by Dara Girard
“But you are going to kiss me.” His mouth swooped down to capture hers. Any protest fell away like parchment paper under a hot flame.
She couldn’t resist him any longer. Even if she could, she didn’t want to. She wanted him with a desire so hot it startled her. She’d never wanted someone like this before. At last she could make the fantasies she’d had of the “stranger in the elevator” come true. He was better than she’d imagined. She hadn’t expected his hands to feel as smooth as baby oil against her body. Or that the sound of his fingers lowering the zipper of her skirt could be as intoxicating as the most expensive champagne. She unbuttoned his shirt like a starving woman unwrapping a muffin and took pleasure in his bare chest as though he were a batch fresh from the oven.
They didn’t notice when the elevator stopped on their floor. They kissed all the way back down to the ground level and up again.
When the elevator reached their floor again Mary said, “We can’t keep doing this.”
Edmund slipped his hand under her blouse. “Yes, we can.”
She pulled away from him and opened the doors before they descended again. “No, we can’t.”
He followed her out as though he were being dragged to the gallows. “We could have.”
She took his hand. “But we can do so much more at your place.”
His pace increased. “That’s true.”
Edmund eagerly put the key into his apartment door, but it wouldn’t open. He swore. Mary noticed the blue flashlight on the keychain. “I think those are mine.”
“Oh, right.” He handed her keys back to her, then dug into his trouser pockets, grabbed his keys and opened the door. They barely made it inside before they turned to each other, determined to finish what they’d started. Clothes fell unnoticed as they made their way to the bedroom. They didn’t make it there. Mary darted her tongue in Edmund’s ear and he stumbled to the floor, taking her down with him. Mary’s skin was so hot that the cool wooden floor against her back came as a relief. The abstract painting above his head—bold variations of red colliding—was an apt depiction of her emotions, replicating the excitement unleashed within her.
The magnificence of his form pressed against her, and his touch, stirred up wanton and wild feelings. “I never dreamed it would be like this.”
“I did,” he said in a deep, husky tone.
She smiled. “You dreamed about me?”
“Yes, and I dreamed about doing this.” He started to pull down her thigh-high stockings then stopped.
“Is there a problem?”
“These weren’t part of my dream. I’ve never seen anything like these.” He slipped his hand underneath the stockings, the back of his hand brushing against the bare skin of her thighs. The metallic sparkling hose was Mary’s most sensuous pair. Edmund shook his head in wonder. “Of all the women I’ve—”
Mary smiled. “It’s okay. I know I’m not the first.”
He raised his gaze and captured hers, his voice full of feeling. “There are other firsts, Mary, and you’re definitely one of them.”
Mary didn’t remember Edmund’s removing her stockings or her panties, but she did remember his smooth entrance and the sensations that followed. Nothing was off-limits, and he seized the opportunity to take advantage of every part of her.
“Oh, Mary, Mary, Mary.”
Could he truly be calling her? She never thought her name could sound so sexy. That she could feel this good. This lucky. A flash of fear gripped her as she thought of her past unlucky relationships. She held onto him as though he would disappear in an instant, bringing him closer, and she tightened around him, eliciting a deep moan of pleasure.
“You feel so good.”
Mary pushed away her fears and let herself go. Her complete surrender drove him wild. Edmund felt intoxicated by the gift she gave to him, and a fierce possessiveness took hold of him. It was as if it was the first time for both of them. She was his woman now. When they finished, he collapsed on his back and stared up at the ceiling, his arm still holding her to him.
“I’m starving,” he grumbled.
Mary stopped smiling and jumped up. “Oh, no.” She gathered her clothes and quickly pulled them on.
Edmund watched her, worried. “What’s wrong?”
“I need to feed Cammie.”
“Bring her over. We can have dinner together.”
“You’re going to cook?”
“No, I’m going to dial the phone. What would you like?”
“Anything. I’ll be right back.” Mary dashed to her apartment. She began to take Cammie out of her cage, then thought better of it. Edmund might not like a lizard crawling all over his furniture. She grabbed Cammie’s food and her carrier, then left her apartment.
“What’s that?” Edmund asked when she returned.
“An iguana.” She set the cage down on his coffee table.
Edmund sat on the couch and stared at the carrier. “I thought Mary was supposed to have a little lamb.”
“Well, this Mary has a lizard. She makes a great pet and is clean. I let her roam all the time.”
“Okay, take her out then.”
“Really?” Mary said, lifting the top of the carrier. “I didn’t think you’d like it.”
“I’m curious. Does she like to be touched?”
“She loves it.” Mary took Cammie out of her carrier. Cammie crawled up the couch, then onto Edmund’s lap, up his arm and then rested on his shoulder. “Cammie, get down from there.”
“It’s okay.” He touched Cammie’s head. “I’ll pretend I’m a pirate.”
“Pirates have parrots on their shoulders, not lizards.”
“I’m a different kind of pirate.”
She rested her hands on her hips. “What kind of pirate are you?”
“A land pirate.”
“And what do you like to steal?”
He winked. “You’ll find out when you discover something missing.”
