by Amy Harmon
He stopped and listened. “What sound?”
She leaned closer to him. “It’s the sound of a favor being paid off.”
He looked at her more closely. “What do you know about all of this?”
“It has to do with blackmail, or in this case, greenmail. Maybe Sherry will explain it to you.”
Slade returned then, taking Clarissa’s hand in his as though it were a natural thing. “Do you know what the funny thing about tonight is?”
She shook her head.
“This won’t even make the list of top ten memorable things that have happened at AJ’s parties.” He turned to Landon, expecting some sort of commentary. Landon shrugged and didn’t respond.
Slade squeezed Clarissa’s hand. “You haven’t met AJ yet. I’ll introduce you.”
She would have liked to protest on the grounds that AJ needed time to recover from his police visit, but he was clearly fine. He stood in the middle of a group of people, waving one hand in the air in reenactment and laughing uproariously.
Natalie stood beside him, quietly watching him with her arms folded. Clarissa was half surprised they were together. Perhaps they had worked things out. Or perhaps Natalie had found a way to convince AJ that Bella hadn’t told the truth. Maybe they just hadn’t decided to make their breakup official yet.
Like AJ, Natalie wore a cowboy hat and boots. Her black jeans were so tight they were probably one size away from being classified as a tourniquet, and her black halter top, equally tight, was covered with silver studs.
“So,” Slade said as they approached the couple, “you’ve gone from a gunslinger to a gun smuggler?”
AJ grinned. “I figured it would be less stressful than the TV business.” He reached out his hand to Clarissa. “And you must be the botanist we’ve heard so much about.”
Clarissa took his hand in hers and tried to shake it without gouging him with her claws. “Kim Jones. Lovely party. Absolutely brilliant.”
Natalie’s gaze slid over Clarissa. “You’re a doctor of botany?”
“That’s right.”
She raised one eyebrow. “So what exactly do you do?”
“Oh, well, I specialize in systematics.”
“Systematics? What does that mean?”
“That means I do what I do systematically.” Clarissa laughed as though it was meant to be a joke and then desperately looked around the room for a reason to change the subject.
“What kind of plants do you like to study?” AJ asked.
She could only think of one offhand. “My favorite is the algae bloom. Over in England we like to say there’s nothing like a bloomin’ algae bloom.”
Natalie smirked. “Really? That sounds absolutely fascinating.”
AJ surveyed the room. “Chuck from props is a Brit too. You ought to introduce them, Slade. Chuck loves talking about England stuff.” He craned his head around and then his gaze stopped suddenly. “Oh, there he is—over by the hors d’oeuvres.”
Slade looked at Clarissa. “Shall we?”
“Not right now,” she said. “They’re playing our song.” She waved a clawed good-bye to AJ and Natalie, and pulled Slade onto the dance floor.
Slade walked with her slowly. “Our song is ‘The Monster Mash’?”
“Sorry. I didn’t want to meet anyone else. I’ve hardly had a chance to talk to you all night.”
Even though it wasn’t a slow song, Slade didn’t let go of Clarissa’s hand. He pulled her closer to him. “Sorry to be so forward,” he whispered into her ear, “but people are watching, and this is part of our masquerade.”
It occurred to her as he held her, his body moving just inches away from hers, that she was supposed to find out what he felt about his nanny. She couldn’t think of a suitable way to bring up the topic, though. Standing close to Slade made everything else seem muddled. It was easier to sway to the rhythm of the music next to him. Here, like this, she could pretend that nothing else mattered, that there were no masks or masquerades.
“This Batman costume is really hot,” he said.
“I thought so the moment I saw you in it.”
He laughed. “You know what I mean. That Cat Woman suit has got to be just as stuffy. I’m going to take off my mask. Do you want me to help you take yours off?”
“No.” She said the word too quickly. “I mean, I don’t want to mess up my makeup. I’ll wait until I’m in front of a mirror.”
“Suit yourself,” he said, “literally, in this case.”
She jarred at the phrase. She’d said the same words to him the night she’d gone swimming. The fact that he’d repeated them now didn’t mean anything, though. She was just being paranoid again.
The music ended, and he bent his head toward her ear. “Seeing as this is our song, I ought to give you a kiss—for appearances’ sake.”
“All right.”
He tilted her chin up, then kissed her lightly on the lips. It was only the whisper of a kiss, the suggestion. Afterward, he continued to hold her closely. “Of course, seeing that we’re in love and you’ve flown in from England to see me, I probably should give you a better kiss than that.”
“Probably,” she said.
He pressed his lips to hers again, more ardently this time. His arms engulfed her and she felt a dizzying sort of breathlessness. When he broke their embrace he said, “It’s too hot to dance. Do you want to go for a walk outside and cool down?”
She nodded. “Sure.” It wasn’t a very British word but kissing Slade made it hard to think straight.
“Good. Let’s go.” He took her hand, and they walked out of the room and to an exit. Once outside they turned down the path that led to the resort’s garden. Slade still held her hand, dropping it only while he peeled off his Batman mask.
