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“That I had seduced you, and then run to tell my father about it as fast as I could and blamed it on you as a way to get out of having a bodyguard, and to shove it back in my father’s face.”
“Well, yeah.”
“Here’s a news flash, Jonas,” she said. “I’m all grown up now, and I don’t play those games anymore. I’m not my father. What you see is what you get.”
“Well, your father was pretty pissed. He took me off the job, and his aide suggested that there could be trouble for me and my brothers if I got anywhere near you.”
Tessa’s mind went still. So she was right in her intuition. Her father had found a way to come between her and a man she wanted. Or had she done that all on her own? She hadn’t been entirely forthright with Jonas from the start—he may have made the first move that night, but only because she had been pushing him to.
“Listen, I remember showing them where we were standing when the attack happened. Howie was there. Where you had fallen back, and how I had grabbed the bat, but I didn’t say anything about us kissing. I guess they could have assumed, but I swear, I didn’t tell them what was going on,” she said. “And if anyone is playing games here, it’s the senator. I told you what he did before, with my college boyfriend. He may like you working for him, but—”
“He wouldn’t think I was good enough for his daughter,” Jonas finished flatly, and she nodded.
“It’s possible. He sees everything as reflecting on him, his career. But I don’t think that. I never thought that. I never would use you. Not like you thought I did.”
She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly feeling cold. Then Jonas was there, pulling her in, holding her tight.
“I’m sorry, too. I was such a mess at the time, but I should have told you about my sight. I should have asked you before I assumed what had happened. I believe you, Tessa,” he said, kissing her cheek gently and taking her arms from around her middle, twining them around his back.
She held on tight, seeking a deeper kiss, as if trying to let him know with her whole body how much she cared, and how much she never would cause him any pain, not if she could help it.
Heat rose between them, but this wasn’t the place to pursue their newfound intimacy.
“I want to talk to my father as soon as possible about what happened that night, and set it right. I absolutely will not let him blame you for something that was not your fault at all,” she said vehemently.
“Well, I wasn’t exactly blameless, Tessa. And I would rather you didn’t talk to your father, if that’s okay. I can handle it. Let’s set it aside for now, okay?”
“Okay,” she said reluctantly. She wasn’t surprised that he would want to handle it on his own, but still felt that she should do something to make it right.
The car stopped, and she frowned, hearing the sound of music playing out in the neighborhood, resisting the urge to argue with him for the moment.
“The electricity is back on,” she said, but saw no evidence of that except for the music. The streetlights were still out, though the dawn was bathing the street in soft, after-storm light.
“Thank you so much, Collins. It was so nice to meet you. Tell Kate I will be in later today to check on her and help her get home,” Tessa said, offering the older man a hug, which surprised him, and which he seemed happy to accept.
Jonas shook Collins’s hand, and they waited as the car left.
“Well, at least the rain has stopped,” he observed. “Where is the music coming from?”
“Looks like Lydia’s having a party,” she said, noting the candles and flashlights visible through the window of the tattoo parlor, and the sign in the window that announced a Blackout Party.
“Hey, where have you been?” a voice behind them asked, and Tessa turned to find her friend and neighbor Scott, who owned the deli across the street, walking toward them carrying a huge cooler.
“My friend Kate had a medical emergency,” Tessa explained as Scott put the cooler down on the sidewalk. She gave him a hug and watched as he shook hands with Jonas. “It’s been quite the adventure getting to her.”
“How did you end up in scrubs?”
“We were soaked, so a nurse took pity on us.”
“Nice. So your friend is okay?”
“Yes, we made it just in time, and she’s fine. What’s happening here?”
“They aren’t predicting the power’ll be back on until sometime tomorrow, so I had to use these cold cuts and salads before they went bad. Lydia had the idea to throw a blackout party for people around the neighborhood.”
“Clever,” Tessa said.
“Good to see you, too, Jonas. Wondered where you had gotten to, and was sorry to hear about your eyesight. Rotten break, but it’s supposed to come back, right?” Scott asked, and Tessa saw Jonas straighten uncomfortably, nodding.
