"Nick darling, what a crude thing to say," she snapped. "Please don't come to breakfast here in my house literally dripping with lust."
"What the hell has changed you since you were lying by the fireplace naked and invited me over?" he asked.
Julie's pale cheeks went scarlet and she looked over her shoulder quickly, then leaned closer to Nick. "Don't you have any sense of discretion," she said, her voice low. "You know how difficult it is for me to make love to you before marriage, Nick. It simply tears me up, no matter how I feel about you. I have to be a little tight or in a certain mood or something."
"Julie, let's go somewhere together," he said. "I need you very much today, darling. Get dressed and let's go somewhere."
"I don't like the tone of what you're suggesting," she said. "Where do you mean? To your apartment? Or to a hotel?"
"Julie, this is something special," he said. "Look, I'm going to be working at home on the Dennison account. If not now, could you come over to my place later. Maybe tonight?"
"Nick, dear, I have two showers to attend later today," she said. "And I'd love to see you tonight. But not in the sense of running into your place and going to bed."
"Well, I'll get you drunk, if that's necessary," he said. "Or play games with you."
"Nick, how dare you talk like that," she said. "Sometimes I think your mind never gets out of the gutter."
A wave of anger flooded over Nick, and he shoved his chair back and started to get up and leave. But he checked his anger and calmed his heavy breathing and looked back at Julie.
"I'm sorry," he said. "It's just that you're so beautiful and I love you so much."
"I know darling," she said. "I love you and want you too. But it's only a short time now. And there will be nights when I get in that certain wicked mood. And since you're working at home, well, you never know when I might pop right in and surprise you."
Nick put his hand over hers on the table. "You're right," he said. "It is a short time. And then everything will be perfect."
Nick stared into Julie's black eyes and smiled slightly, then leaned over the table and kissed her lips softly. But he hardly felt love or even tenderness now, and hated himself for the way he was sometimes forced to grovel with her, and with her father. This will all change after the marriage, he thought as he pulled from her lips.
"Yes, everything will be perfect then," she said.
"I've got to be running," he said. "I'm behind on the Dennison thing now."
"I'll walk you to the door," she said. "And call me at home later tonight, darling, and we'll see about getting together."
He took her hand and they got up and walked to the door. As he opened the door, she stood on her toes and kissed his lips, and her breasts brushed his chest, and sent a flame of desire over his tense body.
As he walked from the apartment and down the deep-carpeted hallway, he told himself he had to get a drink, and think rationally about how he was going to get rid of Holly, without winding up in bed with her again.
CHAPTER EIGHT
At noon, the sky was black as night, and the wind whipped menacingly and swirled up gusts of snow from the sidewalk. Nick huddled into his coat and turned the last corner, and glanced up at the sky. He shivered and told himself he had been lucky to get home before what was obviously going to be one hell of a snowstorm.
He knew Holly would use the storm as an excuse, but he was determined to get rid of her and spend the rest of the day on the Dennison account, and then see Julie tonight and get things back to normal.
The scotch he had consumed since leaving Julie's had fortified him and he had been able to rationalize throwing Holly out with the money he had taken from the bank. And if necessary, he told himself, he would personally take her in a cab to her place and payoff the rent and see that she got her things.
But that's the end of my involvement, he muttered to himself, as he turned into his building. He stomped on the mat to get the snow off his shoes, then took his mail from the box and hurried inside. He kept repeating what he would say to Holly as he walked up the stairs. And he knew now that the realization of how near to disaster he had come in getting involved with this girl would block any desire he might feel for her.
His heart started pounding as he turned the key and shoved the door open. He fully expected to see her nude body displayed against the couch or standing temptingly in the door to the bedroom.
But he closed the door and stood still a moment, and she did not appear. He called her, but there was no answer. He walked into the bathroom. There was not a trace of her.
"Thank God," he muttered aloud, and got out of his coat and went over and took out the scotch.
And he saw that the bottle was nearly empty. He shook his head and poured the remaining whiskey into a glass. For a girl so young, she surely had an appetite for scotch, he told himself. Then he smiled. For scotch and for sex and for God knows what else, he added.
He went into the bedroom and took his tie off and put on the pair of ragged, old leather slippers that Julie thought were disgraceful. Then he returned to the living room and sat down at his desk and took out pen and paper.
He had decided to start work on the Dennison account, without first studying any of the material on previous campaigns. He hoped he just might strike something entirely new. And if not, he could have tons of stuff sent over from the office.
But half an hour later he had only a page of doodling, and he kept thinking of Holly out in the snow with absolutely no money. He was sorry now he at least had not been able to give her the money and tell her good bye.
And he thought of her blue eyes and honey blond hair and that incredible youthfulness, so offset by the golden, glowing body. And he remembered the marathon love-making.
He stood up and paced the room, and tried to clear his thoughts. He went over and stared from the window and saw that the snow was coming down heavily now, and he felt a slight chill.
Again he paced the room, and since Holly was gone and the danger past, he allowed himself the luxury of remembering how warm and full of life her presence had made his apartment.
He went back to the desk, but again, he found himself merely doodling, and he got up and walked into the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. And as he poured a cup of coffee, and put in the milk and sugar, he heard a noise in the living room and he froze an instant.
He put the cup down and walked warily from the kitchen. He froze as he stood in the doorway to the living room.
Holly was shaking snow from her hair which was soaking wet. Her thin clothes were matted to her luscious body with snow, and left little to the imagination.
She looked over suddenly and smiled. "Hi," she said. "I didn't know you were back. My God, I'm freezing."
"You'll catch pneumonia," Nick said. "What were you doing out in a snow storm dressed like that?"
"Well, it wasn't snowing when I left, and I thought I'd try to sweet-talk my clothes back," she said. "But the old bastard I owe the rent to made it clear he wanted his money or you know what."
Nick was startled at how glad he was to see her, not just because the sight of her body made him go warm, but because he somehow felt good just being with her. And he felt very protective toward her.
"Get out of those wet clothes," he said and walked over to her. "And go take a hot shower. I'll see if I can find something for you to wear, though my clothes will probably swallow you whole."
"Oh Nick, I'm so glad to see you," she said. And she put her arms around his neck and shoved her shivering body against him and kissed him deeply.
Nick tore from her lips and shoved her away. "Get out of those clothes," he said.
"Sure, Nick baby," she said. "I'll meet you in the bedroom in half a minute."