License to Love (12 page)

“And the only way I get invited in is if there’s a blizzard raging and the power is out, right?”

“That’s right.”

He heaved a groan mingled with a sigh. “Ah, Michelle, don’t be this way. We had a great time together. Why can’t we—”

“—Pick up where we left off?” Michelle inserted with saccharine sweetness.
“Three weeks ago?"

“It’s been that long?” He sounded genuinely surprised. “I’ve been really busy—went to the Super Bowl one weekend and—”

“Steve, you don’t owe me any explanations,” she cut in coolly. “In fact, I don’t care to hear them. I was simply pointing out that when three weeks pass without a single word, you can’t expect to—”

“It’s not that I wasn’t thinking of you,” Steve blurted out.

“Oh, I’m sure you thought about me just as often as I thought about you,” Michelle said caustically, pleased with the effects of ter tone. She sounded cool and flip, as if the thought of him hadn’t crossed her mind once for the past three weeks. She wasn’t about to inform him otherwise.

Steve frowned slightly. The truth was that he had thought about her, entirely too much. That had scared him enough into deliberately keeping away from her. Nevertheless he would find himself thinking of her at odd, unguarded moments, wanting to discuss a bit of news with her, to share a joke. It wasn’t a good sign. He knew the words to
The Tender Trap;
his father, a Sinatra fan, had played it often enough over the years. What Steve did not want was to find himself living the lyrics.

“Good night, Steve,” Michelle said firmly. She would’ve closed the door to accentuate her point, but didn’t as he remained stubbornly wedged in the door frame. There was really no need to bloody him.

He should leave; she clearly wanted him to. Steve had no idea what kept him rooted to the spot, but he didn’t budge. “You’re the
unfriendliest
woman I’ve ever known,” he accused.

Michelle thought about all those other women he knew, who undoubtedly qualified as ultra friendly—and then some. Her blue eyes flashed. “Coming from you, that’s a compliment.”

“This is ridiculous!” Steve growled. His cool was definitely beginning to melt. The woman mocked him, quarreled with him, infuriated him. “I don’t need this. What am I doing here?”

He was speaking more or less rhetorically but Michelle chose to reply mockingly, “You’re trying to pawn off your leftover candy on me in an attempt—a futile one as far as I’m concerned—to gain access to Ed Dineen. That’s what you’re doing here.”

Anger surged through him like a burst of adrenaline. “That’s it!” he spat. He fully intended to stalk out. When it came to the fight-or-flight alternative, he always opted for the convenient “I’m out of here” course of action.

But tonight he seemed to be operating under different guidelines. He surprised himself almost as much as her when he caught her arms and yanked her against him. “You’re impossible,” he snarled. “You drive me nuts!”

The box of candy slipped from her nerveless fingers and hit the floor. Neither noticed. Their eyes were locked, his dark and fiery, hers startled and wide.

And before Michelle could think, move or breathe, his mouth was opening over hers in a hard, hungry kiss. She struggled, she tried to twist her mouth free, to no avail. Steve kept her pinned firmly against him, his arms wrapped around her as strong as steel bands, his thighs trapping hers, while his mouth plundered her own.

Michelle’s mind spun out of control as pleasure exploded within her like a fireball. She wasn’t sure when or how, but somewhere along the line she stopped fighting and her emotions took over, responding to the powerful chemistry sizzling between them.

She arched against him, her arms locked around his neck, as he took her mouth deeply over and over again. Her breasts swelled sensuously against the hardness of his chest and she was achingly aware of the burgeoning heat of his thighs pressing into her, tight and hard and close. But not close enough.

Governed by pure instinct, Michelle writhed in his arms, striving to get closer still. A primal feminine need to envelope him and absorb him into her very being surged through her with shattering force.

Their kisses grew longer and hotter and wilder. Michelle’s hands roamed over the hard male strength of his back and shoulders. She’d never dreamed there could be so much pleasure in caressing. It was almost as exciting and arousing as being caressed.

Almost. Could there ever be anything as thrilling as the feel of his big hands slipping beneath her sweater to cup the soft fullness of her breasts? His fingers kneaded her sensuously, until her nipples were tautly erect against the lacy fabric of her brassiere. He slowly, deftly, flicked his thumbs over them, moving up and down, back and forth, making her moan and twist with need.

