Wet: Part 2

by Rivera, S. Jackson

  “Rhees.” He reached for her and pulled her onto his lap. “There are some things I should work on. I’ve been ignoring it for years, but this new, “it’s time to grow up”, plan you have me on is making me feel like I should, at least, take a look at it. I may seem a little preoccupied for the next few days. Okay?”

  “I don’t have you on a plan. Is that what you think? Paul?” She didn’t like what he’d said.

  “It’s a good thing, Dani Girl. I like that plan.”

  “No.” She put her hand on his cheek, but he quickly shushed her with a kiss. “What is it you’ll be working on?”

  He shrugged. “Just business. Old investments, unrelated to the shop. I’ve left it all on auto-pilot for too long. I think, maybe I’m finally ready to take a look at it, make sure it’s all still doing what it’s supposed to be doing. I’m sure after all this time, there will be things that need to be rearranged, restructured, that sort of thing.” He forced a smile, knowing how he could get when he was in businessman mode—the man he’d been trying to run away from the past five years.

  Rhees had to be the only reason he’d been thinking about that part of his old life again. The new self-awareness program he had himself on, because of her, had him thinking about a lot of things besides being a man-whore, a tyrant, and an overall asshole.

  oOo

  Rhees sat across from Paul, reading. He sat at a table on the deck at Tanked with his laptop, absorbed in his recent business project. He said he preferred they hang out where she wouldn’t get lonely while he engrossed himself in his work.

  He didn’t talk much about it, and Rhees didn’t understand it when he did, but while he worked, the rest of the world ceased to exist, even her. She understood why he’d apologized for it up front. She missed him.

  “I’m thirsty. Would you like a beer?”

  He grunted but didn’t seem to notice when she got up. She wandered around the bar, saying hello to everyone who’d come into the bar since she’d arrived and then ordered a soda for herself, a beer for Paul.

  She knew, based on the past few nights, that they’d be there a while. He’d lose track of time, and when she grew tired, she’d tell him. He’d say, “Just a minute”, and another thirty minutes would go by before she’d tell him again and eventually, she’d have to literally pull him away from his work so they could get some sleep.

  She didn’t mind. It was just another demonstration of his inability to do anything halfway. She wished he’d find a better balance between his obsession to get this project done and taking care of himself. If it weren’t for her, she thought for sure he wouldn’t have eaten, or slept for days.

  She headed back toward his table with their drinks but stopped dead in her tracks.

  “How about a beer, Babe?” Paul didn’t look up from his computer.

  “Sure, Babe. Anything for you, what kind would you like?”

  The strange voice made him look up, but seeing for himself didn’t lessen his confusion. He hadn’t noticed Rhees leave or Sarah sit down in Rhees’ stead. Sarah smiled, and shamelessly undid one more button, exposing even more of her cleavage than before.

  “Where’s Rhees?” He glanced toward the bar, searching for her. Sarah shrugged, but didn’t drop the annoying smile on her face.

  He finally caught a glimpse of Rhees laughing with the bartender before she turned and headed back to their table with a soda in one hand and a beer in the other, his favorite brand. Such a little thing, but—he faced Sarah again and smiled, thinking this flirtatious, forward woman didn’t stand a chance against his Dani Girl. He found it surprisingly nice how comfortable he’d become with Rhees and the way she seemed to read his mind, anticipating when he’d want a beer and she knew what kind he drank.

  Rhees made her way slowly, cautiously, to Paul’s table, watching him smile at Sarah. The warmth in his eyes for the new girl troubled her. Scratch her eyes out. Claire’s words ran through her mind. What a stupid saying, she wasn’t exactly sure how to do that, but it sounded pretty good at the moment. She walked up right behind Sarah and stood for a second, trying to decide what to do. Paul looked from Sarah to her.

  “Hey.” He smiled up at her, so genuinely, all relaxed, as though he hadn’t just been caught flirting with another woman. Rhees waited for him to vault into a lame excuse about what the two of them had been doing, but he didn’t say anything else. His right eye did its adorable winky thing instead.

