Lotus Blossom (6 page)

He glanced at her for a second, then back to the road as they sped out of the city proper into the countryside. “No. I’m not joking. You’re right about one thing. Two of my sisters would definitely have consigned me to the devil long ago if I weren’t holding some of the purse strings in the family.” His grin widened. “My assorted cousins have degrees to their armpits, but not much common sense. It has been my dubious honor to bail them out from time to time.” His voice deepened into a broad Boston accent. “One does not give up one’s box at the opera because one is temporarily out of funds.”

Lotus chuckled. “They don’t talk like that. Do they?”

“They do. Now tell me about your family. Where are you from? Why did you come to Las Vegas?”

He had asked the question in a friendly way, but all Lotus’s fears about what she had done, and what her family had gone through, rose like choking smoke in her mind. Did he suspect her? Was he masking his real feelings? And was he just stringing her along until he had her dead to rights? Would he call the police? Have her arrested?

“Love, you’re pale again.” Dash reached for her hand, bringing it to his lips. “I want you to be happy, healthy. I want to take care of you.”

His warm voice melted her paranoia and washed her fears away. He was Dash . . . and he was special. She leaned her head back and looked at him, then let her gaze wander.

Lotus was about to ask him more about his family when she became aware that they were out in the desert. Being a Northeasterner, she had never been to a desert. She forgot what she was going to ask him as she stared at the rough, coarse beauty of Nevada.

“Like it?”

“Oh, yes,” Lotus whispered. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It must be wonderful to explore it.”

“It is, but don’t you try it alone. Getting lost out here is anything but funny. Someday I’ll take you out into the desert camping.”

Lotus’s heart wrenched.
No, you won't, because I won’t ever see you again after today.

“Darling? Whatever you’re thinking about can’t be pleasant. Look at me.” Dash had stopped the car in front of a three-car garage that looked as though it had been built into the side of the hill. “We’re here.”

“So we are.” Lotus felt her smile wobble off her face. She turned in the seat to face him because he seemed to expect it as he leaned his left arm on the steering wheel and watched her. “I was just thinking about . . . about”—her mind went blank— “about nothing,” she finished, seeing the flash of disbelief on his face before his hard smile replaced it.

“Out of the car, China Doll. I want to show you my home.”

“Is it underground?” She stepped from the car, delighted to lean against him when he pulled her to his side.

“It looks that way from here, and I do have this side recessed in the hill, but the other overlooks a shallow valley and dry creek bed. You can see for miles.”

“Do you own much of the land around here.''

“About seventy acres.”

Lotus could feel her lips parting. “That’s quite a bit of land.”

“Yes.” His answer was noncommittal.
What are you hiding from me, my sweet? I can’t figure you out, but I’m not letting go of you. You intrigue the hell out of me and I want to know what makes you run, because you are running, my China doll, and running hard.

“I’m not the only one who daydreams,” Lotus said and looked up at him, thinking how handsome he looked with the sun flashing silver in his ash blond hair.

“But I was thinking about you, China Doll.” There was silken menace in his voice. Lotus pulled back from him and stared up into his face. “Why do I feel threatened?”

Animosity toward her melted away. He stared down at the brave look of her, her chin in the air, her small hands curling into fists. “I was angry, that’s true. I sense that you’re not being open with me. I hate that, but I’m not going to let it stand in the way of our beautiful day. Sorry. Truce?” “Truce.” Lotus breathed a sigh of relief. She had today and she would use it to get to know him, to build memories with him, that she could pull out of her mind and scan when she was unhappy.

Lotus was stunned when she saw his house. It very modern, with simple decor. All the wood was cedar and pine. There were no painted walls, not even in the bathroom, as she discovered. The ceilings were high and vaulted and the open side of the house looked out over the valley with floor-to ceiling glass, yet there was privacy, since all the land as far as could be seen belonged to Dash.

“It’s lovely, so wild . . . and free . . . Lotus whispered, feeling him come up behind her as she looked out the window wall of the living room into the spectacular valley.

