Trouble With Harry (7 page)

“Good, maybe he’ll help us find my partner, too.” Harry slipped into the shirt.

Edie made her call, giving the professor a full description of the stone, its carvings and just enough information to make his inquiries without telling him the entire story. When she hung up, the telephone beeped again.

“There, that’s the sound I heard.” Harry pointed at the black box.

“That’s how the telephone rings, Harry.” Edie punched a button. “Hello. Oh hi, Dad.” She grimaced and walked to the other side of the room. “Yes, Dad, I was kissing a man in the hallway.”

Uh-oh. News of their kiss must have made its way to Edie’s father. He hoped she didn’t take a lot of grief over one little kiss. Mostly, he hoped Mrs. Bartelli hadn’t noticed that he’d had his hands up Edie’s shirt.

“Yes, his hands were up my shirt and no, I’m not a slut.” Her angry whispers grew louder.

“Frank Ragsdale is a complete asshole,” Mitch said. “He’s always putting her down.”

Harry wanted to take the telephone away from Edie and give the man a piece of his mind. “Why does she put up with it?” For the first time since he’d met Mitch he felt a connection to the man, he couldn’t fault Mitch for caring about Edie. Someone needed to.

“She insists that she’s used to it and it doesn’t bother her.” Mitch’s lips tightened. “But it does. You can tell.”

“Dad, it’s none of your business who I sleep with,” Edie said. “I could sleep with the entire team of the New York Knicks if I wanted to. No, I’m not trying to embarrass you. I know I’m not beautiful, and he’s probably just after the sex, but maybe so am I. Look, Dad, I don’t want to die a virgin. If paying for sex is the only way I can get it, maybe it’s not such a bad alternative. I’m sorry, Dad, he’s waiting for me in my bed. I have to go have raunchy sex before my money runs out.” Edie punched a button on the phone and slammed it down on the table.

“Hey, you go, girlfriend!” Mitch raised his fist in the air.

Edie stood with her back to Harry. She was so still, she appeared frozen in position, then her shoulders began shaking. Was Edie crying?

Harry strode across the room and gently turned Edie toward him.

Instead of tears, she was laughing so hard she didn’t make a sound. Then she inhaled. “Oh my god, I can’t believe I said that to my father!” She clutched her stomach and doubled over, her eyes glistening. As quickly as the weather shifted in New York City, her laughter changed to sobs and the tears Harry had expected spilled down her cheeks. “He couldn’t believe a man would want to kiss me.”

He pulled her into his arms, leaning his chin against her hair. “I did.”

“Only because I wished it!” Edie sniffled and rubbed her nose on her sleeve.

With his finger and thumb, Harry tipped her face up to his. “You’re not wishing now.” He dipped down and claimed her lips. This time he felt the difference. The invisible puppet master wasn’t making him do anything he didn’t want to do. And boy he wanted to kiss Edie.

He tasted her, running his tongue along her full bottom lip, delving in for more. Harry wanted to lie naked with her, making love through the night, showing her with each touch and stroke just how beautiful she was.

Soft hands crept up to circle his neck, and as Edie pressed her body against his, the scent of spring flowers seeped into his senses. Heat burned a path from where her breasts rubbed against his chest downward to fill his groin. This woman was going to kill him.

“Ah-hem.” Mitch cleared his throat noisily behind them. “You do have an audience here. Not that I mind. But if you’d like more privacy, I’ll leave.”

Edie broke off the kiss and pushed out of Harry’s arms, her face flaming red. “No, no, don’t leave. I was just about to do something. I just can’t seem to remember what it was.” She laughed and hiccupped all in one.

“You already did. You called Professor Johansson about the stone,” Mitch said, a wry smile twisting his lips.

Harry leaned against the wall, feigning a nonchalance he didn’t feel, his hands making a fig leaf over that part of his body that wanted to continue on where he’d left off with Edie.

“You know, Edie?” Mitch said, pacing across the room. “While you and genie-boy were sucking face, I was thinking.”

If Edie’s face could get any redder, Harry feared she’d likely explode. Her embarrassment was sadly painful.

“Enough with the teasing, Mitch.” Harry glared at the other man.

He held up his hand to Harry. “Hold on, you’ve got a part in this.” Mitch smiled at Edie. “If he really can grant your wishes, why not?”

“Why not what?” she asked.

“Why not make a few wishes?” Mitch said. “What can it hurt?”

