Finally, she turned and faced her foe.
The sweater went on first. She pulled it over her head and tugged it down to her waist. Objectively, she evaluated herself in the mirror. It was a bit snug but, overall, very nice. She’d filled out a bit on top since her highschool days, but she had no problem with that.
It was the filling out below that had left her a bit peeved.
Feeling like she was dressing for battle, she pulled on the opaque white panties that went with the outfit. At last, she eyed the skirt. ‘Ah, we meet again.’
She unclipped it from its hanger and gave it a little flip. The material snapped loudly. ‘Feeling feisty, are you?’
Opening the waistband, she stepped inside. The moment of truth had arrived. Anxiously, she began pulling the skirt upwards. The fit over her hips was a bit tight, but she got it up to her waist without too much difficulty. The zipper, however, decided to be difficult. It stopped halfway up.
‘Oh, no you don’t,’ Roma said. She hadn’t come this close only to be denied.
Sucking it up, she tried again. The zipper closed another inch.
‘Dang it. Don’t do this to me. Didn’t you hear that Liz is Ellie? Work with me.’
She tugged again, and the zipper closed all the way.
‘Yes!’ she exclaimed. ‘Now just let me –’
She pulled in her stomach and managed to loop the hook at the top of the skirt through the eyelet on the other side.
‘Yes,’ she said hopping up and down. ‘Yes, yes, yes.’
She whirled around to look at her reflection in the mirror.
It fit!
All that torment and suffering at the gym had been worth it. Jake had promised, and he’d delivered. She was back to fighting weight.
Bounding over to the dresser, she found a pair of bobby socks. Cute. Frilly. She teamed them with a pair of Keds. When she finally looked in the mirror, she could have sworn the last ten years had never happened.
‘Take that, Ellie,’ she said laughing sarcastically. ‘You might be buff, but nobody would ever confuse me for thirty-five.’
Snatching up another Snickers bar, Roma voraciously bit off a chunk. She had the witch there. Feeling victorious, she let her hips swivel. The skirt swung saucily against her thighs.
‘Ha! I’m buff, too, and I still look young.’
Petty and shallow be damned. It was something.
For a long time, Roma stood in front of the mirror, eating chocolate and admiring herself. She was twisting and gyrating her hips when the doorbell rang, cutting her triumphant celebration short. She threw an impatient glare towards the front door.
‘Go away. I’m busy here.’
Whoever it was started knocking, too. The doorbell rang incessantly, and she rolled her eyes. Hawk. She should have known he’d come back. Pivoting in her spunky pair of Keds, she stomped to the living room. Knowing him, he was coming in one way or the other and she rather liked her front door.
Not bothering to glance out the peephole, she swung it open.
Jake stopped, frozen with his fist raised. He blinked. What the hell? From the sound of Missy’s voice on the phone, he’d known something was wrong – but she hadn’t prepared him for this. His gaze slowly travelled down Roma’s form. Good God! Talk about ten different fantasies all wrapped up in one.
‘Oh, it’s you,’ she said flatly.
He let his hand drop. That hadn’t sounded encouraging.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked. ‘Missy called and told me I should get over here. Are you OK?’
Roma shrugged. ‘I’m having a minor meltdown. I figure it’s about halfway over now.’
His eyes narrowed when she obstinately lifted a Snickers bar to her mouth and gave it a chomp. She seemed rather unaffected at having him catch her in that get-up. In fact, she seemed rather proud of it. Not that she shouldn’t…It was her chilly attitude that had him worried.
‘What happened?’ he asked. She’d been fine when he’d left her, although she hadn’t been too happy about him going to take care of Liz. Ah, hell. Liz. Was that what this was about? ‘I thought you were OK with things.’
One of her eyebrows arched. ‘I reconsidered.’
‘Come on, Goldie,’ he said patiently. ‘We talked about this. There are only two weeks left until the show. Don’t get mad at me now.’
‘I’m not mad at you.’
The hell she wasn’t. He took a step towards her. ‘Then what’s with the attitude?’
