“What’s going on?’ Daniel asked as he poured himself a mug of coffee from the tiny galley kitchen hidden behind louvered doors.
She gave him a piercing look. “Nothing’s going on. What’s wrong with you?”
He frowned. He hated when his mother just got to the point without the social lead-in. “Maybe I just came here to mooch breakfast.”
She sat back and regarded him serenely. She was still a beautiful woman, not as slim as she’d been before seven pregnancies, but still slender with a long, narrow face, dark brown eyes and black hair threaded with gray pulled into a loose bun at the nape of her neck. She wore a black dress with a white shawl draped across her shoulders and pink pearls about her neck and in her ears. She’d been a backup singer to some of the best known rock groups of the seventies and eighties and still did some vocal work, but of late she’d tapered off to only a few jobs here and there. Nothing that took her away from home. Even with both of his parents working when he was young, Daniel had never felt deprived of his parents’ company. Early in their marriage they’d decided that if one parent had to be gone, the other would be home. He was grateful for their presence in his life, then and now.
His mother looked at him. “I know you need to talk because Logan’s already been here,” she said with a knowing half smile.
Damn! Logan had beaten him to his own mother. He sat down on a chair and tried not to sigh in frustration.
“Why does this Greer Courtland have the two of you in such a Gordian knot?”
“Pulling out the fancy terms, are you?”
“I read a book once,” his mother replied tartly. “Stop being a smart-ass and get to the point. I have work to do.” She waved a hand over her desk and the piles of papers along with an overflowing in-box. “Have things progressed to the next stage already?”
The next stage? Was she talking about sex? “What are you asking me?” He never discussed sex with his mother. He discussed it with his brothers. She was his mother and wasn’t supposed know about things like her children having sex. Yeah, she’d had seven children, but a part of him still wanted to think the stork had brought them, dropping them down the chimney like a Christmas present from Santa.
“From the look on your face, you and Greer spent the night together last night, didn’t you?”
He squirmed. How could his mother make him feel like he was seven years old again with nothing more than a look and a partial smile? “I took her to Griffith Park last night and we looked at the stars.” He didn’t add that she’d invited him home afterward.
“Do I need to start looking for my mother-of-the-groom dress?” Grace teased.
“Mom, I’m your son. This is serious business and you’re teasing me.”
Grace Torres burst out laughing. “You look so serious. Love is supposed to be about exploration, fun and discovery. It’s about finding what the two of you have with each other.”
“I don’t know if I’m in love.” Yet a part of him thought he could be in love with Greer. From the first time he’d met her, she’d impressed him. “I’ve never been involved with a woman like this before. She confuses me. She’s so different. She’s not interested in...” He paused, thinking how best to say it.
“She’s not interested in the trappings of your life.” Grace leaned back in her chair, a look of amusement on her face. “You have finally met someone who isn’t impressed with what you have, or what you can give her. She’s looking for the man underneath all the illusion.”
He’d never had to defend his lifestyle to a woman before. The women in his past had actually shared it; they’d understood the illusion as well as he did and asked nothing more of him. And yet every moment with Greer left him feeling like he had to do exactly that. He’d taken her to Griffith Park last night so she could see he was more than the sum total of his parts.
“So what do you want from me?” his mother asked gently.
He didn’t know. He stared at his mother, trying to think, but his thoughts were a jumble that circled around and around Greer Courtland like she was the eye of a hurricane. “I want to know what to do next.” He’d finally admitted what he needed. He didn’t know how to be with Greer. Last night had been wonderful, and afterward at her house had been an experience he very much wanted to repeat.
Grace stood in a graceful motion. She came around the desk and cupped his face in her hands. “Be yourself, my dear. Just be yourself.”
“Logan wants her, too.” His one last fear appeared.
Grace bent over and kissed him on the forehead. “Logan just wants to irritate you.”
“He’s doing a fine job of it.” Daniel didn’t mean to sound bitter, but for the first time he had someone he truly wanted, and Logan was making things difficult.
“Only because you’re letting him.” Grace kissed him again.
Daniel stood and hugged his mother. “This thing with Logan never bothered me before.”
“Because you feel different about Greer, and Logan is distracting you.”
“Have you always been this wise?” She probably had been, but like most children, he tended to not listen to his parents. He and Nick had caused a lot of chaos during their teen years, and his mother had probably wanted to lock them both up in jail until they matured, but they’d all survived.
She smoothed a wayward curl back from his forehead. “I have seven children, I get a lot of practice. Now go out and get the girl. In fact, bring her to dinner tonight. Nina seems to like her. We’ll introduce her to Brazilian cooking. I want to see how she eats.”
“Why do you want to see how she eats?” Daniel was confused.
“Two words. Dorothy Lambert. Your old high school girlfriend you reconnected with after college.”
He hadn’t thought about Dorothy in years. But he did remember that at one point he’d thought she was the one. “Why?”
“She picked at her food and complained about the spiciness.”
That really didn’t explain anything for him. “Still not understanding, Mom.”