Harry didn’t like the direction Mitch was heading. “I’m not sure about this. I don’t seem to have control over how the wishes are granted.”

“Are you telling me you’re a genie, but you can’t control your own power?” Mitch’s eyebrow rose in challenge. “Tsk, tsk. No control.” His glance lowered to Harry’s hands.

Harry frowned, ignoring the unspoken insult to his inability to tamp down his raging sexual urges where Edie was concerned. “I never said I was a genie.”

“Leave it alone, Mitch,” Edie said. “I don’t want to wish for anything.”

“Nothing?” Mitch grabbed her hands. “In all your life, you haven’t dreamed of anything? You haven’t wanted to change anything?”

“No,” she said, then her head tipped to the side. “Well, maybe…” Edie stared off into the space over Mitch’s shoulder. “Yes.” Then her gaze shifted to Harry.

A shiver of awareness snaked across Harry’s mind. Why was she looking his way? Did she want to change something about him? Oh, no. “Edie, think about it.”

“Do it, Edie!” Mitch said. “Here’s your chance.”

She shook her head, still staring at Harry, a flush creeping up her neck. “I don’t know…”

“Sometimes you gotta say ‘What the heck’.” Damn, Mitch and his careless advice.

Harry wanted to punch Mitch is his big fat mouth. Instead, he stared across at Edie and willed her not to make the leap. But like a sapling in the face of an approaching avalanche, Harry could do nothing to stop her. “Don’t do it, Edie,” he whispered.

Her words came out in monotone syllables. “I wish I were the most desirable woman in the country.”

Thunder rumbled and the floors shook.

The walls of the apartment wobbled like an unfocused spyglass. Harry reached for Edie but instead of grabbing her, he pawed at the air where she’d been. Edie had disappeared.

When the room settled back into place, Mitch yelled, “Wow! That was incredible! Holy shit, where’s Edie?”

Without missing a beat, Harry balled his fist and punched Mitch in the eye.

* * * * *

Hot lights shown down on Edie, their intensity blinding her. Where was she? What happened?

“
Baby Likes it Hot
, scene two, take two,” a man’s voice said.

Edie’s vision cleared. She was in a cavernous room with lights mounted on extension poles, pointing at her from all angles. Her hands slid across smooth fabric. Red satin—as in red satin sheets. Where the hell was she? Leaning up on her elbow, she surveyed her surroundings. Dead center in a large round bed, she was covered in red satin sheets with a white faux fur throw tossed over her body.

“That’s right, Edie, let the blanket fall a little exposing your breast.”

“Huh?” She lifted the corner of the furry blanket and peered beneath. Holy crap! She was completely naked!

“Come on, baby, come for Daddy.” An equally naked man with a very hairy chest and shoulders lunged onto the bed, landing between her legs. He tugged the fur blanket. “Don’t be shy, show us a little tit.”

Edie’s eyes widened and she held tight to the fur, refusing to let it down even an inch.

“This isn’t in the script, but if you want to play that way, I can start from the bottom and work my way up.” The man lifted the bottom of the blanket and pressed her thighs wide. “Are you getting this, Seymour?”

A camera rolled closer, clearly pointing at Edie’s crotch.

When she tried to close her legs, the man on top of her held them still with his hands. “Feisty baby, are we? Want to play it rough?” He smacked her thigh, the sound louder than the pain.

“No, I want you off of me, now,” she whispered loud enough for him to hear. What kind of nightmare had she landed in? Where was Harry?

“So you want me, do you? I’ll make you sing like Shirley Temple.” The man rubbed his face in her pubic hairs and came up. “Nothing like a little pussy to make me meow. Come on, baby, cum for Daddy.” The hairy guy draped her legs over his shoulders and wiggled his tongue while glancing sideways at the camera.

“No,” she screamed. No, he couldn’t do this to her. Didn’t he realize she was a virgin? No man had ever touched her privates with his tongue. Eve squirmed against the hands that held her, fighting desperately to get away. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. All these years, she’d saved herself for someone special. Her first time was supposed to be with someone she cared about…someone kind and gentle…someone like Harry.

Just as the man leaned into her, Edie squeezed her eyes shut. “I wish it were Harry.”

* * * * *

As Mitch started to pick himself up off the floor, Harry clenched his fist and prepared to swing again. “Why the hell did you encourage her to wish again? Didn’t I tell you I couldn’t control what happens?”

