Twelve Nights (13 page)

“Of course,” Jimmy smiled. He pointed toward a smaller door
to the right of the bedroom entrance.

Angela smiled through her desperation as she entered the
room. A perfect circle, the bathroom held a circular tub beneath a circular
skylight. The urge to throw up receded as she calmed. She would just tell him,
she decided. She would tell him it was too soon. She would say that they’d make
love tomorrow night and then she’d convince Aggie to come. By the time Angela
had relieved herself and splashed some cold water on her face, she felt better.
The man liked Aggie; the plan would work. In half an hour, she’d be back at the
hotel with her sister.

Angela didn’t see Jimmy when she exited the bathroom. She
found him in the library, looking at the Modigliani book she had selected.

“I never really appreciated him before,” he commented. “Now
I feel I see him through your eyes.”

Angela’s smile wavered. He really was a nice man, just as
Aggie had said. She had to get herself out of this apartment and get Aggie back
in her place.

“Shall we go into the bedroom?” Jimmy asked.

“I don’t,” Angela began then didn’t know what to say. If she
refused outright, he might call off the contract and then Aggie wouldn’t be able
to come tomorrow night. Angela felt the floorboards narrow to a tightrope
beneath her feet. She turned and walked ahead of Jimmy out of the room. He held
open the door to the bedroom and waited for her to enter. Angela stepped across
the threshold.

“It’s nice.” The words sounded strangled, but the setting
really was beautiful. The room was a huge bay, with glass on 270 degrees of
wall. The ceiling was a round skylight with a retracting dome half pulled back.
Muted rain made a natural background music. A round bed sat directly beneath
the skylight. Angela listened to the click of her heels as she walked across
the pale hardwood floor. “It’s like a nest.”

Jimmy smiled. “I always wanted a tree house.”

“I like it, Jimmy,” Angela began. “I really like it, but I’m
not ready. This is all new to me.”

The lie lodged in Angela’s throat. She looked at Jimmy
pleadingly. The situation might not be new, but her reluctance was solid gold
genuine.

“Let me see your body, Aggie,” Jimmy asked. “I’ve waited all
day.”

“I can’t…”

“Just let me look. I won’t do anything you don’t want.”

Angela found she trusted him. She stared at the floor to
hide the next lie.

“I’ve never stripped in front of someone before.”

“You’re beautiful, Aggie. Let me look at you.”

Angela couldn’t resist Jimmy’s soft words. After all, he
could see her in a bikini. This wasn’t much more. Her eyes still on the floor,
she began to remove her clothing. She moved without artifice, made no effort to
be alluring. When she reached her underwear, she turned away from Jimmy toward
the bed. Warm hands touched her back and unhooked her bra. She slid the black
lace from her shoulders. Her fingers trembled as she slid the flimsy silk of
her panties down her thighs and to the floor. She straightened with her back
still to Jimmy.

“Turn around,” he commanded.

Slowly she turned, keeping her eyes downcast. His finger
touched her chin and raised her head. She looked up into his eyes. She saw
appreciation there, but not the glow of warmth that had lit them before. Jimmy
ran his hand down her shoulder and goosebumps followed in his wake. He touched
the side of her breast and the nipple rose autonomously.

“Please, Jimmy,” Angela begged. “I’m not ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“Ready to make love.”

“Your body is ready,” Jimmy commented. His hand was on her
hip now.

“My mind isn’t ready. My heart isn’t ready,” Angela pleaded.
“Can we just lie down together, but not do anything? Just for one night.”

“You’re asking for the moon, Aggie.” Jimmy’s hand stroked up
and down her side and his eyes never left hers.

“I know,” she whispered.

“What if I cancel the contract?”

Tears pooled in Angela’s eyes. She needed the money
desperately. The money was her ticket to a life. But she couldn’t make love
with this man. She lowered her gaze from his.

“All right,” she agreed into the floor.

Jimmy’s hand returned to her chin and lifted her face to
his. He planted a swift hard closed-mouth kiss on Angela’s lips.

“You drive a hard bargain,” he commented. “All right. For
one night, we’ll lie together naked, no more.”

Angela was trembling too hard to continue standing. She sank
onto the bed as Jimmy removed his clothes. His body was all right but not
spectacular. She noted without arousal that his semi-erect cock was a nice
size, though again not spectacular. What caught her attention were his balls.
Now, they were spectacular. They hung full and loose against his upper thighs.
Those balls could produce an army of children. And Aggie loved children, Angela
thought with satisfaction. She smiled.