Grace sighed and shook her head. “She was anorexic and when I tried to help her, she refused to have anything to do with me. I can’t have a daughter-in-law who thinks I’m a busybody and has nothing nice to say about me.”
“But you are a busybody,” Daniel said with fondness. Dorothy had had her issues, but Daniel hadn’t really seen them for what they were. After all, he’d thought he loved her. Eventually she dropped him for a smart-looking entertainment lawyer twenty years her senior, and he’d lost track of her.
His mother smacked him on the arm. “I admit I meddle, but I do it with love. Always with love.”
He hugged her tightly. “Thanks, Mom.”
“That’s what moms are for.”
* * *
Greer skirted around a float being jockeyed into position inside the huge tent set up in the Rose Bowl parking lot. She waited a moment for the float to be pushed into its spot and then headed down the aisle toward Chelsea, who stared up at Daniel’s float.
“What’s going on?”
Chelsea pointed at the rearmost butterfly, which was missing a wing. The wing lay crumpled on the ground next to the float. Not good, Greer thought.
“And the hydraulics were damaged, too.”
“How did this happen?” It wasn’t like the wing would just fall off. Greer knew her job.
“Unknown. I arrived this morning, and this is how I found it.” Chelsea looked angry.
A lot could happen to damage a float, but this particular incident didn’t really look like an accident. “Probably someone bumped into it while positioning their own float and didn’t notice.” Greer tried to sound soothing, but her own irritation was just beneath the surface. Respect for other floats was a big part of the business even as they competed for the trophies.
“I a
lready called John, and he’s on his way over to repair the hydraulic system. And I called the welder. He said he’d be here sometime today.”
Greer simply nodded as she bent over the crumpled wing. She could redo it quickly enough, she thought. It was mostly composed of foam and aluminum screening. She went to work, smoothing out the screening, pulling it tight.
“Nothing ever goes smoothly,” Chelsea said.
“What fun would that be?” Greer said with a light laugh. She sat cross-legged on the ground and started pulling the wing back into shape. Chelsea sat across from her and held one edge of the wing as Greer bent it. Little dings would hardly be noticed beneath the flowers.
“How was your date with Daniel last night?” Chelsea asked, her tone conversational with just a hint of curiosity.
“Fine,” Greer said, her head bent as she concentrated on the wing.
“I can’t imagine a date with Daniel would be just ‘fine.’ What did you do?”
Greer slanted her sister a fond look. She knew Chelsea was trying to act nonchalant, but her curiosity was slowly revealing itself. “He introduced me to his car collection, and then we piled into his truck—”
“He drives a truck? That seems so average.”
“He has to have a way to get his telescope up the mountain.”
Chelsea stared at her sister. “Telescope? That man constantly surprises me.”
“Me, too. He set it up in a picnic area, and we spent hours watching the stars.”
“That sounds...dull.” Chelsea held on tight while Greer tugged. The foam was partially cracked. She would need glue for it and something to reinforce the break.
“Actually, it was fun,” Greer replied.
“Even on a date, you’re a stick-in-the-mud,” Chelsea said with an exaggerated sigh.
“I am not,” Greer objected.
Her sister grinned. “Big sister, you kind of are. You’re with a man this gorgeous and what are you doing? Looking at little bits of light in the night sky.”
“I took him home with me, ” Greer said. “He spent the night.” She sighed. And what a night it was. Just the memory sent tingles of heat across her skin.
Chelsea’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t believe you. You haven’t had a boy-girl slumber party in years...decades.”
“Decades? I’m not old enough to not have had sex in decades.”
“Then years,” Chelsea amended.
“Two at most. You’re forgetting Roy.” She’d dated him two years ago, and they’d had some pretty nice sleepovers.
“And he is best forgotten,” Chelsea said.
“Why? I liked Roy.”
“He liked Roy, too,” Chelsea said.
Roy had been a male catalog model trying to leverage his way into commercials. He’d been pretty to look at, and while Chelsea had made no bones about the fact that she considered him shallow, he had been nice to Greer and made her feel desirable. Not that she wasn’t, but her time between dates seemed to go on so long, she often started to think something was wrong with her. Chelsea had once told her she was too focused on her work and too particular about whom she wanted to date.
“What’s Daniel like in bed?” Chelsea inquired with a gleam in her eye. “Was he fun?”
Greer grinned. “Mind your own business.”
“See,” Chelsea chortled, “you are a stick-in-the-mud. You never talk about your love life. All we get is, ‘I’m seeing someone,’ and we have to fill in the blanks.’”
“I think you talk too much about your love life...”
“And lack thereof,” Chelsea said.
“...and that balances us out,” Greer finished. She didn’t want to say anything about the pending divorce. Chelsea was already sensitive about it. Like their parents, Chelsea had wanted a marriage that lasted. Unfortunately, her soon-to-be ex-husband hadn’t gotten the memo. She was still smarting from the email she’d received from him one night saying he’d filed for divorce. The man hadn’t even had the courage to tell her to her face.
