Chapter Four

 

The alarm went off way too soon.

“Oh crap,” I muttered, reaching over to the nightstand to turn it off. But my phone wasn’t there. Where was my phone? Obviously in the room with us, we could hear it, the annoying thing, but…

Oh, in my pants. Over there by the door.

I groaned and slid out of the bed, found my pants, dug in the pocket for the phone, finally shut the damn thing off.

When I got back in bed, Mahlen had his arm draped dramatically over his eyes, like a fainting Victorian maiden. “Why so early?” he asked, his voice slightly muffled. “The shop doesn’t open till ten.”

“Not to you customer-types it doesn’t,” I said, snuggling against him. “I have to be at work at eight. Which means I have to get to the bus by six forty-five, and the bus stop is six blocks from here.”

His arm moved from his eyes to wrap around me and pull me close. “If I drive you in, we can leave at seven-fifteen. Maybe even seven-thirty.”

“Mmm,” I purred, snuggling closer.

A few delicious minutes later, I added, “I do need a shower, though.”

“Hmm.” He gave me a deep, luscious kiss. “What a terrible thought, you in the shower. Naked. Wet. Soapy. Hmm.”

A few minutes after that, I finally pulled away and said, “Okay then. Are you gonna help me with that shower, or are you gonna just take me right here?”

Mahlen chortled. “Shower, boss lady.”

My shower (like the rest of my apartment) is very small. That is not, as it turns out, a bad thing. We had to stand so close together, we were spared all the awkwardness of trying to figure out how to cross that divide between trying to get clean and having overt sexy-times. It was pretty much straight to sexy-times. We hadn’t been in there five minutes before Mahlen had me pinned against the wall under the spigot, my legs wrapped around his waist, his cock buried deep inside me, the hot water splashing down over both of us.

And then he washed my hair.

So, yay, the getting-clean part worked too. Best. Shower. Ever.

I was getting dressed for work—different pair of jeans, different T-shirt—and Mahlen was basically just watching me, a little bemused smile on his face, like he couldn’t quite believe he was here. Well, I kind of couldn’t quite believe it either. “You’ll probably want some clothes too, you know,” I said. “If you’re planning to drive me to work, which will require leaving this apartment.”

“Oh! Right.” Sadly for him, he had to wear yesterday’s clothes. I mean, not that I minded—he looked terrific in them. And guys don’t really have that whole walk-of-shame thing.

The world: it just isn’t fair.

“There’s English muffins you can toast,” I told him as I swiped on a hint of makeup. “And I think I even have a little peach jam. No coffee, though, sorry—I always get that out.”

“You don’t need to feed me.” He stood in the bathroom doorway, still watching me. “I’ll get something after I drop you off.” Then he frowned. “Are you going to eat anything? Want me to toast an English muffin for you?”

“I usually just get one of those sandwich things at the coffee shop. With the ham and cheddar cheese and all.”

“Oh, can I do that? Can I bring you coffee and a sandwich thing to the print shop?”

I put down the tube of mascara and turned to look at him. “Why are you so wonderful?”

He shrugged. “I’m not. I’m just…you have to rush in to work, and I don’t. Let me take care of you.”

“Oh honey,” I said, giving him my best lascivious leer. “You are absolutely taking care of me.”

“Cut that out,” he said with a grin, “or I won’t let you get ready for work. It’s taking all my self-control to stand here and not come in there and ravish you.”

“Pity.” I turned back to the mirror, unable to stop smiling as I began brushing, then braiding my hair.

Somehow, we got out of my apartment by seven-fifteen. Even more amazingly, the traffic wasn’t very bad, so he could drive reasonably across town rather than breaking speed limit laws. We were a few blocks from the print shop when he said, “What are you doing for lunch?”

I giggled. “Are we going to have every meal together from now on?”

