by Rowena Dawn
“I could very well shut the lid back if I want to,” she retorted grumpily.
“Not after you incited my interest,” Jay shook his head once more. “You don’t want me to die and fall over your brunch because you won’t satisfy my curiosity,” he said in a near whisper, his eyes shifting left and right comically as if he hadn’t wanted anyone else to hear what he was saying.
“Far from me to wish that. Of course, I don’t want to see you wither and die because you can’t refrain your nosiness,” Ellen laughed.
But then, she became serious and picked up her coffee cup. She sipped from the hot liquid pensively, and the fingers of her other hand clenched over a napkin.
Jay understood that what she had to say was something that bothered her, and his fingers covered Ellen’s to help her relax.
“What is it, Elle?” he inquired softly. “What happened?”
The woman lifted her eyes at him nonplussed, hearing his appellative for her.
“Elle suits you better,” Jay shrugged. “You’re Elle for me.” ‘At least, that’s how I thought of you,’ he continued in his mind.
“No one has called me Elle before,” she said.
“That’s good,” Jay nodded. “You’ll be Elle just for me,” he decided.
The intensity in the man’s dark pupils practically took her breath away. Her fingers quivered under Jay’s hand.
The man shook his head to clear it and took his hand off hers. He sipped his coffee again to give her the time to pull herself together, but he still observed her.
“I resigned my position as a police officer,” Ellen said and lifted her eyes at him.
“When?” Jay frowned, her confession shocking him. She didn’t seem the type of woman who would give up on her work at a whim.
“On Monday, after I brought you home,” she revealed with a shrug.
“Why?” the man inquired, his voice filled with bewilderment.
“I didn’t feel like I could achieve much in that position,” she replied dryly and picked up her fork to attack her eggs, bacon, fries, and salad.
“What do you want to do, Elle?” Jay asked and started eating his brunch as well. But then, his eyes didn’t leave the woman’s face for more than a second or two.
“I want to prove that the owner of that casino where you were beaten doesn’t run an honest business,” she turned her eyes at him.
Jay shrugged and said after he swallowed, “No casino owner has a hundred percent honest business,” he pointed out carelessly.
“Maybe,” Ellen conceded. “But I want to prove that this one organizes games with the intention of fleecing certain people,” she continued in a hard tone of voice.
“That I can assure you that it is true,” Jay replied. “That’s what he intended on doing to me that night when they beat me. The problem is that I can’t be cheated,” he added and stuffed his mouth with a piece of bacon.
Ellen looked at him with perplexity. She even shook her head, convinced that she hadn’t heard him correctly. “What do you want to say?” she decided to ask.
Jay shoved some eggs into his mouth to gain some time. ‘You really needed to open your big mouth,’ he scolded himself. Now, he had to come up with something because Ellen wasn’t the woman to let go without probing some more.
“I know you’re trying to weave a plausible story, Jay,” she warned him. “Can’t you just tell me the truth?”
He shook his head, and Ellen frowned. She didn’t really expect him to tell her the truth, but she didn’t think he would be so frank about it.
“Let’s just say that I sense when someone wants to swindler me and leave it at that,” Jay decided to say.
“Huh!” Ellen scoffed. “I heard others talking about the instinct one needs while playing cards, but from what I could see it is nothing but a big pile of... rubbish,” she edited her words, and Jay grinned.
“You don’t need to measure your words with me,” he said in a near whisper, leaning forward. “I’m not a shrinking violet, you know,” he winked at her.
“Don’t change the subject,” Ellen replied in a hard tone of voice, laying her fork and knife on the plate, suddenly not feeling like eating anymore.
“I’m not,” Jay shrugged. “The problem is that you wouldn’t believe the truth even if I wanted or could share it with you. So, we’d better leave it at instinct. Your problem is different, though,” he pointed out. “You can’t really prove that he organizes the games.”
“But I have to,” she countered forcefully.
