These Foolish Things (20 page)

Ty asked, “Why is Angie force feeding you broccoli?”

“Oh, that. Angie read somewhere that it has anti-cancer
properties, so she makes me eat it every chance she gets.” Liz answered. “Has
been ever since I left the hospital. Lucky for me, she knows how to make it
edible.”

Ty’s hand moved up to her shoulder, gently squeezing. “Still
tense? I can fix it for you.” His thumb rubbed up the back of her neck. “I know
a great method for relieving stress, but we can’t do it right here. It might
shock Angie.”

Liz smiled into his shoulder. “Now that you mention it, I’m
feeling much more relaxed. But you can keep doing that.” She tilted up her face
to kiss him.

The music changed to “At Last” by Etta James. Ty and Liz
started laughing. “Just can’t get away from that song, can we?” Liz said with a
smile.

“I’m not complaining,” said Ty. He pulled her closer again.
“Maybe it’s meant to be our song” and he kissed Liz again. “Damn, that’s fun,” he
said huskily.

“Ahem.” Angie interrupted their dance. “Eat. Already,
Vinnie’s getting phone calls wanting to know if we’re open. I’ll need you two
working. And you,” she glared at Ty. “Will NOT be distracting Lizabetta while
she’s working. Can you wait tables without breaking all my dishes?” He nodded
as he led Liz to their table.

They ate quickly without rushing. Ty would sneak a kiss when
Angie wasn’t looking. When the tiramisu was served, Liz dug a spoonful and fed
it to him, relishing the sudden heat she saw in his eyes. “Vinnie told me this
is a love potion,” she whispered. “I’m not taking any chances with you.” She
followed up the dessert with a kiss.

Gradually, the restaurant began to fill with the voices of
hungry locals, coming in out of the snow. Angie and Liz bustled around the
kitchen preparing orders, Ty helping with serving.

When the doors finally closed and Angie shooed them out, Ty
and Liz strolled back to the hotel under the fast falling snowflakes. Ty’s big
Mercedes sat next to Liz’s battered VW in the hotel lot. His luggage sat in the
hallway next to the correct door for her room. As he took the key from Liz’s
hand, he said, “See? You can run, but you can’t hide from me.” As the door
swung open, he added softly, “I will never let you get away from me.” With
that, he swept Liz off her feet and carried her over the threshold.

Liz opened her eyes. The light in the room had the ashen
look of pre-dawn. She tried to orient herself in the unfamiliar surroundings.
She was still in Hyannis. There was a strange weight across her legs and
another across her ribs, something warm and solid against her back and
someone’s face in the back of her neck.

Ty’s face. Ty’s face was in the back of her neck because
they were in bed together and he was holding her as he slept.

Liz tried to move and was thwarted when the arm around her
sleepily tightened its grip and Ty’s leg moved even further over hers. Liz
surrendered and contented herself with remembering last night.

They had taken their time. The shaking had come back as soon
as Ty had pushed Liz onto the bed. He’d lowered himself next to her and pulled
her body against his, just holding her close and stroking her hair until she’d
stopped shaking. No, this man did not want to hurt or humiliate her.

In the weak morning light, Liz remembered how, after he had
removed her sweater, she had instinctively tried to shield her breasts from his
sight. Instead of cajoling or trying to remove Liz’s hands, Ty had just smiled
and slid one bra strap off her shoulder. He had bent his head and left a
lingering kiss where the elastic had been. His kisses followed a trail down to
her hands and he had whispered, “They’re beautiful because they’re yours,” before
gently sliding her hands out of the way. He had kissed the scarred area of her
left breast, his tongue and lips caressing every inch, slowly working his way
down to the nipple. The gesture was so loving that Liz had wanted to cry.

As she lay there, listening to Ty’s deep breathing, Liz knew
that her previous sexual experience had been just that – sex and nothing more.
Her pleasure had been as important to Ty as his own and the pleasure had been
deep, powerful and mutual. Last night, for the first time in her life, Elizabeth
Gardner had actually made love.

Ty rolled onto his back and Liz slipped out from under his
arm and leg. She wandered to the window, anxious to see the sunrise. Instead of
sun over ocean, Liz found herself looking at a snow storm. Liz watched the flakes
falling, swirling and rising according to the shifts in the wind. Her mind was
like the snow still in mid-flight, now here, now there, not settled onto the
ground. The one thought dominated.

What happens next?

