Inside Out, page 16
“What are you doing?” Priscilla asked angrily. “Since when do you make your own copies?”
“You were at lunch,” I said, aiming my most charming smile at her.
“Save that for your boyfriend and get out of my way.” She elbowed her way past me and pushed a button to open the belly of the beast. As much as she hated technology, she sure knew all the ins and outs of the copier. “Here’s the problem,” she said, tugging on the papers I’d fed the beast until they were free. “You forgot to take the staple out before you fed the document.”
“Oh,” I said sheepishly. “Sorry.”
Priscilla’s annoyance faded when she turned to me holding my speech in her tiny hands. “You’re a mess today. Normally you only trip all over yourself when Julius is around, but today…” Her words trailed away. “Get ahold of yourself, Rome. The kids are counting on you.”
I nodded. “That’s why I was trying to make copies of my speech. I just needed to do something to keep busy and be prepared.”
“You are prepared.” I watched in horror as she ripped my prepared speech in half then in fourths.
“Why’d you do that?”
“You don’t need fancy words on a piece of paper, Rome. You need to speak from your heart.” She dumped the pieces of paper in the trash bin beside the copier.
“But—”
“No buts about it. Speak with conviction and share your story. Talk about how much this play would’ve meant to you as a kid.”
She was right. There wasn’t a single hateful thing Roy Halifax could say I hadn’t heard before, nor a situation he could present I hadn’t already overcome.
“Be yourself because no one can represent those kids and our district better than you can tonight.” She crooked her finger for me to lean down, and she kissed my cheek.
“Should I be jealous?”
I turned and found Jules standing behind us holding a cafeteria tray laden with food. His warm smile said he wasn’t the least bit concerned about the peck on the cheek Priscilla gave me. “Pizza day,” I said, sniffing the air appreciatively.
“I know you’re probably busy, but I had an extended break since the kids are going to a pep rally in the gym. I thought I’d treat you to lunch for once.”
“Your timing is perfect, Julius,” Priscilla said. “I think I’ll go over and watch the pep rally. Sandra is already over there, and none of the board members are in the office right now. You guys can close the door and have some quiet time.”
I felt my cheeks turn pink. “We’re not—”
“I didn’t say you were,” Priscilla said. “I used the words quiet and time. You’re the only one whose mind went straight to the gutter.” She closed the copier then walked to her desk where she pulled her purse out of the bottom drawer. “All you men love to jump to conclusions and make assumptions. Don’t know why I even bother,” she muttered as she left.
“That can’t all be about you,” Julius said. “Howie must’ve tried to let her down easy or something.”
“That’s my guess,” I agreed, watching her through the door as she walked toward the high school. At least the rain had finally let up. I faced Julius once more and said, “I’m so glad to see you.”
“Rough morning?” he asked, following me into the office.
Regardless of what Priscilla said, I left my door open and took a seat at the table in the corner of my office. “I really would love to close us in here together and maybe steal a kiss, but it’s not worth the risk. I don’t care who knows we’re dating, but I will not touch you intimately on school grounds.”
“We could always pretend later. You can call me down to your office.” Jules waggled his brows suggestively.
“Yeah, that roleplaying thing didn’t work out so well last night.”
“Last night was perfect,” Julius said in a low, husky voice. “As was the night before that and the night before that… You see where I’m going with this.”
“I do.”
“You’re going to be amazing at the meeting tonight. I heard what Miss Priscilla said and she’s right. I didn’t interrupt the cute little pep talk until she went to make moves on my guy.”
“I’m all yours, Jules.”
He smiled because he liked hearing it.
“Play is the highest form of research.”
~Albert Einstein
“Delayed gratification is the highest form of foreplay.”
~Julius Shepherd
Rome expected me to return his sentiment right away but instead, I said, “Good. Now eat your pizza.” His light blue eyes held mine, searching. I saw a flicker of uncertainty, but then he blinked, and it was gone. Rome took a bite of his pizza while I chewed over the brief reaction I saw on his face. Did he worry he spoke too soon? Did he think I wasn’t as invested in our relationship or my feelings weren’t as strong as his? If so, he was very wrong. I would give him as many positive reinforcement lessons as it took for him to realize I was exactly where I wanted to be.
“I’m all yours too, Rome.”
He stopped eating and narrowed his eyes at me before he slowly resumed chewing. When he finished, he took a sip of the apple juice I’d brought him. “You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?”
I chuckled. “No. Why would you say that?”
“You know how clumsy I get when I’m around you. For Christ’s sake, I can barely walk and talk at the same time when you look at me. I forget to breathe sometimes when we’re in the same room.” His voice was deep and gravelly, his face was flushed with want, and joy radiated from his crystalline eyes. “Yet, you make a declaration like that while I’m chewing? It’s a miracle you’re not having to perform the Heimlich right now.”
“It would give me an excuse for some mouth-to-mouth action,” I quipped.
“Yeah, I’d suggest we give it a try when we’re alone, but so far we’re batting zero.”
“I think we have the kissing thing down to an art,” I countered. I’d never heard my voice sound so rough and raw. Who knew banter could be considered foreplay?
