THE CAMELLIA TAVERN

CHAPTER 20: A NON-DATE

We drive about twenty minutes before I ask for the third time where we are going and, for the third time, he refuses to tell me.

"So you don't do so well with surprises, huh?" he teases.

"I do just fine with surprises," I lie. "I just want to make sure you're not taking me somewhere to, you know, kidnap me or somethin'."

"You think this is all an elaborate scheme to kidnap you?" he looks over at me with an incredulous expression.

"Could be," I shrug as if the idea isn't preposterous.

"Well, I've been found out," he says as if he's given up the ruse. "My diabolical plans have been discovered."

I look over at him and smile.

"I've changed my mind. You keep smiling at me like that, and I might just keep you around," he says with a smile that promises so much more.

After about half an hour of driving, he pulls off onto a gravel road and we travel for a few minutes before we come upon, what looks like, little more than a shack. But the shack is lit up and we're not the only vehicle.

"Now, I know you've brought me here to kidnap me," I say.

He looks over at me. "It's a lot cooler than it looks, I promise."

He turns off the car and comes around to the passenger side to open the door for me, and I climb out, tearing my eyes away from him long enough to get a better look at the rustic structure in front of us.

He holds out his hand for me and I take it, eyeing him with a look that tells him I'm not so sure about all of this.

"Milly, it's ok. I promise."

I don't know why, but the sound of his promise carries some weight to it. Like when he makes promises, he means them. I hope that's actually true.

The place doesn't have a sign indicating what it is and I didn't see any sort of sign on the road that would lead a person here if they didn't already know where they were headed.

"Do you take all of your non-dates out here?" I say with faux disapproval as we near the shack that looks more like an old cabin, the closer I get to it.

"Only the ones who give me a hard time like you," he says with a wink, and I know he's giving me a hard time, but I find him unfairly sexy when he does something as simple as wink at me.

We step up on a low porch and he rings the doorbell to the shack. I raise my eyebrows in surprise because, who would've thought a place like this would even have electricity? Ok, ok, so maybe I'm being too judgmental too soon.

We only have to wait a few seconds before the front door is opened by a woman with almond shaped green eyes and very short, almost cropped, hair.

"Warrick," she says in greeting, but she doesn't smile, exactly. It's more of a formal greeting than I would've expected at a place like this. And in spite of the exterior appearance of the place, the woman is dressed very well in a white silk blouse and black pencil skirt.

She moves aside and motions for us to enter. I look over at Warrick like, all of the sudden, I'm unsure how to walk through a doorway or something.

He motions for me to enter first which, normally, might be considered a gentlemanly gesture but, given that I don't know where on Earth we are, seems more like he's feeding me to the wolves.

When I make it inside, I am awestruck by the first thing I see---a chandelier hanging from the ceiling like it should be in some fancy ballroom somewhere. I look back at Warrick who is hugging the woman who greeted us. So much for formal, I think, letting my jealousy rear its ugly head. Yes, I know it's ridiculous.