“
Come and see the kitchen, so you’ll trust me when I tell you that I can cook.”

“How many women have you cooked for here?” The minute the question was out of her mouth, Lotus regretted it. “Sorry, don’t answer that. It’s none of my business.”

“No, it isn’t, but I will tell you that I mostly entertain other women at my apartment above the casino and that I don’t cook for them.” Dash leaned down and kissed her neck. “Come and see the kitchen.”

Lotus could feel her entire body blush as she imagined the things he did other than cooking in his apartment.

The kitchen gleamed with chrome and steel. There were three ovens and a microwave, and built-ins everywhere. It was when Dash led her to the well-stocked pantry that she gasped. Every herb and condiment that could be thought of was there. Dried peppers and herbs hung in bunches from the ceiling along with pots and pans. There were more pots and pans that hung above the work island in the middle of the kitchen.

“I like it. I’ll help.”

“That’s the idea. Would you like to wash up? My bedroom suite is through there. Use that.” Lotus’s gaze slipped across his face and away. “I can use the guest room.”

“I know. I would like you to see mine, and I know you would be more comfortable seeing it alone rather than with me.”

Lotus nodded, relieved that he had made it bordering the sunken living room and dining room to the hall leading to his bedroom suite.

His room was in earth tones, it was as though the desert continued right into the room. The vivid orange and greens of the throw pillows were a welcome foil for the browns, tans, and beiges of the rest of the area. She looked at the sitting room with its floor-to-ceiling bookshelves filled with volumes of prose and poetry, and some on ethics, economics, and engineering.

Lotus used the very masculine bathroom all in beige, with turquoise and blue azulejos on the floor and walls and delighted in the feel of the fluffy towels after the thin ones she had been using at her rooming house. She ran a covetous eye over the hot tub and wished she could use it; instead, she washed her hands, and then wandered back into the main part of the house.

She found Dash in the kitchen, an open cookbook in front of him “What shall I do?” She felt shy suddenly.

“Tear the spinach for the salad. We’re going to have hot spinach salad. It’s very good.”

Lotus swallowed as her mouth began to water. She hadn’t had much to eat because she had been in a hurry and concerned about returning the file to Dash’s office.

The bell on the stove rang and Dash opened one of the upper stoves, a thick glove on his hand. Here we are. Artichoke canape. We can munch these while we get the other things ready. I hope you like lobster.”

I don’t like it. I love it.” Lotus watched him put the hot dish on the wooden segment of the island work area. The rest of the surface was tile with orange and green azulejos interspersing to carry through the color scheme of the front room.

Dash walked toward her with a section of artichoke canape in a napkin, watching her face.
She’s still very shy with me.
“Taste.” He held the piece up to her mouth, feeling his heart beat as she bit into the hot food. “Good?” he asked her.

Lotus nodded, one hand fanning her mouth as she chewed, then swallowed. “Hot. Good.” She smiled up at him, feeling her face go flaccid as he bent toward her and kissed her, his tongue running along her lips, then entering her mouth. Lotus was sure her legs were going to buckle.

He took her full weight against him, loving the feel of her. He lifted his head a fraction, his body bent over her. “There was a crumb of food at the corner of your mouth. Waste not, want not, my Boston Yankee grandmother taught me.”

“Wise maxim,” Lotus said and gasped, still leaning on him. “Haven’t finished the spinach yet.” “Shame on you,” Dash muttered, not releasing her.

Lotus pushed back from him with shaky hands. “I’m hungry.”

He grinned at her, masking his own excitement, delighted that she would be as affected as he was by their embrace. “You win.” When she turned away from him to the small sink where the washed spinach was set in a collander, he let his one hand feather down over her small but rounded backside. “Very nice,” he whispered in her hair as she arched toward the sink. “Very, very nice.”

“Thank you.” Lotus babbled, then could have kicked herself for sounding so inane.

They finished the preparations in companionable able silence to the strains of the love ballads that were coming from the stereo system that seemed to be in every room.