“Yes, that’s what they’re saying,” Jonas confirmed briefly.
Tessa frowned. She should have told her friend Lydia to keep their previous conversation about Jonas private, but it was too late now.
“Come on in and have a sandwich or something. It’s turned into a pretty good time,” Scott said, picking up his cooler again.
“We just came from dinner, so—” Tessa started, but then Lydia appeared in her doorway, clapping excitedly.
“You’re back, and you’re okay! I’m so relieved. I went over to get you for the party, and the place was all closed up. I wondered where you’d got to,” she said, and then smiling, noticed Jonas. “But now I can see you had other things to do.”
Tessa rolled her eyes at her friend’s unrestrained glee at seeing her with Jonas.
“We’re really beat, Lydia,” Tessa tried to beg off, but Lydia wasn’t hearing any of it, and linked her arm through Jonas’s, standing up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek.
She looked at Tessa and made a silent mime that Tessa could not quite decipher. She probably wanted all the details about her night with Jonas, knowing Lydia. Tessa nodded, letting her friend know she would catch up with her later.
Even Jonas’s surly demeanor cracked at Lydia’s happy welcome, and he offered her a kiss back.
Tessa knew he’d always enjoyed Lydia’s visits, the two of them quipping and harassing each other like siblings.
Lydia didn’t have any family, and Jonas didn’t have any sisters. Tessa figured her friend enjoyed the brotherly back-and-forth she had developed with Jonas, and it gave Tessa yet another perspective on him, playing the big brother. She wondered what he was like with his own brothers, and hoped she’d have a chance to see them all together someday soon. If Jonas was interested in seeing her.
“Come on, it’ll be fun.” Scott led the way. “You can take some food for later.”
Tessa laughed at her friend’s insistence on pushing off his extra food and followed. Inside, she was greeted by several other business owners in the neighborhood as well as a few of the residential neighbors as music blasted from a speaker in the corner where someone had set up an iPod and food was set out everywhere.
Never one to miss a business opportunity, Lydia was also offering Blackout Special henna tats until the lights came back on.
“I have an opening. How about you let me paint you?” Lydia said to Tessa, catching Tessa staring at the sale sign on one of the food tables.
“No, thank you,” she said.
“Jonas, don’t you think Tessa should get a tat? I could do something very personal, and very tasteful … something only special people could see,” Lydia said mischievously, and Tessa felt her cheeks heat.
“Lydia—” she warned.
“I think it could be fun,” he said, surprising both women. “You game?” he asked Tessa.
“It’s only henna,” Lydia cajoled.
Tessa took good care of her skin. It was an important part of her business to show how well her products worked, but also to care for her health. She didn’t sit in the sun for long periods of time and with no disrespect to her friend, had no interest in permanent ink. Still, she was feeling daring, and a temporary henna tat would be fun.
“Okay, why not?” she said. “I’ll pick out yours, and you can tell Lydia what you want for me. We don’t get to see until it’s done.”
Jonas looked slightly apprehensive. “No fair. I’m blind. I could end up walking around with who knows what on my forehead.”
Tessa leaned in, feeling mischievous and whispered in his ear, “It wasn’t your forehead I was thinking about,” she teased, and then added, “I guess you’ll have to trust me.”
“Okay. I can do that,” he said, and she knew they were talking to each other about far more than a tattoo.
“Actually, I think I have the perfect idea for both of you,” Lydia said, and led them to the corner where she proceeded to sit them both down before her in comfortable chairs, and then grabbed a scarf from the shelf.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Tessa objected at first, as Lydia started to tie it around her eyes.
“It’s supposed to be a surprise, right?”
“Lydia …”
“Trust me, Tessa.”
Tessa sighed. It seemed to be the theme of her life at the moment, and she did trust Lydia, who winked at her as she tied the scarf around her face.
“This won’t take long. It’s a simple scroll, but it will work very well.”
They listened to the music and conversations behind them then as Lydia worked, and Tessa laughed a few times, her palm tickling as Lydia painted there, and then turned her hand over, continuing.
