Flirting with Danger Bk 1

“You don’t have to go to the bathroom?” I asked and he gave me a look. “Just joking.” I laughed and then we went back downstairs and settled back into the couch in front of the TV. And this time, I was more comfortable and wasn’t surprised at the sound of his heartbeat so I could concentrate more on the movie.

I don’t know exactly how long the movie was, but it felt like maybe a little over an hour or so. When it was finally over, my dad stood up and held out his hand to Connelly again. “Well, it was very nice to meet you Connelly. You seem like a good guy.” he said, giving Connelly a manly hand shake.

“Yes, a very sweet boy. I’m glad I got to meet you Connelly.” said Mom and she and Connelly shook hands too. They followed us to the door to see Connelly off, and when Connelly opened the door my dad sucked in a gulp of air. We all looked at him surprised; it sounded like he was choking.

“What’s wrong honey?” asked Mom, putting a hand on his chest.

“Ferrari? You have a Ferrari?” he asked, looking at Connelly with surprise.

“Yeah.” Connelly said and waved his hand like it was no big deal. Dad stared at him, dumbfounded by his calm, seemingly unimpressed expression and tone.

“How did you get that?” Dad asked.

“My dad’s a Math Professor up at the college nearby.” Connelly replied.

“May I?” asked Dad. Connelly smiled and gestured for him to go ahead of him out the door. Mom and I stood there and watched them walk to the car.

“How big of an engine does it have?” I heard my dad ask and Connelly smiled. I smiled too because I knew that if Dad didn’t like Connelly before, he definitely did now.

“Well, he seems like a very nice boy.” said Mom, smiling at me.

“But,” I said, knowing it was coming. Mom always had some kind of something she’d found wrong with any of my boyfriends and even just my regular friends. And she always had a warning to give me.

“But, I don’t know what to think of a guy with red eyes.” she said, looking over at Connelly as he popped open the hood for my dad to look under. Hm, I didn’t know what to say to that. Well, I mean I did, but I didn’t know if that was exposing them or not. I tried to think fast, but not knowing what I was allowed to say left me with nothing.

Just go ahead and tell her that he was born with them. It’s not going to do anything. I heard Ivan’s voice in my head.

Are you sure? I asked, even though that was probably dumb. Duh, Kota. Of course he would be sure — he is a vampire after all. I thought to myself and heard Ivan laugh at me.

Yeah. Having red eyes is pretty rare, even for a vampire, but it could easily pass off for something someone human could be born with. So, go ahead, it won’t hurt us. I’ll tell Connelly just in case your dad asks too. Ivan said and then his voice was silent.

Now that I had Ivan’s okay, I looked at my mom. “Mom, he’s not wearing colored contacts.” I said, like she was being harsh on him, which really, she was.

“He’s not? Then why are they red?” she asked, looking at me and then to him.

“He was born with it. They don’t know what caused it, but it’s not causing any harm to him so they just left it. I mean, there’s not much you can do for red eyes. It’s not like they can put in new irises for him.” I said and she looked at me.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be judgmental or anything. I just wanted to help you if I could.” she said and looked at me like she expected me to be angry with her or something.

“I know mom. It’s okay.” I said and that was the truth. I wasn’t mad at her because I knew her intentions weren’t rude or geared to hurt him. I knew she just wanted the best for me and I appreciated that. I smiled at her and she returned a loving grin.

“They’re going to be out there for a while aren’t they?” I asked, knowing it was probably true.

“I hope not. It’s a school night and you two need to get some sleep.” Mom said. She stood there for a minute longer, but when they didn’t come back in she said, “Oh well.” and turned to go back inside. But just then a phone rang and I saw Connelly reach into his pocket and take out his cell phone.

“Yeah?” he said. “Yeah, I’ll be there in a little while.” he said and then hung up and put it in his pocket again.

“Sorry Mr. Riley, but I have to leave. Mom wants me home before midnight and it’s going to take me a little while to get back so I better leave now.” he said, shutting car hood and shaking my dad’s hand one last time.

“Well, see you next time.” Dad said, smiling at him and starting with him back to the porch.

“It was nice meeting you Mrs. Riley.” Connelly said, shaking my mom’s hand softly.

“You too. Have a safe drive home Connelly.” she said and then they stood there for a minute. I looked at Connelly and then to my parents and then back to Connelly.

“Um, I’ll walk you to your car.” I said and stepped out on the porch, taking Connelly’s hand. Connelly smiled and while his back was turned as he went down the steps, I turned around and shooed my parents inside.

“If you’re going to spy on us, at least do the term justice.” I whispered to them and shut the door. When I turned around, Connelly was smiling up at me and twirling his keys with his finger.

“So, how was the movie?” I asked, taking only two of the three steps and stepping on the ground in front of him.

“I never knew a rat had so much intelligence.” he said.

“It’s just a cartoon.” I said, stepping past him, but saw the look he gave me anyway and I laughed.

“So, what did you think of my house?” I asked as he took my hand again and we walked to his car.

“It looked nice over all, but I don’t know what to call your room. It looks like a few girls exploded in there.” he said and I laughed again.

“Yeah, it’s a mess.” I said, looking down embarrassedly.

“So, how did I do tonight?” he asked, leaning on the side of the Ferrari.

“Very good. It didn’t seem too hard. I didn’t feel you tense up or anything.” I said, smiling at him. He looked so sexy leaning on that car in front of me that I just wanted to jump on him and plant one on him, but I restrained myself. I was supposed to be in control tonight.

“It wasn’t. I was thinking about what you said, about that the only time you got close to me was when we were dancing?” he paused to see if I remembered. I nodded for him to continue.

“Well, I was thinking. When we dance, we get closer than just sitting by each other and all that other stuff I was having a hard time doing. What my problem was, was that I was thinking about how hard it would be when, in reality, I had already gotten closer to you than that. I had already passed that hurtle with flying colors, so then I relaxed about it and it was easy. It’s all in the mind.” he said, smiling triumphantly at me.

“I’m proud of you.” I said, smiling back. Then he held his arms out and I went into them. He wrapped his arms around me and I wrapped mine around his neck. I had never been this close to him, or at least hadn’t been this close to these parts of him. I was so close to his face, all I had to do was turn my head and we’d be kissing. But I had to keep in control, which at this point was torture. I heard him sigh and then felt his face in my hair. I smiled and turned my face so my nose was touching the thick hair behind his ear.