Chapter 3
"Stop…" Della finally looked at him with glazed eyes then shook her head sharply. She jerked away from him. "Yes… we HAVE to…" Her cheeks flushed bright red as her head began to clear and she realized just exactly how close she had been giving in to her base desires and allowing Perry to take her … take her against the wall in the stalled elevator.
The buzzer sounded again just as Perry would have spoken so he swore loudly again and hit the control panel. The cage resumed its slow descent.
"We need to talk about this …" Perry whispered.
"Not now," was her firm reply. "Charlie…"
"Della!" Perry was not going to be put off.
"Perry… wh…what do you want…" Della stammered, betraying her nervousness.
"Well… I'm a man…" His eyes raked over her body from top to bottom and back.
"Oh yes…" Eyes falling, Della replied in a husky whisper that caused a leap in Perry's already prominent anatomy. "You definitely are that…" Her mouth went dry remembering the press of that same anatomy against her body just moments ago and she forced her gaze back up as he continued speaking.
"Right this minute? I want to strip that coat off of you, throw it on the floor and make love to you on top of it." Perry met her gaze head on, doing nothing to hide the desire clearly visible in his eyes.
Della swallowed hard and turned to the side. Perry could see that her cheeks were flushed scarlet and her breathing was still heavy. He pushed further. "You want that too, don't you, Della?" Had he not been watching her so closely he would have missed the slight bob of her chin. Perry moved toward her purposefully, arms outstretched.
Della threw an arm out to stop him. "I think you should take me home, Chief."
The floor indicator clanged two.
At that moment Della saw their reflections in the mirror again. When the doors parted for Charlie, the night janitor, there would be very little doubt as to what had just been taking place here. Her fingers flew to the buttons of her coat, her movements shaking and disjointed.
"How do I look?" She asked, hastily fastening her attire and desperately trying to appear as normal as possible.
"You look like you've just been thoroughly kissed… and like you want to be kissed again." Perry observed as he tucked his shirt tail in and smoothed the hair she had so recently mussed.
It was true. Only time could reduce the color in Della's cheeks or the plumpness in her lips, and her hair… Desperate, Della scooped up Perry's hat just as the doors began to open on the ground floor and jammed it down on her head, yanking the brim low and hoping the shadow of it would camouflage her face, hoping it would cover the multitude of sins visible.
"OH… sorry, Mr. Mason," Charlie smiled. "I didn't realize you were still here. I'm sorry I didn't hear you buzz…"
"Ellen gave me a quick lesson on how to operate this contraption so I just ran us down myself." Perry rocked back on his heels, hands in his coat pockets pushing the fabric out in front of him. Della quickly darted around him and took off toward the garage exit, the staccato clicks of her high heels on the tile echoing through the empty lobby. "Guess we worked too late…" Perry offered then took off after his secretary. "Night, Charlie."
"Night, Mr. Mason… Miss Street."
Della didn't look back.
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Perry caught up with Della heading toward the deserted taxi stand. "I'll take you home." Although he couldn't see her eyes beneath the brim of the hat he could feel them glaring at him but she didn't protest when he laid his hand against the back of her elbow and turned her toward his car.
He opened the driver's door but before she could slide in he turned her toward him. "I know you don't want to talk but we really need to..."
"Perhaps this discussion would be better served in more comfortable surroundings over a tall glass of scotch? When we aren't beginning a new case?"
Perry lifted her chin with his finger. "In a perfect world… but beginning a new case didn't stop us from almost making love in the elevator."
"We wouldn't have…" the protest died on her lips as she realized that was exactly what could have happened without the interruption. That realization shook her. She never would have allowed herself to go that far… would she?
Perry didn't respond verbally to her feeble protestation but his indigo eyes challenged her. He yanked her to him and pressed his lips to her almost savagely. It was then he found out that Della bit… just before his fedora sailed down from her dark curls and ended up lost on the concrete. Startled by the sudden movement, he pulled back and bent down to pick the hat up. On his way back up, he brushed his torso against her, making sure she felt him, and ended with his lips just two inches away from hers.
"Why, Mr. Mason! What kind of girl do you think I am?" Della took the hat and placed it back on her head as she dropped her eyes away from the handsome lawyer standing so very near her. She gently pushed him back and caught her breath.
"The best kind, my dear Miss Street…" Perry refused to let her go. "MY girl!"
A sound somewhere between a sob and a sigh whispered from her lips. Her hand briefly caressed his chest through his shirt before she pushed against his arm then dropped to the seat and slid over to make room for him.
Mason drove out of the garage and onto the deserted streets, fog quickly enveloping the car as he steered in the direction of Della's apartment. Della had moved to the far side of the seat and he missed her cuddled up next to him. His mind raced back through the last few minutes.
'Was I too forceful? Did I push her too far? Maybe she didn't want…' He quickly banished that thought. The one thing that he was completely sure of was that she had wanted him just as much as he wanted her. 'But an elevator, Mason? Could you be any more inappropriate, stupid?' He mentally berated himself, knowing that his secretary was a true lady and that his actions and her reaction had probably shocked her to her very core. But the thought keeps spinning through his mind how she had reacted… more quickly and more passionately than Mason would ever have imagined. He had wondered for months… not even daring to hope… but now knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that she wanted him, perhaps even loved him? Having come this far he was unwilling to drop this now.
Decision made, Perry stopped at the next red light and leaned to his right side with his arm outstretched, hauling Della back to the middle of the seat next to him before the light turned green. Again he could feel her glare even though she was still hiding her emotions and the effect of them beneath the brim of his hat.
In his mind's eye Perry knew what she looked like right now. He'd seen the desire in her eyes. It frustrated him that she hid herself from him like this. "Dammit, Della! Maybe I acted out of turn… behaved like a brute… but we've been dancing around this for months! You have to know that I am crazy in love with you, that I want to be with only you. I'm ready and willing to make a commitment but you keep saying no. Then you kiss me like that…what DO you want?"
For Della's head had snapped back. Finally he could see her eyes, now wide and staring at him. "You… love me?"
"For Pete's sake, woman! Of course I love you! I've loved you since the first time I saw you… How many times have I asked you to marry me?" Perry stared back at her incredulously. "Am I wrong, Della? Don't you feel the same? I thought… hoped… that you were beginning to feel something for me…" When she didn't immediately answer he turned away, fist hitting the dash in frustration.
"You never told me…" she finally whispered, faintly, but he heard her. "I knew you found me attractive… that you wanted me… enough to propose to me even… but you never told me that you love me."
Perry raised one hand and ran his fingers through his hair. Comprehension began to dawn on his face as she continued to speak.
"I thought it was just me. I didn't want to be some cliché… the secretary trying to snag her rich boss… How could I tell you that I was in love with you when you didn't feel the same way?"
"But I did… and I was a fool not to tell you until now… I just…" Not really sure what to say, Perry drove on silently for several blocks before his mind finally worked through Della's last words. "Wait… you love me too?"
Della laid her hand on his arm, a huge smile on her face. "Chief?"
"Yes, baby?" His own face was beaming.
"You just missed the turn to my apartment."
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