“Yeah,” Harlan said. “Well, maybe not all the way, on the change part. There are some things that are worth holding on to, I’ve decided. And, hey, Jennifer—want to come for a walk with me?”
He had kissed her on the cheek last night, after they’d gotten back from that dinner. When she’d been wearing that pretty green dress with all those tiny fabric-covered buttons, and he’d ridden up in the elevator with her and seen her breasts rising and falling with what he hoped was anticipation. Excitement. The subsonic rumble of that thunder coming closer, raising the hair at the back of your neck, leaving you holding your breath and waiting for that flash of lightning.
When they’d got to her door, he’d kissed her on the cheek, and when she’d sighed and put her hand on his shoulder—well, hell, of course he’d kissed her on the mouth. And then he’d kissed her some more. Right there in that hotel hallway, until she was up against the door and his tongue was in her mouth, and all he wanted was to unbutton those buttons, nice and slow. Preferably while she was on her back, though he’d take it standing up, too. Oh, yeah. He could do that. What was it about undressing Jennifer that was so incredibly hot? It let you slow things down, that was what, and appreciate what you were uncovering. And the way she’d hold her breath while you did it, the surprised little noise she’d make when her dress fell away …
Well, yeah. She made him want to take his time.
“He can do things with his tongue that you can only dream about,” she’d told the asshole. “He’s got positions.” What had he shown her so far? Not nearly enough. He had a list, and he wanted to get started on it. Right the hell now.
The ding of the elevator button penetrated, finally, and he stood back half a pace and fought to get himself back under control. He still had hold of her waist, though. She was pressed up against the door, one hand flung up by her head, her eyes half-closed and her hair all messed up, breathing hard. He said, wanting to laugh but also not wanting to laugh at all, “If you keep on looking like that, baby, they’re going to think you need help.”
“I … do need help,” she said. “Clearly.” She put her arm down, though. Straightened her dress. Tried for composure. “Right. Dating.” It was an attempt at brisk, and it absolutely failed. “So I’ll … just go in now. After our, uh, good-night kiss.”
It was so hard to stand back. “Yep. Want to have breakfast tomorrow?”
She smiled, then, getting that spark of sultry mischief back, that peek at the bad girl only he got to see. “Only if you buy me something really good.”
“I will buy you,” he promised, “anything you want.”
What she wanted, of course, turned out to be restrained. Nothing like strawberry crepes with mascarpone cheese, which had been on the menu, and which he could tell she wanted. Instead, she went for a veggie omelet. Her inner hedonist was taking its own sweet time to emerge, but then, it had been locked down for a long, long time.
He went with her afterwards to supervise the movers, and waited while she said goodbye to her grandfather, too, which was a predictably short visit.
“You’re not going to China,” he said. “I’m not going to die the minute you leave, either. Stop worrying about me and go.”
“I’m going to miss you, though,” she persisted. The tears were close to the surface, and she held her grandfather’s spotted, wrinkled hand like she wanted to memorize it. “I’ve spent my whole life with you. What am I going to do when I need somebody to yell at me?”
He barked out a laugh. “Call me up, of course. Or make this guy send you up to visit me on that jet he’s always flying around on.”
“I’ll do that,” Harlan said. “Say the word, Jennifer.”
That earned him some beetling-browed stare. “Don’t think you get to yell at her. Or that just because I’m old, I can’t kick your ass.”
Jennifer said, “Grandpa. You can’t kick his ass.”
“Sure he can,” Harlan said. “And I know it. Don’t worry, sir. I’ll take care of her.”
“Make sure you do,” he answered. “Because I know where you live. Now go on and go. Make sure you take those vitamins, though, Jennifer, and don’t be driving after dark in that city traffic. It takes longer to brake in the rain, remember.”
She gave him one last hug, and Harlan let her look away on the drive to the airport, because he’d seen her throat moving, had known she wanted to cry. Finally, though, when they’d climbed on board the jet and she was still looking out the window, he said, “I meant that, you know. If you need to come visit, say the word.”
She nodded, gulped, and grabbed at her napkin to dry the tears that were leaking out. “I know it’s silly. And you’re not responsible for me, or for getting me back here, whatever Grandpa said. It’s just … I’ve always lived here, you know? I’ve always been with him, and when my mom … and now she … and he’s …”
“Hey.” He wanted to hold her, but they were taxiing, so he had to settle for taking her hand. “Hey, now. I know.”
She tried to laugh. “Of course you do. What am I saying? Your mom … how much worse is that? How hard is it feeling like you can’t go back?”
“I don’t think it’s a contest,” he said. “It’s all pain, and pain hurts.”
Now, she was clearly thinking about pain, because she was looking at him in that squinty-eyed way that always made him want to laugh and saying, “When you say, ‘Go for a walk,’ do you mean, go for a walk, or do some extreme activity that I’m going to hate? I’m pregnant, you know. I’m fragile. Well, not fragile. Maybe I’d like to be fragile, though, at least in your mind.”
Whoa. That had come dangerously close to asking for something. Asking him to treat her like she was special, like she was precious, at least he thought that was it. He was going with that.
“I mean,” he said, “we go for a walk at the Japanese Garden, just because it’s peaceful, and I hold your hand, and then maybe we head down to 23rd Avenue so we can look in store windows and you can tell me that some dress is pretty, or that you love rose-scented bath products, which means we have to go inside and check them out. There’s a Lush store down there that women seem to like, and some clothes stores, too. Levi’s store, I know that, because I’ve shopped in that one, but I think we can do better for you. There are also all kinds of restaurants, which means we could go out to dinner afterwards, celebrate you getting here, and let these two order a pizza and use the theater and make a mess.”
“Harlan,” Annabelle protested, “we’re not nine. We’re not going to make a mess.”
“You’re killing my casual, spontaneous vibe,” he told her. “Stop it.”
“Mom’s not going to let you buy her clothes,” Dyma said. “Do you know her at all?”
“That can’t be your idea of a fun time,” Jennifer said. A pretty weak effort, if you asked him.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” he said. “I want you to like it here, and if it makes you happy, you bet it’s going to be a fun time for me. Also, I’m going to be hungry soon, and so are you. So come on.” He tugged her up by the hand. “We’re supposed to be dating. That was the agreement. So let’s go have a date.”