His hands on her breasts, his mouth never leaving hers, Steve slowly began to inch away from the door and into the room. Both were so absorbed in each other that Burton the cat crept unnoticed to stare curiously out the slightly opened door into the intriguing hall beyond. Carefully winding his way around their legs, he let out a triumphant meow as he successfully navigated his escape to freedom.

The sound’s effect on Michelle was instantaneous. She pulled out of Steve’s arms and flung the door open wide in time to see Burton racing down the hall. “Oh no! Burton, come back!” Her cry of distress echoed in the corridor as she went chasing after the cat.

Steve stared blindly ahead, feeling dazed and disoriented. One moment he had been holding her, kissing her, and suddenly he was left standing there alone, remembering the sweet hot taste of her mouth, the rounded softness of her breasts in his hands. His blood pulsed heavily. Every heartbeat made him throb with a desire and need that was painfully slow to subside.

It took several moments for him to shake off the impact of that potent languorous fog. Finally, heaving a sigh, he followed Michelle to the far end of the hall, catching up with her in the open stairwell.

“I don’t know which way he went!” she cried, standing on the landing, looking first up and then down. “He won’t come when I call him. He’s so wound up. This is the first time he’s ever been out of the apartment alone.”

Steve stared at her. He was astonished to see that she was genuinely distraught. Her china blue eyes were swimming with unshed tears and she was visibly trembling. “Hey, he’ll come back when he’s ready,” he soothed. “You know how cats are—they come and go as they please.”

“No.” Michelle shook her head, her voice choked. “Burton doesn’t know his way around. I have to find him before he gets out of the building or he’ll be hopelessly lost.” She started to run up the stairs, then paused. “Will you help me find him, Steve?”

She was so agitated her voice was quavering. Steve was puzzled. Nothing in his experience warranted becoming upset because a cat had slipped out an open door. The Saraceni family had been letting their many cats in and out for years without a single bout of hysteria.

“Please!” cried Michelle. “I’ll look on the third and fourth floors, if you’ll take the first floor and the basement. And if the door to the building is open—”

“I’ll close it,” Steve finished for her. “Michelle, stop worrying. We’ll find him.” But she was already gone, presumably racing along the third-floor corridor in search of the runaway feline. Steve made his way to the first floor, shaking his head. Michelle was as high strung as her cat!

Although he felt no urgency, he checked the first floor of the building, and finding no sign of the cat, proceeded to the vestibule where he saw the front door swing closed. Obviously someone had just left the building.

Steve frowned. Had the cat taken advantage to zoom outside? He pushed the door open and called tentatively, “Here kitty, kitty,” in what he hoped was a feline-enticing voice. He decided he sounded exceedingly foolish and didn’t blame Burton for not responding. What self-respecting cat would?

“I checked the top floors and there was no sign of him.” Michelle appeared by his side, her face pale, her voice frantic with worry. “Did he get out? He’s never been outside before—only in his cat carrier when I take him to and from the car. He doesn’t know about traffic or—”

“Michelle, calm down. He probably isn’t outside and even if he is—”

“I’ve had him for almost three years.” Michelle was crying now, tears streaming down her cheeks faster than she could wipe them away. “I got him when he was just six weeks old. I had to economize to afford him but I wanted him so much. I love cats and Burton is... he—he’s special. If something happens to him, I—”

“Nothing is going to happen to him,” Steve said firmly. But her anxiety was beginning to affect him. He was starting to feel slightly worried about the cat’s whereabouts himself although he didn’t dare let on. “Michelle, I’m going to search the basement and while I’m doing that, you go up to your apartment and put the cat’s box outside your front door. Since he doesn’t have any familiar scents around the building to guide him home, we’ll provide him with one—his box.”

Michelle nodded her head quickly, all the while trying to brush her tears away with her shaking hands. “Oh, yes, that’s a good idea. Thank you. I’ll do it right away.”

Steve watched her race back up the stairs, two steps at a time. He had a feeling she was so desperate she would’ve said the same thing if he’d told her to drag a raw fish tied to a rope through the building.

