Passion Fish, page 23
They pulled themselves together after a few minutes, and when Eve was ready, headed out to do their last errand of the day, replacing the lock on her apartment door.
“Have you got any tools at home so I can install this for you?” Will asked as they stood looking at the huge selection of locks at the home improvement store. He hated feeling like a chauvinist, but did need to know if they should wander to the screwdriver section before leaving the store.
“My mom bought me a decent tool kit that I keep in the trunk of my car. It’s got two or three different sized Phillips and flatheads in it. Is that all we’d need?”
Will turned the lock package over and scanned the back for directions. “This looks pretty straightforward. We’ll be good with a couple screwdrivers. We should be able to get this done fairly quickly.”
By the time Will and Eve returned to her apartment, the tire store had already been there, and Eve had a new set of tires on her car. She grabbed the tool kit from the trunk, and they were able to change the door lock in less than an hour. It was now a little after two o’clock, and they would leave for Noelle and Thomas’s party no later than six to pick up a bottle of wine on the way.
“Would you mind going to the gym for an hour? I’ve been craving the stair climber since Thursday.” Eve smiled at him as she finished putting the tools away.
“You crave a stair climber?” Will laughed at her choice of wording.
“Yeah. I’m a bit masochistic when it comes to exercising. You know, ‘no pain, no gain’?”
“Does the place have a decent treadmill or weight machine?”
Eve lit up. “Yes! Do you want to go, then? And I promise, just for an hour!”
***
Eve turned from the fridge, chilled water bottles in hand, and froze. Her eyes locked on Will as he emerged from the bedroom, slipping his arms through his t-shirt and pulling it over his head.
To say Eve was stunned was an understatement. She had only seen Will in long-sleeve shirts and pants or jeans. Having explored his chest with her hands that morning in bed, she knew he was hiding a well-sculpted body under those clothes, but she still wasn’t quite prepared for his gorgeously defined chest and arms.
Trying to regain her composure, Eve took a few deep breaths as she rolled the ice cold water bottles across her forehead. Will laughed at her expression as he stepped into her and lightly kissed her forehead.
“You ready?”
“Uh…yeah,” Eve answered, still a little dazed by the man in front of her.
When they walked into the gym, it was apparent that Saturday at 2:30 in the afternoon wasn’t a big workout time. There were only three other people: a couple preparing to leave and a woman in her mid-twenties wearing the most constricting—and revealing—workout outfit Eve had ever seen. The woman was doing leg lifts on one of the mats, and when she saw Will walk in, she must have swallowed her gum because she sputtered a cough and put her hand to her throat.
Eve headed over to the treadmills, as Will went to find the weight machines. The woman watched him, her eyes never leaving his face as he approached nor his backside as he passed.
Putting her earbuds on and finding a good playlist on her iPod, Eve set the timer on the machine. Before hitting the start button, she glanced over at Will, smiling as she thought about waking up in his arms that morning, and that he would be living with her for the next few days.
Eve was so focused on her own workout that it had been almost half an hour before she looked over to see how Will was doing. The woman from the mat was standing right in front of him, shifting from hip to hip as she talked. For a split second, jealousy shot through her body, but then she realized it was pretty much a one-way conversation. Will was busy with a lot of weights and gritted his teeth with every lift. He was barely looking at her.
Eve did a double take as she noticed the woman adjusting her breasts. She quickly pulled out the earbuds.
“—been to Boston before, is it nice there?”
“It’s…pleasant…enough,” Will responded through his reps.
“Well, my friends told me, ‘Suzanne, you should move to a big city ’cause that’s where all the hot men are.’ They were right.” She gave Will a lusty look. “Maybe I should come to Boston, huh, Willie? You and me could hook up, you know? I’ll bet you know the best night clubs to go to. When are you heading—”
“Excuse me.” Will turned toward Eve. “Eve?” Her head shot up and their eyes met. “Honey, we probably need to finish up here if we’re going to be ready in time.”
Suzanne’s chin nearly hit the floor. She had assumed the blonde was his sister or something. She turned toward Eve with eyes full of hate. Eve just shrugged and gave her a smile and a wink.
“You got it, sweetheart. Let me just wipe down my machine and I’ll be ready. We can shower at home.” Eve let that last line sink in with Suzanne.
On the trip back to Eve’s apartment, they laughed about Will’s admirer. As they pulled into a parking space, Eve leaned over and kissed him fully.
“Wow. What was that for?”
“For not finding her attractive, and calling me ‘honey’ in front of her.”
“You liked that, huh? Hmm…I guess I’ll have to call you that more often then.”
Will flashed the smile he knew Eve adored and the two joined hands for the walk upstairs to get ready for the party.
***
“Honey, can you get me a fresh razor?” Noelle called from the shower.
