Crossed Wires (2 page)

She glanced at him briefly before returning
her gaze to the road ahead. “You’re not?”

“No!”

“Oh,” she said forming her lips into a
perfect circle. “You seemed so hesitant to say what was on your
mind, I figured something big must have been bothering you.”

“I’m not gay,” he said again. For some reason
he had to be absolutely certain she was clear on his sexual
orientation.

“I believe you,” she said, grinning at him
again. “I have nothing against gay men, but it is a huge relief to
learn you are as straight as I thought you were. I’ve been
imagining the two of us together ever since I opened my front door.
Some of what I see the two of us doing with each other I couldn’t
do with a gay man.”

Ooh, this lady knew how to flirt.

“Oh?” he said, raising a brow. “I like the
sound of that.” He gave her his most charming smile. “Would you
care to elaborate?”

Her cheeks turned crimson as she focused on
the road. Hank thought it sweet that she was blushing.

“I don’t think I need to elaborate, Hank. You
seem like a very perceptive man,” she said, stealing a glance in
his direction.

He leaned back and decided he’d better just
shut up and enjoy the drive.

“Hank?”

“Yes?”

“If you aren’t gay, as I mistakenly
concluded, what is it you wanted to tell me?”

A lump formed beneath his ribs. “I
guess…”

Don’t miss this opportunity,
his
fair-minded brain advised.

Keep your mouth shut!
his libido
argued.

“Yes?”

“I guess I must have forgotten.” Fortunately,
the angel conscience which had bothered him before had taken a
coffee break. The naughty boy side of him was now in charge of his
personality. That usually got him into trouble, but it was the kind
of trouble men always enjoyed before regrets set in.

“Good. Now we can concentrate on having fun
this afternoon,” she said, giving him another playful grin, “and on
getting to know each other real well.”

“Sounds perfect,” Hank replied.

As they drove to Bear Lake State Park, he had
plenty of time to appreciate Melanie’s allure. The beauty of the
hills and trees surrounding them, gorgeous as they were, couldn’t
compete with the lovely lady driving the car.

Bits of guilt spattered his insides from time
to time, but Hank managed to chase them away by promising himself
he’d tell Melanie the whole truth after they’d finished diving.

It wasn’t long before they arrived at the
dive shop where they rented gear and a blue and white speedboat.
Moments later, Melanie was changed into the yellow bikini she’d
brought along with the hiking gear in her duffle bag, and Hank was
wearing the black swim shorts he’d purchased at the beach store
next door to the scuba shop.

The hours that followed were among the most
magnificent Hank had ever known. Melanie was an excellent diver.
She practiced safety every moment without letting her caution
interfere with her adventurous personality.

The water was warm enough for the two of them
to swim without the encumbrance of wet suits. This freedom
encouraged them to behave playfully. The whole experience was
blissfully freeing, almost spiritual.

As they communicated with hand signals while
observing blue gills, carp, bass, and a spare tire or two caught in
the red granite bottom of the lake, Hank had no trouble
understanding everything Melanie was trying to say. It was as
though he could read her mind. They had such a strong
connection.

When they came to the surface at the end of
their second dive, Melanie was laughing with pleasure. She dropped
her regulator into the water and lifted her mask to the top of her
head. “Did you see that huge catfish? I’ve never seen one so big!
It must have been five feet long!”

“Of course, I saw it,” Hank said, after he’d
lifted his mask and removed the regulator from his mouth. “I
thought for a moment it was going to eat me!”

She laughed harder, and Hank swam next to
her. “I have to admit, he was a little scary looking.”

“He was at that.” Hank reached toward her.
“Let me take your tank. I’ll put it on the platform.”

Melanie slipped off her backpack and handed
it to him. “Thanks.”

Hank went to the platform at the back of the
boat and placed her air tank on it. He then deposited his tank,
setting it next to hers.

When he swam back to Melanie, she splashed
him and giggled at what she’d done.

He splashed her back.

She sent a wave of water in his
direction.

“Hey, what’s going on here?” he said as he
wiped his face and smiled at her.

