His Perfect Woman (Urban Hearts Series Book 1) (23 page)

He looked up sharply. “You were already married.”

“I was getting divorced.”

The waitress appeared with two more beers, smiling too widely at Ross. Azure glared at her. Ross never took his eyes off Azure. As the girl left, he leaned across the table, speaking low and angrily.

“You could have said that.”

“You could have waited.”

His hands went up, frustrated.

“And how was I supposed to know that?  Just wait around, not hearing anything? Wait for you to get your act together?”
So much for things going well.

She shoved her half-eaten dinner away.

“I have responsibilities. I couldn’t just get up and leave. I have a kid, you know. It doesn’t work that way.”

“I know that.” He leaned back, looking away, the tiny muscle in his jaw working. Hmm, had they ever fought? She didn’t remember. He turned back to her. “You could have told me.”

“I called.”

“Really? After months of
I need space
. You call.” He finger quoted the words. She hated people who finger quoted words.

“That’s generally what people do when they want to speak with someone. They call them. Unless of course, they write them letters.” She was on a roll now. “Now, that’s an effective way to communicate.”

“Why are you so mad at me?”

“Because I got over you.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yes. I did. And then you send some stupid letter and it screws with my life.”

“I just thought you should know.”

“Well, thanks for that.” She was done. She wanted out of there. She settled for silence. She sat and watched as he pushed his own half-eaten wonderful food away.

“Lost your appetite?”

“Why does everything with you have to be so hard?”

“I’m not asking you for anything.  Eli and I, we’re happy. We’re busy and happy and good, right where we are.”

“And?”

“And, I’ve got to go.” She stood up and grabbed her coat. He tried to stop her, but she knew he’d have to pay the bill and by that time, she’d be gone. With any luck, she would have driven out of his life again.

Outside, the rains had arrived and covered the sidewalk in wet glisten. She stood on there, searching for a direction. Where had she parked?  Dark now, the streets were deserted—empty of people who had sense enough to get out of the coming storm.  She strode up the street looking for her car, then turned and came back. Ross was in front of the restaurant, waiting for her. They both stood there, rain soaking down. She looked up at the sky— it was better than looking at him. She couldn’t look at his face, so hopeful and hurt and full of something. Her hair drenched around her face, drops pelted her head and she relished the sting of it. She needed to feel something, cold beautiful rain covering her face, her eyelids until she couldn’t breathe. She ducked her head and stole another look. She didn’t ever think he'd ever been more beautiful than he looked right then, dark brown hair a messy halo, his clothes plastered to his body as he lifted his face. His gorgeous eyes reaching out to her, his chin lifted, letting the rain fall across his skin. He grabbed her hand, tugging her towards him, pressing his lips to hers, and tangling his fingers in the hair at the base of her neck. He tasted like beer and rain laced with something uniquely Ross. It was something she’d never get enough of. He broke off.

“God, you are so stubborn.”

“You love that about me.”

“Yes.” His words were breathless. She shivered. He pulled her closer. “Do you think we could continue this somewhere else?” He blinked against the rain. “Somewhere dry?” She nodded, looking around.  He almost laughed. “You don’t know where you parked, do you?”

She should be mad at him. Her anger, the black cloak of protection she draped across her was lost as he clutched her to him. Guiding her back to the book store and around the corner, they found her car. Parked beside an expired meter, it sported a rain soaked parking ticket pasted to the windshield.

The ride back to her house was a combination of a tornado and
Last tango in Paris. 
The storm raging outside the car almost rivaled the storm inside of her. If she hadn’t been so hyper aware of Ross next to her, the drive would have been terrifying.

They made it safe, sound and still drenched as she pulled into her garage. She reached for his hand as he followed her up the steps into her kitchen. She was determined to keep her mouth shut. Things tended to go better when she kept her mouth shut. He seemed to understand.

“Can we table the conversation, till later?” he wrapped his arms around her, clothes wet and dripping on the floor.

“God, yes.”

Ross dipped his head and kissed her again. This time the kiss was deeper, mapping her mouth with his tongue, exploring. Her hands moved from around his neck down his arms, feeling the muscle and sinew. She moved onto his hip, fingers grasping at his wet jeans, his wet shirt and jacket, pulling them off, clothes dropping as they moved up the stairs.

