Post by Jen on Apr 26, 2009 21:42:31 GMT -5
“Mmm,” Gus murmured into Harley’s neck as he twirled a strand of her hair around his finger.
“What?” she asked sleepily.
“I missed you,” he replied softly and kissed her shoulder.
“Well you’re the one who had to leave town for four days,” Harley teased. “Although I think the Newark souvenir pen made your absence worth it.”
“Oh thanks a lot,” he laughed and propped his head up with his elbow. “You always say how you lose all your pens, so I figured you could use it. Or uh, lose it,” he smirked.
“Thanks!” she scoffed.
“I think you already thanked me,” he said, wiggling his eyebrow suggestively.
“Well, I’ve found that you prefer that method of thanking,” she replied.
“Complaints were not the noises you were making either,” he smiled and leaned down to kiss her. “So how was your day?” he asked and she shrugged.
“It was fine.”
“Tell me about it,” he urged and she looked at him suspiciously. “Tell me what you did. I want to hear about what you do every day.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s your livelihood, remember? I know nothing about it other than the fact that it produces good coffee and good turkey sandwiches. And that’s all Shannon’s part. What do you do?”
“Hey, I make the coffee most days, I’ll have you know!” she protested. “It’s boring. You really want to know?” she asked.
“I really do,” he nodded.
“Well, today I helped out in the dining room for a little while, I do that a lot. Refilling coffee, that sort of stuff. Then I got a deposit together, I do that a lot too,” she added. “Got some paperwork together and went to the bank this afternoon to make the deposit and some other stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?” he asked, curious.
“Loan stuff,” she shrugged.
“Are you in trouble, financially, I mean? I thought it was doing well.”
“No, it is. We’re fine, it’s just…” she trailed off.
“What?” he urged her to continue.
“When we decided to move here and open up the restaurant, we just did it. I mean, I sold my house, Shannon quit her job, we took all of our savings, put a deposit on a store we had never seen in person, only in three photos the realtor sent us and moved our lives here. We put everything into this restaurant, if it hadn’t been such a success early on, we would have really been in trouble. But at the time, it was just exciting and it all made so much sense. Looking back, god, what idiots we were, you know?”
“You didn’t get a business loan?”
“We did, but it has lousy terms, so I’m trying to get it worked out so it makes more sense for us in the long run,” she explained.
“It’s going good, then?”
“Yep, got a good guy working for me at the bank,” she nodded.
“Do you regret any of it?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Moving here, the restaurant?”
“No and no, but I do regret how stupid we were about it. If I could, I’d do it over again and do it smarter, definitely. But no, I’m glad we’re where we are. I needed to get out of Florida, out of my life there,” she answered and they were both quiet for a few minutes.
“I’m glad you’re where you are too,” Gus finally said as he trailed his fingers up her thigh over her hip.
“Naked?” she teased before she stifled a yawn.
“I’d take you not naked too,” he replied. “Sleep?” he asked and Harley nodded before he kissed her and rolled over onto his back.
“Hey Gus…” Harley whispered a few minutes later, running her fingernails across his bare stomach.
“Hmm?”
“I missed you too,” she said and snuggled against his side.
“Good to hear,” he smiled as he wrapped his arm around her and they fell asleep.
“Sure, I’ll see you tonight,” Harley heard Gus say into his phone as she came back into her bedroom after getting out of the shower the next morning. He tucked his phone into his briefcase and laid back on Harley’s bed, watching her get dressed. “Hey, what are you doing tonight?” he asked.
“Class,” she answered as she tossed his shoe that she just tripped over at him.
“What about after class?”
“Bed,” she shrugged.
“Well, a good friend of mine – my best friend, I guess - is going to be in town and I’m meeting him for dinner. I thought maybe you could join us after class,” he said.
“Oh,” she replied as she turned toward her closet. “Um, I won’t get out of class until after nine.”
“Yeah, but we’re not meeting until eight, so we’ll still be at the restaurant.”
