These Foolish Things (10 page)

“Ty, what did the card say?”

He was smiling as he focused on the dense traffic. “‘Dear
Fisk, Most roses are red, These are kind of blue, Want to go back and dine at
the Pru?’” I signed it, ‘Rose.’” Ty glanced at Liz and laughingly shrugged,
“I’m a litigator, not a poet.”

“Wish I’d gotten it. I could have used the laugh.” Liz
relaxed. She couldn’t fathom what Ty wanted but that didn’t matter. Enjoy the
ride and be grateful your transportation problem was solved beyond expectation.

Liz started to shiver. The harder she tried to suppress it,
the stronger it got.

“Liz, are you okay? You look pale.” There was concern in
Ty’s voice.

“Just wet and cold. No big deal. I’ll warm up when I get
home.” She clenched her teeth to keep them from chattering.

Ty touched her cheek, remarking, “You’d have had double
pneumonia by the time you got to North Station.” He put both hands back on the
wheel. “All right. Let’s get you home.”

He set his shoulders and the Mercedes cut off one of the
millions of SUVs clogging the highway. Ignoring the furious horn-honking behind
him, Ty kept exploiting the small spaces in traffic until it thinned out and
was moving at a more normal pace around Winchester. Slow, because of the rain,
but not the bump and grind traffic that it had been.

Keeping his foot firmly on the accelerator, Ty exhaled and
glanced at Liz. “You can stop with the white knuckles now.”

A crack of lightning and near-simultaneous boom of thunder
made her jump. Liz glanced wildly out the window. “Maybe not.” She tried to
shrink into the car seat.

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of thunderstorms.” Ty looked at
her.

She nodded. “Always have been. My mom used to tell me to get
over it, but I never could.”

He stole a glance at her. “And you were going to walk
through it? God, you’re brave.”

Another boom made her catch her breath. “Not really. Just
didn’t have a choice if I wanted to get home.” Another flash. Liz shut her
eyes. Her shivering returned.

She felt a warm, strong hand covering hers, giving them a
gentle squeeze. “Don’t worry,” she heard. “You’re safe. I’m not going to let
you get hurt. Just trust me.” His voice was as warm as his hand. She could feel
a warm flow of energy coming from it. It ended abruptly when he put both hands
back on the steering wheel.

In no time, they were pulling onto Route 114 in Peabody and
headed towards Salem. The rain hadn’t abated, nor had the wind. Some hurricanes
die harder than others and this one was going kicking and screaming. The
roadway was a river. When the tires weren’t hissing on wet pavement, the car
was splashing through huge puddles. “This has got to be one of the worst nights
I’ve ever seen,” Ty commented.

“You’re right,” said Liz, “but I bet you Beanie makes a
break for it, anyway.”

“You’re on. What’s the bet?”

Liz was startled. “I don’t know. I was speaking rhetorically.”

“How about if I win, you pay for dinner and if you win, I
get you another two dozen sterling roses and pay for dinner?” He glanced at
her, “Hand delivered by me, if necessary.”

“Dinner?”

“Usually I charge more to rescue soggy damsels, but seeing
as how you kept me out of jail, I’ll give you a discount this once.” He winked.
She felt an electric charge from it.

“Okay, but rain check on the dinner. I don’t have a thing in
the house.” Another flash of lightning. “And I don’t want to go back out in
this.”

“I know this is out in the boondocks by city standards, but
I presume that the new-fangled idea of take-out and delivery has hit Salem? Or
are you guys still stuck in the seventeenth century?”

Liz leaned back and closed her eyes. What was going on here?
Surely this wasn’t romantic, thought Liz. She had at least 15 years and 30
pounds on any of the girls he’d dated. Corey had filled her in on names and
descriptions. Did he feel guilty over the black eye? Maybe he’s just being
kind. Or maybe he figures I’m an easy lay, Liz mused.

They pulled up in front of her house “Here’s the plan,” said
Ty, “We’ll get you inside first, then I’ll get the bags, okay?”

Liz could tell her consent was not actually sought, but that
didn’t matter. Ty came around to her side, umbrella opened, and hustled her to
the front door. A gust of wind caught the umbrella and blew it inside out a
split-second before Liz found the house key in her bag. She froze at a
particularly close and loud crash of thunder. Ty dropped the umbrella and
pulled her close against his body. “Give me the key,” he murmured as he took it
from her nerveless fingers. “Breathe,” she exhaled, “And again. Atta girl.”

