Take This Man

Chapter Two



“I"m going to Summit for a week or so.” Jason looked at Elyse as she carried two cups of tea into the living room of her tiny apartment.

Though it was two years since she"d left, Elyse never heard the name of her home town without inwardly flinching. Home town? What was she thinking? It had never been home. She"d never had one, not really.


She hoped her friend hadn"t caught her instinctive response. She tried to cover it with an expression of mild surprise, while setting the cups down on the coffee table. “Really? What"s the occasion?”

Jason visited his family once or twice a year—

his “duty” visit, he called it—and they rarely spoke otherwise. He was a disappointment to his family, in more ways than one.

“Some birthday or big anniversary? You usually skip those affairs, don"t you?” Jason preferred to avoid the drama of those family occasions and chose instead to send a tasteful and very expensive gift.

“Nothing like that.” His lips turned down in distaste as he looked down at his cup. “What is this?”

Elyse went back to the kitchen for the cookies.

“Lemon verbena. It"s good.”

“One of those herbal concoctions? Why can"t you ever serve real tea? Or real coffee, for God"s sake?”

“You"re over-caffeinated as it is. Don"t be a baby, go on, try it.” In spite of what once happened 10

between them, Jason was now Elyse"s closest friend.

There was nothing sexual in their relationship, nor had there been since that one night, two years ago.

He brought her to Albany with him when he realized she had no intention of staying in Summit, and no money to go anywhere else. He also revealed his true sexual orientation.

Jason looked out for her, helped her find a place to stay, and a job, when she knew no one else in the city. He did all that for her even when she still hated him. She"d hated everyone at the time, most of all herself.

She"d asked him why, once. Why he"d helped her when he didn"t even know her? Had it been out of guilt?

“It gave me something to do,” he told her.

“Somebody to worry about and take care of.

Something to think about besides my own sorry life.” She never would have made it without Jason.

Hell, he was her rock.

“Well, don"t keep me hanging,” she told him, setting the dish of chocolate-covered marshmallow cookies on the coffee table. “Something important must be happening for you to go back there. What is it?” “Coop"s getting a divorce.” Jason"s announcement was flat and matter-of-fact.

Elyse blinked. He"d tossed her a boulder, and she was flattened. She sank onto the futon. “Cooper Caddiman?”

“The one and only,” Jason sighed from his chair.

She felt dazed. “What…how…how"d you hear this?”

Jason hesitated, then looked at her. “He told me.” “You"ve been talking to him?” He nodded, his gaze flickering away. Elyse"s shock was replaced by a surge of anger. “Have you 11

lost your mind?”

He winced, holding up his palms defensively.

“Leelee—”

“Don"t try to get around me with that stupid nickname. I asked you if you"ve lost your damn mind! Cooper Caddiman? He broke your heart!”

“I know, but—”

“But what? He told you he loved you, then turned around and got married. To a woman.” Jason"s face settled into a mask of sadness. “I know.”

Elyse backed off. She didn"t want to add to Jason"s pain, but she had to keep him from getting hurt again.

“He was afraid to come out. It"s not easy, you know, and especially not to people like his. They"re very conservative—”

“Oh, boohoo.” She ground her teeth. Cooper Caddiman was a sleaze. Not only did he betray Jason, he also married some poor unsuspecting woman who had no idea he who he really was. “That doesn"t mean he"s entitled to screw up two people"s lives, three if you count his.” She was on a roll again.

“Which I don"t, because he"s an a*shole—”

“It"s not working,” Jason interrupted. “The marriage.”

“Oh, gee, well, I wonder why.” Elyse grabbed one of the chocolate-covered cookies and took an angry bite. “They"re splitting up. And I"m going to go see him.”

She shook her head no because her mouth was full. Jason"s carefully tended eyebrows lifted. “No?”

“No,” she told him firmly once she swallowed.

“I"ll tie you down if have to.”

“Mmm. Kinky. I might like it.” When Jason smiled, the dimples on either side of his mouth 12

deepened. It was enough to send even a marble statue"s heart a-flutter. He was that handsome. His good looks actually went far beyond handsome, into the realm of beautiful. If he"d been born a few decades earlier, he"d have made a matinee idol to give Tyrone Power a run for his money. With those startling blue eyes and killer dimples, he was a ringer for a perfect model in some glossy magazine ad for designer jeans or hair gel. Elyse pictured him slouched against a wall pouting and looking bored.

I"m so above all you people looking at this.

Even Elyse, who was well aware of his sexual preference, was not completely immune to her friend"s charms. But she was not about to be distracted by them now.

Time to get the discussion back on track. “How long have you been talking to him?” Jason sighed and took a sip of his tea. “Couple months.”

“And who contacted who first?”

