Night Whispers - Leslie Kelly [44]
“So she expects Mitch to ditch you and spend the rest of the evening with her?”
“Apparently so.”
“But, Kelsey, Mitch isn’t even dating her anymore. Fred told me they broke up before Mitch left town.”
Kelsey breathed a deep sigh of relief. She’d suspected as much, but it was good to hear her suspicion confirmed.
“Chained together, indeed,” she muttered.
Then an idea began to take shape in her mind. It was outrageous. He’d kill her. But she couldn’t stop thinking about it.
“Celia, I think I may have come up with a costume idea after all.”
“Really? Fill me in.”
Laughing, Kelsey did exactly that. And when she finished explaining what she had in mind, Celia gasped, then laughed, too.
THE NEXT MORNING, armed with a pad of paper and a measuring tape, Kelsey went downstairs and found Mitch in the kitchen.
“How big are you?”
Mitch dropped the bowl he’d been about to put away, and gaped at her. “Excuse me?”
“I’m glad that was plastic,” she said, glancing toward the bowl on the floor. “And I said, how big are you? You know, sizes. I’ve got some costume ideas, but I really need your measurements.”
“Oh,” Mitch said. “Clothing sizes.”
“Uh-huh…what else would I have meant?”
“I have no clue, Kelsey.”
Kelsey grinned at his too-innocent tone, then started writing down his sizes as he rattled them off. She probably could have gone with her original guesses, because she had just about hit them dead-on, except for the chest size. She had overestimated that by a bit, probably because she’d gotten so worked up remembering him in her apartment Saturday night wearing that towel. His chest had seemed to go on forever.
“So what’s your idea, anyway?” he asked.
She was not about to tell him specifically what she had in mind, but didn’t lie, either. “Just a good old Halloween pirate.”
“What are we talking here, an Errol Flynn type of pirate? Or more of a Captain Hook with long black curls and high buckle shoes?”
“Definitely Flynn.” She didn’t want him waving a hook around, especially considering what she’d planned for the rest of the costume.
“By the way, don’t shave Saturday, okay? The dark and swarthy look suits you.”
Mitch’s firm jaw was slightly stubbled; she could tell he hadn’t shaved yet. The dark shadow didn’t look unkempt, but instead made him look a little rough and exciting. It brought out the hollows under his high cheekbones and accentuated the tiny cleft in his chin. He seemed like the dark, dangerous Mitch she used to know.
“What are you going to wear?” Mitch asked as he moved to dry another dish.
“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” she said with a secretive smile. “Stand still, let me confirm the measurements you gave me…men have a habit of overestimating sizes.”
“Are you always so utterly outrageous?” Mitch couldn’t resist laughing at her suggestive words.
She didn’t reply as she pulled the measuring tape out and stretched it across his back and shoulders.
“Hurry up, would you?” Having Kelsey leaning against him was very disconcerting. Her hands ran over him lightly, almost teasing him, and her soft breasts pressed into his back. He was very conscious of the contact. When she finally finished, he breathed a deep sigh of relief and stepped away.
“Now, you’re not going to back out on me, are you?” she asked.
“I wouldn’t dream of it, Kelsey. This whole evening is starting to sound interesting.”
KELSEY SPENT THE REST of the day ordering things and sewing. Her plan was pulling together quite nicely. Jack, her boss, called late in the afternoon, anxious to find out if she’d decided how “Lady Love” would be dressed for her first public appearance. Though at first he didn’t seem to understand what she described, she said, “Just picture a romance novel cover, all right?” and he finally got it.
That evening at the station, she and Brian quickly threw together some highlights from their discussion Saturday night. When they’d nailed down a topic and listed some songs, Brian sat back and stared at her, a knowing look in his eyes.
“There’s talk in the coffee