The basement was dark and chilly, a long dark tunnel of locked doors. There was a light shining halfway down the hall and Steve briskly headed for it. He pushed open the partially closed door to find the laundry room. Inside were four washers and four dryers, a folding chair and a rickety car table. But no cat. Steve sighed, frustrated.

Michelle joined him. “I put the cat box out. Is Burton down here?”

Steve heard the note of hope in her voice. He hated to have to dash it. “No, he’s not.” Seeing the disappointment darken her vivid blue eyes hurt. “But I’m positive we’ll have him soon, Michelle. The little devil is bound to be getting bored with his adventure by now.”

His attempt to cheer her fell flat. “What if he
can’t
come home?” Michelle whispered. “What if he’s gone and I’ll never see him again?”

“Michelle, that’s not going to happen,” Steve said sternly. “You have to stop thinking negatively and focus on—” “It’s happened before,” she broke in tearfully, “to my other cat, my first cat, Fluffy. He was an albino cat, all white with pink eyes, and I had him for fourteen years. One morning—a few days after my high school graduation—I let him out, just like I always did. It was his daily routine, he’d spend about fifteen minutes outside and then want to come back inside. But when I went to the door to let him in, he wasn’t there.”

She gulped back a sob. “He wasn’t anywhere. I looked all over for him. Every kid on the block helped me search the entire neighborhood all day long, but we never found him. He’d just vanished.”

“Old cats do that when they’re about to die,” Steve said quietly. “They’ll leave home and find a place to hide and—”

“That’s what the vet told me. But it didn’t help. It hurt so much to lose Fluffy that way. To have him just disappear and never see him again. I wondered if he was lost or scared or in pain—” Her voice broke.

“Michelle, come here, honey.” Steve took her into his arms. He did not like sad stories and assiduously avoided them. How could one have a good time if one was encumbered by sadness? But at that moment he couldn’t have walked away from Michelle any more than he could have abandoned one of his sisters when they were heartbroken or weeping. Except the feelings he had for Michelle as he held her close to him were decidedly not sisterly. His body was already beginning to react to her nearness.

Uh-oh!
Every self-preservatory bachelor instinct he possessed went on red alert. It was definitely time to detach himself, to make a joke and break away. But he didn’t.

“When I got Burton, I promised myself that I’d always keep him inside where he would be safe and I’d always know where he was,” Michelle said softly, sadly, leaning into Steve, savoring the warmth and comfort he offered. “My heart broke every time I thought of Fluffy going off to die alone Outside. He was such a good and faithful friend for fourteen years. Fluff went everywhere with me, when I visited my dad, no matter where he was stationed. As long as I had my cat, I felt I belonged to someone and that there was someone who really needed me around to—”

“Michelle, don’t,” Steve interrupted huskily. He was feeling her pain and it was unbearable.

He sought immediately to remedy it, with action. “We’re going to find Burton,” he said decisively, taking Michelle by the hand and half dragging her after him as he strode through the basement. “I’ll comb the outside while you go door to door to every apartment in the building. There’s a chance someone saw him, figured he was lost and took him in. But let’s check your place first.”

“He won’t be there, I know it,” Michelle murmured, squeezing back another round of tears.

“Come on now, it’s time to start thinking positively.” Steve pulled her to his side and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “We’re going to find your cat and we’re going to find him very soon.”

His confidence was bolstering, Michelle realized with some surprise. Maybe all wasn’t lost, maybe there was some hope, after all.

They rounded the stairwell and entered the second floor. “Well, well, look who’s home.” Steve cupped Michelle’s nape with his hand and turned her head toward the end of the hall. A Siamese cat was sitting in the box outside the door to her apartment.

“Burton!” Michelle took off at breakneck speed, rushing down the hall to scoop up the cat in her arms. “He’s home!” she exclaimed, her face alight with joy. Burton meowed and began to purr loudly as she cuddled him close.

“I told you he’d soon tire of his great adventure and decide that there’s no place like home,” said Steve. His seeming nonchalance belied the genuine pleasure sweeping through him.

“Oh, Steve, thanks to you, Burton was able to find his way back!” Michelle exclaimed breathlessly. She gazed up at Steve with glowing eyes, her face radiant. “Your idea to put his cat box out by the door was—well, it was brilliant!”