Free Fall (2 page)

Guys had propositioned her countless times. They wanted to meet her after hours, or they asked for her number. With her soft, wavy brown hair, oval face, and large green eyes framed with thick black lashes, she looked younger than her thirty-seven years. Although no raving beauty, she'd been told that she had a lively, energetic charm.

She flirted with men to a certain point, exchanged banter and politely refused their advances. It wasn’t a good idea to get mixed up with someone who knew her business and could show up any time at the bar and find her. Experience had taught her that most men who hung out at bars were fueled by a testosterone driven agenda. They were looking to get laid, and no matter how sincere and interested in her they pretended to be, it invariably ended up with them trying to get her to a place where they could lay her down. If they weren’t looking for sex they wanted to hook up with her because she had money, or because she had connections in the Seattle music scene. Because of this distrust of the male species and because of a bad break up from the last man in her life, she hadn’t had a relationship in three years.

She’d gone out a few times using an online dating site. But she discovered it was almost exactly like the bar scene. Being only human, she contemplated having sex with one of them, a very attractive and well groomed man near her age, who obviously knew that he was a great catch by his words and actions, but Nina figured it wasn’t worth it. She couldn’t become that intimate with someone without her feelings getting muddled. When the guy appealed to her for a ‘friend with benefits’ arrangement, Nina cringed. She hated that phrase, and that put the clincher on any deal they might have made. She turned him down flat.

What is it with men? Nina thought. Obviously there were women out there that were happy to provide free whore service just for the sake of having sex. She could have sex all by herself and come out of it much more satisfied than if she allowed some guy, who really didn’t care about her, to paw her and handle her body like a blow up doll.

The one time Nina attempted this type of thing, the guy she was seeing, who insisted it was a mutually beneficial relationship, had called all the shots and it had gotten to the point where he wanted Nina to meet him in the parking lot of a McDonalds and have sex in his car. He was too busy to bother with taking her out and spending an evening, or even a few hours with her.

"You’re a cynic," George had said to her only a few days before.

"Disillusioned too," Nina agreed affably. She knew that he worried about her and that Luke, who had a great wife and two sons, also wondered how she had managed to make it to the ripe old age of thirty-seven without getting married.

So, even though she was acutely aware of this very interesting looking man, she told herself to not pursue it. She was afraid of the powerful attraction between them. She wished he would leave so she wouldn’t be aware of the provocative feelings that surged through her.

Then she looked up again and saw that he
was
leaving. There he goes. He’s skinny, she noticed as he strode through the back exit door. I like skinny. The next moment he was gone. To cover up the niggling feeling of disappointment she busied herself with washing glasses.

Saturday, Joseph spent an exhausting six hours rehearsing with Anne Greenfield and two other actors in her suite on the concierge level of the Marriott. He returned to his room, opened up the search engine on his laptop and typed in 'Live Wire Club Seattle'. He found a web page that showed the storefront of the place and a few snapshots of the band members. In the ‘About’
section he found owners: Lucas Foster, Nina Foster, George Vaughn.

Nina. Who was Lucas? It occurred to him that she might be married. "No. Not you," he said to the face in the photo as she peeked over the shoulder of the man who was playing guitar last night. That had to be her brother. They had similar features, and Trevor said that her family owned the bar. He had already decided he wanted to see her again, but his mind kept running various arguments about why this was not a good idea. He didn’t make a habit of picking up available women in the cities that he traveled to for work. The affairs were short lived, risky, and ungratifying. He never had any intention of sticking around, so why bother? He was reasonably faithful to Karen, had had a few encounters here and there, and had heard rumors that she had done the same. So far they had gotten along fine. She was his California blonde. Slim, beautiful, plastic perfection—agreeable to anything. The encounters he had had were unexpected and unplanned, but this… this would be deliberate. Shouldn’t really mess with Ms. Nina, his conscious berated him. Nevertheless, after cleaning up in his hotel room he called a cab. He wouldn’t use Trevor tonight. He wanted this play to be obvious to no one but himself.

