh and point at the guy behind us who has been shouting his name.

“Oh shit, sorry!” he calls to the man. “I gotta go. Are you gonna hang around? A few of us are gonna go grab a couple of drinks when we wrap.”

It’s late, I’m tired but he nudges his shoulder against me.

“Come on, just a couple of drinks, please?”

“Don’t beg,” I tell him. “But fine. I’ll come.”

“Awesome,” he stands looking at me again, his eyes focused on mine.

“Joel, dammit, stop eye fucking the makeup chick and get over here.”

Joel laughs, bends down and kisses my cheek, extremely close to my mouth, but not touching it. My lips part in surprise. “I’ll come find you.”

“I’ll be here,” I say.

I have a nervous, fluttery feeling in my chest, but in a good way. I’m not scared. I should have called him yesterday, but I chose not to, I stayed home working on my taxes of all things, but they need to be done. I’m glad though because this is more spontaneous, it doesn’t feel forced, and I like that. Joel has been so welcoming and didn’t think twice about inviting me along with his friends. That is the kind of date I need.

I’m still smiling when I glance around and notice a couple of women looking over at me. Neither of them looks overly happy and I wonder if it is because Joel just made a show of being mesmerized by me, then kissed me. One of the women eventually turns away but the other holds my gaze, and her eyes are full of loathing. Shit, it’s the actress, Holly, from the sex scene we filmed the other day. The one who makes people cry. What the heck is her problem?

Oh, I glance after Joel who is laughing with another camera operator as they get set up on the seats behind their cameras. Looking back, I see Holly glance at Joel too, then back to me. I think she’s on the verge of making the throat slitting gesture. I haven’t seen Joel show any interest in her, but I’ve not been around him a lot on set. If I’m overstepping, I’ll back off, I’m not about stealing anyone’s guy, but something tells me that isn’t it.

Well, I’ll ask him and if he isn’t involved, then he’s fair game. And I promised the girls I would try, so that is what I’m going to do. All the set ups have been disasters, but this is completely natural, we met, we’re clearly attracted to each other, so I’m not walking away. Especially not for her royal bitchiness over there. I risk another glance, she is still glaring but someone calls her, and she turns with a hair flick that has me stifling a laugh.

Bring it on.

The bar we go to isn’t that far from where we were shooting, there are mostly crew with us although I’m at a table with just Joel and one other guy, who he’s introduced to me as his cousin, Jamie. They’re both fun and we are getting on really well. Joel has been getting more tactile, sitting closer, making sure I’m comfortable, including me in all of their wild stories of adventures they’ve been on. They’re both so fascinating. I’m having a fantastic time.

Joel assures me he’s single. I didn’t ask about that particular actress but told him I just wanted to make sure. He’d looked at me funny but promised with a cross over his heart that he is. It is good enough for me. When she arrives, I see him notice but he scowls then turns away, giving her no attention whatsoever. I suspect there is a story there, but I don’t want to know what it means and instead focus on having fun myself.

Jamie heads to the bathroom and Joel uses his feet to drag my stool closer to him. I cry out in shock, but he grabs my elbow and waist to steady me, and I laugh at my panic. Joel doesn’t remove his arm from behind me. We’ve both had a few bottles of beer and my cheeks are sore from all the laughing. He sweeps his hand up to brush some hair back and his thumb lightly traces over my cheekbone.

“Can I kiss you?”

“No one has ever asked if they could kiss me before,” I breathe out.

“I’m conscientious like that,” he says with a slight grin. “So?”

I rub my lips together, staring into his eyes and I nod. He puts his palm against my cheek and pulls me towards him. My heart is thundering in my chest. He’s really gentle initially but as our lips press together, he becomes firmer and holds me closer. I part my lips and his tongue pushes in. I meet his and they swirl together as his hand tightens at my waist. We kiss until a throat clears and Joel pulls back and looks over his shoulder at his cousin.

“Seriously, bro?” he frowns at him.

“They’re closing,” Jamie points out.

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