Doll? Who called women that in this day and age? Was he enacting a 50s movie?
If any of this was for real, she would have told him what she thought about being called a doll. But since it wasn’t, Eleanor stuffed the folded napkin in her back pocket, put on her most coquettish smile, and decided to play along. “You betcha, I will, handsome.” She added a wink.
Except, none of his friends chuckled or snorted or made fun of him, which was odd.
One of the two who’d escorted her into the kitchen pulled out a hundred-dollar bill and handed it to her. “Thank you for the fast delivery, Gina. I’ll see you out to the van.”
So polite and so generous. She must have stepped back in time.
Eleanor whistled. “Oh, wow. Thank you.” She made a big production of folding the bill and stuffing it in her shirt pocket.
As she’d intended, all eyes went to her braless chest.
Men were so easy to manipulate. She wasn’t a looker by any standards, and yet she’d scored the phone number of a guy who was at least ten years younger than her and had a bunch of them staring at her modest but perky breasts.
Out in the front yard, her escort opened the driver’s door for her, and then waited on the driveway as she drove away.
Damn, it suddenly occurred to her that they might call the restaurant and ask about the delivery girl. She needed to get back there as fast as she could and compel everyone on staff to confirm that they had one called Gina.
But first, she had to collect Jesse.
With paranoia churning her stomach, Eleanor drove past her car and continued for ten more minutes, making sure that no one was following her. When she was certain that she had no tail, she let out a relieved breath and circled back to pick up the delivery guy.
So far, things were looking good.
Later tonight, she was going to call Greggory and suggest that they hook up. Then when she got him alone, she was going to pump him for information about his friends.
72
Edna
When a knock sounded at her door, Edna glanced at her watch. It wasn’t one in the afternoon yet, but Rufsur was probably a little early.
Smiling, she got up from behind her desk and went to open the door. “Did you miss me?”
He pulled her into his arms, stepped into her office, and kicked the door closed before pushing her against it. “I did.” He smashed his lips over hers.
It was so good to have his big body pinning her to the door, to feel every hard muscle through his thin T-shirt and his hard length through his jeans.
They’d made love only hours ago, and yet she was hungry for him as if he’d been gone for weeks. How was she going to survive until his next visit?
Reaching for his zipper with one hand, she popped his jean button with her other. Regrettably, he was wearing boxer shorts, but his erection had elongated, and the mushroom head was sticking above the elastic.
As she ran her thumb over it, spreading around the small bead of moisture that had formed on the slit, Rufsur groaned and put his hand over hers. “Stop.”
“Why?”
“Everyone is waiting for us down at the café.”
“Who is everyone?”
“Kian, Syssi, Amanda, Dalhu, Kalugal, Jacki, and even Atzil and Ruvon have joined. I told them that I’d get you, and we would be down in a moment.”
“How about five moments?”
Laughing, he shook his head. “Hold that thought. We can come back here after lunch.”
“When are you leaving?”
“At four, Okidu is driving us to the airstrip.”
“I’ll come with you.”
He rested his forehead against hers. “I wish we didn’t have company in the limousine.”
“Yeah, me too.” She tucked his erection back into his underwear and zipped him up.
“I used to love it when duty called. Now, I hate it.” Rufsur closed the button on his jeans, and then tucked Edna’s blouse back into her baggy pants. “You know what I would like?” He tried to fix her hair but only seemed to make it worse.
“What?”
“To take all of these pins out, and for you to let your hair down.”
Smiling, she lifted her chin. “Figuratively or literally?”
“Both. May I?” He pulled one pin out.
“Go for it.”
When he was done, he threaded his fingers through her hair and fanned it out over her shoulders. “Can you do me a favor?”
“What?”
“Can you wear it like that while I’m gone?”
“Why?”
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her out of the office. “I’m not sure. Maybe I need a reminder that I had some impact on your life and that you are having fun without me.”
Edna chuckled. “My hairstyle has nothing to do with me having fun or not.”
“I disagree. It’s like smiling even when you don’t feel like it and then feeling happier for it. When you let your hair down, you are more inclined to have fun.”
She shook her head. “It’s not going to be fun without you. Why should I pretend that it is?”
“If you let me call you this time, we can have fun.” He leaned and whispered in her ear, “Video calls can be very naughty.”
Edna scowled at him. “No way. What if our bosses monitor our conversations?”
“Then we will give them a show.”
“I’m not an exhibitionist.”
“Liar. Do you think that I’ve forgotten your story about making love under the waterfall with Robbie’s men within hearing distance?”
She laughed. “You are right. There was that.”
It dawned on her then that bringing up one of her favorite memories of Robbie hadn’t been painful. For the first time since he’d died, she could think back to the time she had with him with warmth and fondness in her heart and not an aching, gaping hole.
She owed it to Rufsur.
Anyone else would have stayed away from the subject and tiptoed around it, perhaps would have even been resentful of the love she’d shared with another.
But not Rufsur.
His heart was big enough to accept her together with the human male she had loved and lost.
He had helped her heal.
“I love you.” She smiled at him.
“Oh, yeah?” He stopped and turned toward her. “How much?”
“With everything that I have.” She wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Prove it.”
Edna knew what he wanted to hear her say, but she wasn’t ready to do that. “You can video call me, and we will have as many naughty conversations as you want.”
Rufsur looked a little disappointed. “For the next two weeks, it will have to do.”