None of the characters belong to me; the great JE gets all the credit.
Jenn (perfectmanhattan) – you've done it again. Thanks for your Beta skills and your friendship. This story has been so much more fun because of you.
Chapter 10 – Challenges Met and Passions Unleashed
I woke up disoriented but cozy. I was laying on a comfortable surface but felt something hard along my back. I remembered Cal bringing me downstairs and to his apartment. I cried on his shoulder until I fell asleep which brings me to where I am now.
Opening my eyes I didn't recognize the bedroom but I wasn't at all afraid. I rolled over slowly and saw Cal lying next to me. "Good morning Angel," he whispered.
"I'm sorry about yesterday." I confessed embarrassed about my melt down and then falling sleep while he comforted me.
"So am I Stephanie," He replied.
"Why are you sorry?" I wondered, pushing the hair away from my face worried that he regretted bringing me to his apartment when I said I wanted to go home.
"I'm sorry that your family doesn't realize how special you are and support you like you deserve." He explained.
"But you do?" I asked, already knowing the answer was yes.
"I realize how special you are," He said gently pushing the hair away again that had fallen back across my face. "And I try to support you but I don't know if I do it well enough."
I stroked his cheek with my fingertips. "I think you do it perfectly."
Cal's hand was resting on my waist keeping us close together. It felt safe and comfortable cuddled up with him in bed. I wanted to ask what was going on between us, but didn't have enough courage for that conversation. I definitely had feelings for him, but I couldn't put a name to them yet.
Seeing a change in me as my mind dwelt on the unspoken question, Cal interrupted, "Tank called an hour ago and wanted you to see him whenever you're up to it."
That was exactly what I needed, a distraction to get my mind off how I felt about Cal.
I moved to sit up and Cal's hand fell away. "Thank you," I said before I stood up.
"I'd like to say you're welcome and that I kept you with me last night solely to take care you, but honestly I wanted you here too." He confessed getting up himself.
Not knowing how to respond to that I just smiled and made my exit quickly to my own apartment to get ready for the day.
Upstairs Tank was glad to see me. "You're timing is perfect, Little Girl." He announced when I walked in his office.
"Why is that?" I was curious.
"Smith and Son's is going to call me in an hour to see about implementing our plan tomorrow and I needed to talk to you first." He explained.
"Okay, lay it on me." I braced myself for what he had to say.
"They would like you to go in tomorrow and pose as a temporary employee reporting to Mr. Smith who is working in the same general area as the women who hid the check. The plan is for you to discover the check they hid and ask them about it to see if they tell you anything. Hopefully, you will be able to get them to open up a little about what they were doing to see if anyone else was involved or if it was just them." He said. "Are you still up for this?"
Honestly, I wasn't so sure, but I realized something this morning waking up with Cal. I wanted my life back. It might be screwed up and unconventional, but it was mine and I felt like people who didn't love me had controlled it for too long. Taking this job was a first step in doing what I wanted.
"Yea, I'm up for it. What time do I need to be there?" I asked.
"9:00," Tank said with a laugh.
"What's so funny?" I wondered.
"Six months ago I would have negotiated for a later start time, but now that you seem to be hooked into an early morning work out I would have been okay if he had said 8:00. Things certainly do change," He chuckled on the last few words.
I should have been offended, but everything he said was true. "I'll be there on time." Then I had another thought about the job. "Tank, will I be safe there? I haven't heard anything about Joe since Hanson went to press charges."
Tank's mannerisms changed in an instant. He was no longer being playful and his face showed how seriously he took this discussion. "Hanson filed his motion and Eddie and Big Dog picked Joe up that night while he was passed out on his couch. Apparently, while he's been in lock up he's dried out and he's having a rough time. He seems to go back and forth between begging the guys to give him a chance to talk to you and apologize and asking them for a little drink, just to calm his nerves."
I nodded that I understood. If Joe was in jail he couldn't interrupt me at Smith and Sons so I could concentrate on my job and not have to worry about my safety.
I spent the rest of the day reviewing the file I had on the client and running some searches. I picked up a chicken salad sandwich and headed to the roof for my dinner and watched as the sun went down. It was a beautiful sight setting in the smog of the city. The orange and pink was masterfully blended as the darkness began to descend.
When we were little, Val used to hate the sunset as it was the closing of another of her perfect days. I always loved it because I knew any trouble I had gotten into that day was now officially over and tomorrow was a new day with a clean slate to start over. I hadn't thought of that in a while, but smiled to myself. Tomorrow was my clean slate and I was ready to start over.
