Lovers and Other Strangers Box Set: The Boston Stories (29 page)

"Fine. No more fooling around then. No more sneaking into my bed. Nothing more than a good night kiss till you say you are willing."

"Do you want me just to come back here?"

"No! I want you safe and until we get this place set up and figure out who is doing this then I want you to use my house. You just won't be sleeping in my bed."

"We can still eat together and talk."

"Of course."

"What about snuggling on the couch?" She couldn't keep from grinning a little. He gulped. "No. No snuggling because its like a gateway drug to you."

"Me? All I have to do is stand still and you start undressing me."

"Don't remind me!"

"So this is a challenge then, to see which one of us cracks under the pressure?" He loved the way her chin tilted up when she was miffed. He wanted to lick along the edge and...

"Fuck, I'm a dead man." She laughed at him as he scowled back at her. She kissed him and left to find clothes.

"I am an idiot." He said out loud to no one.

Five days later he still thought he was an idiot but now he was a very tense idiot. What the hell had made him say that she shouldn't touch him or worse he couldn't touch her. He had a whole new appreciation for the phrase 'cat on a hot tin roof'. Delia had told him to get fucked about three days into this nightmare because he was so edgy. Having Evie under his roof and not being able to touch her was like a starving man looking at a banquet and not being able to eat.

He knew he was a goner when he started waiting till she fell asleep so he could open her door just to watch her breathe. He'd caught himself a couple of times trying to get her to lean over towards him so he could inhale the spicy vanilla scent that was so her. The only saving grace in all of this torture was that she was cracking too.

She had started rubbing up against him like a cat any time she was around him. He was more than aware of how her hands lingered on his when he passed her something at dinner. Then there were all the times she would stare off into space and when he'd call her back to earth she'd blush like she had been caught red-handed. He just had to hold out long enough for her to admit she was being ridiculous and then he was going to take her to bed for a week, if he didn't end up a blithering idiot first. He didn't know how the two of them were going to get through dinner tonight since they were both so frustrated they only used one word sentences with each other.

"Ready?"

"One minute." She walked down the stairs a minute later and he cursed himself up one side and down the other. She looked edible and he was starving. Black dress cut down to there. Short enough so you couldn't help but look at her legs but not so short that she looked slutty. Mother of hell, she had fishnets on and serious fuck me shoes too. She had on thick bracelets that reminded him of handcuffs. That is what he should have done, cuffed her to the bed and used some persuasion till she begged him to make love to her. He felt better already. He'd give her another day or two and then he'd start playing dirty.

"You look beautiful, babe."

"Thanks, you look pretty wonderful yourself. Should I be nervous that you're smiling like that?"

"What, a man can't smile at his girlfriend?"

"I can see the wheels turning. I want you to promise you'll be on your best behavior. I'm nervous enough about meeting your friends."

"I promise I'll be good at dinner." He gave her a smoldering look. "However, when we get home is another story." She actually shivered before his eyes. Maybe two days was too long, yeah, definitely too long.

***

Violet and Michael were waiting for them at the restaurant. Evie really hoped Joseph wouldn't do anything to embarrass her, of course she was strung so tight herself she was afraid she would jump him in the car. Thank God she was driving. She knew he was up to something. He'd been humming on the way here and he still looked like the cat that ate the canary. Right now she really just needed to make a good impression on these two because they were his friends, best friends but also because having people like them in her corner could get her the notice she needed to further her career. She wouldn't use them or anything like that, but hey, having people that could afford to actually buy art was never a bad thing for an artist.

"So Michael, how are you enjoying your piece?" Michael choked on his water and turned red which surprised her.

"I enjoy it very much, thank you."

"Michael I didn't know you had one of Evie's pieces. I don't think I've ever seen it." This from Violet which seemed to make Michael redder.

"You have darling, I just don't know that I ever told you who made it."

"But her work is very distinctive. I'm sure I would have recognized it. Where do you keep it?" Michael was bright red and on the verge of laughter, actually he looked ready to burst.

"In the bedroom, dear."