They were shivering and cold from the rain when they got to her bedroom door. She stopped kissing him to pull her shirt over her head. His gaze landed on her breasts with such heat she thought she saw steam rising.

Naked from the waist up, he pulled at his jeans, peeling them down and off, leaving all of him bare except for black boxer briefs. They did little to hide his ever growing desire. His hands reached to discard them also when he heard her tiny squeak. She was drowning in the sheer beauty of him. He stopped.

Ross was a nice looking fellow. Anyone would say that. He made an impressive figure in his Hugo Boss suits when he spoke at conventions, seemed like one of the guys in his faded loose jeans, and he could rock a t-shirt like nobody’s business. But, without clothes—he transformed. At least Azure thought so, and perhaps it was because it had been over a year since she’d felt his skin against hers—months since she’d had any kind of sex with anyone, but here—standing before her, he was Adonis personified.

“You okay?” he seemed concerned, but his smile was wicked as his eyes flicked over her. It was her turn. Azure wasted no time in stripping. Too late, she remembered she was wearing her comfy panties—plain white bikini briefs with no adornment save for a tiny blue bow at the center. Why couldn’t this have been yesterday? She’d worn her matched set of red lace. Today it was the Plain-Jane look. Ross’s hands pulled her into his hard length, grasping her behind as he kissed her again. He lifted and her legs naturally wound around him. It was only a short distance to the bed.

Azure’s hands would not stop. Fingertips tracing every contour of his shoulders, his biceps—they moved to his torso and around his back, stopping at the swell of his firm ass. Dipping under the elastic she pushed boxers down and he adjusted, discarding them and settling against her. He was here and real, all of him pressed against the very center of her. Her hands started to roam more, but he pulled them away, holding them by the wrists. Pausing to lick a stripe on the inside of one, he moved both hands above her head, holding them there as his mouth searched across her throat.  The feel of being held down was as enticing as his mouth. She couldn’t stay still under him, wriggling to experience his naked skin, rapidly heating them both up.

Releasing her hands, he traveled down her body, hands skimming across her breasts to rest on her hips. He pulled back, thumbs hooking under the white cotton and pulling. And then she was naked before him. She closed her eyes, face turned away. She gave a silent thank you to her meddling friend, remembering Mal insisted they have a spa day before she’d left, complete with massages and bikini waxing. She was still smooth and silky down there.

“God, you’re beautiful.” Ross’s hands stroked across her, every touch erasing another doubt about herself. His mouth reinforced his touch, adding a seal with each kiss. She arced against him, that familiar vibration of rightness coiling inside her. It was all coming back to her.  Everything she’d thought she was done with, came rushing back like a tidal wave as his mouth trailed a hot line down her belly.

He took his time, unhurried and she couldn’t get enough. She wanted, no needed, more. Fingers grasped at his shoulders, trying to pull him up and into her. She looked down to see him watching her as he worked his mouth against her. When it felt as though her heart would leap from her chest, her eyes slammed shut and he slipped two fingers into the core heat of her and she broke apart around him. Flying apart, shattering into the stars behind her eyes, she lost time.

When she came back to herself, he kissed the inside of her knee.

“Ross.” She spoke in a half whisper, trying to form words. He was almost off the bed, digging at the clothes on the floor. “Ross?”

“Damn it.” He fumbled around, legs spread across her, one hairy calf in the air for balance as he reached. “Yes.” He scrambled up, a grin spreading across his face at his success—a foil wrapped condom in his hand.  He settled once again in the v of her legs. “Unless? I mean, you…”

“I have an iud,” she breathed, “unless, there’s another reason?” He shook his head. She reached down to curve her fingers around his length, pulling him gently toward her.

“Good.” He tossed the packet onto the floor and covered her body with his own. 

They both groaned at the sensation of coming together and stilled for a moment as though neither could believe it. His wide green eyes watched her, his arms shaking with the effort of self-control. They rolled and he let her set the pace, fast and unforgiving. He pulled her down roughly, fisting one hand into her hair.

“Azure,” he whispered against her throat

“Say it again.” She panted, riding him faster.

“Azure,” he rasped louder. His hands gripped her back, fingers hot as he thrust up into her. Lips met harshly, more teeth than tongue. Nose to nose, they panted into each other’s mouths, eyes open wide in lustful surprise.

