Just Breathe (11 page)

For now, I work on a new day planner cover for Nick. His is taking more time to make because I’m creating a story on the cover, one line at a time. It’s about a man and his cat and their many adventures. I’m putting it on both covers, inside and out. Sort of quirky, definitely labour intensive finding the phrases in the books, but it’s been coming together well enough for me not to quit out of frustration.

Work was fine until about six o’clock when an amateur singing group came in to practice their concert. They weren’t too bad, but there was one woman whose voice was just terrible. Chilly spikes of torment stabbed their way up and down my spine with every note that left her mouth. Of course she sang louder than the rest, or maybe it was just her atonal voice making her sound louder than she really was. Either way, it was torturous, and I was happy when they finished.

I’ve also had one of their song selections stuck in my head: a round version of Skip To My Lou. I’ve been listening to safe music for three hours now, and that damned song is still in my head. Not bad, just as catchy as a Ganges parasite.

Jan and Mary-Margaret finally quit grilling me about my date with Dominic, but the teasing will continue for some time, I’m sure, especially since they know we’re going out again. Mostly because I get all shy and blush every shade of red when they bring him up, but I can’t help it. I can’t believe he arranged something so cool just for me. The urge to call Marie to gush about Dominic, and bitch about Jason is so strong, but she’s better off moving without knowing my drama. She’s got a lot of organizing before the move.

Pasting another line onto the cover, I throw a glance at my alarm clock. Eleven thirty-seven. I should get to bed soon, but a drink would be nice.

A glass of wine...though maybe a cup of tea would be better for me. While the kettle boils, I stretch the tension out of my shoulders. Nick and Kennedy’s laughter floats in from the living room, so I decide to enjoy my tea with them. Kennedy is rolling a joint, and regret that I can’t join them temporarily rises up, but passes just as quickly.

Nick throws in one of my mix CD’s while Kennedy lights up the joint. It’s nice to be able to hang out. It’s been a crazy week for both of them and we haven’t seen each other much.

“So.” Nick turns back from the stereo. “I hear you went out on a date?”

“I did.” A small, happy sigh escapes my lungs.

“How did it go?” Kennedy passes the joint to Nick before turning to me.

“It went really well. He took me out to dinner, then to a club.”

Nick’s eyes bug out. “A club? What a dumbass! Doesn’t he know about your—”

“Yes, he knew,” I interrupt. “A little blonde birdie told him.”

Nick follows my eyes to Kennedy. “You? That’s unlike you.”

“What can I say?” She exhales a large cloud of smoke. “He won me over.”

“How though?” Nick looks at me again.

“The club? He called in a favour with his DJ friend. Kennedy had given him a list of Elle-friendly songs. I got an hour of safe music and dancing.”

“Aww, Elle.”

“I know. It made me feel normal.” Gratitude softens my voice.

“Makes me wonder what his agenda is.”

“Nick!” Kennedy exclaims. “His agenda is that he wants to show Elle a good time.”

“I bet he does,” he smirks.

“Even if that’s all he’s looking for, Elle’s smart as hell, and wouldn’t let any guy fuck her around.” Kennedy sounds so sure of my judgment. I wonder if she’d feel the same if she knew everything about the Jason situation.

Somehow I doubt it.

“So are you seeing him again?” Nick passes me the joint. I pass it to Kennedy without taking any, wondering how long it will take for them to break the habit of passing it to me.

“He’s taking me out Saturday morning.”

“A day date? Looks like he’s putting you in the Friend Zone.”

He’s teasing, but I can’t help but close my eyes and remember Dominic’s lips, his body pressed up against mine. “If that’s his Friend Zone, then—”

“Don’t finish that sentence!”

“Jealous?” I tease.

“Grossed out. You’re like my sister. Anyways, I’ve had my eye on someone for quite some time.”

Kennedy and I share a look of surprise. Nick doesn’t really date much, so this is news.

“Looks like it’s just you then, Ken. We’ll have to get you hooked up with someone too.” I say.

“Oh, I do fine on my own.”

“We’ve noticed.” Nick mashes his lips together.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Steel enters Kennedy’s tone.

