Crazy for You (11 page)

“Andrew, you need to relax. Sit down. I’ll
brew you some tea.” She stepped toward the bathroom where there was
a small coffee maker she’d converted into her herbal tea maker.

As she passed Andrew, he reached out to grasp
her arm. “I don’t need any tea, Tasha. I need you to tell me what’s
going on here.”

“I don’t know, Andrew. What is going on
here?” She whirled and faced him, only inches apart, and spoke
softly. His gaze penetrated hers for a few seconds. Tasha watched
the dark navy flecks of blue floating in his sky-blue eyes and her
blood tingled. Where he touched her suddenly grew warm. After a
moment, he gently released her arm and stepped away.

Tasha turned fully to watch him sit on the
bed, rest his elbows on his knees and lay his head in his palms. He
sat there quietly for a moment. Silently, she turned toward the
bathroom and went about the task of brewing some tea. Good, strong
Valerian tea. They both needed it.

Andrew looked up as she walked into the room,
handed him a steaming cup of tea, and sat next to him on the bed.
For a few minutes, they silently sipped their tea, avoiding looking
at each other. When Andrew had drained his, Tasha took it from his
hands and set both cups on the bedside table.

“There now, isn’t that better?” She turned,
one leg tucked under her on the bed and grasped his hands. He
turned toward her and attempted a nod. Tasha thought she’d never
seen a more troubled man.

“All right. It doesn’t do either of us any
good to yell and be angry.” She reached up smoothed back a stray
hair on his forehead. “Obviously you’ve got some things on your
mind that are making you quite upset. Can we talk about them calmly
and maturely?”

Andrew sighed and glanced away, but she felt
the clasp he had on her hands grow stronger. “I’m an idiot, Tasha.
I need to apologize for the way I’ve been acting. Forgive me?” He
glanced back to her face.

Tasha nodded. “I can, and will, forgive you,
Andrew. But I think you need to explore where this anger came from.
Will you talk about it with me?”

Andrew chuckled and Tasha was glad to hear
it. It was the first sign she’d had in hours that he was relaxing.
“What are you, a shrink, too?”

She shook her head and smiled. “No. But I
took some counseling classes while working on my undergraduate
degree. And I guess some of the stuff I learned rubbed off. Andrew,
not to change the subject, but you need to talk about this.”

“Now?”

“Is as good a time as any.”

“I should just go home, Tasha. I should just
go back to where I belong and forget this whole entire week. I’m a
damned fish out of water here.”

Tasha felt a wave of panic break through her.
She didn’t want him to leave. “Andrew, this is just something new
to you, me too, and it takes some adjustment. Those two guys threw
a kink in the week. Don’t let that stop you from what you want to
do. I mean, I know you’re not into this whole free-spirit,
anything-goes mentality, but we were having a pretty good start to
the week and...oh, hell.”

Andrew studied her for a minute. “Those two
are up to something. It’s driving me crazy. You’re driving me
crazy.” He shook his head as if to shake away the direction of his
thoughts.

Tasha waited. She didn’t know what to
say.

After a minute, he began again. “All right. I
agree I need to hash this out and if you’re willing to listen, then
I’m ready to spill my guts.”

“I’m an awfully good listener.”

He nodded. “It’s pretty simple. I’m a really
good salesman and always have had top-notch sales figures. In fact
that’s how I won this trip. There’s a promotion coming up for
someone in the firm soon, and I’m a very likely candidate. However,
Doug and Brett would both give their eye-teeth to get it, too. So,
what I figure is this. They planned this whole trip, telling me it
was a vacation spa, hoping that they’d get me in some compromising
position where they could blackmail me into resigning or get me
fired. Either one would probably work well with them.”

“But how do you know this, Andrew? That’s a
pretty bizarre plan. To send you halfway across the world just
to—”

“I wouldn’t put anything past them. They want
my job. They really want me out of the company.”

Tasha thought for a minute. She could see the
strain spreading across Andrew’s face again. The stress was killing
him.

“Is there anything else you want to say to
me?”

He stared at her for a moment, then
relinquished. Tasha could tell he was struggling internally. “Yes.
I’m sorry I accused you of coming onto Doug. I guess... I was...a
bit—”

“Yes?”

