Eliot turned the key several times before the car finally started.
The car sputtered the first few minutes on the road before finally warming up enough to move freely forward.
“El, I hope you’re not mad at me for stepping in at the bar. Especially because, I’ll tell you right now, I would do it again. I don’t know what came over me, but when I saw that jerk touch you—”
“Rafe, it’s all right.” She kept her eyes straight ahead as if there was a ton of traffic to watch out for instead of the completely deserted street. “It was kind of nice having someone look out for me. Sometimes I feel like I’m spending my whole life looking after other people. I’m glad you were there. And, I might add, you look exceptionally scary when you are mad.”
“Yeah? Good scary or bad scary?”
“I didn’t realize there was such a thing as good scary.”
“The minutes before you step on a gnarly roller coaster ride?”
“Right. Good one. No, scary wasn’t the right word. You looked intimidating. And pretty damn sexy to boot. It would have made for a good couple minutes on screen.”
I leaned back and tried to stretch out my legs but ran out of room quickly. “Shit. Don’t even mention on screen or television or cameras.” I rolled my head to the side to look at her. “I’m not enjoying this at all.”
Eliot’s mouth turned down at the sides. “I could take you home first, but I’m worried that my sister—”
I realized my mistake and sat up. “No, El, that’s not what I meant. I’m talking about the show, this bachelor hell I’ve gotten myself into. You, on the other hand, you’re the only fun part of this whole deal.”
A glimmer of her smile returned. “That’s nice to know. So—” she started with some hesitation. “How did tonight’s invitation ceremony go?”
“Bad.”
Her face snapped my direction. “Oh no, what happened?”
“Nothing happened. I just hated the whole thing. I sent Stella, Olivia and Tanya on their way. Only Tanya seemed truly upset.”
“Which one is Tanya?”
“See, that’s why I sent her home. I couldn’t even remember who she was when I saw her name on the list. This is all so crazy—trying to get to know all these women at once, while at the same time trying to find the one who is my supposed soul mate. I mean, as far as I’m concerned, everyone has one true soul mate in the world, and either fate brings you together or you miss out on the love of your life forever. This show has nothing to do with fate and everything to do with ratings and sponsors and the usual corporate profit.”
“A soul mate? I wonder how many of the bachelors started the show thinking they needed to find their soul mate.”
“You think I’m a cornball, don’t you? Maybe I am. Or maybe that whole soul mate theory is just my way of staying single. Good excuse, don’t you think?”
She tilted her head in thought. “Actually, it’s a noble excuse, if it’s true.” Her last words held an edge of doubt.
“Ah ha, you think I’m full of shit. Well, maybe I am.”
“Just out of curiosity, what qualities would you be looking for in a soul mate? Not that it matters to me,” she quickly added. “I thought it might help you to narrow down your bachelorette choice.”
The back window of the car rattled loudly as we rolled over train tracks. We were heading through a neighborhood of small, non-descript houses where most of the front lawns had not survived the summer drought. The sidewalks were cracked and uneven from neglect. There were no signs of life. Families were in their beds and the neighborhood dogs had settled in for the night.
I sat back and thought about her question. “There really is no concrete list. It’s more of an abstract thing, you know?”
“A romantic and philosophic bachelor,” she mused. “No wonder the casting director snapped you up.”
“Yeah, I’m a gem. That’s for damn sure.” I stared out the window as the quiet neighborhood rolled past. “Aside from finding every inch of her amazing, she’s going to be that girl who, the second I meet her, I’ll feel as if I’ve known her forever.” As I said the words, I knew. I knew I wasn’t making this up. It was true, something that had always been deep in my heart. And up until now, I hadn’t met that girl, that girl who could make me feel as if she’d been standing on the planet all along just waiting for me to find her. Or maybe she was meant to find me. I looked over at Eliot. I’d already memorized the tiny curve of her button nose and the way her bottom lip jutted just slightly past the top. “My soul mate will be the person who stops time for me. The person who brings my whole world to a screeching halt so I can start it again . . . with her.”
