by Joyce Jordan
“I’m almost twenty five, and you’d think I was still a toddler. Don’t get me wrong, I love her to death, but jeez?”
“You’re an only child, so this really knocked them hard.”
“I know. It kind of sounds like I’m not grateful they came, huh?”
She shook her head. “Not really, I bet they are overdoing it a little too, but you also need to give them a break.” Ana hugged her friend. “Just hold on until Sunday when they leave. Besides, I think Eva is planning on taking your mum somewhere on Saturday. Your dad is meeting some colleagues, so that gives us all day to ourselves,” she said. “Any requests?”
“I wouldn’t mind spending all day by the pool, weather permitting,” Kelly requested.
“We could spend the morning by the pool, before it gets too hot.”
“Why don’t you invite Jes over and we can have a brainstorming session during the afternoon.” Kelly held her hands together as if praying. “Please, I already know what dress I want to wear as the maid of honor. And I saw some nice dresses online I wanted to show you.”
“Are you sure about this Kelly? I don’t want you to end up being stressed with everything. As the maid of honor, you have quite a lot to do too.”
Kelly waved away her concerns. “Please what can be stressful about planning a wedding that has no budget. We can even decide to have it in space and Gabe wouldn’t bat an eyelash.”
Ana rolled her eyes, then started laughing as Kelly made signs of a rocket shooting into the sky. “He doesn’t realize what a mistake it is to give women unlimited funds. Who does that?”
“And for a wedding too? A girl’s best dream.”
“I’m not even sure what is a reasonable amount to spend. I guess that will be a good question to ask Jes. What the average people spend when they hire her.”
“I’m not trying to bankrupt your fiance. But whatever you decide for the wedding, I want the best for the bachelorette. I have no problems in covering the cost of the actual party, but I’m thinking we go big,” she said and waved her hand in front of her face. “An out of town party. We obviously get to use the jet and go somewhere, I don’t care. Las Vegas, Dallas, South Carolina. Oh, oh, how about Hawaii?”
“What are you girls discussing?” Evelyn came and sat down in the opposite seat to Kelly and Ana. She helped herself to the Pringles chips and cheese cubes on the table.
“Bachelorette ideas. Kelly wants an out of town event.”
“Please say there will be strippers?” Evelyn pleaded.
“I’m not sure Gabe would agree to that,” Ana said biting her lower lip.
“Why would he be privy to our party? Magic Mike, hello Ana,” Evelyn said and waved her hand in front of Ana’s eyes. “Didn’t you see the movie?” She turned to Kelly. “Please tell me you agree with me? It will be lots of fun.” She grabbed Ana’s hand and squeezed. “You need this because after that you won’t be able to ever look at another man again, let alone touch him.”
Kelly snorted. “As if she can look at anyone besides Gabe right now.”
“I know. Isn’t it a shame?”
“Evelyn,” Ana called. “How many men have you looked at since you’ve been with Mitch?”
“She means, looked at, as wanting to jump their bones, not admire in passing or an attraction to a new client,” Kelly clarified.
“Arg! Dang.” She hissed and glared at them both. “None, I guess.”
Ana and Kelly laughed at her.
“But it’s only temporary. And it’s only because I haven’t accepted any jobs this week. No offense or complaints, but I’ve been pretty much spending most of the time here. Who knows who will catch my eye by next week.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” Ana told her.
“I’d love to know how it goes. I’m willing to put a little wager that you won’t be looking at another man again for as long as Mitch is alive,” Kelly said.
Evelyn gave her the evil eye. “Whose side are you on Kelly?”
“Yours,” Ana answered for Kelly. “It’s just the signs are there. I went through the same denial process like you’re going through. Little did I know that I had already met the love of my life in Gabe. Kelly too in Rafe. And now you in Mitch.”
“She’s right Evelyn.”
