by Michele Hart
Chapter 10
Elissa dragged herself into the bedroom, feeling lower than the sinking bogs of Scotland. She really needed the money working a well-tipped weekend would’ve brought her, and now she’ll be deeper in the quicksand.
Giving into exhaustion, she hauled her favorite soft pajamas onto her body, a tank top and shorts, and she’d planned to lie around and feel sorry for herself just for the night. Her strategy to halt the forward progression of her debt had just tanked. She felt too bad to care what she looked like, and Greg was right out there, waiting for her. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen her at her worst, and she wasn’t at her worst, still fixed up for work, so she wouldn’t look too much like the walking dead.
Something inside her was happy to see him. Something inside her was relieved. And something was troubled. Greg had come looking for her when she’d given him an excellent chance to take flight after they’d twice slept together.
He hadn’t run. He was supposed to run or get distracted or lose interest. She’d counted on it.
Elissa rose from her bedroom, immediately noticing Penny’s absence, and she sacked down beside him on the couch, unable to do much but mourn. She unclipped her hair and threaded her fingers through her tresses to let them fall naturally. Greg guided her down to lie across his lap, and his thighs were warm and inviting. He brushed back the deep red hair that hung in her face.
“Don’t worry about your money problems. Just go to school.”
“I’m not borrowing money from you,” she reiterated for his clear understanding. “I already don’t like the fact that there’s a money deal between us now.”
“That’s easy to fix. We’ll call off the bet.”
“No way. You can’t back out now.” She sniffled, still a bit weepy from the good cry on the way home. “The more bad luck I suffer, the more I’ll need the bet money. You’re stuck with me.”
He didn’t appear terribly upset about that, and that gave her some comfort. She just wished she didn’t feel her soul shiver a little when he stroked her hair. Losing her heart to him would be a disaster of monstrous proportion, and she felt herself slipping away. The more he hung around, the more she weakened under his intoxication.
“At least, they won’t kick me out of school in my last semester, so it’s not time to sweat tuition repayment yet.”
“Don’t worry about any of it right now. Take deep breaths. Save the worry for later. The night is still young.”
Elissa sniffled and sat up. It was Friday night, and despite the loss of her job, Greg might want to go somewhere. She might’ve been able to say no if he asked her out over the phone, but he was here and looking absolutely sexy, and she’d do anything to keep looking at him.
Hail coffee. “Where are we going?”
Greg put her back down to his lap, and he gained the TV remote. “We aren’t going anywhere. We’re staying here and resting from a busy week. The Bay Cook-off’s tomorrow, and it’ll be a big day. Relax tonight. Let’s order pizza.”
Elissa felt such great comfort in his empathy of her slow-motion shattering life. “We’ve been living on delivery lately.”
“It’s all I do,” he said, flipping through the few channels she had with basic cable. Soon the cable would be shut off. It was probably her last enjoyment of it.
“Sounds like a rotten life if it goes on for too long. That’s gotta mean you’re working too much.” Though she was guilty of the same.
He paused for a moment from flipping channels, landing on Animal Planet showing two bucks threatening with their horns, about to clash, probably over some chick.
“I hadn’t thought of whether it was a good life or not. Things needed to be done for the business so I did them, never kept a solid schedule to time many nice meals at home. There was no one to go home to. I just kept working.”
Then he looked down to her, a serious expression in his pecan gaze. “Do you think I should change that?”
“Well, yeah, eventually. Sounds boring. Who wants to work their life away?”
Greg beamed with some wicked victory he wouldn’t reveal. “We could order take-out and have a philosophical discussion about whether a life of take-out is a good life.”
Quick with a cell phone, Greg placed a delivery order for pizza from a shop up the street while Elissa cleared the coffee table and brought out paper plates and flatware. Returning to the couch, he put her back across his lap. He must’ve liked having her lying across his body. Being so close to him awakened her, shook the weariness away.