“Why?” Jay lifted an eyebrow quizzically. “And by the way, I don’t mind if you continue eating while you explain that to me,” he pointed with his fork toward her plate and then used it to shove some more food into his mouth.
Ellen blushed slightly and fluttered her fingers afterward. “I’m not hungry,” she replied.
“Of course, you are,” the man retorted. “You wouldn’t have ordered the pick me up menu if you hadn’t been.”
“Well, I was then,” she huffed. “I’m not anymore,” Ellen said pointedly.
“I don’t believe that,” Jay contradicted her, shaking his head emphatically.
“Oh, for God’s sake, will you forget about my food?” the woman snapped at him.
“I can’t,” Jay admitted. “I don't believe that you’re stuffed after only three bites,” he shook his head.
“Don’t tell me that you counted how many times I lifted the fork to my mouth,” she looked at him askance.
“Believe it,” the man nodded. “Everything you do has my undivided attention, Elle,” he confessed. “Now, be a good girl and continue eating. Of course, you can also explain to me why it is so important that you proved that the owner organizes those games. You can do it between bites,” he advised her in a tone of voice better used to impart the secrets of the universe.
Ellen grimaced. Jay was worse than a terrier with a bone stuck in his teeth. The light in his eyes didn’t leave room for negotiation. The woman stabbed a piece of bacon nervously and stuffed it into her mouth so that he stopped nagging her.
“Satisfied?” she asked after she chewed it furiously.
“I’m far from satisfied,” Jay replied. “You have to work a little more for that,” he added with a grin, and her eyes thundered at him with annoyance.
Unimpressed, the man waved his hand to her to continue eating, and then he made short work of the food on his plate. He didn’t push her to talk anymore and didn’t say anything before he finished polishing everything. Then, he picked up his cup and drank his coffee as well.
Jay replaced the cup on the table and leaned back in his chair. For the first time, he took his eyes from her small hands and glanced at the lake, breathing deeply.
‘Damn, I really missed this,’ he sighed inwardly.
Then, the man looked back at Ellen. The woman maneuvered the cutlery with nervous gestures, and a small grin appeared in the corner of his mouth.
“What do you think about some waffles?” he asked Ellen.
Her eyebrows shot up her forehead, and her fork froze midway to her mouth. “Do you really think I could also eat waffles?” she inquired nonplussed.
He shrugged with nonchalance, “Why not?”
“Sorry, big guy, but I’m not a bottomless pit,” she shook her head. “You’re unbelievable,” she mumbled.
Ellen shoved the fork into her mouth and then placed it onto her plate with care. When she swallowed, she sighed deeply and confessed, “I truly can’t have another bite.”
“You eat too little,” Jay shook his head. “That’s why you are so thin.”
She frowned at him, ready to give him a harsh reply, but he put up his hand. “I didn’t say I didn’t like what I saw,” he reassured Ellen.
“I don’t care whether you liked how I looked or not,” she snapped at Jay, and her mouth became a thin line.
The man just grinned and shook his head. “You care, all right,” he guessed. “But, as I said, I do like how you look.”
> “Look here,” she started to say with a frown and tapped the tip of her finger on the top of the table.
However, Jay leaned toward her and took her fingers between his hands, stopping her gesture. Now, the woman looked at him nonplussed.
“Don’t get miffed with me, little girl,” the man whispered with a grin. “You’re just fine the way you are, and you know it. Now, if you don’t want that we order those waffles, what are you saying about settling the bill and going for a walk along the shore and then into the Music Garden?” he proposed. “Of course, if you don’t have other big plans for the day,” he amended his words.
Ellen shook her head. “I don’t have any plans for today. As a matter of fact, I don’t have any plans for the near future,” she confessed morosely.
“That’s another thing you have to tell me about,” Jay noted meaningfully and turned around to look for the waiter so that he could pay the bill.
Ellen just slid her hand from his and leaned back in her chair. She needed to clear her head. The man had the effect of a tornado on her system.
