BEAST (15 page)

“Christopher! There aren’t cameras in the lockers are there?!”

“Time.”
He said and
paused in the workout since it didn’t appear that she was interested in them at this moment.
“No,
there are no cameras in lockers or restrooms,
that’s
prohibited actually.
”

She searched his eyes.
“Promise?”

A brief look of surprise crossed his face.
“Of course.
”
As if he would allow someone to watch her in the bathroom and locker room!

She seemed satisfied. He didn’t mention that pretty much ever
ything else was open to them including the outside circumference of the two federal buildings.
The private offices did not have
security cameras;
like Ashleigh’s, but the SSA and TAC offices had them.
She did not look very happy as she glanced at the camera.

“Don’t worry,” he said after th
ey resumed the set
. “There’s…probably no one even watching. I mean…it’s a security camera and they know I’m down here so no need to watch.” He was surprised that he was even able to say that lie so convincingly. But he didn’t like seeing her anxious about it.

“That’
s true,” she responded, rela
x
ing again
.

~***~

Saturday seemed to take forever to come. Ashleigh always dressed very upscale for work and so this time chose to dress casually for her date.
Date.
She beamed. What was it about Christopher that made her feel so happy? Well for starters she felt very attracted to him. He was so
gentle and soft spoken and yet
there was something powerful about him. She felt safe with him. She somehow knew that he would always have her back. But in regards to the attraction; she’d never met anyone so perfectly put together.

She slipped on jeans that hugged her butt. Next was a polo shirt and she liked the way it made her look like she had a waistline…wait, she DID have a waistline now! Ashleigh giggled and checked her hair and makeup, and then she hurried to Christopher’s house.

She knew the area that he lived but used her GPS to find his house. She pulled into the driveway of a single story ranch style house. It was very well maintained; the lawn was completely weed-free and perfectly green. His shrubs didn’t have a leaf out of place. He even had a neat flower bed with huge hydrangeas and Ashleigh tried to picture him on his hands and knees planting and weeding. It was just too weird imagining him out of the subbasement.

She rang the bell and not five seconds later the door opened. Her eyes drank him in as his swept over her. He wore jeans and a USMC shirt that showcased his huge arms. One thing she appreciated about Christopher is that while he was tall and well muscled, he wasn’t some ‘
roided
-out’ looking monstrosity.

“Hi Ashleigh.”
His broad smile almost made her melt.

“Hi.” He stepped aside and let her in. She inhaled deeply in appreciation.

“Oh my god.
Something smells great.”

“Ah…yes, we’ll get to that in a moment. You didn’t have any problems finding my house did you?”

“Nope.
Garmin
Nuvi
got me here safely and soundly,” She said referring to her GPS device. She looked around in amazement. He did not live in some bachelor’s pad. Christopher’s house was warm and welcoming. Music that she didn’t recognize played softly over the stereo. He had hardwood floors with a huge area rug that made her want to kick off her shoes and sink her toes into it. An orange tabby walked over to her and when she bent down to pat it
it
darted away.

“She’s shy,” he explained. “I’ll show you around.” He led her from one well decorated room to the next. He showed her a bathroom that was huge and had the biggest tub she’d ever seen.

“I had to special order that.” He said. She looked up at the ceiling. There was a skylight. “I put that in.” He said.

She looked at him, impressed. “You did that? That’s really nice looking.”

“Thanks, but it was easy. It came in a kit.” Still, she could barely change her own light bulbs. Lord
forbid
if a fuse tripped or a pilot light went out. Then she’d be screaming for DeAngelo. Well, she’d have to learn to be more self sufficient. Maybe Christopher would show her some home improvement tricks.

He led her back into the hall and pointed out a room that had been converted into a gym. There were free weights, treadmill, mats and a 42 inch wall mounted flat panel television.

“Nice.”

The next room was his bedroom. There was a King sized bed which didn’t surprise her, but the pretty decorations did; matching comforter and curtains, artsy portraits on the wall, and nice, huge furniture with simple lines and uncluttered surfaces.

“Are you an interior designer in your spare time?” She asked, only half joking.

He smiled and shook his head. “No…I just have a lot of spare time on my hands. You should see this place at Christmas.” He actually planned out how the tree would be decorated
months in advance
. Every year he did something different;
either purple
and gold, red and silver and once he did nothing but white. He also loved putting out lights and carving pumpkins at Halloween. He always had plenty of visitors during the holidays with his big family but…it wasn’t the same as having his own.

Last was the kitchen. Ashleigh gasped. “Christopher…” She took in everything from the metal finish on the appliances, to the granite counters and dark wood cabinets. He even had a six burner, gas stove with a grill!