“He did. He sent me an e-mail.” She crammed the rest of her cookie into her mouth, chewed ferociously, and wished instead she was taking a bite out of Cooper Caddiman. Damn him anyway. Jason had moved on, but even two years later that son of a bitch Coop refused to let him go. It would have been easy enough for him to find Jason"s e-mail address, maybe even locating him through the law firm Jason worked for.

“You could have ignored him,” she pointed out.

He bowed his head in agreement. “True. But you never completely get over your first love. You should know that.”

Elyse stiffened. She wasn"t going to go there.

This was about Jason.

“So he"s getting a divorce, and he wants you back. Is that it?”

“He"s getting a divorce and…we"re going to 13

discuss the future.”

“No. No, no, no. He"s going to suck you in and break your heart again. You have to stay away from him,” Elyse pleaded.

They were both startled by the sudden appearance of Elyse"s cat, Jezebel. The tortoiseshell had slipped into the living room and leapt to the arm of Jason"s chair, rubbing against his sleeve and purring to beat the band.

“Jez, get down,” she said.

“No, she"s fine.” He stroked the cat as she settled onto his lap. That was another of Jason"s charms—

he didn"t object to cat fur on his expensive suit.

“I"m not stupid, Leelee.” He ignored her snort.

“I"m not going into this blindly. I"m not making any assumptions. Things may not work out. But even if they don"t, I have to go back and face the past. I"ve tried running from it for two years. Anyway,” he shifted, crossing his legs, “I didn"t come here to ask for your approval. I know I won"t get it.” Elyse crossed her arms over her chest. “Damn right, you won"t.”

He smiled. “It would be easier to take you seriously if you didn"t have chocolate smeared all over your mouth.”

“Shit.” She swiped her fingers across her lips and saw the evidence on them. She rose and grabbed a paper towel from the roll in the kitchen, and scrubbed her mouth furiously.

She dropped back onto the futon, glaring at him.


Jason pointed to a spot of chocolate she missed.

“I don"t know how you can eat those things. They"re disgusting.”

She crossed her arms over her chest again and gave him a mean look. “Shut up. I"m mad at you.”

“Because I insulted your cookies?”

“No, because you"re being stupid, and you"re gonna get hurt again.”

14

He set his cup on the coffee table. “Well, since you object so strenuously, maybe you"ll come with me.” The breath whooshed out of Elyse"s lungs. He"d landed another boulder. “What?”

“Come with me. You can be my faithful watchdog, make sure I don"t do anything stupid.” She huffed. “You need a watchdog. Preferably a big one, who"d tear a chunk out of Coop"s ass.” Jason winked at her, his dimples flashing.

“You"re no mastiff, but you"ll do. Come with me.” He was serious. Elyse"s heart thumped hard against her breastbone. She shook her head. “No. If you"re going to screw up your life, I"m not going to be a witness.”

“Bullshit.” His voice snapped the air like glass cracking.

She gaped at him.

“It"s not about me,” he told her. “You"re scared.

You have as much baggage from the past as I have, back there in dear old Summit.” Sweat broke out along her hairline. She never allowed herself to think about that part of her past.

She"d kept herself too busy the past two years to dwell on it. But Jason was right. Part of her had never let go of that pain. Though she often told herself it was over and forgotten, Elyse knew it wasn"t true.

But the lie was easier, and safer. “I"m over him.”

“Again, bullshit.” Jason"s blue eyes were like lasers as he leaned forward, unsettling the cat. “You are so not over Adam Vostek.” He flicked his hand to indicate her tiny apartment. “You"ve entombed yourself in this charming place—”

“Entombed? That"s crazy.”

“Look around. A lousy little furnished place with crappy furniture and no personal touches, nothing.

Not even pictures on the wall. Nothing to show that 15

Elyse Zemanski lives here. It"s as Spartan as a nun"s cell.” “I don"t like clutter. I"m not attached to stuff.” Growing up, she had taught herself not to get too attached to anything, since she never knew where she"d be from one day to the next. That was life with Sunny, her mom.

With her grandmother, her life had been more stable. But the woman had shown nothing but a cold sense

of

duty

toward

her

out-of-wedlock

granddaughter. Elyse was living proof of her mother"s sinful lifestyle. Everything given by Grandma Wanda was given grudgingly, and accepted just as grudgingly by Elyse. Again, not a conducive atmosphere for forming attachments.

“That"s right,” Jason was saying. “The only thing you"re attached to is the cat.” Jez jumped onto Elyse"s lap, as if to prove the point. She stroked Jezebel"s soft fur, wincing a bit as the cat lightly pricked her thighs with outstretched claws.

“You have no life outside this self-imposed prison cell,” he told her.

“I have a life. I work—”

“You work at a job you hate, with people you don"t like.”