“Az, god …I,” he moaned against her skin. They rolled again, and she relaxed under him, taking him further into her. She was so close, she couldn’t speak. Her eyes clamped shut, trying to focus.

“Open your eyes. Look at me.” She shook her head roughly. She couldn’t.

“Look at me,” he commanded again. She looked.

She must have slept, wrapped around him, refusing to let go, because the sun was sifting through the blinds when she woke. It made beautiful light patterns across his face. His eyes were open, looking at her.

“Good morning,” he whispered. She turned and touched his cheek, making sure he was real. “Making sure I’m real?” he asked.

“Maybe.” She blushed. “Are you?”

“God, I hope so. Because if this is some Matrix type fantasy I want the blue pill back so I can stay dreaming.”

Azure giggled and stretched. “You? The clarity and purpose guy?”

His arm snaked out and pulled her into the curve of his body, his lips next to her ear.

“You know, you totally screw with all my self-help edicts. Right? That everything I plan for and map out goes straight to hell when you come into the picture.”

“Sounds like fun to me,” she said. “Plan your path, but go with the flow.”

“Hell, there is no plan.” He chuckled softly, his breath tickling her neck, “except for maybe breakfast. I’m starved, how about you?”

A-8

Ross liked his eggs over-medium and proved to be an excellent toast maker. She relished in these new found facts as they negotiated their scantily clad bodies around each other in her kitchen. He donned the black boxers and she his dress shirt. He really did have a great ass in those briefs and she had the best time sitting at her table, her legs pulled up in front of her, drinking coffee and watching him butter a third piece of toast at her counter. They avoided the previous night’s conversation and talked about Eli, and work, his book tour. He was leaving soon, this afternoon after reading in a B&N in Arvada. She tried not to think about it.

“Shouldn’t you call your agent or something—tell him where you are?” She cleared the breakfast dishes as he finished off his coffee. He pulled at her and she came willingly to sit in his lap.

“First of all, he’s an agent, not a baby-sitter and second, he’s not here. He’s back in New York doing agenty stuff. This tour is all me.”

“All you?” She touched his nose, and then kissed it. It felt good to be there, this close to him after all this time. It surprised her how at ease she was with him.

“This is my first book. I’m not Stephen King—most of this is set up by me. I book the book stores, set up the times. The publisher has already sent the books to the store for signing and selling. I get a tiny amount of money for travel and that’s it. Fortunately, I’ve got frequent flyer miles.” He grinned and kissed her. “Let’s go back to bed.”

“Best idea ever.”

After the night before, she didn’t think the second round would be as spectacular, but again, he surprised her.  It was mid-afternoon when they drug themselves away from the bed and into the shower. The huge shower at her former homer would have been more comfortable, but the single person shower stall in her current en suite bath gave them the excuse not to pull away.

It was tough for her, watching him dress and call a cab. He had to check out of his hotel and she would meet him at the reading in Arvada.

They spoke in whispers at her front door. As though whispers would elongate the moment and make it easier for him to leave.

“I’ll see you at five, then?” His eyes flicked back and forth from her mouth to her eyes.

“Yes, I’ll be there. Should I wear red or something, so you can find me in the massive crowd of your adoring fans.”

“I will always find you.” He kissed her once more, a long hot mouthed barely pulling away kiss and he left.

It took Azure a few minutes after watching him drive away to get herself together. When she did—when she came back to reality, she’d found herself upstairs lying in the mussed sheets, her hands running up and down the thread counts as though she could still feel him there. She blinked. Curling herself up, she hugged her knees and rolled out of bed. There was a slight soreness between her legs, and it felt good—a desert flower blooming after a rain. Ross had not been overly rough, but it had been nearly a year after all and simple lack of use had brought her back to an almost virginal state. She looked at herself in the mirror, wondering if she looked different, remembering back to when she’d actually lost her virginity and doing the same thing—checking for differences in the mirror.

She’d been eighteen when she’d finally done it with Tony—half-dressed and sex-crazed on a blanket in some wilderness area just off campus. And afterward she remembered being all flushed and excited when she’d told her roommate.

