CHAPTER Ten
At four o’clock on October 31st, Roewynn said, “Do you think it would be okay if I duck out a little early?”
“Of course.” He tried to make his tongue swell to just a size that he couldn’t speak, but in spite of his efforts he blurted out, “Something special?” He wanted to slap himself for not being able to exercise restraint.
She’d stood and was stuffing her things in that giant bag she carried, looking flushed and… excited? Damn, it was a beautiful look on her. And Dash was ready to kill the guy who’d put that excitement on her face with his bare hands.
Roewynn turned a high beam smile his way that almost stopped his heart. He didn’t know if blood was rushing upward or downward, but he thought he might have felt a little faint.
“Don’t you know what day it is, boss?” she said in a laughing voice.
What day? He looked at the calendar. “Halloween?”
“YES!” For emphasis she crouched and almost sprang into the air like a cheerleader.
“You’re going to a party.”
“No.” She shook her head, laughing softly. “I’ve got to get ready for trick or treat. I love Halloween.”
Dash was so relieved that the change of mood wasn’t about another man, he almost said… “Thank goodness.”
“Pardon?”
Did he say that out loud? He covered by changing the subject. “You get lots of kids?”
“It’s my first Halloween in this apartment, but the neighbors say yes.” She looked at her watch. “Sunset at 5:56.”
“How are you going to get tricksters on the second story?”
“Oh. I’m not. I’m going to sit on the steps of the porch with tons of candy and gush over every costume.”
Her enthusiasm was infectious.
“Wow,” he said, deliberately sounding sad. “That sounds like fun. I live in a downtown condo. I guess I’m going to miss all the fun.”
She stopped and stared. “Are you trying to get an invitation to my front porch?”
He grinned and nodded. “I’ll bring sandwiches?”
“You don’t give trick or treaters sandwiches, Dash.”
“No, silly. For you and me. And I can get extra candy.”
She seemed to be thinking about it. “I’m not sure…”
“Come on, Roe.” Roe? “Don’t make me be alone on Halloween!”
“Two minutes ago you didn’t even know it was Halloween!”
“Yes, but now that I do, I’ll know what I’ll be missing.” He added just enough pout for effect. “All alone.”
She laughed. “Alright. But you can’t come like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like Mr. Business Casual. Do you own a pair of jeans?”
“Jeans? Not sure.” She gaped. “Kidding. Of course I have jeans. I’m not ninety.”
“You need a mask.”
“I will get a mask. What would you like me to be?”
“Just don’t go overboard and get something that will scare the littlest ones.”
“Got it. What time?”
“I will be on my porch at six.”
“We can eat in between kids. I’ll bring some of those wine coolers you like.”
Roewynn tried to remember if she’d ever mentioned liking wine coolers. “What makes you think I like wine coolers?”
He cocked his head like he was listening to something. “Huh. I don’t know.” He shrugged. “What would you like to drink?”
“Well, now that you’ve said that, I think I will try a wine cooler. Get some you think I’d like.”
“If you’ll excuse me, I have to leave a little early. I’m going to a Halloween front porch picnic.”
She laughed and pulled the strap of her bag over her shoulder. He unlooped the strap, took the bag, and said, “I’m going your way.”
Roewynn was bringing candy down when she saw the downstairs neighbors leaving. “Oh. You’re going out?”
They were wearing costumes and apparently going to a ‘grown up’ Halloween party. When they said they were, she said, “Would you mind leaving the porch lights on and I’ll represent for the house?”
They said sure, turned on the lights, and she wished them a Happy Halloween. There were no garages in her neighborhood. Everybody parked on the street. So Dash was lucky to snag their parking place, almost directly in front of the house, when they left.
He gathered up his bags of stuff. It was getting dark and cool. So he pulled on his leather hoodie, the one Jack Berry had found him wearing. Dash had been sure it was ruined. Leather does not like rain. But a tannery was able to restore it to supple.
There was no reason to keep that particular jacket. It wasn’t anything especially special. And it probably cost more to restore than it would have to buy a new one. But everything in life doesn’t have to be explained. That was what he told himself.
He looked around to see which house might have a beautiful EA sitting on porch steps waiting for the strangest picnic in the history of picnics. Of course. It was the one with two porch lights and two coach lights blazing, and no less than seven carved pumpkins looking oddly cheerful with white candles burning behind ragged maws.
Donning the devil mask, he started up the walk and heard the sounds of trick or treating beginning to come alive. It was shaping up to be a perfectly cool, dry Halloween night.
When he reached the steps, he said, “Trick or treat.”
She laughed. “Aren’t you a handsome devil?”
“I am. And aren’t you too wicked for words?”