There was a kitchen eating nook beside a wonderful bay window…and she just wanted to stay forever! She looked out the window into a large wooded back yard with a deck and simple but nice furniture.

“You have a great house. I really love it.” Her condo was pretty but it was also staged. Her place wasn’t meant to make people feel warm and fuzzy but to impress. She had expensive white furniture that had to be cleaned professionally twice a year because wearing certain colors could easily mar the fabric. There was lots of glass and silver…and coldness.

“I’m happy. I want you to be comfortable.” A shiver ran up her spine and she smiled shyly. He watched her for a moment and then led her into the kitchen.

“So.
Are we ready to eat?”

“Yes!”
Was her enthusiastic response.
And she was pretty sure that she had guessed what he had cooked. It smelled like…Thanksgiving dinner.

He opened the oven and closed it back. “The cornbread needs a few more minutes.” He lifted the aluminum foil that covered a Dutch oven and she saw 4 perfectly roasted Cornish hens.

“Four?”

He smirked. “I figured you’d eat one, right?” She nodded. “And I’ll eat three.”

She gave him a surprised look. Oh, yeah he was HUGE.

“Wild rice stuffing.”

“Yum.”

“Baked sweet potatoes.”
He lifted the lid from a simmering pot and she saw collard greens. Her brow went up.

“You know how to cook collard greens?”

“Yep.”
He picked up a s
lotted s
poon and stirred them. “I know how to grow ‘
em
, pick ‘
em
, clean ‘
em
, cook ‘
em
…” He winked at her, “and
eat
‘
em
. Remember, I grew up in the country.” She wasn’t like
ly
to forget with that sexy accent of his.

“Soul food
i
s
no different than country food,
”
s
he said.

“I don’t know if I agree with that.”

“Really?”

“Unless you eat muskrat and raccoon.”

“Uh…can’t say that I have, you have?
”

“
Yep, ate it often when I was a kid; muskrat with gravy and rice. It was good. Raccoon…eh…you had to boil the hell out of it and get every bit of fat and glands
off
of it. More trouble than
it
’
s
worth and it still had a
…funky taste.
Not
too
bad
with beans, though.” He went to the fridge
as she listened aptly. And then she found herself checking out hi
s butt in his jeans. Running the treadmill everyday
sure
made for a fine ass…

“What would you like to drink? I got diet soda.” He’d picked it up with her diabetes in mind.
“Unsweetened tea.”
Though he preferred his sweetened.
“
Beer,
and bottled water.”

“Bottled water.”
He grabbed two and a stick of butter. He picked up a potholder and then pulled a black skillet from the oven. Golden brown cornbread sent an unbelievable aroma through the air.

“My Mama uses an iron skillet to make cornbread, too!” She said.

“This is the only way to do it, Sweetheart.” He liberally buttered the top of the cornbread. She hid a grin when he said Sweetheart. She liked hearing it coming from
him,
it gave her the warm and
fuzzies
.

“I’m hungry, Christopher.” She said while staring at the cornbread.

He reached into a cabinet for plates and passed her one. “Dig in.” He didn’t have to tell her twice. His plate was piled high with food so she didn’t feel bad about placing an entire Cornish hen on her plate with loads of greens and a butter and brown sugar topped sweet potato. Christopher sliced the cornbread and heaped it onto a separate plate and placed it on the table along with hot sauce, salt and pepper. Ashleigh grinned at the sight of the table. Damn, he ate like her family.

They didn’t talk, they just ate. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. She wanted to kick off her shoes and tuck her foot under her.

“You make greens better than me.” She admitted
,
her cheek bulging with food as she carefully spoke. “And that’s not Jiffy cornbread mix.”

“Jiffy is good for desert with some butter and jam, but when its dinnertime there ain’t nothing like white cornmeal cornbread.”

After dinner he quickly put away the food while she watched him. He had warned her not to expect desert and she said that she didn’t have room for another bite.

“Thanks for dinner.” She said shyly. “You are a really good cook.”

“I like to eat and if I wanted to eat
good
I had to learn to cook. Good food to me is food I grew up on.
Can’t get that from McDonald’s.”
His low country voice did something to her. She just loved the sound of it.

“Can I help you with dishes?”

“Nah, I’ll load up the dishwasher in the morning.” He led her into the living room. “What do you want to do? Watch
TV
, listen to music…I can play some guitar for you.”

“I’ve
been wanting
to hear you play!” She sat down on the couch and he moved to the stereo and turned off the music. A guitar was tucked almost behind the entertainment center and she hadn’t seen it before. He sat down next to her.

“What do you want me to play?”

“You’re good enough to take requests?”