“I’ve been thinking about doing this all
afternoon.”

“Splashing me like a mischievous little girl
in the town pool?” he asked.

“Yup. It’s one of the things I thought about
doing together with you.” The grin she sent him had sexuality
written all over it.

“It was, huh?” He moved closer to her and
took hold of her as he continued to tread water. He swam toward the
boat, taking Melanie with him. He took off her mask which was
resting above her forehead, and put it in the boat. He did the same
with his own mask. He placed her between himself and the boat,
hanging onto molding on either side of her. “And this is what I’ve
been thinking of doing all afternoon with you.”

He leaned closer to her and kissed her
sweetly.

She received him even more eagerly than he’d
hoped she would.

He kissed her once more before he pulled
back. When he looked into her eyes, he saw innocence and trust
surfacing from her depths.

“I guess we’re on the same wave length,
Hank.” She pressed her lips to his and coaxed him into a
mind-blowing kiss.

As much as he enjoyed her seduction, he
couldn’t ignore the guilt gnawing at his gut. He pulled back
abruptly, ordering himself not to go one step further until he came
clean with this lovely, trusting woman.

“What’s wrong?” Melanie asked. She looked
confused, and he couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t normal for a man to
back away when a goddess was offering him what Melanie had been
offering--not for a straight man, anyway.

“Nothing,” he said, trying to squelch his
remorse for lying to her. “I think we should get into the boat.” He
took her to the ladder and helped her remove her fins. He tossed
them into the boat and assisted her as she climbed the ladder.

When she was safely on board, he took off his
fins and placed them in the boat before going up the ladder.

“I’m going to the rear of the boat to change
into my clothes,” he said when he was on board. “You can change up
front, if you’d like.”

He knew he’d be a lot more successful at
telling her the truth if they were dressed. Melanie began to remove
her dive vest, and Hank decided he’d better move quickly to the
rear of the boat. If he saw her wearing nothing but her yellow
bikini again, he’d never tell her the truth. Heck, he’d forget his
own name the second he saw her clad in nothing but strings and
spandex. She was completely irresistible in her provocative
bikini.

She pushed back the sides of her vest. “I
don’t need to get dressed. I’ll just slip on my cover up. I can
dress after we go back.”

Hank turned away quickly, ordering himself
not to look at her. He had to tell her the truth. He had stay
focused.

Once he reached the back of the boat, he took
the tanks from the platform and laid them in a corner. Then he took
off his shorts, dried himself with the beach towel he’d bought and
put on his clothes.

When he turned around, he saw Melanie,
thankfully wearing her cover up, staring at him. A cell phone
hugged her ear. He recognized it at once as his phone.

He swallowed hard. He could tell by the look
on her face he was undoubtedly busted. He went to her.

“Goodbye,” she said. She flipped the phone
shut and handed it to him. “Sorry. I thought my phone had fallen
out of my bag. Our phones look exactly alike, and yours was lying
next to my duffle. I answered it.”

Hank took the phone and stuck it into his
pocket. “Who called?”

“Lizzie.”

He rubbed his hand over his face. As sure as
Satan ruled Hell, he was caught in his web of lies. “Did she leave
a message?”

“Yes,” she said, sheepishly. “She said the
address she’d marked on your work order was wrong. You were
supposed to go to 741 Laurel Lane.” She lifted a corner of her
mouth and sent him a wry look. “I live at 714 Laurel Lane.”

“So that’s what happened,” Hank mumbled.

“I beg your pardon?”

He stepped closer to her. “No, Melanie. I’m
the one who should be begging your pardon. You’re a smart woman.
You know now after speaking with my secretary exactly what I did.”
He folded his arms and gave her the most remorseful look he could
produce. “I’ve been dishonest with you.”

She laid a hand on his arm, and she seemed to
be biting back a smile. “You have?” she asked with a look of
innocence so obviously fake a jury would give her the chair if
she’d use it as a defense in court.

He leaned back, placing the majority of his
weight on one foot as realization began to set in. “You knew about
the deception all along, didn’t you?”

