Breaking the Rules

chapter 5





He’d gone to the bank alone. Deposited his check despite gaping disbelief and admonitions that no withdrawal could be made until it cleared. Whatever.

With a cash advance on his credit card he’d rented a nice apartment right on the water in Tribeca.

Was he excited about having a truckload of money and a snazzy waterfront loft? Nope.

Was he excited about seeing Susana again?

Hell, yeah.

He strode along Canal Street, whistling. Sailors were supposed to whistle, weren’t they? He wasn’t a sailor any more, and they’d been as glad to get rid of him as he was to get out. But that was all in the past. Suddenly he was setting sail on a new adventure and he’d whistle if he wanted to, dammit.

Canal Street thronged with people. Conversation buzzed and squawked around him in fifty languages. Huge dead fish on ice stared up at him, and rap thundered out of customized woofers as he wove through the crowds.

He picked up Chinese takeout as he strolled though Chinatown, still whistling. Tomorrow he’d call his contacts and line up some potential clients. His reputation should be enough to get him started, even in the competitive field of corporate Internet security. And because it was a different market it wouldn’t affect the no-compete clause he’d signed with his former business partner.

His former best friend. He threw back his shoulders and inhaled a deep breath of steamy city air. Don’t look back. One foot in front of the other. Keep on movin’.

Thoughts of Susana were a nice distraction. Thoughts of her almond-shaped black eyes. Of her long, prying fingers. Of her slim ankles and the world of mystery hidden by her long skirt.

Would the rules still be in place? Probably. But that was okay. He could wait.

At least he thought he could. He couldn’t tell quite what was going to happen with Susana around.

He laughed aloud, careless of what anyone thought. He was one more crazy man on an island full of crazy people, and that was okay too. He hadn’t felt this good in a long, long time.

Hope. That’s what Susana had given back to him. A little taste of it went a long way right now.

He crossed Delancy Street and strode along Susana’s block, heart thumping with anticipation. Merengue music pumping out the open windows of a car tickled his feet into a rhythm.

He stopped in front of Susana’s building. An ordinary brick walk-up, like all the others on the street. He couldn’t even see her top-floor window from where he stood in front of the doorway, so he crossed the street for a better view. Yellowed lace covered all the windows, but one was propped open. The lace flapped a little in the evening breeze.

She was waiting for him.

He put the plastic bag of Chinese takeout carefully down on the sidewalk next to him and cupped his hands around his mouth.

“Rapunzel! Rapunzel!”

He grinned, watching the curtains. Wondered how carefully she was listening. When they flicked aside right away, he laughed aloud. Susana’s face appeared beneath the lace, smiling.

“The buzzer doesn’t work. I’ll come down.”

He picked up the Chinese and crossed the street. Almost as soon as he got there the front door swung open and Susana met him with a smile as broad as his own.

“Hi.”

“Hi.” Oh, lord, he felt like a teenager on his first date. Acting like one, too. “I brought dinner.” He lifted the bag.

“Thanks.” Her lips pressed together as she struggled to suppress her smile. “So I’m Rapunzel, am I?”

“You live in a brick tower, and you’ve got long hair.”

“Not long enough, though, or I’d have saved you climbing the stairs.” She fought back another smile and turned to the stairs, then leaped them two at a time. Joe was glad of the opportunity to run up, since his whole body pounded with unspent adrenaline.

Incense hung in the air of the apartment, swirling amid the dust stirred up by their breathless entry. As soon as Joe entered he saw the parrot, shifting uneasily from foot to foot in its big black cage as it fixed one gleaming eye on him.

“Hello, Polly,” he said lightly.

The parrot let forth a stream of obvious invective in whatever guttural language it spoke.

“Milos!” Susana lifted a finger of warning at the parrot’s cage. Milos lifted his feathered wings in a threatening gesture and shook his head vigorously, all without taking his eye off Joe.

“Guess he’s not too happy to see me again.”

“He’s never happy about anything.”

Joe glanced at the bureau where the picture of Grandma stood. She didn’t look happy to see him either. “I brought General Tsao’s chicken,” he announced to the photograph.

Susana chuckled. “Come into the kitchen. We’ll eat.”

He told her about his business plan while they ate dinner. She looked impressed. Intrigued. She asked him how he’d managed to make so much money when he’d been out of the Navy only three years. He told her that the work he’d done in the service–systems security–had given him a unique skill set in high demand by corporations.