One part of her mind said, “It’s okay. It’ll be fine. He’s
the one” while another questioned, “Maybe so, but am I the one for him? Is he
going to disappear now that he got what he wanted?” She stood and stared, not
seeing.

“Liz? Honey?”

Liz had been so lost in thought she hadn’t heard Ty get out of
bed. He came up behind her, wrapping them both in a blanket. As he pulled Liz’s
body close against his, one of Ty’s hands slid across her midriff and up to her
breasts, cupping and stroking. He kissed her neck and asked, “Everything okay,
Babe? You’ll get cold standing here.”

Ty looked out the window. “Good thing we’re not going
anywhere, huh? C’mon.” He tried to draw her back with him, but Liz resisted.
She could feel his body tense as hers did. Liz knew she was testing his
patience, but she really needed to sort out things in her mind. Liz heard Ty
exhale slowly before he caressed her belly again, pulling her body back against
his. She leaned into him, loving the feel of his chest against her back, his
arms around her. Her hand slid along his arm to his hand and she laced her
fingers through his.

“Want to tell me what’s wrong, Liz?” Ty’s voice was soft and
gentle as he kissed her ear. “Please, Honey, let me help you.”

Liz shrugged. “Nothing, really. Just being neurotic, I
guess. No big deal.”

She felt him nuzzle her neck, trailing kisses up to her
face. He paused when he got back to her ear and softly whispered, “Bullshit,” before
kissing her ear.

Startled, Liz turned her head. Ty said, quietly and firmly,
“If something’s bothering you enough to get you out of bed, naked, to watch
snow fall, it’s not ‘no big deal.’ Now, tell me. What’s wrong?”

Liz leaned into him again. “I just want to know what happens
next.”

Ty considered the question while he leaned his cheek against
her hair. “I don’t know, Liz.”

Liz wasn’t satisfied with the answer. Ty turned her around
to face him. Almost automatically, their arms encircled each other. They looked
into each other’s eyes, Liz’s questioning, Ty’s full of love and reassurance.

“Liz, Darling, I don’t have a detailed plan for us. Hell, if
you’d told me 24 hours ago that I’d be spending the day combing Hyannis, I’d
have suggested, politely, that you were crazy. If you’d then said I’d be
spending the night in Elizabeth Gardner’s arms, I’d have said, ‘It’s a lovely
thought, but I doubt it.’ Yet, here I am and here we are.” His voice caressed
the word “we.” Ty smiled at Liz.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen next week or even this
afternoon. We could go back to Vincenzo’s for dinner or the roof could collapse
on us while we’re making love. You’re just going to have to trust me.” Ty
kissed Liz. Under the blanket, his hand slid down her body, fingertips skating
across smooth skin, lightly brushing across her vulva. She caught her breath.
He pulled her closer, his erection rubbing against her belly.

“Right now, Liz, I want to go back to sleep.” Liz arched her
eyebrows as she stroked him under the blanket. Ty sucked in his breath. “Okay,
well, back to bed right now. Sleep later.” They both laughed softly. Ty looked
into Liz’s face and kissed her forehead. Her eyes were glowing as she looked
back into his.

“One thing I’ve been dying to do,” he whispered, “Besides
make love to you, was to wake up next to you. I almost couldn’t sleep. It was
like being a kid on Christmas Eve again.” Ty brought up one hand to cup her
face. “By sneaking out of bed, you denied me that pleasure. I think you owe it
to me, Love.”

Ty leaned in again and kissed her again, deep, slow, erotic
as hell. When he spoke, his voice was husky and rough.

“I want to wake up next to the love of my life, Elizabeth
Gardner and you’re not going to stop me. We’re going back to bed and do it
right this time.” Ty scooped up Liz and carried her back to bed.

When she woke again, Liz found herself facing Ty, her head
pillowed on his shoulder, their limbs in a lover’s tangle. His eyes were closed
and she couldn’t tell if he was awake or asleep. Liz lay still, not wanting to
disturb him. She heard a chuckle and saw his eyes open.

“I know you’re awake.”

Liz smiled as she studied his face. “How do you know that?” This
time, he laughed. “The snoring stopped.”

Oh, God. Liz tried to burrow under the covers, but Ty
stopped her. “Get back up here.”

He pulled her back so that they faced each other again. Ty
pushed some stray hair out of her eyes and said, “I was right. I want to wake
up seeing you like this every day for the rest of my life. This is not a
one-night stand.”

Despite snoring, he was still there. Liz smiled at the
thought and tangled her fingers in Ty’s hair.

