Dangerous Curves Ahead: A Perfect Fit Novel (31 page)

He walked out the door wondering how long it would take her to look.

*   *   *

It took her twenty-seven minutes before she peeked in the drawer. She was supposed to trust him, respect his privacy, but her curiosity beat out her conscience. She sat on the side of his bed staring at the closed drawer. At best she expected to find porn. At worst a drawer of women’s underwear in
his
size. What she found was entirely unexpected and supremely lovely. Sitting on top of some hardcover books were a dozen yellow roses and a heart-shaped locket.

“Damn him.” She teared up. The brat in her wanted to close the drawer and pretend like she’d followed his order, but she couldn’t. She put on the locket, found a vase for the flowers, and called her boyfriend to thank him.

*   *   *

“It’s barely been half an hour,” Mike said into his phone. “I thought you would have made it at least an hour.” He ignored Colin’s grumblings about his manhood and listened while Ellis thanked him and promised him that she would gladly show her appreciation when he got home. It was almost enough to make him want to tell Colin to turn the car around.

Eventually he hung up and glanced at Colin, whose eyes were focused on the road. “Sorry,” he muttered.

Colin shrugged. “I like her so it’s okay. I never thought I would live to see the day when you fell in love.”

“What?” That comment shook him to his core. “I’m not in love with her.”

Colin snorted. “The hell you aren’t. You’re with her all the time. You look at her like you want to eat her and you get this goofy look on your face whenever she’s around. If you’re not in love then I’m bloody English.”

“Nah.” He shook his head. “I really like her. That’s all.” He couldn’t be in love. He wasn’t capable of such deep feelings. It was impossible. He had promised himself years ago that it would never happen to him. Sure, the thought of her with somebody else killed him, but that was normal. Wasn’t it? So was wanting to be with her all the time. Right? He couldn’t love her, because if he did it meant that if she walked away it would destroy him. He wasn’t going to let any woman fuck with his head like that. It wasn’t going to be like it had been with his father and his mother.

But now that he knew the truth behind his parents’ breakup, behind his father’s leaving, that argument didn’t seem to hold up anymore.

Marriage. Love me.
The nasty fight they had a week ago came back to him. He had asked for her trust and she told him exactly how to earn it.

But love? He couldn’t let himself think about her walking away. Somehow she got in there and lodged herself in his chest. She made him feel right.
Shit.
This was his fault. He asked for this. He pushed for them to be together. He forced her to let him in when all she wanted from him was … she never wanted anything from him. She tried to push him away.

“Shit.” He did love her. He loved her more than he could handle. How the hell did it sneak up on him like that?

He wasn’t supposed to fall in love. He was only supposed to be in Durant for a little while, until he figured out what he wanted to do with his life. He still didn’t know. In fact he hadn’t thought about it very much until the moment he started things up with her.

“It’s okay, Edwards. You’re in love. It happens to the best of us.”

But never to him.

“If I were you I would put a ring on her finger and a baby in her belly as soon as possible.”

Forever? No. Children? A life that was no longer his own? No. No! That was not the life that he wanted. Was it?

He didn’t know anymore. He still needed to figure himself out. He was in love for the first time in his life. So why the hell did he feel like there was a vise grip on his chest?

*   *   *

“Can you pass me the ice cream, please?” Cherri asked Ellis.

“Only if you pass me the chips.” Ellis picked up the pint of Chubby Hubby and passed it over as she received a bag of barbeque Popchips.

“Are you sure your boyfriend is going to be okay with us eating this junk-food feast in his bed?” Belinda said as dumped a handful of chips in her lap and reached for the bag of Peanut M&M’s.

Ellis had been a tiny bit lonely without Mike these past two days, so she’d invited the girls over for a pig-out sleepover to help take her mind off missing him.

Your sister wanted to do this with you.

Guilty thoughts bugged her at the most inconvenient times.

She should have invited her sister but she couldn’t. Not here. Ellis still hadn’t gotten up the nerve to tell Dina about Mike, even though things seemed to be getting serious between them. She was letting herself trust him. She finally decided to stop waiting for him to hurt her. It was time to tell her sister.