“Tell me about your family, Elissa. You don’t talk much about them. Where are your parents?” His gentle combing of her hair wooed her.
She thought of all the things she shouldn’t tell him, so she began with, “I came from a small town you’ve never heard of further south in Florida. I was an only child raised by my mother. My father had died when I was eight.”
A small-town police officer gunned down by a fleeing felon.
“I’m sorry, Elissa. I’d lost my father much older. It must’ve been harder when you were eight.”
She appreciated his sympathy, but she refused to revisit the pain. Her feelings were still those of a pitifully sad eight year old, unmatured in the long years.
“It had been a hard blow for my family. Since then, I’ve worked hard toward my education, did well in high school, earned a few small scholarships. Ended up here at USF. Can’t say I’ve had much excitement between study and work.”
“That must’ve been the short version of a twenty-four year life.” It seemed obvious he wished for more details, but she wasn’t going to provide any more hints.
She smiled weakly. “Not much life happens in a small Florida town. I’ve worked to maintain my excitement level low here too.”
“Just you and the stars, huh?”
Elissa didn’t like the fact that she’d actively deceived him about her college study, but she replayed her programming to stick to the plan. Six months from now, she’d be in Quantico, Virginia, her head deep in FBI procedurals, and glad she kept her soul from a good mashing at Greg’s hands.
“Yeah, just me and the stars. Looking out for the next asteroid. Staring back at the aliens watching us.”
“It’ll be an interstellar-Mexican stand-off. You said before you were close to earning your Master’s.”
Elissa stood a much greater chance of being selected from possible candidates with a serious criminology degree. “Half a semester away, not far.”
“What will you do after that?”
“More school,” she said, thinking of agent training. By graduation, she’ll have reached bureau entry age, have a fist around a Master’s in criminology, a good knowledge of urban weapons, and a black belt in karate. How could the FBI resist her?
“Is there going to be an end to that at some point?”
“School, you mean? Yes, at some point, I’ll be assigned to a project and stationed in a field office, hopefully close to this area so that I can be near my mother. That’s the goal.”
She plastered a smile on her face when she said, “It’s all under my painstaking orchestration.”
“Ah, orchestration…” he muttered, nodding now as if he’d figured her out with that one word. “I can understand wanting to be around family. I went to school out of state and was miserable without my big Italian family to make me miserable. I was glad to come home.”
“What’s the plan for tomorrow?” she asked, hoping to swap the subject from her to anything else and missing the cozy comfort of the mocha-latte leather couches in Greg’s livingroom, then she chastised herself for having become accustomed to the luxury.
“My plan is to accompany the investors. Val and Sissy will assist Julian. Penny’s going with us, and she can keep you company when the talk turns uninteresting.”
Elissa lit up with that news. “Penny’ll love it.”
“Yeah, I saw her interest when I offered. If the two of you get bored with the business talk, you could hang out with Si
ssy and the guys. Derek’s already in Paris, but I’m sure Allen and Jerry will show up. Even if they don’t see us together much, they’ll make the connection with your presence.”
Elissa stuck out her tongue in distaste. “I hate for your investors or friends to see me looking so rotten for something as dumb as a bet. I don’t want them to think you hang out with a dull knife. I’ll just keep my distance.”
“I love the secret,” he declared, and he gave her a quick kiss on her crown. “When the Amigos look at you in your frumpy disguise, they don’t know how hot you really are. Only I know you smell and taste delicious, and look great in your birthday suit.”
A decade of martial arts had kept her very fit. “My birthday suit didn’t look like this when I was born.”
“I sure dig the way you turned out. The secret’s a blast for me. No one else knows you’re a trophy girlfriend.”
“I’m not a trophy girlfriend, and you forget they saw me at Reno’s.”
“But not a one of those boneheads connected you with the girl they see me dating. They’d made a few comments about the sexy server at Reno’s I’d kill them for if they knew you belonged to me, but I wasn’t going to lose your money from the bet.”