‘Attitude?’ Her other eyebrow lifted to match the first.
‘The attitude. The strange sense of style. The chocolate.’ He reached for the Snickers bar as if it were a weapon. ‘Don’t do this to yourself. Just tell me what I did wrong.’
She jerked the candy bar away and turned to block him from getting it. ‘Nothing. I’m not mad at you.’
He sighed. ‘If you won’t tell me, I can’t fix it.’
‘Are you deaf? I’m not mad at you! Or at least I wasn’t.’
He raked a hand through his hair. Women. He didn’t understand them on the best of days, but she had to be the most confounding female on the planet.
He took a deep breath and tried a different tactic. ‘If it makes you feel any better, Liz really is hurt. It’s just a minor muscle pull, but we’re icing it down and –’
‘Ellie!’ Roma hissed.
He stared at her. ‘What?’
Her eyes lit with fire. ‘Her name is Ellie.’
He still didn’t understand. Did he have it all wrong? Had her high school enemy crawled out of the woodwork while he’d been gone?
With a growl of frustration, Roma spun on her heel. Her hair flounced behind her with nearly as much enthusiasm as that short skirt as she marched to her bedroom. Cautiously, he followed. He found her bent over, searching through a box on the floor. The way her skirt hiked up, he didn’t pay much attention to the box until she pulled something out of it.
The book looked heavy. When she slammed it on the dresser, he flinched. She flipped it open, thumbed through the pages, and pointed. ‘Ellie.’
He moved closer. All he saw was a haughty teenage girl.
Roma let out a sound that was almost savage.
He looked again.
‘Change the hair to dirty blonde,’ she growled. ‘And apparently add some wrinkles.’
‘I don’t understand –’ It suddenly hit him like a two-ton brick. He stared at the picture hard and felt his blood pressure escalate. ‘Liz!’
‘Give the man a prize.’ Roma slapped her hand on the dresser and stepped back. She popped the last piece of chocolate into her mouth as she watched him.
Jake could hear his blood thumping in his ears. Liz was Ellie – the same little snot who’d terrorised Roma throughout her high school years. He remembered some of the things she’d done. The nasty, cruel things.
‘That bitch,’ he said through gritted teeth.
Nonchalantly, Roma pulled another candy bar out of what he’d thought was a flour canister. She offered it to him. ‘Snickers?’
He dumped the chocolate back inside. ‘I can’t believe it. This can’t be right.’
‘Believe it. Ellie is Liz. Liz is Ellie. Isn’t life just a hoot sometimes?’
No wonder Missy had called and demanded he get his butt over here. He needed to have it kicked. Reaching up, he clenched his hands together at the back of his neck. He couldn’t believe how much time he’d spent with that woman – time he could have spent with Roma. He felt guilty, somehow, as if he’d betrayed her. ‘Goldie, you’ve got to believe me. I had no idea.’
‘None of us did.’
‘She hasn’t said a word about a reunion. If she had, I might have made the connection.’
‘Oh, please.’ Roma waved her hand at him. ‘She knows she has the reunion in the bag. All her concentration is on the Midwest Fitness Show. She might actually have some competition there.’
He felt the words like a punch in the gut. That was his doing, too. He felt so
unbelievably gullible. He’d known Liz was a problem. Hell, she’d been through three trainers before she’d landed with him. He was the only one in town who could put up with her.
And look at where his patience had gotten him.
Well, no more. Rigidly, he turned and headed back out into the hallway.
‘Where are you going?’ Roma called.
‘To see Liz. The Show’s over for her.’
‘What?’ she snapped.
‘She’s got to pay for the things she did to you. It’s about time somebody set her straight. Believe me, it will be my pleasure.’
He hadn’t made it two steps when he felt a yank at the back of his shirt. Turning around, he found Roma in his face. If he’d thought she’d been fiery before, he’d been wrong. Sparks shot from her lavender eyes, and electricity crackled all around her.
‘You’re going to do no such thing,’ she growled.
‘The hell I’m not.’
