Lift Me Higher (5 page)

Torie lifted her leg, encircling Monte’s massive thigh and rubbing it up and down against him. She reached behind him, her hand landing on his muscled rear. Through his khaki shorts she squeezed and kneaded that strapping bulge of muscle and flesh. Monte sat up, pulling Torie upward with him. In a sitting position, he pulled the tank over her head
and then slid her bra straps down. He unhooked the clasp from the back of the laced material and, when Torie’s torso was completely bare, Monte stared in admiration. To him, she was pure perfection. He breathed heavily, before leaning forward to kiss each of her shoulders in turn. He found her mouth again to continue the dance their tongues had begun earlier.

“Monte,” Torie whispered, her mouth moving to his left ear.

Monte thought that his name had never sounded sweeter than it did as it tumbled from her tender lips. She slid her tongue into his ear and he trembled. She nibbled at his earlobe and he thought that he would pass out from the sheer pleasure of it.

Torie stopped tonguing Monte’s ear abruptly, disengaging from his embrace. He opened his eyes, alarm coating his handsome face.

“Take off your shirt,” Torie said, the tone of her voice revealing the depth of her arousal.

Monte complied without hesitation, pulling his T-shirt over his head roughly and tossing it away from him. Torie smiled as she let her eyes roam freely across his sculpted chest and abdomen. She rose and Monte watched in a daze as she moved slowly around him until she was standing behind him. When she placed her fingertips on his shoulders, he felt as if he had been waiting for her to touch him there all of his life. She began to knead the tight expanse of neck and shoulders firmly, which felt better than a massage at any overpriced salon Monte had ever experienced. But when he felt Torie’s tongue lapping between his shoulder blades, he knew he’d never visit another masseuse again.

“Ooh,” he groaned between clenched teeth.

Torie’s hands slid to Monte’s pectorals as she dropped to her knees behind him. As she encircled the hard flatness of
his nipples, he couldn’t tell if it was the sensations from her fingertips or the feel of her lovely bare breasts pressing into his back that caused his erection to intensify. He didn’t care what it was, as long as he could extend the pleasure forever. Monte turned slightly, grabbing Torie’s arm forcefully and pushing her down onto the blanket all in one swift movement. He covered her mouth, taking her kiss with force and stealing her breath away. Torie raised her arms above her head in surrender and Monte grabbed both of her hands in his, holding her immobile as he ravished her mouth, face and neck with an eager tongue.

From a distance Monte heard the sharp tone of a trumpet blaring, and he thought that it was the perfect accompaniment to the symphony they were creating. When the sound grew louder, Monte realized with a start that it was his cell phone ringing.

“Ignore it,” Torie whispered into his ear.

And Monte did, at first. But the tones continued and he realized that he could not simply ignore it. He was a man with a family.

“Hold on a minute, baby,” he said, disengaging from Torie.

He snatched the device from the top of the picnic basket where he’d left it. Torie’s impatient expression made Monte want to chuck the phone into the lake and get back to loving her.

“Hello,” he said, without looking at the display. “Cheryl? Cheryl, what’s wrong? I can’t hear you.”

Monte sprung to his feet, moving a step or two closer to the cabin in the hopes of receiving better reception.

“Is he talking? Is he awake? Okay. Yes…yes. Where are they taking him? Okay. Ask Mrs. Thompson across the street if she can stay with my mother and Joshua. I’ll meet you there. Okay, Cheryl. Thank you,” Monte said.

He turned toward Torie, who sat looking up at him, her eyebrows knotted and a question poised on her lips. She had wrapped her arms around her naked breasts.

“Baby, I’m sorry—we’ve got to go. It’s my son…Josiah,” Monte said as he hastily began to throw the remnants of their picnic lunch back into the basket.

“What happened?” Torie asked, jumping to her feet.

Her call fell on deaf ears as Monte the lover took a backseat to Monte the father.

T
orie picked up her bra and quickly slid into it. By the time she’d pulled her shirt over her head, Monte had snatched the blanket off the ground, tucked it under an arm, picked up the basket and was heading toward the cabin.

“He fell off of his bicycle and hit his head on a tree stump. Cheryl said he lost consciousness and there was a lot of bleeding. The ambulance is taking him to North Shore University Hospital,” Monte said.

He tossed the contents of his arms into the cabin, turned off the lights and shut the door behind him. He quickly locked it, engaged the alarm and strode toward the car, with Torie trotting to keep up with him. They jumped into the car, spitting gravel beneath the wheels as Monte took off with warp speed.

It took them about forty-five minutes to reach the hospital, during which they traveled in relative silence. Torie attempted to reassure Monte, telling him several times how tough kids were and that she was certain that Josiah would be fine. She could tell that Monte was tortured by the distance and time it was taking to get to his son, and she wanted nothing more
than to make him feel better. However, she could tell by the grunts he offered in response to her statements of reassurance that he was not in the mood to be comforted.

They pulled into a parking space just outside of the emergency-room department and Monte sprang from the car. Torie followed, uncertain as to whether she should just wait in the car or trail behind him.