“It means you two both need to smoke more weed and relax!” These two are a bit high strung lately, and I’m not sure when it started, but I don’t like it. “Help me speculate. Dominic asked me out with him on Saturday. We’re leaving early in the morning—”

“Ew.” Kennedy makes a face.

“—and he told me to wear something I don’t mind getting dirty. And he won’t tell me where we’re going.”

Nick snaps his fingers. “Mud wrestling.”

“Hiking?” Kennedy offers.

“I hope no to both of those. I just have no idea what he’s got in mind.”

“It’s adorable that he’s going to all this trouble,” Kennedy smiles. “It’s certainly more than Jason ever did. The dick.”

My head snaps up in surprise. “I thought you liked Jason.”

“I didn’t dislike him. But I thought his attitude toward the relationship was... lazy. You guys mostly just hung out at his place. He didn’t go out of his way to do anything special for you like Dominic already has.”

“Honeymoon period,” Nick declares. “I’m sure that will end eventually.”

“And I don’t think so. Elle’s worth the effort.”

“Yes she is. But as the only dude present, I feel better qualified to answer.”

“Yeah, like you’ve ever gone to any effort for a woman before.” She rolls her eyes.

“Maybe I would if the right woman came along.”

“You guys!” My back muscles ripple with the tension in their voices.

“Sorry,” Kennedy says. Nick nods.

“I’m beat, anyways. Goodnight.” I stand and walk back to my room. What the hell is up with people? When my brother and I used to get snippy with each other, my grandma would say, “Must be going to storm!”

Undressing, I slide into bed and turn off my lamp. Picturing Dominic’s face unleashes a small storm of a different kind; butterflies flapping their fragile wings around inside my stomach. I can’t wait to see him again.

Chapter Eleven

Saturday morning and there are no signs of life in the house other than me. Not even the smell of fresh coffee drew Nick and Kennedy from their beds. It must have been a late night on the town as I didn’t even hear them come in last night. It’s just as well I hadn’t tagged along; I’d have been the walking dead this morning otherwise.

Dominic told me to wear clothes that can get dirty. Are we going hiking? It’s safe to assume we’re doing something outdoorsy, but I’m really hoping it’s not paintball. Marie dragged me to a paintball place once thinking it would be a fabulous way to meet hot, rugged guys. Shooting the guns was fun—being hit by the paintballs wasn’t. They didn’t tell you that in the brochure. There were pretty multi-coloured welts and bruises all over my body for weeks. Fingers crossed that’s not today’s activity.

Sticking to a pair of older jeans, and sweater over a t-shirt, I’ve tied on some comfy hiking boots too just in case. He really should have given me more clues. It’s so frustrating trying to look hot without bringing any of my “A” game wardrobe pieces into play.

His car pulls up at seven fifty-five, and I leave the house as quietly as possible, locking the door behind me. By the time I get to the car, Dominic is there waiting for me with the passenger door open.

“I hope I’m appropriately dressed.”

“You look perfect.” He checks out my footwear as I slide into my seat.

“Where are we going?” He just shuts the door.

His cheeks have barely touched his seat when I exclaim, “You sadistic bastard! You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

“Nope. You did so well with the last surprise I thought we’d try it again.”

“Like exposure therapy?”

“I guess, but I hope it’s more fun than that.”

“Me too,” I deadpan, pulling a CD from my purse. I don’t mind riding in silence, but I prefer something to cancel out any outside noises and help me relax. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all.”

Meiko fills the air, perfect music for an early morning drive. Surreptitiously watching Dominic, I notice how he seems to listen with his entire body. Even though he’s driving, I can tell that the stereo has his focus.

I wonder if he applies that same focus to everything he does. My gaze crawls lazily from his lips, all the way down his torso, and long legs, and back up. The memory of last week’s kiss tears through me with the intensity of a lightning strike, leaving me warm all over.

Oh yeah. I know one thing he applies that focus to.

The urge to climb over to his side of the car and crawl into his lap is lessened when I realise we’re stopped at a red light. I’ve been staring at his mouth too intently to notice that he’s looking at me too. Hungrily. Up close in the morning light, I fully appreciate how perfectly his black lashes frame his light eyes.

