by K. Z. Riman
“No.” I pulled back. I didn’t think I had the strength to go on. He had me wasted. “Go get us some towels.”
“Oh-ho! You get us towels.” He chuckled, but I made no move to stand. He had no choice but to go to the bathroom and retrieve us a towel each to dry off.
He sat and leaned against my headboard while I knelt beside him, facing him, as I dried my hair. “I’m hungry. Maybe we should ask Leo to bring us something to eat.”
“What?” I panicked. How could he even suggest that? Was he trying to have us discovered again? “No! Are you crazy?”
“Crazy…for you.” He leaned over and gave me a kiss.
It made me smile, but it was something I hid from him. I didn’t want him seeing how much I was hoping he wasn’t fooling me right now. I looked down and pretended to dry the tip of my hair. He picked up his phone and asked Leo to bring us some sandwiches.
He had slipped into his pants but I remained naked, in bed and under the covers, when Leo came. I pretended to be asleep, but Scott just had to taunt me again.
“Kelsey, do you need anything else?”
I didn’t answer.
“Kelsey? Do you need anything else?” He was grinning when I looked at him.
“No. Thank you,” I muttered under my breath and we watched Leo try not to smile as he left the room. As soon as the door was closed, I threw my pillow at Scott. He laughed. “You! You did that on purpose.”
He walked over towards the bed and planted a kiss on my lips. “Yes. So he’d know he can never allow any man to visit you again.”
I grew flustered and shy. I never knew he could be so possessive…if he was being sincere now. I was happy that he had stayed with me tonight. “I didn’t ask Carter to come, Scott.”
“I know.” He poured himself some coffee. “Coffee?”
“Yes, please.” I couldn’t help smiling, trying to figure out if this was the real Scott. If it was, he would be easy to fall in love with. I began to think I finally understood why many women found him really attractive.
“What?” He must have noticed me staring at him and smiling. How was I supposed to tell him I was happy that he was with me?
“Nothing. I…uh…” I averted my gaze.
“I’m coming with you, Friday night,” he said suddenly, and I felt my smile grow even wider. Why couldn’t he be like this all the time?
“Really?”
“Yes. Really.” He sat at the coffee table and tilted his head towards the other seat, asking me to join him. I stood up and started heading for the closet to get my clothes, but he shook his head. “Ah-ah-ah. I want you here with me…naked.”
I chuckled and turned. He was playing with me all right. “What if I don’t want to?”
“You don’t?” He raised one eyebrow and grinned. “Don’t make me come get you.”
“Get me then,” I teased. I had wanted to tell him that, for the thousand reasons that lay beneath the words.
“Oh, Kelsey.” He shook his head and looked away. He was still for a moment and I thought I had lost him again. He rushed towards me, startling me. I screamed at the top of my lungs. He picked me up and spun me around, making me laugh, before putting me down and pushing me against a wall.
He covered my lips with his and I cupped both his cheeks, relishing the moment. “I can’t stay away from you,” he said again.
Was I supposed to believe him now that he stayed and didn’t run away like he had yesterday? Was I supposed to believe everything could change the way he had changed now?
“Then don’t,” I pleaded, whispering so he wouldn’t hear the pain that came with my words. He drew my face close again, kissing me over and over.
He stayed with me after we had eaten. It was already two in the morning and we were both wide awake in my bed, talking.
“Do you hate me? I mean, do you really hate me?”
I smiled weakly. “I don’t think I ever did.” That was the truth. I never really hated him; not even when I was younger. Even though he was a jerk. He asked so suddenly that I didn’t think. I spoke with my heart. Maybe that was the way of the world—when one was in love, nothing was ever going to be logical.
Moving closer, I crossed my leg over his and hugged him, my head on his arm. I felt safe with him. I felt as if I was finally home.
“Hmmm.” He smiled contentedly. “There is this one thing I want to ask you.”
“What?”
He moved an inch away to get a better view of my face, perhaps to see how I would react. “Why did you need to borrow that amount of money from Mister Frost?”
Was I ready to tell him? Could I trust that he wouldn’t judge me? I rolled away from him, turning to my other side, and he followed, hugging me near to his chest.
“Tell me,” he whispered, as he laid his head right by my nape, his leg on mine.
I swallowed hard and braced myself.
“Sean caught a virus. It was…a hard time for me. I didn’t have enough money to buy him the proper foods and vitamins. The virus attacked his upper respiratory tract and he was hospitalized for almost a month.” Tears trickled down my cheeks and I felt the pain I had ignored all those months, trying to be strong. I covered my mouth as I sobbed. “He…he almost died.”
“Hey. Hey. That’s long gone.” He held me tighter, pulling me to him. I cried on his chest for what seemed to be ages, his chin resting on top of my head to hold me in place. I could smell him, that distinct scent that told me I was with him and not any other guy…not Seth.
“I didn’t know where else to borrow money from. I couldn’t lose him. I didn’t want him to die…”
“Why didn’t you come to us?”
I knew he would ask me that. “What for?” I wiped my tears and looked at him. “So you could tell me how bad a mother I had been?”