“You like it?” Jimmy asked. He strutted his nude male body
back and forth in front of the bed.

“You have a very nice body,” Angela agreed. He reminded her
of a bantam rooster.

“You sure you don’t want…?”

“Not tonight,” Angela demurred. She stood and turned back
toward the bed. When she bent down to open the covers, Jimmy groaned.

“That ass.” He groaned again.

Angela laughed. “It’ll be the same ass tomorrow night.”

But it wouldn’t, Angela thought as she slipped between the
sheets. No matter what she had to do, she would persuade Aggie to take her
place tomorrow night. Jimmy slid his solid warmth into the other side of the
bed. He snugged himself in behind her body spoon-wise, one hand draped over her
waist and up her chest. She eased his fingers from her breast.

“Tomorrow,” she promised.

Aggie turned over in the bed and looked at her watch. It was
six o’clock. She heard the door to the apartment open. What? Angela should have
come back hours before. The evening either went very well or very badly.

“Angela,” she called.

Her sister walked into the bedroom. She looked well-rested
for the aftermath of a night of debauchery. Aggie smothered the flicker of
jealousy that flared briefly in her chest.

“How did it go?” Aggie asked.

“Fine,” her twin answered with a smug smile. “I bought us
some bagels for breakfast. Let me heat them up and then I’ll tell you all about
it.”

Aggie trailed her sister into the kitchen. Angela started a
pot of coffee then sliced a bagel and put it in the toaster. She slathered the
hot pastry with butter and offered half to her sister.

“Ugh,” Aggie pushed the bagel away. “Too much butter. So,
tell me what happened.”

“Nothing.”

“What? Did he call the deal off?”

“Nope,” Angela answered around a mouthful of dripping bagel.
“He really likes you, you know.”

“Me?” Aggie asked as warmth stole into her belly.

Angela nodded and swallowed.

“I told him I wasn’t ready for sex last night,” she
commented offhand then grinned. “And he bought it.”

“He what?” Aggie protested. “He almost jumped me in the
restaurant yesterday. Are you telling me he didn’t want to do anything?”

“Oh, he wanted to. But we just slept naked in bed together.
He has a really hot body.”

“Jimmy?”

“Not hot like sexy. I mean physically hot. He’s like a
furnace.”

“Oh.” Aggie digested the information. She found she wasn’t
thrilled that Angela had slept naked with Jimmy. She had known what to expect;
sleeping naked was much milder, though almost more intimate. Why should it
upset her? Because she was attracted to him herself, she realized. She wanted
to be the one snuggled up next to his furnace.

“I want you to go in my place tonight,” Angela said.

If she had expected opposition, she wasn’t going to get it.

“Okay,” Aggie agreed immediately.

“What?” Angela sputtered. “I thought I’d have to wrestle you
out the door.”

“No,” Aggie smiled. “You’re right. I like him. You can keep
the money. I just want the man.”

Eleven nights. Eleven nights of blissful sex with an
adorable, intelligent man. A man with a sense of humor. Aggie felt herself
dampen down below. Aggie was sure that Jimmy was a man who enjoyed sex, a man
with a voracious appetite. Her crotch grew warm as the dampness spread. Would
he want to do forbidden things? Aggie refused to name them even to herself. As
she had admitted to the lawyer, she was curious about certain sexual practices.
With Jimmy, she could see herself trying even …

“Wait till you see his library,” Angela gushed. “You’ll go
nuts. It’s bigger than yours in Cincinnati. Just don’t go too ape-shit.
Remember, you supposedly saw it last night.”

Aggie pumped her twin for every detail of the apartment,
their dinner, Jimmy’s words and actions and her responses. By the time her twin
wound down, Aggie had regained control of her fantasies. Jimmy had bought a
woman for sex. She couldn’t lose sight of the cold-bloodedness of the
transaction. Even if she did feel attracted to the man. She pushed the reality
aside.

“We talked about books at lunch,” Aggie commented. “He said
he was a collector.”

“You didn’t warn me. I could have said something when I
walked into the library. Oh, well.”

Angela seemed remarkably light-hearted this morning. And why
shouldn’t she be. She was going to get a hundred twenty thousand dollars for
sleeping peacefully for eleven nights. Aggie felt a rumble of panic.

