Previous Chapter: Flamingo Jaguar
When I first get home, I don’t bother to check my waiting jobs. I’m too tense and frustrated. I start to do some exercising, but the jarring keeps making my eyes water from the pain and the bleeding starts back up again. Though the damn thing is broken, there’s no point in a doctor’s visit. They can’t do anything but put a bandaid on it (the old lady’s is, indeed, incredibly painful to remove; I curse her and the target for quite a while during and after the removal). I already reset it, damn painful, but necessary to start the healing process. I decide instead that I really need to relax, so do something I rarely do and have a drink as I enjoy a cigar, sitting on the porch looking out over the countryside. It’s only one drink, I favor it for the flavor and have no intention of even getting a buzz, let alone tipsy or worse. The combination of the relaxing atmosphere, the cigar and the sips of my drink finally start to work their magic and I begin to unwind. The cigars I favor take a good sixty to ninety minutes to work through; by the time I finish, I’m able to put Inspector Clouseau behind me. I remain on the porch and watch the sun go down behind the Rocky Mountains as the final bits of angst seep out of the pores of my soul.
Driven in by the cool of the evening, routine for this high desert area, I finally check my systems for new jobs. Lo and behold! Isabel is asking for assistance! Long ago I gave her the information to contact me. I haven’t seen her for just about three years, though I think about her quite a bit. I quickly respond, hoping she’s actively monitoring these communications. I can’t sit still. I’m all worked up again, but in a much happier way. I’m surprised at how much I’ve come to care about her. I’m not used to these sorts of feelings.
Happily, Isabel is monitoring this communication and we arrange for a secure phone call. It seems that she’s in need of my services and wants me to join her. However, because she knows I’m (usually) celibate on the job, she wants to spend some time with me before I begin my work. Paying a deposit, again. I look forward to that and the final payment! I inform her that I charge fifty-grand just to evaluate a job, with no guarantees that I’ll follow through. She tells me that she manages her own budget now and will guarantee that fee and accept whatever decision I make.
I ask who’s on the team, she’s working with Jeff and Eric again. Sadly, no Tessa this time, but then again, no one new to adjust to either. I get her location and set a time to meet, then start gathering my things in preparation. I pack a few additional items as I may not want to return home like I usually do before I take on a job.
It’s about twenty-four hours before all the travel legs have meshed and I meet her at the local airport. She looks just as lovely as before, wearing a form-fitting charcoal gray dress that runs to just above her knees. Very professional, yet sexy as hell. As she rushes forward to meet me, I put out a cautionary hand. Her disappointed expression is quite eloquent, so I briefly mention I got smacked hard on the nose on my last job and only makeup is keeping me from looking like a raccoon. More details will have to wait for appropriate privacy. We’re talking Spanish this time, we’re in one of Venezuela’s coastal cities.
She’s cautious of my nose and gives me a rather chaste peck on the cheek. I’m disappointed, sort of like getting kissed by an aunt. She takes my arm and escorts me to the car. Eric is behind the wheel. We put my bags in the trunk and get in the back. He asks how the trip went. I reply it was the usual dull routine. He expertly navigates the often anarchic traffic, knowing when to yield and when to be aggressive. Though the safe house isn’t that far away, the traffic makes the trip about an hour. Though Isabel and I hold hands and sit touching, I spend most of my time looking out the windows. I guess I’m still in a funk from my last job, though I’m sure there is some jet lag involved. Well, perhaps not the conventional “lag,” I didn’t shift many time zones. Just the normal fatigue of travel. Anyway, after we arrive and drop my bags in a bedroom, I take a short shower and join them in the living room. They all look surprised at my black eyes, which have really got evil looking, though the pain is finally starting to ebb. Since they clearly want an explanation, I give them a slightly sanitized version of the story. Now that it’s history, I’m able to chuckle along with them at my misadventure.
After my tale, Jeff starts clearing the table in preparation for laying out maps, but Isabel tells him to hold off. Jeff and Eric exchange suggestive looks. I guess there’s been some discussion about my modus operandi. Though it’s still fairly early, I’m exhausted, so decide to call it a day and will just have to wait until tomorrow to enjoy my time with Isabel.
Because I went to sleep so early, I wind up waking long before dawn. Because of my nose, I’m sleeping on my side, not belly, like I prefer. I get up for a bathroom break, intending to go back to sleep, but find I’m wide awake. Not wanting to bother anyone, I head back to bed, figuring I’d just lie there and think. As I slide under the covers, I realize Isabel joined me sometime during the night. I return to the bathroom to brush my teeth, intending to do some cuddling. I slide back into bed, after making sure my hands are nice and warm, and work my body next to hers. As I start to explore, I find she isn’t wearing anything, which brings me to attention right away. I spoon and put my nose in her hair to get her lovely scent, though cocked off to one side in case she moves, I don’t want to bleed everywhere again.
Frustratingly, it seems my smashed nose has robbed me of my ability to catch her scent, though I suppose she might smell different now. I press myself against her beautiful behind. She murmurs and starts to react by pressing backwards. I reach around to play with her chest, then run my hand across her flat tummy and amazing thighs. She starts to awaken and rolls toward me. I quickly turn onto my back so she doesn’t hit anything. She puts a hand on my chest and a leg on my stomach and thighs and starts to rub me. Then mutters about dragon breath and, before I can tell her I don’t smell anything, slithers out of bed. I fumble to turn on the side table lamp, but am not fast enough to catch a glimpse before she’s in the bathroom. I hear the toilet flush, the sink run and her scrubbing with the toothbrush. I’m sitting up in bed now, waiting in anticipation for her return.
She saunters out and does a slow spin for me. She looks as great as ever, I’m eager to hold her, touch her, make love to her. She comes to the side of the bed and sits on the edge. She looks carefully at my nose but doesn’t touch. She gently kisses each eye, then my lips.
I complain, “I’m not that fragile!”
“I don’t want to hurt you, why I slept without touching.”
“It’s a lot less painful now, though please don’t bump it. I realize it isn’t that romantic, we can turn the light off if you prefer.”
She says, “No, the rest of you looks great. I’ll just focus on those parts.”
I’m all set to go now, so kick off the blankets and pull her toward me so I can kiss her properly. She’s still careful of my nose but puts some passion in it this time. I caress her back, running my fingers up through her hair.
She leans me back onto the bed, spilling her gorgeous hair over me, and snuggles against an ear.
“I’ve been waiting three long years for this.”
I echo her comment.
After we’re done, she spoons against me. We lie there for a while and I can tell she’s drifted off to sleep. I carefully reach to get the blankets to cover us, then pull her tight against me.