“Can we go back to the wedding and bachelorette stuff? Just because you guys are in love and now you think everybody should be too?” She looked at her two new friends who were smiling in her direction. Seriously? Did everyone have to be sappy? “So how about a spa visit tomorrow? Kelly do you think your body can take the tender loving care’s hands of your Swedish hunk, Aiden?”
Evelyn winked at Kelly and they all started laughing. Yes, those guys surely did have some amazing hands.
Kelly frowned. “Maybe not that yet, but how about a facial, manicure and pedicure, shampoo and conditioner? I feel like I really would love some kind of pampering, but I don’t think my body is ready to take deep massages as yet.”
Ana looked at her nails. “Manicure and pedicure sounds like a plan to me. It’s summer and it would be nice to wear sandals without feeling the need to hide your toenails.”
“I don’t think Rafe would want you to spend that long away from home, so maybe the hair thing is out.”
She nodded. “You’re right. But the facial sounds reasonable enough, right?”
“I know Gabe will probably be hyperventilating too, so why don’t we see how things go and then we can decide?” Ana suggested. She looked to both Kelly and Evelyn who nodded in agreement.
“Now that we are all in agreement with tomorrow and Saturday’s activities, how about you teach me poker or blackjack, whichever is easier?” Evelyn asked. “I need us to win big on the next game we play against the boys.”
“I’m not sure if I can say that one is easier over the other,” Kelly told her.
“Yes, it depends on the player.” Evelyn gave her a blank look. “Let me see if I can explain this right,” she said thinking of how to explain herself. “You could find the game of poker easy enough, but if you don’t have a poker face, then you could end up losing because your opponents will be able to read you like a an open book.”
“Blackjack then?”
“We’ll show you both, then you can decide which you prefer, or better at,” Ana suggested. “If you can count cards, then you can easily win at blackjack.” She grinned at Evelyn’s gaped mouth.
∞∞∞∞
Evelyn thought about ignoring Mitch’s text. Dressing up for dinner? She really wasn’t in the mood. But getting into an argument about it wasn’t something she wanted either. If she was going to go AWOL over the weekend, then it was most likely for the best that she showed up.
It seemed the man didn’t understand what she had meant when she told him she didn’t want to be bossed around. Besides he had already convinced her to stay with him over the last few days. His reasoning had been so that she was close to Kelly and could come and go much quicker, but Evelyn knew he had taken advantage of the situation and quickly moved her clothes before Evelyn could think twice and decide otherwise.
When she had surrendered her keys to him, she hadn’t been aware he would move all her clothes. Evelyn had been surprised to see her whole closet literally transported from her little house in Jersey, to his New York penthouse.
She could have just moved her wardrobe from Gabe’s apartment. Which would have been easier and more effective. Probably not as effective from his point of view since he wanted her permanently in his penthouse.
She walked into his master bathroom and left the water running in the tub, then walked out to find a dress to wear. There was enough time to soak herself, so she intended on making use of the huge tub.
Manuel had res-designed her bathroom when she had bought her house, but without enough space, there was only so much the tub and shower could take in space, without overtaking her bedroom. She had wanted a shower separate from the tub, and so had opted for a small regular sized tub just s
o she could have a walk in shower.
But now she was getting to enjoy an oversized tub that could seat four to six people easily. In her mind, it was almost like a toddler pool. Evelyn knew her brother Gabe was wealthy, but what she hadn’t known was how much money could be made in the security business. Clearly Mitch wasn’t doing bad at all.
She dressed in a leopard print dress she hadn’t had the chance to wear as yet. She critiqued herself in the mirror and realized the dress did suit her. She hadn’t been so sure when she had bought it, but because it had been on sale, she had taken it. Her red hot heels complemented her outfit and she found a little clutch purse to carry her phone, cash and driver’s license.
Jack and Chuck drove her to the restaurant Mitch had booked. Evelyn was surprised to find it empty and wondered it they were lost. A smiling host came to greet her at the door and she followed him to the center of the room where a table had been set for two people. All the other tables and chairs were not in sight. Evelyn did a 360 in surprise, and confirmed that all the furniture had really been removed.