He turned to look at me, unaccountably serious. “Well, I’d like to, but I have to—”

“Mahlen, Mahlen,” I said, reaching over and patting his knee. “Last night—and this morning—were amazing.” Before he could react to the ‘but’ I could see he thought was coming, I hurried on to add, “And I want to do it again as much as humanly possible, god yes. But we’re both grown-ups, with lives and commitments and schedules and—well, okay, one of us has a job. So it’s all right, in fact it’s inevitable, that we cannot spend every minute together. Or even every meal.”

“Right, of course.” He smiled over at me, then turned onto the street where the print shop was. “But are you busy for lunch today?”

I laughed. “No, I’m not. My lunch break is at one.”

“I’ll be there.”

Monique has a creepy sixth sense about things. I didn’t see her watching at the window as Mahlen dropped me off, and we didn’t kiss or anything in front of my place of work (I’m not fifteen), but as soon as I walked in, she gave me this huge grin and said, “Well??”

“Well what?” I said, stalling for time as I went to put my purse and jacket in my cubbyhole, then went to get the main printers turned on.

Monique followed me to the back. “Well was that or was that not Mahlen O’Connor dropping you off? After I left the two of you here alone last night making goo-goo eyes at each other? And here I thought you were sick.”

I shrugged, but was unable to hide my smile. “Well he was pretty grateful for the help, and he sold that print for a lot of money, so, he took me to dinner at Columbus House.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Wow! A lot of money, then. Honey, we’re in the wrong business.”

“No we’re not. We get paid no matter what. You know how many prints don’t sell.”

“True that.” She sat down at the drying table and indicated a second chair. “But don’t divert me. He took you to dinner. And he dropped you off this morning. So…?”

“I’m not the one who changed the subject.”

She gave me a mock-glare. “Now you are!”

“All right, all right.” I smiled at her. “I’m feeling much better.”

“It sure looks like you are!”

“Really? What do I look like?” Now I was all self-conscious. Can you see amazing sex written all over a person’s face? I thought that was just fiction.

Monique looked me over, suddenly more serious, though still cheerful. “Yesterday you looked weak, kind of pale. Like someone who had been in bed with the flu all week. Today, you look not just recovered, but somehow stronger than ever. Your color is great, your eyes are sparkling. I don’t know—you just look all bright and shiny and magical.”

“Huh.” Magical. Emma Foster had talked about magic…which was of course bullshit and not real and impossible.

Also she’d looked just great. Bright and shiny, I’d almost say.

Obviously just a coincidence. Nothing to do with anything.

I was spared from further interrogation by a knock at the shop’s front door. “Oh! That’ll be Mahlen with my breakfast,” I said, getting up and dashing to answer it.

Monique followed me to the front, her grin widening when she saw that he’d brought coffees and little sandwich things for all three of us. “All right, that’s all I need to know,” she said as I unlocked the door. “You have my blessing, girl.”

~*~*~*~

The morning seemed to drag on, probably because I was doing my work and not lounging around in bed with my astonishing new lover. Or maybe it was the lack of sleep I’d gotten last night. Anyway, one o’clock seemed to take forever to arrive.

But it finally did. Monique returned from her own lunch at the same time as Mahlen showed up to get me.

“You have an hour?” he asked, as we waved goodbye and left the shop.

“Yeah. And I probably shouldn’t push it.”

“Got it.” He looked up the street. “How’s that café on the corner?”

The one where I’d met with Emma yesterday… “Actually, there’s a little burger place about two blocks away. I’d rather go there.”

“Sure thing.”

The burger place didn’t have a lot of seating, but my later lunchtime meant it wasn’t as crowded, so we were able to get a table near the counter. We ordered, Mahlen paid, and then he joined me at the table.

“You can’t just pay for everything all the time,” I said.

He gave me an arch look. “Haven’t we been over this?”

“Sure, but I think it’s good to get things clear at the outset.” And then I felt suddenly awkward. “I mean, assuming it’s an outset.”

Mahlen reached across the table and put his hand over mine. “Grace. Do you want it to be an outset?”

I looked back into his eyes. “I do.”

“Then it is.” He nodded, as if that sealed the deal. “Good. So, I know we haven’t even been served lunch yet, but I want to talk about dinner.”

