He huffed out a breath. He didn’t leave. He didn’t shout back. He didn’t cock back an arm to hit her. He just huffed out another breath.
“Well,” his voice a soft rumble. “I’ll buy hurt. I’ll buy that there’s someone on this earth who would be better off dead for whatever they did to you,” he actually sounded pissed on her behalf. Then, impossibly he smiled at her.
She had no idea what to do with a smile. Her childhood taught her to never trust it. Her adulthood merely taught her that the man smiling wanted something, usually sex, and was being nice enough to ask first, even if non-verbally. But Bill’s smile made no sense. Especially not with what she’d just accused him of. But he still smiled at her nonetheless.
He crossed his arms over his chest and slouched back in the chair as if just getting comfortable. The worklight behind him making him little more than a silhouette. Not quite giving him a halo.
“But if you want the title of toxic, you’re going to have to convince me, because I’m not buying it.”
“I’m not telling you my life’s story.”
“You have something better to do this evening?” He was being Mr. Oh So Amiable.
“No. But I’m still not telling.” Though if he kept it up, Perrin might find she wanted to smile again, not something she’d done in the last three days.
“In that case,” Bill stared up at the pipes on the ceiling as if contemplating the breadth and width of the broadcloth of the universe. “I’ll just have to convince you that you aren’t.”
“Can’t fight reality.” She wished to God he could, but not even the Tragic Prince could do that.
“Hey, I work in opera. You can’t get much further from reality than that. So, here goes. You ready?”
She nodded. Did this man know what he was doing to her? No one had ever been on her side except Jo and Cassidy. Her two college friends loved her and did their best to protect her from herself, and she’d always bless the heavens for the two of them. But no one ever really tried to understand her. To have a man try to protect her from the impossible… That was new and felt amazing inside.
“My first exhibit should be my kids. But I don’t want them in the middle of this any more than you do. So I’ll simply just happen to mention that what you’ve done for them in just the first two days since you met has already changed them, and in a good way. Did you know that Wilson Jervis offered them formal contracts which included Union Scale contributions to their college funds? Do you have any idea how proud that made them to be earning money for the family? How proud that made me? And Tammy is really enjoying her voice lessons.”
“You said it was unfair to use them, and it is.” Though she loved hearing how they were doing. They’d barely met, yet she’d missed them horribly these last days. It was the closest she’d been to tears in a long time, just hearing about them.
“So, for the official first example, I’ll offer Jo Thompson.”
That startled her enough to sit up and look at him. “You know Jo?”
“Not really. But I called her on her honeymoon while you were passed out on my couch. That one of the most accomplished and powerful women of Seattle loves you so much speaks volumes. By the end of the call, she was ready to get on a plane with or without her new husband. I take it she knows you well?”
Perrin nodded, “No one better, except Cassidy.”
“Who is my second official exhibit. You mentioned she will be coming to the opera with you tomorrow. Yet here you are being miserable and still she’s not here with you. As I happen to know she’s in France, she also must be very attached to you to attend an opera on the same day she flies halfway around the world.”
Perrin had forgotten about the jet-lag when she’d invited Cassidy.
Bill waited for her to accede his point.
“She’s the best.” This man deserved some truth. “Cassidy saved my life.” She managed to say it without getting too choked up.
He took that as a win without asking for details; another point in his favor even if he didn’t know it.
“And third, at lunch, I couldn’t get near you because Melanie and Josh were just so glad to be in your company.”
She hadn’t really thought of it that way, they were just good friends. “How does all this make your point?”
Bill laughed again, but it didn’t make her angry this time.
He reached out and slowly unclamped her hands from around her knees until he was holding both hands, and her feet slipped back to the floor.
“You tell me. Does that sound like someone who’s toxic? Someone who sweeps every person they meet off their feet and they never recover?”
“Maybe not. But… ”
“No! Cut that out. It’s my round. I won it fair and square and you’re not going to spoil it. Hell, I deserve a prize. If I’m stuck being human, you are hereafter going to have to live under the cloud of being ‘not toxic.’ Can you live with that?”
Perrin managed to smile at him. “Guess I’m stuck with it, aren’t I?”
Bill just grinned and stroked his nice warm thumbs on the back of her freezing fingers.
She stood slowly, not releasing his hands. Ever so gently, she lowered herself down until she was sitting in his lap.
“You’re right,” she acknowledged as she settled into place. “You have to get a prize.”
“I wasn’t trying to get you to—”
And she kissed him. Softly, just barely rubbing her lips over his.
“And that,” she deepened the kiss for a delicious moment before pulling back to finish her sentence, “is exactly why you deserve a prize.”
Then she stopped any reply with her lips and tongue.
His hands slid out of hers as she reached up to dig her fingers into the waves of his hair. It was even softer than it looked.
He slid his hands around her, snugging her body more tightly against his. His hands hesitated at her waist.
Perhaps she did know Mr. Too-Decent Bill Cullen better than she thought. Reaching down, she coaxed one of his hands upward. They were good hands, big, strong, and they hadn’t hit her, not even when she’d pushed him to the edge. When she shifted it onto her breast and clamped her hand over his to keep it there, he was still so gentle. How could she have ever doubted that in this man?