“You are not a bad mother! Why would you even think that?” He let out a quiet laugh—not the reaction I expected, but it made me smile a little. “Sean is a very good boy. You raised him well.”
“I ran to your parents because I didn’t want it to happen again,” I admitted finally.
“I didn’t want to see Sean struggling, holding on to his life like that anymore. I didn’t want to watch him struggle while I couldn’t do anything for him. It would kill me to watch…”
“You are not going to watch him struggle again. Ever,” he promised, but I shouldn’t listen to him. He was designed to be that way—to woo with passionate words. What if he was lying again? What if he wasn’t there when I woke up in the morning?
“You made the right choice bringing him to us, Kelsey. You made the right choice staying.”
Did I really? I continued crying until I couldn’t cry anymore. We fell asleep in each other’s arms. I slept soundly, feeling safe and secure—like I hadn’t since before Seth’s death. That night, I dreamt of Sean in a grassy field. He was laughing and running around, his hands in the air as he tried catching a ball. I smiled and searched for the man who threw it to him and saw Seth, laughing with him. Yet as Sean ran to Seth, he kept calling Scott’s name. I didn’t know why, but Scott turned and walked away, leaving Sean, still running after him and crying. I ran after Sean, called his name a few times, but he would not stop running. Sean was crying hysterically. I couldn’t let my son go through that kind of heartache. I had to stop him from running after Scott, so I ran as well. I ran and ran, until I couldn’t see Scott anymore. Worse, I couldn’t see Sean anywhere.
When I gasped and sat up as I awoke, Scott was no longer there beside me. I clutched my chest and sighed, glad that Sean’s heartache was nothing but a dream.
It was a prelude to what would happen if I fell for him. He would make love to me, but he would never stay long enough to fall for me. I would cry my heart out and pour everything out to him, but when I opened my eyes h
e would not be there and I would find myself alone again.
I would cry hard, just like now. I would walk to the shower and hold onto the wall while I cried, stare at myself in the mirror as I put on my clothes, and cry some more. It would be the same story it had always been.
“Ms. Fontez.” Leo was at my door. I was almost done. I really thought I had done a great job with my makeup, which covered the fact that I had been crying.
“Almost done.” I put on my shoes and ran downstairs, getting into the back seat of the car. Scott had gone ahead.
As I entered his office, bringing him his coffee, his eyes widened seeing me. “What happened to you?”
“What? Nothing.” I tried to smile cheerily, but he looked unconvinced.
“I’ve known you for years and I know all the expressions you make. You are sad,” he said, as he waited for my answer. He turned his chair away from his computer, looking up at me the way I had always wanted him to.
He was so handsome. He was everything Seth wasn’t and it was killing me think so! I swore I would never date a man who wasn’t like Seth and yet here I was, drooling for a man who was exactly that.
“No.” I tucked a loose curl behind my ear and looked down. I didn’t want to tell him I wasn’t too happy about not finding him in bed with me when I woke up from a bad dream. That would sound too selfish of me. I didn’t want to tell him about the dream, either. It seemed to mean something and I really didn’t want to know what at this moment. “It’s just a hangover.”
“It’s not. Is there something on your mind still that you need to tell me? Are you still keeping secrets?” he asked.
A light knock interrupted us. We turned to the sound of a female voice as the door opened. “Good morning, Mister Grimaldi. Is it all right if I come in?”
“Of course,” Scott said, and then looked at me with narrowed eyes.
“Mrs. Greggs, secretary for the Vice President for Marketing and Sales,” I whispered. He really couldn’t remember women’s faces once they had passed the age of thirty-five. Such a snob.
“Sir,” she started, as soon as she stood beside me. “Mister Heffler would like to know if it is possible for you to reschedule tomorrow’s meeting to today, in ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes?” Scott looked at his watch.
“Yes, sir.” Mrs. Greggs was really apologetic about it. “He is on the phone talking to his wife’s sister. His wife is giving birth and he wishes to take the afternoon and tomorrow off. He is really sorry about this.”
Scott cleared his throat but was very professional about it. “Fine then. I might take tomorrow off, too. Kelsey and I are going to Brockswind to check on a few drugstores there.”
He stood and straightened his suit. “Tell him I will be there.”
“Thank you.” Mrs. Greggs looked really pleased. “How would you like your coffee, sir?”
“Kelsey will bring that. She knows what I like.” Scott smiled at me.
“Of course.” Mrs. Greggs nodded and headed out of the office.
I couldn’t take the smile off my face. “We’re leaving tonight?”
“Yes, so please prepare these for me so I can sign them later.” He handed me a pile of documents and I happily took them. “Call Doctor Grost and Doctor Josler from Research and Development for a meeting with me at one this afternoon. I need to discuss something with them.”
“Do you need me to prepare something for that meeting?”
He looked at me for a moment, deep in thought, then looked away and shook his head. “No. They will do all the talking, anyway.” He handed me a list of documents he would like me to bring to him for his meeting with Mister Heffler.
“Okay.”
He walked towards the door and looked back at me, with a serious look on his face. “I will wait for my coffee and those documents in the conference room.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Good.” He closed the door behind him.
