Love In Rewind (17 page)

"This is a Maserati Gran Turismo. It won't be available for sale anywhere for another three years. This is one of four demos. Only Italians know how to make sexy cars. I bought it … for you."

I stopped breathing to look away from the car and toward his grinning face.

"What do you mean you bought it for me? You … you bought it so you can have a car with more room for someone else to sit. Right?"

He was enjoying driving me crazy. I could tell by the fact that his dimple stayed plastered on his face while I tried to deal with his outlandish gesture.

"No baby, I have a car. I don't need anyone but you and me to fit in my car. This is your car."

"Are you crazy, Louis? I don't need a car. I can't even drive."

"I know. Once I teach you how to drive you can drive your own car if I'm not around to drive you."

This man was certifiably crazy. Who buys a woman a car after four weeks? A woman he hasn't even slept with. Louis Bruel apparently lived by a different set of rules than the rest of us. Most girls get flowers and chocolate as gifts; I got a sexy Italian sports car.

As soon as Sara saw my face when we pulled up to her house she started shaking her head at me. "Hello children, it's nice of you to remember to pick me up."

Louis and I shared a conspiratorial look. If she only knew why we were so late she'd be so proud of me.

"Nice car," Sara said to Louis as she climbed into the back seat. Louis gave me a raised eyebrow look.

"Aren't you going to thank your friend for complimenting your new car, baby?"

I gave him the hairy eyeball. I did not need to start explaining to Sara that my crazy boyfriend just gave me a car.

"Wow … nice, Emily. Only you freaking get a car before you can even drive."

My stupid friend was enjoying torturing me, too. I should also mention that I got myself a sex god before I was ready to have sex, so what else is new? She continued to harass me by adding during our ride, "Emily, do you know which song I hope they play tonight?"

Oh fuck, I'm not playing this game with Sara. I'm not going to bait her. I don't care which song they play tonight. Louis, however, wasn't privy to my plan of ignoring Sara's heckling. He took the bait.

"Sara, tell me which song you'd like to hear. I'll make sure the DJ plays it."

"It's an old song by The Police called
Wrapped Around Your Finger
… I love it; I can't stop singing it in my head."

The bitch will pay.

We got to the club and made our way to find Eddie and his friends, already two sheets to the wind. I'm not a club rat. After my last experience with Louis in a club I was feeling a little tense. This place was packed with people. I saw Sara already talking to a guy by the bar and Jeff was watching her while holding his fiancée's hand. Michelle and Eddie were dancing by the table.

Louis pulled me close to him and whispered in my ear, "Half hour we stay to be nice and then let's go back to your room. Pinky and I would like an encore with our leading lady."

I looked up at him already wet just from his words. I was thinking
yes, please,
but I had to cool down to make it through the next thirty minutes.

"Let's dance a little. I need to see if you got the moves, Pip."

Without another word he pulled me up, forcing me to wrap my arms around his neck and my tight jean-clad legs around his waist. He pushed us through the sea of people to the middle of the compact dance floor. Louis pulled me a little lower so I was aligned with his lips. He kissed me slowly and gently at first until I opened my mouth to welcome his tongue. It was just us again. He made everything and everyone just disappear. There was no music, no people, just Louis and Emily. Louis was swaying us to his own tune. We were still passionately kissing as we moved from side to side. I felt like Baby dancing with Johnny for the first time in
Dirty Dancing.
I still had no idea what song Louis had us moving to in his head. I cut our kiss short and pulled away breathlessly. I begged into his ear, "Sing to me. I want to know what song is playing in your head."

He pushed my head closer to his lip and started singing the most beautiful song in the deepest, most erotic voice that sliced right through me and found my heart.

