Authors: Rose Connelly
He ducked as a washcloth flew at his head and prayed she wouldn’t see through him. If she had any idea that he stayed because he just couldn’t sleep without her it would raise awkward questions. Ones he wasn’t sure if he would ever be able to answer the way she wanted.
“Will you be serious for a minute?” She lifted the cutting board and dumped the vegetables in the broth that she already had boiling. A slice of carrot fell on the floor and Zeus darted over to grab it, crunching merrily as he wandered over to sit at James’ feet. In many respects she was glad that James had dropped a lot of his serious demeanor when he was with her and was becoming more like the irreverent boy she used to know, but there were times when it was a just annoying. Like now.
“Actually,” he continued thoughtfully. “It would make more sense for you to move in with me. My house is much bigger so there’s plenty of room for your studio and my bed is certainly bigger so I can stop hanging off the side because you’re a bed hog.”
“I am not.” She tilted her chin and put her hands on her hips. “Besides, you snore
.
I’ve heard you.”
He snorted and wisely refrained from telling her that sometimes she did as well, even if it was only lightly. He didn’t feel like nursing a black eye. “I think you’re referring to Zeus. Speaking of which if you both came to live with me Winston could keep a closer eye on the puppy and stop worrying that we’re corrupting him.”
Now that he thought about it, the idea was a good one. In some part of his mind, James knew he had been working up to this. He had very little faith in the institution of marriage as he had
seen what both his friends and his parents had gone through, but he could definitely see the appeal of waking up next to Mira every morning.
“What kind of an invitation is that?” Mira snapped. She hadn’t been expecting an outpouring of emotion, but he was being very blasé about such a big step.
“Well you’re the one who brought it up.” He let the conversation drop
,
glad that the subject had at least been broached. He could work on her some more later.
Mira sighted heavily. Since their aborted conversation weeks ago there had been no talk of feelings
—
on either side
—
so it wasn’t fair to get angry at him. At least he was offering some kind of commitment. “I’ll think about the idea,” she promised.
“Good.” James walked over, switched off the pot, and grabbed her hand. “Now,” he said, tugging her toward the sofa. “Why don’t we snuggle up, pretend to watch a movie, and neck?”
Mira sat next to him and scooted under his arm. “I hope,” she teased, “that it’s a romance. Last time you suggested this you chose an epic action movie and you stayed glued to the TV the entire time. I don’t think you glanced at me once.”
“It was 300,” he said in defense. “And how would you know what I was doing? You were just as interested as I was. And you’ll be happy to know it’s not an action. We will be watching Alfred Hitchcock’s
The Birds
.” He leaned down and nipped her ear. “There is a bit of a love story in it,” he admitted, “but I would really call it more of a horror.”
“Really,” she laughed helplessly as she evaded his overly eager hands. “What’s the point of that? Fear doesn’t generally inspire amorous feelings.”
“Come on,” he coaxed. “The movie’s not really scary. Besides,” he wiggled his eyebrows. “I promise to give you my full protection
.
You won’t even have to see the screen.”
“How do you propose to accomplish that?”
“Like this.” He pulled her legs over his lap and bent her back.
As his mouth slowly descended and the opening credits sounded in the background Mira decided that she really didn’t care what they watched.
James wasn’t even thinking about the screen.
Despite the number of times they had come together,
he
thought hazily as he let his body sink onto hers, it always seemed to get better.
If it got any hotter he might one day simply go up in flames, but it would be worth it.
As Mira fell deeper under the spell that her lover wove with his whispered promises and sensual caresses, a pounding started.
She was so caught up in the moment that the noise seemed to be coming from her own heart as it tried to beat its way out of her chest.
It wasn’t until Zeus’ frantic barking intruded that she realized the noise was coming from somewhere else.
Giving a mighty shove to James’ chest, she wiggled out from under him and stood next to the sofa trying to gather her wits.
With shaky fingers she buttoned her blouse and straightened her skirt then she went to answer the door.
She had no idea who was knocking, but whoever they were,
she
would
make sure they just
turn
ed around and left
.
She unlocked the bolt, pulled the handle, and felt her mouth fall open in shock.
“Hello, Mira girl,” Patrick Kelly said as he reached forward and pulled her unresisting body into an enthusiastic hug.
“
Well,
I see that
boy
o’
mine’s
car parked in the drive,” he continued.
“So I figure that you finally brought him up to scratch.