“I’d have to come home and change…”
“We’re going for wings and beer. You don’t have to get dressed up,” he protested. “Harley,” he began and waited for her to turn toward him. “I really want you to meet Paul, and I really want him to meet you. Just come by whenever you’re done, we haven’t seen each other in a few years, so we have some catching up to do, we’ll be there late. Please?”
“Alright, I’ll stop by after class,” she finally agreed.
“Thank you. I gotta run, I’ll see you tonight,” he said with a kiss before he left the bedroom with his briefcase.
“Uh, want your shoes?” she called out after him and he came back in the room to find her holding up his shoes.
He looked down at his socked feet then grabbed the shoes from her with another kiss, “What would I do without you?”
“Well, you’d have holier socks,” she teased and waved at him as he left again.
“Any news on Salerno? Any new contacts in Chicago?” Gus asked after the waitress delivered their beers and took their orders.
“Oh come on, we can talk shop over the phone. I want to hear about this girl,” Paul said and took a sip of his beer.
“Harley? You’ll meet her later,” Gus replied.
“Yeah, but you have to prepare me. And tell me how she actually convinced you to call her your girlfriend,” Paul added, raising his eyebrow. “I’ve known you for twenty years, you haven’t had an actual girlfriend since you stole Kathy Slater from me in fourth grade.”
“Hey, I can’t help it that the ladies like me more than you,” Gus protested.
“What does she do?” Paul asked after he rolled his eyes playfully at Gus’s arrogance.
“She owns a bakery slash coffee shop. Just a few blocks from here, actually. But she used to be a cop.”
“She left the force? Why?”
“Um, her husband was killed on the job. Needed a change of pace,” Gus shrugged.
“Husband?” Paul asked, surprised. “How long ago?”
“Couple years.”
“Wow, is that weird? I mean, hard to compete with a dead husband,” Paul winced.
“I’m not competing. I mean, yeah, she was married. Yes, she’s grieving, but she’s moving on. And fortunately, it’s with me.”
“Does she know about your dad?”
“She knows he was shot on the job. That’s all,” Gus answered. “And she doesn’t know I changed my name, so…”
“Got it. Don’t call you Nick,” Paul nodded. “Why haven’t you told her?”
Gus exhaled a big breath before he answered, “I don’t know. I guess I don’t know how. It doesn’t matter anyway,” he shrugged.
“Gus, we haven’t seen each other in years and the first thing you want to talk about is work. Come on, we both know that being Nick Augustino matters. And if this girl-“
“Harley,” Gus interrupted.
“If Harley is important to you, she’s gonna find out. And you have to tell her. I mean you didn’t just change your name, you…”
“I know what I’m doing, Paul. I know what I’ve done. I just don’t think she needs to know right now,” Gus insisted.
“Alright. If you say so,” Paul replied, putting up his hands in surrender.
“I do,” Gus nodded and finished his beer.
“So tell me more,” Paul urged.
“I’ll let her tell you,” Gus replied as he stood up when he saw Harley making her way to their booth. “Hey,” he greeted her with a kiss.
“Hi,” she said nervously.
“Harley, this is Paul Castro. Paul, Harley Cooper,” Gus introduced them and they shook hands before Gus followed Harley back into the booth.
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” Harley said as she settled into her seat.
“You too,” Paul nodded and looked at her quizzically.
“Got out early, huh?” Gus asked.
“Yeah, sorry I’m crashing the party early,” she answered.
“No way,” Gus assured her as the waitress came and asked Harley what she wanted to drink.
While Harley ordered a beer, Gus noticed Paul was still looking at Harley funny and tried to get his attention to tell him to knock it off. After the waitress was gone, Harley took a look at her menu and snuck a few glances up at Paul to find him still staring. She turned towards Gus, “Do I have something on my face?” she asked and Paul finally snapped out of it.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to stare, you just…you are not what I was expecting,” he explained.
“Oh,” Harley replied. “Um, okay.”
