ROMANCING THE BULLDOG (12 page)

***

bathroom, her clothes in her hand, and slowly began to dress. Three times with this man,

three times naked with this man. He had to think of her as some kind of a nympho the way

she was always so willing to tear off her clothes at seemingly the mere sight of him. Yeah, she

put up some resistance at the beginning, but that was only token resistance and they both knew

it. She was behaving as if the girl had to have it and the girl had to have it every time she laid

eyes on him! It was embarrassing. And even afterwards, after she had dressed and reentered

the bedroom, only to find him already dressed and waiting for her up front, made her feel

weird. She could barely look him in the eye.

He wasn’t exactly breaking out the champagne, either, she noticed, as he asked if she was

okay. When she said that she was, he walked her out of his house, up to his car, and opened

his driver’s side door for her. He was quiet too, which made Liz assume that he was as

thrown as she was, until he sat her down in the driver’s seat of his car, and leaned in and

kissed her. It wasn’t the kiss of a regretful man, but a triumphant one, a very passionate kiss,

as his lips couldn’t seem to get enough of her. When he finally stopped, he slouched against

the car’s doorjamb and she leaned her head back against the high head rest. What was she

thinking, she couldn’t stop herself from wondering. She didn’t need any hot and heavy

romance right now in her life, and especially not with some control freak like Jason Rascone!

Her fear couldn’t have been more realized when he began to put on the seatbelt for her.

“Drive carefully,” he said, which she accepted as Jason just being his thoughtful self. Until he

added: “I’ll be behind you.”

Liz looked at him, as he clasped the belt. “Behind me?” she asked him.

“To make sure you get home safe, yes,” he replied. “I’ll follow you in my truck.”

Liz could hardly believe it. She just knew he had to be kidding. “Jason, that is so not

necessary,” she said.

“Didn’t say it was necessary. But that’s what I’m going to do. You see that old pickup

over there?” he asked her, pointing toward a dark beige Ford F-150. “That’s what I’ll be

driving.”

Liz wanted to argue with him, he was taking this a little too far, but she didn’t bother.

Jason was going to do whatever Jason wanted to do, regardless of what she said about it. But

she knew she couldn’t just sit back and allow it, either. She therefore cranked up and left,

driving her normal fast speed, unable to stop thinking about what in the world was she getting

herself into. She was allowing him to what? See her home like a good little girl? What would

he want next? To know her every movement? To make her phone him whenever she went

anywhere or even planned to do anything? To get his permission before she decided anything

for herself? She’d been in those kind of suffocating, all-consuming relationships before. With

her father first, and then with Scotty, her ex. Both alpha-males, both bound and determined to

keep her under their control. She was terrified of going down that road again.

It wasn’t until she was nearly halfway home did she realize she had left Jason in the dust.

She was naturally a fast driver and this night, after that round of incredible lovemaking with

Jason, after the implications of the decisions she was making, she had forgotten he was even

behind her.

As soon as she parked at the curb in front of her apartment, however, she was shocked to

see Jason’s truck fly around the corner like a bat out of hell and park before she was able to

get out of the car. It was quiet around the Center, given that it was a dead-end street

surrounded by warehouses and other office buildings, and Liz suddenly felt queasy when she

stepped out of her car and saw Jason barreling toward her. He was in jeans and a polo shirt,

and looked furious. Her inattention, it seemed, had annoyed him.

“What kind of driving was that?” he yelled as he approached her, his arms flailing. “It’s a

wonder you didn’t kill yourself driving that fast, Liz? What’s the matter with you?”

Liz attempted to play it off. “Don’t tell me a little petal to the metal bothers the Bulldog?

It’ll bother Mr. Conservative, I know. But the Bulldog?” She said this with a smile, a smile

that seemed to catch Jason short, and he exhaled. And smiled too, only his smile was still

fraught with worry.

“You nearly gave me a heart attack, woman.”

“Sorry about that.” And she was.

Jason looked at her. He knew her little Daytona 500 stun was her way of defying him, of

showing him that she was her own woman, so he took it in stride. He placed his arm around

her waist and began walking with her up the stairs that led to her front door. “Just remember

I’m an old man,” he said as they walked.

“Yeah, right. You’ll run circles around any twenty-year-old and you know it.”

“I don’t know now. You said earlier tonight I reminded you of your father.”

“I said you were acting as if you were my father, which isn’t the same thing.”

“What
ever
,” Jason said in a mimic of Liz and Liz laughed.

When they arrived at her front door, however, Jason looked around at her neighborhood.

“I don’t like this, Liz. It feels too deserted around here at night.”

“And that’s just the way I love it,” she said, putting her key in the door and unlocking it.

She then turned to Jason. “Thanks again for letting me use your car. Unless my driving

style’s given you second thoughts.”

“You wish,” Jason said, playful at first, and then his look lingered and changed. She was

beautiful to him. Not just in looks, not just her fantastic body. But in a way that was more

than just her looks, that was more than just a sexy body. There was a great sense of decency

about her, an innocence was still there, that pricked at him. She’d been through a lot, the way

she made love to him tonight with such a total, unbridled release made him know that she had

plenty of ghosts she wanted buried, that she wanted his sex to take away from her, and it

disturbed him. He moved up closer to her. Put his hand on her smooth brown face. And he

kissed her yet again. It was supposed to be a simple kiss goodnight. That was what his mind

was telling him to do. Kiss her goodnight and then leave her alone for once. But his heart was

telling him differently and that simple kiss became their most passionate yet.

