Nerves

Caleb's POV

For the third time in last seven minutes, I consciously stopped tapping my foot and pulled at the neck of my tshirt in discomfort.

Sitting in the backseat of a car has always made me uncomfortable for some reason, but that discomfort had multiplied 10-folds today because of my nervousness.

I honestly couldn't remember the last time I was this twitchy at the prospect of spending a romantic evening with a girl. Then again, I had never actually spent any romantic evening with a girl before. Admittedly, I have never been a wine-and-dine kind of guy.

The longest relationship I've ever had was when I was a 19 year old with raging hormones and angst, and it had lasted for all of 2 months. But now as I looked up at the old, red brick building and Ruth's shuttered window, I felt a different type of angst coursing through me.

Shortly after Ruth's roommate had made her awkward entry, I had left for my house with mixed feelings. On one hand, I absolutely didn't want to stay away from Ruth, so walking away even for a small amount of time had felt unnatural. Unsettling.

But on the other hand, I had to acknowledge that I really was starting to smell like a stale goat barn, and had needed a shower and change of clothes desperately.

As promised, Steve, my long time driver, had been waiting for me downstairs with my car and drove me home without a single question or judgement at my rumpled appearance.

From there on, everything was a bit of a blur as I had barely paid attention to what I was doing. An unfamiliar urgency had gripped me, pushing me to breeze through my cleaning rituals.

I barely slowed down to shave and shower, and then I was off again, pulling on the first tshirt and some old, faded denims that my hands touched in the wardrobe.

My overnight bag got the same treatment and before I knew it, I was out of the door and into my car in record time. Steve had given me a curious look when I slid into the backseat of the car instead of sitting shotgun as usual, but I didn't offer any explanation.

I was too wound-up to articulate anything anyways. I couldn't even make myself ask Steve where our final destination for tonight was.

For now, all I cared about was to have Ruth close to me again, and whatever came next would be secondary to that.

Now, as we sat parked below Ruth's apartment building, the anticipation was nearly choking me. I felt like a teenage boy who was about to go out on an ice-cream date with the girl he had a crush on. Only, Ruth was no ordinary girl, and what I felt for her was far deeper than some teenaged crush.

As I checked my watch yet again, a movement near the entrance of her building drew my attention. Instinctively, I looked up, and there she was.

Wrapped in a deep purple, knee-length wrap dress Ruth walked towards me with a small duffle bag in one hand and an umbrella in other. Delicate looking tassels at her left side moved as she walked, filling my mind with images of tugging them loose and I had to grit my teeth to pull my mind away from that train of thoughts.

The storm had eased up since morning and was now only a light drizzle, but Ruth still walked slowly, carefully balancing on one of her heels. All in all, she looked divine, elegant and way too good for any human, including me. But that didn't mean I was selfless enough to give her up.

As she neared, Steve reached for his door, but I beat him to it by opening my door and stepping out to greet her.

Even with the light drizzle raining down on me and the sudden blast of cold air, I felt the warmth generating from somewhere inside my chest that reached to my very toes as she looked up at me and smiled.

"You're getting soaked by the second," she walked up to me and then walked closer still to take me under the shade of her umbrella. Taking advantage of her closeness, I took her bag from her hand and slung it onto my shoulder before wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her flush against me.

"And you're getting beautiful by the second," I murmured and watched Ruth smile and roll her eyes at the same time.

It was true though. I had no idea if it was my besotted heart playing tricks on me or not, but with every second I stared at her she seemed to grow even more beautiful than she was a minute ago.

"Since when are you into cheesy lines?" She rested her one of her forearms against my shoulder, balancing umbrella over our heads and stroked my shoulder with her other.

"Since I accepted that truth can sound cheesy too," I informed her, running my nose against her hairline and breathing in her rich scent. God, I'll never get tired of her fragrance.

Ruth laughed softly, indulgently and I was about to set her straight on that score but right then the wind picked up, blowing the rain water right onto us under our shade.

"Let's get in before your beautiful dress gets drenched," I pulled back and took the umbrella from her before opening the door for her to slip in. I followed her in quickly, shutting the umbrella and closed the door, letting her umbrella rest into a cup holder by the car door.

She had scooted to the far end of the seat, and I moved until I was able to hold her against my side before turning to Steve.

"We're ready, Steve. Oh, this is Ms. Ruth Brooke by the way. Ruth, this is Steve Benson," I added as an afterthought. It wasn't like Steve would ever question anything I wished to do, but it felt rude to not make introduction.

"Ms. Brooke," Steve peered at her in the rearview mirror for a second and nodded before turning his attention back to the road as he pulled out of the parking.

"Hello, Steve," Ruth responded with a nod of her own before glancing at me for a moment and then turning back to him.

"As I understand, you're the only one who knows where we are headed tonight?"

Steve inclined his head in affirmation but didn't say anything else.

Ruth frowned adorably, realising that she wasn't going to get that information out of Steve that easily, then turned to me and whispered, "Taciturn, is he?"

I nodded vaguely, but couldn't concentrate on her words. She smelled divine, a mixture of cherry and pine and rain wafted off her making me feel drunk.

She turned her frown at me, looking confused.

"Don't you want to know where we are going?"

"I don't care as long as I get to have you all to myself." I answered her truthfully. The only reason I was going along with Leo's meddling without an argument was because of the prospect of having Ruth all to myself all night long, and as long as that happened, I didn't care where we were going.

Unable to stop myself, I reached up and stroked her cheek, drawing her attention away from our supposed destination and back to me.

"Your skin is almost luminous," I spoke reverently and she smiled softly.

"Its the dress. Everyone looks good in purple. And we match," she looked down and sure enough I was wearing a deep purple turtle neck to match her.

"The dress indeed looks good, because of you."

She smiled again, and leaned in to press her lips softly against mine. And that was all it took to cause a reaction in my body.

Heat spread throughout my body like wild fire and I leaned in to press my lips more firmly against hers. I knew I should be mindful of my actions with Steve less that 2 feet away from us but with Ruth so close to me, and both if us covered in the shadow of the backseat, it was impossible to concentrate.

The V neckline of her dress that teased with a hint of her cleavage without exposing it, the stretch of fabric against her curves, her very scent was driving me crazy, making my heart beat out of my chest.

She let out a low moan when I stroked her thigh over her dress and parted her lips to let me kiss her properly, stroking her palms on my shoulders.

I let my hand have free reign and they roamed, spanning her waist and back, leisurely roaming over her legs before travelling up to grip the back of her neck to angling it up so I could taste her mouth as I wanted to.

I was lost, completely lost in the taste of her, and so it took a very loud and distinctive throat clearing to pull me out of my exploration.

I pulled back, both of us breathing hard from excitement and lack of oxygen then looked back in the front seat to find Steve carefully avoiding my gaze in the rearview mirror as he announced, "We are here, sir."