Driving away she feels by turns elated and confused: uneasy, at intervals, because too often Charlie seems to have that ability to take her by surprise-as he did ten minutes ago when, dishes washed and cognac swirled and lights turned down, he took the glass out of her hand and kissed her as she had not been kissed in longer than she could remember-flicking tongue and hard body pressure-and then lifted her to her feet and steered her toward the door.
“Peaches, I’ll delight in making love with you and I hope we do it soon but right now neither of us could be sure it isn’t just putting the signatures on a business deal. I don’t mind doing it out of sheer adrenaline. I don’t even mind a gratitude fuck. But I don’t like screwing for business. Big bad Charlie may be a pretty loose fellow but he ain’t yet standing in doorways.”
As it happened he was standing in the doorway when he said that. It made them both laugh a bit.
Then he said, “I don’t know where you’re coming from. I’ve been around you a month or so and I still haven’t figured out whether you used to be a librarian or a high-priced call girl. Now just on the off chance it’s the former, I don’t want to feel guilty if you wake up in the morning hating yourself, you should pardon the expression. So let’s take a rain-check.”
She kissed him on the lips-she can still taste it-and when she drove away she saw him in the mirror standing under the street light, not waving, just watching her go.
She likes Charlie. It’s easy to become fond of such a man. But when there may be an enemy lurking around every corner you learn to distrust the unexpected and those who purvey it.
Charlie may not have been a wise choise. There’s too much captain in him and not enough crew. And the sexual attraction doesn’t make things any easier.
But there’s not much she can do about it now.
She’s going to have to be very careful in deciding how much of the truth she can reveal to him about Albert. If she tells him too little he may not take the dangers seriously enough; if she tells him too much it may discourage him.
She’s thinking: I can handle it. I can handle him. You know I think it’s going to work. I honestly think this ridiculous scheme is going to work. You hear me, Ellen? Don’t give up. Momma’s coming, darling.