“What did you expect?” Gus asked.
“Well, you’re not really Gus’s type.”
“I’m not?” Harley asked.
“What’s my type?” Gus wondered.
“Well, brunette, big…uh…brunettes, mostly,” Paul recovered.
“Oh?” Harley asked, looking over at Gus who rolled his eyes.
“Hey, you smell good,” he said as he put his arm around her shoulder and kissed her cheek.
“Nice try,” she laughed and tried to pull away from him.
“No, I mean it. What is that?”
“I don’t know, I had to go to the store and someone sprayed it on me,” she shrugged.
“Excuse me, I’m just going to go to the restroom,” Paul said, grateful to get away from the table before he embarrassed himself and Gus again.
“I like it,” Gus said when they were alone. “A lot,” he added as he kissed her neck.
“Maybe it would smell better on a brunette,” she teased and pushed him away.
“Come on, he didn’t mean anything by it. He’s right, you’re not my type,” Gus shrugged.
“Thanks, your girlfriend can’t hear that enough.”
“Harley, I’m not…I was never the girlfriend type. Right before you came, he told me I hadn’t had a girlfriend since grade school and he’s probably right. The women I’ve dated in the past haven’t been girlfriends, and yeah, I guess brunettes with big boobs was my type. But I would see them and think ‘I’d like to show her a good time’. But when I first saw you, do you know what I thought?” he asked and she narrowed her eyes at him. “’I’d like to talk to her again’,” he continued. “Uh, that was supposed to be a good thing,” he laughed nervously. “I mean, I didn’t just want to have sex with you, you know, I mean, I did, uh…”
“Gus,” Harley stopped his rambling with a kiss. “You’re cute when you think you’re in trouble.”
“I’m not in trouble?” he asked cautiously.
“No, but I have to admit I like seeing you sweat. You may want to tell your friend to filter what he says to your girlfriend about past lovers though,” she teased and Gus sighed heavily.
“I will,” he nodded and leaned over to kiss her. “Did I mention that you smell good?” he asked and she nodded. “Let’s get out of here,” he whispered against her lips.
“And ditch your best friend who we scared off to the bathroom?”
“Trust me, he’ll understand,” Gus replied.
“We’re not leaving,” Harley said, “You’ll have to keep your pants on.”
“Promise you’ll take them off later?” he asked with a smirk.
“I think there’s a good chance of that,” she nodded as Paul came back to the table.
“So, can we start over?” Paul asked as he sat back down. “I’m Paul, Gus’s friend from Chicago.”
“Very nice to meet you Paul,” Harley played along and shook his hand again.
“Gus has told me a lot about you,” he said, “all good, of course.”
“Probably only half of it is true,” Harley laughed. “But since he told you all about me, why don’t you guys tell me how you met,” she elbowed Gus’s side. “You never told me.”
“Oh don’t let him tell you, he’s changed it over the years to make himself the hero,” Paul said.
“I was the hero. The dude was about to pound your ass,” Gus replied.
“I was ready to take him! You were the wuss who just handed over the ball to him so he wouldn’t hit me.”
“Jimmy McArthur,” Gus shuddered, explaining to Harley. “He never let us play basketball during recess without harassing us.”
“He was a mean son of a bitch, even in first grade,” Paul nodded.
“So you met in first grade when Gus cried uncle and lost your ball,” Harley teased and Paul smirked over at Gus.
“Hey now. I was just tired of playing basketball, I was ready for a change,” Gus said and Harley laughed and rolled her eyes. “Anyway, that was the day we became friends. After I saved his life,” he added.
“It’s so hard to imagine Gus as a little six year old,” Harley said, “of course, that could be because he refuses to show me any pictures of himself when he was little.”
Paul caught Gus’s eye as he took a sip of his beer, “That’s because he was ugly. Still is,” he teased.
“Man, you’re really batting a thousand tonight,” Gus said, shaking his head.
“That’s okay, I like looking at you,” Harley assured him with a kiss before she turned back to Paul. “Tell me more about super hero Gus,” she whispered conspiratorially.