If you need a friend

Don't look to a stranger

You know in the end

I'll always be there

And when you're in doubt

And when you're in danger

Take a look all around

And I'll be there

I'm sorry but I'm just thinking of the right words to say

I know they don't sound the way I planned them to be

But if you wait around a while I'll make you fall for me

I promise, I promise you, I will…

The world had officially stopped spinning.
The Promise
by When in Rome was the anthem to my existence. How was I supposed to not make love to this man immediately?

"How did you know about this song?" I asked, somehow knowing the answer already. He looked into my eyes giving my lips another taste.

He pulled away to whisper in my ear past the loud music. "I made a new friend. Her name is Sara Klein."

That little slut! I knew it. Should I kiss her or kill her?

"Take me home … I'm ready to leave."

Only God knows how we managed to not sleep together that night. Louis didn't even sleep in my bed while my parents were gone. He kept telling me our first time sleeping in the same bed and waking up together would be epic. He didn't want it to be a ruse.

I wish I was sixteen...

I
'm so nervous, I changed my mind; I don't want to meet your mom. What did you tell her about me anyway?"

"I told her you have the most delicious tits and the sweetest little pussy I've ever tasted," he said, grinning from ear to ear.

"You proud of yourself? You think this is funny? I'm hyperventilating as it is Louis, stop joking around."

"Em, my mom can't wait to finally meet you. She asks about you when she calls every fucking day. She's been begging me to bring you over to meet her."

I smiled but then got nervous again and asked, "Has she met any of your other girlfriends? How would she think I compare to any of them? Do you think she'll also think I'm with you because you're loaded? Do you think your girlfriends dated you because of your money? God, Louis, I'm so nervous."

We were pulling into a driveway of a non-descript house. I'd imagined Louis growing up in an affluent Connecticut neighborhood. All the houses on this street kind of looked the same. They were all ranch style dark colored brick homes with green-shingled roofs and wrap around porches. The house we pulled up to had a huge grass covered front lawn. I was drinking in the scenery trying to picture my boyfriend growing up in such a humble dwelling.

"My mom met one of the girls I used to date back when I was in grad school. I didn't have what I have now so I can't tell you if she was with me because of the money. I can tell you that my mom knew I wasn't serious about that girl," Louis told me while we pulled into the driveway.

"She was probably with you because you're hot. If you had money on top of that she'd never let you go," I said playfully.

"You don't compare to her. You don't compare to any of them. It was always about sex for me with women before you, Em. After a while I couldn't understand why it was never enough even when the women were gorgeous. With you it's still very physical, but I also want to be a part of everything you do and I want you to be part of my whole world."

He was now completely turned towards me and while holding both my hands he continued, "I wake up every night thinking you're right there with me, and when reality hits I try to go back to sleep as quickly as possible to make the night go by faster so I can see those incredible eyes again. Emily, you erase all the rest. You're my life and you have my heart. So how could you possibly compare?"

He leaned down to kiss me when a loud knock on the car window made us both jump. I looked up to see his mother smiling in at us. I probably turned multiple shades of red. Louis came out of his car and gave his mother a huge bear hug. The way he was lovingly interacting with his mother made me remember what my nana always told me about boys:
You know a boy will treat you right if he loves his mother and treats her well.
My nana knows her stuff. I didn't wait for Louis to come get me out of the car. I got out, quickly adjusted myself after our two-hour commute and walked around to meet the most important woman in Louis' life.

"Emily, it's so wonderful to finally get to meet you. My baby boy has been talking and raving about you nonstop. I couldn't wait to finally meet the love of his life."

Oh my God, no pressure
I thought, still feeling my blush spread like wildfire. Louis' mom came in closer to give me a hug, to which she then added a kiss.
Wow
, she was so nice. She reminded me of Louis, especially when she smiled; she had dimples on both cheeks. They had the same skin tone. She was small compared to her giant son. Louis' mother was sweet with kind hazel eyes that had a slight downward crinkle. She looked like a free spirited artist with dark hair falling down loosely to her mid-back. She was a beautiful woman now and I'm sure in her youth she was stunning.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, too. I was very excited when Louis mentioned we would be making the trip to come see you," I tried to sound mature and smart. I didn't want her to think I didn't deserve to have her son's love.

