Made in Heaven

by McGoldrick, May

  She placed her hands on her hips and let him have it. “Peck on the cheek? You call tricking me into your apartment and then standing me stark naked in the middle of your kitchen a peck on the cheek?”

  “But I didn’t tear your clothes off now, did I? You...”

  “I’m not finished,” she yelled back. “Talking about saying what you mean! You invited me for breakfast and not...not...”

  “Sex! Say the damn word.”

  “I won’t. Why do you have to be such a jerk?”

  “Look! I didn’t invite you to have sex. What happened...it just happened. I don’t plan out my life from here for eternity. I like spontaneity. Whatever happens, it happens. I...”

  “You’re full of shit, you know that? You...”

  “For someone who doesn’t like vulgarity, you still manage to emphasize your points.”

  She lifted a finger and jabbed him in the chest. “Don’t interrupt me again. I wasn’t done throwing your lies back in your face.”

  “What lies?”

  “The one about spontaneity...about not planning ahead.” She was shouting now. “Do you call putting a condom in a catch-all drawer, not planning ahead.”

  “I like having sex in the kitchen. Don’t tell me you only keep your screwdriver and a tape measure in yours?”

  “It’s none of your business what I keep in mine.”

  She saw a devilish look come into his eyes. “You know...you are the one who is full of shit. You act like the Virgin Mary, but when it comes right down to it, you are as lusty and eager as they come.”

  “I am not!”

  “Now don’t forget who you are talking to, sweetheart. Do I have to remind you of our first night?”

  She raised a brow. “Nothing happened that night.”

  “Hey, I don’t call a woman taking her shirt off and parading naked across a room nothing. Flaunting all that delicious skin, knowing all the while I’m standing on my balcony watching...suffering.”

  She couldn’t hold in the burst of laughter. “You’re a pervert! You just admitted to it. A peeping pervert who keeps condoms in his catch-all drawer and...”

  “Can’t get enough of the tenant downstairs?” His voice dropped in decibels to an intimate growl. “Admit it, Meg! You’re passionate, beautiful, sexy, full of life, and despite the pretense you like to put up for the world to see, you yearn to experience life. You long to be swept away on the lust that flows through you.”

  She did feel the blood racing in her veins. He was too close to the truth--to that inner truth which she had kept so carefully hidden for so long.

  “I want you out of this room.”

  “You and I both know that you don’t.” He advanced on her, a sense of purpose lighting his eyes. “We’ve started something between us and until the time comes when we both understand what the hell it is that’s drawing us together like this, neither of us is about to let go.”

  She shook her head. Suddenly everything had taken a too serious a turn. She knew she didn’t have the inner strength to stop him. Lust wasn’t the only thing driving her...but how could she tell him the truth when she was no longer even sure who she was?

  “I think this is a mistake.” Her words didn’t sound convincing even to her own ears. “I’m not like your other women. I can’t pretend to be here today and gone tomorrow. I...”

  Suddenly she couldn’t go on. Backed up to her bed, he was so close. And the desire to be wrapped in his arms was blotting out all rational thought. She wanted to kiss him. She lifted her fists and banged them on his chest in frustration.

  “I’m so confused.”

  He encircled her wrists with his hands. “Then let me help you get one thing straight.”

  He leaned forward, bringing her hands behind her back. She felt trapped but at the same time cherished, even protected. Most of all, she felt wanted and desired as a woman.

  As he gazed down, her heart kicked hard at the walls of her chest. “This time, we take it easy. This time, we take it very slow.”

  His head dipped and his mouth brushed across hers. His lips were full, soft, and warm. They were slightly parted, and caressed her lips with the touch of a feather.

  “You tell me, Meg. Tell me when you want to stop. Tell me when you want me to leave.”

  She still could feel his gentle fingers holding her tight beside the bed, but she had no desire to free herself from his grip.

  “Did you go with those women back to their house.”