“Absolutely.” Thomas handed one to her and he peeked in at the same time. She flicked water at him with her fingertips and giggled at his attentive stare.
“Thomas, what time is it anyway?”
“It’s 5:30, dear. We still have some time, don’t worry.”
“I’ll be done in a minute! You finish setting out the utensils and plates and then you can get in here.”
Blowing her a kiss, Thomas retreated to the kitchen, listening for the water to turn off between sorting the silverware and serving spoons.
Thomas and Noelle’s home was a small bungalow, located just outside Santa Barbara city limits. They’d purchased it three years ago and recently finished adding on two bedrooms for the children they were hoping to have someday. Thomas hoped that would happen soon. He was worried Noelle wouldn’t be able to bear trying without success much longer.
Noelle finished ironing her dress while Thomas showered and shaved. She had dried her hair but was still in her robe when Tom emerged from the shower. He caught her unaware, reaching from behind to undo the sash and slip her robe off her shoulders. He brushed his lips against her neck, and she turned around to embrace and kiss him.
“Do we have time to…?” Tom whispered.
“No, dear, we don’t. But I’ll take you up on that offer later on, if that’s okay.”
They separated and returned to their task of getting dressed for the party. “Oh, I forgot to tell you, hon,” Tom said. “I can’t find the paring knife anywhere. Do you know where it is? I need to slice the strawberries.”
“I’m sorry, Thomas, I broke it yesterday when I was getting some of the appetizers ready. Are you sure we don’t have another?”
“I didn’t see any when I was searching a little while ago. Our serrated knives are going to be too rough on the fruits and vegetables.”
My husband the perfectionist, Noelle thought with a smile. He was a details person. She knew that if he didn’t have the right knife to use on the fruit, he’d be brooding for half the evening.
“Tell you what. I think we could use another bag of ice too. It’s only quarter ’til—how about I try to catch Josie or Skylar and ask them to stop by the store on their way here? Surely the grocery store will have a paring knife that will get us through this evening.”
Tom smiled at his wife, leaning in to kiss her forehead. “You always know how to make things right! I’ll go get the grill started, and you call one of the girls.”
***
“Damn it, Gage! You know how I hate to be late.”
Gage and Skye had lost track of time, and she was pissed. Gage was driving as fast as he could through town, and Skye was in the middle of lecturing Gage on how rude and self-centered it was to keep people waiting when her phone began to ring. Gage had never been so relieved to have a conversation interrupted by a cell phone. It wasn’t like he had made them late on purpose. How did she expect him to control himself when she was just prancing around in nothing but a bra and panties?
“Hey, Noelle,” Skye answered the phone, but was still giving Gage the death stare.
“No. We’re on our way right now.” Again she glared at him.
“Sure, we can do that… All right, see you soon. Bye.”
“What did Noelle want?”
“They need us to stop by the store and pick up some things.”
“See, so being late was actually a good thing for Noelle.” Gage quickly changed gears, knowing this was a better defense than blaming Skye.
Skye smiled at him, finally, and laughed. Gage was just so adorable, and sexy, when he thought he had won an argument. She would let him keep thinking that…this time.
“Well, what is it we need to get? Can we just stop at Carrolton’s or do we have to go hoity toity and do Perfect Foods?”
“Carrolton’s will be fine. They just need ice and a knife.” Skye went quiet as they drove toward Noelle’s. She was thinking about Noelle and what a perfect life she had. Before Gage, she would only on very rare occasions envy her and what she had with Thomas. But now, Skye often thought about living with Gage in the suburbs; having the little house and the white picket fence.
When the store came into view, Gage pulled into the parking lot and found a place to park. Looking over at Skye, her bottom lip pinched between her teeth in her thoughtful pose, he wondered what she was thinking about. Gage always worried when Skylar was thinking too hard. He was afraid she would figure out how much better she was than him and leave him.
“A knife? Why the hell do they need a knife? Doesn’t Noelle have a kitchen full of knives?”
“She needs a small paring knife. Hers broke and all they have are steak and butcher knives.”
“So, why doesn’t she just use one of those to cut stuff?”
“Don’t worry about it, honey. I’ll get the knife,” Skye told him. Clearly he wouldn’t know a paring knife from a carving knife. Apparently Skye was going to have to train him.
As they walked into the store, Skye blurted out, “Oh, did you know that Noelle and Thomas are trying to have a baby?”
“Trying to? I’ve only ever tried not to have a baby. How would that work?”
Gage’s question made her pull up short. She couldn’t imagine trying to have a baby.
“Well, I think they just go at it like bunnies until Noelle turns up pregnant. She is going to be a fabulous mother.”
The doors of the grocery store slid open as the couple approached. Gage’s mind was running at full speed…going at it like bunnies. Turning to Skye, Gage had a mix of terror and confusion all over his face. But before she could ask him what was wrong, he was speaking.