“Um. I thought this would be small.”
“It comes off in four to six weeks, Tessa. But you’re going to like it, I promise.”
Then she left Tessa to work on Jonas who was so quiet she thought maybe he had fallen asleep.
“There. Done!” Lydia pronounced, and Tessa wasn’t sure she wanted to open her eyes, but when she did, she caught her breath in pleasure at the delicate scarlet-and-black scrolling that weaved its way around her hand and fingers, to the center of her palm, where it ended in a starburst.
She looked over to see Jonas grimacing. “Tell me she didn’t paint flowers or kittens on my arms, please,” he said.
Lydia snickered.
Tessa took his arm, and knew immediately what Lydia had done, and she glanced up, meeting her friend’s eyes.
Lydia shrugged. “It seemed right. You two fit,” she said, echoing what Tessa had told Jonas earlier.
His was similar, but heavier, more manly, and also worked around his fingers, wrist and palm.
“You, uh, need to hold hands to really see how it comes together. It’s a concept I developed while I was designing. You are the first ones I’ve tried it on. I call this one Completion.”
Jonas shrugged and held out his hand, obviously disappointed that he couldn’t see his. Tessa took it, and caught her breath. As their fingers wove together, their palms merging, so did the design. The scrolls connected into an intricate weave that created an entirely new design.
“Lydia, that’s amazing …” Tessa breathed, and tried to explain it to Jonas, though she felt as if she couldn’t do it justice. She wished so much he could see it, and said as much.
“Well, like I said, they last several weeks. And you said you had some signs your vision was coming back?” she asked Jonas.
“Yes.”
“And you figure you’ll be around in a few weeks?” Lydia asked baldly, to Tessa’s horror.
He smiled. “Yeah, I hope so.”
That made Tessa’s heart stop.
“So there you go then.” Lydia cleared her throat as they stood there, holding hands. “Okay, I’m going to go check on the party, and you guys can show off your tats, if you would, so it could drum up some business for me. You know, before you head upstairs to—”
“Lydia!” Tessa cut her friend off, laughing, and Lydia laughed, as well.
Gone, Tessa didn’t let go of Jonas’s hand as she went into his arms.
“I think you’ll like it. It’s very badass. Promise.”
“Yeah, sounds like it,” he said doubtfully, but found her lips and didn’t seem overly concerned about the tattoo.
“I probably have soap that would remove it sooner than normal, if you like.”
He squeezed her hand, and kissed her lightly. “I’m good with it. You want to mingle for a few minutes and then go upstairs?”
“Yeah. I’d like that.”
Tessa wasn’t sure she’d ever been this happy. Jonas seemed to have accepted that she wasn’t his enemy, and more than that, he’d said he planned to be around. His sight was coming back, and he wanted to be with her.
Her father had tried to separate them, but fate had a different idea. Tessa was supposed to be with Jonas, she thought, looking down at how the designs on their hands merged into a perfect image that they showed off to guests who were suitably impressed.
They were together now, and she wouldn’t let anything hurt them, least of all her father, she thought as they finally left the party and went back to her apartment, where she could have Jonas all to herself.
9
Norfolk, 6:00 a.m.
ELY STRETCHED ON the bed, twisted in sheets and slowly waking up to note he was alone in the bed. Then the sound of the shower filtered through his consciousness. He smiled, feeling satisfied and well used in the way only a night of great sex could offer.
Though it was more than sex this time, he acknowledged. He may not have been ready for more back when he first knew Chloe, but he was now.
He wanted something meaningful, something right, and he was amazed that it had been there all the while. He’d always imagined that he’d like to have a marriage, a home, just as his parents had. He’d just never found the woman he could imagine it with.
Or he had, and he’d almost lost her.
Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he thought about joining Chloe in the shower.
Maybe in a minute.
Checking the clock, he realized he should probably touch base with his brothers. They’d been expecting him home the night before, but he could catch a flight back this morning, and be there by noon. After he talked with Chloe.