He buried his face in her neck and just stopped there, one hand on her breast, the other equally still on her waist.
She wrapped her arms around him. And he seemed content to stop there, to just remain there.
“You miss her that much?” she made a guess.
He nodded without raising his head.
“Have you even touched a woman since then?”
He hesitated, then shook his head.
She held him against her and stared at the lit worktable. How had she ever thought anything but the best of him? He was too damn decent for his own good.
“Okay,” she didn’t know quite what to say, but she knew it was up to her to say it. “Mr. Bill Cullen, you listening?”
He nodded against her neck. He brushed his thumb across her nipple almost absent-mindedly, sending really, really good shivers running down her body.
“Between this non-toxic but whack-a-doodle gal… ”
“You heard that,” he mumbled into her neck.
“I heard that. Between her and this fallible human guy, we’re striking a deal.”
“What?” he nuzzled her collarbone and almost stole her breath away.
“There is never a question of right or wrong. Okay?”
He froze, locked in place against her, his hands almost brutally tight on her for just an instant in his shock. Then he eased off, slowly sitting up until they were face to face just inches apart.
“That’s what Adira always said. She was the wisest woman I’ve ever known.”
Perrin knew she w
asn’t wise, but she was smart enough to know when she’d just received the highest compliment of her entire life.
She didn’t try to kiss him again. She simply pulled his head back to her shoulder and cradled him there, until a while later when he finally said he had to go and fetch his daughter.
Just inside the darkened doorway from her shop, he did take a few minutes to show her just how much he appreciated her.
After locking the door behind him and watching him drive off, she thought about how much she appreciated him. The aftermath of his final kiss and caress still heated her body deliciously.
Chapter 7
“Cassie!” Perrin sprinted through the lobby crowd at the final performance of Turandot. Cassidy had worn her black turtleneck and the sunset sweater that Perrin had picked out for her so long ago to totally slay her future husband on their first blind date. She’d finished it with a flirty black skirt and the knee-high boots that made her look so fabulous.
Cassidy turned just as Perrin crashed into her. She kissed Cassidy hard on the lips.
“I hope Russell won’t be jealous, but I’m just so glad to see you.”
Cassidy reeled a bit, but went with the flow as she always did, “Glad to see you too. Wish Jo was here so that we could really make it a night out.”
“I know!” Perrin stamped her foot and noticed just how much of the local crowd was grimacing at their PDA, like public display of affection was a crime even in Seattle. So, she raised her voice enough to be clearly heard, “Just like that bitch to run away from us and get married.”
The crowd rippled away from them in a slow wave of evening gowns and suits. The mezzanine and two balconies offered prime views of the main floor. Sure enough, when Perrin looked up they were being the center of attention.
She spun in a whirl. She’d been inspired by the leprechaun outfit and made a Marilyn Monroe The Seven Year Itch pleated skirt of the flowiest bright yellow-and-green rayon to go with the green-and-yellow blazer, though she’d left the shirt off this time revealing skin down to her solar plexus. She finished the whirl and stumbled into Cassidy.
“Let ‘em dream,” she whispered. “Bet half the guys here will be fantasizing about us tonight, not knowing we’re both totally straight. Think they’d be disappointed if they knew?”
Cassidy offered one of her staid smiles.
“Sorry, you’re all jet-lagged. I haven’t a brain in my body. You sure you’re okay with sitting through an opera?”
“I’m here.”
Perrin gave her another hug, this time as if she were fragile, “You can always sleep on my shoulder, you just can’t weep there.”
Cassidy blinked at her as if finally coming awake while they climbed the sweeping grand staircase up to the mezzanine entry level.
“Uh, Perrin. What did I miss? You seem even more Perrin than usual.”
“I met a guy.”
“I’m shocked,” her tone was drier than one of her wines that she critiqued for a living.
“I met a nice guy.” Not the right reaction yet. “A nice guy with kids.”
“That’s sweet… Wait! You did what?” Cassidy finally caught up with the conversation.
“I know! Shocked the shit out of me too. Oh, I’ve have to stop saying that in case I run into his kids.”
“Here? There are never kids at the opera.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
Cassidy grabbed her arm and turned her toward the glass and steel rail of the mezzanine level. They leaned on the rail. Down below was the main lobby they’d just climbed up from, still milling with people. A wall of glass five or six stories high showed the outdoor steel scrims. Huge sheets of a fine mesh filled the gap between the opera hall and the next building over, starting twenty feet in the air and climbing to the very top of the structure. They were lit with a bright flow of dancing colors across the mesh. Like a slow kaleidoscope of spring colors.
“How do they do that?”
Cassidy glanced at it, then back at Perrin. “Magic. Who cares? Now spill. I’ve only been gone for five days. What in the world is up with you?”
Perrin clamped both hands on the top of the rail and sort of pumped herself back and forth. It was all she could do to control the energy bottled up inside her.
“He’s really nice. And so damn decent. You know Hogan?”
