Part 16 (1/2)
”Well, thank you for admittin' it.””I haven't made any secret of the fact that I want to be in your bed.””Right. You just don't want to stay there for very long.””Emma-””Wait. I am not finished. This is my last offer. Mandy and I will go back with you to Angel's Crest. And you will not come to my bed again unless you're plannin' on stayin' in it till dawn.”
He swore.
She told him, ”There's more.”
”Great. I cannot wait to hear it.”
”We will have ... time. Together. You and me. And Mandy, too. I know you are a busy man. I'm not gonna ask for the impossible. Say, ten hours, total, a week. And three of those ten hours will include Mandy. We can have dinner together, meet for lunch, take in a movie, go for nice, long walks. Whatever. But there won't be any lovemakin' going on, not until you decide to-”
He put up a hand. ”I get the picture.”
”Well, then. Do you agree?”
”Yes. I'll stay out of your bed unless I plan on sleeping there or unless you change your mind.”
She didn't like the look on his face. It was much too self-satisfied. ”Wait a minute. I never said anything about changin' my mind.”
”No, Emma, you didn't, I was the one who said that.”
Chapter 14.
W hen they got back to Angel's Crest, Jonas asked Emma to have dinner with him. She accepted. After the meal, he walked her up to her room.
”That's two hours you have spent with me,” she said when they got to her door. ”Eight more to go by next Thursday.” She looked very determined and utterly adorable.
He allowed himself a smile. ”Keeping score, are you?”
”Just keeping our agreement.”
”Change your mind anytime.”
”Stay the night.”
Jonas shook his head with a great deal more regret than he wanted to feel. ”Sleep well, Emma.”
”Don't you worry. I will.”
The next day, Friday, she dropped in on him at Bravo, Incorporated. He found it vaguely irritating, the thrill that s.h.i.+vered through him when his receptionist buzzed him to say that Mrs. Bravo would like to see him.
He was alone in his office, with no appointments or meetings for the next hour. Good timing on her part, he supposed not that it wouldn't have been a simple matter to let her cool her heels a little, to tell the receptionist he didn't want to be disturbed.
He said nothing of the kind. He didn't even stall. He was too d.a.m.n anxious for the sight of her. ”Send her in.”
She strolled into his office in her spiky-heeled shoes and dropped into one of the two leather wing chairs opposite his desk. She crossed those long legs and folded her hands loosely in her lap.
”I have come to ask if we can take Mandy to the zoo on Sat.u.r.day,” she announced. ”I know I should have asked you last night. But I didn't think of it until this morning. And then, well, I thought maybe I'd be more likely to convince you if I came in person. So here I am.” He watched that beauty mark by her mouth. ”Or Sunday,” she added, eyes round with apprehension. ”We can go Sunday if that would be better for you...”
What would be better for him? Easy: for her to give up this foolishness and let him back into her bed.
”Jonas, please can't we do this? I think Mandy will love it, seein' the animals, gettin' out for a while...”
She must have noticed he was staring at her legs. She coughed and recrossed them. ”Jonas?”
He looked into her sweet, flushed face.
And he couldn't help thinking that a one-time excursion wouldn't be all that risky. Criminals, after all, studied and made use of the routines of their victims. Being at the same public place at the same time of day on a regular basis, or living in a house that could not be secured those were two of the most effective ways to court trouble. Anyone out to do harm could learn with relative ease where to find his victim and when. But a one-shot deal? He and Emma and Mandy would have their day at the zoo and be back at Angel's Crest before anyone was the wiser. They might end up dogged by a reporter or two, but he could handle that.
”All right,” he said. ”Tomorrow.”
That tiny mole disappeared into the shadow of her cheek as she beamed him a thousand-watt smile. ”That is just great. I thought we could maybe leave around ten, if that's all right, grab a chili dog or something while we're at the zoo.”
”Sounds good to me.”
”Oh, I am so glad.” She stood.
He realized he shouldn't have agreed so swiftly. Now she would leave. ”Wait...”
She blinked those eyes, which he swore right then were the color of emeralds. And after she blinked, she just stood there, between the leather wing chair and the extensive mahogany expanse of his desk, giving him a chance to tell her why he had asked her to wait.
The invitation seemed to come out of his mouth all by itself. ”Tonight, I'm having a friend in for dinner.” It was the independent film producer he'd had to put off the night before. ”I'd like you to join us.”
The dark lashes swept down again, then up. He saw pure pleasure in her eyes. ”Well, that would be real nice. Thank you, Jonas.”
”We'll have drinks in the front room. Around eight.”
”I will be there.” She started to turn.
He decided he ought to give her more information. ”His name's Ledger DelVecchio and- ”
She spun back to him. ”The movie director?”
She had succeeded in surprising him again. ”Director and producer. You've heard of him?”
”Sure. Blythe said once that she thought he was very talented.”
Jonas had met Ledger through Blythe. Years ago, the moviemaker had been one of her strays, a very skinny kid from San Pedro with big dreams and a battered Super 8 movie camera constantly running in front of his face.
Emma said, ”After all the great things Blythe said about him, I went out and rented one of his movies the one about the dog that saved New York .”
”Sparky.”
”That's right. Oh, and the one about the aliens both the s.p.a.ce kind and the illegal kind, and the border patrol and the mutated bananas. I saw that, too. Fruit of Venus, wasn't that it?”
”I believe so.”