I busted out laughing. “Mahlen, sweetie, if we hadn’t spent last night like we did, I’d swear you think about nothing but food.”

He laughed as well. “That’s fair, but this isn’t actually about the food. It’s about the company.”

“Oh?”

“You remember Jorge and Javier from last night?”

I tried to replicate the arch look he’d given me a minute ago. “Honey, our time after dinner was pretty distracting, but I do actually remember the meal as well. And the guys we met.”

“Right. Well, Javier called me this morning and wondered if we wanted to meet them for dinner tonight. They both really liked you, and I hadn’t seen them in far too long; they thought we could get together.” He watched me carefully as he said this, as if I was going to object to hanging out with his friends more. “I know this might be too much, too fast.”

“No, it’s not; it sounds like fun. So we should talk—”

But then our number was called, and Mahlen hopped up and fetched our burgers.

Once we were settled and eating, I resumed. “I don’t want to be all typical-female on you here, but I’d like it if we could, um, talk even just a little bit about what we want here?”

He cocked his head, looking at me quizzically, then held up his burger. “I got what I want. Do you want more fries or something? Milkshake?”

“Very funny.”

He laughed. “Sorry, I couldn’t help it. Yes, that’s a good idea. Who starts?”

I shifted in my seat. “Um, I guess since I brought it up, I can.”

“That’s fair.”

“I’m…single, obviously, and I have been for a long time.” He nodded. “And I guess maybe it was kind of obvious that I was kind of interested in you for…well, a while.”

“No, not that obvious; I did wonder, but it was entirely unclear to me.” He grinned. “I’m glad to hear it, though.”

“Last night was amazing, even if it did take me by surprise.”

“Me too. On both counts.”

I ate a few fries, collecting the rest of my thoughts. “I want to keep on with this, see where it’s going. Like I said this morning, probably we can’t spend literally every minute together, but…I think we’ve got something here, and I’d like to give it a chance.”

“I would like that too.”

And then we gazed goofily at each other for a minute.

“I guess it’s my turn,” he said, “though what I just said—that I would like to give this a chance too—is pretty much where I’m coming from.” He frowned, just slightly. “And the surprise part. I definitely want to underline the surprise part.”

“Oh?”

He nodded, took another bite of his burger, and chewed, thinking. “It was just…the way it all came together. The print, the dinner, the…rest of the evening. It flowed so naturally. Like there was never any question what should happen next, and that it was all just one hundred percent all right. Almost, meant to be? I don’t mean to sound weird or like I’m reading too much into this,” he hastened to add.

“No, not at all. I kind of feel the same way myself.”

“Yeah. I’d call it magic, if I didn’t know any better.”

And there was that word again. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair, staring down at my fries.

“Grace?” I glanced up at him; he looked understandably concerned. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” I smiled at him. “I’m probably still just a little tired. Very happy, though, don’t worry.”

“We don’t have to meet the guys for dinner if you don’t want to—”

“I do want to.” And why did I, so badly? Because it sounded like a great idea. I wasn’t even sure myself why I wanted to, but my mouth ran on without my brain’s input. “I want to know your friends—I want to know your life. And, well, I liked them. They seemed fun, and interesting.”

“They are. Even though they’re twins, they found very different fields to shine in.”

“Oh?” I tried to remember what they’d said. “All I remember is one was artistic and one was financial, or something.”

Mahlen nodded. “Jorge is a sculptor. That’s how we met, actually; years ago, in art school. He’s not unsuccessful by any means—he does a lot better than I do—but Javier works for First Central Bank downtown, in charge of a whole investment department, so he’s the ‘financially successful’ one.”

“Ah.”

“And so,” Mahlen went on with a cheerful grin, “you will see that I am not always planning to buy the meals. The brothers are treating us tonight.”

I grinned back at him. “How can I refuse that?”