“I’m Monte Lewis. My son, Josiah Lewis, seven years old, is here,” Monte said breathlessly to the first nurse he saw at the triage window.

“Yes, Mr. Lewis. Right this way,” the nurse responded.

Torie lagged behind, watching Monte disappear behind the swinging doors of the patient area without a glance back. Torie stood for a few moments, looking around at the handful of other people in the waiting area. Finally, she slid onto one of the yellow plastic chairs that lined the room’s wall and waited. As the seconds ticked by, Torie tried to focus on the news program that was playing on the thirty-two-inch television mounted in one corner of the room, but it was a task that proved too difficult. Her mind could not help but replay the day as she thought about how it had neared perfection.

From the good news she’d received from her lawyer to the confidences she’d shared with Monte and, finally, to the lovemaking they had embarked on. It had the potential to be the best sexual experience she’d ever had, of this she was certain. Yet, it was ruined because Monte had responsibilities that far surpassed anything he felt or had with her. She understood that. Torie was not that selfish of a woman that she could not respect the fact that Monte had two children and an ailing mother who depended on him. It was admirable that he was managing to raise his children, care for his mother and still maintain his successful position at a prestigious law firm. However, it was the very thing that she admired about him that made her come to the reluctant realization that she
would not and could never be the most important thing in Monte’s life.

That insight was startling to Torie, causing the blood in her veins to suddenly feel cool, sending a chill up and down her spine. She had begun to feel extremely close to Monte. From that evening spent in the elevator, where he’d made her feel less like she was suspended in midair in what could be a death trap and more like she was floating on a magic carpet, to today, Torie had continuously let her guard down with Monte. He’d gotten into places that she’d rarely allowed anyone access and he’d been equally as forthcoming with her. Yet, there was a part of Monte’s life that she feared was a space where she was and would always be an outsider. She could never fill the place held by his dead wife, not with him or his children. What’s more, she did not relish the thought of becoming a stepmother.

Torie’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her name being called. She looked up to find Monte standing just outside of the swinging doors. Torie stood quickly, crossing the room in a heartbeat.

“How is your son?” she asked.

“He’s fine. He’s fine. A little banged up, but my boy is tough,” Monte said.

“Oh, thank God, Monte.”

Monte reached out and pulled Torie into his arms. They hugged for several extended seconds and, once again, Torie felt the connection between them, thick and warm like a blanket that shielded them. Yet, she knew that the outside world was waiting. She pulled back and looked into Monte’s eyes. She saw how the worry and uncertainty of the past ninety minutes had left an imprint on his handsome face, making him look less like the sexy suitor she’d come to know and more like a dutiful parent.

“The doctors are going to keep him overnight, just to be on the safe side, but all of the tests they’ve run look great.”

“I’m so glad to hear that, Monte.” Torie smiled.

“Do you want to come in and meet him?” Monte asked.

Torie wavered in one awkward moment. Part of her wanted to say yes and go inside to meet one of the most important people in Monte’s life. Yet, there was an equally persuasive part of her that said no, this was not the time. She didn’t know if there ever would be the right time.

“No, he’s had enough for one day. Why don’t you go ahead back in there to him. I’m sure he just wants his daddy right now,” Torie said.

“Are you sure?”

Torie rubbed the outsides of Monte’s strong forearms, wishing she could just fold herself up inside of his arms again and remain there.

“Yes, I’m sure. Go ahead. I’m going to head back into the city,” she said. “Unless you need me to do anything. How’s your mother and Joshua?”

“They’re fine. My mother’s been responding well to the new medicine she’s on. She’s even been up and about the house a little bit. Cheryl’s going to spend the night at the house with them while I’m here with Josiah. Sure you don’t want to stay at the house with them?”

“No, I’m going to catch a train home. Just call me if you need anything, okay?” Torie smiled.

“All right. But here,” Monte said, reaching into his front pants pocket and retrieving his car key. “Take my car.”

“No, Monte, I can’t take your car. How will you and Josiah get home tomorrow?”

“We can catch a taxi. I don’t live far from here. I still have my…the car Shawna drove is in my garage. I’ll make arrangements to get my car from you later on. No big deal.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. I just feel so bad about getting you all the way out here on the island and then—”

“Nonsense, Monte. You had no way of knowing this would happen,” Torie said.

Monte walked Torie out to the parking lot. Inside his Lexus, he set the navigation system so that she would have door-to-door instruction to get her back to her apartment in Manhattan. Monte lingered for a moment, feeling torn between his desire to be with her and the necessity of being with his son. It was Torie who finally nudged him to return to his son’s bedside.

“I should get going before it grows dark. Give me a call tomorrow when you get Josiah back at home, okay?” she asked.

“Sure thing,” Monte said. He kissed Torie briefly before climbing out of the car and shutting the passenger-side door. He leaned in through the open window.

“Can I ask you something?” Monte paused.

“Sure. What’s up?”

“Did you have a good time…before…at the lake?”

“I had a
fantastic
time,” Torie responded, a slow smile spreading across her face.

Monte’s face opened up, and for the first time since he’d gotten the call about Josiah, he looked exactly like the sexy man she’d fallen for in that elevator.