Tomorrow I’ll stop being a chickenshit.

“We eat in bed all the time,” Ellis said between bites.

“Really?” Cherri raised one of her dark golden brows. “What else do you do in bed?”

“Yeah, Ellis.” Belinda gave her a teasing smile. “How’s Mike in bed? You’ve been very close mouthed about him.”

“You’ve seen him.” Ellis raised her nose, like she was queen of the world. “I don’t think I have to say much about him.”

“He is hot,” Belinda agreed

“You think he’s the one,” Cherri asked.

Ellis didn’t want to answer that question. She had never been in love like this before. But
The One
? That was a phrase her sister threw around. She didn’t see marriage for them. She didn’t think about it, didn’t want to expect the impossible. They both had been so against it before. She may want it now but she couldn’t expect him to get on bended knee just because she had softened. She couldn’t expect him to tell her he loved her even though she was starting to believe he did. Mike Edwards wasn’t that kind of man.

“We’re not getting married,” she said, trying to shrug off the heaviness that covered her heart. “Hey, did you guys see
Housewives
this week? That Teresa needs to take a pill.”

“You’re right, she does.” Belinda frowned. “Now let’s get back to Mike. Are you in love with him?”

“You’ve seen him,” she sighed. “What do you think?”

“Have you told him?” Cherri poked her in the arm, her face alight with excitement.

“Of course not! He would know then.”

“Wait?” Cherri frowned. “You don’t want him to know?”

“Oh sweet, innocent Cherri,” Belinda started. “You never tell a man like Mike that you love him first.”

“Why not?”

“It’s simple.” Belinda told her. “He’ll freak out.”

*   *   *

The phone rang just after eight
PM
Sunday night. Ellis reached for it, hoping it was Mike again. She had spoken to him earlier that day when the game was just ending. She could hear the roar of the exiting crowd in the background, and despite the noise she could hear something in his voice that wasn’t right. She hoped it was exhaustion or strain from screaming for his team but something inside her told her it wasn’t that. He sounded like he was holding back something. They had joked about women hitting on him. She had laughed then, but the comment jarred her slightly. He was a good guy. She needed to trust him. Maybe her mind was playing tricks on her and it was nothing. Or maybe he really was just tired. She needed to hear from him again to confirm.

“Hello?” she said cheerfully.

“Well, don’t you sound excited for a Sunday evening.”

It wasn’t Mike. Her stomach and her heart sank a little. “I’m the best telephone answerer in the tricounty area,” she said, trying to keep the brightness in her voice. The speaker on the other end was female and Ellis was afraid to find out who she was. “Mike is not here right now. I am taking his messages.”

“Hello, Ellis,” the voice on the other end said. “I am Michael’s mother. I hear you’re his girlfriend.”

“Yes,” she swallowed.
Damn.
“If he told you about us then it must be true.”

“He did. What he didn’t tell me is that he wasn’t going to be home this Sunday. Where is my child tonight?”

“Pittsburgh. With Colin.” Ellis bit down on her lower lip. He hadn’t told her. That seemed right. He was upset with her about his father. Ellis wished Mrs. Edwards hadn’t called. It was hard enough to speak with a boyfriend’s mother. It was much harder when said boyfriend was holding a grudge. “Oh, I thought he mentioned Colin was taking him for his birthday.”

“Ah,” she said softly. “Colin did mention it a few weeks ago. I thought Mike would have told me. He always lets me know when he is going to be away for my calls. I think my son might be angry with me.”

“Um-uh, what’s makes you say that?” Ellis’s voice grew unnaturally high.

“His father called and told me about their last meeting.”

Shit.

“Please don’t talk to me about this,” Ellis said in a rush. “I don’t even know you. I really can’t get involved in this heavy family stuff. It gives me angina.”

“Okay, honey.” Margie chuckled. “I won’t. Mike did say you were adorable.”

“He said that?” She wrinkled her nose. “Adorable? It kind of makes me sound like a puppy. Don’t you think?”

“Colin said you looked like a young Sophia Loren.”

“Oh, Colin.” She sighed. “Such a big stinking liar, but I’m beginning to think I should dump your son for him.”

