Emerge (15 page)

“A better friend, the best.” It hurts a little when I say it.

“And I am?”

“Interesting.” I feel him shake lightly against me, laughing.

“I find you quite interesting as well, Laney,” he doesn’t exactly say it; more like pours it slowly in my ear.

“I’m not.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

“What does that mean?” I know my voice is shaking and barely a whisper, but holding a conversation when you can barely breathe is a challenge.

“It means, Laney, that I want to get to know you better.”

“Why?”

“Something tells me, has been telling me, I should.”

“Okay, well, I was about to leave.”

“I don’t mean tonight. I’m all for you leaving here as soon as possible. Tomorrow, spend the day with me; whatever you want to do.”

“I’ll think about it.” And I will; I’m actually considering it.

“The song’s over, Laney, so I’ll let you go, for now…but tomorrow,” he says, lifting my hand to his mouth, placing a kiss.

And with that, I go back to Zach, who has detained Bennett, and we head home. Falling asleep, I almost send a text to Evan, but stop myself
.

Leave him be, Laney.

Chapter 21

Laney Day

~Laney~

M
y phone wakes me up; a number I don’t recognize. “Hello?”

“Good morning, Disney, sleep well?” How does Dane have my number? Not that I mind he has it, but I have
got
to talk to Bennett about her big mouth.

“Good morning, Dane, you’re up early,” I mumble sleepily. Seriously, do I know a guy who sleeps in?

“I couldn’t wait to get started. I don’t want to waste a single minute of this day with you.”

“I don’t remember saying yes yet.” We both know I’m going to say yes, who am I kidding?

“Ah, but you didn’t say no, and I’m hopeful.”

“I don’t know…What would we do?”

“I told you, anything you want.”

“Noooo, you were brave enough to call me, aren’t you brave enough to set the agenda?” I snicker as I put his words back on him.

He chuckles. “Touché, Disney. Yes, if you say I can make the plans, I’d be happy to do so. Is there anything you can’t or won’t do, like any phobias I should be aware of?”

Is he kidding? What the hell is he planning? “Let’s see…I would prefer not to jump off or out of anything. I get cold really easily and I’m allergic to walnuts. Other than that, I think I’m good.”

He’s laughing heartily now. “Oh Laney, you make me smile. Wear comfortable shoes, I’ll be there within the hour.”

“Well, okay then, bossy boots, I’ll see you then.”

When I hang up, I think of Evan. I wonder if he’s spending time with other girls. Time meaning, doing stuff other than sticking his drunken face in their chest of course, cause I’m pretty sure Dane has better plans for today than that.

I shake off the thoughts and jump out of bed, rushing through a shower, brushing my teeth, and throwing on faded jeans, a jersey t-shirt and some red kicks. I quickly dry my hair and pull it through the back of my favorite ball cap; cute earrings and some lip gloss later, I’m set just in time for the knock at the door.

“Good morning,” I say cheerfully, taking a minute to look him over.

Dark, sexy jeans that hang oh so right, a gray henley and Doc boots, still the cross necklace and perfect hair.
Looking forward to today—I am! I am!

“So, whadda ya think?” He grins with one side of his mouth and that single cocky eyebrow as he notices my perusal.

“I’ve seen better,” I say with a shrug of my shoulder.

“I haven’t.” He winks…every time I see him.

“Oh, please, like I even remotely believe that. You don’t strike me as a cheesy lines guy, so don’t ruin it now.” I wink at him this time.

He takes my hand, guiding me down the hall. “Disney, I say almost nothing I don’t really mean. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen anything better.”

Giddy with his sweet words, I ask, “so where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” He helps me into his very nice silver car. That’s all I know—silver, two doors, not a truck, looks expensive. He walks around the front, which I pay way too much attention to, and climbs in the driver’s seat. “You want music?”

“You know the answer to that.”

“So I do, Disney.” He shoots me an adorable sidelong glance and starts the car and the music.

Is that? Oh, surely not.
I thought I was the only person my age who knew ELO. My dad played them on records for God’s sake! Anything could have just played, some cliché, sound-the-same crap…but it was ELO. This little surprise is doing funny things to my head.

“Have you eaten?” he asks.

“I was in bed when you called,” I titter. “No, I haven’t eaten.”

“Me either, shall we start with that? I don’t want you hungry.”

I agree that sounds fine and a few minutes later we pull up to a little café on a historic district street. I wonder how he knows of this place.

We opt to sit outside on the back deck; it has a great view of the lake. The houses around the water are spectacular. I always wonder when I see houses like that,
what the heck do those people do for a living?
My dad used to always tell me, “Slugger, money like that comes two ways. You’re born to it or you screw somebody else out of it.”

My dad is the hardest worker I know—any day, any shift; and we struggled. These houses are three stories with private sanded beaches and stone steps from their lower decks to the water. I wonder if they ever stop and take it all in. Do they appreciate what they have or do they wish they had the one across the water, cause it has more windows?

“Do you know what you want?” His question pulls me from my thoughts.

“I have absolutely no idea.” I’m not just talking about the menu and I think he knows that. “I’ll just have what he’s having,” I tell the waitress. “So, are you going to tell me what we’re doing today?”

“Nope, you’ll see. Are you not big on surprises, Disney?”

“Yes and no. I love good surprises. I get ants in my pants but I don’t like the lingering fear from knowing most of them don’t turn out that way. I have to really trust the person to know the surprise will be good.”

“I hope to make everything wonderful. If it’s not, you tell me, okay, Laney? Today and always, just tell me, and I’ll fix it.” He smiles warmly and I see sincerity in it, warming me to the idea of more time with this guy.

