I blinked in the semi-darkness.
“Where are you going?”
But I’d lost his attention, he was looking in the vicinity of my hips.
“Do you always wear underwear like this, or is it for me?”
I rolled to my back and pulled the sheet to my waist.
“It isn’t for you, I’ve been wearing underwear like this since Gram gave me my first Frederick’s of Hollywood box on my sixteenth birthday. Now, I owe Victoria’s Secret my first-born child.”
Before speaking again, Lee waited several seconds that can only be described as “loaded silence”. While this silence was going on, he pulled the sheet back down.
“You’re tellin’ me that since you were sixteen you’ve been sittin’ next to me every year at Christmas Dinner wearin’ underwear like this?”
I was having trouble processing all that was happening, seeing as it was oh-dark-hundred, Lee was dressed and leaving and we were talking about my underwear.
Had I sat beside him at Christmas Dinner every year?
I had. At first because I finagled it, the last ten years by a cruel twist of fate.
“I didn’t sit by you,” I kind of lied.
“No, I sat by you.”
At that unbelievable announcement, I got up on my two elbows and winced. Another learning experience, rolling around in bushes with your arms cuffed behind your back made you ache.
I glanced at the clock, five after five.
“It’s five after five! Where are you going?”
He leaned forward and brushed my lips with his.
“Hunting.”
The way he said it made me fear for all the furry little creatures in the woods. Then I realized that Lee didn’t hunt, at least not furry little creatures.
Yikes.
I considered what to say and settled on, “Be careful.”
An arm went around me and he pulled me to him. I was not a big fan of morning kisses before brushing your teeth, especially if tongue was involved.
His kiss was so fine, I made an exception and kissed him back.
He dragged me across his lap and deepened the kiss. If the kiss got any deeper, my lovely sage green satin undies with smoky gray lace were going to spontaneously combust.
When he lifted his head, he said, “Call Hank if you go anywhere, I need my men working. Hank’s gonna watch you today.”
Since I didn’t want to get kidnapped again and yesterday had beaten out the day I called the ticket line and found out Pearl Jam was sold out as the worst day of my life, I said, “Okay.”
He kissed me quickly, deposited me back in bed and then he was gone.
* * * * *
I slept more, got up, drank coffee, sucked down some ibuprofen and called Hank to come and get me. I didn’t know what I intended to do that day but I was too wired by recent events to sit around all day in Lee’s condo.
I surveyed myself in Lee’s bathroom mirror. The semi-shiner was fading but still there.