by Peggy Bird
Jesus. There it was again. He hadn’t given her more than a chaste good night peck on the cheek, and he already had them in bed. If this was slow, he wondered what the hell fast was.
As he walked up the path to her house, he saw her waiting in the shadows on a porch swing. At least he could stop picturing her in bed for a few minutes.
She smiled at him as he approached, and he took the steps two at a time to get to her as fast as he could.
“Got what you needed?” she asked.
“I think so.” He sat next to her. “I may have to come back, but I’m pretty sure I have a better idea of what will go where.”
“You know, when I was first given this assignment, all I could think was, oh, right. Hang some glass in the trees. Big deal. But since we’ve talked about it, since you’ve explained what you’re trying to achieve and I’ve read your proposal, I realize it is a big deal. I apologize for not taking it seriously at first. It’s a lot more complex, more complicated than I ever realized.”
“No apology needed. How could you make sense of it when you didn’t have the proposal to look at? Did you ever figure out why you didn’t get a copy of it?”
She sighed. “I didn’t have to figure it out. I’m pretty sure I know. My boss has to make budget cuts so he’s trying to eliminate my position to save someone else’s job. There’s this woman he’s involved with … Anyway, I think he figures if I screw up the biggest event on the civic calendar and he has to save it, he’ll have a reason to do what he wants. You were merely the means to an end.”
“Fucker. Sorry … ”
“Don’t apologize. You’re right. He is a sorry-ass fucker. But he’s the sorry-ass fucker I have to deal with it. However, with your project settled, all I have to do is get the contracts signed with a couple dozen vendors, and the prelims for the Fourth are finished. Then I can get back to fending off people who don’t want to pay higher meter rates.”
He laughed. “Tell me when those meetings are and I’ll be there with a pitchfork and torch myself.”
“Too late. The comment period closed tonight.” She got up from the swing. “Can I get you a beer?”
“Sure. Need some help?”
“No, I’m fine.”
He watched as she crossed the porch to her front door and disappeared into the house. Her walk was smooth and graceful, the sway of her hips mesmerizing. Oh, yeah. She’s fine. Very fine indeed.
When Shannon returned, she had a beer with a glass inverted over the bottle and another bottle similarly decorated. She handed him the beer before pouring herself what he now saw was mineral water and putting the bottle on the small wicker table in front of her.
“You’re not joining me?”
“No, I don’t drink alcohol.” She sipped at her water but didn’t break eye contact with him.
“That’s right. You didn’t have a glass of wine at dinner the other night either.” Leo paused for a breath or two, wondering if he should ask. “Religious reasons?” He shook his head and tried to retract what he’d said. “Never mind. None of my business.”
“I don’t mind your asking. It’s not religion, not in the way you mean, although I guess I’d define my mom as an avid believer in the church of alcohol. My father verges on being an alcoholic, too. I haven’t seen him for a long time. He may be a full-blown one now for all I know.” She paused, trying not to tear up remembering how long it had been since she’d seen him.
“Anyway, I decided not to begin down that path, in case it was in my genes.”
“You should have said something. I don’t need to have this.” He gestured with the beer bottle. “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
“Obviously I’m not. Otherwise I wouldn’t keep beer and wine around for my friends. Please, enjoy it. I hear it’s a really good IPA.”
“Yup, it is. My favorite, in fact.” He took a swig from the bottle. “Sounds like you’re not too close to your family.”
“Not really. My mom lives in Redding, California. I visit her three or four times a year and always come home sad because she’s deteriorated a little bit more. She’s never been here, which, in a lot of ways, is fine with me.”
Shannon took another sip of her mineral water. “I’m not sure where my dad is. I think he’s still in Reno. He left when I was young. Every now and then, he swoops in and plays daddy for a while, gives me advice on how to live my life, and makes promises he’ll never keep. Then he leaves and I don’t hear from him for another year or so.” She sighed.
“Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve tried to get him to love me. I can’t tell you how hard I worked to be the perfect daughter I thought he wanted me to be. But nothing has ever seemed to work. I don’t know why I keep trying, but I do.” Her eyes were bright with unshed tears.
“You want your father to care for you like all the rest of us do. But from what I can see, he’s the one who’s lost out by not being around you. You’ve done great with your life. With or without a relationship with him.” Leo put his arm around her shoulders and gently urged her to put her head against his chest. “No brothers or sisters?”
“No, only me and mom.” She sat up abruptly. “I don’t know what’s come over me. I didn’t mean to turn this into a pity party. Sorry.”
“You didn’t. I asked.” He leaned in and kissed her temple. “Don’t run away.”
She nestled back into his body. “What’s your family like?”
“Like a three-ring circus most of the time. The rest of the time, meddling and nosy.”
“In what way?” Shannon asked.
“Oh, you know, siblings with advice on how to live my life. Parents who worry about my choice of career because I don’t have a 401k yet. The whole family wondering when I’m going to stop being the only unmarried one. The usual stuff.”
“From the tone of your voice, you love them. Are they around here?”
“I do love them. To distraction. Yeah, they’re in Portland. All of them. My mother and father are still in the house where I grew up out in Troutdale. My two brothers are an engineer and an accountant with the usual wives, kids, mortgaged homes, and dogs—which are not mortgaged, in case you were worried. One of my sisters is a police officer; the other is a librarian, both with the requisite spouses: wife in one case, husband in the other, along with kids and houses. No dogs. But there is a gerbil in the mix.”
“Wow, big family. Where are you in the lineup?”
“I’m the youngest.”
“Ah, so they fuss because you’re the baby.”
“Yes, and my parents are concerned because I’m the only one who didn’t finish college so I don’t have, as they keep reminding me, ‘something to fall back on’ if I need it.”
“Which explains why this installation is so important to you, doesn’t it?” Shannon asked.
“It’s part of it. It could be the break I’ve been looking for. If I get some traction with the press, particularly the national media … ” He let it trail off.
“You’ll be on your way,” she finished. “And I could have messed it up.”
Leo pulled her closer to him with one arm and reached for the glass she was holding with his other hand. “Baby, you could never mess anything up for me.” Her fingers trembled when he brushed them, and he heard her sharp intake of breath. She must have felt the same zing of electricity from their brief contact that he did.
Placing her glass on the table next to his beer bottle, he said, “You’ve made this a good thing regardless of how the glass installation turns out.”
Those big eyes looking at him, the soft, pink lip she was biting almost undid him. He wanted to kiss her more than he’d ever wanted to kiss anyone. Had ever since the first day he’d met her. He kept reminding himself he wanted to take it slow, not rush in and get involved too fast, like he had with Cathy. But she didn’t make it easy to keep his promise to himself.
Caressing her cheeks with the tips of his fingers elicited another gasp. Then she licked her lips. Jus
t licked her lips and he had to fight the urge to cover her mouth and devour it with his own.
But, determined to take his time, he feathered kisses along her jawline. Light—butterfly light—kisses barely touching her skin but allowing him to taste her, tempt her, tease her.
“Leo, please,” she pleaded as she moved her hands up his chest until her arms were wrapped around his neck and she was straining against him, her head back.
Instead of answering her plea, he kissed his way down her neck until he was at the base of her throat where he nipped at the soft flesh there, then bathed it with his tongue as if to heal whatever he may have hurt. God, she was sweet. Soft and sweet and smelling of spring.
Finally, Shannon took his face in her hand and said, “If you’re not going to really kiss me, I’m going to kiss you.”
Chapter Six
The mouth Leo locked on hers was hot and demanding. The arms he tightened around her were as strong and solid as she remembered from when he’d saved her from falling on the parade grounds. The heat of his body warmed up the cool spring night faster than any fire could. Shannon felt protected, sheltered, cared for, turned on. It had been so long since she’d been aroused like this. She’d almost forgotten how wonderful it felt. Leo’s kiss was burning away her reluctance to let him get closer.