“I swear, if we could get through one night where neither of us gets paged, it would be a miracle,” Harley sighed as her pager went off later in the evening. “It’s Shannon, I better go call her,” she said after she looked at it and Gus moved to let her out of the booth.
She only got a few feet around the corner of the hallway when she got another page telling her to ignore the last one, so she turned around to go back to the table, but stopped when she heard Paul and Gus talking.
“Well, I’m convinced,” Paul said.
“Of?” Gus asked after he finished off his beer.
“You are in love,” Paul answered. “Aren’t you?” he asked.
Gus took only a few seconds before he nodded his head, “Yes, I am.”
“Wow. Have you told her?”
“Oh, god no. I can’t…I can’t be the first one to say it. With her husband…I don’t want to pressure her,” Gus said.
“Maybe she’s waiting for you to say it,” Paul suggested.
“No, she knows I do. I mean, I think she does, I think I show her. No, she knows I’m in this for a relationship, she knows I’ll be here when she’s ready. I just, I guess I need something from her before I say it,” Gus shrugged.
“What?”
“I don’t know, I need to feel like she’s in this as much as I am. You know, she said I won’t show her anything from my childhood, and I won’t, and you know why, but she shares everything. I mean, she’s told me all about her childhood, but she won’t let me into her heart. Every time we get close to things getting serious, to one of us saying something serious, she backs off. She’s not ready and I’m afraid that if I push her, I’ll lose her,” Gus explained.
“Does she even want to be in a relationship? I mean, maybe she’s just in this as a fling,” Paul asked.
“No, she’s not the fling type. I think she does want a relationship, she’s just afraid right now. It hasn’t been long enough since her husband died. That’s okay, I’ll be here when she’s ready.”
“It could be awhile…”
“I plan on being around for longer than awhile, anyway,” Gus said. “She’s cool, right?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Paul nodded, “she’s great. Really. Sorry about the whole brunette thing, I was just really surprised to see her.”
“It’s okay, she gets it,” Gus assured him. “I’m glad you got to meet her.”
“Yeah, me too. I’m glad I got to meet this side of you, too. She’s had quite an impact on you, my friend.”
Gus opened his mouth to respond when he saw Harley come back around to the table. He stood up and let her back into the booth. “Everything okay with Shannon?” he asked.
“Oh yeah,” Harley nodded distractedly. “Nothing important. So, what did I miss?” she asked and Paul raised his eyebrows to Gus who quickly dove into another beer.
“You’re happy,” Harley said as she and Gus walked back to her apartment after they left Paul at his hotel.
“Huh?”
“You’re happy you got to see Paul. That’s sweet, it’s obvious he means a lot to you,” she added.
“He’s all I have,” Gus shrugged. “We’ve been friends for a long time.”
“That’s good. I liked him, he’s a good guy.”
“He’s the best,” he corrected.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me about him?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “We’re guys, you know, we don’t get mushy.”
“Ah,” she said as she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. “You can get mushy with me,” she said and he smiled over at her.
“He’s my best guy friend. He’s important to me. Happy?” he smirked.
“Yes,” she smiled and kissed him. “You know what’s important to me?” she asked and he looked over at her expectedly.
“What?” he asked quietly.
“Keeping my promises. And I think I promised to take your pants off when we got home,” she answered as she tugged at his belt.
“Oh.”
“Um, don’t sound so excited,” she nudged him with her hip.
He grabbed her waist and spun her around until her back was against the building they were passing and he pressed up against her with a deep kiss.
“Oh, you are excited,” she laughed and kissed him again.
“Let’s go, I’m definitely holding you to your promise,” he said before he took her hand and they rushed back to Harley’s apartment.
“Gus?” Harley whispered later as she laid beside him. He answered only with the regular breathing of sleep and she placed a soft kiss on his bare chest. “I think I love you too,” she said softly and breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t even stir. “I’ll get there, I promise,” she added before she snuggled into the pillow beside him and drifted off to sleep.
