"So how bad was it after I passed out?" Tina asked after the boys had left to get cleaned up and showered.
Mercedes rolled her eyes. "Matt handled it rather well but the rest of them turned whiter than you did. You really gave everyone a bad scare there. Mike insisted on sleeping in your room just so he could make sure that you were still breathing come morning. Sam won't leave cause he was afraid and could only stand here looking like he would rather be eating dirt than be there." Mercedes took a sip of the wonderfully scented coffee and sighed. "Over all, it was what you could have expected. Anything else these boys can handle without blinking an eye but put a crying a woman in front of them and they call apart faster than you can sneeze."
Tina coughed into her hand. "Okay, so it was what we could have expected then."
"Pretty much. You scared me though," Mercedes looked at her with rather haunted eyes. "Don't ever go that to me without a warning again. When I can home and found the door locked and you on the other side of it, I thought my heart would jump out of my throat."
"I won't. I'm sorry." Tina sighed. "Just stressed."
"No...really?" Mercedes rolled her eyes. "Do you just want to chill out today? You know, with work tomorrow and all?"
Tina stretched and yawned. "Yes. That drained me."
"And the rest of us dear. And the rest of us." Mercedes gave her a tired smile. "And the rest of us."
"SHIT!" Mercedes came running down the stairs trying to grab her purse, shoes, briefcase, laptop, and canister of coffee that Tina had prepared for her all at once.
"Relax," Tina said as she helped Mercedes into her suit jacket. "You're not late yet."
"I might as well be." Mercedes groaned as she glanced at her watch. "How did I over sleep so late?"
"Well, if I do recall, a certain blonde male was here until 2 in the morning might have something to do with it." Tina pointed out unhelpfully.
"You're not helping!"
"I made you coffee, didn't I?"
"Yes, thank you." Mercedes grabbed her stuff and headed out the door. "I'll see you later. Wish me luck."
"You don't need luck, you're going to do great!" Tina said with a grin and waved merrily as Mercedes's little Jetta took off at a neck break speed. Tina winced and gave the tired marked pavement a sympathetic look. "I have a feeling that this is going to be a regular occurrence."
Heading for her bedroom again, she wondered briefly if she should look over the portfolio that the Dermont, Boyle, and Malone Law had sent to her. She started her new job on Monday and it was probably a good idea to get better acquainted with her new firm before she headed in. The company was big enough that when they asked her to join their firm, Tina had been terribly flattered as well as relieved.
With the new firm, it was less stress and more play since it was a contract company, lots of legalities of corporate world. No human suffering involved that would cause Tina undo stress due to the pressure of the work she was doing. It was a good move for her.
Tina went to the metal file cabinet in the corner of her room and pulled open the top almost emptied drawer. Pulling out a red folder, she sat down at her desk to read over the content of the file in peace. The file held the summary of previous cases conducted by the company and the results. There were a few litigation cases on law rights and cover shields but they were a piece of cake compared to the heart wrenching poverty cases Tina was use to dealing with on an almost everyday basis.
"Don't you look all serious and professional," Mike mused as he leaned negligently against the doorway to her room. "Good morning."
Tina turned and smiled at him with what could only be described as that of a fond friend. "Morning to you too. What's up?"
"Not much," he smiled and came into the room, glancing briefly at the file in behind her with disinterest. "I was going for my morning job when I was almost run off the road by a very hurried Mercedes. I barely had enough time to jump out of the way as she came barrelling down on me. What's her hurry?"
Tina laughed softly as Mike took her hand and played absentmindedly with her fingers. "She was afraid that she's going to be late for her first day on the job. The traffic is horrible during rush hour. I'm not going to say that she's right to be creating a road hazard but you know what they say about first impressions."
"True." Mike nodded with understanding. "Got any coffee?"
"Sure," Tina got up and tried to head for the door but Mike stopped her by giving her arm a tug.
