by Charish Reid
As she shoved her legs through her pants, she shot him a puzzled expression. “Other pair?”
“The pair I nicked from you at your office.”
“I’m not giving you any more until you start paying for them. Undergarments are not infinite.” She adjusted her clothes and pulled her knit cap back on her head.
“I know,” he said, reaching for her mask on the floor. “That’s why I keep taking them.” She eyed her mask warily as he extended it towards her. “Would you like this?”
Victoria bit back a smile and shook her head. “No, no masks tonight.”
All of their joking aside, he was relieved to hear her say that. Victoria was ready to participate in a real relationship with him and it made his heart swell with excitement. No more schedules, no more professional pretenses.
He was now her boyfriend, Johnny.
“Could you please put your hat back on?” she asked in a sweet voice. “I really like the whole ensemble.”
John retightened his low ponytail and covered his head with the wide-brimmed hat. “M’lady.” He offered his arm.
“Should we mingle?” Victoria asked as she took his rock-hard biceps in her hand.
“I’m under strict orders to party,” he said, leading her from his office. “From the boss man himself.”
“I can’t believe Mr. Wegman would throw a party like this,” Victoria said, lifting her voice above the blare of Thriller. “This is the first time you guys are doing this, right?”
John held her tight against his side as they maneuvered through partygoers. “It is, but sometimes the old man gets an idea in his head and tackles it with tunnel vision.” He peered down at her. “Much like someone else I know.”
Her head snapped up. “Sometimes tunnel vision is good,” she said with a smile. “It brought me here.”
God, she was so adorable when she allowed herself to relax. John wanted to tweak her upturned nose and kiss her forehead, but a sight caught the corner of his eye that made him cautious. “If you want to talk to the man yourself, you can,” he said, pointing to the elderly Sherlock Holmes near the refreshments table. He was in deep conversation with a woman dressed as a standard black cat.
“Sure,” Victoria said, squeezing his arm. “I’ve never met him.”
He loved that little squeeze, how her breast pressed against his muscles and her fingers gripped him. It was difficult not to flex under her grasp. “Mr. Holmes, I presume.”
The old man looked him up and down before replying, “And Zorro! John, have you met a friend of the library, President Kowalski? Mary Anne, this is John Donovan, the head of our Children’s Library.”
The cat-woman slid her mask to her chin. “Hello there.”
Victoria’s grip tightened around John’s arm. “President of Pembroke University?” he asked, extending his hand.
“That’s right,” Mary Anne said with a strong shake. She glanced at Victoria who shrank against him in an effort to look smaller. “Professor Reese?”
“Dr. Kowalski,” Victoria said, straightening up. Her hand was still wrapped around his arm, quite different from the time they ran into her nemesis on the street. “You’re also a friend of the library?”
The woman smiled warmly and nodded. “Of course, I’ve been on the board for nine years, pestering Howard, here, the entire time. And yourself?”
“Only for two years,” Victoria said. “I’m actually—”
“—wait a minute, now,” Wegman interrupted. “Are you Dr. Victoria Reese? The professor who reached out about the internship?”
“I am,” she said quickly. “I’m working with John on that right now.”
“What internship?” Kowalski asked.
“I was going to pitch the idea to you,” Victoria said as her body began to tremble. John snuck his thumb to her hand and rubbed her skin until she relaxed. “As a Four-Week Initiative project.”
Mary Anne gave her an appraising nod. “Give me the elevator pitch now.”
Pembroke’s president was all business, even in a cat costume. No wonder Victoria constantly walked a tightrope at her job. John continued to stroke her hand with his thumb, quietly urging her to stand tall and assert herself. Surely some performances were necessary. Victoria cleared her throat. “My aim is to create an internship for the English students of Early Childhood Education and Children’s Literature to work with John’s department. I believe their chances of job placement will be increased if they’ve had one-on-one interaction with young readers. Of course, this is an internship that could extended to more than one area of study. Working for a public library is beneficial to all kinds of students.” When she finished, she let out a shuddering breath.
“I’ve been working closely with Dr. Reese to ensure the work duties are aligned with your university’s learning goals,” John added.
President Kowalski’s knowing stare flitted to their union. As they were connected at the hip, it was evident they’d been working close indeed. She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes before announcing, “I like it. It’s an inexpensive and simple solution to our community outreach problem. Unfortunately, Pembroke has a reputation for being elitist and aloof. We need to change that.” With a decisive nod, she added: “I’d like to see a written proposal from you, Dr. Reese.”
“Really?” Victoria croaked.
“The sooner the better. If we can get this started in time for the Spring Semester, we can see how well it works for students of other disciplines. For now, we should start with English, don’t you think?”
Victoria was frozen. John nudged her to speak. “Of course,” she blurted out. “I can meet with you tomorrow if you’d like.”
“Email me this evening so I’ll remember.”
“Just one more thing,” she said. “Does this need to be approved by the Curriculum and Policy Committee? I was told it would take a month to reach your desk.”
Kowalski frowned. “Who’s running that committee?”
“Dr. Kenneth Williams, ma’am.”
