MisMatch (A Humorous Contemporary Romance) (24 page)

His heart thundered. What the hell? “What?
Say that again?”

“The sculpture.” She immediately put up her
hands and took a step back. “Okay, look. I know you said you didn’t
want it displayed, and push comes to shove I can get it back, but
come on, the damn thing sold for twenty grand. I thought you’d be
happy about it. You said it wasn’t sentimental, so I thought you
needed a little nudge in the right direction and…”

His brain rushed to catch up. Did she say
twenty grand? Blood rushed between his ears, and he only caught
snippets. “In love….that piece…said it captured her attention more
than anything else there…bidding war…loved...commission more.”

“Jessica, wait.”

She blinked up at him with bright blue eyes.
“Are you really mad?”

He opened his mouth, shut it again, tried
once more but nothing came out.
Once more with
feeling.
“I thought you sent it back. I was pretty sure I
saw it at the studio. Jessica, I’m not a sculptor.”

“Well, remember how I went to get all those
authentications? I picked it up again, and it doesn’t matter if you
do another piece again, this one sold. So if you ever did want to
do one again, there’s a market. I only wanted to show you that you
could do it. Shit, tell me how mad you are so I can start kissing
your ass already, ‘cause in one night, you’ve saved my gallery, and
you’ve helped me prove that I’m not crazy for taking on this job.”
She ran her hands through her hair and stared at him. “Shit, Eli,
will you say something?
Anything
. You’re
freaking me out.”

He dragged her against him and slid his
mouth firmly over hers. It took her a full three seconds to kiss
him back. Then came the speedy clawing at each other’s clothes that
always happened with them. He tried to be gentle, but he heard the
fabric at her zipper tear. Shit. Too impatient to deal with the
buttons at her collar he snatched the fabric at her hips and tugged
up. As soon as her movements were unhindered, Eli smoothed his
hands down over her ass and the backs of her thighs, before picking
her up. Her legs wound around him effortlessly.

Going off his brief glimpse of the room, he
maneuvered them to the bed, banging into the coffee table only
once. His shins would forgive him as soon as he buried his dick
inside her. As soon as he was home. The truth was for later. Right
now he had to have her any way he could.

Falling back against the bed with her on top
of him, he fumbled for his belt.

She brushed his hands away. “I have to warn
you, this is setting a bad precedence and will only make me
continue to defy you at every turn. If your plan is to make me
listen, then this isn’t going to work.”

As soon as her soft fingertips wrapped
around his dick, he stopped breathing, and all he could hear was
the rushing blood in his ears. “I need to be inside you right
now.”

Too impatient for her slowly gliding
fingers, he flipped her over, earning himself a squeal. Which
turned into a moan as he lined up the rigid length of himself
against her silken softness. Thank God she’d stopped bothering to
wear underwear around him. With his thumb, he circled her clit
once. She bit her bottom lip. He circled the bundle of nerves twice
more and groaned. When his thumb made a third pass over the tight
nub, Jessica’s back bowed, and she clawed at his starched
shirt.

“Eli. Hurry.”

That was all he needed—to slide deep into
her. They were both so keyed up, all it took was a few strokes. She
tugged on his hair, and he sucked her breast through her tight
bodice. As soon as she quivered around him, he picked up the pace,
driving into her until she screamed out his name again and again as
her release swept her up. He quickly followed, sliding into her one
last time before blissful ecstasy took over, and he didn’t remember
his name anymore.

Several minutes later, they lay intertwined,
fully clothed, breathing harshly, and sweat dripping from their
brows. Jessica smirked up at him. “So is this a no, you’re not mad
at me for making you a sculptor.”

He chuckled and nuzzled her neck. “No, I’m
not mad. I wish I’d known. But I’m not mad. It’s something from the
past. And hey, you made me twenty grand.” Without knowing it, she’d
given him the one thing he’d always wondered about. He’d never
known if he could have been as talented as Samson He’d always been
chasing his brother trying to save him. By selling that piece,
she’d shown him a possibility he’d never known. And he couldn’t
even tell her.

