A Date on Cloud Nine

by Jenna McKnight

  “You sure you’re okay?” Jake asked.

  “Yes I’m sure,” she hissed. “Keep it down, would you?” She shook her arm out, noticing an attractive— though obviously costume—charm bracelet she’d never seen before, but its being on her arm was just too weird to investigate with Jake studying her like a bug under a microscope. “It’s probably just a bruised nerve or something.”

  “Because I can walk you back to the desk and have them take another look at you.”

  “Only if you have a death wish.”

  He grinned. “Didn’t like all those tests and exams, huh?”

  “It beats getting blown up—”

  “Yeah.”

  “—but not by much.”

  “Go sit down.”

  “God, you’re bossy. First on the parking lot and now…” Oh. He hadn’t been bossy at the wedding. “You’re my mentor?”

  “That does it. I’m getting a doctor.”

  “Wait.” She laid her hand on his arm.

  He stopped in his tracks. She couldn’t blame him for thinking she was confused. She was the one who’d been to heaven and back, and nothing was crystal clear to her either. Didn’t he know how much it had hurt when they didn’t find time to talk at the funeral?

  “I missed you after the service,” she said. “I tried calling you later. I was so lonely. I needed to talk to… someone.” But his number had been disconnected.

  Jake offered no explanation of any kind. He was sole owner of the tech business in Silicon Valley, yet he was here in St. Louis, working in a sex shop.

  Lilly pressed on. “Elizabeth said she’d send someone to help me. But you live in California, so… Why were you working in Cloud Nine?”

  He glanced away abruptly, but not before she saw anger spark in his eyes.

  Cautiously—because if he was her mentor, she didn’t want to start off on the wrong foot—she inquired, “Did something happen to the company?”

  He glowered at her, said, “Get your own damn doctor,” and turned toward the door so quickly, you’d think she’d just insulted his mother. Okay, so business was a forbidden topic, but if he was her mentor, she needed him right away. So shouldn’t he be hanging around?

  If they were to spend any time together, it looked as if it was all up to her.

  4

  Jake strode out the emergency room’s automatic door and across the snow-packed pavement to his taxi, feeling Lilly’s eyes bore even more holes into his jacket, probably wondering what the hell was the matter with him.

  No way he could stand there and chat with her like two old friends. Not even like two people who’d shared a traumatic experience and found they had a little bit in common. He’d called his dad from the treatment room and was warned to stay away from Lilly Marquette. Until the custom-home contracts were signed, they didn’t need anybody—meaning him—pissing off any Marquettes—meaning her. Even if she had stolen his money.

  Once she saw he was the taxi driver she’d been hoping for, would she run after him and beg for a ride? Demand one? He slid behind the wheel, fumbling with bandaged hands, a thin key and its tiny target, the ignition. He checked his rearview mirror.

  Ah, yes, here she comes now.

  From the looks of her short, angry steps, he prepared to get chewed out. Not that he’d take it from her, of course. But he’d let her get started, then simply push the button—if he could isolate the stupid little thing from all the others, damn it. He’d slide the window up and let that do his talking for him.

  Yes, there, he got it down and rested his finger on it. He was ready.

  “What are you doing?” she demanded.

  It was silly really, how a five-foot-three wisp, shivering in the cold, could cross her arms over her chest and think she was formidable.

  “Where the hell’s your coat?” Jake asked before he could stop himself.

  “In the trash.”

  “You can’t stand out here without a coat.”

  “Me? Let’s worry about you. You can’t drive with your hands like that. It’s not safe.” She grabbed the door handle. He stabbed around to find the lock button, but before he could push it, she opened his door. “Slide over. I’ll take you home and catch a cab from there.”

  “You can’t drive my car.”

  “Oh, don’t sound so horrified.” She perched her hip on the edge of the seat, lined her sweet thigh up against his, and nudged him. “How hard can it be?”

  Damn, if she kept bumping against him like that, they’d both find out.