"Now I know you are lying. Evie's pieces are large there is no way I would miss something like that in our bedroom." He couldn't stop himself now that he'd started and the laughter rolled out of him. Evie felt like she should intervene. She didn't want them to get into a fight on her account.

"Oh, this piece was much smaller than all of my other work. Your husband came to me a while ago with some very clear ideas of what he wanted. It was almost as if he had mapped out exactly where he wanted it to curve and where it should be rough. It was fascinating to work on with him. The piece itself was maybe eight inches long and slightly curved, an obelisk shape but rounded, very organic."

"Evie, you make it sound like a..." Joseph cleared his throat and lowered his voice "you just described a dildo, darling." Now Violet was flame red. She clutched at the tablecloth and looked like she was going to be ill. Both Evie and Joseph stared at her while Michael howled with laughter.

"Do you remember seeing it now sweetheart?" he managed to get out before he doubled over. Violet stood up and ran to the ladies room. Joseph started laughing with his friend and when Evie realized what she had made and worse asked about she turned red.

"Oh God! How could you... Why didn't you stop me? She'll hate me and she should. Oh, will you two stop laughing this isn't funny!"

"I can tell you that she is a big fan of your work." Michael choked out and the men started laughing all over again.

"Dammit, I need to go apologize." When she got to the ladies room Violet was sitting on a couch with her feet up and her shoes off. Evie wasn't really sure what to say to her. When Violet saw her she moved her feet and patted the couch next to her so she could sit down. "Violet, I'm so sorry, truly if I had thought about it, I might have recognized what it was except it wasn't really shaped like a penis so... It is fascinating in the abstract but I wouldn't have brought it up at dinner at least."

"Michael had told me he had an artist make it. He has excellent taste, I should have figured he would have found you. Your work is very sensual so it would have been a natural partnership. He told me he had collaborated with the artist."

"Yes, he was very specific about some things. In retrospect it was almost as if..."

"He knew where all the good parts were."

"Oh God, yes." Evie wanted to die, how could she have been so stupid.

"My dear husband is nothing if not thorough in his pursuit of my pleasure. For a while he was quite insatiable about it actually, but that was before he realized he could have his own too. Michael's impairment is greater than Cam's, or so I have been told."

"Violet I would feel less like an idiot if... I don't know, would you like to know a secret about me. I want us to be friends but I don't think I could look at you if I knew this and you didn't know something equally embarrassing about me."

"Ooh, girlfriend secrets! I never really had those kinds of friends growing up. Yes, we'll share our sorted secrets and then we'll be good friends. I would like that very much."

"Okay," Evie took a deep breath to steady her nerves. "I am still a virgin." She let out all of her breath. "My own sister doesn't even know!" Violet's face dropped.

"How has Cam taken it? He must be climbing the walls. I have never known a man that was more sexually charged than he is. I mean, except for the fact that he is in a wheelchair, women still gape at him."

"I know, I went to high school with him, there wasn't a girl he couldn't have gotten into bed just by crooking his finger at them. He doesn't know yet."

"You're telling me that the two of you haven't been intimate yet? I don't know how you could stand it. Unless you've got your own marble love toy." They both burst into giggles.

"No, he says I keep distracting him from his goal. It didn't start out that way but if the warm up is any indication of what the rest is going to be like, I may not live to tell you when I've lost it. Unfortunately, he has decided that if I won't 'let him in' then he is not allowing me to do anything else. So now we are both climbing the walls."

"Are you waiting for a marriage proposal?"

"No. Really I'm not. Its just, I focus all of that energy into my work now and I don't know how my work will change after. Okay, that is crap. I think I'm just scared of getting hurt, not the actual physical stuff but emotionally."

"Maybe your work will become even more sensual, because those feeling are there in your work but if you have sex then there will be an awareness that is missing now."

"You mean like being able to spot a dildo when I am carving one? Do you know how much I held that thing in my hand? I used to find myself caressing it even while I was working on other things. I was actually quite proud of how it turned out."