“That is one hell of a compliment, but I knew if my son was dating you then you had to be beautiful.”

“I’m also a little fat and not that annoying skinny-girl-who-thinks-she’s-fat, fat. But the I’ve-got-a-teen-in-my-size kind of fat. Did he tell you that? I’m the first chubster he’s dated.” She smiled. “He’s so sweet about it. He gets mad at me when I call myself fat. But I’m not putting myself down. I like the way I look. I’m simply stating facts. Like the sky is blue. I have a big ass. Grass is green and Ellis likes cupcakes.” She sighed. “And here I am rambling to my boyfriend’s mom, like an idiot. I wish you would have stopped me.”

“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart.” She was quiet for a moment. “He needs to be loved, Ellis. Can you do that?”

The question, phrased like that, shook her. She didn’t know how to answer except to tell the truth. “I love him,” she said aloud for the first time. “Very much, but please don’t tell him that.”

“I won’t. Now tell me a little about yourself.”

They ended up talking for two hours. By the end of their conversation Ellis had a new respect for Margie Edwards.

*   *   *

Mike crawled into bed with Ellis after two
AM
. They hadn’t planned to leave Pittsburgh until morning but Mike asked Colin if wouldn’t mind getting back a little early. The game had been fun, the seats incredible, the hotel nice, but he couldn’t let himself fully enjoy his weekend. His mind wandered to Ellis. He was in love with her and he didn’t want to be.

When Mike crawled into bed with her his heart stopped its irregular beating. His breathing slowed, and for the first time in two days he felt normal. It was the scariest feeling in the world.

“My boyfriend’s back,” she said sleepily. “That or there’s a burglar who smells really yummy.” She placed her hand on his scruffy cheek. “I’ll take either one at this point.”

“Hello, Ellie. I missed you.”

“You had better say that.” She slid closer, looping her arms around him. “The next thing you should say is that you bought me a present.”

He swallowed hard, the panicky feeling surging. “I did.” He kissed her. She tasted like sleepy warmth, like home.

She broke away after a moment, her eyes straining to see him in the dark. “What’s wrong?”

He was silent, while his mind screamed:
I don’t want to love you this much. I’m not sure I can handle it
.

“I want to make love to you now.” He kissed her forehead, her eyelids, the tip of her nose. “Can I?”

“Of course,” she whispered.

He covered her body with his, all the while wondering how he was going to put a stop to this intense love feeling.

Chapter Twenty-three

Everybody Loves a Happily Ever After …

It’s the reason we love romance novels. We read those lovely little epilogues and usually find the hero and heroine married with a couple of kids or a baby on the way and everybody is happy. Of course real life isn’t so neat but it still got me wondering about real Happily Ever Afters. I believe that people do achieve them. But are Happily Ever Afters the same for everybody?

Ellis watched Mike enter her office and for the first time since they had met her heart didn’t leap with excitement upon seeing him. It had been five days since she’d laid eyes on him. There had been some communication, phones calls on the first day, texts on the second, but silence from then on. That wasn’t like him.

Ellis had known something was wrong the day he came back and nothing felt right or good or the same. They celebrated his birthday Monday by going to a nice restaurant in town. He said very little during dinner while she went on and on rambling about whatever topic came to mind. It was the first time they shared no smiles, no easy conversation. It reminded her of her last few months with Jack. She hated herself for the comparison but that’s what it felt like.

When she asked him what was wrong he claimed he was tired. When she tried to leave him alone to rest he pulled her into bed and took her body but there was no love in their lovemaking.

The day he left for Pittsburgh she’d felt so hopeful, so in love. She was learning to trust him, to let her guard down. For once she was allowing herself to see him in her future.

It was the biggest mistake of her life.

“Hey,” he said softly.

*   *   *

“Hey,” she responded.

She wouldn’t look at him and Mike knew he was in trouble. He knew he had hurt her with his silence, with his absence, but he needed the time away from her to think. He needed to decide what he was going to do with the rest of his life. Now he knew. He wanted to spend it with her.

It took five days of torture. Five days of misery, of being solely in his head before he understood what love was.

Life sucks without her, asshole.