The kiss was soft, almost sweet in it briefness and carelessness. "I only asked cause I couldn't think of anything else to say at the moment."
She grinned at the nonsense. "Do you want any?"
"Not yet," he kissed her again, only this time it was a lot more intense and infinitely more intimate. "I stopped by to see how you were doing."
"To see how I was doing?" She raised one brow in enquiry. "Is that all there is to it?"
His arms came around her slowly as he stared up at the ceiling in pretence contemplation. "Pretty much, though if anything else came up along the way, I certainly won't mind at all."
"I'll bet."
"I better get going," Mike stretched out slowly and looked around for his clothes. "They guys should be waking up now."
Tina glanced at the alarm clock next to her bed. "It's almost ten in the morning. I thought they were early risers."
"Time difference has been a little weird on them." Mike said spotting his t-shirt under Tina's nightgown. "Want to come over for lunch with us?"
"Hm..." She stretched the muscles across her back and smiled at him, feeling rather content with life at the moment. The past hour in bed had been wonderfully refreshing. "What are you guys having?"
Mike made a face. "I'm going to guess pizza unless there are other venue of food that the guys like."
She would have gagged if it had been polite. "I'm beginning to worry about your diet here. Is pizza your main source of nutritional supplement?"
He shrugged. "I'll admit to having it quite a bit over the years."
She shook her head and got up slowly to dress as well. "Then I'll pass on lunch. Tell you what," she picked a cool yellow baby tee and jeans from the dresser. "How about I make you guys something little healthier for supper and bring it over to you after Mercedes gets back. It'll give Mercedes and Sam a chance to talk afterwards. And you can show me this basement exercise room you put together."
Nodding in agreement, Mike went and took her face in his hands. The kiss was sweet and lingering. "That's the best offer I've had in a long time." He kissed her again, taking his time to taste the unique sweetest that was hers. "I could get use to this."
"This?" Her eyes went slightly cloudy with passion then cleared to caution at his words.
"Yeah, your wonderful cooking and great sex." Mike grinned lightly sensing her sudden tension. It confused him but allowed it to pass not wanting to spoil the moment. "You going to wear something wonderfully sexy?"
"What do you want me to wear?" Tina murmured against his lips, relieved but still feeling the tight knot in her stomach that formed so quickly that she fear it more that what it represented. "An apron over blue corset and garter belt?"
Mike groaned and leaned his forehead against her. "You know exactly what to say to get a man's blood pumping don't you?"
"I do try for something of that effect yes," she smiled and nipped lightly at his bottom lip. "Don't you think you should get going now before someone gets suspicious?"
"Not after that image," he pushed against her shoulder but she resisted.
"I don't think so, big boy." She stood up and smiled gently at him. "Go home. I'll bring dinner and 'Cedes."
"I'll take dinner and let Sam have Mercedes." He grinned and took her hand. "Can I come over again tomorrow morning after Mercedes leaves?"
She pretended to contemplate the question thoughtfully. "Yes, I do believe that a little company would be welcomed while I'm on vacation."
"Then I'll be here." He gave her one more scorching kiss before reaching for the door. "Until tonight, my lady."
She grinned like a happy fool long after he had pulled the door shut. Sighing over the wonderfully light feeling in her heart, she suddenly found herself looking at the fishes in the tank. Six fishes, six ex-boyfriends turned stalkers, six very big mistakes in her life. The smile slipped from her lips as she hugged herself tightly. She could still smell Mike's aftershave on her skin where he had so lovingly caressed and kissed.
Past lovers had been gentle, kind, all that is wonderful before they turned all possessive and hurtful. Somehow the men attracted to her didn't want to treat her like an equal; they wanted to cherish her, protect her, put her on a pedestal, keep her, and possess her. They couldn't just love her.