Elissa laughed, disbelieving his friends had mentioned her. She didn’t have talk-about-her-after-she’s-gone looks, but it made her melty when he said she belonged to him.
“It was a risky thing to take them to Reno’s,” she pointed out, and admitted only to herself his appearance there had given her a renewing zest for what had earlier looked like a grueling night ahead. Seeing Greg at her every turn had kept a low-grade energy thrumming through her all night.
And she hadn’t even slept with him yet.
Now that she’d endured the ecstasy of his bedroom skills, she throbbed all over when she laid eyes on him.
“Yeah, but I had to see you in Reno’s uniform skirt.” He used the remote to point to the TV, showing the local weather report. “The weather will be perfect tomorrow. All-in-all, it’ll be a fantastic day for Rubia’s.”
Elissa smiled, eager to see it all come together.
“Pizza should be here soon.”
“I hope you ordered extra cheese.”
“I’m Italian. I never forget extra cheese.”
“Now that’s true love.”
“Well, it’s a little too early to call us in love. Definitely unremittingly hot for each other, yes.”
She grinned up at him, her eyes chastising, “I was talking about the cheese. I don’t believe in the existence of love.”
“That’s absurd. There’s too many kinds of love to say it doesn’t exist. There’s the love of a good joke. The love of fine ravioli. The love of family.”
“Yeah, but we were talking about romantic love. It’s an illusion, an unreal thing we convince ourselves of to fulfill temporary needs we fear are permanent needs, but aren’t. It’s like a trick of Nature, don’t you think?”
Greg appeared to give her words a thought. “Love, a trick of Nature.... There are some intangible things that are real and worth working on. If two people will work to keep that illusion of love alive, to add to it and keep it fresh and important, it can be pretty fun. It can be the best reason for living.”
“But that takes commitment to something that isn’t real. And one should never commit to something that isn’t real.”
“But it doesn’t become real until you commit to it, Elissa. What dream in life can you make real before you commit to it?”
She conceded. She couldn’t become an FBI officer if she hadn’t committed to it. Truth was, Elissa had never been in love before so she had no true experience from which to speak of, but it did sound as though Greg had a solid reference point.
Then she wondered how the conversation had gone from extra cheese to love.
“The philosophy teachers at Columbia are good. Which philosopher was that?”
“Gregory of the twenty-first century.” He brought out a bright grin. “I was a quick study for useless information.”
“Ah, a cesspool of knowledge. Guys aren’t supposed to believe in love, you know.”
“I’ve noticed that. You’d be surprised at the goon heads who do. I’ve gotten drunk more than a few times with Allen over the span of our years, and you wouldn’t believe how idiot-mushy he gets when Sissy becomes the subject after the second pitcher of beer. Allen always loves to play the callous pig around her. Sissy’s disapproval entertains him, like the little boy who pulls the braids of the little girl sitting in front of him in class.
“But I can see he’s growing out of that. Allen talks of Sissy more with a melancholy glint in his eye. I think he’s wanting her more and realizing how much he really does love her, now that they’re all grown up. I think the time he spent away at school made him give it all some deep thought. I’ve seen him date a lot of women, and when he’s inside that third pitcher, he begins to repeat, ‘She’s not Sissy’.”
“Wow,” Elissa said in awe. “Powerful story.”
“Yeah, Sissy’s an unforgettable woman. One must step out of the way of something that electric. It gets better. I’ve been in the same place with Sissy, a little tipsy and talking too much. I’ve heard Sissy confess feelings for Allen, and then swear the next day she never said such a thing.”
“That’s amazing,” Elissa commented through her smile.
“Yeah, he’s gonna take her away from me.”
One must step out of the way of something that electric. Had Sissy fallen for Allen while Greg was in college? Was it Allen’s and Sissy’s fascination with each other that had come between Greg and Sissy? It was hard for Elissa to imagine the men remaining friends under those conditions, but they’d all been friends before any of them had been lovers. These were lifelong friendships here.