  “My insurance won’t cover you, and even if it did, how long’s it been since you’ve driven in snow?” He knew he’d regret this later. “Get in back, and I’ll take you home.”

  “Oh yeah, I want to be blown up and crash in the same day. No thank you.” She shoved harder. “Come on, I fly an airplane. How hard can a car be?”

  “You don’t drive at all!”

  She laughed sweetly at his panic, and he realized she was teasing him. It’d be a hell of a lot easier to stay mad at her if she’d quit being nice.

  “Just a little pilot humor. What are you doing?”

  “Taking off some of these bandages so I can drive.”

  “Geez, and you’re supposed to be looking out for me? Stop that.”

  She grabbed his wrist, and suddenly neither of them was talking or teasing. He found himself staring into delicious hazel pools, mesmerized by the sparkling flecks of different colors and how they were all mixed up and at the same time perfectly blended to create warmth, humor and—suddenly—sexual heat. She must have felt it, too, because without another word, she abruptly unperched herself and got in back.

  He knew where she lived. The sooner he got her out of his taxi, out of his sight, out of his smell, for chrissakes, the sooner he could go back to blaming her for everything that had gone wrong with his life in the last five months. Just so he wouldn’t let his guard down again, he reached up to the bandage on his forehead and ripped it off. Nothing like a little pain to keep a man’s mind straight.

  He reversed out of the slot, then shifted into DRIVE, at which time the androgynous, computerized spiel began. “Sit back and relax. There’s a seat belt for your comfort and safety.”

  “What the heck is that?”

  Upon detecting her voice, it paused automatically.

  “Just a little something I’ve been working on.”

  “It’s not going to give me seat belt fastening instructions, is it?”

  “Let’s listen and see.” He didn’t want to talk to her. Talking to her was dangerous and weakened his position that he was the injured party here, and she owed him big-time.

  “Let’s not. Shut it off, will you?”

  The last thing he wanted was to take orders from her, but he punched the button anyway.

  “Thanks. Gosh, I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you in the store.”

  “I think you were more concerned with my not recognizing you.”

  Glancing at her in the rearview mirror as he drove, he noticed incredibly smooth skin. Heard her every time she moved or batted the red balloons aside. Remembered every photograph Brady had shown off when he came to the coast.

  Jake had committed every one of them to memory, knowing it was all he’d ever have of Lilly. He’d listened to Brady’s stories about how she’d said this or that, or surprised him with breakfast in bed on his birthday, or an Easter egg “hunt” in the closet, or a turkey day “feast” on the kitchen table. To hear Brady tell it, they’d humped like rabbits.

  “I don’t think this is the way,” she said.

  “Aren’t you still in the same house?”

  “I want to swing by Cloud Nine.”

  “Nothing’s left. Let’s not.” Try as he did to resist the temptation, he glanced at her via the rearview mirror. Bad move. Even the reflection of her eyes danced. He had it under control, though. He had to. “Did you want to buy something? Because I can check through what I salvaged in the trunk and see if I have what you
need.”

  “See, it’s assumptions like that I’m trying to avoid.”

  He chuckled, in spite of himself. “Oh, don’t worry about it. I’ve been pretty much desensitized by my neighbors.”

  “Don’t tell me they all shop there.”

  “Not while I’m there, they don’t. Well, Ruby did once. You have to understand, she’s old enough to be my grandmother. I can’t help it, it weirds me out to see a sex manual on one of their coffee tables—with a bookmark sticking out of it, no less. I feel like a damn Peeping Tom or something. Anyway, after sweet little Ruby came in for a board game, I made it a rule that from then on neighbors can’t shop when I’m filling in.”

  Now, if only it were as easy to get rid of Lilly.

  She was blessedly silent while he drove, but it might’ve been better if she’d talked his ear off. Then he wouldn’t have had time to be at war with himself, on one hand surprisingly pleased to see her again, on the other, royally pissed off.