He had the door opened in seconds, but not before the
downpour had soaked them both again. Beanie was poised on the threshold,
positioned for an escape attempt. He started to dive for the opening and
stopped dead at the edge of the threshold, nose and tail twitching. A few
raindrops hit his face and that decided the issue. Beanie ran for the indoors,
Ty pushing Liz inside after him.

“Be right back.”

Within a minute, Ty was back in the house, bag and
briefcases in hand, dripping as if he’d just emerged from a swimming pool. Liz
had an incredibly powerful urge to throw herself into his arms. Then she
sneezed. Great. So did he. Peachy.

“Uh, look, take off your shoes and leave them to dry there.
The bathroom’s upstairs and I’ll see what I have for dry clothes for you, Ty,” Liz
suggested, “Shower if you want to,” Her voice trailed off as a mental picture
of Ty in her shower leapt into her mind. Ty in the shower with her.

“You’d probably benefit from a hot shower yourself,” Ty
replied, “Care to…”

Liz sneezed again.

“Yeah. I’m going.” Ty padded upstairs.

As she heard the shower begin to run, Liz found herself
wondering what he looked like naked. She’d felt the strength in his arms as
he’d held her; the rest must be just as muscular. Another lightning flash
roused her. She shook her head and took off in search of dry clothes.

Keeping an ear on the bathroom activity, Liz found a flannel
shirt and some shorts large enough to fit Ty. The water stopped. Just as Liz
was about to knock on the door, she heard a “what the?” from inside the shower
and a scrambling noise. Liz smiled as she knocked on the door. The door was
yanked open and Beanie ran by at top speed, heading downstairs as fast as
possible. Ty peered around the door, amazement on his dripping face and a towel
clutched around his waist. “That was a first,” he said. “Does he always get in
the tub with you?”

Liz handed Ty the clothes. “Only for showers. He fell in
once when I was taking a bath. We found out that cats don’t like to dog paddle.
He usually stays on the rim of the tub.”

“He did,” Ty answered, “I was just startled to see a face
poking out from behind the curtain.” He touched Liz’s cheek and started to pull
her in. Lightning flashed and she pulled back at a particularly big crack of
thunder, willing herself not to scream. He started to come towards her and she
backed away before she could think. They stood and stared at each other for a
moment. Liz broke off by turning away and mumbling about having to do
something. He closed the door.

What the hell was he thinking? She leaned against the wall,
hugging herself to calm the violent shaking.

Liz knew Ty thought she was shivering from being cold and
wet and scared. She knew she was shaking from storm terror and from the huge
effort it took to stop herself from removing Ty’s towel and caressing his
beautiful body. It was even better than she had pictured, slightly thinner, but
fit, very fit. Liz admitted to herself that she had never wanted any man as
powerfully as she wanted this one. And she had just refused an implied
invitation to join him.

She headed for her bedroom and, dropping to her knees beside
the bed, hastily hid the copy of the Kama Sutra Millie had given her as a gag
Christmas gift. Just in case. Liz grabbed dry clothes for herself and returned
to the bathroom as Ty emerged.

“My turn,” Liz said a little too brightly. She pointed to the
wet garments in his hands. “Clothes dryer or hangers?”

He studied her face, then answered, “Hangers, I guess. I
think it’s all dry clean only. Are you okay? You look ready to jump out of your
skin.”

“I will be. When this storm passes, I will be.”

His hair was still towel damp, accenting the natural wave in
it. Liz’s hand itched to touch it, then stroke downwards to his face. She could
see herself doing it. Under the bundle of clothes in her hand, she dug her
fingernails into her palm. “Uh, there’s a closet in the spare room over there.
There should be plenty of hangers.” The words came out a little too fast.

Ty nodded, still studying her. Liz wondered if he could see
her intense desire for him. “Okay.” He stepped aside to let Liz through the
bathroom door, a little more than necessary, she thought. As she closed the
door behind her, Liz heard him say, “See you in a few.”

Liz stripped out of her sodden clothing and looked long and
hard at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was plastered down in snakelike
strands, mascara trails ran from her eyes down her cheeks and she was paler
than usual. Liz looked at the rest of her body, hating the sight. Nothing out
of Playboy in here, she thought. No flat stomach or defined rib cage. Just a 40
year old body. Of course, it looked a hell of a lot better than it had when it
was a 35 year old or even 30 year old body, but still, Liz had to admit the
Silicone Queen had her beaten as far as shapes were concerned. There was a
knock at the door.

