12. Where Theres Smoke (1/2)

12 – where there's smoke

ben passed her a tormented look.

"you're kidding, right? please say you're kidding."

felicity smiled and shook her

head. "nope."

standing before them, an

unimposing

ick building, was the national museum of roller

skating. ben gave her the look again. "i didn't realize they needed a museum

for roller skates."

"i used to love roller skating as

a kid. were you ever any good at it?"

he cringed away from the building

in the classic male this-is-too-uncool-for-me attitude. "roller skating? i don't roller skate. maybe when

i was ten, like once. are you sure you want to make me go in there?"

she stepped behind him and pushed

him toward the doors. "it's only fair for me to pick the next stop."

he took a few drag-footed steps,

sighed exaggeratedly, and reached for her hand. "all right, let's go see your

roller skates."

she smiled again, walking beside

him to the doors. "good. i

ought my camera to get some pictures."

"you're not taking any pictures

of me in this place," he warned, opening the door for her.

"spoilsport."

- - - - -

as she moved from exhibit to

exhibit, felicity felt his eyes on her. the weight of his gaze made her shiver.

she tried to ignore it. toward the end of their tour, she came to a stop before

an oversized black-and-white photograph of a couple skating. an elderly woman

finished looking around and left the room. felicity looked back to the photo.

the couple in it had been captured in a mid-skate em

ace, much like the moves

often used in figure skating on ice. the woman, skating in front, had stretched

her arm up to curl around her partner's neck, and turned her head to look back

at him. his hands rested on her tiny waist. the photo was flowing,

graceful…and, felicity thought with an unsettled shiver, sensual.

as if her notion had been a cue,

ben came up behind her, so close that she could almost feel his warmth. "this

one's nice."

the low pitch of his voice sent

chills down her spine. "yeah," she said lightly, trying to shrug it off.

ben's hands settled on her waist,

imitating the man's pose in the photograph. "okay, roller skating isn't totally

stupid." a note of levity had entered his voice, totally at odds with the very

serious way he drew closer to her until his chest

ushed against her back. his

arms snaked around her midsection and he bent to kiss her cheek.

butterflies rioted in her belly. it's just an innocent kiss. quit

overreacting! her cheek prickled where his stubble had

ushed it. she

remembered he hadn't shaved that morning.

with one eye on the photograph,

he murmured, "looks like there's more going on there than just skating."

the levity was still there in his

tone, but this time felicity heard the hint of something more. the fact that

he'd picked up on the undertones in the photo told her he was paying more

attention than she'd thought. her heartbeat thrummed with unspoken questions.

before she could formulate her

next words, ben drew away and moved to the next part of the exhibit. she stole