Her cheeks turned red. ‘This is my fight,’ she said, her voice rising.
‘Yeah? Well, your fights are my fights,’ he shot right back.
‘Why?’ she yelled, stepping up toe to toe with him. ‘Because you think she can take me?’
‘Because I love you, damn it,’ he yelled right back.
The confession made Roma’s entire body jerk. Her eyes went wide, and her mouth dropped open. When she tried to say something, though, nothing came out.
Jake was left speechless, too. Oh, shit. Panic started to creep into his system. That wasn’t nearly as romantic as he’d planned. His fingers curled around the door jamb as the tension in the room skyrocketed.
He waited for her to respond. To laugh in his face. To say something.
When she finally moved, though, he wasn’t ready.
‘Well, I’m stuck on you, too,’ she said, bounding up on her tiptoes to glare into his eyes. Her voice was at an all out bellow. ‘That’s why you’re not going anywhere.’
The bottom of his stomach fell out entirely, but she wasn’t through.
She poked him in the chest. ‘You’re not going to risk your gym over her. We stick with the plan and squeeze her for every penny she’s worth.’
A slow smile spread across Jake’s face. Now that was the blonde dynamo he knew – full of vim and vigour, up for any challenge and loyal to the core. It warmed him that she wanted to protect him as much as he wanted to protect her.
‘OK,’ he said.
She seemed surprised by his easy agreement.
‘Well…OK then,’ she said, relaxing back down onto her heels. Her arms folded over her chest. At last, she started to look a bit uncertain. Her gaze flicked up to meet his, but then skittered away. ‘So you love me?’ she asked hesitantly.
He caught her by the waist and kissed her soundly. ‘I’m wild about you, you crazy woman. Didn’t you know?’
Slowly, she wrapped her arms around his neck. ‘I thought maybe.’
He chuckled. ‘I was pretty sure about you. You’re not very good at hiding your emotions.’
He ran his hand down her back and encountered her tiny skirt again. Pulling away, he let his gaze trail down her sexy little uniform. ‘Speaking of which…Do you want to tell me what this is about?’
She finally blushed, but she gave him a flirty twirl of the skirt. ‘This was my goal. I wanted to fit back into my uniform by reunion time.’
The wattage of her smile nearly blinded him.
‘I did it,’ she said proudly.
‘Yes, you did.’ He tugged on the bottom of her sweater. ‘I especially like how the “W” seems to swell in the middle.’
She laughed and slapped at his hand.
He smiled and backed her up against the door jamb. ‘Cheerleader?’ he asked.
The thousand-watt smile turned upside down. ‘Ellie was a cheerleader.’
‘Dance squad?’ he said quickly.
‘Sign holder,’ she said, grabbing him by the shirt.
Roma wasn’t in the mood to explain as she pulled Jake down to her. He loved her. She’d hoped he did, but now she knew for sure. How could she not? He’d practically screamed it to the world. This big, brawny, blond hottie was all hers. He kissed her, and her thrill just about put her through the roof.
She kissed him back hungrily, and her hands went everywhere at once. She pulled at his T-shirt, nearly ripping it, and he understood her urgency. Catching her by the waist, he started hurrying them backwards towards the bed.
‘You look like a teenage boy’s wet dream,’ he growled against her lips. His heel caught on the box on the floor, and they went tumbling down on the mattress. Rolling, he pinned her underneath him. ‘Most grown men’s, too.’
‘You say the sweetest things.’ She finally worked the T-shirt over his head and flung it aside.
‘Sassy,’ he said, nipping at her lower lip.
His hand fisted in her tight sweater and, together, they pulled it off her. The ‘W’ landed face up when it hit the floor. Roma breathed deeply as Jake stared down at her.
She knew he liked her breasts, but things always heated up between them so fast.
Looking into his eyes, she saw that this time he intended to linger.
Arousal began seeping through her system, hot and strong. They’d been together before – many times – but this somehow seemed so much more intimate. When he softly fingered the front clasp of her bra, she shivered. The way the design plumped her up, she felt as if she were offering herself to him.