After his mask was off, he ran a hand through his still-wavy hair. “That thing is awful. I don’t know how George Clooney and Christian Bale stood it.” Slade turned his attention back to Clarissa. “Are you sure you don’t want to take yours off? You’ll feel better.”
No she wouldn’t. “Maybe in a bit.”
Even though they didn’t have to keep up appearances out here, he took her hand back in his, and they continued down the path. It was the perfect time to say something. Clarissa tried to think of some casual way to bring up women, relationships, or nannies and wished he’d say something so she wouldn’t have to.
He didn’t.
They walked in silence for a few more moments, and then she decided on the direct approach. “You probably know a lot of different types of women.”
“I suppose so,” he said.
“And you probably know exactly what type of woman interests you.”
“I suppose so,” he said again, this time with a slight smile on his lips.
“So what kind is it?”
He glanced around, saw they were alone, then leaned up against a half wall that ran beside the path.
“You really want to know?” He pulled her slowly to him. He looked into her eyes, intently, then bent down and kissed her.
It was a strong kiss, an insistent one, completely without the pretense of being for anyone else’s benefit. And Clarissa wondered, as she wound her arms around his neck, if it was wholly appropriate for someone to hold her this way when he hadn’t seen her since she was ten years old. Perhaps he moved fast when it came to women. Or perhaps this meant he wasn’t interested in his nanny. Or maybe the two of them just had good chemistry. Kissing him made it hard to figure things out.
He ran his hand up her back to her neck and left it there, doing his best to caress her neck through her costume. When he ran his fingers under the back of her mask, she pulled away from him, putting some distance between them.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“We still don’t know each other very well.”
He let her go and leaned back against the wall, surveying her. “I feel like I know you really well.”
“Do you?”
“Yes, and t
he funny thing is, you’ve changed so much since we were kids.”
“Oh? In what way?”
He folded his arms, cocked his head, and looked at her lazily. “Well, for one thing you used to be black.”
His words hit her like a gunshot.
He’d known all along, and all along had been laughing at her.
Or perhaps he didn’t quite know everything. He knew she was an impostor, but he couldn’t know who she was. He wouldn’t have kissed her if he’d known who she was. Without another word, Clarissa turned and started back up the path. She was prepared to jog back to the Sunset Park Motel if need be. She got only two steps away before he called after her.
“Clarissa, don’t you dare run away from me.”
So it was worse than she thought. He knew everything—no, not everything. Just enough to make her look despicable. She wanted to say, “I can explain.” But how could she? Instead, she turned and asked, “How did you know it was me?”
One of his eyebrows lifted. “Besides the fact that you’re white?”
“There are a lot of white girls who could fit into this costume.”
“I’ve been looking into your eyes for almost a week now. You thought I wouldn’t recognize them?”
“Oh.” She would have been flattered by this comment if she didn’t know that every other sentence in this conversation would be in the form of harsh criticism.
“You’re probably wondering why I kissed you,” she said.
He said something low under his breath, then walked over to where she stood. “I’m wondering why you lied to me about being married.”
“You know that too? How long have you known?”
He glanced at his watch. “For about three hours. Elaina told me how well she keeps secrets. She hasn’t told anyone about the ‘D force’.”
Was it anger she heard in his voice? Disappointment? Clarissa closed her eyes in an attempt to shut everything off. “I didn’t mean to lie to you. I just needed the job, and the only reason the job interviewer even sent me to your house was because he knew Alex. I couldn’t tell him what a jerk Alex had turned out to be.”
“And you couldn’t tell me because?”
“I knew you’d be angry.”
“You knew I’d be angry?” Slade repeated like it didn’t make any sense.
“And because I wasn’t sure it would matter to you in the way I wanted it to matter.”
He nodded, although she wasn’t sure if that meant he agreed it didn’t matter to him, or only that he understood why she’d done it. He held out a hand to indicate her costume. “And you decided to have a night out as Cat Woman because…?”
“I wanted to find out how you felt about me.”
“You were going to accomplish that by pretending to be a completely different woman?”
“Well, it made sense when Meredith suggested it.”
“And exactly what did you do with the real Kim? Is she tied up in a coat closet or something?”
Clarissa couldn’t tell whether he was teasing or not. “Um, no. She had to attend to an algae bloom off the Gulf of Mexico.”
Slade folded his arms and stared at her with an expression she couldn’t discern.
“I was going to tell you eventually,” she said. “I was just waiting for the right time.” Then, because she really longed to be free of it, she unsnapped her mask from where it attached to the rest of the suit. She pulled it off and ran her fingers through her damp hair in an attempt to revive it. Softly she said, “I’m sorry, Slade.”
He watched her, arms still folded, and didn’t speak.
“Will you please say something?” she asked.
“All right,” he said. “I can’t believe it, but I think AJ was right about my script. At this moment I have absolutely no desire to discuss the meaning of life.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Clarissa said. And then a bit more defensively added, “But would you like to comment on the fact that you knew who I was and kissed me several times anyway?”
He stepped slowly toward her. “Those were for each of the times over the last week that I wanted to kiss you and then went back to my room and told myself I was going to hell.”
“Oh,” she said. “I’m sorry. I mean, I’m sorry about deceiving you. If it’s any consolation, I can’t tell you how many times I went to my room feeling miserable because I had lied to you.”