Eliot stared straight ahead, but I sensed that she’d absorbed every word. She knew too. She had to know. Or maybe I was just delusional.
She turned the car down a dark street that was lined with trash cans waiting to be emptied. “This is the street,” she said quietly. “When my dad was alive, we had this pretty little blue house that was lined with brick and had rose bushes running along the entire front yard. My mom tried to hang onto it, but the bank wouldn’t cooperate.”
“Yep I’ve found that banks are only friendly and cooperative when you have money.”
“We’re here.” Eliot pulled the car into the driveway of a small house with a cracked plaster facade. Instead of the usual steps up to the front stoop, a long cement ramp led to the front door. A withered blue sedan with a rack on the back was parked on the driveway. It was tilted to the side on a very flat tire.
Eliot reached into her purse for the aspirin. “I won’t be long.”
“Really? I was kind of looking forward to meeting the other half of George Eliot. Or maybe your sister won’t feel like a visitor. You’re right. I’ll stay here.”
She glanced toward the house. There was a light on in the front window and a blinking light bulb partially lit the front stoop. “You know what, my sister would probably be thrilled to meet you She’s asked about you more than once. And don’t worry, she knows how to be secretive. Come on.”
We climbed out of the car and walked up to the house. “My mom might be up too since she was expecting me. She has a problem with insomnia.” Eliot pushed her key into the lock. “Along with about a dozen other perceived maladies,” she added as she pushed open the door.
The front room was sparsely decorated and the wood floors were tattered and unpolished. Her mom, who had the same hair color as Eliot only with threads of silver gray running through it, was asleep on the couch with an open magazine resting on her chest.
Eliot turned to me and pressed her finger to her mouth. She crept quietly toward the couch and picked up the knitted throw off the back of a nearby chair. She placed it carefully over her mom. From there she went into the kitchen and filled a glass of water in the sink.
The small kitchen table was covered with textbooks and notepads. I noticed the one place at the table that had no chair was the place where an open book and cup of tea were sitting. I glanced around the house. It was making sense now, the ramp to the porch, the strategically placed furniture and the well-worn wood floor.
The floor creaked behind me. I turned around. Georgie’s eyes were not as blue as her sister’s, but she was every bit as pretty. Her hair was smooth and dark and lacked the wave that Eliot’s had. And there was no persistent forehead curl. She squinted into the pale light of the front room and an audible gasp followed.
Eliot had heard her roll into the room. She hurried out with the water and two aspirin and silently tilted her head toward their sleeping mom. Georgie wheeled toward me, and I met her halfway. She raised her hand to shake, but I leaned down and kissed the back of it.
“Oh wow, totally worth the headache,” she gushed and then her hands flew to her mouth as she realized she’d said it loudly.
Eliot’s mom moaned sleepily and stretched. Her eyes fluttered open. The sight of a tall stranger in her house woke her the rest of the way. She sat up suddenly with a sharp breath.
“Mom, it’s fine,” Eliot spoke up quickly. “He’s with me.”
Georgie laughed. “You wish.”
“Nice, considering I just made a special trip to bring you aspirin. Here.” Eliot walked toward Georgie with the water and aspirin.
“Didn’t expect a visitor,” their mom said as she smoothed her hair back with her hands.
“Mom, Georgie, this is Rafe. And neither of you can mention this visit to anyone. Ever.” She looked at Georgie who twisted an invisible key in front of her lips.
“No, of course not. You can trust us, Eliot.” Her mom stood. “Oh my, you are tall and”—she held her hands out in measurement—“Broad. I’ll bet your mom had a hard time keeping you fed.”
I smiled. “By the time I was fifteen, she had to double all her recipes.”
Georgie rolled more into the light to get a better look at Rafe. “You are even better in person, if that is possible. Which, clearly, it is.”
“Thanks, you are too, Georgie.”