I had pulled out a suit from my lingerie buying days and was pleased that I could keep the skirt up by tightening it with a safety pen. The jacket that went over the camisole shirt covered my waist well enough that I didn't think anyone would notice my modifications. I remembered why I hated office jobs as soon as I looked at the panty hose in my drawer. I finally decided I couldn't do it and just slipped my feet into a pair of four inch heels and strutted down to go to work. I was at Smith and Sons at ten 'til nine and walked into the reception office.
An older woman with a kind face greeted me and took me back to Mr. Smith's office. He reviewed everything Tank had told me and said the purpose he had decided to tell the office staff for my presence is that the filing cabinets needed to be cleaned out and so he had brought in a temp to do that. I nodded that I understood the work I would need to do to maintain my cover and went out to be introduced to the girls in the office.
The large room was divided into work stations with mid wall dividers, leaving most of the space open. Everyone greeted me in a very friendly way, but when Mr. Smith pointed to the cabinets where they had hidden the check and announced what I would be doing, their facial expressions changed quickly to panic.
Mr. Smith left me to my work and I was immediately approached by the two women. This job might be easier than I thought. "Stephanie," the middle aged woman named Cynthia started. "How about you start with the bottom drawer and I'll help you with the top one."
Ah, so she knew there was something in there that needed to be hidden. I smiled and thanked her for her offer, but said Mr. Smith had specifically instructed me to start at the top and with that I opened the first drawer and pulled out a handful of files to go through. I was careful to be sure I pulled out the file with the check in it.
Cynthia shot a look to the other woman named Betty and they both came over to my temporary work station to talk to me.
I was careful to open the check as soon as they stopped at my side.
"What's this?" I asked innocently. "Shouldn't this check be in the bank and not in the cabinet? It's dated over a month ago."
Apparently the girls bought my shocked routine as they attempted a little silent communication.
Betty suggested I give the money to her and she would see it was taken care of. I could tell they were nervous about me saying something about what I found so I decided to try and push them a little.
"Maybe I should take this to Mr. Smith. He told me to bring anything in the folders that didn't belong directly to him. He was concerned about some papers and things that have gone missing lately. Maybe this is what he meant." I stood up with the check in my hand to make my point.
Cynthia spoke out quickly, "No, wait."
I turned around and looked at her expectantly. "Honey, are you married?" Betty asked.
"No," I said with my confusion evident in my voice.
"Mr. Smith is," Began Cynthia, "to one of our dearest friends."
"I don't understand what this has to do with a misplaced check," I answered her.
Betty picked up the story, "Look hon, back when we were in school our friend Sal dated Mr. Smith. They got married right after we all graduated and as far as we could tell, they were the perfect couple. She worked here with us in the office and they seemed really happy."
"But about two years ago Sal got sick and the doctors diagnosed her with breast cancer. She was told that her best chance at beating this was to have a double mastectomy. She had the operation and the following treatments to rid the rest of the cancer deeply affected her. She lost her hair, lost a ton of weight, and she was too weak to come into the office anymore. Once she was in remission she was told that she could return to her regular lifestyle, but because she looked different she wouldn't come into the office anymore. In fact, she hardly ever leaves the house now." Cynthia explained.
By this point I had completely forgotten the check I was holding as I was engrossed in their story.
"Mr. Smith stayed by Sal, but over the last year he seemed really interested in the owner of a company we do business with. They've had late night business meetings, and he's made more sales calls to her office than any client ever before." Betty continued.
"We know Mr. Smith loves Sal, but he seems to be forgetting that even though she isn't herself anymore, she is still his wife so we needed to help him remember." Cynthia said.
I realized they had come back to why there was a check in the folder, and told them, "I'm sorry, I still don't understand."
Cynthia finished, "That check is from the company that Mr. Smith took such an interest in. We think either he was having an affair or was about to and we needed to stop it, so we created a little business problem to give him an excuse to stop using her company, and consequently, stop seeing her."
"If she wasn't paying for what we shipped to her, then he couldn't continue selling to her. And if he wasn't selling to her, then he had no reason to see her, which means he could go back home to Sal at a decent hour. It may sound horrible, and I know it cost him a lot of money, but we weren't stealing his money, we just filed it away so that he wouldn't make a terrible mistake. If Sal ever found out he cheated on her it would kill her, and even if he wouldn't admit it, he still loves her and the thought of hurting her would be a tough pill for him to swallow." Betty explained.
So they weren't stealing, they were just trying to make Mr. Smith lose the client they thought he was having an affair with in order to protect his wife who was so ashamed of her appearance, she no longer wished to leave the house. Oh boy, what was I supposed to tell the client about this?
