by Natalie Ann
“So not all Bonds end up here?” he asked. Though he knew the answer to that.
“Not everyone likes it for anything more than a vacation property. Many own homes and rent them when they aren’t using them. It’s not the life for everyone, but I’ve found it’s the life for me.”
And when dinner was done and the bill came, he reached his hand for it the same time as her. “Oh hell no,” he said to her.
“I asked you to dinner,” she argued.
“So what. I’m paying.”
“You paid a lot for our first date. Not just to have it but the whole day.”
“The first part was for charity.” He pulled his credit card out and put it in the billfold and set it on the table.
“Don’t you believe in equality or are you sexist?”
He narrowed one eye at her. “You’re trying to insult me, but it’s not going to work because I know what you are doing. I’m one of the least sexist people you’ll meet, but I am old fashioned.”
“So that means you want to pay for everything,” she said, crossing her arms.
“Nope. You can at times. You paid for the dinner you cooked me and put a lot more effort into that night. All I had to do was dress up a bit more and hear a history lesson.”
“There you go again, making me laugh when I want to be annoyed.”
“Good,” he said. “Then my job here is done tonight.”
“That’s all you planned on doing tonight?” she asked.
The bill was taken away. “Are you going to let me do more?”
“Not the way you think,” she said. “But I thought maybe we could go back and play some darts. It’s early yet even though we are both working tomorrow. You did tell me you were young enough to not have to be in bed early.”
When his credit card was returned to him, he signed and put it in his wallet and then stood up. “Darts sounds like a lot of fun.”
But when they pulled into her driveway and got out, he reached in the back and grabbed a little gift bag for her. “What’s that?”
“Just a tiny gift. I mean tiny. So don’t get all up in arms over it. I couldn’t resist more than anything.”
He followed her into the house. “Okay. I won’t get annoyed. I had the same idea. Tiny gift. Something funny more than anything.”
“Good,” he said. “Guess we might be thinking along the same line.”
He took his jacket off and hung it up, then followed her into the living room where he’d seen the dartboard on another wall than the last time. This one was further away.
“I’ve wanted to challenge myself,” she said, catching his eyes on the board. “I’ve been practicing.”
He found that very sweet but didn’t say it. “I’m up for the challenge myself.” He handed her the bag and she took it, then pulled out the mini pool table that would sit on the table. The pool stick had to be no longer than her hand.
“Talk about a challenge. You are giving me things to do when I get home from work.”
“Does it relax you at the end of the day to just do something mindless?” he asked.
“It really does.”
He played darts at home. Real darts. There was a pool table that was left in the house when he purchased it too. He was never too bored alone and didn’t mind spending time playing while he had a beer and listened to music when he couldn’t find anything on TV.
“Same here,” he said.
“Hang on,” she said and moved off into what he suspected was her office. It’s not like she’d given him a tour of her house when he was here last time. “Here you go.”
He took the bag out of her hand. It was heavy. He opened it up and pulled out a four pack of beer. A craft beer from Colorado that he mentioned the other night when they were talking about things he loved. One of the things he missed. That the beer was limited on the island.
“Wow. Do I want to know how you got this?” he asked.
“I paid to have it shipped to Boston and then had it brought over two days ago. I wasn’t sure I was going to get it in time.”
“And you probably paid more to ship it than the beer,” he said, laughing.
“No comment,” she said.
“If you kept it in the fridge we could have had one tonight,” he said setting it down.
“It’s all for you. I’d rather have something else of yours tonight.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
But she showed him instead, moving into his arms and laying her mouth on his.
Oh yeah. He’d been itching to get his hands on her again. All he’d been able to do was get a few little pecks here and there but nothing long and deep like two weeks ago.
When her hands slid up his back, he knew he was going to be in trouble. “Don’t start something you might not be able to finish,” he said, lifting his head.
“Dang it,” she said. Back to not swearing so she wasn’t too mad. “Sorry. Just not there yet.”
“I understand,” he said. “So let’s play some darts and take our frustration out that way.”
“With Nerf darts?” she asked. “It’s not nearly as rewarding as real ones would be. I think I might need to get a nice set with lights and pointy ends.”
“I’ve got one at my place you can check out,” he said.
“I look forward to it,” she said, pulling his head down for another kiss first.
11
Looks Good On You
“Look at you all bright eyed and grinning,” Penelope said to her first thing Christmas morning when she walked into her parents’ house. “I want to say you might have gotten lucky, but you aren’t quite floating enough for that.”
“Shhh,” she told her sister. “Why would you say that where Mom and Dad could hear you?”
“Because I heard you were out with Crew again on Monday night.”
She should have figured it’d make the rounds. Between running into Duke and Ava and her brothers. There were others she saw out that night too. Two employees that nodded their heads at her. She was guessing that was how Penelope found out.