Like relatives, you don’t choose who fills your mind to distraction.
“If he’s smart, Allen will wake up in time and see how special a thing he holds in his hands. Sissy’s a beautiful and talented young woman who could be swept up by another man. He’d better take that step before some other love takes her heart.
“Allen’s finally maturing ... and finding it difficult to live without her. I’m betting he’ll seize the next opportunity to show her how he feels. Sissy’s very easy to love. If he doesn’t make Sissy love him, I feel sorry for him. Allen’s no slouch when it comes to getting what he wants. I’ve a feeling, if he plays his cards right, he’ll take her home in the end.
“It’s time for me to give her up,” Greg admitted, with no more detail of his feelings for Sissy than that.
The words put a knot in Elissa’s stomach, even though imagining Greg and Sissy together at any stage made Elissa feel better about walking away from him. Who knew? Maybe Elissa stepping out of the scene at the end of the month might force Sissy to decide between Greg and Allen. Maybe Greg was awaiting that very thing. What if the bet was to Greg exactly that, a challenge issued to Sissy to choose between them?
“I hope the right man comes for her, and they make lots of pretty babies. Sissy’s adorable and deserves true love.”
Greg launched one of his twinkly victory grins. “There you were just minutes ago, swearing love was an illusion.”
“Yuck,” Elissa said to deny him his triumph, and she stuck out her tongue. “Too sugary sweet. The story’s rotting my teeth. Now I have to brush my teeth all over again.”
Greg laughed, and his hand rose to stroke her cheek. The heat from his finger warmed the path of his caress. “I’ll spare you sweet stories, then.”
“Love is gross.”
“I agree. And fattening,” he affirmed. “What’s on TV?”
“I don’t know. I’ve always studied for my statistics class on Friday nights.”
“Statistics. Sounds like all trumpets-and-fairies.”
“It’s an A up ahead, if I work hard.”
He made a wise-ass face, and then he purposely turned his bedroom eyes onto her. “Is Statistics better
than me taking your clothes off and making love to you?”
Elissa was awestruck for the answer. What was better than Greg making love to her? Damn ... nothing came to mind when memories of earlier nights caused a pang of want through her, not a single thing better than his making love to her.
She worked on it, trying to think of a bigger thrill than his hot body. Raspberry dark chocolate, no, not as good. A spin on a rollercoaster, no, but there were similarities, both being thrill rides. Peanut butter ice cream, nnn—well… no, but a close second. Sky-diving? She’d never been sky-diving. It might be better than having Greg plunder her body, but she didn’t think so.
“Let me know if Statistics feels like this.”
His hand reached out to the lace of her soft top, and he drew a circle around her nipple through the cotton material using the lightest touch, and all the sensation he’d awakened in her three nights ago came flooding back. Elissa closed her eyes, enjoying his contact.
“Statistics never did that to me,” she admitted, loving the heat of his fingertip penetrating the cotton fabric and the bra she wore beneath. He brought back every memory of their melting into splendor, raising a shiver of pleasure, and she began to ache for him again with his every wicked touch. “The statistics teacher always says no when I ask him to touch me like that.”
They both sputtered playful giggles. “The man’s crazy,” Greg replied mischievously.
“I wish we’d already eaten,” she said between quickened breaths. “You’ll need your strength.”
Greg bent and took her nipple into his mouth through her thin bra and blouse, scraped it through his teeth, striking her with electricity and sending a shiver through her.
“And you said you were tired.”
Elissa giggled through the shower of sparks he gave her. “You’ve risen the dead, revitalized me with your bedroom eyes and insistent touch.”
“I’ll take all the repercussions.”
“Brave man.”
“I’m just beginning a bunch of touching.”
“God, I hope so.”
A knock came from the door, and dinner was here. They split the food up and spread out on the couch again, consuming pizza and watching an Animal Planet special about Bonobo chimps and how very close they were to human beings. The chimps even parted their hair down the middle.