by Romes, Jan
“Really?” she asked hopefully.
Trish roared with laughter. “No. Not really. It’s huge.”
Stella fell into a series of growls.
Trish rolled her eyes. “Don’t be a baby. It’s a hickey, not a tattoo. In a couple of days, it’ll be gone. Finish your shower already. Alex said we can’t eat until you’re at the table.” She closed the shower door.
Stella stopped whimpering. “Do you think you could ask Alex if he has some clothes I could borrow?”
Trish opened the shower door again.
Stella gave her an irked look. “Can’t you talk to me without seeing me naked?”
“Nope.”
Stella retaliated by splashing Trish with water.
“Okay. Okay. Don’t get yourself in a lather.” Trish gave her a toothy grin. “No pun intended.”
“Just ask him.”
“I will, but Alex is six foot something and twice your body width. What do you think he has that would fit you?”
Stella gave her a sharp look.
“I’m on it.”
Even with the shower door and bedroom door closed, Stella could hear Trish laughing all the way down the hall.
She slumped against the shower wall and wished she could be as casual as Trish. It was true. She didn’t need to fret over a little mark on her neck, but it wasn’t so much the mark as how it got there in the first place. Stella covered her face with her hands and tried to deal with the morning-after syndrome clawing its way to the surface.
Stella just stepped from the shower when Alex walked in. The sight of her made his mouth go dry and he wanted to tug the towel from her moist, supple body.
“Good morning,” he said, giving her a big smile and invading the space between them. He cupped her chin and lifted it to bring her eyes to his.
“Morning,” she replied almost shyly.
“I’ve found some things for you to wear. They might be a little big, but you can roll them up.” He handed her a pair of checked pajama pants and white t-shirt. “They might look a little funny with your high heels though.”
Alex inspected her neck. “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Stella nervously bit her bottom lip. “Don’t worry. I’ll find a way to hide it.”
“I am sorry, Stella.” Alex gently pecked the bruise with his lips. It was meant to be a casual gesture but it stirred the cinders of last night’s fire. “I’ll really have to be careful next time.”
The expression on Stella’s face appeared to be a mixture of delight…and caution. She gave him a guarded smile.
“Anyway, there’s a plate of eggs with your name on it, and you better hurry before Steve comes in and drags you to the table.”
“I’ll be right out.”
Alex closed the door behind him. Everything about that woman exhilarated and confused him.
After towel-drying and finger-combing her curls, Stella squeezed a small dab of toothpaste in the palm of her hand.
She opened his medicine cabinet and found a container with cotton balls and cotton swabs. With one of the fuzzy swabs she scrubbed her teeth and tongue, which made her mouth minty-fresh, but furry.
She pulled on the pajama pants and rolled them up three times to keep from stepping on the bottoms. The t-shirt was more of a nightgown, but it was soft and comfy, and smelled like Alex.
Finally, she inspected her neck. She’d put it off hoping that when she looked there would be nothing there. Pipe dream. The bruise was the size of a plum and it was going to take a lot of makeup to cover it.
Stella gulped hard. She was after a well-respected position, but now she had a darned hickey. She tried to calm herself by repeating the same thing Trish did. “It’s temporary.”
She padded to the kitchen in bare feet, took a place at the table and sipped her coffee before meeting Steve’s eyes.
“It’s about time you joined us sleepy head,” Steve teased.
“I would’ve been out sooner but I looked like Einstein’s twin sister.”
Alex laid a plate of eggs in front of Stella and a plate of bacon in the center of the table. “Let’s eat.”
Stella’s stomach growled with approval and she helped herself to a strip of bacon. “You didn’t need to go to all this trouble.”
Alex winked. “Sure I did. I hosted a sleep-over so the least I could do is feed you.”
“Is that what this was?”
Steve clicked his tongue. “Tonight. My place.”
“Riggght.” Stella smiled.