Rome leaned forward and lowered his voice to a whisper. “I meant the other stuff. You know, me tripping over the table and falling on you.”
I leaned forward and lowered my tone to match his. The last thing we needed was someone overhearing us. “You landed right where I wanted you. And besides, you’re not clumsy.”
“What am I then?”
“Eager, and it’s a huge turn-on.”
“Really?” Rome sounded completely dumfounded by the notion. “How can you find that remotely sexy?”
“You might not know this, but I’ve had plenty of time to observe you without you knowing it. You move gracefully, speak eloquently and with sharp intelligence, and conduct your business with a level of professionalism I find incredibly sexy.”
“You do?” he asked.
“Oh yeah. So sexy.”
“Then how in the world can you find my stumbling and stuttering sexy too?”
I reached across the desk and covered his hand with mine. “Because only I affect you that way. With everyone else, there’s a cool aloofness about you even when your smile and tone of voice is warm. You’re friendly but unattainable because they don’t reach you on an elemental level. I break through those barriers and rattle your cage. And I like it. What you find ridiculous and awkward, I find alluring and real. I don’t want a smooth operator. I don’t want to be handled. Well, I do, but you know what I mean.” Rome’s wry smile said he wished he could handle me right then. My dick was hardening and lengthening in my pants, and I needed to pull myself together. His office wasn’t the right place for this conversation, but I couldn’t let him spend another second doubting that I wanted him. I started to pull my hand from his, but he rotated his wrist and recaptured it.
Rome lifted my hand and placed a kiss on my wrist, letting his lips linger there so he could feel the way my pulse raced for him. I couldn’t look away from the hungriness I saw in his eyes. If anyone popped their head in the office, they might think he looked like a vampire about to pierce my veins with his fangs. I saw only a wolfish man who wanted to devour and ravish me. My ass pucker tensed, wanting to be filled.
Priscilla’s ringing phone snapped us out of our lusty fog. Rome placed one last quick kiss on my wrist and released my hand.
“So, anyway, what are you doing for Thanksgiving?” I asked, needing to talk about anything that wasn’t sexy or could be twisted into something sexy.
“We usually go to Ashley and Ben’s for dinner, but they’re going skiing in Vale that weekend. Mom and Dad decided they would go to the nursing home and spend the day with Aunt Astrid and her friends. They invited me to join them, of course.”
“Would you like to spend the day with my family?”
Rome looked surprised by my invitation at first, but then he blessed me with the prettiest smile I had ever seen on another person. “Really? You don’t think they would mind?”
“My mom has been ‘silver fox’ this and ‘silver fox’ that since I first mentioned you. Marcus is dying to meet the guy who’s turned me ‘sappy.’ Camilla and Manny may not realize it yet, but they can’t wait to meet you too.”
“You talked about me to your mom?”
“More than I realized. It didn’t take her long to recognize my attraction to you. She looked up your photo on the internet and began hounding me about taking chances.”
“When?” Rome asked.
“When what?” I wasn’t following his question.
“I want to know when you first mentioned my name to your mom,” he explained.
“The first day we met.” I smiled at his stunned reaction.
“I know you said you felt the attraction that day, but I’m surprised you mentioned me to your mom.” Rome chuckled. “You were sure good at hiding your reaction. You looked like you couldn’t get away from me fast enough.”
“I was in a hurry to get away from the way you made me feel. I was already overwhelmed by the sudden changes occurring in my life, and there you were, making me feel breathless and stuff.”
“And stuff? What kind of stuff?” I quirked a brow in response. “Okay, this isn’t the place to have this conversation. Maybe these little lunches aren’t such a good idea.”
“We’ll learn to behave. I heard that delayed gratification is an excellent form of foreplay.” There I was causing trouble after I had lightly scolded him for doing the same thing.
“Eat!” Rome said, pointing to my plate. “You haven’t taken the first bite.”
I wanted to close the door and nibble on him, but instead, I picked up my rectangle of pizza and took a bite. It was surprisingly good. I forked a few bites of my salad in my mouth then recalled the first night I went to Rome’s house for dinner. I chortled as I remembered the way his face flushed from embarrassment.
“I know damn well what you’re thinking right now,” he said, pointing at my salad with his fork. He was trying to look and sound stern, but his quivering lips and the humor glinting in his eyes gave him away. “I swear these kids only create their secret language to make the rest of us look stupid. You’ll have to ask my sister about the time I learned what ‘Netflix and chill’ really meant.”
“Oh no,” I said. “I’m not waiting until I meet your sister to hear all about it.” I pointed my plastic fork at him. “Let’s hear it.”
Rome groaned. “You’re going to think I’m an old fool.”
“Rome, you’re not old and you’re definitely not foolish. I want to hear the story.”
“We have a family dinner at least once a month, and we rotate houses so one person isn’t doing all the work. One particular visit to Ashley and Ben’s, I announced I was going home to Netflix and chill. My oldest niece, Lauren, said ‘good for you, Uncle Rome.’ I didn’t understand why rushing home to binge-watch Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries earned such high praise from her, but I liked that she thought I was cool.”