His mouth opened on hers and she responded, letting his tongue explore all the secrets of her mouth, playing with her tongue, the velvet slide of their game heating her more. All the breath in her lungs seemed to disappear into him as he swallowed her moan of pleasure.
She wanted to go where this kiss was leading them. From the way he fit her body to his, she knew he did, too. Her back arched and her head went back, hinting at her need to have him touch her breasts, to kiss the pulse in her throat. He immediately moved his mouth to the base of her throat. His hands went to the side of her breasts, barely touching her at first, then cupping her breasts from underneath, teasing at what they could do to arouse her more. Her arms around his neck tightened; her body responded to his with liquid heat. She wanted the kiss to go on and on. Wanted it to lead to what was next. Wanted him. Every way she could have him.
Suddenly, she felt cool air on her throat and his hands were gone. He’d pulled back from her, ducking his head, refusing to make eye contact.
She was confused. “Leo? Is something wrong?”
“I didn’t mean for this to get out of hand so fast.” She could tell he was working to bring his breathing back to normal. His heart hadn’t gotten the message yet because it was pounding against her hands, now clutching at his shirt, trying to pull him back toward her.
“It didn’t get out of hand. It was wonderful.”
He took her face in his hands. “More than wonderful. But I can’t tonight. I mean it’s not possible. Walter’s waiting.”
“Who’s Walter? Your father? A brother?” She paused as a thought struck her, before she realized she was being absurd. He kissed too convincingly for Walter to be that kind of friend. “Who is he? Why’s he stopping us … stopping you? Can’t you call him, text him, tell him you’re staying?”
“Can’t. Sorry.”
Shannon wasn’t exactly sure what to say so she said nothing, hoping her disappointment wasn’t showing too much.
Leo continued. “His paws make it hard for him to answer the phone. And the instructor at obedience school didn’t teach him to read a text.”
“Paws? Obedience school?” Then what he meant dawned on her and she laughed. “Oh, Walter’s your dog.”
“He is. And he’s been left alone for way too long. You can’t imagine the damage he can do when he’s pissed off at me. I apologize. I didn’t think it would … didn’t count on being … ” He shook his head in frustration. “I don’t know what I mean except I wasn’t thinking before I started something I knew I couldn’t finish.”
“Don’t apologize. I was the one who kissed you.”
“Yeah, and I put up a whole hell of a lot of resistance, didn’t I?”
“Well, now that you mention it … ” She finished the sentence with a giggle.
He rose from the swing and put out his hand for her. “I better go before I forget how much glass he broke the last time he was annoyed with me. I don’t have the time to clean up the mess he’d make.” He gathered her into his arms when she stood. After he kissed her forehead he asked, “Can we pick up where we—where I—left off this weekend?”
Her head was against his chest where she could feel his heartbeat still racing. It pleased her and made her brave enough to say, “Why don’t you bring Walter over here on Saturday? We can walk him around Vancouver and show him the sights. Then we can have dinner here.” She paused for a moment then took a leap. “You both can stay for as long as you want.”
“How about dinner tomorrow night and the walk on Saturday morning?”
“Or the whole weekend here?” She was grinning up at him by now.
“I’ll bring his dog bed.”
After Shannon had accompanied Leo to his truck and gotten one more scorching kiss, she returned home wondering how the hell she’d gotten the nerve to … well … to proposition him. Which was exactly what she’d done. Propositioned a man. She’d never done anything like it in her life. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe she’d acted too quickly. No, it didn’t feel like that at all. Right now, she felt like Leonardo DiCaprio on the prow of the Titanic. She was the king of the world. Okay, maybe the princess of Vancouver. But it felt good. Very good.
All she had to do was get through the night and work tomorrow and she’d have a sexy man in her house—in her bed—for the first time in a long, long time.