John arrived, Chelsea jumped to her feet to consult with him on the hydraulics and Greer was left to finish straightening out the wing.
By the time Greer left the tent, she was ravenous. She’d missed lunch. While she walked to her car, she called Daniel to see if he was free for a late lunch. He agreed to meet her at his office, and she said she’d bring lunch.
As she drove, she replayed the conversation with her sister. She wasn’t a stick-in-the-mud. She wasn’t quite sure what she was. Discreet, maybe? She just didn’t like her business on the street.
* * *
Daniel heard the door open, and he looked up from his laptop to find Greer standing in the doorway, watching him. “Hi. You made faster time than I thought.”
She grinned at him. “You have a couple of minutes?”
Not really, but for her he’d make the time. “Do we have a float issue?”
She stepped inside his office and closed the door. “No.”
He heard the lock on his door click. Interesting, he thought. She wore a black trench coat tightly belted at the waist. Was it raining today? He glanced out his window to see sunshine and clear skies. “What’s up?”
“Chelsea said I’m a stick-in-the-mud.”
“You are?”
“According to my sister, I have the sense of adventure of a rock.” She put her purse and a large tote on his sofa.
“I’m not judging.”
“Good, because I need you to help me with that.”
“How?”
She untied the belt and let the trench coat slide from her body, leaving her in nothing but a red bra and panties. When he dragged his gaze to her eyes, she fluttered her lashes at him.
“Well, okay, then.” He shut his laptop and moved it to the edge of his desk.
She came around and sat on his desk. Then she grabbed his tie and pulled him toward her. Before he could say anything, she leaned toward him and kissed him. There was nothing sweet or playful about this kiss. Her lips crushed his, and he could taste the hunger on her mouth and the sweetness of her breath. She thrust her tongue in his mouth and seemed to take what she wanted. Daniel felt his tie slide from his neck. As she unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off, he unfastened her bra and slid the straps off her shoulders.
She pulled his head down, and he was only too happy to nuzzle her breast. Her skin was so soft and warm, he thought he’d die from wanting her. He could have done this forever. Quickly she helped him undress. For a second he felt a bit self-conscious about doing this in his office, but the second she got his pants around his ankles, he left that thought behind.
He grabbed her and led her around the desk, then lay down on the sofa and positioned her above him. He was ready, hard and erect. She moved over him, taking him inside her with a deliberate slowness that both tortured him and ignited him. Finally he was buried deep inside her. For a moment they didn’t move.
“Make love to me.” Her voice was soft and sultry and sent his blood rushing in his veins.
Greer buried her face in his neck, and he felt her lips on his skin.
He liked her. He wanted her. He needed her.
He gripped her behind and started directing her hips to rock against him. With each movement her breasts glided across his skin. He skimmed his hands up and down her supple back and cupped her butt cheeks, trying to control her movements, but she nipped him in the neck.
Greer increased the tempo of her thrusts, and he became lost in the moment as heat blazed inside him. Then his body ignited, and his orgasm built and built until he could no longer contain himself. Pleasure blinded him, and all he could feel was Greer shuddering, her muscles contracting around his penis, her breath coming in short, labored puffs, as she came with him.
In that moment, everything c
hanged. He wasn’t sure how, but he knew it did. They lay clasped in each other’s arms for a few minutes, or maybe a few hours. Then she kissed him on the cheek and got up.
Greer quickly put on her bra, panties and shoes, then cinched the belt of her trench. “See you later.” She waved and walked out his office door.
For a second, he was too stunned to react. Then he started laughing.
* * *
Greer didn’t know what to expect when she walked into the Torres family restaurant. Her parents had eaten there and raved about the food. They’d even mentioned the aborted experiment with the birds, and Greer had laughed with them.
Bright colors greeted her as Daniel escorted her past the people waiting in line in front of the hostess stand and into the main dining room filled with the scents of so many foods, her nose couldn’t separate them.
Daniel led the way across the dining room. Greer noticed a few faces turned to look at him, recognition in their eyes. Someone raised a phone and snapped a photo.
At the back of the restaurant, a private area was partitioned off the main dining room by planters containing green shrubs. The secluded area held two long tables and a sideboard that looked to Greer like a Victorian antique. The niches held dishes and glasses, and in the center a mirror reflected the cozy room. Upholstered chairs surrounded the tables, which were covered with bright orange tablecloths and colorful place settings. At a discreet distance from the table, a waitress stood.
At one table, Daniel’s sister Nina sat with a man Greer assumed was her husband. Logan sat across from them. He and the other man pushed to their feet politely as she neared the table.
Daniel did the introductions. “You remember my sister Nina. This is Scott, her husband.”
Scott was a tall, hard-looking man, and the expression he gave her had a directness to it that seemed to see into her soul. He held out a hand and Greer shook it. When he glanced at his wife, his gaze softened.
“Mom and Dad are in the back, putting the finishing touches on our meal,” Nina explained after Greer sat down.
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