Emerald (Steele Investigations) (6 page)

Rae and Kami both help me with my makeup. They coat my eyes
with mascara, sweep on some eye shadow and apply a pale pink gloss to my lips. 
Tom plays with my hair and makes “tsking” noises and hums and hars while
running his fingers through my locks.  Finally he pulls the sides back and
places a clip in it, leaving the rest of my black curly hair to flow down my
back.

“Wow,” I gasp when they finally show me myself in the mirror

“You look amazing,” Kami smile

“Totally,” Rae agrees

“Travis is gonna
flip
when he sees you.  Girl, you
look fab-
you-
lass!  This just proves it! I’m a miracle worker,” he
states emphatically

“Uh,
what?
” Kami says as she spins around and narrows
her eyes menacingly at him

“What?” Tom looks genuinely shocked which causes me to laugh
a little.

“Did I just hear you?” Kami asks, eyes still narrowed

“Oh, Boy,” Rae whispers

“
You
,” Kami says as she jabs a finger in Tom’s chest,
“are
not
a miracle worker.  We all worked together and you don’t get all
the kudos for that!  So if we’re talking miracle workers, then we are
all
miracle workers…Not.Just.You!”

“Lordy,” I whisper back to Rae, unable to tear my eyes from
the standoff in front of me.

“Oh, alright. 
We
are miracle workers,” Tom scowls at
Kami and looks none too pleased to be sharing the miracle worker tiara.

“Righto, Sistah, my big brother will be here in, like, ten
minutes so you need to get your purse, your phone, here,” she says handing me a
tube of lip gloss, “you’ll need this as well for touch ups,-“

“Or, if he kisses it off,” Tom winks

“Shuddup, Tom.  Now, where was I…Purse, phone, lip gloss, oh
your house keys, and I think that’s about it.  Put all of that in this handbag
I bought over,” she instructs, handing me the bag which is divine.  It’s brown
Italian Leather and has the most intricate stitching around the seams and a
large brass decorative buckle on the front with a long plaited strap.

“I
love
this bag, Kami.  Where’d you get it?”  I ask
this, knowing it would have cost a fortune and also knowing I will never be
able to afford one, but also knowing that I just had to
know.

“Picked it up from a Thrift store on Broadway.  I’ve never
actually used it.  I like it, it’s gorgeous and made from Italian Leather, but
I’ve never really had a chance to use it,” she shrugs, nonchalantly

“You can have it, you want it,” she tells me.

My mouth drops open in surprise.  “Seriously,” I breathe.

“Sure,” she says like she’s just given me a two dollar
bucket of Candy Floss at the Fair.

“Well, how much do you want for it? Maybe I could put in
some extra hours at,-“

“It’s cool,” she says waving her hand about.

A strange feeling works its way through my body.  Not a bad
strange, but a good strange.  It’s like a cloud of silk has settled over my
body and tucked itself tightly around me. 

Cocooning me. 

Protecting me.

I like this feeling. A lot. 

I knew at this juncture, I should have been reminding myself
that my friendship with Kami, Rae and Tom can’t last and that I should have
been concentrating on preserving the memories that they are giving me, but
instead I was living in the moment.  I liked that too.  The scales of balance
see Selfish Jemma on top at the moment it seems…

“We’re out,” Kami says as she air kissed my cheek and wished
me good luck by saying, “Break a leg, Jem.”

“Our work here is done,” Tom said as he too gave me an air
kiss on the cheek and flounced out the door.

“Have a great time, Sweetie.  Just enjoy yourself and go
with the flow.  You’ll have an amazing time.”

“Thanks, Rae.  Thanks for everything, guys.  It means a lot
to me,” I say looking each of them in the eye in turn.

Rae gives me an understanding look in return.  Tom and Kami
just look at me like I’ve grown another head and not like they’ve just gone out
of their way to spend the afternoon sprucing me and lending me clothes for my
first date.  Like they think it’s strange to be thanked for doing something
like that.  Like it was
expected
of them, given their “friend” status. 
This was confirmed when Tom said, “That’s what friends are for.”

I smile and wave as they head off down the path to Kami’s
vehicle.  Then I turn around and head back inside to wait for Travis to
arrive. 

Chapter 6

“He pay for a taste ‘a your cunt?”

I stop dead in my tracks and my blood runs cold before I
feel it drain from my body.

