“No?” I played along sensing where this was going.
“Nope.” She teased. “The best one was the one received in my bedroom earlier tonight.”
“What was that?” I feigned innocence. “Oh you mean this one.” I reached up and curled my fingers through her hair and pulled her down to me. I pressed my lips against her and kissed her. The kiss deepened quickly as I ran my tongue across her lips. She parted her own lips and granted me access into the warmth of her mouth. I pressed my body against hers as she ran her hands down my back. We broke the kiss as the need to breath became overwhelming.
“Yeah that was the one.” Allison moaned as I teased her forearm by tracing a pattern on her bare skin with my fingers. Not for the first time tonight I was happy that she had me check her blazer.
“I don’t think so.” I said playfully. “As I recall we were lying on your bed and I had just started to grant your birthday wish when we were interrupted.”
“Seems to be a pattern with us.” She laughed. “Dance with me?”
“Are you trading your earlier wish for a dance?” I toyed with her.
“No.” Allison answered seductively. “I still want to finish that, but if we try to do that here I think we might get arrested. For now I will accept a dance.”
“Okay.” I agreed as I took her hand. “Just one thing. Is Chris staying with you tonight?”
“Not a chance.” Allison reassured me.
“Good.” I responded as I squeezed her hand and led her out onto the dance floor.
As we stepped out onto the dance floor our bodies instinctively pulled together. We swayed in perfect rhythm to a remix of ‘Downtown’. As she pulled me even closer to her I felt my breath escaping my body. I was certain that my heart would stop beating at any moment. As the next song started I ran my hands up her arms. I have no idea what song was playing. I was completely unaware of the music or the other people dancing around us. At that moment in time my only lucid thoughts were of her. I felt her hand gently grip my waist. We moved closer together. Our bodies pressed together only our breath separating us all of this done under the veil of dancing. We swayed in time as our hips melted together. Her breath was hot against my neck. My hands found the way down and were caressing her well-toned backside.
Suddenly the music stopped and could I hear the DJ’s voice thanking everyone for coming as the room was flooded with bright white lights. The spell would have been broken if only we weren’t still standing there holding each other. We both sighed as we spotted Chris and Rita approaching us hand in hand. “The ugly lights are on. Time to go.” Chris grunted.
“Ugly lights?” I questioned.
“That’s what they call it when the house lights come on at the end of the night.” Rita explained. “Often between the drinking and the dimly lit dance floor you never get a good look at who you are with. The end of the night can prove to quite disappointing if not shocking at times.”
“I’m hungry.” Chris said suddenly. “Who wants to get something to eat?” She asked as we just stared at her dumbfounded. “What?” She snarled.
“How can you be hungry again?” Allison scoffed.
“I’m a growing girl.” Chris retorted as she patted her well-toned stomach.
“Unbelievable.” Allison grumbled.
While we waited in the seemingly endless line for the coat check Chris managed to convince us to go to an all night diner located in the south end. Chris also managed to get Rita’s email address with relative ease. The girl was smooth; I had to give her that. I was secretly pleased to see Chris and Rita hitting it off. Of course my pleasure was born from a selfish desire to keep Chris as far away from Allison as possible. Allison stood beside me the entire time, her arm never leaving my waist. “Chris when is your flight?” Allison asked suddenly. “Are you sure that you have time to catch a bite to eat?”
“Not a problem.” Chris reassured her. “I can catch a shuttle out in the morning.”
“It is morning.” Allison pointed out.
“Trying to ditch me Ally?” Chris made an attempt to sound playful but fell short as a hint of bitterness crept through.
Chris’ question was followed by an awkward silence. Which Chris herself finally broke. “The truth is that I’m not expected back at the office until after the holiday. I can fly back anytime.” Chris explained.
“Uh huh.” Was Allison’s only response.
“I thought I could spend sometime in Boston.” Chris added. “You know so we can work on the case.”
“Unbelievable.” Allison muttered.
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to put the pieces together. Chris thinking that Allison would be alone on her birthday flew up to Boston in hopes of catching her in a vulnerable state. I had to give credit where credit was due it was a good plan. It would appear that I had thrown a monkey wrench into Chris’ plans and she was none to happy about it. “Fine.” Chris spoke finally as we retrieved our coats. “We’ll just grab a bite to eat. Then drive back to Haven so I can pick up my rental car and then I will be on my way.” Chris seemed to be conceding but not entirely, I couldn’t help but notice. I quickly did the math in my head. By the time we would leave the club, drove across town, eat and then drove back to Haven it would be about time for Allison and I had to go to work. “You certainly are a clever girl, Chris. You won’t be sleeping with Allison tonight and you’re making damn sure that I won’t be either.”
There was no way I was going to give up so easily this time. I knew that Allison was ready to invite me to spend the night. I pulled Allison closer and leaned up so I could whisper in her ear. “Feel like playing hooky tomorrow?” I suggested in a husky tone.
“Why Dr. Grant?” She answered me with a slight blush and a lustful gaze.
She never answered me though? Perhaps I had read the signals wrong. “No way.” I thought to myself. I was questioning myself once again when I found myself sitting in a small diner at four am. Chris had order an enormous amount of food and was taking her time eating. I simply ordered coffee, while Allison had settled on the clam platter. Another hour passed as Chris rambled on endlessly about anything and everything. I was on my seventh cup of coffee when I noticed that Allison had grown strangely quiet. I looked over at her with concern as I noticed that her normally dark complexion had paled.
“Hey I just noticed something.” Chris said suddenly breaking me away from my thoughts. “You’re not smoking.”
“I quit.” Allison responded in a somewhat confused state.
“I’ve heard that one before.” Chris replied in disbelief.
“It’s true.” I defended Allison. “She has not had a cigarette since the first of the month.”
“No kidding?” Chris asked. “Good for you Ally. I know that this is something that you always wanted to do.”
There was a slight pause in the conversation as I looked back over at Allison. The woman looked terrible. “Are you all right?” I finally asked her. “I’m fine.” She offered with a wave of her hand. “Just a little tired.” Although I didn’t believe her I decided to let it go for now. Chris went back to talking about her favorite subject, which was of course herself.
“I find it hard to believe that no one asked you out in high school?” I found myself saying to Chris about twenty minutes later. Somehow the tall lawyer had managed to engage me in conversation.
“No one did.” Chris explained. “All of the boys thought I was too tall. By the time I was sixteen I was already six feet tall. By the time the guys thought I was interesting, I discovered that I wasn’t interested in them. Of course my not dating caused some concern with my parents. I remember the day I graduated from law school they were so proud. I decided it was time to tell them the truth about myself. My Mom burst into tears and My Dad threw me out of the house. I haven’t spoken to them since.”