Roewynn was wearing green face paint like Zelena in Wicked. Dash thought it was adorable.
“Selfie!” he proclaimed. He sat down next to her on the steps and took a photo of them as the devil and wicked witch.
“Oh, look at this,” she said under her breath, sounding like the little ghost and ballerina approaching were the most precious things she’d ever seen. Their dad stood next to the curb while they cautiously approached and stood in awkward silence. “Do you want candy?” Roewynn asked.
Both of them nodded. “Do you know what to say?” The ballerina, who was slightly taller than the ghost, uttered some version of trick or treat and Roewynn held out a wooden bowl full of bite size wrapped candies. The ballerina eventually restrained the younger one who, once he caught on to the general idea, began grabbing fistfuls of candy for his plastic Jack-o’-lantern carrier. When the ballerina herded her younger sibling back toward their dad, Roewynn turned to Dash and said, “Was that not just the cutest thing you ever saw?”
Roewynn’s eyes seem to catch every light in the semi-darkness. Dash wanted to say, “No. You’re the cutest thing I ever saw.” But he didn’t. “I can see it on your face.”
“What?”
“The question. Do I remember trick or treating?”
“You can see that on my very green face?”
“You’re readable in any color. Go ahead. Ask if you want.”
“Alright. Do you remember doing this? As a kid?”
“No.” His eyes slid sideways toward her while he continued to face forward. And he smiled. “This is my first Halloween.”
They ate sandwiches in between nocturnal visitors.
“How did you know I like chicken salad?” she said.
“Whenever we have sandwiches for lunch, what do you get?”
She nodded. “Chicken salad. I guess I’m just surprised that you pay attention.”
“Mind like a steel trap. Do you like the wine cooler?”
“Hmmm. Maybe too much. If I end up with a wine cooler always in my hand, we’ll know who to blame.”
Dash was amazed at how much fun it was to sit outside on a cool evening on the last night before November and greet kids in costumes. There was a rush around seven, followed by older kids, but it was pretty much over by eight.
“Oh no,” he said.
“What?”
“I didn’t bring dessert.”
She looked down at the giant bowl of candy in her lap and they both laughed.
“Trick or treat,” he said.
She moved the bowl closer to him, but he shocked both of them by jerking off his mask and taking a kiss instead. His stomach dropped out of his body when he realized what he’d done and he jerked back.
“Oh, God, I didn’t… I shouldn’t…”
Before he could get further into the apology, she took his face in both hands and pressed her lips to his. They were already sitting side by side, but he pulled her closer as his body took over. His tongue asked for entrance and found that she was eager to take the kiss to the next level.
Dash hadn’t wasted a lot of time wishing he could remember what couldn’t be remembered. But he did wish he could remember kissing. He was sure he must have done it before, that and other things. Without memory, he had nothing to compare kissing Roewynn to, but he couldn’t imagine how kissing could be better.
They heard someone clear their throat and looked up. Three kids with face paint, who had to be pushing six feet tall, were apparently waiting patiently for the grownups to get back to the business of handing out free candy to strangers.
“Trick or treat,” a deep voice said.
Roewynn stood up. “Okay. You kiddies are the last of the night. So you can have the stash.”
Dash put in. “Hold on.” He grabbed a fistful of candy before the teenagers made away with everything left.
Standing there with an empty bowl, Roewynn giggled. “You have, um, green paint on your face.”
Dash was so relieved to not hear regret in her voice. “You have no idea how many times a day I’ve wanted to do that.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Being your boss is kind of tricky. You could, ah, sue me, you know.”
“Ooh! I hadn’t thought of that! Excuse me. I hate to kiss and run, but I have to find a good lawyer. If you’re really afraid of that, why did you, um, kiss me?”
“Because there was nothing I want more.”
He pulled her into another kiss. That one involved arching, pressing, groping, and breath accelerating as…
“Ahem.”
For the second time they heard someone clear their throat. They looked up to see Roewynn’s neighbors coming home from their party.
“Sorry,” they said, looking more amused than put out or embarrassed. “It’s a work night. We have to climb those steps to get to our front door.”
“Oh, um, sure.” Roewynn and Dash stepped out of the way. “I’ll take care of the pumpkins. How was your party?”
“Meh,” they said. “An office acquaintance.”
They went inside. Roewynn blew out the candles, then she and Dash threw the pumpkins in the alley dumpster so that vandals wouldn’t smash them on cars during the night.
When they were done, Roewynn said, “Well, it’s a work night for me and I have a very demanding boss.”
“I hear he’s a devil.”
“And I have to get this paint off.”
Dash chuckled. “I guess I have to get paint off, too.”