  What really burned him, though, was how she acted as though she hadn’t a clue that she ought to stay clear of him, that she shouldn’t talk to him as if they’d be on friendly terms. In fact, she acted so innocent and totally unconcerned that he began to doubt what he knew to be true.

  “So,” Lilly muttered to Elizabeth. She felt a connection there that she needed to hang on to, like a lifeline, because this was all so unreal, and if she forgot what was real, she might forget to do what she’d promised. “He’s my mentor, huh? Just pluck him right out of California and set him down in St. Louis?”

  The smoke hadn’t hurt his sexy voice at all, and for the first time ever, she thought about trying out the backseat and wondered whether it was doable. The taxi was frigid at the moment, but they could warm it up fast.

  “Ooh, is he supposed to be the father-to-be?” Yum.

  “You talking to me?”

  “Um, I said, so, you drive a taxi now.” If he didn’t bite her head off this time, she’d find out if this was as much a surprise to him as it was to her.

  “Yeah.” He turned up the heater, which had to be solely for her, because he cracked his window and shrugged out of his jacket. “My uncle’s in Arizona for the winter, I lease it from him, we both make money.”

  “You’ve been back in St. Louis a while then?”

  He didn’t reply. She thought for a moment he was going to turn the preprogrammed message back on, but it remained blessedly silent, Thank you, God.

  Now there was a previously unconscious thought that suddenly took on new meaning. Given her recent experience, she’d make an effort to use the Lord’s name more judiciously in the future.

  “Should the meter be running?”

  “No, we just put ‘em in for decoration.”

  Well, well. He even had the appropriate surly attitude that came from owning a successful business one day and being a driver-for-hire the next. Had Elizabeth really made that happen? And how? Lilly was dying to know— well, okay, maybe not dying—but he’d already walked away once when she’d asked. Maybe in a few days when he’d had time to recuperate.

  Back to the meter. “It seems high.” She felt a sharp pain in her arm—the second one since she’d been in the backseat—but she couldn’t find anything sharp there, either. “Maybe the explosion knocked it out of whack.”

  “Tell you what, I’ll have it checked. If I overcharge you today, I’ll send you a full refund.”

  “Really?”

  “Hey, it’s only money.”

  Uh-oh, money again.

  She’d been out of the hospital for what, five minutes tops, and she was already trying to save it instead of give it away. Seems there was going to be more to her current life lesson than writing a few hundred checks and getting pregnant within a month.

  “Sorry,” she whispered. “I’ll do better.”

  They drove through a neighborhood that was neglected, peeling, uncared for, a place to drive through to get to a good shopping area, into the city, or out to the county malls. Surely there were people here who needed money, but how did she go about finding out who, and since she wasn’t allowed to give more than necessary, how much?

  She was totally out of her league. She could sink the whole lot right here and not make a dent, and once it was gone, it was too late if John said she’d done it wrong. Good thing Elizabeth had sent Jake.

  “Want me to lock the doors?” he asked, making fleeting eye contact as he drove.

  “What?” The three tassels swinging from the mirror distracted her. Were they from his uncle’s childrens’ graduations, or were they his? Jake had at least two degrees that she knew of.

  “I noticed you looking around. Neighborhood’s not what you’re used to, I guess.” He engaged all the locks.

  “That’s an understatement.” If Elizabeth was responsible for putting him here to mentor her—Lilly wasn’t sure about that, but she was sure she’d better cover all bases— then it was time for him to be useful. She leaned forward and said, “Do you know this area?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “I don’t want to go home just yet.” She connected with his reflection, noting that it did nothing to diminish the sexy heat in his bedroom blues. “Are you okay to drive me around a while?”

  “Sure. Clayton? Ladue?”

  “Here. Downtown. The Projects. Do we have Projects?”

  “My, you want to do some serious slumming.”

  Within minutes, she realized she wouldn’t accomplish much without some narrative. “Talk to me like a tourist,” she said. “And not that darned recording.”