CHAPTER NINE
Jay grabbed Ellen’s hand in his with determination, and in spite of the woman’s attempts to shake his hand off, he didn’t let go. He led her purposefully toward the promenade, avoiding other couples or groups of people artfully.
Ellen stole a glance at him, without changing her expression. The man didn’t seem impressed with the hard set of her mouth, and she felt like screaming.
Jay didn’t doubt that the woman was mad at him and avoided looking at her. He had overridden her and asked the waiter to bring only one bill, which he had paid in full. He had turned a deaf ear to her protests and overlooked the frown on her face, although it had promised dire retribution.
‘She’ll get over it, sooner or later,’ Jay shrugged inwardly, glancing at her sideways.
He guided her through the thick stream of people and decided to let her stew for a few minutes. He hoped she would cool down soon so that they could talk because he needed a few answers.
Anyway, Jay didn’t have any intention of letting her disappear into the crowd. He wouldn’t have known where to look for her afterward. From what she had said, even the idea of searching through the police stations was out of the question now.
The man kept the woman close to him and strode leisurely with the step of a man who had enough time to waste. Jay hadn’t felt so good in days.
People and sounds surrounded him from everywhere, and the lake glimmered. The soft wind ruffled Jay’s hair, and he always loved that. But then, besides that, now, he also held Ellen’s elegant fingers in his hand, and he had often thought of that lately.
‘She’s good for my mood,’ he concluded with puzzlement. ‘Who would have thought?’
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Ellen suddenly said, and her fingers flexed in his palm.
“What?” he asked her, turning his eyes to her, a lopsided smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He was glad that the woman’s words stopped him from analyzing his feelings in depth.
“You know what I am talking about,” she replied peevishly, frowning at him.
Indeed, Jay knew what she was talking about, but then, he needed a bit of fun. That day, Ellen’s reactions made up for the entire period of boredom Jay had gone through since he took the beating.
“You shouldn’t have paid my bill. I can afford to pay for my food,” Ellen snapped at him.
“Elle, Elle, Elle,” Jay shook his head with fake disappointment. “You missed my point. I didn’t pay the bill because I thought you didn’t afford it, although you just told me that you didn’t have a job anymore,” the man pointed out, drawling his words.
Ellen’s eyes narrowed in response to his reply, and he grinned with satisfaction. He loved pressing her buttons. The woman attempted to shake off his hand once more, but his fingers just tightened over hers.
“All right, ferocious kitten,” he decided to give her a straight answer. “I didn’t pay that bill because I thought you couldn’t afford it. That never crossed my mind. I did it because I don’t go out with a woman and ask her to pay for her food. That’s something gauche, in my opinion,” the man confessed, slightly embarrassed. He knew that many people considered him weird because of that.
Ellen stopped suddenly and brought him to a halt too. She turned to him in a huff. Her eyebrows bunched over her clouded eyes, and the woman thundered him with a bleak look.
“Listen here,” she snapped at him. “First of all, I’m not a kitten. Second, we’re not on a date. We have just met in the restaurant by chance,” she exclaimed, and exasperation tainted her voice.
“That just shows that you don’t know how ferocious a tiny kitten can be,” Jay replied with nonchalance.
The man enjoyed the position. Her breath teased his chin if he tilted his head forward. Due to their closeness, he also felt the vibrations of her body. He had no doubt that the woman was furious now.
“You definitely are a furious kitten right now,” he contradicted her in a playful tone of voice. “And our encounter might not have started as a date, but it turned into one,” he took care to point the fact to her.
“No, it didn’t,” the woman practically stomped her foot, a gesture she regretted immediately. She usually was more composed than that.
“Do you want to bet?” Jay grinned at her mischievously, and she practically growled, making him burst into hearty laughter. “Stop overthinking everything, Elle,” he advised her when he finally stopped laughing. “Just try to take things as they come. Live a little,” he stroked the side of her face, and the woman blushed.
