Entwine by Rebecca Berto Read Free Book Online

the bulge in his pants, that she realised every stupid rom-com in the world had made fun of situations like this, and she’d gone and made an embarrassing situation worse.
    “It’s fine.”
    He held Sarah’s shoulders back in a gentle yet assertive grip, and eyed her chair. Dumbstruck, she nodded and agreed. He arranged himself in his seat, reaching back to grab his suit jacket hanging over the chair and shrugging his arms into it.
    “What about it?” he asked.
    Sarah’s face wasn’t of much use now when it should have been. This guy didn’t stop surprising her. There was nothing else on her mind but the huge memory taking up all her thoughts: hot coffee, hot man, manhandling.
    “I’m sorry, what?” She shook her head to bring herself back to the present. “About what?”
    “The date. The very least you could do after …” he swept his hands down his chest and held an open palm, fingers angled down. “We could watch a movie.”
    She managed a nervous laugh, and looked away to pick up her bag and coffee in her other hand. There were cinemas at one end of the centre, but he was walking the opposite direction.
    “Um, I don’t think that this is the right way,” she said, looking around at shops for markers to double check. She didn’t need to make a fool of herself again.
    He was grinning, waiting for her focus. “No, it’s the right way to the men’s. Have to strip, change into these.” He gave a pointed look at the bag from City Guy. “Lucky grab, huh?”
    Burn, burn, burn. It was all her cheeks had done, this time with him. Now they flamed again. “Lucky grab,” she countered, as she watched him walk off.
    When he came back, she could tell he had his new black slacks on. Must have been the way they fit around his front. She had a fair eye of what that looked like up close.
    Still yet to find out his name.
     
    • • •
     
    NOW
     
    As they stood in line, waiting for tickets at the desk. There was a Jason Statham and a Will Smith movie out, so he went ahead and booked her tickets. Two times he’d taken care of her now. Sarah was not the type of girl who desired a guy to pay for everything, and though it was hardly much in the big picture, it was a nice gesture.
    He had flopped his wallet out on the counter and was pulling out his card when she stepped forward.
    She wanted to say his name, but couldn’t, so settled for, “Please, it’s fine.” And hurried to dig into her own handbag.
    His hand settled on the top of hers, and the heat alone was enough to still her.
    “I didn’t ask you to pay.”
    “I didn’t ask you to pay,” she replied.
    “I asked you out. It’s custom for me to take care of the date.”
    “It’s a date?”
    He nodded and while her thoughts took off, she couldn’t picture anything else but a sign of neon bulbs above her head, flashing, “Girl on a Date With Incredible Guy”.
    No, damn, she had to take care of herself, not let him do that. She kept digging through her purse for what only felt like seconds. Then his hand was on her arm. It was as her gaze travelled up his new, fitted, pin-striped shirt that it occurred to her she’d lost her mind over the way he made her feel; she must have been in a daze while he paid.
    “Your ticket,” he said, handing it to her.
    She checked. It was the Jason Statham movie, and she tried not to smile, although happy bells were going off inside her. Fast, sexy, witty. This movie said everything about what she wanted both her date, and this night, to be like.
    “Thank you.”
    Sarah didn’t like to judge a person by how they looked, but it was impossible to think otherwise of the two barely fifteen-year-olds walking a metre apart in front of them, the girl with her hands crossed over her chest, and the boy with his in his pockets. In front of the cinema, the boy held out his hand. The girl chuckled, and badly attempted to hide it, before disappearing into the blackness with him on her trail.
    When Sarah thought about herself