There was a woman looking back at her this time, not a girl, and the glare of the bathroom light was not flattering. Her hair was pulled up into a messy ponytail, the dark curls flipping every which way. Her face was unlined, but a slight blue tinge under her eyes told of lack of sleep. She smiled. It wasn’t from the night before. The night before, they’d curled around each other and slept like dead people—slipping into that heavy unconsciousness from which you wake a new person.  It felt like the first time she’d slept in a very long time, a deep dreamless sleep, because the dreams were now with her in the flesh. She yawned, stretching the skin around her mouth, and applied some moisturizer.

She was brushing her teeth when she remembered, looking up into the mirror, her mouth full of white foamy toothpaste. Her roommate! After Tony had dropped her off at the dorms, she’d gone back to the room and told Mal, the one who’d introduced her to Tony, a friend from her old neighborhood. Azure spit and rinsed.

“You were a good guy, Tony. I miss you still,” she spoke to the mirror. “But your friend is a prime-time meddler.” Az grabbed her phone from the nightstand and dialed Malinda’s number.  

“You are a dead woman, Malinda Patrick.. If I could shoot you twice, I would.”  Only Mal would laugh at such a greeting. 

“I did what I had to do.  If I waited for you to make a move, you’d still be sitting in front of your TV watching Zac Efron movies.”

“You could have warned me he was even in the state.”

“And you would have gone into hiding or something.”  Her friend paused on the line, letting her words sink in. Az didn’t protest about the hiding comment.  “So, spill. Obviously you spoke with him? How did that go?”

“Well, enough.” Azure picked at a hangnail, listening to Mal’s brain ticking away at the other end.

“Hmm, that means either you got pissed and ran out or you took him home.”

Azure laughed. She remembered their college days, how she’d resisted meeting Tony, even though Malinda had non-stop talked about him. How they ended up double dating with Mal and her flavor of the month. She and Mal had been best friends ever since.

“God, you’re good.”

“You got mad, didn’t you? No, you shagged him?” There was a tiny pause. “You did both.” This last part, she said with certainty.

“Yes.”  Az knew she was mulling over all the juicy details not told.

“Ah, I’m so proud. Tell me it was just as much fun telling him off as the sex was.” Az didn’t answer.  “So, the sex was that good, huh. Well good for you. I’m so happy. Finally.”

“So glad I can make you happy, you damned little matchmaker.”

“I made no such match. That was all you, pining over him with that damned letter. No, all I did was give you a little nudge and look where you went—tumbling right into bed—which is what you wanted all along.”

“You are so full of it.”

“This is how I know I’m right, as soon as you say I’m full of it—I’m right on the money.”

“How’s the life in the UK?”

“Scotland’s good. Same as always. Nana says hello and that you’ll have to come visit. They’ve got a great pub in town, now. The barkeep’s a burly chap with ginger hair.” Az listened as her friend dropped into a deeper Scots accent. The result of hanging out at the pub or with Nana, she wasn’t sure.

“Didn’t you just get there?”

“Well, a lass has got to get the lay of the land, don’t you know? I plan to bring Nana next time. The lads can teach the fine art of darts.”

“You are going to hell, you know that right?”

“Ah, but think of those bad boys there, my darling. Tell me I’m wrong.”

“You’re wrong.”

Mal laughed again, the bust out belly laugh that Az couldn’t help but smile at. She listened to her friend’s update on her family and then made her promise that if she found herself near London, she’d call the Worth’s house to check up on Eli.

“If Eli wasn’t such a doll, I couldn’t bring myself to go. I had to meet Kate too, ugh.” Mal sounded like she’d swallowed a toad. “God, what an insipid little thing. Speaks in this high-pitched Kensington dialect that real people can barely understand and before you ask, yes, she’s nice to Eli. She wouldn’t dare not to be. I’d take her out at her knobby little knees. Jonathan just beams when she’s around.  God, what a stupid man. I’ll never see what you saw in him.”

Az smiled at her tirade. Once you wound her up, Mal was hard to stop, but she was grateful for the update from a different perspective. Eli had only been gone three days and the house felt empty without him. She looked at the time.

“Sorry to call you so early,” she said. Her friend snorted.

“No, you’re not.  I was up anyway—have to be on the road this morning. I’m headed to Glasgow.”

“Well, thanks for looking in on Eli and…everything.”

“Az?”

“Yeah?”

“You sound happy.”

“I am.” They hung up and she realized that she was indeed very happy.