“Uh oh,” I said, sensing trouble.
“Yeah,” he agreed huskily. “So, I said as much as I liked to Netflix and chill, I would prefer to find a nice guy to join me. The look on her face. She was horrified and said, ‘TMI, Uncle Rome.’ I was thwarted by a language that might as well be foreign to me.”
I couldn’t contain my laughter if someone offered me a million dollars. Luckily, Rome laughed right along with me instead of getting pissed. How could he not? It was fucking hilarious.
“But wait! There’s more,” he said, sounding like an infomercial. “At my old high school, one of the boys bragged to his buddies in the hallway that he received a hummer the night before, and I heartily congratulated the kid and gave him a fist bump. It was much later that I realized he was talking about getting a blow job and not a new SUV.”
“I…can’t…” I laughed until I gasped for air and tears ran down my face.
“Do you realize we spend as much time laughing together as we do anything else?” Rome asked when the laughter started to fade. “It’s so wonderful I’m not even mad that it’s at my expense most of the time.”
No one affected me the way he did. I laughed harder, my heart beat faster, and my senses were heightened until he was all I could taste, feel, see, and hear. Just him. I cupped his handsome face and stroked my thumb over his square jawline. “There’s nothing I would change about us, Rome. Nothing.”
He leaned into my touch, closed his eyes, and sighed. It felt like he truly believed we could have something real and sustaining for the first time. When he opened his eyes, I knew I was right. No doubt. No hesitation. Only soul-deep gratification. “Me either.”
My watch buzzed when my timer went off. I’d set it before I came over with lunch because getting lost in his eyes was a big possibility.
“That’s my cue to head back.” I started to put my plate back on the tray, but Rome stopped me.
“Either finish eating your pizza here or eat it on the way back to class. I’ll take the tray back to the cafeteria because I have more time than you do.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive,” he replied with a firm nod. “Wise people told me I’m as prepared for this meeting as I’m going to be because all I have to do is speak from the heart.”
“That’s what I want to hear,” I told him.
I finished off my pizza then battled the urge to kiss Rome goodbye. In the end, I leaned my forehead against his, sharing air with him for a few seconds before I pulled away. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”
“Yes, you will.”
The board had debated whether having the meeting in the school gym on a Friday night before a home football game was wise. They worried the Blissville residents’ main focus would be on the game, and only the POS group would show up for the public meeting. They were wrong. The gym bleachers were already packed with students and parents by the time I arrived. They held up signs supporting the play, the kids who wrote it, and the school board for putting it on. Looking around the gym, it was easy to tell who the POS members were by the scowls they wore on their face. So many people kept filing in that we had to set up rows of folding chairs on the basketball court to accommodate them. They wore shirts or sweatshirts showing off their school spirit. I knew most of them were dressed to attend the game, but it warmed my heart to see so many of them stop by the board meeting first.
Priscilla gave me a friendly wave and an encouraging smile from the front row of the bleachers. I winked at her and gave a thumbs up to Howie who sat beside her. The older man’s face turned pink, but he smiled shyly. I was glad to see the big guy was no longer in the doghouse.
I joined the faculty standing along the wall opposite from where Roy Halifax and his POS posse waited for the meeting to start. They’d huddled together with lowered heads and joined hands, praying for God’s intervention on their behalf. In my head, I imagined the men would all look like Joe Dirt or Dog the Bounty Hunter, and the women would resemble the infamous county clerk from Kentucky who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex applicants. That was my ignorance and own prejudices talking, and I should’ve known better. Hatred didn’t discriminate. It resided in the hearts of people regardless of their race, education, religion, or orientation. Knowing that, I was still surprised to see them look so…ordinary. They didn’t dress or style their hair differently. They hadn’t showed up with an angry mob with protest signs, but I wasn’t fooled. This was a group of deceitful people who threw together a phony petition thinking the board would back down under pressure.
They broke apart when the board members and Rome entered the gym and filled the empty chairs on either side of the podium. Across from the board, a lone table was set up with two chairs and a microphone. One of the men broke away from the group after hugs and handshakes from his supporters and approached the table. He nodded to the board and sat down.
Caitlyn Simpson rose from her chair and approached the podium. She smiled at the crowd and acknowledged Roy Halifax with a nod then turned on the microphone. “Good evening. I want to thank everyone for coming tonight. I would ask that the crowd remain quiet throughout the meeting and that we all show respect to those speaking. Anyone who disrupts the meeting will be escorted out of the building.” She gestured toward the door to my right and we all turned to see a mountain of a man standing just inside the gym. Marcus had football players on his team that would envy the expanse of shoulders on the cop. Of course, maybe the impression of his size had more to do with the fact his perfectly pressed uniform was at least two sizes too small. His eyes locked on mine, and he smiled before swaggering his way toward me. He was sexy for sure with his dark hair, obsidian eyes, and perfectly trimmed mustache and goatee, but not sexier than my silver fox who claimed more and more of my heart each day.
