Falling in Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

heck,” he said, “just for fun.” He picked me up and carried me for a big step before setting me down. “We just crossed the front door’s threshold. Actually, it’s probably the back door since I think the front door should be facing the water.”
    Paul walked me through his imaginary house pointing out the various first-floor rooms while noting that the house would be very wide so that almost every room would have a wall of windows facing the water. He then stepped high, leading me up imaginary stairs and with a wink, he showed me the future master bedroom, as well as three other bedrooms “for the children” before taking me back down stairs and out to the future front porch nearly at the water’s edge.
    “So what do you think?” he asked like a boy who had just shown off a new toy.
    “It seems lovely.”
    “Think you’d like to live here?”
    “Who wouldn’t?” I admitted.
    Paul smiled and then spread out a blanket on the future front porch, opened a bottle of expensive-looking wine and poured me a glass. It quickly made me light-headed, partly due to my lack of sleep but also due to the situation. Paul lay down on the blanket and motioned for me to lie next to him. My arm brushed against his and his warmth felt intoxicating.
    Paul offered a toast. “To beautiful places,” he looked at me again, “and to beautiful people.”
    He spread out hors d’oeuvres. He had prepared quite a feast.
    He sipped his wine. “So tell me about yourself.”
    “There isn’t much to tell. What do you want to know?” I asked, suddenly nervous.
    “Everything. Your favorite movie, when you lost your virginity, what your—”
    “—What?” I slapped him on the shoulder. “Do you always ask that question to women you’ve known for one day?”
    “Never,” he admitted.
    “You should keep it that way.”
    “I’ll tell you,” Paul said.
    “Like I want to know?”
    “Don’t you?”
    I wanted to say that I thought it wasn’t any of my business and vice versa but I hesitated too long and Paul said, “Judy Hastings, after the senior prom when we were both blasted. We’d waited three years for it and when it ended up being a backseat bang, we were both so embarrassed, we never spoke again.” He looked silently down toward the ground and then sipped his wine.
    “That’s sad,” I said.
    “The worst part is that I found out later she wasn’t even a virgin. She’d lost it the summer before to some camp counselor.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Then I was engaged in law school,” he went on. “We were going to start a practice together and live happily ever after, until I dropped by her apartment and found her in bed with our Intellectual Properties professor.”
    He spread pâté on a cracker and handed it to me, brushing against my arm. “I always thought I was unlucky with women.” His eyes met mine. “Now I think I just hadn’t met the right one.”
    I smiled weakly. I wanted desperately to be the right woman for him.
    Paul laughed. “Okay, I bore my soul. Tell me about your loves.” He held up his hands. “You don’t have to discuss consummation. Who was first?”
    “My uncle.”
    “What?”
    “I was eight.”
    Paul laughed. “Not some childish crush. Who was your first real love?”
    “Soccer,” I replied. “I loved soccer more than anything.”
    Paul shook his head in disbelief. “You’re telling me that the greatest love of your life was a sport?”
    I nodded. “I really loved it.”
    Paul laughed. “You’re kidding me, right?”
    I laughed, too. “Okay, I loved being the fastest player on the field, being the top scorer, being the best. I loved being the star. Does that make sense?”
    Paul didn’t look convinced but did mention, “I guess I wasn’t a star but I was our high school’s top defensive player.”
    “I only played in junior high,” I admitted. “They wouldn’t let me play in high school.”
    Paul glanced at me. “Why?”
    “I don’t want to talk about