Beauty and The Best (Once-Upon-A-Time Romance) (37 page)

“
Is that a trick question?”

“
Ha.” He sat up and the drop cloth barely kept him presentable. Well, for public viewing. For private, it was covering way too much.

His fingers flexed on her hip. “How does Chinese take-out sound to you, Miss Gourmet?”

“
Heavenly.”

“
Okay, then.” He grabbed his shorts off the floor and stepped into them. “Let’s drag ourselves down to the pool and we can eat there.”

That glimpse of glutes nailed her to the sofa for a moment until she got her breathing under control.

“
Jolie?”

“
Um, okay. I’ll be right there. And I have to feed Boots.”

“
Must you?”

“
Of course I do! The poor little guy is probably starving.” She sat up and tucked the cloth beneath her arms, not that the modesty was needed. The guy had seen—and nibbled on—pretty much everything she had hidden.

He did a mock sigh. “Fine, if you must. I’ll grab a quick shower and run down to the restaurant. What do you want?”

Was a “side of Todd” on the menu? “Hunan Chicken, pork or chicken fried rice, lo mein. Really, anything’s fine.”

“
Anything? And here—” he leaned over to place another bone-melting kiss on her lips—“I thought you had discerning tastes.”

“
Hey, I do. I only go for the
best
.”

He tweaked her nose. Wow. Playful and happy. There should be a big fluffy Cloud Nine under their feet right now.

“
Clever girl. You should think about writing a novel instead of that cookbook.” He walked out the door. “I bet it’d be a
best
seller.”

She groaned—both at his play on words and the actual truth behind his statement. Suddenly her little non-disclosure was looming large on the horizon.

So while Naughty Girl was away, Scarlett would come out to play—and worry about all of that tomorrow.

Boots stretched when she went into the kitchen. Honestly, in her next life she was coming back as a cat. Chase a few mice, cough up a hairball or two, take a nap, have someone feed you, and all you had to do was rub up against them and purr in their ear. Yeah, that’d be the life.

Kitty was eating, Todd was out getting dinner, and she was desperately trying to decide proper poolside attire. She still hadn’t bought a bathing suit. The magenta halter would have to do with a cute, black, flouncy skirt.

She heard the dream machine pull into the driveway as she stepped into her hot pink flats. Okay, she needed some kind of fun shoes in her new wardrobe and the store was fresh out of kicky yellow ones. A girl had to have a vice or two.

“
Jolie, I’m back.” And there’d be one of hers.

“
Be right down. I’ll meet you at the pool.” And she was—
right
down. She was not about to lose one more minute in his presence. If it wouldn’t have seemed too weird, she would’ve tried to finagle a double shower and gone with him for the meal, but she had to have some kind of self-control. Not to mention, there’d be the question of when they’d eat if there’d been the shower-
a-deux
.

She skidded through the kitchen (
note to self: scuff up soles of new magenta flats
) and managed a pirouette stop that looked as if she’d actually meant to do it.

“
Hey,” she said, all breathy. Not the image she had in mind, but it seemed to work for him as his mouth snapped shut. But she saw the hanging open part. Little tummy flutters duly noted.

“
Wow.”

Okay,
big
tummy flutters.

He stopped lighting the vanilla candle on the table—aww, he was lighting candles—and came over to her. “Jolie, you look beautiful.”

“
Coming from an artist of such renown, I’ll take that as a compliment.” The words and tone were light, but there was nothing light about the thudding of her heart.

“
Don’t take it from the artist. Take it from the man. You’re stunning.” He picked up her hands and kissed her knuckles. “
Chère Jolie, voulez-vous diner avec moi ce soir
?”

“
Oui, mon chère
.” If he could ask “dear Jolie” to have dinner with him, she could certainly call him “my dear” when she said yes.

That, and because it was true.

Did she dare hope he felt the same? So it was a bit too early for him to consider the “L” word, but that was okay. She had enough for both of them. She was just happy with being beautiful in his eyes.

“
Where,” he asked as he scooched her chair beneath her, “did you learn to speak French? Some exotic little bistro on the French Riviera?”

She snorted then covered her mouth. Not an attractive sound. “Hardly. Try ‘Languages R Us.’” At his puzzled look, she explained, “A computer program. You?” She took a bite of the spicy Hunan chicken. Yum, they used just enough peppers for some kick, but not enough to overpower the veggies.

“
A year, poor and starving, in Paris learning the ropes.”

She almost choked on a shitake mushroom. “Paris? You’ve been to Paris? That’s my dream.”

“
Is it?” He swirled his glass of wine. “Why haven’t you ever gone? You’ve said there was no one keeping you here, right?”

“
Money,” was the first thing she blurted out, unsure if the nonchalance beneath his question was feigned or not. “Well, that and I think Paris is the kind of place you should go with a lov—lover.” Yeah, she could use that word.
Now
.

“
A lover, huh?” He was still swirling. “And the guy from—six years ago, was it? He didn’t want to take you?”

Again with the snort. She really needed to stop doing that. “Chucky? Are you kidding?”

“
Not the Paris type, I take it.” A long swallow went down that long, taut throat of his.

Snort again. “Hardly. If it wasn’t some place you could get to and back during half-time, forget it. He wouldn’t even want to know where it was.”

Now the glass came down and Todd was looking right at her. “Then why were you with him?”

Another sucker-punch to the gut. She would’ve thought her abs would be rock hard from all the blows in her life.

But no. She took her time swallowing the food, which had suddenly lost its flavor. Why were they doing this? She didn’t want to revisit her past this way. She’d tried too hard to forget.

“
Jolie?” He reached out to stroke her fingers. “Tell me.”

“
Why?”