And she couldn't love them. Her heart had never allowed her to feel that spark of something special, the something that poets for centuries have tried to pen into words. While many men had spoken words of love, she has never felt the emotion they profess to have for her. It would always begin so beautiful, so easy. Then they would demand more, want more, need more and then it would get ugly, threatening, terrifying. A cycle that she couldn't seem to break out of.
No, not this time. Mike was a friend, and a great sex partner. He wasn't one of them. No emotions were involved this time around, just friendship and sex. That's all she needed, all she wanted.
A small part of her would acknowledge that sleeping in his arms that first night had been so...so peaceful, so wonderful. The sex was great, but the sense of calming peace afterwards, that was new. She liked that part the most. Yes, this was going to work out nicely.
With a sigh, Tina got up and wondered into the kitchen. Lasagna looked good tonight. Or maybe chicken curry. Then again, the guys may like some roasted duck with orange sauce.
Mike's thought were running a mile a minute as he jogged up his drive way and around the back, intent on warming down before hitting the showers. The little moment in Tina's room has him concerned. The look in her eyes when he... You're just imagining things that aren't there, man. Don't go looking for trouble where there aren't any. Perhaps she just didn't want you taking her for granted, most people are like that.
Jogging in place, Mike shook his head over his own foolishness. He really was heading for trouble. Life has never been this good and he was looking for problems. I'm a idiot. He has a great new job coming up, a beautiful house that is coming along just peachy, and the most sexy woman on earth having a secret affair with him to bring spice into his life. Life just don't get better than this.
"Mike, may I just say that you're crazy!" Matt muttered as he came out the back door and took a deep breath of that fresh country air. "How can you be up and jogging when I still feel like crawling back into bed and not getting out for another week. And I'm suppose to report in tomorrow."
"I'm just lucky that I have a great inner clock and adjusts itself to whatever my needs are." Mike grinned and put aside his thought to be contemplated at a later time. "Sam up yet?"
"Sam was showering when I came down." Matt yawned and glanced at the sky. "Does it look like it's going to rain to you?"
Mike looked up and frowned at the thick clouds. "Yeah, I'm afraid so."
"Damn," Matt shook his head. "This is going to be worse weather than Toronto." He headed back inside while Mike laughed and continued to warm down.
Sam came into the kitchen just as Matt started the coffee machine and greeted him with his usual morning cheer. "Morning."
"Ugh," Matt at him and went to wash the sleep out of his eyes.
"Not a morning person, are you?" Sam laughed as he pulled out a loaf of bread that Tina had given them the day before. "Hey, do you know if we have anything for toast?"
"There's jam in the fridge if you want it." Mike called from the back porch. "Butter in the cupboard."
"Thanks!" Sam called back. Dropping the bread, he went in search of the toaster. After a good five minute of opening every cupboard in the kitchen and searching the walk-in cabinet, Sam finally gave up. "Mike?"
"Yeah?" Mike answered as he came in covered in a thin sheen of sweat from this run that was only from Tina's condo to his house but enough to convince the others of his morning events.
"Do you have a toaster?"
Thinking about it, he shook his head. "No, I don't think so."
Sam sighed. "We're definitely going to have to go shopping soon, and not just for groceries either. We can't keep eating pizza and having to substitute everything. Plus, it seems unfair for you to provide for everything we need."
"You guys are paying rent." Mike pointed out.
"At our insistence." Sam frowned. "I know you're a great friend and everything but let's not take this over board. You may own the house but we all live here and we should all pitch in."
Mike shrugged. "Whatever man." He grabbed an apple off the big wooden bowl that Mercedes had set out days ago for them and filled with fruits that she and Tina had brought over for the barbeque. "I'm going to shower. Oh, by the way, your girlfriend almost ran me off the road this morning and Tina is making dinner for us tonight so don't make any plans."
"What? What?" Sam shook his head trying to allow his mind time to register all the information Mike had just provided in one breath. "Come again."
