Chapter 18
Taylor’s Apartment
Miami, Florida
It was nearly midnight. Taylor could not keep her eyes open. Yawning, she said, "That sounds lovely, but I am about to drop. I think I will need to take a rain check."
"Oh, I am so sorry. I was having such a good time I lost track of time. I don't have a hotel yet, but I have stayed at a hotel just down the street before. If you don't mind dropping me there, I will see if they have a room."
Taylor was silent for a minute and said, "I have a couch you are welcome to use. And, by the couch, I really mean the couch. I know that is backtracking from where we have already come, but given the circumstances, that is all I can offer you. But it's yours if you want it."
"Are you sure? I don't want to put you out or make you uncomfortable."
Smiling, she said, "I'm positive."
"Well, if you are sure, I would love to sleep on your couch."
Greer paid the check, and they drove back to Taylor's apartment. Once there, she showed him the bathroom and ensured he had clean sheets and towels. Then she said, "If you need anything else, just holler. It is a small apartment. I will hear you."
At that, she started to turn away, but Greer reached out, engulfed her in his arms, and said, "The only thing I need at the moment is this.
" And he kissed her with all the passion and desire that he had kissed her with weeks before.
Only this time, he made sure to keep his hands where they were locked on her back.
He made no move to take the embrace to the next level.
Taylor was not sure if she was relieved or disappointed about that.
After several moments, he broke the kiss and said, "I've wondered all day whether or not you would taste as sweet as I remembered. And guess what, Darling? You do.” Skimming his hands down her back, he gripped her tightly and allowed his hands to reacquaint him with her body.
Walking her backward toward the couch, Greer slowly lowered Taylor down until they were both lying down.
For the next hour, they made out like teenagers.
There was a lot of kissing and touching, hugging and squeezing, tickling and teasing.
Knowing Taylor was adamant about not breaking her marriage vows again, Greer worked hard to keep everything mostly acceptable.
A few times, things went way north of what was appropriate.
During those times, things threatened to escalate, but each time, Greer would bring things back to neutral.
He could sense that Taylor was starting to feel guilty.
He could see it in her eyes. Placing his forehead on hers, he said, “I don't want you to start making yourself feel bad about anything we have done here tonight.
I promised not to take you again until you can be with me, and I won't. But, I refuse to let you or me feel bad about enjoying each other. We have done nothing wrong.”
Greer knew what he said was true but that he was about to reach his limit of control.
He added, "Now, I am going to turn you loose.
You are to get up and go to your bedroom as fast as you can.
Because if you stay here much longer, I will be tempted to break my word and ask for more than you are ready to give.
That won't do either one of us any good.
Do you understand me?" Unable to speak, Taylor simply nodded.
At that, Greer once again melded his lips to hers in an embrace that almost seared her.
After several moments, he abruptly ended the kiss.
Taylor all but jumped up and ran from the room.
Once in her room with the door closed, she heard him yell, "Sleep tight, Darling.
And as you do, dream of me, the way I dream of you, every night. "
"Okay." It was the only response Taylor was capable of uttering at that moment.
She quickly got undressed and got into the bed.
She lay there thinking about the man in the next room and how much she wished she could go to him.
She'd spent years of her life avoiding being intimate and thinking the world made too big a deal out of sex and intimacy.
Now, it was all she could think about. She so badly wanted to go to him.
She wanted to wrap her arms around him and kiss him until it hurt.
As she lay there, images of all the naughty things she remembered them doing last March rolled through her head.
She had never thought she would get to do any of those things again with him.
Many of the things they had tried had always sounded dirty and wrong.
But, at that moment, Taylor was dying to do them all over again.
How had Greer come into her life and completely changed her in such a short time? She had no idea. She just knew that she could hardly wait to be free so that she could be with him again, and again, and again. She fell asleep thinking about everything she would do to him when that day came.
The next morning, Greer was making breakfast when Taylor wandered into the kitchen. "I didn't get to do this for you last time. I hope you don't mind that I made myself at home in your kitchen. There is coffee in the pot, and as soon as the eggs are done, we can eat."