“
Because I want to know. I want to know why someone as bright and funny and talented and smart as you would lower yourself to go out with a guy who wouldn’t at least share your dreams of Paris. Who earns not one, but
two
snorts from you when he’s mentioned.”

“
Maybe because he’s the only one who asked who didn’t mention money and a motel?”

Well
there
was a zinger to brighten the moment.

“
Really?”

If he said one more word in that soft, understanding tone, she was going to lose it.

“
Why?” He picked her hand up, but she turned back to the sawdust that was her dinner. She couldn’t do this. “Jolie, you’re smart, beautiful, fun. Why didn’t guys see this?”

It was no use. She put down her chopsticks. “Todd, I can’t do this. Can we just let it go? I had a rotten past and I’d like to forget it.”

He laced their fingers, reaching for her other hand. “You yanked me out of the depression I’d been wallowing in, trying hard not to forget, and it wasn’t easy. But it’s for the better. I want to help you, Jolie. You deserve someone to care about you. Someone who thinks you’re worth something. Why won’t you talk about it?”

She pulled her hands away and clenched them in her lap. Maybe if she squeezed hard enough that pain would remove her focus from the pain tearing through her insides.

“
Jolie, I care about you. I can see your pain. I
know
your pain. I’ve been there. Tell me.”

She shook her head, pressing her lips together. The words wanted to come. They were right there on the tip of her tongue.

But she couldn’t let them. Twenty some years of anguish, loneliness, hurt, betrayal… If she let it out, he’d be running for the hills and she’d be left alone.

Again.

“
Jolie, talk to me. I know you’re thinking something, I can see your brain moving at warp speed in those beautiful eyes of yours. But you need to talk to me.”

She turned her head. “I can’t.”

He cupped her cheek, making her face him. “Why not?”

Oh, please, he wasn’t going to make her do this, was he?

“
Jolie.”

Yeah, he was. So she took a big breath. Maybe if she just got it out there in one big rush without thinking about the words it wouldn’t be so bad.

“
Because, Todd, if I start, I may not stop. I just might have a complete breakdown and I can’t do that. I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop, control it. The emotions, the feelings, the abandonment, the…
hurt
.”

Damn, it was that bad.

But he’d opened the floodgates so he was going to get drowned.

“
Fine. Here you go. My mother was a drunk, and that was on a good day. She thought she could narrow down my father to three guys, which is always a refreshing thing to find out when you’re eight.” She gripped the edge of her chair, looking somewhere over his right shoulder. “You already know the name thing. And then, one day, she just walked. Out to a bar and the next time I saw her she was in a box in a church. And then the fun really started. Let’s see, shall I start with the foster father who thought it’d be fun to chase a teenager around the dining room table when no one else was home for a little touchy-feely? Or maybe you’d like to hear about the bread and water rations I got when the corners of my bed weren’t tucked in properly? Or, I know, how about—”

“
What about Mrs. Carleson?” He handed her a napkin.

Damn. He turned on her spigot with that one. Mrs. Carleson, the brightest spot in her adolescent universe. “Mrs. Carleson was an anomaly. The kind of woman every foster kid dreams of. I was terrified to let myself hope. But she made it so darn easy. So I did. I hoped and I prayed and I believed. And then Mr. Carleson got transferred. And while I knew it was nothing I had done, it was one more person I cared about, believed in, who was leaving me. So, yeah, when Chucky offered me a home and monogamy it looked pretty damn good. At that point I was just glad to have someone who remembered my name.”

She was slobbering all over the darned napkin.

“
I’m sorry,” Todd whispered.

But she broke down anyway. Somehow he managed to coax her wiped-out body from her chair and onto his lap, tucking her head beneath his chin, his strong arms wrapped around hers and he wasn’t letting go.

But she was. The tears were flowing into hiccups. Her stomach hurt from holding back the racking sobs.

Why was she doing this? At any moment, Todd could have enough and get up, put her in the chair, and walk into the house. Hell, she almost expected it.

But he didn’t. He just linked his hand that much tighter to his other arm and stroked her skin. Soothing little circles. The crickets were serenading them and the irony was deadly.

The agonizing words burned her throat raw with salty tears. All she wanted to do was crawl inside the safe haven his arms offered and forget the world.

“
I’m sorry,” he said against her temple. “I had no idea how bad it really was.”

She shrugged. He probably wasn’t buying the nonchalance of that; he was a smart guy. Which was why he should’ve been running in the opposite direction.

But he wasn’t.

Instead, he rubbed her arms and kissed the top of her head, his heart thudding in her ear.

“
Jolie, do you realize how strong you are? How much of a survivor?”

“
What?”

He tipped her chin up until her mouth was a whisper away from his. He stared into her eyes, those green eyes all swirly, and her insides followed suit.

“
What it must have taken for you to remain strong, independent, clean. I’m in awe of you.”

“
You are?”

He nodded, sweeping a hand down her back. “Yes. Do you know how many people would have folded under those circumstances? Turned to drugs, alcohol, other means of escaping?”

She nodded. Yeah, she knew. Could probably name quite a few of them.

“
But not you. Look at you. Successful, smart, a good head on your shoulders, trustworthy.” The tilt to his lips started one on hers. “You should be proud of yourself, Jolie. Really proud. To know you, no one would think you’ve seen the things you have, lived the life you have. You’re so wonderfully normal.”

“
What?”

“
Um hmmm. But you’re not just normal. You’re above it. You’re empathetic and that’s a special quality to find in a person.”

“
I am?”

He smiled. “You’re going monosyllabic on me again. And, yes, you are empathetic. And kind. And optimistic and sunny. That’s how you got through to me. How you reached me beneath my pain. How you brought me back to myself.”

“
I did all that?”