I gave Cynthia the checks I found each time I came across one. There appeared to be six in all by the time I finished the work day. Before I left, I checked in with Mr. Smith but he was not in his office. Truthfully I was relieved as I had no idea what I was going to tell him. I needed to get back to RangeMan and figure out how to explain this. I needed someone to bounce this off. I smiled as I got in the car and drove home knowing exactly who I needed to see.
Back at Haywood, I went straight up to four and knocked on Cal's door. He opened his door with a bowl of something in his hand and a big smile on his face. "You're just in time," He said opening the door wider to let me in.
"In time for what?" I asked.
"Beef Stew," He said while walking to the kitchen and ladling me a bowl of the comforting meal.
I saw he was going to the den to sit instead of heading to the table. "What, no formal dinning this evening?" I teased.
He picked up the remote and turned down the volume, "Nope, dinner and a show," He said with a smile drawing my attention to the Red Sox game on the television.
"Ah, I'm competing with a baseball game," I said jokingly.
Cal then did the unexpected when he picked up the remote and turned the television completely off. "There is no competition, you'd win every time." He said in all seriousness.
Wow. No one had ever turned off a game for me. Morelli and I would occasionally talk through one, or argue with it going in the background, but he would never turn it off just because I wanted to talk.
"How was the case?" He asked as though he knew what I wanted to talk about.
I kicked off my heals, which were beginning to irritate my feet and stretched my legs onto his coffee table.
I told him about my day and Cynthia and Betty's confession. When I was finished Cal seemed as much at a loss as I was.
"I know what they did was wrong, but there is a piece of me that admires how they did it to take care of their friend," I confessed.
"I see your point, but we do have an obligation to our client to fully disclose what you've found." He reminded me. "Tell him all of it; from the suspected affair to why the women wanted him to stop working with that particular business. He has his checks so he hasn't actually lost any money. He could see this as a wake up call to go back to his wife, but we need to let him make that decision." Cal weighed in. As much as I wanted to protect Cynthia and Betty, I had to agree with him.
"I'll go back tomorrow and meet with Mr. Smith to explain it all and see what he wants to do. Maybe he'll allow me to express an opinion about what his next step should be," I said wistfully.
"I'd love to be there for that," Cal said with a smile.
"I'll tell you how it goes," I promised wondering how that conversation would flow myself.
"How about over dinner?" Cal suggested.
I looked down at my nearly untouched stew and took a bite before agreeing, "That sounds great."
"At Pino's" Cal added.
Gulp. I loved the idea of eating with Cal, but I hadn't been out to eat since before my first run in with Morelli. Pino's would be full of cops and friends of Joe's and I wasn't sure I wanted to have that much attention so soon after his arrest. I must have paused long enough, because Cal knew that something was wrong.
"Would you rather eat somewhere else?" He asked.
"Yes," I blurted out as soon as he suggested changing locations.
"I thought you liked Pino's," He stated.
"I do, but it will be full of Joe's friends and I'm not sure I want to face that yet," I confessed.
"Shorty's then?" Cal suggested as a second option.
"Only if you'll let me eat pizza without suggesting anything healthy to go along with it." I happily countered.
"Deal," He answered pleased that I was agreeing to leave the building.
My mind suddenly changed gears and I asked the first thing that came into my mind, "How much did it hurt to get your tattoo?"
"Why do you ask?" He asked trying to answer my question with one of his own. "Are you considering getting one of your own?" He added lightly.
I didn't respond right away which caused him to say excitedly, "You are, aren't you? Man, you would be sexy as hell with a tattoo."
My face colored instantly. How did I explain that I hadn't really thought it through, it just popped in my mind and I said it without editing first? I decided to try and downplay it. "I was just curious. I hadn't really thought it through."
He seemed slightly disappointed in my response, but answered me anyway, "In that case, yes, it hurt, but only a little. Of course, like I told you, I was slightly drunk at the time, so I may not be the best person to ask."
My lack of tolerance for alcohol was a well know fact around RangeMan so there was no point in denying that getting me tipsy enough to get a tattoo would be simple. While I was dwelling on that I suddenly remembered exactly what Cal had just admitted to.
"Why would a tattoo be sexy on me?" I asked trying to put him in the hot seat for once.
He smiled, apparently pleased with where the conversation had turned. "You are an amazing woman, you play by your own rules and seem confident in your own skin. That is already sexy so you don't need to do a thing to change it. But getting a permanent mark of your own choosing is a way of showing that confidence and allowing you to express how you feel about yourself. It's a matter of pride in who you are. And that on top of how you already carry yourself when you are out would be over the top amazing."
