Pink Shades of Words: Walk 2016 Read Online Free Page B

Never?”
    He shrugs with a crooked grin. “Yeah, I can’t deny it, but you used to get a lot louder than I ever would.”
    I roll my eyes and take a sip of wine. “Guilty as charged.”
    “So have you mellowed out?” he asks.
    “About some things, and I’m worse about others. So I guess it’s a wash.”
    He nods as his gaze moves to the front of the theater again. “Hey, I’ve got an extra seat and it’s a hell of a lot better than your crappy seat. You’re welcome to it.”
    “Really?” I ask, overwhelmed by the gesture.
    He shrugs. “Sure.”
    I step back and grab my jacket. “Let’s go.”
    He gently takes my elbow as he steers me down the aisle and I swear I feel something akin to an electrical charge every moment he’s touching me. The feeling makes me wish I were younger, still holding on to the shine of my youth. These days I’m referred to as an attractive woman. I’ve stayed in shape and although there are some fine lines around my eyes, they’re still bright and full of curiosity and a desire to have new experiences. But L.A. is full of men who want the single note of twenty-year-old super-models, not the complex orchestration of a woman who’s lived a rich life.
    I sit down in the seat next to Matt and smooth out the folds of my dress. It feels decadent to be in the second row, center, and with this polished man who projects something I never imagined Matt would. I struggle in my mind to define the feeling and then it hits me. He’s successful and he wears it well. But there’s something else...I sneak sideways glances as he checks his phone. There’s a faint stubble along his jaw and his long fingers comb through his thick mane of hair, giving Matt an edge he didn’t have in his youth.
    Whatever he’s reading is making him tense as his strong jaw takes on a sharper edge. Holy hell. I get it like a jolt of lightning.
    Matt is sexy. His features have hardened, melting away his boyish charm. He’s always been brilliant, but now seeing this confident, commanding man he feels like another person entirely. It’s wrong for me to want him, yet for a moment I think I’d give anything to be in his bed one more time.
    He slips his phone back in his jacket pocket. “Sorry about that. We’re in the middle of a tough negotiation. I shouldn’t even be here.”
    I arch my brow and tip my head. “Why are you then?”
    There’s a long pause as he looks deep in my eyes. “Bucket list,” he finally says.
    I gaze into his dark eyes. “Me too.”
    We’re halfway through our drinks when he turns to me. “So did you ever write like you’d hoped to?”
    “Yes, and I teach as well. I’m a professor at Occidental.”
    He nods, visibly impressed. “What do you write about?”
    I pause, wondering how to frame it for him. I realize there’s only one way...with honesty. “I write about redemption.”
    “Hmmm.” He runs his fingers down his throat. “Does that mean you’re an expert on the subject?”
    “I aspire to be.”
    His eyes narrow and he turns to look at the empty stage. My curiosity of the seat I’ve occupied overtakes me as his silence lingers. “So this seat...who was it meant for?”
    He shrugs. “A woman I see when I visit L.A. but she had a last minute business trip come up.”
    “I’m sorry, but her loss is my gain. These seats are amazing. Do you have a connection at this theater?”
    “Something like that.”
    “And you’re not married?”
    “Divorced. And you?”
    “Divorced, twice actually. Maybe one day I’ll get it right.”
    As we nurse our drinks and wait for the concert to start we fall into a surprisingly easy conversation. Matt tells me about his work at NextWave, and the trials of raising a fifteen year-old son.
    “He’s smarter than me, and always testing us,” he laments.
    “He sounds a bit more wild than you were at his age,” I suggest with a grin after hearing about his latest detention.
    Matt rubs his fist against his chin. “I worry about how