"You'll have to get Cam to map you out from the inside and you can make your own. I have to tell you the little bit of texture on the part that hits the G-spot, Genius!" They burst out in giggles again.

"We should go back, they are going to think we left without them."

"I'll blame the pregnancy hormones, greatest thing ever, I can say whatever pops into my head and then pat my belly and my husband doesn't say a word!" Violet stood up and put her shoes back on. They left the bathroom arm in arm and marched up to the table where the men were sitting.

"How much trouble am I in dear." Michael smiled up at his wife. She glared back but her lips curled in a devious smile.

"You are going to get tied to the bed when we get home and I may leave you for dead." He looked like he was about to say something and Violet started rubbing her protruding belly, he stopped and just looked at his plate. Joseph cleared his throat.

"Well in that case he'll need a hearty dinner. Michael what do you recommend?"

Cam thought the rest of the dinner went well. Evie was still pink from embarrassment but her and Violet kept looking at each other and smiling. What the hell were they up to. He was glad they got along but the thought of the two of them pooling their talents was enough to terrify any man. Michael couldn't believe he hadn't tied Evie up yet which made him wonder even more what went on in their bedroom. Marble sex toys and bondage, maybe Michael wasn't so much of a choir boy any more. Okay he really didn't want to think about it.

Maybe Evie was nervous because things had started off so strange or she was just shy meeting new people but she had been snuggled up against him, flirty as all hell. She'd even been feeding him with her fingers. He didn't mind but he sure as hell wasn't go home and taking a cold shower again. When they were waiting for the cars to be brought around Michael smiled at him and said good luck, Cam said the same back and Michael started laughing, again he didn't want to know.

As she drove home Evie kept stoking his leg almost absentmindedly. When he couldn't take anymore he'd cover her hand with his and she glance over and smile at him. Shit, he wanted her around for the long haul. Telling her he loved her, talking about her being pregnant, he meant those things. He didn't want to freak her out or piss her off so bad that she would take off. Maybe cuffing her to the bed wasn't such a great idea.

When they got home they went to their rooms just like they had been for the last couple of days. He thought about taking another cold shower and decided that it wasn't worth it. It didn't change anything so he got undressed and put some flannel bottoms on and sat on the edge of the bed contemplating how his life had become complicated. He was surprised when she poked her head in the door.

"Everything okay, Evie?"

"Um, yeah, I thought you'd be taking a shower. You usually do before you go to bed."

"No, usually I shower in the morning but for some strange reason I have had to take a cold shower before going to bed the last couple of days. Got any ideas as to why that might be?"

"A cold shower?"

"Yes."

"Joseph, I don't want to play this game anymore."

"Thank God!" He reached for her arm and pulled her down on the bed then pinned her under him. "I was thinking I was going to have to cuff you to the bed and seduce you but I was afraid I'd piss you off. This way I can just get to the good part." She was wearing the flannel shirt she had bought for him that he still hadn't gotten to wear. He started unbuttoning her. He craved the feel of her skin against his lips. He kissed his way down the valley of her breasts, he was just starting to revel in the softness of her stomach when his phone rang. Fuck it! Nothing was more important than this.

"Joseph, your phone."

"Let it go to voicemail."

"It might be Delia."

"Fuck." He grabbed the phone and saw that it was Michael. "Violet alright?"

"She's fine. You didn't actually do what we had talked about at dinner did you?"

"I'm kinda in the middle of something here."

"Cam, Tell me she's not cuffed to the bed, that would be bad, really bad."

"No, Not that part but the rest, yes." Why was Michael so fucking interested right now. "I gotta go."

"Cam, wait, look, When Evie and Violet were talking... Evie sort of mentioned that she's... She's a virgin buddy, I don't know about you but that would sure as hell change the way I would do things. I just didn't want you to totally screw things up for yourself. I mean, being her first is one thing but seeing you two together tonight it looked like you were pretty interested in being her last, if you get my drift." Cam closed his eyes to stop the the roaring in his ears. It did change everything even if he wasn't sure why.