On Saturday night Nina wore a brown velvet mini skirt with a matching short-waisted jacket. Underneath the jacket was a black satin camisole embroidered with dazzling black beads. On her feet were knee high suede black boots. Her hair was twisted up so that it bobbed out in spikes. Trish was wearing exactly the same outfit. Yes, they would make quite a scene, Nina mused.

"There’s that guy again," Trish said.

Nina looked towards the entrance and saw who it was. Oh, my God! He’s back! Nina flushed with pleasure at the sight of him strolling confidently inside.

Trish came up behind her, rested her chin on Nina’s shoulder and whispered seductively into her ear, "Will ya look at that man!" She started humping against Nina.

"Stop it! God, you’re such a ho." Trish’s antics had brought about a vivid picture of sex in her mind’s eye. Disconcerted by this, and the fact that the guy was looking straight at her, Nina began to feel hot and flustered. She turned and dashed into the kitchen to hide.

Trish came in a few moments later. "What’s with you? Why are you running away! I’m going to find out who he is from Patrick."

Trish sauntered off. Nina lit a cigarette and blew smoke up the vent above the grill. All of the sudden she thought of Eddie Palmer. For three months they had gone out together, gone on a weekend trip to the ocean, celebrated Fourth of July, and had great sex in the big four-poster bed at his apartment. He cooked for her, had a well-paid job, was near her age and attractive in the tall, gangly way she preferred. Everything was falling into place with him. For the first time in her life she thought that he could actually be the one. Then, without warning, he stopped all contact and wouldn’t answer his phone when she tried calling him. After two weeks with no word she finally got the message. He didn’t want to see her again. With no explanation.

Nina was perplexed and hurt. For a while she had moped around and then she became angry with herself. Obviously she had read more into something that just wasn’t there between them. It was a humiliating experience and she promised herself it would never happen again.

Trish came back into the kitchen. "There’s no smoking in here!" She took Nina’s cigarette, dipped it under the water of a nearby faucet and threw it into the trash. "His name is Joseph Walker. He’s an actor." She announced excitedly.

"No way!" Disappointed, Nina covered her face with her hands.

"Nina honey, don’t get all bent out of shape. I’ve heard that some actors are actually real human beings."

Nina snorted. Actors! Living the high life, having four or five award shows a year, patting each other on the back, stroking egos and talking forever about how important it was to get up in front of a camera and play make-believe. It irked her that these people, America’s royalty, made millions of dollars each year. She enjoyed escaping into a good movie for a couple of hours, but refused to watch award shows, behind the scenes programs, and had zero interest in celebrity gossip.

"So, what movies has he been in?"

"Well, Patrick says he’s been in several movies, but I don’t think he’s a movie
star.
I’ve never heard of him and why would he come in here alone without bodyguards or an entourage? People would be all over him, and I certainly don’t recognize him from anything I’ve ever seen."

She wrapped her arms around Nina and pulled her into a fragrant embrace. "Nina," she said gently, "You’re a wimp. You need to quit worrying about what might happen, or what might not happen. You can’t predict the future. There’s a little bit of happiness sitting out there, and he’s looking all over for you. Now, go get him!"

Nina rested her cheek on Trish’s ample cleavage and sighed heavily. What the hell? She could scope him out and see what’s what. No harm in that. "Okay, mom."

They walked back to the waitress station where Gail was waiting with orders.

"VO rocks, pitch light." She yelled, peeved that there was no one minding the bar.

"I’ll deliver the VO," Nina volunteered.

Gail looked at her sideways. "Yes, ma’am," she said with a grin. "You want to be the waitress and I'll be the bartender? Or you just want to deliver this one drink to the table where Mr. Hottie is sitting?"

"I’m pulling rank," Nina shot back good naturedly.