  He brushed her lips again with his own. “You have to ask? I followed you home like a lost puppy! To my thinking, there could be no offer more attractive than the shrimp scampi and the beautiful woman whom I hoped would be waiting for me here.” He looked mischievously into her eyes. “Not in that order, of course.”

  She frowned, but he kissed away the look. Her eyes shut as he continued to graze over her face with his lips.

  “But...but it was two of them...and only one of me.”

  He drew back and gave her a melting look. “One perfect you...one sexy you. One who turns me on even when we fight.”

  “Is that so!” She couldn’t stand it any longer, and she stretched on her tiptoes. He took full possession of her lips. With his hands holding hers, he used only his mouth, filling her with his tongue and leaning into her until she could feel his passion merging with her own.

  She pressed her body against his and lost herself in the kiss, in this mating that was more erotic than any sex that she could recall. She moved her body against him, rubbing against him with her breasts and belly, hips and thighs. Her body burned with the thrill of anticipation of what it would be like. When at last they came together. The two bodies as one.

  She heard him moan. It was urgent, hoarse, muffled. Her hands were suddenly free as he reached down, cupping her buttocks and pulling her hard against him. They tumbled onto the bed.

  She laughed softly as he rolled them both until she lay sprawled on top of him. Then, reaching up, he took her baseball cap and threw it across the room.

  “I hate the Red Sox.”

  “You’d better get used to it.”

  She smiled as he dug his fingers into her hair and brought her mouth down, kissing her deeply and leaving her dizzy with its power.

  “Let’s do it,” he said hoarsely, nipping at her neck, running his hands over her shirt, tracing the sides of her breasts. “Let’s really do it.”

  She sat up and straddled him. She could feel him, hard and erect and pressing intimately against her through his tight jeans.

  “Only if you let me get you naked first.” She started undoing the buttons on his shirt. “And after you are down to bare skin, you have to march back and forth across the room...flaunting yourself in front of the window.”

  “You get me naked, baby, and there won’t be any leaving this bed.”

  “Good thing I don’t have a kitchen.”

  He grabbed her by the waist and pulled them both higher on the bed. Meg laughed as he struggled to pull her shirt over her head. She sat there on top of him, her shear bra the only thing blocking his scorching gaze. But she wasn’t about to let him advance any further...not until she’d given him some of his own medicine. She grabbed his busy hands and pushed them in mock bondage above his head.

  “Now, stay. Don’t move.”

  “And if I do?”

  “I’ll have Phil put plywood over my windows.”

  “I won’t move.”

  She smiled down at his handsome face. His eyes turned a deep, dangerous blue as she leaned down and started using her mouth to caress his chest. Pulling his shirt apart, she moved down his hard stomach, biting and then licking his skin. She ran a hand down over the bulge on his jeans and listened with satisfaction to his loud groan.

  “Before we get too far into this,” he warned, lifting his head and looking at her with smoldering eyes. “Do you have a catch-all drawer in this room?”

  It took her a split second to understand, but then she giggled and shook
her head.

  “Well, how about a sugar bowl?”

  Her brow shot up. “A sugar bowl!”

  “A shoe box?”

  Meg moved up his body and wrapped her fingers around his neck, throttling him gently. “A shoe box? Don’t tell me you’ve done it in the closet?”

  Instead of answering her question, he grabbed her by the waist and rolled her in bed until she laid pinned beneath him. “How about a cigar humidor?”

  “A what?”

  “A cigar humidor. I have one on my desk.”

  She laughed and tucked her face in the crook of his neck. “Sorry, I don’t smoke.”

  “Neither do I!” He scowled at her, half in jest. “Please, at least tell me that you’re using some kind of protection yourself.”

  She slowly lifted her eyes to his and shook her head in embarrassment. “I...I’m sorry. But I don’t...I haven’t...I never thought...”