“So what. We are dating,” she said.
“Good for you. He looks good on you.”
“He’s not a scarf,” she said, frowning.
“Mom told me about the little talk she had with you a few days ago.”
“Why is there no privacy in this family?” she asked but wasn’t surprised her mother did that either. Penelope would have been bugging her mother for the details just like her mother would have done the same to get information out of Penelope. She’d have to remember that.
“We only want what is best for you. Simon really messed with your head and you’ve been a loner for way too long. There isn’t anything wrong with spending time with someone completely opposite of who you normally would. And the fact Mom said what she had about you not going out in public with him, and then you did, means either you are trying to prove her wrong or you are ready to take a stand.”
“I’m not sure what I’m doing other than I’m sick of overthinking things. I even did it a few times at dinner that night and put my foot in my mouth.”
“We can’t help it,” Penelope said. “We come with too much baggage.”
“I said the same thing to him and he laughed at me. He agreed everyone did.”
“So, what do you know about him?”
“Not much,” she said. “I mean nothing more than what I already told you.”
“Are you two in there talking about Emily and Crew’s date?” her mother yelled from the back of the house. “Come back here and fill me in too.”
“Thanks a lot,” she said to her sister.
“What can I say? You love it. If you didn’t want this to be a topic you would have come in with guns loaded and pointed and told everyone to not question you, but you didn’t.”
Her sister was right. In the past she’d do that and everyone went to their corners and kept their lips sealed, but today she did want to talk about it. “Fine. I like him and
don’t mind talking about him. But only to a point.”
“I heard that,” her mother yelled. “Keep walking. I’m cooking and can’t leave the kitchen.”
When they made it into the kitchen, she went to her mother and said, “Merry Christmas,” then gave her and her father a kiss. He was sitting at the table reading on his computer and drinking his coffee. “What, Dad? No comment from the peanut gallery?”
“I’m not in the mood to get roasted. You can light the fire on your mother. If you’re happy right now, that is all I care about. You’re smart and won’t make the same mistakes as you have in the past.”
She loved having his support. “I hope not,” she said.
“Then let’s get this conversation over with before everyone else gets here. I don’t want to be the topic of discussion anymore.”
Her father snorted. “Get used to it. Everyone in the family knows you’re seeing the guy that bought you at the fundraiser.”
Her shoulders dropped. “And I don’t care.”
“Good for you,” her mother said. “And you know darn well it will be expected to see him at Hunter’s wedding if you really don’t care.”
Crap. Her mother was right.
“Merry Christmas, Crew.”
“You too, Grandma. Wish you were here with me.”
“I do too,” she said. “I’m sure you’re there all by yourself. I hate that.”
“I couldn’t get the time off even if I wanted to. I was lucky to get it at Thanksgiving, but you know damn well I wouldn’t have come this time of year.”
He was used to spending holidays alone now. It’d been like this for years. He’d mailed his grandmother several gifts and she made sure he had things to open today too, even had them wrapped up. They were talking via the computer so they could watch each other open gifts. It’d have to be good enough for both of them.
“I’m excited to see what you sent this year. I can already tell it’s too much,” his grandmother said, but she was sitting at the table with the gifts by her and some on the floor.
“I need to spoil my favorite girl.”
“What happened to the high-end escort?”
He started to cough. He hadn’t said another word to his grandmother about Emily. He wasn’t sure he wanted to, but figured if there was one person to tell it’d be her. “Her name is Emily. And we are dating.”
“I hope you are joking,” his grandmother said.
“It’s not what you think. Start opening your gifts and I’ll explain it all to you.”
He talked as he watched his grandmother go through everything all at once. Mainly clothes and more UGG boots since he knew she enjoyed wearing them. He’d even had a monthly subscription of chocolate sent to her and her friends at the retirement home. He knew she’d appreciate that.
“So you really like this girl?” his grandmother asked.
“I do.”
“And she doesn’t know anything about you?”
“She knows a lot about me,” he argued.
“Start opening your gifts,” his grandmother said. “And you know I meant she knows nothing about your wealth.”
“I’m not defined by my wealth. If anyone can understand that, it’s her.”
“Exactly, yet you aren’t telling her and I wonder why.”
He sighed. “It’s early yet. No reason. I don’t want anyone to know on the island anyway. It’s better this way.”
“If you say so,” she said. “But I expect it’s going to blow up in your face and you’ll regret that decision.”
“Then I’ll fix it if that happens,” he said, going through the gifts.
“You always say that,” she said. “Does she know you are alone today?”
“I’m sure she knows. I live here by myself. She is spending the day on the island with her family and some other family from Boston was coming over for the day.”
He didn’t want to talk about this. He wasn’t about to bring it up with Emily and have her feel bad about it. “Are you going to see anyone today?”
