“Well, if those shorts you were wearing when I met you are any indication of your usual taste in clothes… ”
She grinned. “Yeah, well… those are my ‘come-fuck-me’ shorts.”
“Is that so?” Zach slowed the car to a stop at a red light, turning to look at her more fully. “So since you’re not wearing them tonight…?”
“Oh, don’t worry.” Lindsey moved toward him in her seat. “You’ll get compensated well for the tickets, I promise. This might not be as short, but it is easier access… see?” She put her knee up, flashing him a view of her sheer black panties.
“Is that why you think I asked you out?”
She smirked. “Why else? I’m not stupid.”
“Do all your dates go quid pro quo?” Zach frowned as Lindsey swung her legs forward again.
“More like quim pro quo.” She gave a short, sharp laugh, putting the pack of gum back in her purse. “Oh… did you want some?” He shook his head, his eyes on hers in the dimness. Behind them a car horn honked and Lindsey glanced up, noticing the light had turned green. “Um… I think you can… ya know, go?”
Zach sighed, pulling away from the light, his eyes back on the road. “I want you to know that I didn’t ask you out to have sex with you.”
The silence that filled the car made Lindsey feel like she couldn’t breathe. She wanted to open the window and stick her head out. Instead, she snapped her gum and pressed her warm forehead to the cool glass, watching the buildings whiz by. He didn’t say anything else, and she had the feeling she was supposed to respond, but she didn’t know how.
“You really want to know why I asked you to come with me tonight?” His eyes flicked over to her-she felt his gaze but didn’t turn. Instead, she fogged the glass further with her breath, drawing the outline of a face sticking its tongue out, and didn’t answer him. “Because you still put money in those little machines when you go into the grocery store.”
She laughed-she couldn’t help it. “You’re weird.”
“We’re here.” Zach parked and pocketed his keys. “Still wanna go in?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” She made a face, wrinkling her nose at him. “This is Kenny Wayne Shepard we’re talking about!”
“Yeah, okay.” He grinned. “Come on, let’s go.”
She took his hand as they worked their way through the crowd, and he smiled down at her, giving her fingers a squeeze. The bald guy who took their ticket stub raised a studded eyebrow at her skirt, or lack thereof, giving her a wink as she edged through the turnstile. Zach saw the exchange and stepped quickly through the gate, taking her hand again and leading her into the venue.
“You want anything?” He nodded toward the concessions and Lindsey shook her head, so they went down the stairs toward the stage.
“How close are we?” They just kept getting nearer and nearer to the stage and Lindsey glanced back, amazed at the number of seats behind them.
Zach checked the tickets. “Front row, nearly center.”
“You’re kidding me!” Her jaw dropped and she gripped his hand in hers. “They must have cost you a fortune!”
He shrugged, showing the tickets to a security guard before steering her down the front row. “They were worth it.”
Lindsey couldn’t believe how close they were and she turned to Zach, feeling his warmth as they sat, their thighs brushing. She knew her intuition was right, even before she asked the question. “You didn’t have these tickets when you asked me out, did you?”
“No.” He grinned and winked. “But I do now.”
“Last minute, front row center seats… ” She gave a low whistle. Then she frowned up at him, her eyes narrowing. “And you’re telling me you didn’t ask me out for sex?”
“Yep.” He squeezed her hand again, his eyes on hers. His gaze made her feel warm, and every time he looked at her like that, it felt like something broke open in her chest. “That’s what I’m telling you.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Why shouldn’t you?”
Lindsey’s eyes rolled. “I can think of about a million reasons.”
“Can you think of one reason to trust me?”
She thought of the way he looked at her, how he was with her parents, and what he said tonight in the car. “Maybe.”
“Hang onto that one.” He squeezed her hand again and smiled.
In spite of what past experience had taught her, that’s just what she did.
* * * *
Zach turned down the radio, talking over the whistle of the wind coming in through the t-tops that Lindsey had insisted he take off on the way home. Her hands were dancing in the breeze, her body still swaying to the music.
“Do you have I.D. on you?” He nudged her, getting her full attention.
“I’m not twenty-one,” she reminded him and then grinned. “But I think I still have a fake I.D. in my wallet from last year that says I am.”
He shook his head, smiling. “No-real I.D. Something that says you’re eighteen?”
“Driver’s license do?” She fished her purse off the floor.
“Yep.” He took a sharp right turn, away from the direction of her house. She smiled, shaking her head. In spite of what he’d said, she was pretty sure they were headed somewhere private. During the concert, he had looked at her the way all guys do, with the heat of lust in his eyes when she ground her hips back against him as she danced. She had felt his response against her behind, in the way he gripped her hips, and she loved it.
But she thought she’d at least play along. “Why do you ask?”
“I want to show you something.” He steered the car down a long, curving road. There were no houses and not even much foliage exposed by the low headlights sweeping around a turn.
“I bet you do.” She couldn’t help her smile, and felt a familiar warmth in her lower belly. She didn’t mind that they were going somewhere-she’d been a little disappointed when he claimed he didn’t want to have sex.
He smiled back, shaking his head. “It’s not what you think.”
“Uh-huh.” She tossed her gum out the window and found her wallet in her little purse, taking out her I.D. “Is this what you wanted?”
“Thanks.” He took her license and slid it above the visor, using one hand to steer while he dug into his back jean pocket for his wallet. Lindsey frowned, seeing a sign flash by on her right that she just missed reading. She didn’t miss the next one though: Air National Guard Base.
“Uhhhh… ” Her belly felt even tighter now, and she swallowed hard. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” Zach stopped at a white, well-lit booth with a long crossbar in front, keeping cars from entering without stopping first.
Lindsey stared, wide-eyed, at the gun strapped to the man’s hip as he leaned his uniformed head down to the window. “How can I help you tonight?”
Zach handed their I.D.s over. “Visiting a friend. Colonel Pullman.”
The uniformed guard looked at their I.D.s one at a time, and then leaned in to take a look at Lindsey. She felt his eyes moving over her in the darkness, something she would usually relish, but tonight she found it disquieting.
“All right, lieutenant.” The man handed their I.D.s back with a nod, writing something on a clipboard. “Have a good night.”
“Thanks. You, too.” Zach waited for the crossbar to go up, and then edged the car slowly forward.
“We’re visiting a friend of yours?” Lindsey frowned, craning her neck back to look at the guard. She had goose bumps on her arms in spite of the warmth of the night.
“Not really.” He shrugged, turning the car down a side road that ran next to a tall fence topped with high, barbed wire. “Just an excuse.”
“Where are we?” Lindsey leaned forward, trying to see into the darkness past the reach of the headlights. There wasn’t much to see, just a bunch of small, blue lights, close to the ground.
“You’ll see.” Zach smiled over at her, steering the car around a curve to the right. The ground sloped upward here, and he pulled off the road itself onto the grass, parking there. She smiled as he turned the key off, listening to the engine ticking as it cooled. It was so quiet she could hear crickets chirping somewhere in the darkness.