Chapter Twelve

The following morning Halle woke to loud banging on her front door. Groaning with displeasure after checking the time, she hauled herself from bed and stormed down the stairs like a child in a tantrum. “It’s eight AM” she yelled as she opened the door.

“Woah, sorry ‘bout that, do you want me to leave?” Richie laughed, hoping she wasn’t as pissed as she sounded, because the way she looked in her little pink cotton boxer shorts and red singlet had Richie wanting to alter the plans he had for the day.

Halle’s face burned from embarrassment, not only had she yelled at him, but she was standing there in her pj’s. Suddenly feeling exposed she began to stumble her words. “Um…no, no, oh shit. C’mon in” she stammered.

As he slid past her, his body briefly connected with hers, she could smell his cologne and that, matched with his baggy fit jeans, black tshirt and boots and she was done for.

“Richie just grinned at her reaction. ‘Damn if she wasn’t gorgeous, even with bed hair and sleep crinkles embedded on her cheeks. This is gonna kill me.’

“What are you doing here? And so early in the morning too?”

Grinning widely, Richie said “takin’ you out. You didn’t have plans did you?”

“Um…well” Halle was too confused to answer. ‘Is this a date? What the hell? Is he serious?’

“Good” Richie said, not waiting for her answer. He sat on the couch, pulled his left ankle up on his right knee and said “go on, go get dressed”.

Halle walked slowly from the living room then almost took the stairs in one leap. She turned the shower on and stripped off, then jumped in and had what she would have classed as the fastest shower of her life. Toweling herself off she decided to leave her hair to dry naturally and pulled on a pair of blue jeans and a white singlet top.

Richie looked around the small living room, it felt homey, lived in, comfortable and he smiled imagining himself spending time here. He stood and walked accross the room to the tv cabinet that had alot of picture frames accross the top of it. Some pictures had Halle and a young guy, Richie grimaced at that, not sure why he felt territorial over her. He moved along to a couple more frames and chuckled at Megan and Halle in a purely 80's shot where their hair was wildly teased and both wore bright makeup. Another frame showed an older couple that Richie presumed were Halle's parents as the resemblance was clear. The final frames housed pictures of a baby boy, an infant and then a couple of school portraits of a boy who looked like Halle, shrugging Richie presumed it was a nephew or cousin.

Richie perused her cd collection, nodding his approval of her tastes. She had music that spanned a decades. There was quite a lot of Beatles and Elvis, which he was impressed with, but what caught his eye was the cd case that lay open on the top of the stereo. He hit the start button and out blasted ‘Born To Be My Baby’. He chuckled softly but left it on. Sitting back on the couch he picked up a magazine and started flipping through it.

Halle was applying some makeup when she heard her stereo start; she was mortified and dropped her face in her hands. ‘Oh fantastic, so I’m a fan, can’t hide that. Why isn’t he turning it off?' Going back downstairs Halle crossed the room quickly to turn off the stereo. She turned to Richie who was reading one of the buyers catalogues she had. “See anything you like?”

“Hell yeah!” his eyes were wide looking through each page carefully.

Halle just laughed and took the magazine from him. “You’re a smartass aren’t you?”

“Well you got me pegged already.” Richie said “what’s with all the lingerie catalogues?” he held up another magazine, he pointed at a beautiful white lacy camisole and shorts, and smiled widely “you got this?”

Shaking her head and rolling her eyes she snatched the catalogue and clipped him on the back of the head with it.

“Hey, I was just curious” he said innocently, rubbing his head.

Sitting on the couch next to Richie, Halle pulled on her boots. “I actually have most of these things” she said.

Richie’s throat went dry just imagining her in some of those sexy little numbers.

Laughing at the look on Richie’s face Halle continued “I actually own a lingerie shop”.

“Oh really?” He was intrigued. “I thought you worked in the bar.”

“No, not for a while now. I did when I first moved here, but since I opened the store I just help Sal out whenever he needs me. Well I’m all dressed, where are we off to?”

“Well that’s a surprise” he said getting up from the couch. He put his hand out to help Halle up. Her small hand once again fitted perfectly inside his. She stood inches away from him, gazing softly into his eyes. He had so many scenarios running through his head, most of them ended with them naked on the couch behind them. ‘Fuck, this is gonna kill me.’

Halle stood frozen on the spot. ‘Oh my God, I can’t breathe.’ His scent once again made her insides turn flip flops. Ripping her gaze from his, Halle picked up her bag and keys and pointing toward the door said “after you”.