Lovers and Other Strangers Box Set: The Boston Stories (19 page)

"Joseph, turn right at the corner."

"Hey, any chance of you calling me Cam, like everybody else?

She tried it out in her head and made a face. "No, a cam is part of a car. You are not part of a car, you are a strong, noble man. Besides I'm not everybody else."

She could feel his laughter in his chest and it made her want to slip her hands under his sweater to feel his skin.

"No, you are not like anyone else, that is for damn sure. As far as the strong and noble part well, there are some people that would disagree with you. I haven't exactly been a saint since high school, hell, I wasn't one when I was there."

"I remember you quite vividly and while you were mischievous, you were never truly bad."

"Hey, do you have a yearbook at home, I should have thought of that before. Seeing what you looked like then might bring back what I did that so impressed you."

"Ugh, No way am I showing you my yearbook!" She practically screeched.

"Come on, every body looked lousy then. Did you have braces?" She shook her head yes. "Glasses?" Yes again. "Bad mall hair?" Again yes. "Hmm, maybe you're right, you're too pretty now to have all that heaped on you."

"Oh it was worse than all of that."

"There is more? Damn, did you get a nose job too?"

"No, the face is factory original and so is the body."

"Good to know, I'll have to check when I finally get you naked." He looked every inch the naughty school boy when he kissed her then. She was so shocked she jumped out of his lap.

"Hey, get back here you were nice and warm."

"Easy Romeo, we're here. You have to promise to be on your best behavior or I won't introduce you to my friends. Bernard is a true art world bad boy so I have no doubt that he'll end up in the Met at some point. Be nice to him."

"Is he going to get the same lecture?"

"No, it wouldn't do any good."

"But you think it will with me?"

"Let me put it this way, the nicer you are, the faster we can get out of here."

"You can soon add charming to noble and strong. Let's get this over with. Shit, stairs. Is there a back entrance or do you think you can help a fella out with getting me up them. There are only three so it shouldn't be too tough."

"I can get you up those." She flexed in classic body-builder's style, which made him laugh. She backed him up the three steps just fine, luckily the gallery was all on one level. Cam wasn't much impressed with the artwork. All of it was female nudes which would have been fine except that every picture had some sort of threat of violence implied. For a guy that liked women and spent his life protecting people from harm, it raised the hairs on the back of his neck in a way he didn't like.

"So is your buddy into S&M?"

"What? Why do you say that?"

"There is some violent element in all the pictures. It is weird considering the rest of the picture is a fairly normal female nude. Is he just trying to be controversial?"

"No, I'm trying to make a statement about the world being an unsafe place for beauty."

"Oh, Bernard! Hi. Great turnout for your show."

"Thanks Evie. Is the art critic your friend?"

Cam looked Bernard up and down. If he had a beret and cigarette hanging out of his mouth he couldn't have looked more stereotypically an artist. He was wimpy looking and dressed like he was trying too hard. His jeans were cuffed just so. The very consciously rolled sleeves of his sweater and the cravat -who the hell wears a cravat, screamed self absorbed jerk. Cam also didn't like the way he was looking at Evie like she was his property. Again, his cop gut instincts flared up but if he said anything to her she'd just think he was jealous. Okay, so some of it might have been jealousy but a good cop doesn't ignore his instincts.

"Never claimed to be an art critic. Just know what I like. Guess this just isn't my thing. Evie would you like a glass of wine?"

"Sure, white please."

"I'll be right back. See ya, Bernie" Cam kissed her hand as much because he wanted Bernie to know that she was with him as because he wanted to feel her close again.

Bernard watched the guy in the wheelchair roll away and frowned. Evie always had a thing for the underdog. There was no way he'd let her saddle herself with a cripple.

"Evie, another of your projects?"

"Joseph? No way. He doesn't need my help at all. We actually went to high school together."

"So you're just friends."

"Um, actually I'm not sure what we are." She blushed and started giggling.

Bernard knew that if they hadn't slept together already then they were going to. Evie was his, dammit. Of course, the guy was in a wheelchair so he probably couldn't even get it up. Good! Let her work through her maternal urges with the cripple. He didn't want her to mother him he wanted her at his mercy, and begging.