Steve took a dramatic bite of toast and proceeded to rib her about the hickey. He wouldn’t let her be self-conscious about it for even a second. When she tilted her head to the side to try to hide it, he threatened to give her one on the other side if she didn’t behave.
After they’d gone through two pots of coffee and some light conversation, it was time to go.
Stella hurried to the bathroom, stepped out of the pajama pants and t-shirt, and back into the pink dress and heels. She searched Alex’s bedroom one more time for her underwear, but came up empty.
In the meantime, Alex called a cab to take them all back to the hall where their vehicles were parked.
Stella strolled reluctantly to the kitchen with the clothes rolled up and tucked under her arm. “I’ll wash these and bring them back.”
Alex tugged them away. “They don’t need washed. You only had them on for a couple of hours.” He brought them to his nose. “Besides, they smell like you.” He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a soft kiss. “Last night was great, Stella.”
“It was,” she admitted. She wanted to say more, but her words were stuck.
She sensed he wanted to say something else too, and wondered if he was struggling with the same thoughts and feelings she was.
Steve hollered from the hallway. “Taxi’s here.”
Alex bent down and visited her mouth again. He gave her a long, drawn-out, soulful kiss. “We’re good together,” he said softly.
Steve barged in. “Come on, guys, the meter is ticking.”
Chapter Eighteen
“Stop laughing or I’m hanging up,” Stella spouted, but she couldn’t keep from giggling either.
“That was showing him,” Misty teased.
“I’m clearly no good at vengeance.”
“You’re terrible at it. Who goes to a party to give the guy a dose of regret and ends up in bed with him?”
Stella sighed. “One hundred and thirty pounds of weakness, that’s who.”
Misty’s voice was gentle. “The rapscallion seduced you.”
He did. Aided by alcohol. Although truthfully, she had enough lucidity to stop him if she wanted to. “He’s incredible, Misty.”
“Let’s get a pizza and you can tell me all about him. I also want to see your bruise.” Misty laughed. “Strictly for medical reasons.”
Stella wasn’t sure she wanted to do a tell-all with her sister, although it would probably be good to have someone other than Trish to help her figure things out. Besides, she’d involved Misty with the whole dress bit so it wouldn’t be right to hold out on her. “Come on over. By the way, do you have a turtle-neck sweater I could borrow?”
“You can borrow anything I have, but I thought you had a closet full of sweaters.”
“Had a closet full of sweaters, skirts, dresses and pants. A week ago I condensed my choices by making the thrift store a very happy place. The only things left in my closet are a few suits, two dresses I’m thinking of getting rid of, a half-dozen pair of jeans, a light bulb and probably a few moths.
“Halleluiah,” Misty screeched. “A break through. You’ve had some of those clothes since high school.”
“They still fit.”
“What does it tell you, Stella, when even the moths won’t eat them?”
“Yeah. Yeah. Aren’t you hilarious? Anyway, get your butt over here.” After she hung up, she couldn’t stop grinning. She did have some breakthrough-moments in the last several weeks, an
d it felt good to part with some of the clothes that weren’t working.
For some reason, parting with things made Mr. Right surface. They hadn’t exactly parted. But they were no longer chummy. Out of curiosity, she checked her email. There were some forwards from Trish, the final Meet and Greet details from RedHairedHoney, and an airline confirmation for the flight to the boat, nothing from the nearly non-existent Mr. Right.
His lack of communication bothered her, yet it didn’t. The only thing that really disturbed her was why he’d lost interest. Did she bore him to tears?
She logged into the chat room to find out.
TorontoTim greeted her. “Hey Blonde1, LTNS.”
“What is LTNS?”
“Long time no see.”
“Ah. Thanks. It has been awhile. Lots of things going on. Getting ready for the holidays, catching up with my sister, shopping.” And losing my head and heart to love.
“Red says you’re going to Key West with us. Should be a great time.”
“I’m excited, especially since they’re forecasting a ton of snow for Ohio while we’re gone.”
“Mr. Right pops in from time to time and asks if you’ve been in. When we say no, he logs back out.”
