Personal Assistant (20 page)

       
“He
has your eyes,” Frankie said.

       
“He
does, doesn’t he?” Janice beamed. “Thank you for making him breakfast. And
thank you for planting that seed in Jonas’s head to take our mom out. I haven’t
seen
her this
happy in a while.”

       
Buddy
brought a fully clothed Buddy Junior and a mostly clothed Jonas back with him.

       
“We’ll
see you guys later,” Buddy said. As quick as they came, they went.

       
“You
want a pancake?” Frankie asked Jonas who stood in a pair of well fitted jeans.
She tried not to notice the label of the underwear band barely visible, but
visible enough to remind her of all things warm and wonderful beneath them.

       
“Three big ones.”
He indicated with his hands.

       
“I
guess you’re going through a growth spurt, too.”  Frankie began mixing
another bowl of batter.

       
“Something
like
that.” He laughed at his inside joke. “Do you
want to hear about my crazy dream?”

       
“Maybe,
do you want to hear who your new co-star is?” Frankie was really excited for
him, for them, he needed to be next to an award winner and the movie was going
to be spectacular, she just knew it.

       
“What?
Who? I thought I was going to have some say in that.” He sat down at the table
with a frown.

       
“Olivia
Simmons.” Frankie smiled.

       
He
was excited. “Shut! Up! Don’t mess with me Frankie, she’s not some little
starlet trying to make a name for
herself
. She’s an
Oscar winner.”

       
“I
know. I ran into her at the spa yesterday and she mentioned her project fell
through. I told her I thought she would be perfect for the lead in your film
and she said she would check it out.”  Frankie shrugged. Wasn’t that how
everything in Holly-weird seemed to get done, on fly by night chances taken at
any random moment by any random person?

       
“Frankie,”
he
said,
his smile uncontrollable. “You got Olivia
Simmons to be in a movie with me. Do you have any idea what that means?”

       
“According
to Marty it means more tension and less actual on screen sex since she doesn’t
get naked for movies and thinks an eighteenth century woman, regardless of how
many ingeniously steam powered weapons she packs, would still be a lady.”
Frankie put the first pancake on the plate. “I didn’t know that when I told her
about it.”

       
He
got up and walked over to where she was. “Frankie, I…”

       
His
eyebrows drew tight and he lifted his lip in a half smile and asked, “Are you
going to let me take you out tonight?”

       
Frankie
nodded. “I need to know what to wear. Nothing is on the calendar, so I don’t
know how to dress.”

       
“I’m
uh…just taking you to dinner and a movie.” He shrugged. “I was afraid to overdo
it, so I thought I would go back to the basics and see if that worked.
Buying you a car, not so basic.
Taking you to eat and to a
movie, pretty standard stuff. Do you agree?”

       
She
tried not to laugh. “I do.”

       
She
thought he was going to kiss her. His face was so damn close to hers she almost
tried to kiss him. He didn’t, he gave her a rakish smile and moved to get his
pancake.

       
She
probably deserved that, all of his first date treatment. It was a bit odd
considering she had fucked the man more than once. Why was she getting all
butterfly-jittery now?

       
They
ate breakfast and discussed his dreams. She tried not to choke when he said he
could have sworn she had come to his room and kissed him. Mainly, he had
nightmares about finding a leading lady, the project getting canceled, and
having to deal with failure.

       
She
was technically off today, but he had to work out, and she needed to catch up
on all the stuff she missed. It was easy to lose track of time while in the
office and sorting through the inbox on the computer screen.

       
He
appeared in the office doorway, a towel around his neck, his entire body
sheened with sweat. It was around lunch time and he announced, “You need to go
home.”

       
She
needed to catch her breath.

       
“I
thought we were going out.” She finally spoke.

       
“We
are.” He shrugged. “I’m picking you up at your place.”

       
“But…”

       
“Back to basics.”
He nodded.

       
“But…”

       
“I’ll
pick you up around five.” He winked and walked off.

       
Frankie
sat pouting in the chair. Again, she had set them back a millennium with her
ridiculous fear of intimacy, and she was paying for it.

Five
o’clock…

       
Jonas
knocked on the door to the apartment. If he had his way she would be living
with him. She practically did already, but most of her stuff, her private
stuff, the life he wanted to know about, was here. Despite the architectural
beauty of the building, the historical significance, and the fact that is was
in what seemed to be a reasonably safe neighborhood. It was too far away,
too…old for Frankie.

       
“Hi,”
she said.

       
He
resisted every urge in his body to walk her back through the door, strip her
naked, and have his way with her. He stepped aside and said, “After you.”

       
Frankie
stepped out of her door, she smelled like the warm vanilla he knew as her
favorite scent. Her hair was down, not in a ponytail or a bun. He wanted to run
his fingers through it. Feel it on his chest, his thighs…he said, “You look
nice. I like your hair down.”

       
They
walked down the three levels of outside stairs and into the parking lot. He
opened the door of his car for her and she got in. Jonas was turned on by the
fit of her dark denim jeans. He wanted to strip them down her legs. Instead he
asked, “How are your scratches? You haven’t worn the bandages the past few
days.”

