“Well, I wanted to spend more time with you.” He said, lying back on the couch. He looked as relaxed as she had seen him thus far. Contrasted to her tense posture, he was in his elements. “I hope we get to do that. Sincerely do. Cheers.” He raised his glass.
“To more first kisses… Endless first kisses…” He whispered to her, putting one hand on her cheek, rubbing her skin softly and ending it with yet another sweet kiss.
Endless first kisses. What a tantalizing prospect. It was as if he was of the world and expectations that Caroline had little appreciation for. In the world she had known, in the rush to consummate a burning desire, there were hardly any moments to experience the full eroticism of a first kiss let alone indulge in many of them.
“To first kisses,” she said, easing into the couch. It was disorienting.
“I feel like you may have a certain expectation of who I am and what I am into… I mean on the golf course and other aspects of life… There is the sensational stuff that makes it to the tabloids and there is the real me.” He said, holding her hand and massaging her fingers in deliberate and long strokes. Each tug of the fingers figuratively pulling her closer into him.
“I appreciate that Mr. Hole-in-one Jack Reiner. Well, it is most certainly true that you have a reputation that proceeds you,” Caroline said, a different kind of tension building inside of her.
“Why do I feel like that wasn’t a compliment?”
“It does take skill to make hole-in-one, doesn’t it?”
Why was he so calm about it? Was it this calm under pressure that made him so effective on the Golf course? And… She had no definitive idea about what those other aspects of his life were like.
“It certainly does. Focus and determination. Envisioning it before it becomes a reality.”
“So, none of the tabloid stories are true?”
Caroline had seen an opening. The way he looked and acted had a way of transforming her anger into adoration. He could have easily taken advantage of her. She had practically given herself to him. And yet he stopped… And the wish for more first kisses… Jack Reiner wasn’t the man she had thought about until few minutes prior. When she asked the question about the tabloids, there was a secret wish inside of her that wanted to believe they were not true…
“Which ones? I understand a lot of stories get written about me. I stopped following them a long time ago.”
“The stories about women…” Caroline wondered if she was pushing too much.
“Some of it yes. Some of it no. I am certainly not a celibate priest. Nor am I the kind of sex addict and home wrecker they make me out to be.”
It was the honest truth. It took a few seconds for Caroline to realize there was a wide chasm between the two sides he had just described. He could be anywhere on that spectrum. What business was it for her to be asking these questions anyway? At least he didn’t lie to her… If he were the kind of manwhore they made him out to be, they would probably be in bed instead of sitting on the couch and holding this awkward conversation.
“Is it the same? I mean when you are standing at the tee-box and aiming to hit a Golf ball or setting your sight on a goal?” It was best the conversation went back to the topic of sports. After she completed her question, she was struck by the thought that the qualification may be interpreted differently. Setting your sight on a goal. Is Caroline McKenzie a goal of the hole-in-one expert?
“You know you golf terminology, don’t you?” She was rewarded with another tender kiss. This time a little longer than the last.
“I had envisioned this moment with you. And now you are here…” He said, another touch on her cheek with his right hand. His long fingers reaching toward her neck and lingering in place for few seconds longer.
“To answer your question, yes it is the same. You envision a future, you set your goals, and work to achieve it.”
“And I was a goal?” Caroline tilted her head, feeling his palm and fingers pressed against her neck. Comfortable and safe.
“You most definitely were. I had wondered how you would be in person. You know, just like talking to you... I know if you were an athlete, you would have the sort of qualities that differentiates you from I would say over 99% of the population. In some ways, our worlds aren’t that different.”
“This is so surprising to me, though,” Caroline said, sliding toward him as he folded his arm and rested it on her shoulders. This time, the same palm and fingers caressing the other side of her neck.
“In what way?”
“I wouldn’t have taken you to be such a talker…”
“I can do as well, trust me. It is just that I think the situation calls for more talking and getting to know each other...”
A knock on the door interrupted him. “Excuse me, just one second.”
Jack skipped to his feet and walked to the door, out of the line of sight from where they were sitting. It was the concierge, arriving with what Jack had asked for… When he walked back into the living room, he had a beautifully wrapped gift box.
“This is for you,” he said as he handed her the box and sat by her side.
“Aww! You didn’t have to do this…” She said, leaning forward to him and angling for the same tender kiss. He obliged.