Georgie looked at her sister. “Oh my gosh, I’m never going to sleep tonight.” She pointed up at me. “This vision is going to be etched into my eyelids, and I’m just going to smile and sigh for the rest of the night. And at the risk of sounding cliché—” She lifted her hand. “Soap and water will never again touch this hand.”
“Remind me not to let you make me a sandwich,” Eliot quipped. “Well, guys, I’ve got to get Rafe back to the bachelor house. And then I need to get to bed because I’m starting to see double.” She walked over to kiss and hug her sister and followed it with a kiss for her mom. “Mom, I’ve got enough saved for the tires, and I made an appointment for you at Triple G tires on Monday. Call the Auto Club tomorrow so they can put the spare on the car. It’ll at least get you to the tire shop.” Eliot motioned toward the door and we headed out.
“Bye, Rafe,” Georgie called sweetly as we walked out.
We walked across the dried grass to the driveway. “I like your sister. She’s a lot like you. She speaks her mind, and it’s a good mind to speak.”
Eliot stopped when we got to the car. “You must be getting sleepy.”
“Nope. I know exactly what I meant. There are some people who like to say what’s on their mind, and they shouldn’t because their mind just isn’t that interesting. But Georgie is smart . . . like her sister.”
Eliot looked down at the keys in her hand. “Interested in driving?”
I held out my hand. “Sure thing.” I attempted to climb into the driver’s seat but I couldn’t fit my legs inside. It took a lot of coaxing to get the seat to slide back. Eliot watched as I adjusted everything to my size. “I hope the seat moves forward again.”
“It should. It was probably just rusted into the position I had it in for my short legs.”
I put the key in the ignition and made a point of looking at her legs. “They aren’t short, trust me. And I’m a particularly good judge of legs because I look at them . . . a lot. I’m a leg man. And a lip man. And I’m pretty partial to a nice pair of—”
“All right, got the list, big guy. Let’s get a move on.”
The engine turned over after three tries. I patted the dash gently as a thank you.
We drove in silence for a few minutes. I hesitated to ask my next question, but I found that I was always curious when it came to Eliot. “That big mistake you said you were trying to erase—does it have something to do with Georgie? Was it an accident?”
Eliot’s thin shoulders lifted and fell with a deep breath. “Sometimes it’s like you can see right through my mind to everything I think and feel.”
I looked over at her. “I feel the same way.” I turned my attention back to the empty, dark road.
“Georgie had earned a full soccer scholarship to a college back east. Like me, she wants to go into medical research. We decided to make a road trip of it, a last week together before we were both too busy with work and studies to see each other. We packed up the car and headed out.” A faint sparkle lit up her eyes as she stared out the window, seemingly thinking about the time they’d had together on the trip. “We stopped at all the corny sites along the way, world’s biggest cow horns, a museum of mummified forest creatures, the world’s hottest chili. By the way, that was not false advertising. It was like eating lava.” I could tell by her expression that she was getting to the hard part of the story. “It was late one night and we were looking for the next motel. It was raining pretty hard. Georgie had unfastened her seat belt to lie down in the back seat and sleep. I was tired but not as tired as the truck driver who veered into us from the opposite lane. I swerved and lost control. We flipped twice and landed upside down.” Eliot scooted down in her seat and crossed her arms as if to shield herself from the pain. “Somehow, I managed to escape with just cuts and bruises, but Georgie couldn’t feel her legs. I still remember her telling me that she couldn’t move her feet. And I thought, well that was just temporary because she was an amazing soccer player. She was born to kick that damn soccer ball down the field. She lost the scholarship, of course. It took her a year of rehabilitation and coming to grips with her life in a wheelchair, but she is doing a lot better now. She is going to a local state college. She gets some financial aid, but I’m paying the rest.”
The car chugged onto the freeway. The early morning truckers were out starting their routes. “So, it wasn’t your mistake at all. It was a sleepy truck driver who caused the injury.”
She looked out the passenger window. “I was driving. I lost control of the car. New topic.” Eliot looked over at me. “Who are the final four, or should I guess?”