“Why don’t you go get the knife, babe? I need to pick something up, too, and I’ll grab a couple bags of ice.”
A few minutes later, Gage found Skye carrying a very small knife in her hand. His hands were full. Along with the bag of ice, Gage had a box of Trojan condoms. Magnums.
When Skye noticed what he was holding, her eyebrows pulled together in confusion. “Gage, what the hell do you have?”
“Well, I was thinking about what you said about Noelle and Thomas trying to have a baby. And it made me realize that we, as you so aptly put it, go at it like bunnies.”
A sudden look of terror washed over Skye’s face as she too understood that they had been in a haze of irresponsible sex for the past two weeks. Skye’s head was spinning. It wasn’t like she had never thought about the fact that they were having unprotected sex. Unfortunately, it was always in the heat of the moment that she thought about it, and when she looked at Gage’s incredible naked body, the thought would somehow disappear right out of her head.
With the scary diseases in the world today, Skye had always expected men to use condoms. She wasn’t just worried about getting pregnant, she was worried about getting something. With that in mind, she had given up using birth control herself long ago. If he wasn’t prepared, he wasn’t getting anything. But, for some reason, with Gage, she never worried about it.
Skye began counting the days in her head. Oh God! Please, please, please let it be all right, she silently begged.
“Shit!” Skye swore loud enough to catch the attention of an old woman walking by. When the woman looked over, she glared back and silently dared her to say something. She didn’t.
“Don’t worry, it’s only been a couple of weeks right? I mean really, what are the chances?” Gage tried to reason with her. It wasn’t helping.
“I sure hope you’re right about that. Let’s pay for this and get to the party.” Skye tried to sound casual again, but Gage could tell she was still worried.
Leaning down, Gage brushed his lips against her cheek on the way to her ear. “I love you, Skylar,” he whispered as they put their items on the conveyor belt.
While waiting for the cashier to ring up the items, Skye found her datebook in her purse. Pulling it out, she flipped through to find the big red dots. The last day was on the Saturday before she and Gage first went out and, well, that first fantastic night they had spent in his bed.
Skye couldn’t remember if it was right before or right after that you were more likely to get pregnant. She made a note to Google that when they got home.
Gage paid the cashier and grabbed the bags. Halfway to the car, in the middle of the parking lot, he suddenly burst out laughing. Skye looked at him like she was about to kill him. The fact that he was laughing when she had just realized that they could beat Noelle and Thomas to the delivery room made Skye’s blood boil.
“Gage. Do you really think it’s funny that we’ve been having unprotected sex for two weeks? I mean, I can’t be a mom!”
“I’m not laughing at that, baby. I’m laughing because of the cashier.”
“What the hell are you talking about? She barely said a word.”
“Well, she just rang up ice, condoms, and a knife. And I’m pretty sure she’s going to be looking for a headline about us in the newspaper tomorrow.”
Gage’s little boy grin and boisterous laughter made Skye forget their situation for the moment, and she laughed out loud. There was nothing they could change anyway.
Suddenly, Gage stopped walking and reached over to wrap his arms around Skye, pulling her into a deep kiss. The ice he was holding was pressed into her back and Skye shivered. Gage released her when he realized the goose bumps on her arms were not from his kiss.
He continued to avoid talking about their lack of responsible behavior as he drove the rest of the way to dinner. Instead, they spent the drive trying to imagine what the cashier thought they would do with the bizarre purchases. Skye’s theory was a Lorena Bobbit scenario with a reattachment surgery. That suggestion had Gage howling, and she was on the verge of tears from all the laughing.
When the two finally arrived at Noelle and Thomas’ it was about twenty minutes after they should have been there, but Skye really didn’t care anymore. She was lucky enough to be with the man she loved.
Standing on the porch waiting for the door to open, Skye looked over at Gage, still laughing from their earlier conversation. In that instant, Skye knew everything would be fine. Turning to him, Skye stood on her tiptoes, and softly kissed Gage’s perfect lips.
“I love you too, Gage.”
Chapter Sixteen
Sitting in a rented car down the street from Thomas and Noelle’s house, Julian waited for Eve and him, to re-emerge.
The blood in his veins had boiled as he watched Will Prentiss hold Eve’s hand as they walked to the door. A vision of him with his hands all over Eve began to form in Julian’s mind. He shook his head. There was no way he would allow those thoughts to permeate his perfect memories of beautiful Eve.
He settled in to wait, but had been surprised to see all of them arrive after Eve went inside. Julian realized he had never been invited to their house, and Noelle was the only one of Eve’s friends he liked.
Next to arrive was the other bitch, Josie, and that guy she met playing their whore game at Stratus. Julian had already decided that when he had Eve back, Josie was out. Before she had offered herself up like an animal—blindfolded and bound—to be slobbered on by strange men, Julian had actually considered her an acceptable friend for Eve.