  Rhees glanced away for a second, took an extra deep breath, and moved to his side of the table where she set his beer down in front of him. She finally dared to look at Sarah, who now watched, with what Rhees imagined, an arrogant air on her heavily made-up, slutty face.

  “Hey,” Rhees replied back. She still hadn’t taken her eyes off Sarah. “I brought you a beer. How’s the work coming?”

  She set her own drink on the table and slid her hands around Paul’s neck and down his chest from behind, pretending to look at his computer screen as if she understood what it was he was doing. She leaned into him so their cheeks touched, and then, so out of character, she turned and feathered his jaw with her lips, nipping at him sensually. She reached his mouth and tenderly gave him a long, but soft, kiss. His lips parted and she felt his surprised intake of breath.

  “I’m going home . . . to bed.” She used the most seductive voice she could manage, and didn’t break contact with his eyes as she slowly pulled away, begging him with her eyes to leave with her . . . If he knew what was best for him. She finally broke contact and moved so she stood behind Sarah again. She mimed the actions of pulling a pistol from a holster at her hip, and she shaped her hand to resemble one. She pointed it at the back of Sarah’s head.

  Sarah didn’t take her eyes off of Paul, surely hoping she’d finally have a chance with him if Rhees left him there on his own, but Paul didn’t take his puzzled eyes off of Rhees. Rhees made a jerking motion with her hand, still pointed at Sarah’s head, blew a puff of air at her extended fingers as if blowing the smoking end of a gun. She holstered her pretend pistol and walked off, leaving Paul with his mouth agape.

  “Excuse me. I need to go!”

  “But Paul, this will be the first chance we’ve had to really get to know each other,” Sarah whined.

  He didn’t miss a beat, as if he hadn’t even heard her. He smiled giddily like a kid as he stuffed his things into a nylon briefcase and took off after Rhees, leaving Sarah still sitting at the table, looking disappointed.

  Rhees walked faster than normal, and it took Paul a minute to catch up.

  “Rhees? Hey, Rhees!” He finally reached her, but she still didn’t stop. He grabbed her arm, making her swing around to face him. “What was that all about?”

  “Nothing.” She glanced away. She looked angry.

  “Are you jealous?” He finally had to ask, but knew he sounded much too amused.

  “Should I be?” Rhees finally dared to look at him.

  She was jealous and Paul couldn’t help the silly grin on his face.

  “What!” She impatiently folded her arms.

  Rhees didn’t understand the look on his face.

  “I don’t know.” He grinned his goofy grin again, as if he could ever look goofy.

  She didn’t soften her scowl. She even felt a strange urge to smack him, sure he was making fun of her.

  Still smiling, he shrugged again. “It’s just . . . I always thought how dreadful it would be to have a girlfriend, you know?” He seemed to have a hard time containing his glee. “Dreadful to put up with things like being told it’s time to go home, like a little kid being sent to his room. And things like, let’s say . . . jealousy.” He smirked and looked down like it embarrassed him to admit it, but he also looked a little smug and much too flattered to think that maybe she was.

  “But damn girl! That. Was. So. Haaawt!�
�� He looked at her like an excited little boy on Christmas morning. His eyes sparkled more than usual.

  “You’re happy I’m jealous?”

  He nodded enthusiastically, eyes wide and ridiculous grin still intact.

  “Well don’t think it’s ever going to happen again. Do you hear me? If you think I’m going to put up with you running around, blatantly and grossly flirting—flashing those—those beautiful blues of yours to all the girls—”

  He put his arms around her and picked her up so he could look her in the eyes. She had no choice but to put her arms around his neck for support and then she couldn’t help it, she wrapped her legs around his waist. She’d become comfortable with the position. It made her feel safe and she needed to feel safe.

  “Did I do that?” he asked, still a little too amused. “Because I don’t think I did anything like that.”