That man…that man who’d just left me…wasn’t the same man I had been with yesterday morning. Perhaps he was the one who made love with me last night, the one who stayed chatting with me in bed. Perhaps he was the same man who left my bed early this morning to get to work. That man, I would love to really get to know. Perhaps he was the man I would love to fall in love with.
He is the one I’m in love with.
As I brought him his coffee and his documents, I saw how swallowed up he was with work, speaking with Mister Heffler. He didn’t even look at me as he thanked me and went on speaking, using words I didn’t understand. He was a different man.
At three that afternoon, he was finished with his second meeting and was working on something on his computer. I went in and gave him back the documents he wanted me to work on. I was tired from all the running around, seeking signatures and agreement from different division heads, but I was smiling because I knew it was all worth it.
“That was fast.” He seemed rather proud of me.
“Yes.” I chuckled. “I want to spend tomorrow with Sean.”
He nodded and went back to his work. At five thirty, he still wasn’t finished and I was constantly tapping my finger on my desk. There was nothing to do, so I peeked into his office to check if I could work on something to help.
“Hi.” I smiled and he nodded for me to come in. “Need my help?”
“Uh…” He glanced at each of the documents on his table and shook his head. “No. I’m almost done.”
“Hmmm.” I nodded.
“You could go home ahead of me and pack your things.” I found his suggestion to be a very good one. I couldn’t concentrate while I was here, anyway. My mind had been wandering during the last few hours.
“Okay.” I smiled and headed for the door. I turned almost immediately. “Scott?” When he looked up, I said, “Thank you.”
He grinned and nodded again. “‘Thank you’ isn’t going to do it, Kelsey.”
Oh, no. “Oh?”
“Cook for me tonight, will you?”
Was that it? “Cook for you?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I mean, I’ve always known you’re a good cook, but I’ve never had the chance to eat any of the dishes you make.”
“That’s because you always said you wouldn’t taste ‘that shit’.” I chuckled. I remembered that perfectly well. He bothered me each time I cooked for Seth, asking me what I was making, but would not eat with Seth and me. Maybe it was because I never really invited him.
“I did say that.” He nodded as he placed one finger between his lips, staring at me like he tried to remember something.
“Well, I’d better be going,” I said. “Would you…like me to pack for you?”
He looked really tired. The least I could do to return his favor of taking me to Sean was do things for him. “You look tired. I mean, would you still be driving?”
“No. Leo will drive us. Yes…could you pack a few clothes for me?”
“Okay.” I smiled and finally went on my way. For the first time since I came here…he had made me happy.
Chapter Sixteen
Kelsey’s Important Trip
I smiled again.
I couldn’t remember a day that I had smiled so much. I was still smiling as I cooked for Scott that night.
He had always loved lamb chops so I made him my mother’s special recipe: honey glazed with special herbs. Seth always said they were good. I hoped Scott would love them, too. I also made a veggie salad and some pasta.
“That smells nice.” Leo was assisting me in the kitchen.
Does Scott really like me?
“I have to make it perfect,” I whispered in reply.
“Hmmm.” Leo smiled and nodded, before asking the maids to set the table.
I went to the oven and opened it, taking the pan out carefully. As soon as I placed the pan down, Leo came over and sniffed the aroma. “Would it be all right if tasted it?”
“Sure.” I nodded. No harm in that.
“No. I’ll taste it.” The voice was soft.
That voice. I felt my chest tighten.
“Scott,” I whispered as I looked at him, standing by the kitchen door, slowly removing his coat.
“Good evening, sir.” Leo nodded at him.
“Leo, could you go and check on the car we’ll use tonight?” He dismissed Leo, who smiled and nodded again before going out of the room. “Lamb chops. My favorite.”
“Yeah.” I smiled, but my heart was beating loudly in my chest. I walked around to take the salad bowl and the pasta bowl, and called on a maid to take them to the table. He was quiet, staring at me as I moved around. “Is something wrong?” I tried to smile cheerily.
He shook his head but his eyes gazed intensely at me. I couldn’t figure out if he was angry. I started plating the lamb chops for him and he grabbed my wrist, stopping me from finishing.
“Scott.” I let out a faint laugh, nervously breathing in. “What are you doing?”
Without letting my wrist go, he moved closer and held my waist with his other hand, his chest on my back and his lips on my shoulder. “I want to have the first taste,” he whispered. His words shot through my body, sending warmth, sending quivers, at the same time.
He forced the tongs out of my hands and dipped my fingers into the glaze. When he brought my fingers to his mouth, I swallowed hard and closed my eyes, feeling nothing but his tongue and his lips.
“Is it good?” I asked breathlessly, looking at him.
“It’s perfect,” he whispered as he looked back, dipping my finger again into the glaze and bringing it to my lips and tongue this time. “I want to taste it here.”
He kissed me, his tongue savoring the flavor in my mouth. “So perfectly sweet,” he whispered again. I felt my knees turn to jelly.
He pulled back when he heard the maids chatting as they walked towards the kitchen. He was completely away from me when they arrived, suspecting nothing, as I continued plating. My hands were shaking and my heart was pounding, even as he left for the dining room.