“Hey, so I was thinking. Maybe we could go
away this weekend. You and me. Catalina or San Diego. Maybe down to
Mexico, take a couple of days and get to know each other without
all the crazy.”
Preferably somewhere you won’t
ditch me when you find out I lied to you
.

She stopped tracing lazy circles on his back
and turned to face him. Wide blue eyes blinked up at him, and she
began to squirm under him. Something was wrong. Very wrong. He’d
pushed her too far maybe. “Stay put, I’ll be right back,” he
said.

Eli stumbled into the bathroom, cleaned up,
and adjusted his clothing. He wet a washcloth with warm water and
brought it back to her. He cleaned her up and readjusted her dress
as best he could. When she was clothed, he sat across from her.
“You want to tell me what’s wrong?”

“Eli, I—”

He knew that look. Ice and dread knotted in
his belly. She was going to leave him. “Jess, whatever you think
you want to do right now, don’t. Look, I’m sorry. I came off as
really intense right now, and we fell into the usual pattern. I
…I—” His heart hammered, and he could feel the panic attack coming
on, like when he thought Sam was dying.
Oh
shit.

“Eli. I can’t go away with you. I can’t keep
seeing you.”

Oh Shit.
The moment
the words were out of her mouth, his whole body went numb. She’d
found a reason to leave without even knowing the truth. As she
spoke, it was as if she held a megaphone in a sprawling auditorium
of one person. “Eli, I watched you tonight. I was so sick with
jealousy. You and I weren’t ever really meant to work out. You’re
an artist, and at the end of the day, that’s not what I want for
myself. I’ll always be second guessing. I’ll always be wondering if
I’m enough. I know I keep saying it’s the last thing I want, but I
need someone stable with a stable life. It will help me feel solid.
I’m so sorry. I just can’t. You will break my heart.”

Disconnected from the numbness of his body,
Eli forced himself out of the chair and woodenly headed for the
door. Peripherally, he knew she was crying. He wanted to comfort
her, but she would always see Samson. Not Eli.

With a soft click of the door, he left.

“I’m in love with him. So I broke up with
him. That's crazy, right?” Jessica clutched her throw pillow as she
and Izzy watched Kara toddle around Izzy’s living room.

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

Jessica scowled at Izzy, but she shrugged.
“You love him, but you ran. Does that sound rational to you?”

No
. “Yes.” How the
hell was she that girl? Sitting around crying over a dude. A dude
that she loved. “I mean, what would you have done if you were me?
He’s too much. Too intense. And I can’t take any more shows like
last night. I know it’s insecure, but I can’t help it. Seeing him
with another woman—it’s not something I can look at night after
night and be okay with it. He’s brilliant, but I can’t support
him.”

Izzy nodded. “Sweetheart, I understand how
you feel, but at the end of the day it comes down to trust and how
he makes you feel about yourself when you’re with him.”

How did she feel when she was with him?
Besides completely off kilter. “I feel alive. Like he sees me. Like
I don’t have to be anyone other than who I was intended to be.”

Izzy smirked. “You sound like that theme
song from that television show.”

Jessica rolled her eyes. “I need your help
here, Iz. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“Honey, as much as I’m dying to tell you to
be with him and simply embrace your happiness, I’m afraid I can’t.
You have to come to that conclusion all on your own. And you have
to figure out what you want.”

She wanted Eli, but she couldn’t have him.
“The two of us together would be a bad idea. I’ve got too much
shit, and he’s, well, him, and so rigid sometimes, and so
Samson
. He’s an artist.”

Izzy grinned. “Rigid, huh?”

Jessica glared at her. “I swear my best
friend is fourteen.”

“No, honey, you were thinking it.” Then more
soberly, she added, “Jessica, don’t lose him because you’re afraid.
If you think it really won’t work out, pick legitimate reasons and
stick to them. Don’t manufacture them in your head. You deserve
love. But you have to believe it first. Not to mention for an
artistic type, he’s pretty straight-laced. I think it’s great that
he grounds you.”

Jess sniffled. “Yeah, I guess you're right.
For once, I picked the guy I should have picked.”

“Yeah, there's that.” Izzy rubbed her eyes
then asked the million dollar question. “What are you going to do
about managing him?”