The woman rolled her eyes and exhaled a mirthless chuckle. “Oh brother. Just leave Kenneth to me. He’s still golf buddies with the last president who nearly gambled away our endowment. No, Dr. Reese, we’ll get this off the ground by January.”
Victoria looked up at John, her eyes widened with excitement. “Okay, that’s perfect.”
“Let’s hope that I get more Four-Week Initiative ideas as good as yours,” Kowalski said against her drink. “Howard, you don’t mind my people pestering your people, do you?”
Director Wegman clamped his teeth on his oversized Holmes pipe and shrugged his narrow shoulders. “If John doesn’t mind a Pembroke woman bossing him about, I’m fine. I’m used to it.”
John’s shoulders shook with laughter. “It isn’t half as bad as you make it out to be, Mr. Wegman.” He exchanged looks with Victoria, who hadn’t separated from him since the start of this negotiation. “I find some of Dr. Reese’s bossing delightful.”
Her mouth quirked into an embarrassing grin.
“Is he just saying that because he’s your boyfriend?” Mary Anne asked with a raised brow.
“It seems that way,” Victoria said. “Johnny has always objected to my rules.”
John almost lost his breath. Victoria stood tall beside him, asserting herself and laying claim to her own brilliant ideas. Claiming him. He wasn’t an associate tonight, in front of her boss.
He was her boyfriend.
Epilogue
Christmas Dinner in Chicago
“I’m warning you now, so you don’t get confused later,” Victoria said, facing her parents’ front door. “I will probably act and sound different around them. I might not touch you like I normally would, and I’ll be saying ma’am and sir a lot. Again, I’m really sorry about this.”
John winked in response. God, he actua
lly winked.
“I need you to tone that down when we get in there,” she added.
His hand settled on the small of her back. “Baby, you’re getting wound up,” he warned. “What did we say about being open and honest?”
Victoria hadn’t seen her parents since Uncle Jeffrey’s retirement party, but she had increased the frequency of phone calls with them. While there seemed to be a change in her mother’s tone, something softer and less demanding, she still dreaded the eventual visit with John in tow. She relied on a couple of mantras to give her strength: Teach people how to treat you. Set your boundaries from the start.
For his part, John wore a gray suit, kept his hair in a respectable ponytail, and held flowers for Katherine. However, that didn’t take away from the fact that he looked like pure sex. Or that they’d almost missed their train because of an ill-timed quickie. The whole two-hour ride was spent on her smoothing down her hair, adjusting her make up, and telling John to stop saying “calm down, honey.” God, she’d been worried about her mother... What about her dad?
As the door swung open, Victoria held her breath. Archie revealed himself, dressed in an apron that read: “Grill Master.” He saw the both of them and beamed. “Hey honey.” He grabbed her for a tight bear hug before peering over her shoulder at John. “Is this the beautiful librarian? Did you get your book back, son?”
John gave a throaty chuckle. “Yes, sir,” he said, holding out his hand.
The two men shook hands while Victoria looked on in trepidation.
“Archie, let them in for godsakes,” Katherine’s voice rang out. “It’s too cold to be mingling on the porch.”
“You heard the woman,” Archie muttered under his breath.
They pulled their overnight bags inside and closed the door behind them. The Reese household was humming with activity and brightly lit with her mother’s “sensible” Christmas decorations. There was a tree in the foyer, and if Victoria guessed right, there would be two more in the living room and the study.
“Go ’head and set your bags over there and Vicki will show you your room later,” Archie said.
Victoria held her tongue. As long as they stayed at her parents’ house, she knew they’d have to sleep in separate rooms. Even her father was insistent on that.
Her mother sashayed into the foyer, wearing her own apron. Upon spotting John, her eyes widened and a broad smile slid over her face. It actually appeared genuine... “Dear god, you are a large man,” she said. “How tall is he, Victoria?” Katherine touched John’s arm and fluttered her lashes. “He positively dwarfs everyone in the room.”
“I’m only six five ma’am,” John said with a genial grin. He leaned over her extended hand and kissed the back of her fingers. Her mother reddened in the face as she lifted her free hand to her chest. Once he released her, John handed Katherine his bouquet of flowers. “Thank you for inviting me to dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Reese.”
Chris was right: John was good at this. Her mother was a puddle of pleasantries at the mere sight of the young Viking. Victoria openly rolled her eyes at the scene. “Oh my, you’ve brought me gardenias,” her mother crooned as she inhaled the warm scent of the full blossoms. “How on earth did you manage it?”
“I know a guy,” John said.
Victoria was that “guy.”
She’d made certain to drill him full of Katherine Reese facts a week before their arrival. So far, he was doing well enough, but Victoria wanted her mother to release her boyfriend. “Well, let me get these in a vase and they’ll serve as a beautiful centerpiece for tomorrow’s breakfast.” She turned to Victoria and gripped her arms. “Darling, you have such a glow about you! School is going well?”
“Uh...yeah, actually it is,” she said, meeting her mother’s gaze. “The internship that John and I created just got approved for January. And I’m also halfway through tenure portfolio...” she trailed off because she wasn’t used to her mother asking about her work. Victoria didn’t know what else to say.