Whatever kind of pirate he claimed to be, Edmund was doing a very good imitation with his wicked eyes and enigmatic grin. She hardly knew this man, and she’d just slept with him and wanted to all over again.
The doorbell rang, the arrival of their dinner breaking the mood. The rest of the evening, they ate Taiwanese on the balcony. Mary had suggested the couch, but Edmund argued that he preferred to look at her, rather than the TV. She had no reply. So, among the lights from the stars and the city below, they ate and talked until the stream of cars became only a trickle. Around 1:00 a.m. Mary stifled a yawn.
“You can spend the night,” Edmund said when Mary announced that it was time for her to leave.
She placed Cammie in her cage. “I save sleepovers for the weekend.”
He stood behind her and placed a kiss on her neck. “I’m going to have to change that.”
“I’m open to persuasion—” she drew away when he wrapped an arm around her waist “—but not tonight.”
“Why not?”
“Because I have work tomorrow.”
“So do I. I’ll let you sleep.” He held up three fingers as though he were a Boy Scout saying a pledge. “I promise.”
She opened the door. “No.”
“Fine. I’ll walk you home.”
“I just live next door.”
“I want to make sure you get there safely.”
Mary only shook her head. They walked over to her apartment. Once inside, she turned to him. “Thanks.”
“I don’t get a good-night kiss?”
“No.”
He rested a hand on his chest as though he’d been wounded. “I think you just broke my heart.”
“Then I’ll heal it tomorrow.”
His face brightened and he drew her close, holding her tightly against him. “Why wait until tomorrow?”
She playfully pushed him away. “Goodbye, Edmund,” she said, then closed the door.
“Good night, Mary,” he said, his voice muffled. “Pleasant dreams.”
Mary s
lept well that night. Too well. She overslept. The next morning she grabbed her clothes and pulled on a tam before dashing off to work. But the day didn’t improve much from there. She couldn’t focus. Everything she looked at reminded her of the night before. The steam from the coffeepot reminded her of Edmund’s passion; the chocolate-covered donuts left over from a recent business meeting reminded her of the delectable taste of his skin; instead of a modern carving of ebony stone, she saw Edmund’s firm body, and…“Do you have the files completed yet?” Mary looked up, flustered. She had been totally unaware that James had been standing in front of her desk.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I got an important phone call I had to take care of. I’ll get them to you right away.” Mary hurriedly found the items she had promised to deliver; when she was done it was already noon.
At lunch she was horrified to find that she’d put on two different shoes. She was returning to her desk when she saw Edmund down the hall outside James’s office. She froze. Why did he have to stop by her office today?
He glanced at her before she had a chance to duck out of view. She smiled, but he showed no sign of recognizing her before turning back to James. She felt like crumbling to the floor. Perhaps he hadn’t seen her. Oh, please let it be that. Don’t let him ignore me. In high school and college, people would be nice to her in class but when they saw her on campus or in the hallway she didn’t exist. She sat down at her desk and got back to work. She wouldn’t make a big deal of it. She reapplied her makeup, then deliberately walked past them.
“Mary,” James said.
She turned and faced him.
Edmund handed her a file. “Gregory wanted me to give this to you.”
There was nothing in his gaze to hint at what had happened between them last night.
“Thank you,” she said briskly. He had the right attitude, she told herself, trying not to feel rebuffed. They couldn’t broadcast their relationship—whatever it was—to everyone. However, her hand still trembled as she took the folder. “I’ll look at it today.” She turned.
“Mary, are you all right?” Jean asked when Mary stumbled into the water cooler.
“I’m fine,” she snapped. She forced a smile. “I’d better get back to work.” She sat at her desk and slammed the folder down. Why couldn’t she be as unattached as he was? What had she expected? An embrace? That would have been totally unprofessional. Business was business. She opened Gregory’s folder, then closed it, feeling too restless to focus. She lifted her mug and went to the office kitchen. There she saw Edmund pouring himself a cup of coffee. She pretended to ignore him.
But it proved difficult to ignore someone like Edmund. Mary watched helplessly as a female colleague of hers noticed him and tried very hard to get him to notice her. “Could you pass me the sugar?” she asked him.
“Sure.” He handed her the sugar and Mary saw their fingers touch. She inhaled her drink and began to cough.
“Are you okay?” her colleague asked.
Mary waved away her concern and choked, “I’m fine. Excuse me.” She turned to leave.
Edmund called out to her. “Have you looked at the file?”
“I’m going to.” Mary returned to her desk. She wasn’t jealous and she wasn’t annoyed. She didn’t care how he was with other women. She opened Gregory’s folder and between two papers discovered a dried rose, its crimson petals still soft. She lifted the rose and held it to her chest, then set it down. She discreetly put on some lipstick and kissed a paper just as Dianne walked past. “I’m just removing any excess color,” she explained. Dianne looked unsure but left. Mary quickly folded the paper, placed it in an envelope and rushed to the elevator before Edmund stepped inside. “Please look this over.”
Edmund took the envelope and stuck it inside his jacket. “I will.”
Mary was giddy the rest of the day. When she got home she changed into a two-piece, silk pant set that she felt certain would become Edmund’s favorite, then went to his apartment and knocked. Nobody answered. She was about to leave when someone spun her around and kissed her. “That’s my reply,” Edmund said.
