He pulled the car to the curb in front of her building. As he went around to open her door, he breathed in great quantities of air to clear his lungs of her perfume. He realized just how much he disliked it.
Subtlety was an art Marilyn had never mastered. But she was quite agile. Upon getting out of the car, she managed to brush the back of her hand against his crotch, shimmy her breasts against his chest, and find his ear with her lips. “My roomie is going to be away for the night,” she promised seductively, before undulating up the sidewalk.
Suddenly he was furious with himself. What was the matter with him? Why didn’t he want her? Why wasn’t his body burning with lust?
Angrily, to prove that he wasn’t hopelessly besotted with another woman, he reached for Marilyn, spun her around, and ground his mouth down on hers. After an instant of surprise, Marilyn responded.
Her mouth was slack and wet. Her hands seemed to crawl over him like furtive spiders. The embrace was thoroughly distasteful and repugnant. Trying not to show just how repulsed he was, he tore his mouth free of her sucking lips and broke away. He had the almost irresistible urge to wipe her sloppy kiss off his mouth.
“It’s late and tomorrow is a workday,” he said lamely.
Marilyn’s face collapsed into a comic mask of stupefaction. “You’re not coming in?” she whined. “I thought you wanted to, uh, you know, have a drink or something.”
He forced himself to grin and ask with a mischievous lilt, “On the first date?”
“Oh, well.” Apparently Marilyn wasn’t acquainted with dating protocol. The idea seemed foreign to her. “Maybe you’ll call me up sometime.” She took a step toward him and laid a hand on his lapel. “Then it wouldn’t be a first date, would it?”
He wasn’t about to commit himself. He cuffed her gently under the chin. “Good night.”
Let her read into it what she might. He had behaved like a jerk. It didn’t matter if her morals didn’t bear close scrutiny, he hated to treat any woman abusively. She was innocent. He was the heel.
He drove away feeling like a damned fool. If anyone found out about this, he’d be made a laughingstock. But he didn’t think Marilyn would boast of her one failure to lure a man into bed.
And why hadn’t he felt inclined to go to bed with her?
Because he knew it would have served no purpose. When he woke in the morning, he would feel only disgusted with himself. The longing would still be with him. Marilyn’s body wouldn’t ease his desire for another. His heart would be left empty.
Sex with Marilyn wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted love with Kari.
“This is a great lunch, Kari. How’d you know it was my birthday?”
“I made it my business to know.” She smiled at Mike Gonzales as he sliced into the thick steak he had ordered. Eating at one of Denver’s finest restaurants was a real treat for him. His wife had just had a baby and on his photographer’s salary, the household budget was tight. “How are Becky and the baby?”
“Doing fine, I guess,” he said around a mouthful. “Becky’s depressed. My mother told me that’s to be expected.” He laughed. “She’s up to her eyebrows in diapers and bottles and heat rashes. I guess she’s entitled to be a little cranky.”
“I guess so,” Kari said, listlessly stirring her crab salad. Reminders of babies always brought a pain that she didn’t think would ever go away. Her own pregnancy would have been well advanced by now.
“Don’t look now, but your nemesis just walked in.”
Disregarding Mike’s suggestion, she turned her head. Hunter McKee was being seated at a table across the room. He was with several dignitaries from city and county government.
He must have sensed her presence in the dining room, for his eyes sliced directly to hers. It was the first time they had seen each other in weeks. Both froze until Kari was made uncomfortably aware of how long they stared at each other. She glanced away just as he nodded a silent greeting and sat down to join the men with him.
She was shaken and admonished herself for letting the sight of him upset her. But why was she so upset? His good looks would be unsettling to any woman. He was dressed in a gray suit that fit his athletic body to perfection. His hair had been wind-tossed, and she knew that up close he would smell of expensive cologne and the outdoors.
But she had met many attractive men. Her heart usually didn’t stumble over itself at the sight of a handsome man.
No, what disturbed her most was the way he looked at her. He didn’t look at her as though she were his enemy, someone he had tangled with many times. There was no sneering, gloating look on his chiseled mouth.