“What?” she asked sleepily.
“I missed you,” he replied softly and kissed her shoulder.
“Well you’re the one who had to leave town for four days,” Harley teased. “Although I think the Newark souvenir pen made your absence worth it.”
“Oh thanks a lot,” he laughed and propped his head up with his elbow. “You always say how you lose all your pens, so I figured you could use it. Or uh, lose it,” he smirked.
“Thanks!” she scoffed.
“I think you already thanked me,” he said, wiggling his eyebrow suggestively.
“Well, I’ve found that you prefer that method of thanking,” she replied.
“Complaints were not the noises you were making either,” he smiled and leaned down to kiss her. “So how was your day?” he asked and she shrugged.
“It was fine.”
“Tell me about it,” he urged and she looked at him suspiciously. “Tell me what you did. I want to hear about what you do every day.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s your livelihood, remember? I know nothing about it other than the fact that it produces good coffee and good turkey sandwiches. And that’s all Shannon’s part. What do you do?”
“Hey, I make the coffee most days, I’ll have you know!” she protested. “It’s boring. You really want to know?” she asked.
“I really do,” he nodded.
“Well, today I helped out in the dining room for a little while, I do that a lot. Refilling coffee, that sort of stuff. Then I got a deposit together, I do that a lot too,” she added. “Got some paperwork together and went to the bank this afternoon to make the deposit and some other stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?” he asked, curious.
“Loan stuff,” she shrugged.
“Are you in trouble, financially, I mean? I thought it was doing well.”
“No, it is. We’re fine, it’s just…” she trailed off.
“What?” he urged her to continue.
“When we decided to move here and open up the restaurant, we just did it. I mean, I sold my house, Shannon quit her job, we took all of our savings, put a deposit on a store we had never seen in person, only in three photos the realtor sent us and moved our lives here. We put everything into this restaurant, if it hadn’t been such a success early on, we would have really been in trouble. But at the time, it was just exciting and it all made so much sense. Looking back, god, what idiots we were, you know?”
“You didn’t get a business loan?”
“We did, but it has lousy terms, so I’m trying to get it worked out so it makes more sense for us in the long run,” she explained.
“It’s going good, then?”
“Yep, got a good guy working for me at the bank,” she nodded.
“Do you regret any of it?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Moving here, the restaurant?”
“No and no, but I do regret how stupid we were about it. If I could, I’d do it over again and do it smarter, definitely. But no, I’m glad we’re where we are. I needed to get out of Florida, out of my life there,” she answered and they were both quiet for a few minutes.
“I’m glad you’re where you are too,” Gus finally said as he trailed his fingers up her thigh over her hip.
“Naked?” she teased before she stifled a yawn.
“I’d take you not naked too,” he replied. “Sleep?” he asked and Harley nodded before he kissed her and rolled over onto his back.
“Hey Gus…” Harley whispered a few minutes later, running her fingernails across his bare stomach.
“Hmm?”
“I missed you too,” she said and snuggled against his side.
“Good to hear,” he smiled as he wrapped his arm around her and they fell asleep.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Sure, I’ll see you tonight,” Harley heard Gus say into his phone as she came back into her bedroom after getting out of the shower the next morning. He tucked his phone into his briefcase and laid back on Harley’s bed, watching her get dressed. “Hey, what are you doing tonight?” he asked.
“Class,” she answered as she tossed his shoe that she just tripped over at him.
“What about after class?”
“Bed,” she shrugged.
“Well, a good friend of mine – my best friend, I guess - is going to be in town and I’m meeting him for dinner. I thought maybe you could join us after class,” he said.
“Oh,” she replied as she turned toward her closet. “Um, I won’t get out of class until after nine.”
“Yeah, but we’re not meeting until eight, so we’ll still be at the restaurant.”
