Holly sat shy and nervous as they sat in the plush restaurant. Nick felt good all over as he watched her eat soup and crackers, then a small steak and potatoes, and finally pie with ice cream. She kept glancing furtively at him between bites, her blue eyes wide, her body drawn in against itself.
Nick remembered standing in Connors' office with Julie, and stared at Holly and shook his head. He loved Julie dearly, but her life had been so easy, and she had never known the kind of suffering this kid had.
Nick glanced at his watch and realized he would have to hurry or he would be late for the appointment with Frances Dennison that Connors had set up. Yet he was reluctant to disturb Holly's obvious pleasure in her food. When she finished her pie and ice cream with quick bites she looked up at him. "I saw you glancing at your watch," she said. "I'm sorry to be taking so long, but I just can't stand the thought of finishing. It may be months before I eat like this again."
"Actually I do have to be somewhere in less than half an hour," he said, and he noticed now that her eyes were sparkling and that the pallor had drained from around the eyes.
Nick paid the check and escorted Holly outside. And as he shoved the door open, he saw that a wet slushy snow was falling and realized that the temperature was dropping.
He saw Holly shivering and he pulled her under an awning. He pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and pressed it into her hand. "Take a cab to wherever you live, and buy yourself some groceries," he said.
"I don't live anywhere," she said. "I was thrown out yesterday for being several weeks behind in my rent. And they kept all my clothes."
"What did you do last night?" Nick asked.
"Just walked around and went to an all night movie," she said. "Mr. Harrison, take me to your place. Please. Just let me get warm there. I'm so tired of being cold and lonely. I won't be any trouble. Just for tonight."
Nick swallowed and stared down at the blue eyes and the slightly trembling lips and the shivering, voluptuous body. "I'm afraid not, Holly," he said. "Look, I'll see if I can help you tomorrow. Take the money and get a hotel room tonight, and tomorrow I'll see about loaning you some money so that you can pay your back rent and get your clothes."
"Please," Holly said and took his hand in her little hand and squeezed. "I'm scared and lonely. Just one night Mr. Harrison. I'll sleep on the floor or in the bathtub. Haven't you ever been scared and cold and lonely?"
"Sure Holly," he said, and he knew he was making a mistake to take her home. But he knew he could not turn her out now, not the way she felt, not the way he could remember walking the streets on cold nights as a kid.
He saw a cab and hailed it, then he and Holly ran through the slush and climbed in. As Nick gave his address and the cab pulled from the curb, Holly nestled against him.
"I won't be any trouble," she repeated. "And I'll never forget this Mr. Harrison. I swear. I'd kill myself if I had to spend this night in some cheap dump all alone."
"If we're going to be friends, you'd better call me Nick," he said. And he thought of moving away from her body. Yet the gesture of her sitting against him seemed completely innocent, even child-like.
"Nick, I hope we're friends," Holly said. "You've literally saved my life, and I'll pay you back. Really I will."
"I've been hungry and cold and alone in my day, Holly," he said. "I know what it's like. And you won't even have to sleep on the floor. There's a couch in the living room that makes down into a bed."
"That's swell," she said.
They rode the rest of the way in silence, and Nick kept glancing at his watch. And he became more and more aware of the presence of Holly's voluptuous body. It seemed to radiate a warmth and aliveness, and he wondered what it would be like to touch her, to kiss her. Then he smiled to himself and thought of Julie.
Little Holly was a bundle of sex all right, he told himself as the cab stopped in front of his building. But he had been tempted by far more knowing and provocative women than this girl, and had not even come close to giving in.
"Gee what a nice building," Holly said, and they entered the brownstone. "You wouldn't believe the dumps I've been staying in recently. But I feel my luck is changing now."
"I haven't always lived in a house like this," Nick said, and it seemed strange, but he was proud that he had once been as destitute as this lovely girl obviously was.
"Someday I'll have something this swell, or even better," she said as they started up the stairs.
She moved up the steps with an effort and Nick realized she must be near exhaustion. But his concern with her health vanished quickly as he watched the movement of her rounded, perfect buttocks beneath the tight skirt.
"How far up do you live?" she asked. "I'm not sure I can make another flight."
"You're in luck," he said. "I live here on the second floor."
She stepped aside and then followed him down the hallway to his apartment. "God but I'm beat," she said, and he turned and saw that she was propped up against the wall.
"Don't give up now," he said and laughed. "Just a few feet more and everything will be okay."
He unlocked the door and took her hand and pulled her inside. She squeezed his hand and he marveled at how warm the hand felt, and how it seemed to glow with feeling and aliveness, despite her obvious exhaustion.
"Nick, this is a lovely apartment," she said, and cocked her head up at him and smiled in a way that made him go warm.
He pulled his hand from hers, but let his eyes feast up and down the jutting, curving body. Yet he still felt little actual desire for her, and as always with another woman, he thought instantly of Julie, and her dark eyes and pale skin and short stacked body. And of his deep love for her.
"Look, I've got to run in a minute," Nick said. "Since you're the guest, you have the choice of the bed in the bedroom, or the couch out here which makes down into a bed."
"You know what I want first?" Holly asked, and smiled deeply, and her blue eyes danced with an excitement that made Nick suck in his breath. "I want to take a hot shower for a long, long time. Do you mind terribly?"
He laughed. "Of course not," he said, and laughed to himself at mistaking the look in her eyes. Her child-like enthusiasm about something as simple as a shower made him glow with another kind of warmth.
"Well, you said you were in a hurry," she said. "And I don't want to get in the bathroom ahead of you."
"I'm ready," he said. "You go on and have your shower. But you still haven't decided which bed you want."
"You're the man," she said in a suddenly strange, taunting voice that disturbed Nick. "You should decide."
"I'll take the couch, you take the bed," he said. "There are towels in the closet in the bathroom and an extra tooth brush in the medicine cabinet. And there's food in the kitchen if you're hungry."
"Nick, you won't be sorry you did me this favor," she said, and leaned over suddenly and kissed his check.
He was amazed at the feel of her lips, and he actually felt his cheek was burning. The lips had that incredible texture he had noticed about her body and face, and felt when he held her hand. Her lips, like her body, seemed so syrupy-smooth and soft-firm and burning with a strange, surging fire.
"I'll try not to wake you when I come in," he said and stepped to the door.
"Once I hit the bed, Nick, I doubt that anything will be able to wake me," she said. "But just let me get one night's sleep in a decent bed. By tomorrow morning I'll be back in shape, and then Nick, you won't believe it's the same person."
Nick stared at her and a dozen things raced through his mind, and he felt very close to her and did not understand why, except for the bond between a girl on the way up and a man who had been down and was now on top. He thought of several things to say to her. But all he said was, "Good night, Holly."