“All right, dammit! I was jealous, okay?”

Tasha felt a tingle well up inside her at his
admission. “Okay,” she repeated softly and grinned back. It had
been a long time since anyone had admitted being jealous because of
her and it felt kind of good. But now that that was out in the
open, she really wanted to get back to the most important thing at
hand, because she knew if Andrew didn’t come to terms with this
thing with Doug and Brett and his job, the week would go downhill
from now on.

“Andrew, about your job. Is it that important
to you?”

As in disbelief, he stared at her. “Yes,” he
answered bluntly.

“Why don’t you quit that one? Find
another.”

Andrew’s eyes widened in surprise. “What?
Quit? Why there’s too much at stake to quit.”

“Like what?”

Andrew shook his head in disbelief as if he
couldn’t comprehend what she had suggested. “Like my seniority. My
pension plans. The stocks I’ve bought in the company. The fringe
benefits.”

“The stress.”

Andrew stared at her. “I could never quit
that job.”

“If you don’t, you’re going to have a heart
attack before you’re fifty.”

He stood and shook his head. “No, I won’t. I
keep in good shape. I work out.” He paced three steps away.

“The stress will kill you, Andrew. It doesn’t
matter if you’re in good shape. It’s the stress. Look at you right
now. I’ll bet your blood pressure is sky high. You’re anxious. Your
face is tense. You’re pacing.”

Andrew stopped pacing and faced her.

Tasha stepped closer and placed the palms of
her hands on his shoulders. “And your muscles are tied up on
knots.” She squeezed and watched Andrew’s eyes close with a small
grimace at the pressure she’d placed on his shoulders. “You can’t
live like this, Andrew,” she whispered. “No one can.”

After a moment of massaging, she circled
around to his back and began massaging his neck, shoulder, and back
muscles. She led him back toward the bed. “Sit down. The least you
can let me do is massage the kinks out. You’ll feel a lot better in
a few minutes.”

For a while, Tasha knelt beside him on the
bed, her fingers kneading. At first, Andrew sat stiff and erect,
but after a few minutes of her tender assault, he let his shoulders
drop and Tasha could feel him relax against her.

****

For the life of him, Andrew couldn’t recall
anything feeling so damned good for quite a long time. Tasha’s
fingertips were warm as they glided across his shirt and rubbed
deep into his muscles. He closed his eyes and let the sensation
take him away. Involuntarily, he unbuttoned his shirt down the
front and slid the shirt off his shoulders.

Tasha’s fingers stopped as she touched his
skin.

“Do you mind?” he asked softly. “Your fingers
feel so good and I—”

“No,” she replied quickly, a rasp in her
voice. “I don’t mind. Whatever works for you is fine with me,” she
added a little hesitantly.

Andrew let her continue in silence for
several more minutes. After a while, he knew nothing of anything
around him but the feel of the soft pads of her fingers stimulating
his muscles into relaxation, and the drowsy, warm feeling in his
head from her ministrations.

Soon he was conscious only of those
sensations, mixed with her even breathing behind him and the faint
warmth of her breath against his heated skin. Deep inside, he felt
something break loose and take hold. And all too quickly, he
realized it was the passionate flames of desire leaping up inside
and touching his heart. Before he realized it, he acted on that
impulse and turned to face Tasha.

Her eyes were a dewy brown, wide and filled
with question. Her lips were full and plum red and moist. Slightly
open, her breathing had now escalated into small pants and as each
breath exited her mouth, he could feel the moist warmth against his
chest. Her hands had fallen to her lap as if she suddenly didn’t
know what to do with them.

Keeping the gaze between them intact, Andrew
reached out and cupped her cheek in his hand. As if drawn together
like a magnet, Tasha leaned forward to rest her face in his palm
and Andrew leaned forward to capture her lips in a sweet
embrace.

The kiss was gentle, soft, and lingering. Her
lips were plump and inviting. And it was all Andrew could do to
tear himself away. But he did.

He peered into her eyes for a moment longer
and Tasha didn’t move. Andrew realized how deeply they had both
been moved by the simple kiss. And that, scared the hell out of
him.