“I’d have to come home and change…”
“We’re going for wings and beer. You don’t have to get dressed up,” he protested. “Harley,” he began and waited for her to turn toward him. “I really want you to meet Paul, and I really want him to meet you. Just come by whenever you’re done, we haven’t seen each other in a few years, so we have some catching up to do, we’ll be there late. Please?”
“Alright, I’ll stop by after class,” she finally agreed.
“Thank you. I gotta run, I’ll see you tonight,” he said with a kiss before he left the bedroom with his briefcase.
“Uh, want your shoes?” she called out after him and he came back in the room to find her holding up his shoes.
He looked down at his socked feet then grabbed the shoes from her with another kiss, “What would I do without you?”
“Well, you’d have holier socks,” she teased and waved at him as he left again.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Any news on Salerno? Any new contacts in Chicago?” Gus asked after the waitress delivered their beers and took their orders.
“Oh come on, we can talk shop over the phone. I want to hear about this girl,” Paul said and took a sip of his beer.
“Harley? You’ll meet her later,” Gus replied.
“Yeah, but you have to prepare me. And tell me how she actually convinced you to call her your girlfriend,” Paul added, raising his eyebrow. “I’ve known you for twenty years, you haven’t had an actual girlfriend since you stole Kathy Slater from me in fourth grade.”
“Hey, I can’t help it that the ladies like me more than you,” Gus protested.
“What does she do?” Paul asked after he rolled his eyes playfully at Gus’s arrogance.
“She owns a bakery slash coffee shop. Just a few blocks from here, actually. But she used to be a cop.”
“She left the force? Why?”
“Um, her husband was killed on the job. Needed a change of pace,” Gus shrugged.
“Husband?” Paul asked, surprised. “How long ago?”
“Couple years.”
“Wow, is that weird? I mean, hard to compete with a dead husband,” Paul winced.
“I’m not competing. I mean, yeah, she was married. Yes, she’s grieving, but she’s moving on. And fortunately, it’s with me.”
“Does she know about your dad?”
“She knows he was shot on the job. That’s all,” Gus answered. “And she doesn’t know I changed my name, so…”
“Got it. Don’t call you Nick,” Paul nodded. “Why haven’t you told her?”
Gus exhaled a big breath before he answered, “I don’t know. I guess I don’t know how. It doesn’t matter anyway,” he shrugged.
“Gus, we haven’t seen each other in years and the first thing you want to talk about is work. Come on, we both know that being Nick Augustino matters. And if this girl-“
“Harley,” Gus interrupted.
“If Harley is important to you, she’s gonna find out. And you have to tell her. I mean you didn’t just change your name, you…”
“I know what I’m doing, Paul. I know what I’ve done. I just don’t think she needs to know right now,” Gus insisted.
“Alright. If you say so,” Paul replied, putting up his hands in surrender.
“I do,” Gus nodded and finished his beer.
“So tell me more,” Paul urged.
“I’ll let her tell you,” Gus replied as he stood up when he saw Harley making her way to their booth. “Hey,” he greeted her with a kiss.
“Hi,” she said nervously.
“Harley, this is Paul Castro. Paul, Harley Cooper,” Gus introduced them and they shook hands before Gus followed Harley back into the booth.
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” Harley said as she settled into her seat.
“You too,” Paul nodded and looked at her quizzically.
“Got out early, huh?” Gus asked.
“Yeah, sorry I’m crashing the party early,” she answered.
“No way,” Gus assured her as the waitress came and asked Harley what she wanted to drink.
While Harley ordered a beer, Gus noticed Paul was still looking at Harley funny and tried to get his attention to tell him to knock it off. After the waitress was gone, Harley took a look at her menu and snuck a few glances up at Paul to find him still staring. She turned towards Gus, “Do I have something on my face?” she asked and Paul finally snapped out of it.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to stare, you just…you are not what I was expecting,” he explained.
“Oh,” Harley replied. “Um, okay.”
“What did you expect?” Gus asked.
“Well, you’re not really Gus’s type.”
“I’m not?” Harley asked.