  He scratched his head, rubbed the side of his nose, and finally said, “Say, how ‘bout them Rams?”

  He made her smile; that was good. On a day like today, that was very good. “Wait. Pull over.”

  “Here?” Buildings on both sides of the wide street were boarded up.

  “I want to ride in front.”

  “Nope. Fares ride in the—”

  “Stop, or I’m climbing over the seat.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  She tossed her purse onto the front seat.

  “You just got out of the emergency room!”

  “A very good reason not to mess with me.”

  “All right, all right. Give me a minute.”

  He stalled by making a big show of checking for other vehicles; there were none. At the next stop sign, she took the decision out of his hands, unlocked the back door, and hopped out. He immediately popped the rest of the locks and didn’t wait for her to buckle up before moving on. The only concession he made was to pull a clipboard, an expensive camera, and a half-empty pan of fudge out of her way.

  “Mm, fudge,” she said.

  He set it on the family-photo-laminated dash, as far to his side as possible.

  “I’m starving.”

  “I’ll stop at the next drive thru.”

  She pouted, but it didn’t help.

  All the photos on the dash were of children. Babies in swings, toddlers in a wading pool, kids in snowsuits and Halloween costumes, teenagers in prom attire. School plays, music recitals, camping trips.

  “I know, I know, it’s a terrible thing to do to a car, right?”

  “I like it.”

  He gave her a funny look, as if he suspected she was lying to him. “Nobody else does.”

  “They’re so sweet. Aw, look at this little girl. I wonder why she’s crying?”

  “Because he got stuck in a hand-me-down snowsuit.”

  Lilly grinned as realization hit. “But you’re adorable in it.”

  “I’m an only boy.”

  “And how old—?”

  “Five.”

  “At five, you were already gender conscious?”

  “It was pink. I got even, though. When I passed Julie up, I insisted on a black one so she’d get stuck with it the next year.”

  Hearing past the words, Lilly discerned a lot of affection between Jake and his sister.

  “So these are all your
family?”

  “It’s Uncle Paul’s collage, so there’s kids from Aunt Joanne’s side, too.”

  He was driving, so pointing out the different children was hit-and-miss, along the lines of, “The one hanging upside down on the swing set is my sister Jodie.” By the time Lilly’d located the upside-down little girl, Jake was on to another. After oohing and ahhing over several more children who’d been lucky enough to grow up in a normal family, Lilly turned her attention back to the streets. Few people were out. Those who were walked quickly through the falling snow, heads down into the wind as if they had a definite destination in mind, though none of the storefronts looked ready for any business, ever. Most were barred.

  Jake fumbled with his tiny phone, made a quick call, and assured someone he was fine. “Really, I swear. Hardly a scratch on me.” When he signed off, it was with a warm, “Yeah, let everyone else know, okay? Love you, too.”

  “Your mom?” she guessed.

  “Sister.” He grinned then. “The Murdoch brigade worries about me. Since I got through on call waiting, and they both have speed dial, everyone’ll know in ten seconds flat.”

  Lilly was thinking how nice it must be to have such close siblings when, down a side street, a small group of people caught her eye. Loosely congregated in a ragged line, they appeared to be waiting for something.

  “What’s that?”

  “Where?”

  “Back at the corner, down that street.”

  “Food kitchen.”

  People in need! “Go back.”

  “What? No way. I’m not taking you to some food kitchen.”

  “Why not?”

  “Well, for one thing, it’s for poor people. Homeless folk.” He continued driving away.

  “Fine.” She settled back and pulled her cell phone out of her purse. “I’ll call another cab and give someone else a big tip. I’d go by myself, but someone blew up my limo.”

  “And that makes you poor enough to take food out of their mouths?”

  She shuddered. “I don’t want to eat there. I want to give them money.”

  He stared at her.

  “Watch the road.”

  “I have great peripheral vision.”

  “Fine, use it on me, but watch the road.”