The sleeping part didn’t work out too well—she was restless all night long. Then it was harder than she thought getting to the end of what felt like the longest workday in her life. Every time she checked her computer only ten or fifteen minutes had passed, although it didn’t stop her from constantly looking. She tried all the tricks she knew to take her mind off the evening ahead, pulling up file after file of work-related subjects, hoping to lose herself in a complicated project but she couldn’t. The only thing she could focus on was the list of vendors and artists to contact for the Fourth. At least she had done that and made all of them happy. She was Googling romantic dinner suggestions instead of eating lunch when she heard someone say her name in a frustrated tone. She looked up from her computer, hastily closing the webpage she’d been browsing. It was her best friend, Powell Jordan, who also worked in community relations.
“Hey there,” Shannon said.
“Hey, yourself,” Powell responded. “What’s zoning you out so much I have to say your name three times before you answer? You must not be feeling well, because it’s too much to ask to have you mooning over a guy.”
“No, I’m not sick.”
With her hands on her hips Powell asked the obvious question. “Then who is he?”
The question presented a problem. On one hand, telling her friend about Leo opened the door to hassle from her. On the other hand, if she didn’t talk, Powell would bug her until she got the information she wanted. So, taking the path of least resistance, Shannon sighed and gave her friend the information she was after. “There is someone. A guy I met recently. A nice guy.”
“It’s about damn time. Spill. Who is he? How’d you meet him? Are you mooning about because tonight is the night for the doing of the deed or because it has already been done?”
Shannon went to the door of her cubicle and looked around to see who was in sight. “Keep your voice down! This isn’t anybody else’s business.” She returned to her desk chair and waved Powell to another seat. “And I don’t want it spread all over the office. Here’s the thing. He’s the glassblower I had to work with on the art project for the Fourth.”
“The one you said was an airheaded PITA?”
“That one. But I was wrong. He’s smart and sweet and sexy … ”
“All the right S words so far. How about the big one—single?” P
owell asked.
“That too.”
“So deets … now.”
“Well, last week we had lunch one day, and over the weekend we went to the movies. He hung out at the house for a while last night. And I … ” Shannon paused, ducked her head and took a deep breath. “I asked him to spend the weekend with me.”
“My, my, my. We’ve come a long way since Jeremy the Jackass left, haven’t we?”
“It’s time to get past him. Time to, I don’t know, take a guy to bed and have fun. Not get all wrapped up in some relationship. Just have a good time.” She giggled. “I’ve never done anything like this before. I don’t know what got into me.”
“Obviously the hope he would.”
“Powell!”
Powell stood and motioned Shannon to do the same. “This calls for a quick trip to Van Mall. You haven’t had lunch yet, have you?
“No, I was going to have a power bar at my desk. What’s at Van Mall? There’s no grocery store there. I was planning to go to Fred Meyer’s after work.”
“Honey, what you need isn’t on sale at Freddy’s. You need sexy undies, the kind that make a man go weak in the knees and hard a bit north of there.”
“Do you have to make it sound like I’m some sort of slut? I’m not after him just for sex.”
“If you’re not after him for what those undies will tempt him to do, I’ll be disappointed in you, sweet pea.”
“I can’t … ”
“You can. Grab your jacket. It’s raining. We’re going to see what secrets Victoria will let us in on.”
After an hour and more money than Shannon had ever spent on underwear before, she had a lacy black bra and a matching pair of skimpy bikini panties. Powell wanted her to wear an uncomfortable looking thong that was also part of the line. Shannon finally bought it to shut her up but knew she’d return it as soon as she was out from under her friend’s supervision.
The set of lingerie would, Powell assured her, get her through Friday evening. She then picked out a black silk kimono robe and a knit lounge set consisting of a cami and yoga pants to get her friend through the rest of the weekend. The lounge set was the only thing Shannon was sure she’d wear again. When she signed the credit card slip, she winced. But at least she was finished with her friend’s meddling.