“What’s my type?” Gus wondered.
“Well, brunette, big…uh…brunettes, mostly,” Paul recovered.
“Oh?” Harley asked, looking over at Gus who rolled his eyes.
“Hey, you smell good,” he said as he put his arm around her shoulder and kissed her cheek.
“Nice try,” she laughed and tried to pull away from him.
“No, I mean it. What is that?”
“I don’t know, I had to go to the store and someone sprayed it on me,” she shrugged.
“Excuse me, I’m just going to go to the restroom,” Paul said, grateful to get away from the table before he embarrassed himself and Gus again.
“I like it,” Gus said when they were alone. “A lot,” he added as he kissed her neck.
“Maybe it would smell better on a brunette,” she teased and pushed him away.
“Come on, he didn’t mean anything by it. He’s right, you’re not my type,” Gus shrugged.
“Thanks, your girlfriend can’t hear that enough.”
“Harley, I’m not…I was never the girlfriend type. Right before you came, he told me I hadn’t had a girlfriend since grade school and he’s probably right. The women I’ve dated in the past haven’t been girlfriends, and yeah, I guess brunettes with big boobs was my type. But I would see them and think ‘I’d like to show her a good time’. But when I first saw you, do you know what I thought?” he asked and she narrowed her eyes at him. “’I’d like to talk to her again’,” he continued. “Uh, that was supposed to be a good thing,” he laughed nervously. “I mean, I didn’t just want to have sex with you, you know, I mean, I did, uh…”
“Gus,” Harley stopped his rambling with a kiss. “You’re cute when you think you’re in trouble.”
“I’m not in trouble?” he asked cautiously.
“No, but I have to admit I like seeing you sweat. You may want to tell your friend to filter what he says to your girlfriend about past lovers though,” she teased and Gus sighed heavily.
“I will,” he nodded and leaned over to kiss her. “Did I mention that you smell good?” he asked and she nodded. “Let’s get out of here,” he whispered against her lips.
“And ditch your best friend who we scared off to the bathroom?”
“Trust me, he’ll understand,” Gus replied.
“We’re not leaving,” Harley said, “You’ll have to keep your pants on.”
“Promise you’ll take them off later?” he asked with a smirk.
“I think there’s a good chance of that,” she nodded as Paul came back to the table.
“So, can we start over?” Paul asked as he sat back down. “I’m Paul, Gus’s friend from Chicago.”
“Very nice to meet you Paul,” Harley played along and shook his hand again.
“Gus has told me a lot about you,” he said, “all good, of course.”
“Probably only half of it is true,” Harley laughed. “But since he told you all about me, why don’t you guys tell me how you met,” she elbowed Gus’s side. “You never told me.”
“Oh don’t let him tell you, he’s changed it over the years to make himself the hero,” Paul said.
“I was the hero. The dude was about to pound your ass,” Gus replied.
“I was ready to take him! You were the wuss who just handed over the ball to him so he wouldn’t hit me.”
“Jimmy McArthur,” Gus shuddered, explaining to Harley. “He never let us play basketball during recess without harassing us.”
“He was a mean son of a bitch, even in first grade,” Paul nodded.
“So you met in first grade when Gus cried uncle and lost your ball,” Harley teased and Paul smirked over at Gus.
“Hey now. I was just tired of playing basketball, I was ready for a change,” Gus said and Harley laughed and rolled her eyes. “Anyway, that was the day we became friends. After I saved his life,” he added.
“It’s so hard to imagine Gus as a little six year old,” Harley said, “of course, that could be because he refuses to show me any pictures of himself when he was little.”
Paul caught Gus’s eye as he took a sip of his beer, “That’s because he was ugly. Still is,” he teased.
“Man, you’re really batting a thousand tonight,” Gus said, shaking his head.
“That’s okay, I like looking at you,” Harley assured him with a kiss before she turned back to Paul. “Tell me more about super hero Gus,” she whispered conspiratorially.