“Oh, wonderful,” Katherine said, gathering her in her arms. Victoria wrapped her arms around her mother and cast a confused expression at John. “My baby is going to have some job security!”
“John,” Archie said. “Grab yourself a beer from the fridge and join me on the deck. We’ve got a turkey to smoke.”
“What kind of smoker you got, sir?” John asked, moving towards the kitchen. “I hear the Weber Smokey Mountain’s pretty good.”
Archie laughed. “Pretty good, but the Nordic Season is better, let me show you the specs on this baby.”
With her boyfriend tied up with her father’s smoking project, Victoria was left with her mother in the kitchen. She sat at the counter and watched Katherine bustle around. “So what’s for dinner?”
Her mother pulled a large casserole of macaroni and cheese from the oven and fanned an oven-mitt over it. “Oh, honey, I’ve made everything. I didn’t know what your John would like. You didn’t tell us he was white.”
Victoria held back the laughter that bubbled in her chest. “He’ll eat anything,” she said.
“Well, we’ve got greens, macaroni, dressing, ham, turkey...” Her mother trailed off as she counted the items left out on the counter to cool. “And you’re sure he’s not one of those vegans?”
“He’s not,” Victoria assured. “Thank you for going through all the trouble, Mom.”
“And did you already have dinner with his people?”
“We did, I met his sister, who just got back from Sweden,” she said. “It was really nice.”
Her mother stopped busying herself long enough to stand on the opposite side of the kitchen island. “I did a lot of thinking since your last visit.”
Victoria bit her lip and glanced down at the white tile of the island. “I’m sorry for coming off too aggressive.”
“And I’m sorry for being so bossy,” Katherine said.
Mother and daughter paused for a moment to stare at one another. Victoria’s mouth tugged at the corner, trying to decide whether to cry or smile. Katherine took the first step, reaching out and taking her daughter’s hand.
“I just want you to know that I’m going to do a better job of butting out. After all, you’re a grown-ass woman,” she said with a twist of her mouth.
“Thank you.”
Their moment ended just as quickly as it began, with her mother returning to the oven. Yeasty bread rolls were next in line to be loaded up. “He’s good to you?” Katherine asked over shoulder.
Victoria nodded. “He’s good to me.”
“That’s all I need to hear.”
* * *
Only when she sensed everyone had gone to bed, Victoria crept to John’s guest bedroom, in the cover of darkness, and opened his door. “John?” she whispered.
“Victoria?”
She quietly closed the door behind her and tiptoed to where she remembered his bed was. “I just wanted to check on you.”
“Is that a fact?” he asked in a low purr. “You’re not allowed in here, young lady.”
Victoria felt his body shift as she climbed into his bed. “Can you stay quiet, Johnny?”
“I absolutely can,” he whispered. “In your parents’ home, I’m not going to do anything that would warrant noise.”
“You’re no fun,” she said, snuggling up against his bare chest, his arms wrapped around her, pulling her close.
“You know what’s fun? Not getting in trouble with the Master Gunnery sharpshooter and his wife.”
“I want to know what you talked about with the Master Gunnery Sergeant while you were outside smoking the turkey.”
In the darkness, she could barely make out his body, but felt him shift to his side and lean on one elbow. “We talked about you, my love.”
“What about me?”
With his thumb, he rubbed the curve of her che
ekbone and stopped at the corner of her mouth. “We had a good long talk about my intentions, my five-year plan, and how I’d allow you to spread your wings,” John continued. “I told him that my intentions were to be the best boyfriend I could be, every single day. My five-year plan included the library and the university, us moving in together, me marrying you. You know, the normal courting process,” he said with a soft chuckle.
Even though her heart pounded, Victoria found herself grinning. They were only just getting around to “normal” courting, but his mind was on the future. Marriage. She could see the same future and, instead of panic, she felt excitement. “What else did you say?”
“I told him that your wings were already unfurled. His daughter was already flying, I just needed to catch up with her.”
She was too thrilled to know what to say.
John continued without her input. “He nodded, took a swig of beer, and checked the turkey even though he had checked it five minutes previously. He said all of that sounded fine to him but to check with you because you’re a ‘grown-ass woman.’”
Tears slid from the corners of her eyes and down her temples. “I am,” she managed to say.
John’s hand left her face and traveled down her arm, to her hand. He brought it to his lips and kissed her fingers. “I thought as much, but I wanted to have one of those man-to-man talks with him. Marines like ceremony and tradition. Their daughters aren’t too far off the mark.”
“That was lovely of you,” she said with a grin.
“So how about it, my darling? Does your five-year plan include being with a librarian?”
Victoria pulled away from him and groped for the nightstand. Once she’d switched on the light and saw him clearly, her heart melted from the sight of the G.D. Viking who lay beside her. With the blankets at his waist and muscles stretched taut, his beauty was still breathtaking. “I have one condition.”
A dark brow arched. “Yes?”
She swept the back of her arm across her wet eyes and sniffed. “Promise me that we’ll continue our sordid affair.”