by BETH KERY
Well . . . perhaps if she just framed the whole thing as a pleasant sexual encounter? No strings attached. It might not seem so intimidating then . . .
“What’s this?” he asked.
He’d picked up her sketch of him on the napkin. He studied it, his brow slightly furrowed.
“It’s just . . . I was doodling,” she muttered. It had been a quick sketch, but she had successfully caught that expression he’d had in his eyes when he stared at her from across the room, that look that seemed to say, When I get you alone, I’m going to make you scream. Her cheeks burned. God, she’d never blushed so much in her life as she had in the past two days.
He glanced up, still holding the napkin, a strange expression on his face.
“Say you’ll come with me to Vulture’s Canyon.”
“Yes,” she replied in a choked voice.
He took three long steps and cupped her shoulders in her hands. He leaned down and kissed her—a quick yet total possession of her body and mind. It just wasn’t fair, the amount of power he had over her.
“I’ll call you tomorrow evening,” he murmured. She glanced down when he carefully placed something in her hand. He strode out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him. The sketch of him looked up at her.
“No strings attached,” she repeated under her breath.
But somehow, she knew that those comforting words and the expression she’d caught in Everett’s eyes in the sketch were not going to be easily reconciled.
Nine
Now that Joy had agreed to a long weekend with Everett Hughes, she wished it would happen sooner versus later. The nervous anticipation was starting to kill her. How many times a day could she ask herself if she was making a monumental mistake by agreeing to go? How many times could she lose herself in heated fantasies about being with him for so many long, glorious hours?
On Monday night, she’d been tempted to turn on The Shay Show to catch a glimpse of Everett. Perhaps fortunately—or perhaps not, Joy couldn’t decide—Seth had asked to use the small studio in her apartment. He was there still by the time the show was set to air. Joy had been brainstorming some makeup concepts with him and been too self-conscious to excuse herself to watch the show. Seth probably would have thought she was acting like a breathless teenager, gaping at Everett as he charmed the nation on television.
Luckily, she had the field trip on Tuesday to keep her mind distracted. She returned home that night clutching a bag of groceries, tired but happy about how the day had gone. She bought the ingredients for a Cobb salad and a bottle of chardonnay. Her grand plan for celebrating the end of her summer semester was to eat dinner and watch television in bed—a rare, decadent indulgence she liked to treat herself to once in a while.
Her cell phone rang while she was in the process of frying up some low-fat turkey bacon. She glanced at the number and set her wineglass down on the counter a little too abruptly, causing the crystal to ring.
“Hello?”
“Hi. It’s Everett,” he added after a brief pause.
She smiled. “I know.”
“How’d you know?”
Her brain froze for a moment. He hadn’t given her his number. She didn’t want to tell him she’d recognize his deep, resonant voice anywhere. “You have an L.A. prefix. I didn’t recognize it as Seth’s or any of my friends’, though,” she said lightly.
“Am I catching you at a bad time?”
“No, not at all. I was just making a little dinner to celebrate the last day of my summer semester.”
“Is that a tradition?” In the background, she thought she heard the sound of springs giving way, as if he’d just fallen on a bed.
“To make a celebratory dinner for myself? Yeah, I guess so. It’s nice to wrap things up.”
“And give a little hurrah.” She heard the smile in his voice. She wished she could see it.
“Yes. Exactly. Where are you?” she asked, picking up her glass of wine. “Are you still in New York?”
“No. Los Angeles, at my house in Laurel Canyon,” he said, sounding less than thrilled. “My agent—a fine, upstanding woman who works way, way too hard at her job—saw fit to book me for some appearances on the west coast. I’m actually taking a break before I head out to tape an interview for . . . some show. I don’t even know anymore.”
“It must get crazy busy for you when you have a new movie come out,” she sympathized.
“I’d hoped to be able to make it back to Chicago to see you again.”
“Oh,” she said, her wineglass halted halfway to her mouth. “Does that mean we’re not doing the trip next weekend to your sister’s?”
“No, that’s definitely on. Neither wild horses nor my agent’s bullwhip could keep me away.”
Relief flooded through her. She took a sip of her wine and was suddenly glad that he couldn’t see her grinning.
“Good, I’m glad,” she said.
“I just meant that I wanted to see you before then. As things stand, I probably will have to just meet you at Katie and Rill’s,” he said regretfully. “Is that okay?”
“Of course. I’m flying down with Seth. That will work out fine.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
She swallowed thickly. “I am, too.”
For a moment, neither of them spoke. The silence swelled.
“So what’s for dinner?” Everett finally asked.
“Cobb salad.”
“Can I eat with you?”
She laughed and picked up a fork. “If you like. What are you going to have?”
“Your company,” he murmured. “That’s much, much better than anything I’ve got in the kitchen. Anything the best chefs in L.A. could offer, for that matter.”
Joy paused in the action of flipping a piece of bacon. A prickling sensation had moved from her ear to her neck at the sound of his deep voice, causing her nipples to tighten. She shook her head as if to clear it.
She shouldn’t have been surprised that Everett could seduce effortlessly, even through a phone line.