“Thanks, Tim.” She didn’t want to be rude so she stayed and talked to Tim for a few minutes.
After logging out, she composed an email to Mr. Right. She told him what she’d been up to – minus the part about Alex, how excited she was to go to Florida and she shared some island tidbits TorontoTim had given her. She was about to send the message and for reasons she couldn’t explain, she deleted the long-winded rubbish. She sighed and sent him a one-line thought – “See you in a week.” Instead of her name, she simply signed it S.
Clearly he wasn’t the only one losing interest. Corresponding with him felt curiously like cheating, which was silly because she wasn’t. She and Alex weren’t a couple.
Her phone rang and she made a mad dash from the bathroom to answer it.
“Hey you little floozy,” Trish teased. “What are you up to?”
It wasn’t Alex but she was still happy to talk to Trish. “I’m waiting for Misty to show up. We’re getting pizza. Want to join us? By the way, I’m not a floozy.” Stella cradled the phone in her neck and strolled to the fridge for a bottle of water.
“Of course you are. We both are,” Trish laughed. “Thanks for the invite, but Steve’s coming over and I need to straighten this place up. Has Alex called yet?”
“Nope.” But she wished he would so she could stop going crazy.
“He will. Now that the guys aren’t around, I have to ask. How was it?”
The sip of water Stella had just taken came spurting out. She knew what Trish was after, but she wasn’t going to give it to her. “He was fun to be with.”
Trish sighed. “You always make me work for it.”
Stella’s insides turned to mush. “He’s the most wonderful, attentive man, Trish.” She idly touched her lips. “Boy can he kiss. All he has to do is bend his head like he’s going to kiss me and I go weak in the knees. I’ve read about that happening, but I thought it was a bunch of malarkey. Turns out, it isn’t.”
From out of the blue came something Mr. Right said. ‘When I kiss a woman I want her to know she’s been kissed’. She sighed. He might be a good kisser, but she was sure no one else in the world could kiss like Alex.
Trish tried to pry the good stuff out of her. “And the lovemaking?”
Stella snorted with laughter. “You don’t beat around the bush do you?”
“What’s the point? It only delays things.” Trish prompted her to ante up.
“Without the finer details, let me just say on a scale of one to ten, he’s a fifteen.”
“I knew it,” Trish exclaimed. “You know I want the finer details too.”
“You’re not getting them. They’re staying locked in the vault.” Some things needed to stay between her and Alex. Actually, she didn’t want to jinx things by revealing too much. She gave the conversation a one-eighty turn. “You and Steve got along pretty good too and you looked like a contented woman this morning. Tell me all about it.”
Trish squirmed on the other end. “Umm …”
Stella chuckled. “Not so easy when the light is shining on you, is it?”
All the humor left Trish’s voice. “Steve is unlike any guy I’ve ever known. He’s warm and gentle, and he gets me. Not everyone gets me.”
“I get you, Trish.”
“I know you do, and the fact Steve does too, makes me love him all the more. I really do think I’m falling for him, Stella. I’ve finally found the one man who gives as good as he gets. He’s tender and loving, rotten and ornery. Just the kind of guy I need. In fact, I’d venture to say I’m in love with him and it scares the hell out of me.”
“Don’t be scared, Trish. You’ve waited a long time to give your heart to the right man. What’s that thing you’re always telling me? Oh yeah. Don’t fight it.”
Stella also wanted to tell Trish to take it slow to make sure it was real. Even though Steve had mostly proven the womanizer-rumors to be false, people in hot pursuit always put their best foot forward. He could actually be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. If he was, and if he hurt Trish, she’d not only rip that sheep outfit off of him, she’d make veal cutlets out of him.
“I’m usually the one telling you not to be scared,” Trish said. “Talk about role-reversal.”
“We’re here for each other. It’s why we’re such good friends.”