I’d just arrived home from my date with Travis.  I was on a
first date high and it felt
great.
  Travis arrived right on seven and
after knocking on my door, he walked me out to his kickass silver Camaro.  I
wasn’t an expert on cars, in fact I knew nothing about them, but I knew this
car was cool, it was expensive, and it was totally badass.  A badass car fit
for a badass hottie.  It was smooth. It was shiny. It was sleek as all get out
and I was pretty sure it was brand new. 

“Wow,” I breathe as my eyes roam over the metallic silver
paint, taking in the dark tinted windows and shiny wheels.  “What happened to
red pickup from last night?”

“The pickup was a rental from the shop, this baby was in
getting’ a service and a detail,” he explains before adding, “You gonna stand
there all day pervin’ on my car, babe, or you gonna get in so I can show you
how she purrs while I’m drivin’ you to a place where we can get a feed.  FYI,
babe, love the way my girl’s lookin’ at my other girl, but I’m hungry.”

I turn to take in all that was Travis, standing next to all
that was his ‘girl’. 
Ho-ly shit
but he was sexy.  Not to mention, I
really liked the fact he called me ‘his girl’.  It gave me a warm feeling in my
tummy and I could feel my cheeks heat.

“Babe?  In, yeah?”

“Yeah,” I whisper as he opens the door and guides me into
the black leather passenger seat.  I watch him round the hood and idly wonder
how he’s going to fold his tall, muscled self into his car.

I follow him with my eyes as he swiftly
and gracefully
lowers himself into the driver seat.  I thought he was sexy standing next to
the car.  I was wrong. 
Oh my god  
is he sexy
sitting
in the
car.  Wow.

He was right.  His girl did purr.  He sped in and out of
traffic, weaving and darting and between minor freak outs for my safety, I
chanced a peak at the dash and noticed he didn’t take note of the speed
limits.  So I held onto my knees and prayed we wouldn’t end our night in the
emergency room…or worse, the morgue.  

“Babe?”

“Yeah,” I ask as I turn my head to look at him.  He looks
cool, calm, comfortable.  Totally in control.  Of his car.  Of his life.  Of
his body.  One hand on the wheel, the other resting on the stick shift. 

“Relax,” his says and it doesn’t escape my attention that
his lip is twitching.

“You think it’s amusing that I’m scared?” I ask, sounding
uppity.

“Do I look like a man who’s going to let anything hurt you? 
Do I look like a man that would put my woman in danger?”

No.  No he didn’t look like a man that would do either of
those things.  I must have showed my answer on my face because then he repeated
in a quieter, calming tone, “Relax.”

“Okay,” I acquiesced.  Then I forced my body to relax. 
Honestly, it wasn’t too hard.  I was still riding the high of having him call
me ‘his woman’.  This was on top of the high I was already riding from him
calling me ‘his girl’.

Travis took me a small, quiet restaurant with soft lighting
and a romantic décor.  He ordered for us, thankfully because firstly, I didn’t
have any idea
what
to order in a place like this because I had never
been and secondly, he didn’t let me see the menu so I wouldn’t have even known
what was
on
the menu for me to order for them to serve at a place like
this.

“Eat meat?”

“Pardon?”

“D’you eat meat?” he somewhat repeated

“Uh…yes?” I answered and it sounded like a question

His lip twitched and he muttered, “Cute,” before informing
the waitress of our order.  He did this by not taking his eyes of me and
saying,

“Scotch Fillet, medium, green beans, potato, Hollandaise
sauce. Twice.  Italian Herb and Cheese Bread for starter.”

“Of course, Sir.  Can I get y’all some drinks?” she asked,
her voice holding a strong Southern twang.  Her tone reminded me somewhat of
home.  Over the years since I had left Texas, I had made it my mission to tone
down my accent.  I wanted nothing to do with anything that further reminded me
of my parents.  My accent was one of those things.

“Beer.  Vodka and Cranberry.” He answered, his eyes still on
me

“Your drinks will be out shortly,” she told us before
scurrying away.

Our drinks came, followed shortly after by our Italian
bread.  The bread was delicious, crusty, light and fluffy, the Vodka and
Cranberry went down a treat and in hindsight, perhaps I shouldn’t have
attempted to calm my nerves with alcohol.  Alas, I’ve never had a date and I’d
only had one night of alcoholic drinking prior to tonight so I’m not the most
learned on the subject of Alcohol Consumption to Reduce Nerves On One’s First
Date, so I gulped the first two down quickly before Travis told me to ‘ease up’
in a way that I knew he knew what I was trying to do.

Our steak came and it was mouthwatering.  The sauce alone
could win awards but coupled with a hunk of meat cooked perfectly and crunchy
green beans, seasoned to perfection; it was, in a word – heavenly.