The last thing they did was broil the lobster tails over the open hickory fire. Dash fitted an apron on her as she stood next to him watching him turn the seafood. “I don’t want you to get too close to the fire. You could be burned again like you were this morning when the grease spattered on you.” He frowned down, then lifted her hand to his mouth, kissing the red mark. “You got this when you went too close to the grill.”

“It doesn’t hurt anymore,” Lotus said. But she didn’t want him to stop kissing her hand. It drove her crazy.

Dining with Dash was fun! This continually amazed Lotus. It was so diverting and relaxing to be with him. Not even her brothers, whom she loved, made her feel so comfortable . . . and they certainly didn’t bring out the other feelings she experienced with Dash!

"What are you thinking, love?” Dash asked her as he put another broiled lobster tail on her plate and proceeded to cut and lift the meat from the shell.

"How nice this is.” She could feel laughter brimming inside her as she watched him. “But I feel I should tell you that I’ve been cutting my own meat and feeding myself since I was quite small.” she opened her mouth and took a forkful of food from him.

“How innovative of you! Now feed me,” Dash told her, leaning toward her and opening his mouth.

Right through the cheese and fruit they had, they fed each other. Lotus told herself to stop, put on the brakes, and that this man spelled danger with a capital
D.
He wasn’t good for her and she could list the reasons why he wasn’t. All her adjurations to herself had substance and she found them valid, but she felt caught in Dash’s web . . . and she didn’t want to free herself. She wanted him to be hers . . . for just a little while.

Dash watched the play of emotions over her face. He could read the struggle within her. It irritated him to think that he was holding his breath lest she decided to leave him, because he knew that if she rose and told him that she didn’t want to stay, he would take her back to her little fourth-floor room in that ramshackle house.

“Stay with me.” He hadn’t wanted to say such a thing. Pride had always dictated his moves with women. He had never asked any of them to stay with him. If they did, fine; if they wanted to leave, they could do that too. He had wanted no ties, no commitments, neither had the women with whom he had involved himself. But he knew he didn’t want Lotus to go. “Stay with me tonight.”

She looked into the azure richness of his eyes, ready to tell him that she would be going as soon as they finished eating. “Yes. I’ll stay,” she heard herself tell him.

“You will?” Dash questioned, not sure that her soft response had been what he’d heard, or if it had just been what he wanted to hear.

“Yes,” she repeated, feeling the rush of blood up her face. She had just told him that she was going to spend the night with him. She had never said such a thing to any of her other boyfriends, Jeremy included, and yet she considered some of those relationships pretty serious. Her only sexual experience had been when she’d been twenty and a junior in college. It had been uncomfortable and unrewarding. She was not anxious to repeat it, and none of the urgings of her friends at school to try it again had changed her mind. But now she was telling a man that she barely knew that she would spend the night with him . . . and she was delighted, not apprehensive, with the idea. She stared at her wineglass.

“You haven’t had that much champagne, darling, just half a glass.” He leaned over and lifted the palm of her right hand to his lips. “If you change your mind ... at anytime, at any moment, tell me. It will end then. Just say a simple no.”

She looked at him and knew that he would take her home at anytime. She smiled at him and leaned
to
ward him and kissed the fingers that were curled around her hand. “I know that.”

Dash felt as though he were crumbling, yet he had never felt so buoyant, so alive ... so conceited, because she trusted him. He was proud and humble at the same time. “Thank you for the lovely compliment, China Doll.”

'You’re welcome.”

He rose and went behind her chair to direct her toward the living room.

Lotus balked. “We should do the dishes.”

"I have help come in every day.”

I still think we should rinse them. It’s an awful job to clean hardened-on food. If we run water on them, it will be easier.”

“We rinse the dishes.”
What a love she was,
he thought, watching her as she preceded him into the kitchen carrying the cutlery,
and what a darling shape.
His pulse kicked into overdrive just watching her.

They stood hip to thigh as they rinsed the dishes, smiling at each other often.

“If anyone had told me that rinsing dishes in my own kitchen could be fun, I would have had them certified; but it is a delight,” he murmured as he led her out of the kitchen into the living room area, his one arm around her.