"Mercedes was in a hurry this morning and almost ran into me with her car while I was on my jog. Don't worry, she apologized by yelling out her window. Tina offered to make dinner for us cause she's in fear for our health since the only food we seem to be eating are delivered pizza. Any questions?"
"When did you see Tina?" Sam shook his head in an attempt to clear it. "And Mercedes isn't my girlfriend."
"This morning. I went to see her after the little run in with Mercedes. Wanted to see what was Mercedes's hurry that she would risk an accident for." Mike explained neatly and semi-truthfully. While he did wanted to know what was bothering Mercedes this morning so much that she didn't see him before it was almost too late, there was absolutely no reason for Sam to know that he had gone there for other reasons as well. "Tina offered dinner when I offered lunch."
"Cool!" Matt said as he walked back in time to catch the end of the conversation. "I love Tina's cooking. And can the girl ever cook! And yes, Mercedes IS your girlfriend. Or at least you want her to be. You harass me about talking about Aisha all the time? Dude, you haven't shut up about her in two days."
"Shut up dude. But yeah," Sam smiled. "Our Tina is getting to be quite a chief. She's going to make some man an incredible wife one day."
Mike grimaced in reaction but pushed the thought of his head. Marriage was not in the equation yet and just the thought of Tina married to someone, anyone, turned his stomach at the moment.
"Hell," Matt grinned. "I'd marry her just for those wonderful éclairs she made the other day."
Hearing enough for him to want to commit murder, Mike decided that retreat was the safest route for everyone. "I'm going to go shower. Someone order lunch."
"Sure,"Sam sighed and looked at the slip of paper on the refrigerator. "Two large with the whole works again?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Honey, I'm home!"
"Awww..." Tina grabbed the towel from the oven door and pushed her hand under the already running water.
"Tina?" Mercedes dropped her stuff and ran to the kitchen. "What happened?"
"I wasn't looking and burned my hand on the pot." Tina could see the redness were she had brushed up against the boiling pot with the inside of her wrist. "I'm fine."
"Do you have a burn kit in here?"
"Look on the door of the fridge. There should be a small white bottle that looks like a gore and has a gold cap on it." She patted her arm dry and winced with pain as she felt the pain begin now that the numbness of the cold water was gone.
"What is this stuff?" Mercedes asked as she came over and unscrewed the cap off.
"An ancient Chinese remedy made from herbs." Tina took a generous helping of the shark white cream and spread it over the wounded area. "It immediately helps with the burned area and its it from blistering or becoming worse." Now that she looked like she was wearing a white wrist guard, she sighed and leaned against the sink's edge. "See if you can find some long bandages from the first aid in the top cabinet over there."
Mercedes didn't question it, just went to get it. "Here let me." She wrapped the wrist tightly and snipped off the end with a fine pair of scissor. "What were you doing?"
"Making orange sauce for the duck." Tina replied before turning back to the pot.
"Orange sauce?" Mercedes looked over the dividing counter that looked into the dining room and noted the dishes already sitting on the table, packed and ready to go. "Are we doing a dinner delivery service here?"
"No," Tina managed a small smile. "I made some stuff for the guys so they aren't eating pizza three meals a day. We're eating over there tonight. Need to change first?"
Mercedes looked at her clothes and shrugged. "Nah. What are you making?"
"Chicken curry with a hit of rosemary, spinach lasagna heavy with cheese, shepherd pie, pesto pasta, and roast duck with orange sauce. Now I all have do is make the orange sauce. The duck should be ready in ten minutes." Tina grabbed the potholder and hoped that it would help to keep her arm away from getting dirty.
Mercedes sighed and leaned against the cabinet. "Okay, what's going on?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you're cooking like a madwoman again. What happened?"
"Nothing."
"Tina..."
"Really, 'Cedes. Nothing happened. I was just getting way ahead of myself."
"Talk to me Tina, I'm your best friend."
Tina looked at her. Her eyes revealed nothing as she started to stir the pot. "'Cedes, I've always talked to you about my problems and you've always been real understanding."