He still stared at her, a smile on his lips. “Come here,” he told her. “I’m still about seventeen kisses short.”
And so she came to him and set the balance straight.
* * *
By the time Slade and Clarissa walked back toward the hotel, she felt light-headed and enveloped in happiness. She had to keep herself from giggling and acting like a teenager out on her first date. Before they went into the hotel, they both put their masks back on. Slade helped her tuck stray pieces of hair into hers, kissed her again, then took her hand and they went inside.
“Do you want to skip the rest of the party?” he asked.
She gazed around at the people in their costumes. It was too noisy and there were too many people around. “Yeah, I think I’m done wearing masks for awhile.”
Her comment made him smile.
Once they were in the elevator, Slade said, “Let’s change and take a walk on the beach.”
It sounded like a perfectly romantic thing to do, and she still couldn’t quite believe that Slade wanted to do it with her. “What about my rental car?” she asked. “It’s still at the Sunset Park Motel.”
He squeezed her hand. “The nice thing about being me is that I have super powers. Well, actually what I have is staff—in this case, the hotel staff that I can pay to drive your car to the rental company.”
She squeezed his hand back. “It’s awesome to be you.”
“I’ve always thought so.” His smile dimmed a little then. “Although I probably should warn you what it’s like to date a celebrity.” He sighed and didn’t speak for a moment. The door of the elevator opened and they walked out, making their way to their rooms.
“I know you have a busy filming schedule,” Clarissa said. “Meredith told me.”
“That’s not what I meant.” His fingers were casually intertwined with hers, as though they had been holding hands all week. “Once people know about us, you’ll constantly have to worry about who might be taking your picture, what the entertainment sites will say about you—and I’ll tell you right now, it doesn’t matter what you wear, somebody will hate it.”
“I’ll manage,” Clarissa said.
“That’s not the worst of it,” Slade said. “People will come out of the woodwork wanting favors from you. Anybody you ever knew who has any interest in acting, celebrities, or who needs money for their cause will contact you asking for something.” They had reached her room, but she didn’t get her key card out. She took her mask off again, still listening to Slade’s list. “Then when those people are done, complete strangers will start asking. Trust me, you’ll be better off if you just get an unlisted phone number right now.”
“You haven’t scared me off yet.”
He peeled off his mask. “You’ll also have to be on the lookout for paparazzi. You have no idea what some people are like.”
“Um, actually I do.” Clarissa filled him in about Sylvia, telling him everything down to her fake note.
Slade listened to her, incredulous, and then couldn’t stop laughing.
“So anyway,” Clarissa finished up. “I know how bad reporters can be. I’ve learned my lesson.”
“Well, somebody has,” Slade said and bent down to kiss her again.
They were still standing like that when Landon’s voice interrupted them. “Sure, she’s just the nanny.”
Clarissa turned and saw him down the hallway walking toward his room. “I knew all along that wasn’t the truth,” Landon called to them, then went in his room shaking his head.
Epilogue
The next fall when
Bella started kindergarten, she had a mother to drop her off. Her father came too, as well as Elaina, who was teary-eyed because Bella was a big girl now and Elaina still wasn’t.
“You get to go to preschool, though,” Slade told her brightly. “Preschool is lots of fun.”
“And you get to be mommy’s helper around the house,” Clarissa added.
Elaina frowned, unconvinced.
Bella flitted around her desk, looking at the things. “And you get to help mom wait for the new baby,” she told Elaina.
Slade glanced around the room to see who had overheard that statement. The kindergarten teacher and several parents were smiling approvingly. “Bella,” Slade said in a low voice, “we weren’t going to say anything about the baby for awhile, remember?”
Clarissa just laughed. Slade had been right during their first meeting when he’d told her that people with children couldn’t have secrets. But that was okay. She didn’t need a mask anymore.
The End
Other Works by Janette Rallison
Playing The Field
Blue Eyes and Other Teenage Hazards
My Double Life
A Longtime (and at One Point Illegal) Crush
All’s Fair in Love, War, and High School
Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Free Throws
Fame, Glory, and Other Things on my To Do List
It’s a Mall World After All
Revenge of the Cheerleaders
How to Take The Ex Out of Ex-boyfriend
Just One Wish
My Fair Godmother
My Unfair Godmother
Slayers (under pen name CJ Hill)
Slayers: Friends and Traitors (under pen name CJ Hill)
Erasing Time (under pen name CJ Hill)
Echo in Time (under pen name CJ Hill)
About Janette Rallison
Janette Rallison (who is also sometimes CJ Hill when the mood strikes her) writes books because writing is much more fun than cleaning bathrooms. Her avoidance of housework has led her to writing 21 novels which have sold over 1,000,000 copies. Her books have been on the IRA Young Adults’ Choices lists, Popular Picks, and many state reading lists. Most of her books are romantic comedies or urban fantasies (with romance) because hey, there is enough angst in real life, but there’s a drastic shortage of fantasy, humor and hot guys who want to kiss you. She lives in Arizona with her husband, kids, and enough cats to classify her as eccentric.