Sadness enveloped Jessica like a cloud. Less
than a month ago, she’d had no boyfriend and no star client. A few
short weeks later, she’d already
had
and
lost
both. “I don’t know. After I broke up
with him, he walked out on me.”

Izzy patted her arm as they huddled close on
Izzy's couch with a throw over Jessica's legs. “Sweetie, if you
want to be with him, why didn't you guys work it out? You have to
give a little if you want to win big.”

Jessica sniffled again. Through the layer of
tears, she reached for another tissue. “Because I’ll always see him
with other women. I'll keep playing it over and over in my
head.”

“But, honey, you're not really the jealous
type. You’ve always had confidence in spades. At least you look the
part on the outside.”

She dragged the blanket tighter against her.
“It's easy to have confidence when you don’t care about something.
Every guy I’ve ever dated I could put on a ton of bravado and walk
because I really didn't care. I've been dating guys I knew weren’t
the type I wanted. Knew were no good, and at the end of the day,
didn’t really make me feel anything.”

“Then why did you go out with them?”

“No one better to do?”

Izzy barked out a laugh. “Even sorely
depressed, you can make me laugh.”

“What am I going to do?” She sniffled some
more and wiped her nose.

“Okay, you say he wanted to go away with
you. Honey, no man wants to do that unless he's into you. Like
really into you. He wants you.”

“But he's an artist and bad for me, and I
think I'm sort of outgrowing my misfit life. It doesn't fit
anymore.”

“You’re not taking any of that to heart, are
you? I've noticed I see less piercings and fewer wigs. I didn’t
want you to change yourself. I was just suggesting a little less
facial hardware when you were meeting with clients.”

Jessica reached out to squeeze Izzy's hand.
“I know, babes. Truth is, except for the Sanskrit tat on my back,
that I can’t even see without the aid of a mirror, every single one
of my piercings has been because of a guy. Because I broke up with
a guy or because my mother drove me to drink. I figure being an
outsider was the way to stand out. Then I got older and liked my
misfit crowd. I sorta didn't need the trappings anymore.”

“No reason you can’t have the crowd without
the trappings. And hate to break it to you, but with that body and
that pale blond hair, you stand out no matter what you do. You
didn’t need all this other stuff.”

“Yeah, I know.” She shrugged. “I met Eli,
and I sort of wanted him to see me. Like me without all this stuff
on me, ya know. Just me.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Boisterous male voices echoed down the halls
and then abruptly halted. Through her tears, Jessica saw Jason and
Nick both wearing horrified expressions and Aaron who surprisingly
had a look of murder and concern on his face. Hmm, well go figure,
he didn't hate her after all.

Izzy waved them away. “Nothing to see here,
fellas. Take yourselves on into the game room or courts, we're
having a girls’ moment. Any minute, we're going to start singing
jingles from tampon commercials.”

If the tears hadn’t done them in that
certainly did. They all fled.

“You know how to clear a room.”

“My bad ass bestie taught me that.”

“Not feeling so bad ass right about
now.”

“Well, honey, if you love him, then I don’t
see any reason you shouldn’t be with him. But you guys need to have
a couple of conversations about what you’re comfortable with and
what you’re not comfortable with.”

“But he has to work, Iz. I don't want to get
in the way of that.”

“Dude, have you ever considered being his
model? I mean come on. That resolves the problem if he continues to
do these, erm, uh, exhibitions.”

Jessica frowned. No, she'd never considered
being his model. “I guess it never crossed my mind.”

“Because you were so focused on
running.”

“But I love him, why would I run?”

“Because, by your own admission, you've
never been in love. That shit is frightening. You remember how bad
I nearly fucked it up.”

Thinking back to how Izzy hadn’t told Jason
she was pregnant at first and almost lost Nick to his crazy bio
mom, Jessica shuddered. “Is this how it always happens?”

“Don't know. Only really been in love once.
I feel for anyone going through it.”

“It sucks.”

“Hear, hear, sister. Now, what are you going
to do about getting your man back?”

***

Before going to find Eli, Jessica made a
stop at her mother’s. She regretted the decision the moment Michael
answered the door.