  The loud ring of the phone next to the bed made Meg’s heart leap in her chest. Before she could reach for it though, he pinned her arms and hands in between their bodies.

  “You answer that and I’ll strangle you.”

  “Deal!” she reached up and placed a kiss on the corner of his mouth. “You answer it.”

  “No way in hell!”

  “It could be Jada.”

  “I was with her this morning.”

  “She told me she’d call me this afternoon.”

  “You can call her back in a few minutes.”

  She raised a brow and gave him a challenging glare. “Do you really think it’s going to be that quick?”

  Evan reached immediately for the phone and, lifting the receiver from its cradle, tucked it against his ear.

  Meg cringed at the sound of Rebekah’s surprised voice at the other end.

  CHAPTER 18

  “I’m not sure if I have the right number.”

  “Let’s hope you don’t,” Evan said shortly, ignoring Meg’s mouthed demands to hand over the phone.

  “Is there a Meg Murphy there?”

  “Maybe there is. Maybe there isn’t.” He jammed the phone against the mattress for a moment and leaned down to crush Meg’s stubborn lips beneath his own. She struggled for a second but then gave in and kissed him back.

  “Hello? Hello?” The woman’s persistent voice cut into their play.

  “I’m going to hang up on her.”

  “Don’t!” Meg pleaded. “That’s my friend Rebekah.”

  He reluctantly brought the phone to his ear, again. “Hi, Rebekah. Meg wants to know what the hell you want?”

  He groaned dramatically as Meg pinched him beneath the ribs. He shifted his weight, giving her a playful glare. There was only silence at the other end of the phone.

  “Are you still there, Rebekah?”

  “I am. And I want to know what you have done with my friend?”

  “Sorry, can’t tell you! The FCC frowns on obscene phone calls.”

  It was getting tougher to take Meg’s physical blows.

  “Were you two in the middle of something?”

  “We were! Ouch! We are! Is there anything else you want to know? I really need to hang up. She is really getting restless...if you know what I mean.”

  “Yeah. I know very well what you mean. Just have her call me, will you? Also, I don’t care who the heck you think you are, but you make sure you take care of...of things. Do you get my meaning?”

  He smiled at Meg’s closed eyes and the red flush that had quickly crept into her face. “I sure do.”

  He leaned over and hung up the phone. It took her a long moment before she overcame her shyness and met his eyes.

  “I’m sorry. I’m just so embarrassed.”

  He shifted his weight, and she laughed a bit nervously.

  “This must be a first, even for you. Having a woman call from a hundred miles away to remind you to use a condom on her thirty-five year old friend!”

  As Evan rolled off and settled beside her, he smiled at the feeling of warmth that suddenly filled his heart. He was used to women who were bold and pushy, who knew their way around a man’s bed, women who were proficient when it came to this kind of thing.

  But here was Meg, so soft and beautiful--a hundred times more desirable than the whole lot of them--and yet so unsure of her own power. So innocent of the havoc that she was wreaking in his heart--never mind in his life.

  “How long has it been, Meg?” he asked, running his knuckles down the soft skin of her face.

  She laughed again and struggled to edge away from him, but he wrapped one hand around her waist. He wasn’t about to let her get away.

  “How long has it been since you’ve had a relationship with a man?”

  She turned slightly and faced him. “Five years!”

  “Since your husband died!”

  She nodded and stared at his chin. Evan could see that she didn’t want to say any more. And he accepted and respected her for it.

  Somehow, somewhere in the back of his mind, he’d come to realize that she would be like that. A one-man woman. A very lucky man’s woman.

  He watched the way she shyly wrapped her arms over her breasts, blocking his view of them. She was drifting off someplace, deep in her own thoughts.

  He wanted to lean over and kiss that little frown off of her forehead. She was made for passion, but after so many years of celibacy, she deserved to be wooed, courted, charmed. Meg deserved to be brought slowly to the heights of true passion.

  “How about a date?”