“You got my kiss.”
“And you got my rose.”
“It’s beautiful.”
He opened his door. “I’ll buy you live ones if you stay the night.”
“Pink and yellow?”
He pulled out his mobile. “Just say the word.”
Mary slept over that night and many nights after. Soon Cammie got used to staying at Edmund’s apartment. Unlike Curtis, Cammie liked Edmund and he returned the affection. He liked her so much that he went out and bought several books and researched all he could about caring for an iguana. One day he surprised Mary by creating an elaborate cage in his spare room that he filled with large tropical plants, which Cammie loved. Any time Mary was ready to leave, Cammie would scurry off and hide in a corner where she couldn’t be reached and so became Edmund’s permanent resident.
A month later, Mary followed Cammie’s example and she and Edmund settled into a routine. Because he usually arrived after her, Mary prepared dinner and he made dessert. Mary felt comfortable with him, although at times she still felt he was hiding something.
One evening she saw him looking over some papers that had The New Day Senior Living Community marked on them. When she called him for dinner, she saw him jump and quickly shove the papers in his briefcase, which he locked. But Mary wasn’t too concerned. She’d done a thorough check on the community and hadn’t found anything to question in any of the reports.
A few days later, Edmund arrived home and found Mary putting Cammie in the bathtub. “What are you doing?”
“Giving Cammie a bath. I’ve told you it’s very important. I do it every day. It helps stop the shedding. I got home a little late or I would have been done already.”
“Right, I forgot,” he said distractedly. “Well, when you’re done I want to show you something.”
Mary finished Cammie’s bath, then went to Edmund, who was sitting in the living room. “What is it?”
He jumped up. “Get your coat.”
She didn’t ask why, although he didn’t give her a chance to. He whistled to himself as they went down in the elevator and as they left the building. Autumn temperatures gripped the city and brought a gust of wind. Edmund handed Mary a pair of keys and pointed to a car in the distance. “Enjoy.”
Mary stared at the black luxury car. “That’s mine?” She raced to the car and jumped inside. “I don’t believe this,” she said, starting the ignition.
“You deserve it.”
She merged onto the main road, reveling in the car’s pickup. “I can’t believe you’d do this. You haven’t known me that long.”
“It’s been three months now.”
She turned to him with surprise. “Really? It doesn’t feel that long.”
“That’s a good sign. Are you happy?”
“Of course I’m happy. How could you think otherwise?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought—”
“I’m only surprised our affair has lasted this long.”
“Our affair?” he said in a neutral tone.
“Yes, that’s what we have, right?” When he didn’t reply right away, she glanced at him curiously. “Edmund?”
“Yes, that’s what we have.”
She sighed, relieved. “We’re having so much fun there’s no need to put any pressure on each other.”
Edmund rested his arm on the door frame.
Mary ran her hands along the leather-clad steering wheel. “Sara won’t be able to believe this.”
“Who’s Sara?”
“A friend of mine.”
“I haven’t heard you talk about her before.”
“I’ve been busy,” she hedged. “I haven’t had a chance to catch up with her or Larry, her husband.”
“You should invite them over. I’d like to meet them.”
Mary gripped the steering wheel. “Why?”
“
You don’t want me to meet your friends?”
“No, it’s not that.” She didn’t know why she felt hesitant—perhaps she liked keeping Edmund to herself. But there was nothing to worry about. What could go wrong? “Okay.” She drove for a while, then said, “What do you give the man who has everything?”
“What do you mean?”
She drove into a residential area and parked, then turned to him. “I mean how do you thank a man for a surprise like this? What do you give him?”
“You don’t have to give him anything.”
“Isn’t there anything that you want that I can give you?”
He opened his mouth as though ready to reveal his greatest desire, then closed it and shook his head. “No, I’m happy as long as you’re happy.”
“That’s not good enough. I’ll have to think of something.”
What she thought of was a feast of all his favorite dishes and dressing up as his personal waitress. Edmund took one look at her and had no interest in food. Two hours later, all of the dishes had to be reheated, but Edmund didn’t complain.
“You need to relax,” Edmund said as he watched Mary dash from the kitchen to the dining table and back again as she prepared for the arrival of Sara and Larry.
“I just want everything to be nice.”
“Everything looks great and smells even better. What are you cooking?”
She jumped when someone rang the doorbell. “They’re here.”
“Why are you so nervous?”
She struggled to untie her apron. “I hope you’ll like them.” She turned her back to him and motioned to her knotted string. “Help me with this.”
He undid the knot. “I’m sure I will like them.”
She pulled off the apron and folded it. “I hope they like you.”
“Why wouldn’t they?”
Mary bit her lower lip, thinking it best not to reply. She handed him the apron. “Please, put that away for me. Coming,” she called when the bell rang again. She opened the door with a smile. “It’s wonderful to see you.”
Larry gave a low whistle as he entered the apartment. Sara followed behind him, speechless. They were equally dumbfounded when Mary introduced Edmund. He smiled and shook their hands, then led them to the living room.