  They eyed each other for an extended time and all the silliness died away, no longer anything silly about the way he looked at her.

  “You have nothing to be jealous of, Dani Girl.” He studied her a second longer before dropping his head, glancing down. His brow furrowed and his lips twitched a few times. With his head still bent forward, his eyes slowly rolled back up to meet hers. It gave him a devilish appearance that made her nervous. He made a quick, growling sound.

  “I’m going to kiss you now, Dani Girl.” He gave her a second to prepare and then he did, long and wet, and she didn’t mind.

  “Haaawt!” He growled and kissed her again.

  Chapter 12

  “What do you guys do?” Claire asked. They sat at their chairs, each working on their computers. “In all the time you two spend together, if you’re not—you know?”

  Rhees giggled, nervously. “Claire!”

  Claire shrugged. “I know it’s not that. Why do you think I’m asking?” They turned their chairs to face each other.

  “We talk. We read, work on computers together, cook. Well, I cook. Paul watches and tries to help, but he’s pretty hopeless in the kitchen.” She smiled at the thought of him lurking in the background, unsure of what to do with himself, but never abandoning her to cook and clean alone. At least he kept her company.

  “Sometimes we dance. He’s always asking me to teach him. He says he wants to look like he can keep up when we dance in public. I’m not sure why he thinks he can’t. His mother insisted her kids take dance lessons for a couple of years, so he knows all the traditional ballroom—” She suddenly worried she’d breached his trust. He never spoke of his family, except to her, and even that was a recent and rare development. She made a mental note to be careful. She didn’t want to share personal information he wouldn’t share himself.

  “He’s probably using it as an excuse to watch you at your sexiest. You’re pretty sexy when you dance. Have you ever noticed any drool during these lessons?” Claire fought back a smirk.

  “Claire!” Rhees blushed and got all giddy. “How do you know I don’t enjoy watching him? The man’s got moves—my pretend boyfriend is really hawt—in case you haven’t noticed.”

  “I’ve noticed.” Claire didn’t try to hide her shock. “I’m just surprised to hear you have.”

  Rhees felt her face grow warm again, embarrassed, but not as much as she would have been a few weeks before. “He also tries to teach me self-defense. After—” Her breath caught. She wondered if she’d ever be able to think about what Mario tried to do to her without the threat of a panic attack.

  “He worries I can’t defend myself, so he shows me things to do under various situations. We always end up fighting though—not self-defense fighting, real fighting. He gets so mad that I won’t try to hurt him. He tells me, ‘Okay, now kick me as hard as you can’. But I can’t do that and things escalate, and the next thing I know, he’s all angry and bothered.”

  Claire watched her, fascinated.

  “I’m a hopeless cause. We go through that over and over. You’d think he’d drop it and save his angry energy for something else.”

  “I think you kind of like angry Paul,” Claire teased. Rhees bit her lip and raised a guilty brow, but didn’t admit it with a vocal response. They both laughed.

  “Sometimes I wonder how he got so aggressive. He’s so tough, inside and out. Is it just a man thing? Are all men like that? My dad was tough, but not like Paul—Paul is so high-strung.”

  “Dobbs wouldn’t hurt a fly—” Claire made a strange face and glanced at Rhees. The memory of Dobbs slugging Paul came to mind. “That’s why I fell in love with the big lug. He’s so mild-mannered—at least he was. He’s going through a mid-life crisis or something.” She made the face again.

  “Well it’s no wonder Paul’s in such good shape. You’d think that with all the physical activity he does during the day, all his sports, the diving, and adrenaline-filled activities he’s always up to, he’d be too tired to swim so much in the middle of the night. I can’t believe how much energy that man has. He’s practically hyper sometimes.”

  “He swims? In the middle of the night?” It took Claire a minute, but she burst into riotous laughter.

  “What?” Rhees asked innocently.

  “Oh Rhees, baby.” Claire had never called her that, but somehow Rhees knew it was about to fit the situation. “Hun, does he tend to swim when—have you noticed him—does he have a bulge?” Claire practically stuttered, appearing to have trouble spitting it out.