* * *
On Wednesday, she spent most of the afternoon helping Seth with his sketches. Afterward, Seth took her out for an early dinner and then had to rush back to his hotel for a conference call. Joy had just arrived back home and changed into a pair of yoga pants and a T-shirt when her cell phone rang. Her heart jumped when she recognized Everett’s number.
“Hello?”
“I’ve already eaten tonight. We’ll have to find something else to do together,” he said, forgoing a greeting.
“And how do you know if I have eaten?” she asked amusedly.
“You’re right. Rude of me. Have you eaten?”
“I have. Seth took me out to dinner. How was your day?” she asked as she filled a glass with ice.
“Given the state of technology today, I don’t see why it’s not possible for them to make a robot of me that goes around and repeats the same inane sentences over and over. It’s no different from what I do for promotional appearances.”
“What did you tape today?” she asked, filling her glass with water.
“Entertainment Premiere.”
“Oh, it’s on right now. Shall I go and turn it on?”
“God, no,” he groaned.
She laughed as she walked back to her bedroom. “I’m sure it’s not that bad.”
“It’s not. It’s worse. I have an idea. Let’s watch TV together—just not Entertainment Premiere.”
“Okay. What?” she asked, finding her remote control on her dresser and flipping on the television.
“Um . . . Hogan’s Heroes? Nah. CNN? Maybe. The Adult Channel?”
“I’m afraid I don’t have it.”
“Too bad. How about the Food Network? It’s like golf. We can watch and talk at the same time.”
“Okay,” she said, flipping the channel, setting her water down on the bedside table and climbing onto her bed.
“Things are progressing really fast for us, aren’t
they?” Everett said.
She froze in the action of fluffing her pillow.
“What do you mean?” she asked warily.
“First dinner, tonight watching TV together; by tomorrow night we’ll be having sex.”
“Hah,” she scoffed, finishing her fluffing. “We’ve already had sex.”
“You don’t have to remind me,” he said quietly. “I think about it pretty much every minute I’m not sleeping.”
She pressed her hand against her palpitating heart as if to muffle the pounding. “If you ask me what I’m wearing right now, I’m going to hang up.”
She smiled when she heard him burst into uninhibited laughter. He had a great laugh.
“Black pepper–crusted pork tenderloin with a black cherry reduction. Yum,” she murmured.
“I thought you said we weren’t going to talk dirty to each other.”
“Everett, watch the show,” she scolded, smiling.
* * *
On Thursday night, she turned out the light for bed, admonishing herself the whole time for being disappointed that Everett hadn’t called again. She’d see him tomorrow evening, after all, and she could hardly expect that he’d call her every day. She’d just drifted off to sleep when her phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Did I wake you up?” Everett asked. His voice sounded rough. Tired.
“No.”
“Yes, I did. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she murmured, rubbing her eyes. “How was your day?”
“Nuts. Busy. I can’t wait to get out of this town tomorrow.”
“You sound exhausted.”
“I’m just done, that’s all.” She heard him yawn. “I can’t wait to see you. Did you have a good day?”
After a while, their talk waned, and Joy had asked him if he wouldn’t like to say good-bye so he could get some sleep.
“Would you mind very much if I stayed on?” he’d asked groggily. “We’ve never slept together, you know.”
She opened her mouth to say something light and teasing, but then paused. “All right. If you like.”
“Good. I like listening to you,” he mumbled.
“Everett, I’m not saying anything,” she admonished gently.
“I can hear you breathe.”
“Are you suggesting I have a Darth Vader issue?”
He chuckled tiredly. “No, you’re a much sexier breather than Darth.”
Two minutes of silence later, she started to hang up when he didn’t respond when she called his name. She stopped herself, though.
She listened to his slow, even breathing as he slept for longer then she’d care to admit.
* * *
Seth and Joy arrived in Vulture’s Canyon at dusk the next day.
“Weird little town,” Seth murmured, peering out the window onto a deserted Main Street as he drove. She had the strangest feeling they’d just wandered onto a movie set as she stared at the ancient storefronts. Behind the shadow of the rickety porch overhang of the Dyer Creek Trading Company, she saw a sign painted in neon-bright bubble lettering: BODY AND SOUL—ART AND FOOD FOR LIFE.
If the road hadn’t been paved, and if there hadn’t been a sporadic car or truck parked along the side of the street, they might have been in a town built in the eighteen hundreds. The setting sun, the surrounding hills and the thick forest only added to the surreal feeling of having entered a time warp.
“Yeah. That’s pretty much how Katie described Vulture’s Canyon to me—weird,” Joy said. “A lot of them work at a cooperative farm and use the produce to feed needy families in the Midwest and Appalachian region. It all sounds very free-spirited. There’s quite a contingent of artists here, I understand. You’ll fit right in.” She smiled when she heard her uncle’s doubtful grunt. “We’re supposed to go straight through town, pass Dyer Creek, and take the first right we come to. It’s called Eagle Perch Road,” she said, squinting in the dim light to see the directions she’d written down. “Rill and Katie’s place is at the top of the hill. According to Everett, we won’t be able to miss it.”
