Free Lies Agreed Upon by Katherine Sharma Page B
Authors: Katherine Sharma
dark feelings that pushed him further away. A month ago, he had suggested they take a “time-out” in their relationship to “evaluate.” Tess was so exhausted by then that it was a relief to give up the effort to hold him.
Then, after her meeting with Dreux, she realized that she had not only survived her di sasters but, by some strange quirk of fate, come to a place of unexpected good fortune. She began to hope that she might recapture the champagne bubbles of romance with Mac—but this time exorcised of any souring anxiety. She had given in to the urge to reconnect with him.
“Yes, I’m planning to go to New Orleans in two weeks to pick up a check and act like a tourist for a bit,” Tess said now. “You’re welcome to meet me there. Things have changed so much for me recently that I thought we should give the relationship another chance. I’d hate to give up on a good thing because of a few rough months.”
Mac was quiet for so long that she began to feel dizzy and realized that she had been holding her breath. She inhaled deeply , like a diver coming to the surface. She hoped he could not hear it.
“Yeah, I miss the good times, too, babe,” Mac finally replied softly, but it sounded like an echo in an empty room to Tess’s anxious ear. “I meant to give you a call earlier, but things have been crazy at work. But, you know, I have a meeting in New Orleans in three weeks, which is around the same time that you’re planning to be there. Maybe we should get together.”
Tess felt her heart, which had plummeted at his initially disinterested tone, begin to a ccelerate almost painfully. “I’d love that,” she responded softly.
“Great! I’ll give you a call when I get to the Big Easy. We can wine and dine and catch up. Hopefully, make up, too. I’ve missed you. Oh, I hate to cut this short, but I’ve got an important call coming in from Asia just now. I’m glad we’ll hook up, really. See you soon.” Click, Mac was gone.
Her worries about her adventure in New Orleans were swept away by the prospect of se eing Mac again. Now any painful truths she learned about her family’s past would not only be soothed by financial gain but by more intimate personal pleasures—at least she hoped so.
She closed her eyes and sent her emotions back to a time when they were happy together, when she often spent weekends at his u pscale Santa Monica apartment.
She could picture Mac so clearly. Once more he stood nude in the shared bathroom, gloriously unconscious of his male appeal as his eyes fixed on his mirrored image while he shaved. She was dewy fresh from the shower, wrapped only in a towel. Her hair was pinned up, but fine tendrils curled damply around her flushed face. She sa vored him for a moment unnoticed. Her eyes caressed the sculpted muscles of calf and thigh, the firm curl of buttocks, the graceful curve of spine, and then the vulnerable nape of a masculine neck. She dropped the towel on the floor and took a few small, quiet steps to wrap her arms around his waist. She laid her check upon his firm back and snuggled her naked belly against his warm skin.
He chuckled and turned, face still half-lathered and embraced her in turn, his gaze heavy-lidde d but intent. The remembered feel of his warm lips on her bare breast—warm breath, warm tongue and warm whispers—sent sparks down her spine to heat her core.
Oh, she had really missed him. She fell asleep plotting her New Orleans romance—happily ignorant of any threat to her happy ending.
5 history
On a drizzly night in mid-June, Tess sat in a taxi bound for the French Quarter of New Orleans. She looked out blankly as she passed by clumps of low-rise architecture and voids where the broom of nature or man had swept urban life back under the soggy earth.
The taxi was old, with cracked vinyl seats and loose suspension, and the obese driver li stened to radio Gospel, his dark silhouette periodically nodding
Then, after her meeting with Dreux, she realized that she had not only survived her di sasters but, by some strange quirk of fate, come to a place of unexpected good fortune. She began to hope that she might recapture the champagne bubbles of romance with Mac—but this time exorcised of any souring anxiety. She had given in to the urge to reconnect with him.
“Yes, I’m planning to go to New Orleans in two weeks to pick up a check and act like a tourist for a bit,” Tess said now. “You’re welcome to meet me there. Things have changed so much for me recently that I thought we should give the relationship another chance. I’d hate to give up on a good thing because of a few rough months.”
Mac was quiet for so long that she began to feel dizzy and realized that she had been holding her breath. She inhaled deeply , like a diver coming to the surface. She hoped he could not hear it.
“Yeah, I miss the good times, too, babe,” Mac finally replied softly, but it sounded like an echo in an empty room to Tess’s anxious ear. “I meant to give you a call earlier, but things have been crazy at work. But, you know, I have a meeting in New Orleans in three weeks, which is around the same time that you’re planning to be there. Maybe we should get together.”
Tess felt her heart, which had plummeted at his initially disinterested tone, begin to a ccelerate almost painfully. “I’d love that,” she responded softly.
“Great! I’ll give you a call when I get to the Big Easy. We can wine and dine and catch up. Hopefully, make up, too. I’ve missed you. Oh, I hate to cut this short, but I’ve got an important call coming in from Asia just now. I’m glad we’ll hook up, really. See you soon.” Click, Mac was gone.
Her worries about her adventure in New Orleans were swept away by the prospect of se eing Mac again. Now any painful truths she learned about her family’s past would not only be soothed by financial gain but by more intimate personal pleasures—at least she hoped so.
She closed her eyes and sent her emotions back to a time when they were happy together, when she often spent weekends at his u pscale Santa Monica apartment.
She could picture Mac so clearly. Once more he stood nude in the shared bathroom, gloriously unconscious of his male appeal as his eyes fixed on his mirrored image while he shaved. She was dewy fresh from the shower, wrapped only in a towel. Her hair was pinned up, but fine tendrils curled damply around her flushed face. She sa vored him for a moment unnoticed. Her eyes caressed the sculpted muscles of calf and thigh, the firm curl of buttocks, the graceful curve of spine, and then the vulnerable nape of a masculine neck. She dropped the towel on the floor and took a few small, quiet steps to wrap her arms around his waist. She laid her check upon his firm back and snuggled her naked belly against his warm skin.
He chuckled and turned, face still half-lathered and embraced her in turn, his gaze heavy-lidde d but intent. The remembered feel of his warm lips on her bare breast—warm breath, warm tongue and warm whispers—sent sparks down her spine to heat her core.
Oh, she had really missed him. She fell asleep plotting her New Orleans romance—happily ignorant of any threat to her happy ending.
5 history
On a drizzly night in mid-June, Tess sat in a taxi bound for the French Quarter of New Orleans. She looked out blankly as she passed by clumps of low-rise architecture and voids where the broom of nature or man had swept urban life back under the soggy earth.
The taxi was old, with cracked vinyl seats and loose suspension, and the obese driver li stened to radio Gospel, his dark silhouette periodically nodding