Mitch saw her, the minute she entered through the wide door. She was a vision and he was afraid that if he blinked she would disappear and it would be just a dream or fantasy of his making. He wanted to take her home. If he didn’t think she needed sustenance, he would have left and locked her away in his bedroom until the following morning.
“Evelyn,” he said and swallowed. “Baby, you look beautiful.” He came over to her and grazed her cheek with his lips. He nodded to the host, and pulled a chair for her to take a seat. After he made sure she was comfortable he moved to her left and took his seat. He poured her a glass from the wine he had already approved when he had arrived, barely ten minutes before her.
Evelyn took a sip and found she liked it. “This is great,” she said lifting her glass for a second taste. Evelyn had a great paying job, and knew she might afford the bottle, but that didn’t mean she was going to buy it. There were a good number of cheap wines that tasted great too. Maybe not as great as this one, but hey great wine was great wine. But if someone else was buying, oh, who was she to say no.
Mitch smiled. I’m glad you like it. It’s one of my favorites.
Hmmmm. The man had a list of favorite wines?
“I took the liberty of ordering ahead. I hope you don’t mind?” he asked when he spied their waiter bringing their first course.
Evelyn shrugged. She wasn’t really fussy over food, generally. Working in New York City, she ate different types of foods from different countries. She loved most of what she usually ate or sampled. However, she had learnt that sometimes it wasn’t a good idea to ask what she was eating until well after.
She looked at her plate of oysters and wondered if she had heard somewhere that oysters were considered an aphrodisiac. Her memory was faulty at the moment, but she could swear she had.
“Do you ever shorten your name?” he asked her. “Not that I don’t like your full name, but I’d have thought most people would call you Eve.”
“Some did try to call me that, but it was a problem whenever someone called me in the presence of my mum. At times you couldn’t tell if they said Eve or Eva, so it was easier to just go by my full name,” she told him. “And after that if anyone called me Eve, I’d just tell them to use my full name instead.” She shrugged as if to say no biggie.
Mitch nodded in understanding. “It makes sense. I can see how that can happen, with both of you answering.”
Evelyn grinned. “Hey, at least I wasn’t called Eva Boyd Jr.,” she said with a snort. “One girl I went to school with was a junior and other kids constantly teased her.
He laughed. “Must have been hard for her.” He laughed again thinking about how she must be faring now. “It’s easy to understand a male being a junior, but it’s rare for a female, not that it doesn’t happen.”
Their second course of consomme olga, a soup that was so clear, Evelyn wondered it it was just colored water. If it weren’t for the scallops and pieces if shredded carrot garnishing the soup, Evelyn would have been convinced it was really colored water. Fine dining was overrated when one was hungry. She just hoped by the time she was done, her hunger would be satiated.
“Tell me about Mitch,” she asked. “You seem to already know about me.”
“Okay,” he said and sipped his wine. “I was born in New York, but my parents moved to Arizona over a decade ago. My only sibling, a brother, younger, also lives in Arizona, Phoenix. That’s were they all live. He’s three years younger and when he moved with them, he was a teenager but decided to stay there even after he was grown up.
Evelyn nodded for him to go on.
“I joined the army at a young age and quickly rose through the ranks, then happened to be in the right place at the right time and got shifted around to some highly paying jobs until I was recruited by a private company. Before that had happened, I managed to do my Bachelor’s, paid for by uncle Sam.”
Mitch was surprised that Evelyn was paying attention. Most females loved to talk about themselves and would have found a way to interrupt and easily turn the conversation to be about them, or focus on them.
As the waiter removed the dishes, Evelyn complimented the chef on the soup. It really had tasted divine, despite her earlier misgivings. Their third course of poached salmon was quickly followed by their forth one of fillet mignon. Now we are talking, Evelyn thought as a new bottle of wine was brought to their table. She quickly realized that Mitch had approved the new wine he wanted to go with their beef dish.