“If he wants to do anything I don’t like, you’re going
back,” she warned.

“He won’t,” Angela smiled. After all, Aggie mused cynically,
it wasn’t her problem now. Her sister continued. “You were right. He’s sweet.”

Aggie drifted again into a wanton fantasy.

At that moment a few hundred yards away, the man of her
dreams didn’t sound sweet to his lawyer.

“She’s a fraud!” he thundered.

Jimmy’s hard-on hadn’t gone down since he woke up alone in
his bed. Frustration pounded in his cock and the rhythm thundered through his
head. He could read both sympathy and I-told-you-so in Richard’s eyes. He dared
him wordlessly to speak. The lawyer sat blandly still.

“Something happened between lunch and six o’clock.” Jimmy’s
voice was calmer. “I want you to find out what.”

“How?” Richard asked.

It was a reasonable question, Jimmy admitted to himself. How
could anyone understand what went on in a woman’s mind? Especially a breathtaking
taller-than-he-was nymph with gray eyes who somehow talked him out of a night
of incredible sex. Jimmy breathed deeply to calm himself down. He only half
succeeded.

“Hire a detective,” he blustered. “Nose around the Vancouver
Hotel. See if she got any messages, made phone calls, met anyone.”

“She’s noticeable,” Richard agreed. “Someone may remember
seeing something.”

“She’s a tall auburn-haired witch, that’s what she is,”
Jimmy complained. “She bewitched me at lunch.”

“Then by evening, the spell had worn off,” commented the
lawyer.

“Yes,” Jimmy growled. “I’d swear it wasn’t the same woman.
She looked the same, talked the same, even laughed the same. Something must
have happened.”

“I’ll try to find out,” Richard agreed.

Five hours later the two men met back in Jimmy’s office.

“What do you know?” Jimmy grumbled. Though his erection had
finally subsided, his mood had not improved with the passing hours.

“She’s keeping a low profile,” Richard began. “One of the
desk men remembers her signing in on Saturday. He saw her again in the lobby
last night at about 5:45. He doesn’t think she was in the lobby any other time
when he was on duty. He assured the detective he would have noticed her. I
think he was keeping a watch; he seemed attracted to her.”

Jimmy muttered deep in his throat.

“What?” Richard asked.

“Keep going.”

“No messages in or out,” Richard continued. “No phone calls.
She’s elusive.”

“What did he get from the chambermaids?”

“I didn’t think of that,” Richard admitted. “I’ll send him
back.”

“What about taxi drivers?”

“You are serious about all this, right?” the lawyer queried.
“I’ll have to hire another man to check the cab companies.”

“Do it,” Jimmy ordered. “And I want a tail on her starting
right now. Put somebody in the lobby of the Vancouver Hotel. Have them wait
outside while she’s here and then follow her back, see if she goes anywhere
else, sees anyone.”

“Uh, Jimmy,” the lawyer hesitated.

“Spit it out.”

“What if she is on the level and she finds out about all
this cloak and dagger?”

“Yeah?”

“She could be angry,” Richard warned.

Jimmy thought of the fire in Aggie’s eyes at lunch and the
coolness last night.

“I don’t care,” he told the lawyer with a grin. “I like her
when she’s angry.”

“We’re getting close to invasion of privacy,” Richard
persisted.

“Don’t do anything illegal,” Jimmy clarified. “Just skirt
the line. If she finds out, she can pretend she was a celebrity for awhile,
stalked by paparazzi.”

“I doubt she’ll see it that way.” Richard’s tone was dryly
amused.

“Step it up,” Jimmy glared. “Trace her credit cards. Send
someone to Cincinnati. Talk to acquaintances. Maybe she faked the identity and
she’s afraid she can’t keep up the charade.”

“I’ll try,”
Richard finally agreed.

“You’re not going to be able to find out much by tonight,”
Jimmy mused. “I don’t want to see her again until I have more information. If
she’s lying, I’ll catch the witch at it and then all bets are off. She’ll do
what I want or the contract’s void.”

Richard seemed dazed by his employer’s blazing intensity.

“What are you looking at?” Jimmy muttered.

“Nothing,” Richard shook his head as though trying to clear
his vision. “Shall I leave a message at the hotel that tonight’s off?”