  Rhees understood, at least that part of her question. “Yes. It does indeed coincide. I’m not that stupid. He’s open about that with me. Swimming makes it go away, burns off that energy.”

  “Oh Sweet.” Claire laughed again, even louder. “I’d bet money it’s not the swimming that makes it go away. It just gets him away from you so he can—you know.”

  Rhees didn’t know.

  Claire made a gesture by forming an O with her hand and she shook it a couple of times. She laughed again when Rhees drew a blank.

  “Well good for him.” Claire moved along. “I’m glad that swimming is working for him . . . and keeping you safe. What do you talk about?”

  “Everything,” Rhees said quietly, knowing she should know what Claire meant, but she didn’t really want to figure it out. She brushed it off and brightened again.

  “I do most of the talking, most of the time. I have to practically threaten him to get him to open up to me, but he’s always a good listener. He says he appreciates that we don’t have to talk sometimes, that he feels comfortable with me because I’m not all uptight like other girls, when we go, sometimes hours, without speaking at all.”

  Rhees knew Paul, she believed, better than most people. She remembered the pictures Regina kept of him, sitting on the deck, watching the sunset. A quiet, private, even shy, man, Paul needed his time to reflect on whatever he spent so much time reflecting on. She liked knowing he felt comfortable doing it with her around.

  “I see how happy you are.” Claire looked envious. “Both of you.”

  Rhees smiled. “I am happy.”

  “I’m happy for you then. I never would have thought. Paul!”

  “I know,” Rhees said dreamily. “Who would have thought, right? Paul is . . . he’s always been great. It’s just . . . he doesn’t often show this side of himself—the side I get to see.”

  “All right, but don’t stop being careful, okay?”

  “Claire!” Rhees grew defensive. “That’s not fair. He’s done nothing to make you say that.”

  “It bloody surprises me, that’s all. When you two started this weird relationship, I thought you’d be the one changing.” Claire had a concerned look on her face. “I knew the old Paul too well. I’m not sure what it’ll take to stop worrying about my friend.”

  “Me, your friend, or Paul, your friend?”

  Claire’s head dropped back and she lau
ghed.

  “Paul and I are not friends.”

  oOo

  Rhees sat in Claire’s chair, watching Paul at his computer. He concentrated on his work and didn’t notice how she stared. In his focus, not only did his mouth move through its usual motions, but his tongue had jumped into the act. It poked out, and he’d lick his lips, hold it in the corner of his lips, bite it, roll it, lick again. She finally laughed, and he turned to see what she was up to.

  “What?” He seemed cautious, his face still held the serious expression.

  “Nothing.” Rhees giggled at getting caught watching him. “Just that mouth of yours, and your tongue.” She giggled again. “Always busy doing something.”

  “You mention it a lot.” He rolled his chair closer to her and her eyes grew wide in anticipation of what she imagined was coming. He leaned into her face, just barely, not touching her, and watched her, curiously.

  “I can think of a few other things I’d like to do with my mouth . . . my tongue,” he teased.

  Her smile dropped along with the humor he’d aimed for.

  “After all this time, I wish you—” he rasped out just above a whisper. “Is it my germs, or is it just me?” Their eyes locked in serious consideration. His expression slowly twisted into remorse, then confusion as hers changed to mischief.

  “Do it. I dare ya.”

  His eyes grew wide at her challenge. “Oh, Dani Girl, you do nawt want to be daring me to do anything.”

  “I double dog dare you.”

  Paul studied her eyes to be sure, but he wasn’t about to argue. He leaned in and kissed her softly, holding the kiss for a moment, tenderly, but timidly outlining her lips with his tongue, careful to not impose himself on her more than she could handle. He leaned back just enough to look at her, gauge her reaction. She hadn’t flinched, cringed, or shied away. He moaned pleasurably and licked his lips, savoring what little of her still lingered there.