Cam didn't realize how intently he was watching Evie and Bernard till someone tapped him on the shoulder and he almost jumped out of the chair.

"Cam? You're awfully jumpy. Its just an art gallery although I would never have expected to see you here."

"Oh, Violet, Hi. Is Michael here?"

"No, I'm on my own. He had a faculty meeting he couldn't weasel out of. So what are you doing here. No offense but you never struck me as a big arts booster."

"No offense taken, I'm the first one to admit that I don't know a thing about art but I met this woman and she's friends with the artist. So how is my godchild doing?"

"Mostly making it so I can't sleep. Michael says that any baby this restless has to be a girl. He has no idea what he is in for if he is right."

"Ah, let him dream, he's had so few women in his life he probably wants a ton of little girls. Hey, come meet Evie."

Violet followed him over to Evie and Bernard, even his name sounded pompous.

"Evie, I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine, Violet Bellows, this is Evie Tolland. Evie, Violet."

"The sculptor?"

"Yes. I'm surprised you've heard of me."

Bernard cleared his throat. "Ms. Bellows, it is a pleasure to have you here. Are you interested in some of my work for your personal collection or are you here in your capacity as a member of the Bellows foundation?"

Violet, Cam, and Evie, all turned to Bernard with questioning looks on their faces. Since being with Michael, Violet had gotten better at dealing with other people's rudeness when it came to her money. "Actually, I'm not really interested in purchasing anything at this time. I'm afraid all of these pieces are a little too...Graphic for my taste." Turning her attention back to Evie. "I have a couple of pieces of yours in my personal collection, I'm proud to say."

Evie blushed, "Thank you."

Cam jumped in then, "Violet are you and Michael free at some point. We could double date and you could tell Evie what a great guy I am."

Violet laughed. "I'm sure you have already told her but you know we always have time for you. When were you thinking?" Bernard huffed and walked away. "Sorry, Evie, I'm friends with the Gallery owner which is why I'm here but I can't say I'm a fan of Bernard's work."

"Oh, That's fine. Everyone has different tastes and some people love his stuff."

"Now about getting together to sing Cam's praises... I think we'll have to wait till next weekend. Can you wait that long or are you trying to get her to run off and marry you tonight?"

Cam choked and turned bright red. "Um, next weekend is fine, I hadn't made any marriage plans just yet."

Violet turned back to Evie who was also bright pink. "Sorry, pregnancy hormones, My poor husband never knows what is going to come out of my mouth. Cam, I'll have Michael talk to you about next weekend. Evie, he really is a great guy, and I'd love for you to join the club, so to speak. It was a pleasure meeting you and I'm really looking forward to dinner next weekend. Cam, you and Michael better cook up something romantic or I will be deeply disappointed. Gotta go, I'm supposed to be meeting Michael soon I don't want to be late and get a spanking."

When she left Cam and Evie just stared after her. Then they both started talking at once.

"Did she say..."

"She was kidding right?"

"Um, I have no idea what the hell was up with that last line. Are we done here though? Was I charming enough?"

Evie laughed, "You were charming enough. We should get going before it gets too much colder."

After getting Joseph down the stairs Evie just about ran home. Her legs were freezing.

"Joseph, do you want coffee?" she asked as he settled himself on the couch.

"No, I don't need coffee. Come over here."

"What's up?" when she stood in front of the couch.

"I need some more sugar." He said with his devil's smile and pulled her down on top of him.

"Hey!"

When he touched her legs he snapped his hand back

"Damn woman, your legs are freezing! Stretch them out so I can rub some blood back into them." He grabbed a throw off the end of the couch and wrapped it around her legs and then stuck his hands under it to massage them starting with her feet. "Why didn't you at least wear stockings or tights."

"I can't stand to have anything tight around my legs. I can barely tolerate pants after all the years in the leg braces."

"What leg braces?"

"Shit."

"So that was the other thing you didn't want to tell me? Did you have them in high school? Wait, I remember you now."