       
“All good, just a little pink.
Maybe a scar, but I
survived.”  She tilted her head and said, “Thanks to you.”

       
So,
he thought, she was going to play it that way.
Game on.

       
“Where
are we going for dinner?”

       
He
knew it was eating her up not to know anything about his plans. She knew his
every move up until this weekend.

       
“Nowhere special.”
He shrugged. “I ordered tickets online to
see the seven-twenty show.”

       
“What
are we going to see?” she asked.

       
“I
don’t know.” He said with a laugh, “Whatever is showing at seven-twenty. I
can’t remember, but it was something like Dead Street or Street of the Dead.”

       
“That’s
a horror movie!” She practically shouted at him. “Scary movies scare me.”

       
“I’m
pretty sure that’s the intent.” He knew it was his intent. He wanted her
crawling into his lap during the movie. He wanted her to not let go at the end
of the night. He wasn’t sure he wanted her as anxious as she was becoming.

       
He
drove straight to the movie theatre. A little known secret was the VIP seating.
It cost five bucks more to sit in the theatre at the very top rows in seats
oversized and super comfortable. A bar, with restaurant food, was inside the
theatre. She looked completely confused as they pulled into the parking lot and
he said. “Here we are.”

       
“Are
we eating popcorn for dinner?” She frowned.

       
“Do
you trust me, Frankie?” he asked and looked her up and down. He trusted her
implicitly. It was easy to do. He never thought about it being reciprocal. It
never mattered before.

       
“Of
course I do,” she said seriously.

       
“Good.”
He got out of the car and walked around to let her out. She had started to get
out, but he held up his hand to indicate he did not want her to open the door.
She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.  He opened the door, held out a
hand, and said, “My Lady.”

       
She
let out a light laugh followed by a groan of frustration. As she got out she
asked, “Can I tell you something?”

       
“Anything.”
He closed the door and slid his hand down her
arm until his fingers clasped her fingers securely. He was pretty sure she
could feel the electricity spurred by the touch the same as he did.

       
“I
was hoping you were just going to take me back to your place and fuck me.” She
batted her eyelashes at him. She wore her contacts tonight.

       
“I
tried it that way.” He tugged her close to his side. She had no idea how bad he
wanted to do just that, but he wanted more than her body. He wanted her heart,
her mind, her soul.  “It didn’t work out. Now, I’m trying it this way.”

       
“What
if I promised the other way would work?” She bit her lower lip.

       
“The
other way has had me jerking off like a lab monkey with nothing else to do. Are
you trying to talk me out of the movie or out of this date?” He stopped. They
were almost to the door of the theatre.

       
“I
won’t be able to sleep tonight if we go see this.” She winced. He was glad she
was trying to avoid the movie and not him.

       
“I’m
counting on it.” He tugged her along as they made their way into the theatre.

       
“Mr.
Gunner.” The man behind the counter smiled.
“So glad to see
you again.
It’s been a while.”

       
“Can’t
watch while working,” Jonas extended his hand for a shake and then the tickets.

       
“Get
the mini-burgers and ranch fries. You won’t be disappointed.”

       
Jonas
looked at the man’s nametag and said, “Thanks, Tom.”

       
Jonas
tugged Frankie along by the hand. She was gripping it tighter by the time they
got upstairs. “You really don’t like scary movies do you?”

       
“I
live alone.” She blurted out. “No, I don’t like to scare the shit out of myself
and then go to a creepy old building and get in my lonely little bed and try
not to think every creak, thump, and police siren means I’m about to get my
face eaten by a Vampire.”

       
“A werewolf.”
He corrected. He was thoroughly enjoying this.

       
“What?”
She said as they took their seat in the restaurant section.

       
“A
vampire would bite your neck, but not eat your face. A werewolf might do both,
it depends.” He loved scary movies. He understood her anxiety, but they rarely
had the same effect on him. He normally watched for special effects,
interesting plot lines, and well developed characters. He had always wanted to
be in a scary movie. She looked even more anxious than a moment ago. The waiter
arrived right on time. “Can we get two orders of the mini’s and ranch fries?
I’ll have the seasonal brew, she’ll have…”

       
“A
shot of something…like tequila or something.” Frankie nodded.

       
Jonas
laughed out loud.
“Top shelf.”

       
The
man walked away. Jonas looked at her. She was fidgeting. He had never seen her
fidget.

       
“Frankie.”
He moved his feet to place his legs along the outside of her legs and secured
them that way. “Do you think I would let you see this movie and then leave you
alone? Scary movies are a rite of passage. A guy takes a girl to see a scary
movie. She hides behind his arm…”

       
“Bites him.”
Frankie mumbled.

       
“I
might like it.” Jonas squeezed her legs between his. The waiter returned with
the drinks. He brought Frankie her shot of tequila and a glass of water with
lemon. Jonas was a bit surprised at how quick she tossed it back. He bit his
lips to keep from laughing at the face she made afterwards.