"I'm not saying it's something I'm going to do," I clarified. "I was just curious."
"If you decide you want to get one, I know a guy that would do a great job," Cal volunteered. "He did my last one."
"The navy emblem on your arm?" I asked, momentarily remembering how delicious it looked on his bicep when he was in the weight room.
"No." He said with a poor attempt to keep from smiling. "You haven't seen this one."
Suddenly it was my interest that was piqued. "Where is it?" I asked sitting my half eaten bowl of stew down and tucking my legs under me."
"You eat that dinner and I'll show you," He bargained.
I looked back and forth between the food and Cal before picking up the bowl and trying to finish the meal quickly.
Clearly enjoying his new found bargaining chip, he watched me shovel my way through the remaining bites. When it was finished I stood to take my empty bowl to the sink and grab a bottle of water to wash it down. My curiosity was in over-drive and I wasn't going to let him forget his end of the deal.
When I sat back down beside him I looked at Cal expectantly. "Come on, a deal is a deal." I prompted. I was at a loss about what this tattoo could be. I had seen him making cinnamon rolls with his shirt completely off and didn't remember any art on him other than the two I had already observed.
My enthusiasm made him laugh lightly, a sound I had grown to love. In the three years I had known him before Morelli attacked me I rarely heard him laugh, but in the month since my world was turned upside down I had grown accustomed it.
Finally he sighed and said, "You aren't going to give this up are you?"
"No way," I quickly spit out. "I finished dinner, now pay up."
He grabbed his shirt from the back and pulled it over his head, discarding it on the back of the sofa. I had seen Cal shirtless before, but seeing it again made my mouth suddenly open with my tongue held slightly between my teeth. It was as if my mouth knew I couldn't release my tongue or I would be tempted to run it all over Cal's sculpted chest.
Seeing my expression made him smile again as he stood up and unbuttoned his cargos.
"What are you doing?" I asked with a hint of panic in my voice. As much as I wanted his pants off, I thought we were going to look at a tattoo.
"I'm fulfilling my end of the bargain," He said enjoying my unease.
"Where is this tattoo?" I wondered.
"Does it matter?" He teased back.
Trying to portray more confidence than I really felt I shook my head no.
He moved closer and ever so slightly lowered the waist of his pants. Just below the top of his cargos was a set of angel wings just below his left hip. They were small, only four inches across and only an inch and half high, but the detail on them was fabulous. You could almost see the individual feathers. I had no idea they could do that kind of shading. Involuntarily my hand reached out and softly ran over the top. I almost expected the skin to feel different, but it was warm and smooth like the areas around the wings.
"Thanks," I said softly.
"For what?" He asked pulling the waist of his pants closed and blocking my view once again.
"For showing it to me." I answered.
"A promise is a promise," He responded.
"Why did you get that tattoo?" I asked.
"I did it about four months ago," He began. "I knew someone who I admired very much and they had gone through a difficult time, but they made a great decision and stood up for themselves even though it brought them a lot of grief from their friends and family. I saw this picture of the wings and it made me thing of my friend so I got it in honor of how much I admired them." He answered cryptically.
"Can I ask you something else?" I pressed leaning closer to where he had relaxed on the couch.
"Anything, you know that." He said.
"Who was it?" I wondered, but somehow felt that I knew the answer to my own question. I suddenly felt butterflies in my stomach and couldn't wait for his response.
"I think you know who it is," He replied leaning towards me in response.
"Do I?" My voice dropped in volume.
"They are angel wings," He reminded me. "There is only person that I give that title to."
"What decision did I make that you through was great?" I couldn't help but ask scooting even closer so that our knees were touching.
"You dumped Morelli and started working here a few days a week doing searches. I know your family hated that decision, but you did what was right for you. I didn't think I could tell you how proud I was of you at the time, so I did this instead. I wanted to mark how I felt about your strength and this was my way of doing that." He said extending his arm so that his hand was nestled in my hair.
Cal's eyes cut down to my hand briefly before they met my eyes. "I know we were all proud of you, but I decided when I heard what you had done that I needed to get to know you better. You had always fascinated me, but I could no longer deny how much I wanted you to be in my life. Since that day I've tried hard to get to know you and to let you know me." His free hand lifted up to stroke my cheek with his thumb. "I had no idea how quickly you would become my world," He admitted beginning to stare at my lips.
At that moment, my world began to spin. I'm sure for everyone else, life went on as normal. I imagine guys were joking in the break room and working on case files at their desks, but at this moment in Cal's apartment everything else ceased to exist in my mind. My eyes fell to his full lips and I couldn't tear my gaze from him. My heart was beating faster, but it was not out of nervousness, it was from pure desire. I had to be closer.
