Page 102 of Catch a Kiwi
Not his thighs, and not any other part of him, either.
“Ten,” Roman said, and when I blinked at him in confusion, took my water from him, and drank half of it down, “O’clock. I doubt Delilah’s worrying.”
“Still,” I said. “I should text her. Or we should go home. Back to the house, I mean. I can’t believe you paid for two places, and for a woman who can’t be impressed anymore. At least not by money.”
He pulled the duvet back on the bed. “Of course, you could be—I don’t know, triumphant, maybe, over how much you made me spend tonight. That’s how most women would feel.”
“Oh.” I considered that as best I could in my semi-liquid state. “I don’t seem to feel that way, though. Just sort of … warm and satisfied and sleepy, and like my caution sensors are turned off.”
“In that case,” Roman said, “why don’t you get in here while I find your purse so you can text Delilah, and then fall asleep with me? You’re pretty sweet to hold, and I want to keep doing it. And don’t tell me about your logical mind. I know all about your logical mind. Tonight, I want the rest of you, too.” He smiled, but it wasn’t one bit predatory, and it went all the way to his eyes. “Like I said. Selfish.”
44
JOY AND HAPPINESS
Roman
When the phone rang, I wanted to turn it off and roll over again, because I’d been fathoms deep. I couldn’t remember why I felt so good, and then I did, because I was pressed up against something very sweet and very curvy. Soft skin. Soft hair. In fact—Summer.
I said, “Bloody spam calls. Ignore it,” held her closer, and wondered, in a sleepy sort of way, whether I most wanted to start her up again or fall asleep again. Proof that I was nearly forty, you’re thinking, and you could be right, but the woman had wrecked me.
I didn’t get to decide, because she was sitting up in bed, saying, “Voicemail. Delilah.”
I shoved up myself, the phone rang again, and Summer said, “Hi. Didn’t you get my text? Are you OK?” A pause, and she said, “I’m fine. I told you I was fine. What time is it? Four?” Now, she wasoutof bed.
“Put it on speaker,” I said. Summer said, “What?” so I repeated it, and added, “If something’s wrong, you’ll need my help.”
“Oh,” she said. “Hang on.”
Delilah’s perky-squirrel voice, not sounding one bit panicked. “So Roman rented thisfive-bedroom house. Thisbeachfronthouse, which the new friends say is probably the most expensive holiday rental in Mount Maunganui, which is already not one bit cheap, and you’re not even here? This was just your changing room? Why, exactly?”
I thought,Because we couldn’t wait, and because it’s too bloody hard for Summer to feel swept away by passion when she’s wondering every minute whether that’s you at the door.Summer didn’t answer, which was probably wise, but said, “Maybe tell me why you’re calling me at four in the morning, unless you actuallyareworried about me.”
“Well, see,” Delilah said, “I may have atinyproblem. Or Roman may. I’m guessing he’s going to pay extra for this. Oh, well, right? Since he’s good for the most expensive rental in town and then doesn’t even stay in it?”
“Oh, no,” Summer said. “What did you do? Itoldyou?—”
“Who, me?” The squirrel, wrinkling her nose in innocent bewilderment. “Ididn’t do anything except rescue somebody who needed rescuing. And bring a couple other people back with us, but that was totally necessary. We couldn’t just leave her there!”
“But Romantoldyou,” Summer said. “No parties.”
“It’s not exactly what you’d call a party,” Delilah said. “Or maybe it’s a Roman party. Not the man, the civilization. With the barfing and all.”
“I am so,so sorry about this,” Summer was still saying ten minutes later, as I pulled the car out onto the deserted road. Chilly, empty, and lonely out here in the predawn darkness, not much at all like holding a warm, curvy, delicious womanclose in a king-sized bed. A woman who loved having her neck and shoulders and back kissed, as I now knew, and I wasn’t doing it.
“I’m almost used to it by now,” I said. “Besides, ‘The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.’ Thich Nhat Hahn.”
“I have a feeling you’re going to have to bereallyattentive this time,” she said. “But if you have to pay for extra cleanup, I’ll pay you back.” When I sighed, she went on, “Not up for discussion. Esther sent me four firms that are looking for a software engineer with my kind of experience, which means I could actually be making some decent money in another week or so. Well, if they don’t care about the fraud charges, but I still have an emergency fund. I can?—”
I said, “I liked you better naked.” When she uttered something inarticulate and outraged, I said, “Let’s see what happened first. If there’s been a murder, you can apologize like mad whilst I try to dredge up some joy and happiness.”
When we got back to the big house on the beach, most of the lights appeared to be on, to my non-surprise. And when I came through the door, there were signs of occupancy. Specifically, retching. And Delilah’s voice saying, “That’s the way. Let it all out.” Also two young blokes, one dark and one fair, but both bleary-eyed and possibly not unaffected by alcohol, standing in the passage. When we came in, the fair one piped up with, “Hi. Bloody cock-up here. Give us a lift, mate?”
I said, “No,” and walked past them. Summer, though, stopped and said, “You need to go home.”
“The point, isn’t it,” the fair kid said, blinking some more. “Got no way to get there.”
“Uber,” she said. “The bus. Or you could always walk.”