"Yeah, so?"
"Remember my psycho ex-boyfriend?"
"Which one?" Mercedes rolled her eyes. "You've had so many men not wanting to take no for an answer that I've lost count."
Tina smiled, not the least offended knowing that Mercedes meant well. "Let me ask you this, do you remember my main problems with all the men I've dated in the past?"
"That they worship the ground on which you tread?" Mercedes grinned at that. "I've never known anyone that could inspire so many men to want to protect and keep you. I mean, you are one of the strongest people I know and yet these guys treat you like you were helpless."
"Love was like madness to them." The sauce was thickening to a wonderful aroma. "They were so in love and I wanted so badly to love them back but..."
"You can't force love." Mercedes murmured. "God knows that we've all tried at one point or another to try to love someone that we didn't really, deep in our hearts."
"But why couldn't I just feel something more than the empty nothingness." Tina reached to the spices knowing that the guys like rich stuff. "They loved me so passionately and I can't even bring myself to like them in the end. I wanted to feel at least a little part of what they felt for me. But there was nothing there, Mercedes. Nothing there."
Mercedes shook her head. "It's not your felt that you didn't love them. And what they had for you wasn't love. You don't try possess someone you profess to love. Love is..." Oh hell, who am I to try to define love to her. Look at the mess I made of my love life in the past. "Real love isn't like that."
Tina turned and looked Mercedes dead in the eye. "Do you think I can love?"
"What?"
"Do you think I can ever fall in love? Do you think that I possess a heart that can love someone as much as they may love me?"
"TINA!" Mercedes reached over and took her free hand. "You are the most generous and wonderful person I know. You have a heart bigger than anyone I know. You can love; you can fall in love. You just haven't met the right person yet."
Tina nodded and turned back to the orange sauce. Or maybe I've already met them and just couldn't love them. "I need to tell you something."
"What?" Mercedes frowned. The sadness in Tina's eyes was so unlike her usually twinkling friend.
Tina turned the gas off and continued to stir the pot slowly not wanting the sauce to turn lumpy on her. "I've been seeing someone."
"Really?" Mercedes's eyes went wide with surprise. "Who is it?"
"Okay, maybe not really seeing him, just..." She bit her lip and mentally cursed herself for starting this conversation. "It's not a relationship by most definitions."
"What does that mean?"
"We're sleeping together but not really dating."
"You're having an affair?"
Tina made a face. That sounded just so cold. "Well, kind of."
"Is he married?"
"NO!" She turned to her friend in shock. "I would never!"
"I know, I know. But are you sure he's not? I mean, men have been known to lie about these thing."
"He is not married." Tina sighed and check the timer on the duck. It would not do to over cook the duckling. "I may not be good at relationships but I'm pretty good at reading men. Besides, I know this guy, and I know him well enough to know that he isn't like that. He's honourable and very good and ..."
"Have you been being sleeping with him long?" Mercedes wasn't sure if she wanted to hear it but if Tina was getting her self into another traumatic relationship and perhaps gaining another stalker, then it was better to head it off at the pass.
"No, not long. But..."
"But?"
"It's different." Tina sighed and looked at the clock. It was six ten already. "He's different. We're different."
"Tina," Mercedes took her hand. "I'm not understanding."
"I don't know how to explain it any better. He knows me. He's a friend and I trust him." Tina nodded to herself. "He cares about me, knows my habits and knows my faults, well some of them anyways." The duck looked great. Pulling out the big pan, she poured the sauce generously over the wonderful golden duck and inhaled the wonderful smell. "And this is just an affair not a relationship. Everything will work out."
Mercedes frowned. "Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"
There was silence. "We better get going soon before everything turns cold."
Though she wanted to talk more, Mercedes could already see that Tina was clamming up. "Okay, I guess we should get going. But we'll talk again when you're ready."
"Thanks."