True enough. Her job sucked. Working as a cashier at the SaveMart wouldn"t be so bad if she wasn"t stuck with an overbearing a*shole of a manager. Chester was the kind of guy who made himself important by nitpicking and belittling the other employees, even in front of the customers. The workers wavered between resentment and fear, afraid that speaking up might cost them their jobs.

It made for a pretty miserable workplace.

Elyse had been squirreling money away, promising herself she"d leave. But something kept her from taking the next step.

16

Still, she wasn"t stagnating completely. “I"m taking courses.”

Though that wasn"t much comfort. She could afford no more than one or two classes per semester, so she"d be about forty by the time she earned her business degree.

“Your college courses are online. You go to work, come home, and sit in front of the computer in this little cracker box. When do you ever go out and have fun, except when I drag you?”

“I go out,” she murmured, in her agitation stroking the cat so firmly that Jezebel complained.

She went to the post office, to the local bank, to a coffee shop within walking distance. And she ran five miles every day. That counted as getting out, didn"t it?

Jason was closing in, not about to let her off the hook. “Look at yourself. You"re twenty-three years old, you"ve got a knockout face and a great body and look at how you"re dressed.”

Elyse glanced down at herself. She had on a button-down blouse and a pair of jeans. What was the problem, for God"s sake? Just because the jeans didn"t have some famous name on the butt—

“Where do you get your clothes, anyway, the Salvation Army?”

Her temper flared. “Not all of us can afford to buy designer fashions at expensive boutiques, you know.”

He brushed that aside. “And for God"s sake, when was the last time you had your hair done?” Her blonde mane was pulled into a ponytail at the back of her head. “It"s easier this way.”

“Lazier, you mean. You dress like a middle-aged woman. You hide behind these four walls and those frumpy clothes. Face it, Leelee. You"re as stuck in the past as I am.”

Elyse"s face burned. She let go of Jez, who 17

hopped off her lap to attack a toy mouse lying on the floor.

She looked around her apartment, seeing it with new eyes. Jason was right—it did look Spartan; in fact, downright barren. What had she really accomplished in the last two years? Looking at it now, she realized she"d been spinning her wheels.

But she didn"t have the guts to do anything about it. She wasn"t as brave as Jason.

“Elyse.” His voice was quiet. “Come with me.

Quit your job. You"ve been threatening to for months, and it"s just making you bitchy, anyway.” She made a face at him. “Thanks.”

“Bring your laptop with you, and you can keep up with all your college crap.”

“My education is crap. Nice.” She rolled her eyes. “All you need is internet access, which you can find at any coffee house or library. And before you offer any more lame excuses,” he added when she again opened her mouth, “let me just say that I will foot the bill for all of the travel expenses.” Elyse bristled at the way he brushed aside the inconvenience of her poverty with just a wave of his hand. “I"m not your charity case, Jason.”

“Calm down,” he answered in a languid voice. “If it makes you feel any better, you can go steerage.

While I"m in first class, you can ride underneath the bus with the luggage.”

She snorted, not only from imagining herself bumping around with the suitcases beneath the bus, but from knowing that Jason Devereaux wouldn"t be caught dead using any kind of public transportation.

“There is no first class on the bus,” she informed him. He shrugged. Elyse wanted to wipe the satisfied little smile off his face. All her excuses had been cover-ups, and Jason knew it.

18

She wasn"t about to fess up to the real reason she didn"t want to return to Summit. She couldn"t face Adam Vostek again. Maybe Jason was ready to face his past, but Elyse was in no way up to dealing with hers.


She didn"t need to tell him that, either.

She shook her head helplessly. “I can"t.” She was ashamed of how weak and frightened her voice sounded.

“Leelee.”

She lifted her head and looked at her friend. His smirk was gone. He was showing her the real Jason, the one who"d been hurt, the one without the smooth veneer, without artifice.

“Please come with me. I wasn"t kidding when I told you I need someone to look out for me. I don"t know what"s going to happen with Coop, and I need you to help me keep my head straight. As for the rest of it…” He sighed. “You don"t have to do anything you don"t want to.”

Her shoulders sagged with relief. He was giving her an out. A choice.

She had a choice two years ago, too. A choice that brought an end to all her hopes and dreams.

Adam hadn"t loved her. If he had, he never would have wanted to share her.

Jason was still watching her, still waiting for an answer.

She owed him, big time. How could she refuse him now? She nodded. “I"ll come.” He grinned and got out of his seat to hug her.

She smiled, only half-listening to his instructions, his plans, when they"d leave, and where they"d stay.

He kissed her cheek, and she followed him to the door, where he gave her a wink and a little wave.

Jason the charmer, once again. Elyse kept her smile pasted on until he was gone and the door was closed behind her.

19

Her insides twisted into knots and would remain that way throughout her time “back home.” It didn"t matter. She"d tough it out for Jason. Not because she owed him, but because she loved him.

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