“Liz? You okay?” She could hear concern in Ty’s voice.

“I’m fine, just moving kind of slow.” She spotted the
crumpled towel he had used and discarded on the floor. Liz had to suppress the
urge to wrap herself in it. The door opened a crack.

“I’m not peeking, I swear,” Ty said. “Want me to start a
fire?”

‘Uh, sure,” she said unsteadily, picturing the two of them
making love in front of a roaring fire, rain beating against the windows. She
squeaked out, “that’s a great idea.”

As Liz soaped her body, her mind kept fixing on the image of
sharing this with Ty, having those elegant fingers of his stroke and probe, her
hands gliding over his chest and down, the two of them kissing.

The shaking began again. Liz shook off her daydream.

Liz rinsed off the last of the bubbles, warning herself that
she had to keep her hands to herself if she wanted to see this man again on
anything but a business footing.

Liz dried her hair and pondered the next step. Did he expect
to stay the night? He couldn’t possibly want to share her bed. She shook her
head. Leave it alone for now. Let things unfold. The lights flickered. After
donning another old flannel shirt and a pair of shorts, Liz hung up both her
towel and Ty’s, pausing to smooth his towel a little. She nearly fell on her
face leaving the bathroom, tripping over Beanie who was waiting outside the
door.

“Beanie, how many times do I have to tell you? There’s no
life insurance and you don’t inherit dime one if you kill me.” Beanie just
blinked his green eyes and wagged his tail. Liz headed downstairs, Beanie at
her heels. She found Ty in the living room, fire crackling as promised,
examining her print of Pygmalion and Galatea and sipping a beer. He turned
towards Liz as he heard her approach. Ty raised the beer. “I hope you don’t
mind. I found it in the fridge.”

“Not at all,” answered Liz, “Buying you a drink is the least
I can do for you.”

Too late, she wished she had re-phrased that. Ty’s eyebrows
went up. “Oh? And what else would you do for me?” he asked softly, eyes
gleaming.

You don’t want to know, trust me on this, thought Liz as she
blushed. “Actually, I need your help. The lights just flickered and that means
the electricity is about to go. I’m going to dig out candles. Would you mind
grabbing my boom box out of the spare room for me? We can have music, at least.”

“As you wish,” Ty disappeared, Beanie following closely.

Liz deliberately focused on the mundane task of hauling
candles out of an antique breakfront. She shook her head. Sure, she could light
every house in the neighborhood, but all the candles were scented like roses,
apples or, worst of all, something called “Seduction.” Oh, brother. She quickly
sorted out enough in a single scent to provide light and took them back to the
dining room table. She busied herself with lighting them. Rainy night, romantic
light, incredibly desirable man within my sight, she thought and stopped. She
reminded herself: a one-night stand with Tyrone Hadley and she’d never forgive
herself. One night would not be enough, even if it was all she could have.

Liz heard footsteps and saw a blur of white dash into the
room ahead of Ty. He was smiling as he watched Beanie’s antics. Ty held out the
boom box. “Your sound system and link to civilization. Where do you want it?”

Liz paused in lighting candles. She waved her hand. “Anywhere
is fine. Let me get a take-out menu.”

She lit the last candle and ran for the kitchen. Rummaging
through her junk drawer, Liz located a menu from a Chinese restaurant. As she
headed back to the living room, the lights went out. Before her eyes could
adjust to the darkness, Beanie dashed under Liz’s feet, causing her to lose her
balance and fall into Ty hard enough to knock them both to the floor.

“Oof!”

“Dammit, Beanie!” Liz found herself sprawled on top of Ty. She
looked into his face and said, “I am so sorry. Are you all right?”

Ty started to laugh. Beanie trotted up to his head and began
to sniff his face, giving him a quick lick. Ty laughed even harder and Beanie
sat back on his haunches, tail wagging.

Liz became aware of the full body contact with Ty and how
great it felt. When they’d collided in the softball game, Liz had been wearing
her catcher’s gear. Now, there was nothing between them save for clothing. She
felt one of her legs between his, bare skin to bare skin, his hand in the small
of her back, also on skin and a sneaky desire to stay snuggled up to this man
for a long time. 40 or 50 years would be just about right. If she stayed much
longer in this intimate touch, she’d kiss him again. Liz rolled off of Ty and
leaned against the wall.