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However, when Lee’s schedule arrived in her office and Mr. Salamone called her and asked her to deliver it personally to Lee that day, her newly restored calm disappeared.
Chapter 4
The ride to Lee’s house was a stressful one for Je
She pulled into the lot behind his condominium and got out of the car, sca
He was so absorbed that he did not see her. She stopped, fascinated. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the sight of him, naked to the waist, clad only in brief cut-off denims and sneakers, going through his exercises. The sun gleamed on his bronze skin, giving it a soft luster, and his jet hair, mussed from exertion, clung to his head with dampness.
He paused for a moment, hands on hips, to catch his breath, still unaware of her presence. Je
Lee bent to wipe his face with a towel draped over the handlebars of an exercise bike standing nearby. Perspiration ran in rivulets on his arms and streamed down his chest and heavily muscled abdomen. The waistband of his shorts was soaked.
Je
He looked up, pushing back his hair, and took a gray T-shirt from the seat of the bike, pulling it over his head as he came toward her. She felt a little better with him covered up, but not much. His physical presence was still overwhelming.
“Hi,” he said, unlatching the gate and stepping aside to let her pass. “Come on inside. It’s broiling out here.”
Je
“This is very nice,” she said coolly, trying not to show how impressed she was.
He looked around. “Thanks,” he said vaguely. “I bought it for when I’m in town, but I won’t be using it much. I’m on the road with the team most of the season.”
Quite an elaborate arrangement for a place he would hardly use. Well, he had the money to throw around if he wanted to buy a home in every major city.
“I was working out when you arrived,” he said, “and I’m afraid I’m not fit company for a lady right now. Would you mind if I took a quick shower?”
That conjured up mental images Je
“May I get you anything before I go? A drink? Iced tea?”
Such exaggerated politeness, coming from him, almost struck her fu
“No, thank you. I’m fine.”
“I’ll be back shortly,” he said and vanished up the stairs.
Je
Two studies on the polished oak mantel of the fireplace particularly caught her eye. One was an 8 x 10 glossy of a younger, more i
The other was of Lee and a beautiful young girl with long black hair and a proud, unflinching gaze. He had his arm around her possessively. They were both in fancy dress, Lee in a tuxedo, the girl in a gown of a style popular ten or twelve years ago.
Je
Lee had changed into white duck pants with a narrow belt and a short-sleeved sport shirt of crisp, light cotton. The outfit was oddly 1920s, like something out of The Great Gatsby. His primitive good looks meshed effectively with the WASPish clothes.
He had hurried to return: his hair was still wet, and damp patches on his skin made the thin material of his shirt cling to his body. There was a faint splotch of white powder on the side of his throat.
Je
Lee came and sat beside her, and the clean scent of soap wafted from him as he did so. She moved back, very slightly. He noticed it and glanced at her. She could not tell what he was thinking.
Je
Je
“Thanks for coming out here,” he said. “It was kind of you to let me know the rundown as soon as you got it.”
Je
She looked up at him. He remained with his fingers clasping her wrist.
“Will you have di
Je
He waited, his face impassive.
Je
“I...I think I’d like that,” she heard herself say. Lee’s expression softened.
“Great. I’ll call you, then?”
“Fine,” Je
She drove back to the office in a daze, unable to believe that she had a date with the National Football League’s Most Valuable Player three years in a row, the Cawassa Comet, the Blackfoot Bullet, Bradley Beaufort Youngson.
* * * *
Je
Chez Odette was a fancy French restaurant on the outskirts of New Hope, very atmospheric, with a picturesque setting on the barge canal of the Delaware River. She didn’t have much that was suitable to wear to such a place, and she tortured herself with various combinations of clothes, jewelry, shoes, and handbags, until in desperation she went back to her first idea and settled on that.