“Well, it’s true you’re still here, but there’s a snowstorm
outside. You couldn’t go very far if you wanted to, Big Boy.”

He leaned forward and pressed a deep, soft kiss on her. “But
I’m exactly where I want to be and that’s with you,” he said at last. Ty traced
Liz’s face with his fingertips, just smiling. She continued to stroke his hair,
loving the vital, springy feel of it.

The mood was broken abruptly when Ty farted. Liz looked at
him, “So much for magic.”

She rolled onto her other side, her back to Ty now,
giggling. Not exactly Prince Charming.

“Turn back over. I don’t want to look at the back of your
head,” Ty said, laughing. Liz complied. He propped himself up on one elbow so
that Liz was looking up at him.

“Gonna ditch me now, Liz?” Ty said teasingly. “Got your T
Pass ready to go?”

Liz touched his face and he turned to catch her fingers with
his teeth. He caressed her back, fingertips lightly sliding down to her hip
then up to her breast. She slid one leg along his in response, stroking his
toes with hers. “No. If you’re still here after listening to me snore, I think
I can deal with the gas.” He laughed as he was nibbling her fingertips.

“What were you thinking before I, ah, interrupted?” Ty
asked, still holding her hand to his lips.

“You’ll think I’m ridiculous.”

“Please. I told you to trust me. What were you thinking?” Ty
took her hand and put it around his neck, then positioned himself so that he
was directly over Liz.

Liz bit her lip, partly from hesitancy and partly from the
erotic effect of their position.

“I was trying to remember some poetry.”

“Poetry. I see. Yours?”

“Good Lord, no,” Liz said.

Ty asked, “Okay, whose poetry? Please don’t say John Milton.
I hate that bastard.”

“Oh yeah. Paradise Lost, very romantic,” Liz replied
sarcastically. “No, I was trying to remember something by John Donne.”

Ty looked thoughtful. “‘No man is an island’ and ‘for whom
the bell tolls.’” He shifted his weight so that his legs were holding one of
Liz’s legs between them, working his thigh in tight.

“He also wrote some beautiful love poems,” said Liz. “I was
trying to remember ‘The Sun Rising.’ It’s the one where he says something about
his love like ‘she is all princes and I, all states’ and nothing exists outside
of their bedroom.” Liz pulled Ty down and kissed him with all the passion she
felt for him, her hand sliding down his neck, down his chest and lower to
caress him. He rolled slightly and pushed himself against her hand. When she
spoke again, she could barely speak above a whisper.

“I know how he feels.”

* * *

Liz was semi-conscious when she heard the bedroom phone
ring. Before she could locate it and shut up the infernal ringing, Ty had it.
Liz thought, as she looked at him, even with his hair rumpled, sleepy eyes and
unshaven, Ty made it worthwhile for a girl to open her eyes.

“Hello? Yes, Angie, it’s the Kissing Bandit.” Ty was
smiling. Liz groaned and buried her face in the pillow. “No, Ma’am, I don’t
think your girl is some kind of puttana.” To Liz, he whispered, “What’s a
puttana?”

“It’s Italian for ‘whore.’” Oh, shit. Liz squeezed her eyes
shut.

“Definitely, not, Angie,” Ty reiterated. “I love her.” Liz
smiled into the pillow. “My intentions? Well, Ma’am, we’re going to stay in our
room a while longer. It’s snowing outside, so… What? No! Angie, I swear to God
I wasn’t being fresh.” Ty was pinching the bridge of his nose.

Liz heard a “Tyrone! No blasphemy!” from Angie’s end.

“Sorry, Angie.” Ty handed the phone to Liz. “Save me.”

Liz sat up, clutching the sheet to her breast. “Angie? Good,”
Liz checked the clock. “morning.” Barely.

“Lizabetta? Are you all right?” Angie was worried.

“Angie, I’m fine. Really.” Ty was trying to tug the sheet
out of Liz’s hand. “Stop it, Ty,” she hissed. He just grinned and kept tugging.

“Tell Tyrone to turn off the hormones for 5 minutes or else.”
The voice of authority. “I don’t know what to think of him, taking a girl to
bed on the first date…”

Liz interrupted, “Actually, Angie, it’s our third…”

“Fourth,” Ty corrected.

“Fourth,” Liz stated, “and, well, we’re not teenagers and these
days…”

“I don’t care!” snapped Angie, “It’s not proper. Stop for 5
minutes already.”