“So… About…”
“I want to date you. I like you. A lot. Not a one night kind of thing.” He reached up and tugged at a lock of hair. “A let’s-see-where-this-is-going-because-there’s-something-here thing.”
She melted into him. “I can’t invite you in. Everything’s a mess.”
“I don’t care about that.”
“Well, I do.”
“My place is clean. Maid came today.” The way she looked around reminded him of a wild animal ready to bolt at the first wrong move. He squeezed her as light as an angel’s touch. “Come on.”
“This sounds like a bad idea. Boss. Employee. What could go wrong?”
“Would it make you feel better if we swear to be friends, real friends, no matter what?”
“No matter what?”
“I swear.”
“Pinky swear.”
He laughed and wrapped his right pinky around her left one. “Nothing can put asunder a pinky swear.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re a believer!”
He laughed again. “Grab a toothbrush. Let’s go.”
“So I’m staying the night? No matter what?”
He looked askance. “Well, yeah. What did you think?”
“I’m coming back here in the morning. To get ready for work. So I’m taking my own car.”
“Sure. Have your people talk to my people about the rest of the details.”
“I am your people.”
“That’s right. You’re your people, too. So I guess negotiating is over.”
“I’m not going anywhere with a green face.”
“I’ll wait.” He would have waited all night. Gladly.
She followed him to his building and parked in the other of the two spots allocated for the penthouse.
“I’ve never known a person who lives downtown,” she said.
Looking at her freshly scrubbed face, he was glad she’d taken the time to take the green off. “I didn’t pick it. It sort of happened to me.”
“I’ve heard worse stories,” she quipped.
He laughed. “This way.”
On the way up in the elevator, Dash wondered what was in the backpack she’d brought.
She turned to face him. “Why are you staring?”
He grinned. “Just can’t get over how lucky I am.”
She cocked her head and scowled. “You think you’re going to get lucky?”
His smile slowly fell until she giggled. “Just kidding. You’re definitely getting lucky.”
The elevator opened into his foyer with two penthouse entrances.
“This is me.” He unlocked and opened the door, then stepped back so she could enter first.
The lights came on when she crossed the threshold. Some sort of motion sensor, she assumed. She walked around taking a slow tour. While she was doing that, he realized that the thing that usually settled on him like a death shroud when he came home, wasn’t there. He felt light. Free. No sense of dread. No sense of everything being wrong.
“This is beautiful, but you’re wrong,” she said.
“Hmmm? What?” He jerked his attention back to Roewynn.
“It’s not you.”
“Who is it?”
“Someone, um, less genuine?”
He came up behind her and pulled her back into his front. In her ear he said, “I think that was a compliment.”
She smiled. “Maybe.”
“You want a wine cooler?”
“No.” She walked off in the direction of the master. “How many bedrooms?”
“Two.”
“Which one is mine?”
“Did I say two? I meant one.” He stepped behind her and urged her forward into his bedroom, deliberately leaving the lights off.
“Oh, wow.” Roewynn didn’t care for the modernity of the penthouse, but she was sold on the view of city lights. “A person could get used to this.”
“It’s the best feature. By far.”
She surprised Dash, and maybe herself as well, by suddenly turning and rising to tiptoes for a kiss. He was quick to bend enough to trap her mouth with his and keep her mind too preoccupied to reconsider the decision she’d made.
“Friends forever,” she said as she pulled off her coat and the sweater underneath. As she pushed the leather jacket off Dash’s shoulders she added, “No matter what.”
“Deal,” he breathed heavily in a sexy voice that was decidedly more gruff than what she was used to hearing at the office. She liked it.
She didn’t want to wait to feel his skin next to hers. Dash wasn’t the only one who’d fantasized about that while working a mere five feet away. But she could see he wanted to take it slow. So she made a private agreement with herself that she’d rein in her eagerness and let him run the show, if she could just get the long sleeve tee off his upper body.
He acquiesced without a fight and dropped the shirt on the floor. She ran her fingers lightly over his upper body, appreciating the lean muscle that had formed as a result of trying to outrun the thing. When she planted a firm kiss squarely between his pecs, he hissed in a breath. Without warning he grabbed a handful of silky hair and pulled her head back until he could plunder her mouth with a kiss more demanding than she’d expected.
“You have no idea how much I love having you here,” he whispered as he removed her turtleneck and bra. It was clear that he was just as hungry to feel skin on skin because he pulled her close while reveling in more kisses. “You know what I’d like?”
“What?” she panted.
“You. Naked on the bed.”
“I feel the same way about you.”