A rap at the door signaled Misty’s arrival. “I have to go. Do you want to do lunch tomorrow? We can talk about the trip.” Stella winced silently. With this strange turn of events between her and Alex, she wasn’t so sure going on this Meet and Greet was such a good idea.
* * * *
Stella ran a bubble bath and sat a decanter of coffee by the side of the tub. She slipped out of her comfy robe and into the hot, bubbly water. She inhaled slowly and exhaled with delight. It had been a good day. Alex in the morning. Misty in the afternoon.
Her thoughts drifted to one of the key discussions she and Misty had over pizza; the one involving why her plan fell apart. Misty’s take on it made sense. She did have a lot of personalities to deal with. Could she blame them for its lack of success? Not really. The fault was hers. She’s the one who didn’t let it go off the way it was supposed to, and deep down she was happy it didn’t.
She and Misty shared a good laugh over the door prize she’d won. When Misty asked to see it, Stella couldn’t remember what happened to it. Someone from the clean-up committee probably found the package and either tossed it in the trash or wrapped it up as a gag gift for someone else.
She slid lower in the tub and gloried in the warmth. Her fingers went to the bruise on her neck, and she chuckled at Misty’s comment about it – ‘With suction like that he could clean a swimming pool’. Actually, the way Alex’s mouth was everywhere, she was lucky she wasn’t one giant bruise.
While lathering a chenille bath mitt with floral body wash, she contemplated what she would do or what she would say if Alex called. Things were different between them now. Would they act differently? Would they cozy up to one another or fall into a pathetic game of dodge-em? Another scenario brought a hopeful sigh. Would they have a clandestine affair outside of work?
She closed her eyes and put her hand over her heart. Alex had blocked all logical thought and as corny as it would sound to someone else, making love with him was the most earth-moving experience of her life. Given the chance, she wouldn’t change a thing.
Her cell phone rang and she climbed half-way out of the tub to retrieve it. “Hello.”
A familiar, deep-timbered voice made her pulse jump. “Stella. What are you doing?”
Stella tried to sound casual, but her heart was thumping with excitement. “I’m presently covered with bubbles.”
Alex’s tone went from friendly to sensual in a millisecond. “Tease.”
; Stella almost dropped the phone in the water. “There’s room for two.”
“You’re playing with fire, woman.”
I know, she thought nervously, and offered him a soft chuckle. “I’m glad you called.”
“Had I known you were covered in bubbles, I would’ve called sooner.” His voice contained husky laughter, but it also had a vacillating quality to it. He confirmed the uncertainty right away. “I wasn’t sure you’d want me to call after you had time to think about things.”
Her excited heart slumped a little. “Don’t be silly. We had a good night.”
“We did.” There was a long pause. “I shouldn’t have let you leave this morning, but I guess we both needed to get our bearings.”
Who had gotten their bearings? “A girl can’t stay in pajamas and high heels all day.”
“Speaking of which, I may never wash the pajamas.”
He was doing it again. The comment was light but there was hesitant inflection on the last few words. She closed her eyes. His indecision was apparent. What was next? Regret?
“We need to talk,” he said.
Those four words all but jerked her out of the tub. “Whenever,” she said halfheartedly.
Alex was silent for a few moments. “Can I come up?”
The man was determined to steal her joy. “Sure. I’m not going anywhere.”
She snapped her cell phone closed and tossed it onto her robe. There wasn’t going to be a clandestine affair, because the game of dodge-em was about to begin.
A sudden knock at the door sent Stella scrambling from the tub and into the misshapen terry-cloth robe. She ventured a look in the mirror to re-tuck the few stray locks of hair that cunningly escaped the giant claw-clip on top of her head, and she noticed the hot water made her face blotchy pink. “Excellent, Matson. Ragged and well-done is not a good look.”
Her only consolation was it couldn’t possibly be Alex since his apartment was at least twenty-five minutes away; maybe longer, depending on traffic.
She padded in bare feet to the door and squinted into the peek-hole. Dark hair and violet eyes filled her line of vision. She squinted a second time.
