Read Online More Than This: Contemporary Christian Romance Novel by Staci Stallings - Free Book Online
Authors: Staci Stallings
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they were flying, and he grasped the handrail a little tighter as his balance swayed beneath him.
“Oh, wow,” she gasped, fully taken in by the sight. “This is incredible.”
“No kidding. It’s amazing.” He hadn’t checked the times, but there weren’t many people in this theatre yet. What that meant, he wasn’t really sure, but his mind puzzled on it just the same. Fully taken in by the vastness of the room, he followed her to a center seat near the front of the balcony, but thankfully, not in the first row. When they were seated, he assessed her seat choice glad she hadn’t gone all the way to the front row as heights made him woozy. Still, he didn’t want to deprive her of the full range of the experience. “You don’t want to go to the front?”
“Nah. I like it back here.” The glance was filled with quiet apprehension. “Unless you want to.”
With concern and trying to read her, he let his gaze stay on her. “No. No. I’m fine right here.” He thought the exchange through and decided he liked it because maybe, just maybe she too was afraid of heights and had chosen the safer option. Maybe that was a good sign that they were on the same wavelength or something. His mind spun backward and forward through all it could mean. He was really going to have to get a pen and paper when he was around her to write these things down. Unfortunately, his mind picked that exact moment to go completely and totally blank. It was surely the nerves though he noticed the air in the room seemed not to be moving much. “Is it hot in here, or is it me?”
“No. It’s not you. It is hot. Must be the balcony.” She turned slightly. “We could go down, if you want.”
But he just smiled at her. “Nah. Some things are worth it.” When she smiled back, he could only think that he really liked that smile. A lot.
It was only when they were seated with no coffee and no getting tickets between them that Liz had the sudden and not wholly comfortable realization that she was somehow on a date with a guy, and she didn’t even know his name. She let out a breath, ratcheted her eyes up to the ceiling at the thought, and shook her head without moving it. No. There was no other option. She had to ask. She had to.
“So,” she finally said, reaching up and scratching her head even as her gaze traipsed away from the conversation, the situation and him. “Um, this is… kind of… well…” Glancing at him, she smiled a half-second smile that fell into what-am-I-doing-here. “I mean, this is going to sound really… strange, I know, but…”
He was looking at her with undisguised worry and terror as if she might pitch him off the balcony or start screaming like Janet Leigh in Psycho .
“The truth is, well, somehow I never quite… caught your name.”
Horror and relief poured into Jake in equal measures. Leave it to his inimitable stupidity to ask a girl on a date without ever bothering to introduce himself. “Oh, man. I’m sorry.” He let out a breath that took his body down four inches. His sardonic laugh was barely there. “Yours was on your name tag. I never thought…” Stopping himself before he humiliated himself or her any further, he nodded as a million more words flooded into his consciousness. He beat them back as he held out his hand willing his mouth not to make an even bigger idiot of himself than he already had. “I’m Jake.”
How he got the name out without butchering it, he would never know.
But instead of looking annoyed with his stumbling, the smile she beamed at him swept what was left of his breath away. Her soft, tender smile drifted up into her eyes as she took his hand in hers, and that managed to shatter and scatter every last rational thought in him. He blinked at the feeling as it drove like a dagger into the center of him and splintered there.
Her hand, soft and warm, now touching his. How was this happening again? It was as if all of life had fallen away but for that
“Oh, wow,” she gasped, fully taken in by the sight. “This is incredible.”
“No kidding. It’s amazing.” He hadn’t checked the times, but there weren’t many people in this theatre yet. What that meant, he wasn’t really sure, but his mind puzzled on it just the same. Fully taken in by the vastness of the room, he followed her to a center seat near the front of the balcony, but thankfully, not in the first row. When they were seated, he assessed her seat choice glad she hadn’t gone all the way to the front row as heights made him woozy. Still, he didn’t want to deprive her of the full range of the experience. “You don’t want to go to the front?”
“Nah. I like it back here.” The glance was filled with quiet apprehension. “Unless you want to.”
With concern and trying to read her, he let his gaze stay on her. “No. No. I’m fine right here.” He thought the exchange through and decided he liked it because maybe, just maybe she too was afraid of heights and had chosen the safer option. Maybe that was a good sign that they were on the same wavelength or something. His mind spun backward and forward through all it could mean. He was really going to have to get a pen and paper when he was around her to write these things down. Unfortunately, his mind picked that exact moment to go completely and totally blank. It was surely the nerves though he noticed the air in the room seemed not to be moving much. “Is it hot in here, or is it me?”
“No. It’s not you. It is hot. Must be the balcony.” She turned slightly. “We could go down, if you want.”
But he just smiled at her. “Nah. Some things are worth it.” When she smiled back, he could only think that he really liked that smile. A lot.
It was only when they were seated with no coffee and no getting tickets between them that Liz had the sudden and not wholly comfortable realization that she was somehow on a date with a guy, and she didn’t even know his name. She let out a breath, ratcheted her eyes up to the ceiling at the thought, and shook her head without moving it. No. There was no other option. She had to ask. She had to.
“So,” she finally said, reaching up and scratching her head even as her gaze traipsed away from the conversation, the situation and him. “Um, this is… kind of… well…” Glancing at him, she smiled a half-second smile that fell into what-am-I-doing-here. “I mean, this is going to sound really… strange, I know, but…”
He was looking at her with undisguised worry and terror as if she might pitch him off the balcony or start screaming like Janet Leigh in Psycho .
“The truth is, well, somehow I never quite… caught your name.”
Horror and relief poured into Jake in equal measures. Leave it to his inimitable stupidity to ask a girl on a date without ever bothering to introduce himself. “Oh, man. I’m sorry.” He let out a breath that took his body down four inches. His sardonic laugh was barely there. “Yours was on your name tag. I never thought…” Stopping himself before he humiliated himself or her any further, he nodded as a million more words flooded into his consciousness. He beat them back as he held out his hand willing his mouth not to make an even bigger idiot of himself than he already had. “I’m Jake.”
How he got the name out without butchering it, he would never know.
But instead of looking annoyed with his stumbling, the smile she beamed at him swept what was left of his breath away. Her soft, tender smile drifted up into her eyes as she took his hand in hers, and that managed to shatter and scatter every last rational thought in him. He blinked at the feeling as it drove like a dagger into the center of him and splintered there.
Her hand, soft and warm, now touching his. How was this happening again? It was as if all of life had fallen away but for that
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