She pulled back her hand and started to
chuckle. “I didn’t know until I saw your van. I knew the man
Cynthia had set me up with was a plumber.”

Hank unfolded his arms and held out a hand
casually. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, lifting
her chin.

He stared at her a long moment before he
returned the smile she continued to hold on her face. “Because I’m
a jerk. The moment you opened the door and I laid my eyes on you
for the first time, I felt a connection with you. That has never
happened to me before.”

“Oh?”

“Yes.” He reached toward her, almost touching
her before he drew back his hand.

“So the second you saw me, you decided to lie
to me?”

He shook his head. “No, it wasn’t like that
at all. At first I didn’t know why you were talking to me the way
you were. I’d just come to fix a wiring problem. When you started
talking about hiking in the park, I had no idea what was going
on.”

“Of course, you didn’t.”

“If you remember,” he said, looking at her
carefully, “I did let you know I had something important I needed
to tell you, and you said you knew what I meant.” He twisted the
side of his face. “That happened a couple of times, didn’t it?”

She wiped a finger over her cheek as though
she were trying to wipe the persistent smile off her face. “Yes, it
did.”

“The first time I tried to explain, you
thought I wanted to cancel our date.”

“But we didn’t have a date,” she said
coyly.

“You know what I mean. You looked so
disheartened, I lost the nerve I needed to go through with my
confession. The second time I tried to explain--”

“I concluded you were trying to tell me you
were gay.”

“Yes, you did.” The whole notion of her
thinking of him in that way had made him very uncomfortable. If
that’s who a man was, fine, but he was not gay.

She released a lively chuckle as she took
hold of his hand. “Well, neither of us has any doubt about your
orientation now, do we?” She squeezed his hand and drew him
closer.

As she stretched up to get closer to him, he
knew she was about to kiss him.

He touched her shoulder and set her back on
flat feet.

“Why did you push me away?” she asked.

He frowned at her. “We’re not finished
talking yet. I’ve told you why I lied to you, but you never told me
why you lied to me.”

“I lied to you?” She was showing her cute
fake innocence again.

He couldn’t help but grin at her. She was
just so freaking cute…and sexy. “You know darn well you did. You
said you knew I wasn’t your blind date when you saw my van. Why
didn’t you shove me off your porch and tell me to get lost?”

She tilted her head and sent him a grin as a
lovely shade of crimson colored her cheeks. “You’re not the only
one who can fall for someone the second she sees him.”

“Oh?” He liked what he heard.

“The instant I met you I thought good ol’
Cynthia had finally done me a favor--a huge favor. She’d sent me a
man I knew I had a connection with the moment I saw him. That has
never happened to me before either. So,” she said, squeezing his
hand again, “when I realized you weren’t the man Cynthia had sent,
I made a decision. If you wanted to pretend with me, I would
pretend with you, and we’d see where it would lead.”

“You were teaching me a lesson?” He wasn’t
sure what she meant.

She shook her head and gave his hand another
squeeze. “No, absolutely not. I did give you ample opportunity to
end the charade, if you wanted to. You do remember, don’t you?
Ultimately, I reminded you that you had said you wanted to tell me
something important. When you said you’d forgotten what you’d
wanted to say, I knew you were committed to carrying out your
charade. At that point, I committed myself to keeping my secret as
well.”

“So we’re both jerks?”

She gave him a crooked nod. “That’s about the
size of it.”

He tugged on her hand and drew her close to
him. “I’ve never seen a more beautiful jerk in my life,” he growled
as he pressed his cheek against hers.

She placed her arms around him and lifted her
lips to meet his.

He kissed her soundly, possessively, and he
knew by her response she was open to him in every way.

When he pulled back, he stared into her
lovely emerald eyes. “Would you like to have dinner with me
tonight?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” she cooed. She
stretched up and kissed him briefly before settling once again on
flat, bare feet.

“Great. I’m starving. Diving always makes me
hungry.” He touched her chin and smiled at her. “What do you say we
go straight to The Coffee Shop for their old-fashioned chicken fry
as soon as you change into your street clothes?”