~*~*~*~

Lunch flew by; the afternoon dragged. Oh, we were busy enough, but I so did not want to be making prints and cutting mat board and waiting on customers who didn’t know what they wanted. Usually I loved my job, loved seeing all the different things that people brought to us, loved making them as beautiful as possible, displayed at their best.

Today, I just wanted to get out of there. Back to Mahlen…and his interesting friends.

I tried not to think about how attractive the brothers were. How flirtatious they had been last night. How…interesting I had found them.

And I particularly tried not to think about the absurd thing that Emma Foster had broached with me yesterday afternoon.

Right before this whole adventure started.

It was her fault I was even thinking this way, I mean not thinking this way. I had never, ever even considered finding another man attractive when I was already with someone—much less doing something about it. That sort of thing was just way beyond anything I could be capable of.

So, I just kept not thinking about it. All afternoon.

Mahlen was at the print shop’s door right at five-thirty. “I’m glad you didn’t have anything else to do today than squire me around and feed me,” I said, as Monique walked up to turn the ‘open/closed’ sign around.

“Nothing could be more important than seeing you well fed and comfortably transported, milady,” he said, with a courtly bow.

Monique rolled her eyes. “All right, you two crazy kids, have fun tonight.” She began the close-up procedure on the cash register, waving me away from my offer to help. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” I said, with perhaps more force than was strictly necessary.

“What wouldn’t Monique do?” Mahlen asked, after we’d stepped outside.

I gave a mock-shiver. “I would not want to know.”

He laughed. “She probably has a whole harem of men locked up at her house.”

I stopped dead in my tracks. “Why would you say that?”

Mahlen stopped too, turned around, and grabbed my hands. “Grace! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean anything, that was a joke.” He peered into my eyes, looking very worried. “Are you sure you’re all right, you don’t want to just go home and rest tonight? We can reschedule dinner, the brothers will totally understand.”

I shook my head. Why did I react so strongly? It was just…the coincidences, the echoes, they were starting to get to me. “I’m fine. I’m sorry—I know it was a joke. I just…” I took a deep breath. “I do want to go out tonight. But maybe we should try to make an early night of it. Go home right after dinner and…sleep.” Just standing here on the sidewalk with him, holding his hands, gazing into his eyes…I felt that magical heat building in me again. Oh my goodness. Was this man actually going to be good for me, or not?

Mahlen grinned, looking relieved but still a little wary. “We will make sure you get plenty of sleep tonight. I can even let you sleep alone if you like.”

My face fell. “I’m not that tired.”

Now his smile grew. “Good. Now, let’s go get some food in you. Maybe that will perk you up.”

He drove us toward the city center, but we hadn’t gotten very far before his phone rang. “Crap,” he said, negotiating a busy intersection and looking flustered.

“Do you want me to get that?” I asked.

“Sure.” He fumbled the phone out of his pocket and passed it to me, keeping his eyes on the traffic.

“Mahlen’s phone, Grace speaking,” I said.

“Grace! Just the woman I wanted to talk to,” came a golden voice. “This is Jorge. Are you guys at the restaurant yet?”

“No, we’re just heading there though.”

“Tell Mahlen to turn around, there’s been a change of plans. Come to my house.”

“Your house?”

Mahlen glanced over at me, a question in his eyes. “Jorge says to turn around and go to his house,” I told him.

“I got a deal on some fresh salmon and it has to be cooked tonight,” Jorge said. “You do like salmon, don’t you?”

“Love it,” I told him.

“Oh, thank goodness. Tell that man of yours to pick up some wine too, and get over here!” He hung up.

I set the phone down and told Mahlen the rest of what Jorge had said.

“Luckily for us all, I’ve got a case of wine in the trunk,” he said, turning into a parking lot, then heading in the opposite direction.

“You do? Why?”

Mahlen beamed. “Another appreciative client.”

“Wow. Your job has pretty good perks.”

He nodded. “It seems to, these days.” Then he gave me another glance; this time, his gaze was smoldering. “Yes, very good perks indeed.”

I couldn’t help the grin…or the heat that washed through me.