There’s not enough oxygen and too much space between us. Breathing quicker, we lean in, straining against the seatbelts holding us apart. His warm breath smells deliciously of mint and chocolate, and I want to taste it on my tongue. He reaches for me, soft hand brushing my face, sliding to the back of my neck, urging me forward with gentle, firm,
delicious
pressure.

We jerk apart—the blare of a car horn behind us rips the moment in half, reminding us that we’re parked at a now green light.

You hear the term road-rage bandied about, not thinking it’s actually a thing, but if I had a baseball bat right now, that asshole behind us would have a broken windshield at the very least. The horn’s discordant tone has crawled into my neck, leaving me annoyed and feeling unsexy. I’ve never felt this kind of
want
for someone before.

Dominic guides us forward through the light, lightly chuckling.

“What?”

“It was really for the best; we’re on the road. But I could have killed him for honking right then.”

I grin, pleased he feels the same way. Though I’m not used to being with someone so direct, I like it. It’s like the usual game playing is out the window, and we can just relax and be honest with each other.

“Worst timing ever,” I agree. “So where are we going?”

“Nice try.”

Damn.
Most
of the game playing is out the window.

***

There is a Siberian tiger cub curled up in my lap. She’s suckling and biting at the bottle of milk Dominic holds for her, making soft growling noises as he strokes underneath her chin.

“Tigers don’t purr,” Julia the Zookeeper explains. “We call that little growling sound, ‘chuffing.’ It’s how they say hello.”

I love the cub, and I want one, and wow is this date ever making me feel like a girly-girl! The kiss that never happened occupied my thoughts the whole drive here—to the Zoo. I thought we were just going to go to the zoo, which still would have been cool, but Dominic had something even better planned: The Zookeeper for a day program.

So far, we’ve played with fawns and watched a cheetah have blood work taken. Cleaning the zebra enclosure was less fun, but not as bad as I’d thought it would be—mucking it out with pitchforks and shovels, and replacing their old straw with sweet-smelling fresh, felt like we were really doing something good for the animals. Bathing the elephant was amazing too. I’d thought they were smooth, but they’ve got bristles that feel like wire around their eyes, ears, and mouth, and some sparse hair on their trunks and legs.

My shoulders might hurt tomorrow; the elephant was tall, and we scrubbed at him with brushes, much like you’d clean the roof of a truck, but it was cool. After that, we prepped lunch for the animals, though mostly cut bamboo for the pandas. They have to eat so much of it that preparing their food is pretty much a full time job by itself.

And now there’s a tiger cub on my lap, and though neither of us is capable of purring, I would if I could. This is the most fun I’ve had since... well. Our last date. Dominic’s been attentive, but also completely throwing himself into the experience. A lot of guys would be acting too cool to enjoy themselves, but he’s making it even more fun by being playful and eager to soak up the experience. The animals have all reacted really well to him, which I take as a good sign. One of the fawns jumped in his lap as soon as he sat down and wouldn’t move.

I know how she felt.

This is something I always thought would be cool to do, but never told anyone, or got around to doing. Also, it’s not cheap. Four hundred dollars per person, which makes me hope he’s called in another favour, because I can’t imagine someone spending that much money for a date with me. Judging by his car, and clothes, and everything I’ve seen, he can probably afford it, but still. I’m just going to not focus on the financial aspect of it.

What do you do for a living, Dominic?

The tiger cub drops the bottle and begins gently biting Dominic’s hand. Her lunch is over, which means it’s time for ours.

We’ve been behind the scenes for hours, so our lunch is a late one, closer to two than noon. It’s a beautiful day, so we take our lunch outside to sit at one of the picnic tables. There’s an amazing view of the gardens, and birds walk around nearby, so we sit on the same side of the bench and enjoy the scenery together.

“What was your favourite part of today?”

“Hmm.” I dunk a fry in ketchup and bite into it, thinking while I chew. “I mean, the whole experience has been so amazing. But the tiger cub. Just holding something that will one day turn into an insanely powerful animal? So cool. What about you?”

“It’s going to sound weird, but mucking out the zebra stalls. Doing something useful for them was incredible. And I liked how they came running in, pawing and sniffing at the new straw.”