Mitch paused, sitting back on his haunches, staring up at Harry’s fists. “Why the hell did you hit me?”

“You deserved it.” Harry had never punched a man over a woman before. And the urge to do it again nearly overwhelmed him.

Mitch rubbed his eye and winced. “Damn, I’m gonna have a black eye. Did you have to punch me in the eye?”

“I shouldn’t have stopped with the eye.” Harry’s fists bunched, ready to swing again.

With a hand held up to block Harry’s next attack, Mitch scooted backward on his butt. “Look, I didn’t think she’d disappear.”

“Yeah, well she did.” Harry couldn’t stand still—he had to do something. Edie was missing and he felt like it was all his fault. With a snort, he turned and paced across Edie’s apartment and back to stand in front of Mitch. “Now what do we do? I have no idea where she went.”

“Didn’t that bottle and this whole genie thing come with an instruction manual?”

“Hell no!” Harry loosened a fist and shoved the hand through his hair. “Where the hell did she go?”

“How bad can it be?” Mitch eased to his feet his gaze narrowed, wary, as if tensing for Harry’s next shot. When he made it all the way to his feet without another attack, he pressed a hand to his eye again. “Ouch!”

“Serves you right, goading her into the wish like you did.” Harry’s muscles bunched, automatically. Maybe he would punch the bastard again.

Mitch’s eyes widened and he raised both hands in front of him. “Enough with the hitting. Sheesh! Taking it out on me isn’t going to find Edie.”

“Maybe not, but it’ll make me feel better.” Where was she? New York City was filled with millions of people, how could he find her in its vastness? Assuming she was even in New York. Harry glared at Mitch.

“We need a clue as to where her wish might have taken her.” Mitch waved a hand at the room as if searching for the answer among the throw pillows. “What exactly did she say?”

“Something about being the most desirable woman.”

Mitch snorted. “Like she needs a wish to make it happen.”

“Why the hell does she think she’s undesirable?” Harry asked. In all his travels, he hadn’t met a more tempting woman than Edie. All that beauty and those luscious curves hidden behind frumpy clothing.

“Her father tells her all the time she’s ugly.” Mitch sighed. “Apparently, her mother was a model and drop-dead gorgeous. Unfortunately, she did drop dead and left Edie’s father bitter. He took it out on her.”

“But Edie is an attractive woman.”

“She doesn’t think so.” Mitch rubbed his jaw. “Didn’t she say she wanted to be the most desirable woman in the country?”

“Yeah. I think so. But how is that going to help us find her?” Harry’s chest tightened. Never one to stand around and just think, he needed action.

“Maybe she’s morphed into a model like her mother, or a singer or actress. Has to be somewhere in the United States, since she said ‘in the country’.”

“Great, that narrows it down to about a million people. How are we supposed to find her?”

“Keep your shirt on, bottle man.” Mitch laced his fingers together and cracked his knuckles. “I’ll just peruse the Internet and see if we can find her.”

“Then come on, let’s go.” Harry headed toward the door, anxious to begin the search.

Instead of following Harry to the door, Mitch pivoted in a circle, scanning the small apartment’s interior. “Harry, we aren’t going anywhere.”

“Then how the hell are we supposed to find her?”

Mitch shook his head. “You’ve got a lot to learn about the twenty-first century.” He strode to the desk in the corner of the dining room and sat in front of a black box with a gray screen. When he placed his palm over a device the size of a hamster, the black box in front of him lit up with a picture of a sandy beach.

Despite his worry over Eve, Harry couldn’t help being lured into the beautiful lights and colors of the box. It was like a photograph, only it was all in color. “What’s that?”

“A computer.”

“How is looking at pictures of beaches going to help us find Edie?” Harry paced behind Mitch, his concern for Edie growing with each passing minute. Yet he was completely fascinated by what the other man was doing. The beach picture disappeared replaced by a picture of a lot of words. “Google? What’s a google?”

“Technology has come a long way in the last eighty years, Harry. If you could just pipe down while I surf the web we might find something.” Mitch pressed the little buttons on a board that looked like the letters from a typewriter. “Edie Ragsdale” appeared in a red box in the middle of the white picture.

Then Mitch sat back.

“This is a waste of time. We should be out there looking for Edie.” Harry swung away from Mitch. “If you won’t go look, I will.”

“I wouldn’t leave yet, if I were you. I found her.”

With his hand on the doorknob, Harry turned back to Mitch. “Where?”