No Perfect Secret (33 page)

“No
—Nesmith fooled Janie Abernathy. She thought he was thirty-one. Her dad told me he never ‘cottoned’ to Nesmith. Janie has a trust fund from her grandmother. Mr Abernathy is the administrator. He told me he kept a tight rein on it. Nesmith was angling for a Porsche for Christmas. Abernathy was going to have a man-to-man when Nesmith came back from Europe. He’s hopping mad, but you don’t have to worry about them putting in for Nesmith’s estate or anything like that.”

“I was mostly concerned for the little boy.”

“Well, don’t be. His grandparents dote on him. My thought is the little guy is going to be much better off without Nesmith in his life. And who the hell knows how long that would’ve lasted?”

Warm tears were coursing silently down Anna’s cheeks. “I guess he stayed with me because of
Clara-Alice.”

“That was probably some of it. We’ve knocked that around a bit. We think Clara stayed because of Nesmith. We have an idea she knew some of what he was up to. Most definitely she knew the woman in Florida. She was scared he was going to get in deep trouble, and she wanted to be around to help get him out of it.” He yawned again.

Anna watched the shadowy movement of his arm lifting, his elbow bending to cover his eyes.

“Frank?”

“Mmnph.”

“Do you think I’m attractive?”

His eyes flew open. “Very attractive. Massively attractive. Smashing, in fact.”

“A simple yes or no would have been fine.”

“Hah! Are you kidding me?”

“What about sexy? Do you think I’m sexy?”

“Go to sleep.”

“Just answer yes or no.”

“Way sexy.”

“Are things moving too fast for you?”

“Are we playing twenty questions?”

“It may take twenty. Do you like me?”

“Yes.”

“Well then, would you like to do it?”

Oh, babe
. “I can’t, Anna. Now that’s the end of it.”

She pondered that for five minutes. “Is something wrong with you...
You know... down there?”

Wrong?
What was she thinking? Then he got it and burst into laughter. “No. No. No. There’s nothing wrong with me—down there—or anywhere else. Holy smokes.”

Anna reached up and turned on her bed lamp. It
shed a dim glow, more of a night light, but it was enough to see Frank’s face. She sat yoga-style on her bed and faced him. “Tell me right now. Have I made a fool of myself?”

He locked his fingers behind his head. “No, you haven’t made a fool of yourself. You’re all the things I said you are: attractive, sexy, intelligent.”

“I don’t turn you on, is that it?”

“If you only knew.”

“Enlighten me.”

“I gave my word of honor.”

“To whom? For What?”

“To my boss, to Helen, to
Mr Charles—he’s our travel master. To Miss Lila—all of them. We all know you’re emotionally vulnerable right now. I promised that I wouldn’t take advantage of you.” He watched her, waiting for her reaction. Her eyes were closed. She was as still as a sphinx.

Finally, she spoke.

“I understand everything now. I appreciate everyone’s concern. I really do. I appreciate that you feel honor bound to keep your word, as well.”

“Good. Great. Turn out the light and let’s get some sleep. I’ve got an early morning. I’m meeting Richard at eight.”

Anna did as he asked. She turned out the light. Then she moved quickly between the beds and before Caburn realized, she was straddling his thighs.

“Hey! Whoa!” He put his hands on her waist. She covered them with her own.

“Frank, I didn’t promise anyone that I wouldn’t take advantage of you.” She lifted his hands and put them on the pillow. So, I guess you won’t be able to participate in this. You’ll just have to lay there.”

“Anna
—uh uh. Stop. We can’t do this. I—I—didn’t bring any protection.”

That confession surprised her. “Are you saying there’s not one condom in your wallet or in your luggage or on your person?”

“I’m saying it.”

“Because you gave your word?”

“That’s about it.”

“I’m amazed. You are so blessed with character.”

He winced at the sarcasm. “I’m not a saint. I thought we might noodle, if you know what I mean, flirt around and have a good time. However, you know this situation with Nesmith is not over by a long shot. Suppose we got seriously involved? And two months down the road you started having second thoughts?”

“So not bringing condoms was like keeping temptation at bay?”

“Exactly.” He moved his hands from beneath hers, placed them on her waist and tried to move her off his thighs. “Now, be a good girl and go to bed—in your bed.”

“Nope,” she said, pressing down harder on top of him. There absolutely was some activity down there. “I don’t want to be good. I want to be wild
and wicked for a change.”

She bent forward and pressed her lips to his left eyelid, then his right, and felt Frank’s entire body shiver. “Moving right along,” she whispered, nibbling his earlobe. She placed feather-light kisses down his neck, across his jaw, moving micro-inch by micro-inch toward his lips. While he was distracted by her mouth she slipped a small foil package between her waist and his palm.

Caburn reached up and turned on the lamp above his bed.

Anna smiled down at him. “Hello.”

“You are a veritable witch.”

“I’m a librarian.”

“A sexy librarian.”

“Clever?”

“Way clever.”

“You’ve decided to allow me ravish you?”

“Only because I’ve never been ravished before. I’m curious to know what it’s like.”

“Here’s how it works. Get naked so I can see you all over.”

“I would, except you’re sitting on mister johnson and he doesn’t want you to move.” Well, he did, but this was the foreplay magazines insisted men needed to engage in to satisfy the woman in his life. This was fun and sensual at the same time. Who knew love and lust could be so entwined? It made you want to laugh and exchange witticisms while the good stuff was happening. It was romance, but it wasn’t syrupy. God knows, he couldn’t stand syrupy.

“Are you going to introduce me?”

“Pretty soon.”