Cassidy looked at her in utter exasperation. “Maria’s Hogan? The man who married the woman who practically raised my husband? The one we all have dinner with every Tuesday evening? That Hogan?”
“Yeah, that one,” she loved that she was making Cassidy totally nuts. That would pay her back for being out of the country when Perrin needed her so badly. “Well, I think he may even be more decent than Hogan.”
“Uh,” Cassidy stopped as she thought about it. “I’m not sure that’s possible.”
Perrin slanted her best friend a look.
“Okay, prove it.”
For the first time Perrin focused on the three-story tall mobile that hung just out of reach. It was made of extension ladders and measuring tapes. It was filled with hammers, pliers, saws, bits and pieces of all the tools she’d been shown in the scenery shop. And a bunch of stuff that looked electrical.
“That’s a pretty crazy mobile, don’t you think?”
“Perrin!” Cassidy’s voice was practically a she-lion snarl. Maybe it was time to answer. But she couldn’t quite resist and answered the question with another question.
“You know how you told me after your first time with Russell that really great sex is even way better with the right man?”
“Yea-ah… ” she drew it out cautiously.
“Despite every opportunity and encouragement, last night I may have had the best sex of my life and… ”
“And what, Perrin?”
“We never even took our clothes off.”
Cassidy blinked at her.
Perrin could hear Cassidy analyzing this news. She had the same look that she did when she was tasting one of her wines, that discerning palate and mind that had made her one of the nation’s most successful food-and-wine critics before she quit to form the Washington Wine Cooperative.
Her best friend stared at her for the longest moment and then did exactly what Perrin had been hoping for, praying for, because otherwise she was totally losing her mind and she didn’t know if she was ready to be doing that.
Cassidy pulled Perrin into her arms and held her tightly. In her ear she whispered, “Oh, I hope so for your sake, Perrin. I really really do.”
“Hey,” Perrin pulled back and wiped at her friend’s cheek. “You know the rules, no crying or getting drunk unless we’re all together.”
Cassidy brushed at her eyes and offered a watery smile. “You were right.”
“I was? Is that a first?”
“Jo is in such deep shit for running off and getting married on us.”
“We mustn’t tell her or Maria until they’re both back and we can all get together.”
“Deal,” Cassidy sealed it with a very un-Cassie-like smack on Perrin’s lips. Maybe after a year of being happily married she was finally loosening up a bit and cared less about what others thought.
# # #
It took some doing, but Perrin found their way backstage after the opera. There was a maze of beautifully carpeted corridors and unmarked doors that led to strange linoleum hallways that seemed to lead nowhere. The soft indirect lighting giving way to harsh fluorescents, which meant they were on the right track. Or that they were hopelessly lost and someone would have to send in a search and rescue team after them.
Racks of clothes lined one side of the white linoleum hallway, and a line of doors along the opposite wall led to small dressing rooms. As they moved along the hall, the costumes became fancier and so did the dressing rooms. She and Cassidy
peeked in one that wasn’t occupied at the moment. It had a piano in the corner, an upright, in beautiful condition.
“Must be what they use to warm up their voices before they go onstage.”
Then the costumes ended, and a line of cramped offices appeared along the right-hand wall.
“Hey,” Cassidy pointed at a sign on an open door. “You said Bill was the Stage Manager.”
Perrin grabbed her hand and dragged her in. “Let’s go peek.”
It was big enough for a desk, three chairs, and a long whiteboard which was covered in incomprehensible hieroglyphics. “LR#1 blwn gel fres #4. Orch-slo III.2 4st. Strk-7a call,” and dozens of other notations that must mean something to Bill, because they certainly meant nothing to her.
“His desk is awfully neat. Do we trust a man who has such a neat desk?” Cassidy leaned forward to look at a small framed photograph.
“I wish I’d brought some really red lipstick. I need to leave a really blatant lip print here somewhere.”
“Perrin,” Cassidy’s tone brought her up short.
“What?”
Cassidy pointed to the picture of two giggling children.
“That’s Jaspar and Tamara. What does that have to do with lipstic—Oh crap! This is so hard, Cass. I don’t know if I can do this.” Of course his kids would be as likely to be here as at the Opera offices. Finding a red-lipstick print from their dad’s girlfriend would be way worse than inappropriate. It would be— “I’m such an idiot. I’m just gonna screw this up so bad. Cass, you have to tell me what to do. You’re the smart one.”
“Actually, it was Jo who was valedictorian at college. And personally I think that you got that ‘C’ in PE just so that Jo would get the honor instead of you. Remember, I saw your GRE scores in case you went to grad school and I know neither of us came close to matching yours. How did you arrange to get a ‘C’ in a field hockey PE class anyway?”
“Remember Ms. Kennelly?”
“Stick-in-the-Mud Kennelly? Sure.”
“I made a pass at her. She was totally freaked. But after that she didn’t dare flunk me the last semester Senior year, despite my never attending another class. Probably too afraid I’d wind up back in one of her classes. It worked great, but don’t tell Jo.”
Where Dreams Unfold Page 8