Slowly I moved my upper body forward pulling my left hand up to put on his neck behind his head. Cal began to mirror my movements with his own until we were sharing the same air for each breath. With our lips nearly close enough to touch, I softly whispered, "Thank you."
"For what." he said tilting his head slightly.
"For believing in me, for thinking my choices were the right ones, and for not giving up on me when I was giving up on myself. But most importantly, thank you for being you. I don't think I've ever met anyone as amazing as you." I said quietly, thankful he was close enough to hear me.
We staying locked in our positions, both afraid to move for fear of breaking the spell of the moment. I was drawn to him and didn't know if he felt the same way, but there was chemistry between us that I hadn't experienced before. This went beyond mere attraction. I was connected to Cal because of how freely he shared himself with me. Something inside me wanted to deepen that connection.
Thinking of it that way I found the courage I needed to close the short distance between us and I pressed my lips softly against his. Once our mouths met any hope I had of keeping the connection soft and tender disappeared. I couldn't get close enough to him.
There was a fire and a passion contained in that first kiss that I didn't expect. I knew I was developing feelings for Cal, but I had no idea what they were. As soon as our lips touched I had the name for how I felt. I loved him. In fact, I had fallen in love with Cal.
I moved both my arms to lock over his shoulders raising my body up so that it was pressing against his. He moved his leg so that we were even closer.
My eyes were closed, yet the loss of one sense only overloaded the others. I felt the hard muscles of his shoulders move as he rubbed his arms up my back pulling me closer still. I smelled the light smell of polo which he always carried but never seemed strong enough to have been just put on. I felt my breathing increase and I fought between my urge for more of Cal and the need for air at the same time. But most importantly I heard a sound come from my throat, which had not escaped from me for some time. Just as my tongue met his and was given entrance into his mouth I moaned a long, deep, lustful sound. The sound was not lost on Cal who had been watching me at every meal hoping for just such a sound.
I felt him still completely as the sound left my throat and I feared briefly that he would stop kissing me. Fortunately hearing how affected I was he growled out, "Oh God, Steph," and put even more of himself into our kiss.
We necked like a couple of teenagers trying to make the most out of Friday night before curfew. Any question I had about how Cal saw me was instantly answered too. There was no way he was putting this much desire into kissing me if he considered me a friend. In fact, from the fierceness with which his mouth devoured mine I would say he felt the same way I did.
I basked in his affection as he softened his mouth to tender slow sensual kisses. His hands moved and caressed me holding me occasionally to make me feel treasured and adored. As we gradually came to our senses and pulled our mouths away from each other I found we still maintained as much contact as possible.
"I've wanted to do that for the longest time," He confessed accenting his sincerity with another kiss.
"Why didn't you?" I wondered when I could speak again.
"I didn't know if you wanted me to, or if it would ruin what we had as friends," He explained causing me to trace his lips with my tongue dispelling any idea that we were only friends now.
"Would it make you feel better if I told you I'd wanted to do that too?" I asked him.
"Much," He said pushing my hair back and working his lips up to my ear. "Why didn't you do it sooner?"
"I was afraid you were just being nice to me out of sympathy or friendship." I had no ability to lie to him now; plus the fact that it took way too much effort to focus on putting words together into sentences. What his mouth was doing on my ear and neck was seriously short-circuiting my brain.
He chuckled and added, "It's good to know. I'd love to spend an evening seeing if I could so short circuit it that you would lose your vocabulary all together."
"I said that out loud?" I said as part moan when he softly sucked at my neck near my scar.
"Oh God, Steph, for weeks now I've waited to hear you moan thinking it would mean you were finding yourself again and now that you're doing it I can hardly control the effect it's having on me." He confessed.
"That's good to know, maybe I can work on short circuiting your brain too," I challenged.
With that he grabbed my upper thighs and pulled my legs up so that I was straddling him with my skirt bunched up at my waist.
"I want to take this nice and slow, but anytime you want to try short circuiting my brain I promise you I'm all yours." He said with his voice reaching a lower register of desire than I have never heard from a man.
Our teasing gradually subsided and we began to talk while he held me as close to him as I could be. I remember us discussing how we felt for each other and sighing when he said he was shocked at how strongly he felt for me and how each day it seemed to get stronger. I could feel my eyes betraying me as they got heavier and heavier and my last conscious thought was of Cal kissing my lips lightly and whispering, "Good night Angel. I love you tonight and always."