Slow Hands

night like a wild, untamed creature. When she saw the handprints all over the windows the next day, she’d decided untamed had been a very good description.
    There’d been two full nights of laughter and whispered conversation and sexual bliss, then another two nights of secretive silence. Until now. It was Sunday again, and she was driving to meet him at a local restaurant.
    He’d offered to come over. But they’d both known from the other night that if she allowed that, they wouldn’t eat anything until morning. Well, except each other, that is. And frankly, while that thought was incredibly appealing, she was starving for real food and her kitchen was, as usual, pretty empty.
    Besides, they had all night. For now, she just wanted to enjoy his company, in public, as if they were any other couple.
    You’re not .
    “Yeah, yeah,” she muttered to the skeptical voice in her head as she entered the restaurant promptly at seven o’clock, her gaze traveling the crowded establishment in search of his familiar broad shoulders and short, thick hair.
    “What?”
    She hadn’t even realized he’d been standing in the vestibule until he’d stepped beside her and touched her arm.
    “Hi.”
    “Hi yourself.” Despite the crowd, he bent and brushed a gentle kiss across her lips. When it ended, instead of pulling away, he brushed his nose against hers in a sweet, tender gesture—an Eskimo kiss, she remembered from her childhood, having dim memories of sharing them with her mother. She melted a little on the spot.
    “Shall we get a table?”
    “Absolutely! I’m famished.”
    “That mean you’re not having a salad?”
    Maddy elbowed him in the ribs as they approached the hostess station to request a table. Before they reached it, however, Jake’s cell phone rang. “I’ll turn it off,” he muttered, “I’m not on call tonight….”
    Maddy put her hand up to stop him from saying anything further. She did not want to know about his “on call” time. “It’s okay.”
    “Uh-oh,” he said, reading the number. “I probably should take this.”
    Maddy smiled at the hostess, requesting a table for two while Jake stepped to the corner to take the call. Trying not to listen, she couldn’t help overhearing a few snippets of the conversation. Words like “sweetie” and “honey, it’ll be okay, you know I’m here for you,” making her ears perk up as if she were James Bond’s partner in spying.
    The words were bad enough. The soft, gentle tone, however, truly bothered her. She did not like to think of him using that voice with any other woman. And she had no doubt it was another woman he was talking to.
    “You know, why don’t you give that table to someone else?” she told the hostess, her back stiffening. She’d lost her appetite.
    “That’s a good idea,” Jake said, snapping his phone closed and giving her a grateful look as he returned to her side.
    Huh. She wondered how grateful he’d be if she took the phone from his fingers and pitched it into the restaurant’s tropical fish tank.
    “We’ve got to go.”
    “We?” Her brow arching, she added, “Are you sure you don’t need to go alone? I’m quite capable of seeing myself home—I have my own car.”
    He shook his head, taking her arm to lead her outside. “No, I’m not letting you get away, I’ve been looking forward to this date since I left your place Friday morning.” He opened the door for her, waited while she exited, and followed her out into the night. “It shouldn’t take long.” Frowning, he added, “I hope.”
    “Look, Jake, I know this is just business and everything, but if you have to go deal with one of your other…clients…I’d really prefer not to go along for the ride. I’m not the type of woman who’ll wait in the car while you dash inside and explain to Mrs. Robinson that you can’t be at her beck and call tonight.”
    He froze, his jaw dropping open. Which was when she realized she’d made a big mistake. “I thought…I mean…”
    “You honestly thought I was going to take you along while I went to meet a client. ”
    “You were so tender on the phone, I assumed…”
    “It was my baby sister, Jenny. She just had a big fight with her boyfriend. He drove away and stranded her down at the Navy Pier. She was bawling her eyes out and asked me to come get her and take her back to her dorm.”
    Jake shook his head, disappointment so clear in his expression she could almost feel it washing over her.