Liz felt the heat too, wrapping her arms around him as he pulled her closer into his, as he

seemed determined to sear her with his kiss. When their kissing finally ebbed, they leaned

forehead to forehead against each other.

“This isn’t going to work,” Jason said. Then he stood erect, shaking his head as if he was

convinced of it now. “This isn’t going to work,” he said again.

“What isn’t going to work?” Liz asked, puzzled.

But Jason was already taking action. He had already grabbed her by the arm, and was

pulling her inside of her apartment. As soon as he closed the door, he slammed her against it,

lifted her skirt, pulled down her panties, and unzipped his pants. With the urgency of a

madman, he shoved into her, kissing her as he plunged deeper, and made love to her right then

and there as passionately as they had made love in his bed. This was crazy. Why couldn’t he

get enough of this woman? But he couldn’t. He had to have her. Everything about her

turned him on. The way she laughed, the way she held her head, the way she flicked her

wrist. He had to have her.

And he did, pounding her over and over as his entire body shook with euphoria. Liz shook

too, as she met his passion, as she experienced that higher than high excitement that he was

able to make her feel. She could hold on as he pounded her, as the sound of their bodies

slapping against each other echoed throughout her quiet home.

After they both released, they collapsed against the door, both of them exhausted, both

unable to move.

He stared at her. What was he doing? He’d never wanted anybody so desperately. “You

okay?” he asked her, concerned that he had been too desperate, too rough.

She looked away from him, and could only manage a nod. “I’m okay,” she said, barely

able to catch her breath, too.

SEVEN

Liz wasn’t in her office and seated behind her desk ten minutes before Shameika was coming

in with a stack of files in her arms.

“Here are the reports on Hemming,” she said as she dropped the files down on Liz’s desk.

“Thanks, Meek. “Those are a lot of files.”

“Hemming has had a lot of problems. That’s why they need to staff it. Should have been

did it.”

“And they expect me to read over all of these files by noon today? Terrific.”

“Okay, now that we’ve got the business out of the way,” Shameika said and sat on the

edge of her desk. “Give, sister. I want a blow by blow.”

Get off of my desk.”

“Come on, Liz. How was it? How was
he
?”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“Your date with the mayor,” Shameika decried. “Did he kiss you goodnight? Did y’all

plan another date?”

“Like I’m going to tell you that.”

“But for real, what was he like?”

“You said it yourself. He’s Mr. Conservative. Mr. Republican.”

“Oh. So he was dull, hun?”

Liz wanted to smile. Jason was a lot of things last night, but dull certainly wasn’t one of

them. “I wouldn’t say that,” she said.

“Then give it up, Liz. What’s he like? Beyond those labels, I mean.”

Liz exhaled. “He’s a stubborn, bulldog of a man who . . . ”

“Who what?”

Liz smiled. She couldn’t help it this time. “Whose company I enjoy.”

Shameika smiled too. “It’s about time! You got too much going for you to be by yourself

all the time. If only he wasn’t so. . . ”

Liz’s heart dropped. “So what?”

“So conservative. So Republican, yuk! Then he’d be perfect.”

“Perfect? I told you he was stubborn and a bull dog and--”

“And perfect for you because that’s exactly what you need. A man’s man. Somebody not

afraid to stand up to your bossy butt.”

“Child please. Why wouldn’t a man stand up to me?”

“Why you think?” Shameika said and began counting the ways on her fingers. “First of

all, you’re a steel magnolia. Second of all, you never want to let anybody in unless they have

the armor to crash through that wall you’ve been building up. And third of all, you’re Hamp

Morgan’s daughter. Next question?”

The desk phone began ringing. “Don’t you have work to do?” Liz asked, picking up the

phone’s receiver. She was certain it was Jason. She had given him her direct number after

their (second) roll in the hay last night.

“Just answer the phone,” Shameika said and Liz made a fist and showed it to Shameika.

Shameika laughed.

“Liz Morgan,” Liz said into the phone.

“What’s up?” replied a male’s voice that Liz immediately recognized as her brother’s.

“Malcolm?” she asked, unable to hide her shock.

“You sound surprised.”

“Of course I’m surprised,” she said, wondering at first how did he get her private line

number, then remembering that her aunt, who was always attempting to mend fences, had

undoubtedly given it to him. “You were the last person on earth I expected to hear from,” she

added.

“The second to last person on earth. Let’s not forget dear old Dad.”

Liz exhaled and leaned back, the thought of her father making her ill. Then she put her

hand over the receiver. “Anything else, Meek?” she asked her assistant.

“You are so rude,” Shameika said lightheartedly, but she did leave the office.

“So,” Liz asked her brother, “what have I done to deserve this phone call?”

“Can’t a man miss his kid sister?”

“Yes, a man can,” Liz promptly replied, “but what does that have to do with you?”

“Ouch,” Malcolm said and he may have smiled, which made Liz smile. “But for real,” he

went on, “I miss you. Dad misses you, and wants to make amends.”

Liz’s smile just as promptly left. Her father wanted to rebuild a relationship with her? A

relationship that had been so badly fractured that he wouldn’t even take her phone call when

she was in the depths of the worse time of her life, was even facing a prison sentence because

of her involvement with her then husband. Now he wants to make amends? “What do you

mean?” she asked him.

“He wants the two of you, all three of us actually, to stop this madness and come together

as a family. He wants you to come to the house for dinner tonight.”

Liz was immediately skeptical. She knew her father too well. “If he wants all of that,” she