Page 10 of Safer Together
He grins at my question. “What can I say? I have expensive taste! I’m just glad that they had one at the rental place at the airport” He shrugs, opening the passenger side door for me and helping me in.
Once he has closed the door for me, he walks around the front of the car until he reaches his own driver’s seat door and opens it, sliding in with ease. “Now since I’m not the local, I hope you know where we are going tonight” he states while putting on his seatbelt.
“Of course, I do. I’ll give you directions.”
He presses a button on the huge center console unit and a map symbol pops up on screen. “Can you enter the directions here for me babe? I’d like to see how the satellite navigation in this baby does.”
I stare at Elliot for a moment, boys and their toys, and then at the screen. I press the map symbol and another screen pops up, areas to enter all relevant information pertaining to the address we will be going to. Once I finish entering the address, the name of the steak house pops up, “The Sizzling Steak House” I then press the start route button and the screen changes to show the white Mercedes sitting in a parking lot, a blue line in front of it showing which way to go.
I sit back in my seat and buckle my seatbelt, relaxing into the leather. As Elliot turns out of the parking lot onto the main street, an Alan Jackson melody comes on the radio, something about it being Five O’clock Somewhere. I lift my left hand from my leg and place it on Elliot’s thigh, rubbing my thumb over the fabric of his dress pants. Feeling the presence of my hand, Elliot removes one of his hands from the wheel and places it on top of mine, giving me a gentle squeeze.
“So, who should I expect to meet with tonight? Anyone in particular that we will be speaking with? Do you consider any of these guys your friends?”
I look in his direction and laugh tentatively, unsure as to how much information I should really give away. “Well I am friendly with all of my colleagues, but when it comes to socializing outside of work, I have only caught up with two people. James is another sales agent at the firm, and Jenny, you know, the one who thinks you are a dreamboat, anyway she will be there tonight with her boyfriend Benjamin.
“Then there is my boss Sandra, I haven’t seen her outside work except for these work functions. She will more than likely be super polite; however she is single so possibly may flirt with you.” I pause for a second “Just try not to stop anyone else’s heart tonight, okay?” He chances a quick glance at me before returning his full attention to the road.
“Anyone else’s? Do I stop your heart Angela?” Although his tone is serious, I can’t help but detect the slightest amount of sarcasm underlying.
“Sometimes,” I reply.
He chuckles, “I’ll try not to stop anyone else’s heart then. So, this James fellow, is he someone I need to be worried about? Jealous of, perhaps?”
I laugh for a second before pretending to cough, hoping that it does the trick and he doesn’t realize that there was a laugh threatening to come from my lips at his question.
“James, no, no one you need to worry about. He is a good friend, we hang out from time to time after work, but he knows that I am seeing someone” he seems to wash my reply over before replying.
“Someone, hey? He doesn’t know that I am that someone you are seeing?”
I shake my head and squeeze his hand. “No, no one knows that you are the guy that I am seeing. I have kept that to myself.”
Elliot remains quiet for a few minutes. I wonder what is running through his mind. “Can you tell me why you haven’t told anyone about me?” he asks, he doesn’t sound angry at all, merely curious, possibly even a little bit of disappointment mixed in.
I don’t want to answer this question, but I opened this subject and he has the right to know. “I didn’t want to tell anyone for two reasons. You’re in the spotlight so to speak, well known, you have a Wikipedia profile for Pete’s sake. I didn’t want anyone posting it online, in case you wanted to keep it quiet.”
I pause, waiting to see if he will say anything.
“And the second reason?” he asks. Making no comment about the first reason.
I continue with the second. “I didn’t want to tell anyone about us in case I thought it was more than it is. In case I told everyone that you were coming and then you decided not to. So therefore, I just told them that I would be bringing along a plus one this year, my boyfriend.”
Elliot is quiet for a good long moment, mulling over what I had just told him. He turns off the street into the parking area to the side of our destination. Once he finds a parking space, he turns off the car and turns in his seat to look at me.
“In answer to your first reason, yes, I am moderately well known. If you have seen that god-awful and highly untruthful Wikipedia profile, then you have no doubt seen articles about me in both Forbes and Business 101 magazine, too.
“There are photographs floating around of me on the internet, I can’t help that I am well known. I try to keep my personal life out of the media but occasionally the paparazzi snap a photo of me with a family member or a friend and it makes the rounds. If for some reason it was leaked that you and I were in a relationship, I would confirm it. It’s that simple.
“Now secondly, I was always going to be here with you tonight. I’m not going away, Angela, I’m here with you, and I’m not going anywhere. I’m in it for the long haul, okay?”
His proclamation takes me aback, and completely by surprise, here he is being incredibly open about his feelings. That shocked me; it also gave me the courage to tell him mine.
“That’s good to know, because I’m serious about you, Elliot. I have strong feelings for you, feelings I don’t think are about to go away anytime soon.”
He smiles wide at my comment, “I’m serious about you, baby. I want the entire world to know that you’re mine.”
I lean forward, towards where he sits. He leans in at the same time and we meet in the middle, kissing each other, our tongues pushing out to meet each other, to commence their dance, the one that has become all too familiar. Savoring the taste of each other, he tastes like fresh mint toothpaste. Our kiss deepens, enjoying the declarations we have just made, knowing that we both care for each other, knowing that we are serious about each other. We finally pull apart, slowly. I pull down the sun visor and look at my reflection in the mirror. My eyes look wild, my lips look enlarged, no doubt from the kiss. I reapply lip gloss and wipe under my eyes, loving the confidence on the woman looking back at me.
We exit the car at the same time, meeting in front of the vehicle. He pulls me close and kisses the top of my head.
