toothpaste," she said, flinging the rings one by one out the window.
"The onions wouldn't bother me, Beth. But you've decided not to eat and run?"
She wrestled a huge bite down her throat and sighed. "Maybe. You're such a good cook, maybe I'll finagle breakfast out of you, too"
"When was the last time you had two meals in a row?"
Sipping on her Coke thoughtfully, she answered, "I chased some pigeons away from a doughnut this morning. Only had a few pecks out of it, too." When she saw him grimace, she giggled. "I'm kidding. Don't feel sorry for me. I always eat like this. Whether I had a banquet three hours before or nothing."
"Which was it today?"
"Today, nothing."
They continued to eat in silence for a while. Nicholas did not want to frighten her away by asking too many questions. But he wanted her. He knew from the first that he wanted her. That night in his bed, and the next, and the next. It was usually such a painfully slow process for him. The approach, the waiting, the ever-so-gentle seduction.
Maybe just once, he should try another way, with someone who offered herself immediately, no questions, no promises. Maybe it was just the look of innocence that was important, only the package, not the contents. Beth finished her meal long before he did, and he noticed her struggling to keep from nodding off as she waited for him.
"I can offer you breakfast, if you really want it," he said finally. "Pancakes, or bacon and eggs, or even doughnuts, untouched by pigeon beaks if you prefer."
"A motel?"
"No, my place."
"You're not married?"
"No."
"Okay. Sure. Why not?" She yawned and excused herself for doing it with a shrug. "It'll be nice to spend the night in a real bed for a change."
When the carhop took the tray away, and Nicholas slipped the car in gear and pulled out of the parking lot, she snuggled up next to him and took his arm off the wheel to wrap around her shoulder. "That's better," she sighed.
By the time they had reached his apartment, she was asleep. She stirred when he disengaged himself and propped her against the back of the seat to get out. "Are we home already?" she asked as she slid willingly into his arms and let him carry her up to the porch.
"Yes, Beth, we're home." She seemed so light and breakable, like a delicate bisque statue. Nicholas unlocked the door and deposited her on his bed then went back for her purse. When he returned, she was curled on her side with her elbow under her head. He gently removed her shoes and socks and tugged the spread and blankets out from under her and tucked them around her. She murmured something he could not understand and turned on her stomach.
Getting a pillow for himself and a blanket out of the closet, he took them to the sofa. He knew very well she could be gone by morning, but he suspected she would insist upon breakfast first. And he would be most willing to provide it. He was used to waiting.
Nicholas woke the next morning to the smell of coffee and Ivory Soap and the feather-light touch of her lips on his brow. Beth knelt on the floor next to the sofa and chuckled when his eyes popped open in surprise, then she sat back on her heels and sipped from the steaming mug she held curled in her baby fingers.
"You'll get a backache sleeping on the sofa, and what good will you be to me then?" She offered the mug to him. "I like a little coffee with my sugar. I'll fix it the way you like it if this ain't right for you."
It was his neck that had stiffened from his night on the sofa, and Nicholas grunted a bit as he eased himself up to take the cup from her. "Good morning. I promised you breakfast." He tried not to let her see him wince at the tooth-tingling sweetness of the brew.
"My promise comes first if you don't mind." Wrapped as she was in an old, wrinkled sweatshirt of his that hung to her knees and bunched at her elbows where she'd pushed up the ragged sleeves, and most likely nothing else, Beth had neither the appearance nor the skills of a seasoned seductress.
Taking the mug from his hand and setting it on the coffee table, she leaned into him. She planted wet, eager kisses on his neck and up his