  Her eyes lifted to his. “A date?”

  He nodded framing her face. “Knowing our luck, Jada will be calling in the next couple of minutes. And after that, Phil is probably going to check here when he finds I’m not upstairs.”

  “And knowing my friend,” Meg added, “Rebekah will probably call in twenty minutes to find out how it was.”

  “How what was?” he growled suggestively.

  “It!” she added quietly. “You know...it. To Rebekah...making love is...it!”

  “Is that right? She sounds like a soul mate for Phil!” He stopped. “So how about it? We’ll go on a real date. And while we’re gone, I’ll have the phone disconnected and have a bullet-proof, sound-proof door installed on my apartment.” He ran a finger down the naked curve of her neck. “But I don’t mean to distract you with what might come after. I’ll trick you into coming up there later. How about if you just think about the date.”

  She gave him a tantalizing smile. “A sit-down dinner by candlelight?”

  “And more.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “How about if we go all the way. We’ll have cocktails before, and do some dancing after dinner? We could really get dressed up and go out and have some fun.”

  He could tell she liked the idea as her eyes began to sparkle like diamonds in the sun. “That really sounds like a lot of fun, Evan, but...”

  “No buts,” he interrupted, knowing exactly what she was about to say. “And no, you can’t pay for dinner. Or even chip in for half of it. Tomorrow night is on me. Understand?”

  He could almost see the wheels turning in her pretty head.

  “That’s too much,” she said finally. “I can’t let you...”

  “Yes, you can, Meg. For once, just let me have my way.” He pulled himself up and sat against the headboard. “I want to do this.”

  “Then give me something to do,” she argued.

  “Like what? Wash the cab so it’s clean when we go out?”

  “No!” She sat up cross-legged in front of him, but to his great disappointment she pulled a pillow from beneath the spread and hugged it against her chest. “But give me something...anything. If you aren’t letting me pay for this, I want to do something for you.”

  Evan looked at her seriously. This was his chance to broach the subject and to find out if she was even interested.

  “How about reading my work?”

  “What?”

  “The stuff I’ve been writing. You said
you want to do something for me, so how about if you read what I’ve done so far and tell me your thoughts.”

  Her reaction delighted him. “Do you really mean it?”

  “I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want you to. But...”

  “I know. I have to be gentle. I have to be kind. Or you’ll drop me like an anchor into the harbor.”

  “You’ve got it!”

  “So when do I start?”

  “Today...if Jada is okay with Little Ted. How about this afternoon?” He’d been right to think her perfect for the job. Her excitement about reading his work was an incredible relief. “I just need a couple of hours to read it over myself and run a spell check.”

  “That’s cheating,” she scolded. “I want to start now.”

  “Hey, you just be a good girl and give me all high marks on these first couple of chapters, and I’ll give you a special treat tomorrow night.”

  “It’s a deal!”

  ******

  She no longer had a job.

  Meg hung up the phone and looked with mixed feelings at the pile of manuscripts sitting on the floor beside the bed.

  She’d always thought that when the time came--when the ax finally fell--she’d go through a moment or two of hysteria over the loss of her livelihood, of the job that she had grown so fond of over the years. Rebekah had just given her the bad news, but to her surprise and relief Meg had felt no sense of mourning.

  When Meg had called back, she’d been surprised that her friend hadn’t launched right in, teasing her about Evan. Instead, Rebekah had simply given her the bad news.

  The creditors had at last taken charge, and--just like that--the business was finished. The Elgin Publishing Company was no more. Thank you for your efforts. Have a nice day. Have a nice life.

  Rebekah said that Joe E. looked pale as he’d given the last of them the news. He’d even looked around for Meg, having somehow forgotten that she was on vacation. Rebekah told her they’d all been given an hour to clean out their personal belongings, so she’d boxed Meg’s things and taken them home with her.

  There were even guys putting a padlock on the front door when the last of the employees had filed out. The end.