Throughout our meal, Travis asked questions, I answered.  I
asked questions, he answered.  During all of this though, his attention never
strayed from me.  Although the restaurant was small and cozy, there were other
diners but you wouldn’t have known it.  He was focused completely on me, like
my words held the puzzle pieces he was missing in his Puzzle of Life.  It gave
me that silky cloud feeling again.  I could feel it swirl around and settle on
my body.  Encasing me in its protective warmth.  It feel good.  It felt
great.
It felt
right.

After dinner Travis drove us to what he called ‘his favorite
place’.  He weaved and sliced through the late night traffic until he slowed
and took a turn onto a road that was so concealed I’d never noticed it before,
and due to the fact that I ride the bus past this spot on my way to work every
day, well, that said something. Although it was dark out, I could still see
that sides of the road were framed by thick, shady trees.  He continued driving
up and around the winding road, with neither of us saying a word.  I was busy
filing every single second of this perfect date in my memory bank for future
reference.  Obviously because I’m not in his head, I have no idea what Travis
was thinking about.  Finally he slowed to a stop and I felt his gaze on me, so
I turned to look at him.

“Wait,” he said as he knifed out of the car, rounded the
hood and opened my door.

Holding my hand, he helped me out and I took in the view. 
Sucking in a deep, sharp breath I looked around.  It was stunning.  We could
see the flickering lights of downtown Denver, headlights from cars just adding
to the beauty.

Never in my life, had I ever been to a lookout point and
seen something as captivating as this.  So enchanted was I, that I didn’t hear
Travis move until I felt his hand circling my waist from behind.  Pulling me up
tight against him, he rested his chin on my shoulder while admiring the view
with me.  I
should
have stopped him.  I
should
have pushed him
away.  I
should
have.  But I didn’t.  I didn’t because it felt
fan-fucking-tastic.  Instead of doing what I should have done, I rested my
hands on his linked hands which were resting on my stomach.

“God, Travis.  This is magical.  I’ve never seen anything
like it,” I tell him, and the awe is clear in my voice.

“Yeah,” he agrees, his breath tickling my neck.  The way he
says it has me wondering if we’re talking about the same thing.

We stand for a while, both silently admiring the lights and
land before us. 

I startle out of my trance when his arms tighten slightly
and he unlinks his hands and slides them back to stop at my hips.  Then he puts
pressure on one side and guides the other side so I’m facing him.  My eyes are
at his chest level.  He’s way taller than my five foot six.  One hand leaves my
hip and then I feel his fingers under my chin as he lifts my face so I look him
in the eye.  It’s dark so I can’t see him well but I
feel
his eyes
burning into me.  He takes a step closer and if I had to guess, I’d say there’s
a breath between us.  My heart is thumping.  Excitement is thrumming through my
veins.  As I look into his emerald eyes, eyes so deep, soulful and it must be
said, damn sexy (just like the rest of him), I feel like he knows everything
about me.  Which, I might add, is totally preposterous because
if
he
knew
anything
about me, I can bet my life that he wouldn’t be standing
here with me.  No, he’d be running down the hill we came up.  Running as fast
as he could.  Not even caring that he’d left his sleek, shiny Camaro behind.

Too caught up in my thoughts of him and his eyes, I don’t
realize he has moved until I feel his breath tickle my lips.  My eyes are quick
to refocus and what they focus on is…
Travis. 
Up close and beautiful. 
So
up close
, he’s the only thing I can see.  His lips touch mine and he
whispers against them, “Beautiful.”

His lips press firmer into mine.  I waste no time in parting
my own.  He doesn’t delay in touching his tongue to mine.  I wrap my hands
around his neck, threading my fingers into his soft, dark hair and melt into
him.  His hands slide from my hips to wrap around my waist and then they move
to cup my ass.  He pulls me even deeper into him.  Holding me secure with his
arms, however, the kiss is much the same as last night.  I know he’s holding
back.  I needed him to be like that for our first kiss. 
My
first
consensual kiss.  But right now, I need him go all out.  Loosen his hold on
those reins of control.  Not sure how to convey this, I decide to just do it
myself.  Putting pressure on his head, I force him closer to me as I snake my
tongue sharply into his mouth, pushing his tongue out of mine as I go.  He gets
the idea pretty quick, because it takes approximately two point five seconds
for his tongue to force mine back out and he plunders his into my mouth.  I
drink him in like a starving woman.  I think at one point I even moan into his
mouth.  I think he likes that because he pulls me
even deeper
into his
body and holds me there. Tight.