“Maybe we can do it again sometime—I mean, without the hospital and all this,” Monte said softly.

Torie touched his chin, her smile telling him all that he needed to hear.

“Thank you for being so understanding. It means a lot to me,” he said.

“No thanks necessary. Try to get some rest tonight,” Torie replied.

She put the car in reverse and Monte backed away to the curb. He stood and watched her pull out of the lot. As he
made his way back inside to his son, Monte felt a significant peacefulness brought on by the belief that for the first time in three years he had someone to share his trials and triumphs. Torie had, in a very short time, come to be a special part of his life and he intended to do nothing but nurture their relationship and happily watch it grow.

“I
don’t know, Lisette. I feel so turned around right now. I mean, a couple of months ago, I was certain that all I wanted to do was focus on my career. I hadn’t dated in months and I was actually enjoying my alone time. Now, I find myself daydreaming about Monte instead of focusing on the scripts in front of me or studying the tons of acting guides I’ve bought,” Torie said. She poured another glass of merlot and leaned back into the cushion of her sofa.

Three weeks had passed since their day at the lake, and she and Monte had only managed to see each other twice in that time. First, they grabbed a brief lunch together when Monte came into the city to pick up his car a few days after Josiah’s injury and then Torie accompanied Monte to a New York Bar Association dinner party at the Park Avenue Hotel. It was a lovely affair and Monte looked so scrumptious in his tuxedo that Torie had a hard time concentrating on the dinner and the exchange of pleasantries with the other attendees. She’d had an early flight to catch the following morning to attend her brother’s graduate school commencement exercises in Atlanta. By the time she returned to New York two days
later, Monte was off to Dallas for client meetings that carried into the next week. To say that Torie missed Monte was an understatement.

As she sat in her living room with her best friend since college, Lisette Vargas, she gave voice to the nagging doubts that had been troubling her incessantly. “
Chica,
listen. I don’t know why you always have to make things so black-and-white. You’ve told me nothing but great things about this guy and now it’s, like, you think you can’t have it all…the banging man and the popping career,” Lisette said.

“That’s because usually when people have it all, something happens. Lisette, you of all people know what can happen when I try to have it all,” Torie said.

The allusion she was making was not lost on Lisette. After all, she was the one who had held Torie’s hand last year when she’d given up one of the biggest opportunities of her career because her then-fiancé, Kevin, had begged her to follow him to Spain where he played professional basketball. Unfortunately, they were only there for three months before Torie caught Kevin in a ménage à trois with two Spanish cheerleaders.

“You cannot count that idiot as having it all. You loved him, Torie, and you did what a woman in love does. You trusted him and put your faith in him. I mean, yeah, you had to learn the hard way that he was an untrustworthy SOB, but you learned.”

“You’re right. I did learn, but it cost me. Dearly. I won’t ever let that happen again.”

“And you shouldn’t. But what does that have to do with Monte? He’s right here, in New York City, with you. He’s an entertainment lawyer so he understands the industry you’re in. He’s established, got his own money—girl, he sounds like all that and then some.”

Lisette had been a broadcast journalism student at the University of Georgia where Torie studied theater arts, and from the moment they’d met, Torie was convinced that Lisette should have been a drama major instead. Lisette was today forging a fabulous career for herself as a special news reporter for a popular cable station. Somehow, she managed to always find the time to be there to counsel her friend when she needed it. In fact, it was Lisette who convinced her to move to New York after her breakup with Kevin and she’d been there through all the tears and
why me’s?

“You’re leaving out the part about the ready-made family. I don’t know if I’m capable of all this. Just when I land the role I’ve been working toward since college, I find someone who I could see myself spending the rest of my life with. How am I going to balance both?” Torie took a sip of wine. “Maybe I’m being greedy to even try,” she concluded.

“That’s complete nonsense. There are lots of successful actresses who have it all. Look at Jada and Will Smith. He had a kid already when they got together. And…and how about that guy…that comedian you like? He had two kids by what’s-her-name when he hooked up with his second wife and they’ve been together for years.”

“True, but obviously those women wanted to be mothers…stepmothers, whatever. Point is, I don’t even know if I want to have kids. On top of that, Monte’s boys are seven and nine years old and, unlike your examples, they are not the product of a divorce. Their mother died, Lisette, and they’ve been dealing with that loss for the past three years. Who’s to say they even want me to come into their lives?”

“Well, my little worrywart, there’s only one way to find out the answers to all of your questions,” Lisette said, chugging the remnants of her glass back dramatically.

“And what’s that?”

“Just jump in and let the currents take you where they might.”

Torie allowed Lisette’s advice to settle between them as she silently sipped her drink. Torie didn’t know how to adequately express her feelings about Monte and his children to Lisette without coming off sounding selfish. She wanted Monte, there was no doubt about that. Despite her well-laid plans to focus on her career and take a break from men, she found herself longing for his touch, his taste and his presence. He’d stirred her soul like a master chef and that was not something she could just walk away from. However, Monte was a package deal. He came with two little human beings attached to his hips, and that was an unexpected twist to an otherwise enticing road.