“Is mister johnson a construction engineer? I sense he’s wearing a hard hat.”

“He needs to wear more than a hat.”

“Why don’t let him try on
a spectacular new shirt I bought him?”

“Do you think it’ll fit?”

Anna moved her hips back and forth. Their cotton pajamas separated flesh from flesh, but that didn’t matter. It allowed for anticipation, and some serious heat from the friction.

“It’s one size fits all. But, if you must know, I actually I bought a selection.”

Caburn’s hands were on her waist, guiding her movements.

“How many is a selection?”

“Fifteen.”

“Holy smokes! What were you thinking?”

Marathon sex
. “Wasteful as it seems, I thought he might be the kind of...wasteful engineer who wore something only once and discarded it.” She leaned forward, brushing her breasts against his chest, and nipping at his lips with her teeth.

It seemed to Anna that
the exploration of one another continued for hours, although in fact, it was only minutes before Caburn with a kind of proprietary masculine finesse ‘dressed’ mister johnson and soon after they were doing something maximally intimate.

Everything about their lovemaking was comfortable. She discovered that he was gentle and caring and strong. When their sexual excitement built to its natural crescendo the earth did not spin off its axis, cathedral bells didn’t ring, and neither did her body scream out with uncontrollable passion making her some sort of limp noodle. She enjoyed it, she wanted to do it again, and she said so.

While she was lying in his arms they talked about the perfidy of human nature; how good things and bad things could happen accidentally, and how if one survived the bad things and had the common sense to take advantage of the good things, life could be very pleasant indeed.

Then Caburn complained that his shoulder was aching. Anna gave him a mini-massage, carefully kneading the yellowing bruises. He issued more noises and guttural sounds of pleasure than when they had been involved in the maximally intimate something.

Anna woke to
the smell of coffee, the shower running full blast, and tangled sheets. She stretched only to learn every fiber of her body, every connective tissue that held her together had been reduced to a shapeless, stringy mass. She managed to raise herself up on her elbows, but the rest of her refused to cooperate.

Frank came out of the bathroom wearing his boxer shorts and drying his hair. He looked at her and laughed. Her hair was wild, her lips swollen and sometime during the night she’d gotten back into her pajama top
—inside out and mismatching the buttons and button holes. Her brow was wrinkled in confusion.

“It’s not funny. We can’t do that ever again. The only part of my body that will move is my big toe.”

“Excuse me? I think there are thirteen shirts to go.”

“One night of sex does not give you bragging rights. I’m talking about us acting like acrobats and high wire walkers. You need to reciprocate a massage.”

He poured her a coffee, tapped in three packets of creamer and waved it under her nose. “Sniff. It’ll get your juices flowing.”

She took the cup and gulped it down. She held out the cup. “Another, please.”

“Tip me a kiss.”

“No. I have morning breath.”

“Morning breath is part of life.” He pressed his lips to hers, but gently.

She sipped her coffee and watched him dress. Shorts, tucked in white tee, and belt. Wallet tucked into back pocket, watch strapped on; laces double knotted on his tennis shoes. He also wore a smile.

“You’re happy to be going fishing?”

“I’m just generally happy.”

“That’s a side of you I haven’t seen.”

“Sure you have. You just had other things on your mind.”

He went to the room safe, got out her passport and money and put it on the bed beside her. “Spending money for your shopping trip.”

“I have my own spending money.”

“So now you have more. Splurge.”

“Frank. No.”

He put his hands on his hips, getting into frustration mode. “It’s okay to use my body, but not my money?”

“Your body
was available. Nicely so.”

His eyebrows shot up. “What? You think I go around just passing out parts of myself? I don’t bed every woman I meet. What’s wrong with your thinking?”

“I didn’t mean it like that. You’re too generous.”

“It would make me happy to know that my woman was buying herself a trinket or two while I’m out with the guys fishing.”

His woman?
That sounded wonderful. Moreover, his tone was serious. He meant what he was saying. He was thinking of the future. She was included.

“Can we agree to this? If I see something I really want, I’ll buy it
—half your money, half mine.”

Caburn inhaled. Well, Helen had warned him about independent women and he had not listened. “That sounds good. But, next time I expect you to respect me the morning after.”

“That is beyond corny. Go fishing.”

“You be careful. We’re in a foreign country. It’s not like home.”

“Not like home? You mean D.C.? Murder capital of the Eastern Seaboard?”

He rolled his eyes, which reminded him of sunglasses. He grabbed those and then began hunting for the electronic room key. It was on the bedside table. Anna held it up.

“Looking for this?”

“Yes,” He kissed her on the top of her head, on her nose, and then her lips. “We’ll be back around one. Where am I going to find you?”

“Probably—in that pool by the restaurant we had lunch in yesterday—
if
Cynthia and I are back from shopping.”

“Okay. Don’t talk to strangers.”

“But, that’s all that’s here!”

“You know what I mean.”

“I’m not sure I do.”

“Men come to places like this to hit on single women.”

“Ohhhh—you mean don’t flirt with good-looking guys.”

He looked so worried, she felt a twinge of shame for teasing him. “I’ll just work on my tan, read my book.”

When he had finally gone—he had returned twice to give her another kiss, another ‘be safe’ warning, Anna decided on a cool shower. She face herself in the mirror and yelped. She looked as if she just been swirled out of a tornado! Her eyes were bruised, her lips swollen and her hair looked like an electrified cat. Not to mention her pajamas were inside out and buttoned up like a three-year-old’s. She couldn’t imagine Frank returning twice to kiss what faced her in the mirror. Yet, he had. That was a good sign, wasn’t it?