"Nina’s gonna get her freak on! How long has it been? Ten years?" Gail teased. "Go Nina, go! Rah, rah!" She picked up an apron from the bar and started shaking it over her head like a pompom.

"Could you yell a little louder, Gail?" Nina fixed the drink, and allowed Gail to tie the short black apron around her waist.

"Oh, my God! Is he looking?" Gail was thoroughly enjoying Nina’s discomfiture. She handed her a wad of bills. "You’re going to need this if you have to make change."

Nina folded the bills lengthwise and tucked them across the middle finger of her left hand. She put the drink in the center of a large tray and palmed it in the same hand. Carrying the tray high overhead she walked across the floor weaving her way through the crowd. She arrived at the table and set the tray down with a flourish.

"Your drink, sir."

"Hello there!" he said, obviously pleased to see her.

She stuck out her hand. "I’m Nina."

"Joseph." He stood up and they gripped hands across the table.

Nina turned his hand this way and that, checking out his knobby looking wrist and bony forearm. "You’re skinny," she stated. "Eat much?"

"All the time."

"Some people have all the luck." Nina wished she could eat all the time and still keep her figure.

Joseph smiled. His eyes traveled up and down her body appreciatively.

"It’s very nice to meet you too! Will you sit down?"

"Not now. I have to get back to the bar. Maybe later. Could I bring you something else? Some chicken wings? A platter of ribs?"

"No thanks." Joseph laughed. "Are you singing tonight?" He placed his hand over his heart. "I really enjoyed listening to you last night."

"Thank you," Nina said. "I certainly give it everything I’ve got. We have a song coming up next set. The drink is on the house." She picked up the empty tray and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Joseph took hold of her hand again. "Would you go out with me? Have dinner?" He looked earnestly into her eyes.

How sweet. A bona fide date. "Sure. Tomorrow is my day off," Nina replied.

"How about tomorrow night, then?"

"Okay, can you meet me out front at seven?"

"Where would you like to eat?"

"We can decide that tomorrow." She took back her hand and walked away.

TWO

THE
next night Joseph waited impatiently in front of the club. He looked inside and, not finding Nina there, checked his watch and saw that she was ten minutes late. Was she coming or not? Trevor was parked in the alley behind the bar. Joseph had no choice but to use him, he had no car and he didn’t want to taxi her around to wherever she wanted to go.

And then he saw her, walking down the sidewalk, in a black camel's hair coat and jeans. He caught her eye and she smiled in recognition, her whole face transforming into engaging dimples. Her dark hair fell in soft waves around her face and down around her shoulders. She gave a little toss of her head, and flipped it out of her eyes.

Quite striking, Joseph thought, and wanted to fold her up in his arms right then and there.

"Hi!" She laid her hand on his arm and spontaneously kissed him on the cheek.

At the touch of her soft lips and the slight warmth of her breath on his cheek, Joseph felt a flash of electricity crawl up the back of his neck. "So, where do you want to go? I have a car waiting."

"You mean…like a chauffeur?" She asked.

"Well, it’s not a limo! But I do have a driver, yes."

"Could we ditch the driver and just walk?" Nina hooked her arm through his and they went around the corner to tell Trevor to get lost. "Then I’d like to get something to eat, I’m starving!"

Now that she was near him again, Nina felt a physical desire that was almost palpable. She sneaked looks at him under her lashes and thought—what a face! She wanted to devour him.

"So you’re in charge, eh?" He smiled. "Sounds good to me."

They walked past several eating establishments and finally chose a place called The Avenue. Nina led him straight to the right side of the restaurant and they seated themselves in a circular booth in the lounge. Joseph scooted around on the seat to sit close to her. There were couples already on the dance floor and TV screens mounted at strategic angles along the walls. As they watched one of the screens they saw dancers float in and out of the picture on the dance floor. They looked over the menu, which had a variety of dishes ranging from chicken to pork to pasta and shrimp scampi. They ordered an appetizer platter and then Joseph focused his attention on her.