Ellen drew back a step, and his hand fell off with regret. Jay loved the texture of her skin.
“Let’s find some privacy in a secluded corner and talk for a while. What are you saying?” the man asked her, raising his eyebrows. “I think the Music Garden is the best place for that.”
Ellen nodded with hesitation. She didn’t know what to think of Jay’s behavior and was afraid that he was just toying with her. Still, when Jay retook her hand and pulled her gently after him, she followed without comment.
‘He will show his colors soon,’ Ellen reflected, matching the man’s stride. ‘Then, I will leave, no matter what.’
“Let’s take a streetcar, Elle,” Jay proposed after fifty yards. “There’s no point in walking to the garden. It’s too far for a pleasant stroll,” he observed.
“You do have a fixation with that garden,” she replied. “Don’t you think that the garden is also crowded at this time of the day?” she pointed out in a dry tone of voice.
Jay stopped brusquely, and Ellen bumped into him because she hadn’t expected that. He looked at her with a quizzical expression on his face, and the woman had the feeling that she wouldn’t like what he had to say. She was confident that he would find some fault with her again.
“You’re right,” Jay said.
That surprised Ellen, and she blinked. She didn’t expect that.
“With this weather, the garden must be full. I didn’t think of that,” the man admitted with a shake of the head. “I don’t think that there’s a corner around here where we could have some privacy,” he remarked, looking around with searching eyes.
“My point exactly,” Ellen replied. “Let’s call it a day, and we can catch up later,” she proposed.
“That doesn’t work with me, Elle,” Jay shifted his eyes back to her. “There’s still a place where we’ll certainly enjoy some privacy.”
“Where?” she arched an eyebrow haughtily.
“You’ll see,” he tweaked her nose, and she growled, slapping at his fingers.
“Stop that,” Ellen barked at him. “And do you think I’m going anywhere with you if you don’t tell me where?”
“A big bad girl like you?” Jay teased her. “You’re not afraid of going with me, Elle, are you? I dare you,” he challenged her with a sparkle in his eyes.
“Dream on, big boy,” she retorted.
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br /> But then, she felt something melting inside her whenever he called her Elle. She liked his gruff tone of voice anyway, but when he uttered that word, the man sounded somewhat different. Still, she couldn’t give in too easy although he had never scared her.
“Dares haven’t worked on me for some time now. I’m an adult after all,” she shrugged.
“And that’s your problem, Elle,” Jay replied. “You’re so busy being an adult that you forget to enjoy yourself. Just go with the flow, sweetie. Not all the time. Just now and then. Let’s buy a couple of things first,” he proposed, and again, the man took her hand and pulled her after him.
“I’m not a dog on a leash,” she huffed in a dry tone of voice.
“That I know,” he chuckled.
“Then, stop pulling me around in a whim,” she said, matching his lazy stride. “What do you want to buy?”
“You’ll see,” he answered, and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
“I DON’T KNOW WHY YOU bought all those pastries,” Ellen remarked when they left the coffee shop.
When they went inside the shop, she had thought that Jay wanted to stop there and talk. She didn’t believe that they would have any privacy, but then, the man headed directly to the counter and ordered everything to go.
“I can’t believe that you’re still hungry,” she shook her head in bewilderment.
“They’re for both of us,” he explained calmly and grasped her hand again. ‘You’re surely afraid that she will disappear, man,’ Jay reflected with dismay.
The woman laughed with puzzlement and shook her head once more. “I can’t eat anything right now, Jay. I’m not hungry. I’m not joking,” she warned him.
“Maybe not right now, but you might be soon. We still have to walk for about ten minutes. Your appetite might return,” Jay observed with a shrug.
“You still haven’t told me where we’re going,” she noted.
“You’ll see soon enough,” he led her through the people in the street.
CHAPTER TEN
“I should have guessed,” Ellen said with a shake of her head when they entered the lobby of Jay’s building.