They stared at each other for three beats before breaking apart and pulling at shoes, socks, and clothing. Dash pulled the bed coverings back to reveal tight, clean white sheets just as Roewynn was revealed in her natural glory.
“This feels so right,” he said, as his hands searched for all the places that would elicit the little moans and sighs of pleasure that he was quickly becoming addicted to. “Touch me.”
“I am touching you.”
He raised up and gave her a look that said, “Not kidding.”
She responded by lightly cupping his balls before gripping his cock with a sincerity that was much appreciated, judging by the sound he made. After she stroked his length a few times he pulled out of her grasp and repositioned himself so that he could give his full attention to nipples. One at a time.
“I like these,” he said.
“I’m glad,” she almost whimpered.
“They might be perfect. I once read that there’s no such thing as a perfect pair of tits, but I’ve just decided they’re wrong.”
“Flatterer.”
“Roewynn, you feel…”
He didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t have to.
She turned in his arms, kissed his neck, his jaw, his ear, and said, “Condom.”
He pulled back and sucked in a sharp breath. “Condom,” he repeated, sounding like he might be on the verge of panic.
She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t tell me you don’t have one.”
“No. I mean yes. I mean I was prepared for trick or treat. I never thought…”
Learning for certain that what was happening had not been planned or even considered made Roewynn all the more sure that she’d made the right choice.
“Just a minute.” He rolled off the bed to his feet and began investigating the contents of the nightstand drawers.
Thank all that’s holy, he thought as he pulled a ribbon of condoms out of the drawer.
“Yes!” he said. “One. Two. Three. Four. Five.”
Roewynn laughed. “Ambitious?”
He leaped onto the bed, still grasping condoms. “Just realistic.”
“Well, try one on. Let’s see if it fits.”
“The condom? Or the dick?”
“Yes. Both.”
Apparently that was what Dash needed to hear to let the sexual beast free of its chain. He ripped the condom with his teeth, eyes shining with an inner light that was sexy enough to make her orgasm. Because nothing is more erotic to a woman than seeing that she’s desired in a place that few ever know. A place that exists beyond lust or even reason. Dash was consumed by the moment; body, heart, and soul. And the secret feminine place that is thrilled by owning that power over a lover bloomed and came to full flower inside Roewynn.
He searched her face one last time before entering her and becoming lost in the heat and friction. She didn’t know what he was looking for, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that now they knew that the two of them fit in every way.
Dash was skilled enough as a lover to ensure that she climaxed when he did. He hadn’t known that he knew what to do, but apparently there was sexual history buried in his mind. The University of Colorado hadn’t tested him for that.
As they each descended back to earth, together and separately, she said, “Dash, I…”
He raised up and looked into her eyes. “What?”
“Nothing. I guess I forgot what I was going to say.”
“I guess that was too amazing for words?”
She laughed softly. “Yes. It was.”
“You sound sleepy. Don’t go to sleep. There’s more to come.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yeah.” He kissed her chin and rolled to the side where he could stare at her.
But there wasn’t more. They both went to sleep right away.
Neither of them set an alarm.
The next thing Dash was aware of was a shriek coming from Roewynn. He opened an eye.
“IT’S TEN O’FREAKING CLOCK IN THE MORNING! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?”
“Relax. I’ll talk to your boss.”
“Very funny,” she said as she scurried around gathering up pieces of clothing strewn on the floor.
Nothing was likely to upset Dash. Not only had he thoroughly enjoyed the most amazing sex of his life. He smiled to himself as he corrected that impression by admitting that it was the only sex he remembered. But more importantly, he’d slept through the night. Like a baby. No disturbing dreams. No sick feeling in his stomach.
He checked in with himself. No. The thing wasn’t there. That was when he knew that Roewynn was the key, the ultimate distraction that made him feel, well, normal. Or at least what he imagined was normal.
He looked over at what she was doing. She was almost dressed and seemed a little crazed.
He raised up on his elbows. “Roewynn. Slow down. You slept in a little. So what?”
“SO WHAT?!?” She gaped. “Did you hear me speak the words ten o’clock?”
“No. I heard ten o’freaking clock.”
“Maybe you can sleep in Mr. CEO. But only if somebody is answering your phones, responding to your email, and managing the fires you’re not there to put out.”
Dash’s head listed to the side. “Christ. You’re more important than I am.”
“See you later.”
She started for the door, but he was up in a flash. Dash blocking the door made her giggle in spite of her impulse to be outraged by his irresponsible behavior.
“Nobody gets out of here without a good morning kiss.”
She planted a dry peck on his mouth. “That’ll have to do for now.”
“I’m letting you get by with that, but only because I haven’t brushed my teeth.”
She laughed. And was gone.