“So you are a rich man, and you plan to become richer.” Her eyes shone.

“Yeah. You like that?”

She shrugged. “What I think makes no difference.”

“Unless you think our destinies are still linked in some way.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively. Maybe the mysterious hand of fate would get him under her skirt.

She held his gaze. “There’s only one way to find out.”

“What’s that?”

She narrowed her eyes slightly, and her lips curved a little at the corners. “You have three choices.”

“Not that again.”

She nodded. “It’s the only way to know for sure.”

“Aw, come on, Susana. I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Look at the mess it got me into before.”

“That’s because you rushed out and acted on incomplete information.”

“And whose fault was that?”

“I admit I share some blame.” She held his gaze.

“And how will you atone for your sins?” A wicked thought snuck into his head as heat crept into his loins.

“I could say I’m sorry?”

“I have a better idea.”

“Oh?”

“I’ll let you do a reading. By whichever method you choose.”

“Good.”

“But there’s one condition.”

She lifted a slim black brow.

“You have to do it naked.”

Merely saying it aloud sent blood rushing to his extremities. Susana’s eyes and mouth gaped open at the same time.

“No way.” She rose to her feet, chair rasping on the floor. She picked up their plates and carried them to the sink, then started scraping leftovers vigorously into the garbage.

“Aren’t you curious to see what your future holds?”

“It’s really not a good idea to read one’s own future. The messages can become mixed, distorted.” She glanced up at him from behind the heavy curtain of hair that concealed her face while she bent over the garbage.

“Aren’t you curious about my future then?”

“I have patience. The future will unfold in its own time.” She dropped the lid on the garbage pail with a decisive slam.

“Come on, Susana.” He spoke low, chin resting on his hands, surveying her in the dim florescent light of the tiny kitchen. His voice crept through the incense still hanging in the air. “Live dangerously for once.”

She glanced at him. Curious.

“You’ve always done what your grandma said. You’ve been a good girl all these years. Aren’t you in the least bit tempted to do something a little crazy?”

She turned and faced him. Placed her hands on her hips. A gesture that snugged her blouse against her breasts. Joe shifted in his chair.

“I bet you’ve never done a reading naked.”

“Of course I haven’t.” She tossed her hair.

“Then maybe it’s about time you did.” He lifted one eyebrow very slightly.

She raised one of hers. “No touching?”

“If that’s the way you want it.” Excitement rippled through his muscles as he watched her contemplate the possibility. He leaned forward.

“And you…” She regarded him steadily beneath her black lashes. “Will you be naked too?”

“If you like.”

He could swear he saw heat simmering behind the reflective black surface of her eyes. She was interested. She wanted to see him naked.

He ached to unzip the jeans pressing uncomfortably on the part of him that swelled with each passing second. Easy does it, Joe. Stealth and silence can gain more ground than heavy firepower.

“The seeing globe would be best, but it’s at the shop. The palm doesn’t give enough detailed information for our purposes.”

“I guess that leaves the cards.”

“Yes. Follow me.”

Joe squeezed out from behind the table. If he had a tail it would be wagging furiously. Susana tossed her black mane again as she walked out of the room with him panting at her heels.

In the living room she opened a drawer in the bureau beneath her grandmother’s hostile stare. She removed a small black box. Joe saw her hand tremble as she opened it.

His heart trembled a little, too.

Was she really going to read his future? He didn’t want to know about that. He just wanted to see her naked. Was that too much to ask? Of course it was but that hadn’t stopped him.

The future was going to happen anyway. He’d just as soon not know in advance what kind of crap was going to rain down on him.

He tugged his fingers through his hair. Tangled. He was still a mess. Not even dressed up for a hot date with a beautiful woman. The thought hadn’t crossed his mind. In his excitement about seeing Susana again all other thoughts had shriveled temporarily out of existence.

He’d forgotten that he wasn’t really a man any more. Not really human. Certainly not someone who should be staring his future in the face. Naked.

“You’re scared, aren’t you?” She spoke softly.

“Yeah,” he replied honestly.

“That’s okay. I’m a little scared, too.”

“We can do it with clothes on if you like.”

She shook her head. A flash of fierce energy filled her black stare and for a split second she reminded him of her grandmother’s picture. “We’ll do it naked.”