Evie started to get up. She never wanted to be reminded of the pathetic girl with the bulky leg brace. She had done everything she could to erase the memory of dragging the hateful thing though the halls of the school. When she tried to get off his lap though he just wrapped an arm around her and pinned her to his side.

"Oh no little bird, you are not flying off just yet. I do remember you now, you had the awful triangle brace that kept your legs splayed apart and you used to have to manage the stairs on crutches with one in front of it and one behind."

"Oh God, I really didn't want you to remember me like that. I was so pathetic." as Evie hid her face in her hands.

"Um, you're talking to the guy that is in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Even then I thought you were brave as hell."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you wouldn't have known this but my best friend was in a wheelchair so I tended to think about that kind of thing differently than most kids did. Hell, he's a surgeon now. He's the one that pulled the bullet out of my back and kept things from getting really bad."

"Wait, is his name Michael?"

"Yeah, you know him?"

"Sort of. He commissioned a special piece from me."

"Figures, he's into that kind of stuff. I'll take the artist any day. So now that I remembered who you are, are you going to tell me what I did to make you remember me all these years later."

"Look, you forget that you were quite the stud back then..."

"Are you saying I'm not now!" He laughed at her and she slapped his arm.

"Never! Anyway, I had a massive crush on you. With all the braces, glasses, bad hair, I knew you'd never even look at me. Especially because you were hanging with a tough crowd then. One day one of your buddies knocked all the books out of my hands and took off. You came up after him and helped me pick them up. When you went to hand me the last book you kept pulling it away when I would reach for it."

"That doesn't sound like it was worth three grand."

"You didn't let me finish. Then you told me that I could have it in exchange for a kiss." She knew she was turning bright red but if she didn't get the whole story out now she never would. "I was so shy I couldn't even look at you let alone give you a kiss. You must have realized that on some level and instead of me kissing you, you leaned over and kissed me. Nothing spectacular, just a little peck on the cheek but for someone like me that felt invisible... It was the highlight of my four years in high school. When things would get really bleak, like the doctors telling me that I needed another six months with the damn leg brace, I would think about you kissing me and smile and some how everything was going to be okay. Alright, now you know and can start making fun of me for being the pathetic fool that I am."

Cam just sat there rubbing her legs. Then a smile started spreading across his face as slow as molasses.

"I actually remember now. Why the hell do you think I would make fun of you for that? You do know what this means though?"

"No, what?"

"You have to tell me your high school girl fantasies."

"No way! Not going to happen. Why would I tell you those?"

"Are you going to tell me that I wasn't in them?"

Evie turned 10 shades of red.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." and he laughed. "Besides, If you tell me some maybe I can make them come true." Evie gasped. "Oh, yeah, I am going to enjoy this. Don't you know that high school girl fantasies are off the charts sexy."

"Joseph!"

"Oh I am fully prepared to beg here."

"You are horrible!"

"Hey, you're the one with a thing for bad boys. I'm just the object of your lust."

"There is no way you're going to forget about this is there?"

"None at all."

"Ugh! Horrible man! Fine!"

"Oh, not here, let’s go up stairs."

"Joseph, I don't know if that is a good idea?"

"Evie, I'm not going to do anything you don't want me to do. I swear I will be a perfect gentleman, okay a gentleman in your bed but a gentleman none the less. Mostly I would just like to hold you."

"And have me tell you my naughty school girl fantasies."

"Oh, Yeah." The devil's grin was back.

"Explain to me why exactly I trust you?"

"Because I've been in your dreams since high school?"

"God, you're probably right. Fine, come upstairs. I still can't believe I am doing this."

"Seriously, if you don't want to I can just leave."

"That's the problem. I don't want you to leave."

"Good because I didn't really want to either."

She pulled her legs off his lap and stood up. He got back into his chair and kissed her hand. She was feeling shy again. She really was like a little bird. darting forward and retreating at the first sign of movement. Okay, so it was a huge boost to his ego to find out that he had been her high school fantasy but maybe she needed to get to know him better before divulging anything specific. He lifted the gate on the freight elevator and rolled in. She walked in behind him looking at the ground. He cocked his head to the side trying to peek under her hair.