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“I swear, if we could get through one night where neither of us gets paged, it would be a miracle,” Harley sighed as her pager went off later in the evening. “It’s Shannon, I better go call her,” she said after she looked at it and Gus moved to let her out of the booth.
She only got a few feet around the corner of the hallway when she got another page telling her to ignore the last one, so she turned around to go back to the table, but stopped when she heard Paul and Gus talking.
“Well, I’m convinced,” Paul said.
“Of?” Gus asked after he finished off his beer.
“You are in love,” Paul answered. “Aren’t you?” he asked.
Gus took only a few seconds before he nodded his head, “Yes, I am.”
“Wow. Have you told her?”
“Oh, god no. I can’t…I can’t be the first one to say it. With her husband…I don’t want to pressure her,” Gus said.
“Maybe she’s waiting for you to say it,” Paul suggested.
“No, she knows I do. I mean, I think she does, I think I show her. No, she knows I’m in this for a relationship, she knows I’ll be here when she’s ready. I just, I guess I need something from her before I say it,” Gus shrugged.
“What?”
“I don’t know, I need to feel like she’s in this as much as I am. You know, she said I won’t show her anything from my childhood, and I won’t, and you know why, but she shares everything. I mean, she’s told me all about her childhood, but she won’t let me into her heart. Every time we get close to things getting serious, to one of us saying something serious, she backs off. She’s not ready and I’m afraid that if I push her, I’ll lose her,” Gus explained.
“Does she even want to be in a relationship? I mean, maybe she’s just in this as a fling,” Paul asked.
“No, she’s not the fling type. I think she does want a relationship, she’s just afraid right now. It hasn’t been long enough since her husband died. That’s okay, I’ll be here when she’s ready.”
“It could be awhile…”
“I plan on being around for longer than awhile, anyway,” Gus said. “She’s cool, right?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Paul nodded, “she’s great. Really. Sorry about the whole brunette thing, I was just really surprised to see her.”
“It’s okay, she gets it,” Gus assured him. “I’m glad you got to meet her.”
“Yeah, me too. I’m glad I got to meet this side of you, too. She’s had quite an impact on you, my friend.”
Gus opened his mouth to respond when he saw Harley come back around to the table. He stood up and let her back into the booth. “Everything okay with Shannon?” he asked.
“Oh yeah,” Harley nodded distractedly. “Nothing important. So, what did I miss?” she asked and Paul raised his eyebrows to Gus who quickly dove into another beer.
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“You’re happy,” Harley said as she and Gus walked back to her apartment after they left Paul at his hotel.
“Huh?”
“You’re happy you got to see Paul. That’s sweet, it’s obvious he means a lot to you,” she added.
“He’s all I have,” Gus shrugged. “We’ve been friends for a long time.”
“That’s good. I liked him, he’s a good guy.”
“He’s the best,” he corrected.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me about him?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “We’re guys, you know, we don’t get mushy.”
“Ah,” she said as she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. “You can get mushy with me,” she said and he smiled over at her.
“He’s my best guy friend. He’s important to me. Happy?” he smirked.
“Yes,” she smiled and kissed him. “You know what’s important to me?” she asked and he looked over at her expectedly.
“What?” he asked quietly.
“Keeping my promises. And I think I promised to take your pants off when we got home,” she answered as she tugged at his belt.
“Oh.”
“Um, don’t sound so excited,” she nudged him with her hip.
He grabbed her waist and spun her around until her back was against the building they were passing and he pressed up against her with a deep kiss.
“Oh, you are excited,” she laughed and kissed him again.
“Let’s go, I’m definitely holding you to your promise,” he said before he took her hand and they rushed back to Harley’s apartment.
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“Gus?” Harley whispered later as she laid beside him. He answered only with the regular breathing of sleep and she placed a soft kiss on his bare chest. “I think I love you too,” she said softly and breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t even stir. “I’ll get there, I promise,” she added before she snuggled into the pillow beside him and drifted off to sleep.
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