Our food arrives and it smells wonderful. Blueberry stuffed strudel, and the first bite confirms it— Dane has excellent taste. “Mmmmm,” escapes me despite the mouthful.

“You like?”

“Oh my God, like is far from the right word. It may be the best thing I’ve ever eaten.”

“Yeah, I love this place. Next time we’ll get the strawberry chip pancakes. You can go ahead and thank me now,” he laughs as he puts a piece of heaven in his mouth.

“Thank you,” I say, a bit embarrassed, looking down at the table. Of course I was going to thank him at the end of the meal.

“No, Laney.” He drops his fork and reaches across for my hand with a soft chuckle. “I meant you’ll be thanking me for introducing you to the pancakes.”

“Oh, well, thank you for that, and this.”

He kisses the back of my hand he’s holding. “Thank you for joining me.”

I look down, focusing on my dish rather than the rush of emotions surging through me
.

“Laney, how is it possible you have no idea how captivating you are?”

Evan asked me something similar once, I remember it melted me to learn he thought that way…
Evan.

“Knowing me so little, what can you possibly mean?” This is a test. If he leads with the word hot, smokin’, tits, or ass, he’s taking me home.

“Girls came in and out of that room all night. The only one I noticed was you. Not just that you’re gorgeous, you are, but a lot of them were pretty.” He glances out the window briefly before turning back to me with a serious tone to his expression. “But you, I remember you asked, ‘
so you live three to this room?’
and your voice, I couldn’t have not turned around. The more we all talked; your wit, your sarcasm, and the innocent but curious sparkle in your eye…I don’t know, I just found myself dying to hear what you’d say next.” He takes a deep breath, like a witness would when their testimony is finally over. “Oh and then the princess pajamas; I can’t remember ever seeing anything cuter in my life.”

We both laugh at that.  

“Dane, I…”

“Don’t be nervous, Laney, I just want to spend time with you. I want to get to know you.” He leans over the table on his elbows, bringing his face closer to mine. “There’s something great about you, the way I feel when you’re in a room. I want to see if my instincts are right about you, and those tell me that any kind of time with you is worth spending.”

“Okay, we’ll spend time together. I’d like to get to know you, too.” I offer him a tentative smile and take another bite so I don’t have to talk anymore.

He leans back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head and crossing one leg over his knee. “Best news I’ve heard all day,” he coyly replies.

MK
Studios is the sign on the building we pull up to and I turn to Dane. “What is this place?”

“It’s our first stop on Laney Day.” His lips curve up a bit hesitant of a full smile; he’s nervous.

“Breakfast was our first stop, and an excellent one at that.”

“I stand corrected; this is stop two, come on.” He comes around to open my door, extending his hand to me.

The receptionist greets him immediately. “Mr. Kendrick, so good to see you.”

Mr. Kendrick?
He’s like twentyish years old.

“Thank you, Angela. I believe Paul is expecting us. This is Laney Walker.”

“Of course, come on back.”

Come on back? Who is expecting me for what?
Breathe, Laney, breathe.
I agreed to let him make the plans, and I agreed to go with him today in the first place, so time to man up.

Paul is a fascinating man, definitely same-sex oriented, and apparently he loves me and I’m his darling. I love the way he says both, incessantly. It becomes clear very quickly that I’m here for a photo shoot, and I suddenly feel nauseous. Surely this isn’t a normal first date, well, this isn’t a date, but this is as intimidating of an event as it gets…Dane is a “go big or go home” guy apparently.

“Dane,” I lean to him and whisper. “What the hell?! I can’t do this!
Why
would I do this? If you think I’m putting on some lingerie and posing, I’m gonna run out of here…and I’ll be nixing the whole ‘spend time together thing,’ you perv.”

He rubs water from his eyes he’s laughing so hard. “Oh Disney, never quit talking, please.” He catches his breath. “I
already
know you well enough to know lingerie would never be an option, and while I’m confident you’d look fabulous,” he winks, “I wouldn’t orchestrate for other people to see you in it.”

Oh Lord, good answer; I feel heated, and oddly flattered.

“I want you to see how beautiful you are, accomplished perfectly with clothes on. Now go with Paul and I’ll wait here.”

I start to slowly drag my feet in the direction of Paul.

“And Laney!”

I turn back to look at him.
The little sneak.

“Have fun.”

Paul puts me in a silky, flowing dress of beautiful light green with a cream overlay. I argue with him a bit about it being a dress because I don’t do dresses, but he assures me that he does this for a living and I look marvelous. “I think Mr. Dane wants you to see what he sees. Let me bring that out for you. Trust me.”

I go with it; might as well make the most of the experience, this is something I’d never have thought of myself.

When Paul’s crew is done, my hair is down and curled and my feet are bare with a dark red polish on my toes. My makeup is light except around my eyes, where it’s heavy and smoky.

Paul pulls me to a backdrop of sheer white and places me on a dark chaise. Then he aims a fan at me from far away. This is the real deal. I feel a bit like Cleopatra or Elizabeth Taylor.

 “Look up, left, at me, no smile, sultry, pout, look away, right arm back, left ankle in, arched back, shoulder down, look down and over,” Paul drills out commands, jumping around me like Tigger.

I’m more than a bit overwhelmed. I ask him to stop a few times so I can calm myself, but finally he says we’re done and that I did well.

Dane ambles over to me. “How was that?”

“Actually, it was really fun once I got used to it. Thank you so much.”

“You’re more than welcome. I’ll look at the shots while you get changed. I think he got some really nice ones.”

I swallow heavily. “You watched?”

“Every second. You did amazing. Did it feel good, Laney?”

If I discount away my anxiety and take it at face value, yeah, it did. “It did,” I finally answer.

“Well then, stop two is a success.” His cocky grin is brilliant.