Evelyn asked that he continue with his narration and he got back into the story.
“They both half retired when I bought them a home close to a golf club which dad attends two to three times a week. My mother too, believe it or not,” he said laughing remembering the day she had insisted she wanted her own clubs if his dad was getting a set.
“Anyway, my brother, Stan, just got married last year. To a lovely girl, Brandy. They both lecture at the local university. I’d like you to meet them.”
Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of their fifth course, a lamb dish with rice and creamed carrots and squash. Evelyn thought she had heard wrong, so she ignored his last comment. Actually she knew she had heard wrong. Actually, she hoped she had heard wrong. When the waiter left, and he didn’t repeat it, she relaxed and admitted to herself, that she must have heard wrong.
“When was the last time you visited them?” she asked. “Or do they visit you often?”
“Mum and dad don’t care much for New York. Stan did come over often but now that he’s married, he’s been here only once,” he said with his head to the side like he was thinking deeply. “I, on the other hand, try to go and see them as often as I can. Sometimes my job doesn’t allow me to, but they are involved in so many things that it’s hard to see them much even when I’m there.”
“How old were you when you were recruited into the army?”
He grinned. “It was more like I recruited them. I really wanted to join so bad, little did I know what awaited me on the other side,” he said shaking his head. “I was a month shy of my nineteenth birthday. Four years ago, I called it all quits and used my money to open up Sanders Consulting. I reached out to good men that I had served with that were either out or were on the verge of being out and offered them jobs if they wanted to move to New York.
“We started small, but quickly grew. Faster than I had envisioned. And right now, I’m trying to grow more of a reputation rather than grow in size. Then in another year or two, I’ll think about the size of the company and decide if I still want to grow or not. The rotation of my men within your family has pretty much taken almost half my men. You on the other hand are no longer part of the deal,” he said and pulled her mouth to his.
Shocked by the move and shocked by his words, Evelyn opened her mouth to say something but her words were swallowed as his tongue entered her mouth. Evelyn moaned and Mitch groaned, he bit her lower lip then took he
r lips again.
Dazed after that long kiss, Evelyn asked. “Am I the dessert?”
Mitch grinned. “Second dessert,” he said and nodded to the waiter to bring their next course.
Evelyn salivated as she saw the slices of peaches covered in fresh cream on one side and vanilla ice-cream on the other. “Oh, my,” she said as she grabbed her spoon beside the dessert plate.
Mitch put that little detail away and hoped he remembered to have his housekeeper shop for peach slices.
“Coffee?” he asked before their dessert dishes were whisked away.
“No,” Evelyn said shaking her head. She didn’t want to taint the taste of her last course. Coffee would have to wait until morning.
Mitch really wanted a cup of espresso, but he wanted Evelyn more. No, needed her. The way she had been eating, so daintily like a queen, had been so arousing, it was a wonder he hadn’t spread her on the table and feasted on her.
“Let’s go,” he said standing up and coming to hold her chair.
“The bill,” she asked pulling him back.
“It’s under control. My assistant will take care of that when they send me the bill.” He took her hand and led her out of the restaurant. The host escorted them as far as the door and thanked them, then shut and locked the door. Mitch guided her into the waiting car and his driver drove them the short distance to his home.
Evelyn wondered at the sudden speed. They had enjoyed a slow and very appetizing dinner. If she were honest, she was humming with need. The oysters? Whatever, she thought. She couldn’t wait until they were in his penthouse.
Mitch closed the front door and took Evelyn’s hand as he walked towards the master bedroom. He didn’t bother with lighting any of the rooms they passed. He knew his way around in the dark just fine. As a trained operative, it was necessary to move around in the dark, know where every piece of furniture item was located. In the event of a break in or an attack, as the home owner, you always had the advantage.
Moonlight was streaming through the open curtains as he walked Evelyn through the door. He slowly removed her dress and was glad he hadn’t known about her choice of underwear, or lack of it. He wouldn’t have been able to survive the night.