“Four what?” It took me a second to figure out what she meant, which said a lot about the way I was feeling about the show. “You know what, not in the mood to even talk about it. There is some viewing party at the main house tomorrow night and then, get this, the women are all being taken out for a day at the spa on Sunday. I’m invited.”
“Oh yes, spa day. It’s actually really nice, and you might get to know some of the women without being in front of the camera. You’re going, aren’t you?”
“Spa day? Do I look like a spa day kind of guy? I’d rather get naked, roll myself in honey and lay across a hill of red ants.”
She laughed. “So that’s a no?”
“That’s a hell no. Anyhow, I’ve got plans. Unless you’re working on Sunday afternoon.”
“Me? What do your plans have to do with me?”
The car shuffled along the off-ramp. We were nearing the neighborhood that led up to the hills above the studio. “I was hoping you’d come hang out. I’ll make you deep fried s’mores, a specialty of mine. You just have to bring the ingredients since I’m not allowed to leave the place.”
“Declared the man driving casually along the road several miles from his tower.”
I smiled over at her. “Is that a yes?”
“I do like s’mores. And I do like things that are deep fried, so it does sound like a winning combination either way I look at it.”
“Awesome. Something to look forward to. I’ll put off counting floorboards for another day.” We drove along the winding road that led to the back of the property.
Eliot covered her mouth as she let out a long yawn. “Excuse me.”
“Hey, it’s almost four in the morning. You don’t need an excuse to yawn. I’m going to stop here and hike in the rest of the way. I don’t want the cameras to pick up the sound of the motor.” I parked her car, and we climbed out.
Eliot came around to the driver’s side with blue eyes that were glassy with sleep.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come in? You could sleep on the couch.??
? Even as I said the words all I could think about was her lying next to me in bed.
She looked slightly shocked by my invitation.
“I guess that’s a no.” It had been a long night, a long week, for that matter, and my head was just clouded enough to push aside that inner voice that was always trying to keep me out of trouble. As Eliot peered up at me with her aqua colored eyes and that tilted smile, my feet moved before any rational thoughts could stop them.
Eliot stood with her back against the side of the car as I stepped toward her. I at least had enough self-control not to touch her. I placed my hands against the car, one on each side, trapping her in my circle of arms.
“Pretty damn funny that I’m here to spend time with and pick the love of my life from that house on the hill, and the only person I’m really interested in spending time with is the girl they put in charge of my groceries and dry cleaning.”
“And ties,” she said with a hitch in her throat. “Don’t forget I make a pretty necktie.”
I smiled down at her. “Eliot.” Before I could stop myself I pressed my hand against the side of her face. Her breasts lifted and fell with a stuttering breath.
I leaned toward her as she lifted her face and lips. My mouth barely grazed hers before she stopped me with her hands against my chest. “I need to go, Rafe.”
I straightened and worked hard to hide my disappointment. “Right.” I lowered my hands and backed up. “You need your sleep. Thanks for getting me back here before sunrise. Are we still on for Sunday?”
I was relieved to see her smile. “Sure.”
Chapter 24
Eliot
I dug in my purse for my parking pass. The Sunday guard was a new guy, which was perfect. I wasn’t in the mood to explain to anyone why I was driving up to the studio on the weekend. I wasn’t completely sure myself except when Rafe had invited me, all I could think was that I wanted to spend time with him. For the last two years, my life had been nothing but work and school and more work, and the thought of sitting around with an amazing man who was as charming as he was sexy just seemed like a good break from the usual monotony. Only, halfway to the studio, I’d begun asking myself why the hell I thought this was a good idea. Especially after the near kiss, a kiss I’d wanted badly. And I’d almost allowed it. But then it occurred to me that I was only going to end up on the wrong side of a major heartbreak. I couldn’t allow that. I just had way too much on my plate. I didn’t have time to pick up all the shattered pieces that would no doubt be left behind once Rafe rode off into the sunset with his new fiancé.