"My baby boy was right; your eyes are special, they're the most incredible thing I've ever seen … that color is mesmerizing, sweetie."

It was one thing for Louis to be saying things like that to me, but to hear his mother give me a compliment felt overwhelming. I was melting and blushing simultaneously.

"Thank you, Mrs. Bruel."

"Oh, no … oh honey, never call me that—just Elizabeth or Liz. I've never been Mrs. Bruel; that's Louis' dad's last name and we never married. Eric and I could only take each other in small doses. But when Louis was born and his dad took one look at his beautiful baby boy he decided he couldn't live his life more than a few feet away."

I felt like a total idiot, I should've been asking Louis questions about his family and not his ex-lovers. "I'm very sorry, Elizabeth," I said, feeling more awkward than humanly possible.

"Don't be silly, my baby boy must be too mesmerized by those lovely eyes of yours to brief you on his strange family antics."

She led us inside. Louis took my clammy hand and started kissing the back of it in the hopes of calming my nerves down.

"Relax, she loves you. Who wouldn't?" he whispered in my direction.

I could name a few people who don't love me, one being his stupid friends and two the entire female population of Manhattan.

The afternoon spent with Louis' mother was sweet. I really had nothing to worry about. Elizabeth didn't have a judgmental bone in her body. After seeing his mother and some of his family pictures I gathered that Louis actually had more of his father's features. I saw pictures of Louis as a baby that melted my heart. He looked like a sweet boy, not at all the heartbreaker millionaire the world must see. Louis caught me studying a picture of him and his dad placed prominently on the fireplace.

"I'm sure you would've liked him. I wish he were alive to meet you and see how happy you make me. If he knew I found a woman like you he would've been really proud of me."

"I wish I knew him too. Both you and your mother only have nice things to say about him. So I can't imagine him not being wonderful. You look a lot like him."

Elizabeth walked into the living room announcing that lunch was ready and on the patio. We followed her outside, helping her carry a few more trays of food and a pitcher of fresh lemonade.

Half way through our delicious lunch Louis' mobile phone rang and he excused himself from the table. I was left at the table with his mom when she laid her hand on mine.

"I haven't seen my boy this happy in a long time, Emily. After Eric passed away Louis was completely focused on finishing school and starting up his business. It was his way of trying to make his father proud of him for the way he took care of his dad's legacy. I always ask him why he's not trying to find a nice girl to share his life with. He told me on many occasions to not get my hopes up on him ever settling down and having his own family. I always worried that my unconventional relationship with Eric gave Louis a distorted view of love and marriage. Eric and I loved each other terribly; we just couldn't integrate our love for one another into a traditional family life. I never loved anyone after I fell in love with Eric, and him moving across the street only confirmed to me he felt the same. In a way I guess that was our way of professing our love and committing our lives to each other. I'm so happy he found someone wonderful like you to love."

I listened to Elizabeth's candid heart to heart, understanding and acknowledging another layer of Louis' life.

Elizabeth continued, "When I look at the two of you, I don't feel like a failure. Emily, you give me hope that my baby boy and you will perhaps make the family Eric and I couldn't."

"I love Louis very much, Elizabeth. You should be very proud and know that you and Eric are responsible for all of Louis' many accomplishments. Judging by everything Louis told me, you and Eric were great parents; he adores you both." I sighed and continued, "I hope very much for us to one day have a family together."

She gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and said, "Thank you dear. I know you'll take good care of him for me."

We were still embracing and nodding at each other, wiping our tears away when Louis returned, looking at us a little confused.

"What did I miss? This looks very deep."

"You didn't miss anything, my dear boy, and to answer your earlier question. I say yes, without the shadow of a doubt," Elizabeth said to Louis, getting up and hugging him lovingly.