I knew you could do it.
Now,” he paused for breath and straightened away.
“Where is the
lad
?”
With bated breath and shaky nerves, Mira stepped back and let him pass before turning to shut the door.
James stood stock still in the middle of the room and looked at the man who had ruined his life.
Intellectually, he knew that his life was not really a wasteland and his mother
had actually died of cancer and not stress and overwork, but he couldn’t help seeing the man through the eyes of a scared 14-year-old, forced to take on a burden that was much too
heavy for his skinny shoulders.
“Son,” Pat said tentatively, slowly walking into the room.
“
Tis
good to see you.”
“Patrick,”
was
the clipped reply.
The silence thickened as the two men stood, separated by feet of carpet and years of anger and pain.
Both of them were braced as if expecting a blow to land at any second.
Zeus, oblivious to the mounting tension, suddenly bounded forward, tail wagging madly, and tried to leap up Patrick’s legs.
Obviously grateful for the distraction,
the older man
bent down and picked up the squirming puppy.
“Now there’s a fine fellow,” he crooned.
While Zeus occupied her unexpected visitor, Mira walked over to James and laid a hand on his shoulder.
He started and rubbed a hand over his face, as if coming out of a trance before turning to her with an ex
pression that was so angry
she winced.
When
he realized what he was doing
James
forced hims
elf to relax his facial muscles.
“
I don’t blame you for this,” he assured her.
After all she had come clean after he had discovered who she was and he had known that she
knew
his father.
“I know the type of manipulatio
n he’s capable of
.
”
Hadn’t he done it constantly when needed money
to throw away on his gambling?
The fact that the man had stopped gambling many years ago didn’t change his basic nature.
“He’s not so bad,” Mira said softly as she watched Patrick playing with the puppy.
James watched her face gentle as she looked at the man he hadn’t spoken to in years.
He had known that they knew each other, but he hadn’t realized how deeply Mira felt about his erstwhile
father.
She looked at him like he was a beloved parent.
Suddenly, a kernel of doubt pushed its way into his thoughts as he remembered something Patrick had said.
“Did he ask you to come here?
” he said softly.
She flushed slightly.
“It’s not what you think.”
He narrowed
his eyes and she searched
for a way to explain
.
If he was in love with her, she realized sadly, he wouldn’t look at
her with such naked suspicion. H
e would trust her.
“Yes,” she finally admitted as she
straightened
her back and looked at him squarely.
“Y
our father did suggest I
come here
, but not for the reason you apparently think.
I already knew the reputation of your company and your dad’s reports of your success just gave me a little nudge.
I came here, despite our previously rocky relationship, because I wanted to work for EcoSpace.
The rest was secondary.”
“What’s the problem?” Pat chimed in.
“It’s lucky you are to have this girl.
She’s smart as a whip
and as
sweet and beautiful
as any lass I’ve ever met. Why she would
make anyone a fine wife.”
“You’re not helping,” Mira groaned.
“Look,” she said, beginning to get angry at both men and at the entire situation.
“Really James,” she said sarcastically
.
“Do you honestly think that I went out with you, allowed you to practically move in with me, and
have shared a bed with you because you’re father asked me to do it
?”
“I don’t know,” he
replied stubbornly.
In some corner of his mind he realize
d that he was blowing things wa
y out of proportion, but he seemed unable to help himself.
He didn’t like to admit it, but t
he
stress
of being in the same room with the man who had fathered him and dealing with the conflicting emotions that he engendered, was really getting to him.
“How could you not know?
I thought you at least trusted me.”
Despite her lingering anger, the idea that she might have been so wrong about James clogged Mira’s throat, thickening her voice.
Apparently unaware of the tension that was crackling in the air, Patrick barreled forward and shoved James in the chest, knocking him back a few steps.
“I’ve no
care
for
what ‘modern’ society says,” he yelled into his son’s startled face.
“If you’re living with a woman and sleeping in her bed every night, you will marry her!”
He stepped back, breathing hard.
“She has
nae
parents to look ou
t for her so I bloody well will!
”
Way
past his endurance, James pushed back.
Years ago his strength and his size had surpassed that of his father so his shove didn’t just thrust his father back, it knoc
ked him on his
ar
s
e
.
“You, old man,” he said coldly, “
have nothing to say about it.
You lost that right when I was 14.”
Without a backward glance he stalked to the door and walked out, slamming it behind him.