“I believe your Uncle Richard is stopping over with the kids today. Or so he said. Maybe later.”
“That’s good,” he said. He wouldn’t want her alone even if he didn’t care for his uncle or cousins. They were family, but that didn’t mean he had to like them or want to be around them.
“I won’t say anything about you or where you are,” his grandmother said. “Don’t worry.”
“I know you won’t.” He got to the last package and opened it up. “Oh damn, this is great.”
“I’m not sure what you’ll get but you can try new things.”
“This will hit the spot. Emily gave me some she had shipped from Colorado the other night.”
His grandmother gave him a beer of the month club. “I guess she knows you pretty well for such a short period of time.”
“I guess she does,” he said back.
And later that night when he heard his doorbell ring, he got up to move toward the door, and was stunned to see Emily standing there with a box in her hand. “This is a surprise. Not sure how you found out where I live either.”
“You signed a contract for the fundraiser and a copy of your driver’s license was there. My father called and got it from Helena for me.”
“Come on in,” he said, smelling something yummy. “So your family knows we are dating?”
“They do. I wouldn’t keep it from them. No reason to.”
And he was guessing she told them exactly what she’d told him. Nothing serious.
Yet here she was bringing him food on Christmas night. “How was your day?”
“It was good. It’s always great when I spend time with family. Well, not always, but today was. And then it got me thinking you were here by yourself and there was all this home-cooked food left over. Why not share?”
“Why not?” he said, taking the box out of her hand, setting it down and then yanking her into his arms, plastering his mouth to hers.
That was all he wanted and he wondered if his grandmother was right. If this was all going to blow up in his face, but he wasn’t about to let Emily know any more than she already did...not yet anyway.
12
A Promise
Crew adjusted the tie he had on again. The same suit he wore to the fundraiser and hoped none of the Bonds noticed that. It wasn’t that he couldn’t buy another suit, but why bother when he never put one on much?
When he got to Emily’s front door, he rang the bell and waited. Normally she was right on time.
That she kept him standing there a minute didn’t bother him when she opened the door and he got a good look at her in another dress with a different pair of killer heels.
The dress was navy blue, fitted to her body like surgical gloves. She had on nude stockings—he was a sucker for a woman in stockings—and nude pumps with red soles. She liked fancy expensive shoes and since the dick in his pants was stirring he could appreciate that shopping fetish of hers.
“Don’t you look good enough to eat,” he said.
“Hmm. Maybe later.”
Shit. She’d been teasing him for almost two weeks now. After the surprise visit on Christmas night, they’d talked, had some food, and played pool. She’d asked how the pool table got to the house and he was honest and said it came with this house. He was sure she thought he was renting the place and there was no reason to correct her assumption.
It’s not like his house was bigger than hers or cost more. It was a nice one-story cottage type with two bedrooms, one bathroom, a nice eat-in kitchen and an awesome closed-in porch that housed the pool table and dartboard, allowing him to look out to the ocean between Amore Island and Massachusetts. He was a few blocks from the water, but high enough to get the view. She was only a mile or so away, facing the same body of water.
“Are you just trying to rile me up or is that a promise?”
She ran her fingernail down the front of his shirt. This was new of her too. “A promise.”
She laughed low in her throat when he lifted his head. “I’m a little impatient.”
“Have I made you wait too long?” she asked. “We haven’t been out all that much, but I know it’s been six weeks since the first date.”
“Don’t remind me,” he said, smiling. He would continue to wait if she wanted him to, but was glad that it might be coming to an end...finally. “I know, you just wanted to be sure.”
“I’ve been sure for a while, but time isn’t our friend it seems. I’ve been very busy with work. I’m still sorry we couldn’t spend New Year’s Eve together.”
“No worries. I was home watching the ball drop. As you know, since we talked to each other for a few minutes.”
They’d had plans to just relax and play games, have a drink and hang out, but she’d gotten called into work with Penelope for an emergency. Someone was drunk and causing a ruckus. He supposed that was normal for the day, but there was damage and the police were called in.
Not only that, a staff member had been careless in the kitchen and got burned while another got cut rushing to help the first one.
By the time she’d gotten home around eleven and called him, he could hear the weariness in her voice and imagined she was ready for bed.
If he’d had high hopes for that night they were squashed like the third mouse trying to sneak onto Noah’s Ark. Not tonight though. Nope, that mouse had a game plan and was taking to the high seas.
“So now that you’re sure, you’re going to make me sit through a wedding ceremony and reception with your family and all eyes on us while I’m squirming in my seat because I know I’m going to make my dreams come true later.”
“Your dreams?” she asked.
“Current dreams,” he said. “The ones keeping me up at night.” No use having her think he was some stalker that had been watching her for months.