Those words were enough to snap him out of a funk. “Not in here, though.” He glanced up at Milos, who surprisingly had his head tucked coyly under a wing. “We don’t want to shock your parrot.”

“We’ll do it in…in the room you slept in last night.” She swept out of the room with a determined stride.

They sat opposite each other on the bed. Still fully clothed. A single candle guttered on the windowsill.

“You first.” Her serious expression should have wilted any strength left in him. Instead it only poured fuel on the flames licking around his crotch.

“Sure.”

He tugged his T-shirt over his head.

She gasped and he looked up. Her mouth was round with surprise, her eyes fixed on his exposed chest.

“What are you staring at, the scar or the tattoo?” He felt oddly vulnerable with her midnight gaze burning over his torso.

“What’s that scar from?”

Joe glanced down at the long white line over his belly, decorated with dots that commemorated nearly eighty stitches. “Shrapnel wound. Not too pretty, huh?”

“Does it hurt?”

“No, it’s old.”

“And the tattoo, it’s…”

“Huge, I know. Never mix alcohol and body art.”

“It’s beautiful.”

He looked down the eagle spreading its wings across his chest, covering his pectorals with its intricate veil of blue lines. “I had a layover in Okinawa one time. Drank a bit too much sake.”

“It suits you.”

“It suited who I used to be when I thought the world was my oyster.”

She looked up at his face, her expression inscrutable. No doubt all those readings she did for a living gave her lots of practice at hiding her feelings. Her impersonal demeanor should have dampened his desire.

But it didn’t.

“Take off your jeans.” Her voice was cool, measured.

His response was equal and opposite. Heat flared inside his pants as he unbuttoned and unzipped them, an action that brought instant relief.

But the relief was only temporary. As he tugged down his shorts, exposing his erection, the heat crept up his body to heat his face.

He glanced warily at Susana. His very obvious arousal had captured her attention. She looked up, eyes wide and gleaming.

“It’s big.”

Joe released a quick burst of laughter. The way she stared you’d think she’d never seen one before.

Which, now that he thought about it, was a distinct possibility.

An intriguing possibility.

He settled into a comfortable position, suddenly feeling that for once he might have the upper hand here.

“Your turn.”

Her chest heaved as she sucked in a breath. In just a few seconds he’d get a glimpse of that chest up close and personal. The thought was so pleasing he didn’t even mind that she’d instantly see the effect it had on him.

“C’mon. Fair’s fair.”

She licked her lips. “Okay.” She unbuttoned the neck of her blouse. Slowly, watching her hands, she slid the hem of her shirt from the waistband of her skirt.

Breathe, Joe, breathe.

Their eyes met for a split second before she lifted the shirt up over her head, pulled her arms out of the sleeves, and tossed it to the floor.

Sweet Jesus.

Full, heavy and creamy golden, her breasts shoved all other thoughts from his mind. Blushing nipples peeked out behind shiny black hair as she leaned forward and reached her arms back to unfasten the waist of her skirt. She slid the voluminous garment down the length of her legs, revealing them slowly. Long, lean, pale from a lifetime’s concealment, yet muscled and shapely. Joe squashed a primitive howl that threatened to rip from his throat.

As her skirt slid to the floor, only her underwear remained. Dark briefs that rose to her impossibly slim waist. She snuck a slender finger in the waistband, then glanced up at him shyly.

He nodded.

Her hair fell to cover her face as she lifted herself and slipped the final piece of clothing down past her rosy knees, her pink-soled feet.

Naked.

Joe’s body throbbed with anticipation. Of what? He couldn’t touch her. He knew she wouldn’t touch him.

Or would she?

She shifted awkwardly, tucking her legs under her, and Joe fought to avert his eyes from the mysterious triangle of black hair below her belly button. Struggled to keep his dignity.

She picked up the box she’d brought in from the living room and opened the lid again. Lifted out a black silk-wrapped parcel.

“The cards,” she murmured, glancing up.

A pinprick of anxiety pierced Joe’s fog of arousal.

Carefully, she lifted the corners of the black silk, peeling them back to reveal a deck of ordinary playing cards.

“We’ll do a very simple reading.” Her voice was low, calm. Two spots of color high on her cheeks the only sign this was not an ordinary day’s work for Susana.

“We’ll ask about only one subject.”

Joe swallowed, the muscles of his gut suddenly tight.

She raised her eyes, black and unreadable. “Love.”