“Let’s just hope Everett gives directions as well as he acts,” Seth muttered.
Joy gave him a sideways glance. Was that a stab at Everett’s questionable motives when it came to her, an allusion to the fact that Everett could be merely playing the role of an interested, persistent male? Seth and she had had a lot of opportunity to talk on the short flight from Chicago to St. Louis, and then the hour-long drive from St. Louis to Vulture’s Canyon. She recalled again what her uncle had said about Everett while they waited for takeoff.
“Hughes has gone through women like tissues for the past fifteen years.”
“That’s not entirely fair,” Joy had replied levelly. “It seems to me that I’ve read he’s been in several serious relationships. Didn’t he date Jennifer Turner for quite a long period of time? And Liv Arlo, as well?” Joy had asked, referring to a highly respected actress and a well-known Hollywood publicist. “I’ve never gotten the impression he has a Don Juan syndrome from the press, even if they do splash photos of him on every date he’s ever been on. It can’t be easy for him.”
“Yeah, I feel real sorry for him,” Seth had said dryly, trying to adjust his long frame in the tiny airplane seat. “It’s rough having more money than you can possibly spend and knowing you can have any woman on the planet with a twitch of your finger.”
“Careful. You’re sounding jealous,” Joy had teased, trying to lighten his grim mood. “You used to tell me you really liked Everett. When did you change your mind?”
“Since he started nosing around you,” Seth had said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Her expression had softened when she saw his stark concern.
“I just can’t help but feel you’re going to get hurt in this,” Seth had said.
She’d said something similar to herself almost every time she’d gotten off the phone with Everett this week, but she didn’t want Seth to know that.
“I’m not going to get hurt,” she’d told Seth. “Because I’m not expecting anything besides the present moment.”
Seth had looked doubtful. “I don’t know if I like the sound of that any more than I’d like it if you said you were falling in love with the guy.”
Joy had smiled. “Why is it that men can have casual affairs without anyone blinking twice, but if a woman says she’s going to have one, everyone gets all concerned? I’m not that fragile, Seth.”
“I never thought you were fragile. But you’re not cold-hearted, either. You’re like Alice,” he’d said, referring to her mother. “You feel things deeply. It’s not easy for you to feel just a little bit. We left that to your father,” he’d mumbled bitterly.
“Maybe I have more of Dad in me than you think,” Joy had said, staring out the plane window.
Seth had snorted at that.
* * *
In truth, Joy thought as they left the quirky little town of Vulture’s Canyon behind them, she was worried herself. It alarmed her how much she looked forward to seeing Everett again. Just the thought of him touching her made her breathless. She had to ban herself from thinking about them making love—not that it worked.
Her nervous excitement mounted as Seth turned the car onto Eagle Perch Road. They began to ascend a steep hill as twilight fell. The sky was a golden fuchsia above the tops of the tall trees. She was glad Everett had suggested bringing some art supplies. The landscape was lovely.
It turned out that Everett was absolutely correct in saying they couldn’t miss the Pierce house. The country road they were on narrowed to a private drive, which curved into a circular turnabout in front of a large, attractive white farmhouse with a wraparound porch and light glowing warmly in the windows.
“Seth?” Joy said when her uncle parked the car in a turnabout behind three other vehicles.
“Yeah?” he asked, twisting the key out of the ignition.
“Don’t . . . don’t mention anything to Everett a
bout the cancer.”
From her peripheral vision, she saw Seth glance at her sharply.
“Why not? It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I know that. It’s just personal, that’s all. Oh . . . it’s not a big deal,” she said, completely contradicting herself. “I’ll tell him if the topic should ever come up.”
“If I know you, that’ll be never. I’m shocked you brought it up just now.”
“Seth, please.” This conversation was entering territory she’d rather avoid.
“You never want to talk about it,” he persisted. “You’ve closed in on yourself ever since you were diagnosed. You’ve moved thousands of miles away from me and from your friends. Remember? I was there with you with everything that happened to Alice.”
“I know you were!” she said, stung. “How could I ever forget that?”
“I just mean that I know you’re scared, honey. I know you were scared about the cancer, and I know you’re terrified of it coming back. Why are you acting like I can’t handle it when you know firsthand I can?” he said, his rugged face tight with frustration.
She saw a flicker of movement from the house. The front door swung open. She focused on Seth, entreating quietly. “You’ve been my rock since I was twelve years old. I know you can handle it. But so can I.”
He shut his eyes briefly.
“Let’s just put this on hold for now,” Seth muttered. He gave her a small, apologetic smile, and she returned it. He squeezed her knee and turned to get out of the car. Katie stood on the front porch, waving at Seth and calling a greeting. A brown, doleful-looking basset hound sat just inches away from her ankle. Through the glass, Joy caught a glimpse through some curtains of a tall shadow moving toward the front door. It might be Rill . . .
Excitement shattered her anxiety when she saw Everett follow his sister onto the front porch. Joy got out of the car, breathless. She realized she was grinning like an idiot as she walked toward the house, but forgave herself when she saw Everett saunter down the front steps, smiling every bit as broadly as she was, his arms held out toward her.