He broke away and stood. While adjusting his
shirt, he glanced to Tasha. For a tall woman, she suddenly looked
small and lost. Her face still held the questioning gaze it did
moments earlier, before the kiss. It was as though she’d abruptly
grasped something, and it had taken her quite by surprise.

Well, he could understand that. He was quite
taken by surprise, himself.

Eighteen

Uninhibited at Eden II, The Club Regale

Disco Night

“You need clothes.”

Andrew looked down at her, still buttoning
his shirt. “Excuse me?”

“You’ve worn those things for two days. You
need clothes, Mr. Powell. Let’s go shopping.”

Funny, how that hadn’t occurred to him until
she mentioned it. Seemed she was more concerned with getting him
out of his clothes rather than the other way around.

“Shopping.”

“Yes. Shopping. You know, you go into a
store, pick out something you like, hand over money for it, and
it’s yours. Shopping.”

“I know what shopping is.”

“Then let’s do it. Shopping, I mean. Besides,
you need some appropriate attire for this evening.”

“Evening?”

“Yes, evening. The part of day that comes
after the afternoon, generally after dinner. This evening.”

Andrew shook his head. The woman could
certainly talk in circles. “And what is going on this evening?”

“Well,” Tasha rose and started for the door.
“This evening, Disco is on the agenda. The party starts at nine.”
She headed for the door. “Be there or be square. And if your butt
isn’t there, I’ll come get you and drag you there myself.”

Andrew harbored no doubt that she would do
just that.

She tossed him a threatening little smile and
opened the door. “Coming?”

“Where?”

“Shopping.”

He shook his head. “I’m not doing Disco.”

“Oh pooh. Yes you are. So, are you
coming?”

“I don’t do Disco.”

“No one does Disco, Andrew. Disco just kind
of does you.” She smiled again and motioned with one finger for him
to join her. “C’mon, let’s try out those credit cards of
yours.”

“I’m not going shopping and I’m not doing
Disco.”

With always the perpetual smile on her lips,
like she knew something that Andrew didn’t know, she walked out the
door, tossing her final words over her shoulder. “Well, we’ll see
about that, Andrew Jacob Powell III.”

****

The noise was deafening. The flashing lights
were blinding. There even was one of those gaudy, rotating,
mirrored balls hanging from the ceiling. Bodies were crammed too
close together. Gyrating. Wiggling. Spinning. Some might even call
it dancing. The room reeked of smoke and fruity alcohol drinks and
K.C. and the Sunshine Band.

He hated smoke.

He hated fruity alcohol drinks.

He hated Disco.

Why in the hell was he here?

Andrew sauntered slowly through the crowd
toward the bar at the back of the room. He tried to stay as
inconspicuous as possible, but wondered how difficult that was
going to be.

He did shop this afternoon. Although he had
difficulty finding exactly the attire he wanted, he came up with
something minutely close to being his style. The trousers were a
bit more pleated than he would have liked, but they still went with
his wingtips. He had trouble finding socks but finally found a loud
pair of deep purple ones that would suffice. He figured he wouldn’t
be showing off his socks much anyway.

The shirt was much too silky, had no collar,
and was a bit too snug, but it had a nice feel to it.

With his back to the bar, he eyed the crowd
again, this time taking in their ensembles, as well.

He was way overdressed. Women with strapless
and near-strapless mini-dresses did the bump and grind around the
dance floor; men with no shirts at all or with shirts open down to
their navels followed them like sniffing hounds.

Ridiculous. This was all ridiculous.

“Drink, sir?”

The guy behind the bar spoke to him and
Andrew glanced to his left. “Scotch,” he replied.

“With water?”

“Straight up.”

“Coming right up.”

Andrew eyed the dance floor. It appeared that
the mass of gyrating, human flesh out there consisted of nothing
but legs and arms and a bobbing head once in a while. Packed
together like sardines, he had no clue how one would crowbar their
way out of there if they wanted. It appeared, that once one was
claimed by that pulsating mass of human flesh, one was consumed and
became a part of the whole darned thing.

Not for him.