And she was. In so many ways.
Jake seemed entranced as he traced the edge of the lace cup across her breast. ‘You are so pretty,’ he said, his voice tight.
Watching her closely, he reached for the front clasp. Her heart began to pound when it popped open. Straddling her, he slowly flipped one cup aside and then the other. Roma could feel her nipples straining towards him. He cupped her greedily, and she arched into his hands. He rewarded her with flicks of his thumbs.
‘Feel good?’ he asked.
‘So good,’ she said with a sigh.
Scooting down, he settled his weight over her. When he dropped his head, she braced herself.
He was going to service her.
She let out a shuddering breath when he began to kiss her. He started with her left breast and worked his way to her right. Not a centimetre of skin went without a touch. Or a lick. Or a nip. By the time he made it to her nipples, she was groaning and squirming underneath him.
Knowing how he felt about her made everything more stimulating.
He carefully raked his teeth across a pouting tip. She let out a cry, and her body bowed. It was only then that he gave her what she needed. Opening his mouth wide, he took her nipple into his mouth. He began suckling fiercely, and she raked her fingernails down his back.
He’d only gotten started.
He moved to her other breast and gave it the same treatment. He took his time, experimenting to find what she liked most. With him, she liked everything. Cupping the back of his head, she held him to her tightly.
‘Jake,’ she said, her voice strained. She couldn’t take much more of this. ‘I need you.’
‘Easy, Goldie.’ Reaching up under her skirt, he caught her underwear. He gave them a tug. Her hips rose, but the panties stayed put.
He lifted his head, and she returned his confused look.
They usually came off when he did that.
He sat back on his knees. Impatient as she was, she lifted her skirt for him.
‘There are two pairs,’ she said, thinking that might be the problem.
‘Two?’ Curious, he slid his finger under the leg opening of the white ones. He found the mint green panties that were underneath. ‘What the hell is that for?’
‘They’re called cheaters,’ she said, squirming. She reached down and tried to tug them off herself. ‘They hide a girl’s panties if her skirt flies up.’
‘Well, they’re doing a bang-up job of that.’ He got a good grip on everything and pulled.
Roma felt the uncomfortable tug at the small of her back. ‘Wait. They’re caught in the zipper.’
Jake started to laugh. ‘Only with you.’
He flipped her over so she lay on her stomach. She propped herself up onto her elbows and craned her neck to look over her shoulder. Talk about the worst possible time for something like this to happen!
‘Lie still,’ he ordered. Catching the tab of the zipper, he tried to work it down.
Roma knew she wasn’t helping, but she couldn’t stop her hips from pumping. She was ready for him. Trying to find some relief, she ground her aching nipples against the mattress. ‘Hurry,’ she begged.
‘I’m trying.’ He saw what she was doing and attacked the zipper with a bit more gusto.
But it was stubborn.
He tugged and pulled and wiggled, but the thing refused to move. ‘Damn,’ he cursed. ‘You never make it easy for me to get inside your pants, but this is ridiculous.’
Desperate, Roma reached back and began yanking at the zipper herself. ‘Get this thing off me!’
He wiped the back of his hand across his brow. ‘I can’t.’
‘Yes, you can.’ Pushing herself upright, she twisted around. ‘Jiggle the zipper.’
‘I did.’
‘Pull harder.’
‘It just makes it worse.’
She looked at him mournfully. ‘It’s got to come off.’
His gaze burnt her naked breasts. ‘You aren’t kidding me.’ He raked his hand through his hair and looked around the room. The bathroom caught his eye. ‘Soap. Let’s try soap.’
She sprang off the bed before he could move. Her breasts bounced as she ran to the bathroom. She was holding a bar of soap out to him by the time he got there.
Rubbing soap on the tracks didn’t work. Neither did trying to pluck out the material with tweezers. Roma spun around like a whirligig, trying to get at the thing. Poor Jake was having to fight her as well as the zipper.
Finally, he sagged back against the wall. ‘I give up.’
‘No!’ she shrieked.
High School Reunion Page 23