Taylor was impressed. He had already set two places at her dinette. She poured herself a cup of coffee and took it to the table. Once the eggs were done, they fixed plates and ate.
Giving him a sweet smile, Taylor said, "This looks delicious. Thank you."
"You're welcome. I enjoy cooking, and breakfast is my specialty. Does it taste okay?"
Taylor salted and peppered her eggs and took a bite. At first, they tasted fine, but the longer she chewed, the more repulsed she became. It was as if they were rotten or something. A wave of nausea overcame her, and it was all she could do not to throw up right there at the table.
Forcing herself to keep chewing and swallowing, she croaked, "They are great.
" Then, wiping her mouth, she said as gracefully as possible, "Um, please excuse me; I will be right back.
" At that point, Taylor all but ran to the bathroom and was sick.
It took several minutes to get her stomach under control and return to the table.
"Are you okay?" Greer stood when she came back in the room, a look of concern on his face. "Are you sick? Is it the food?"
"No, the food was great. I may have caught a bug from one of the kids yesterday.
A casualty of being around children. The first year I taught, I was sick the whole year.
It's nothing." Putting her plate in the sink and walking over to the couch, she said, "I think I will lie down for a moment if you don't mind. "
Greer walked over to where she was and put his hand on her forehead to see if she had a temperature. "You don't feel warm. Lie down while I clean up the kitchen. My flight is in three hours. If you are not up to taking me to the airport, I will call a cab."
"Let me see how I feel in a few minutes."
Closing her eyes, Taylor intended to rest her eyes for a few minutes until it was time to get up and take Greer to the airport.
However, when she woke several hours later, the apartment was dark, and Greer was gone.
He had left a note saying how much he had enjoyed their time together and hoped she felt better soon.
He said that he had put his number in her phone and then called himself so he would have hers.
He promised to call her later that night to check on her.
At 8:30 on the dot, the phone rang, and it was Greer. Taylor was feeling much better, and they talked for almost an hour. Just before he hung up, he again said, "Sleep tight, Darling. And as you do, dream of me the way I dream of you."
"That is so sweet. I loved that last night. Of course, it carries way more power when you follow that with your mind-blowing kisses.”
"You think my kisses are mind-blowing? Good to know. I will make sure to blow your mind again as often as possible. Maybe you would have let me kiss you like I did that night on the houseboat."
Taylor, who was drinking a soda, spit most of it out in shock. "You did not just say that? Are you trying to kill me?"
"What? Does thinking about us doing that do it for you? I hope so because it sure does for me."
For a moment, Taylor was too stunned to respond.
Never in her life had she had such an explicit conversation.
Her first instinct was to deny what his words did to her.
But, the new Taylor, who was determined to become her own person, replied, "Well, it goes without saying you definitely have incredible skills. "
"Uhhh, I like where this conversation is going," replied Greer. "Tell me more about how much you love my skills," he said in his sexy, southern drawl.
"Oh, you have got some skills, Dr. Delicious." At that, Taylor lost it. She burst out laughing.
"Dr. Delicious? What the hell? And why are you laughing? I take my skills very seriously. You could bruise my delicate male ego."
Still giggling, Taylor replied, "Oh yeah, right. I am not laughing at you. I am just not very good at sexy talk. And besides, it is not like you don't know you are an incredible kisser."
"Incredible kisser? Wow, where were these compliments last night when I could have done something with them?"
"Trust me, you did enough with them. You sent me to my room, remember? If I had given you these compliments last night, we would have gotten carried away, and neither of us wants that."
"You're right. But I have to be frank here. November is a long way off. I can't promise that I can wait that long. You may have to hurry the old Ken doll up a little."
"Would you stop with the Ken doll? He is really a great guy.
But, as far as hurrying up the process, I gave him my word.
I won't be the reason he loses out on a national appointment.
However, he said that he might resign and step back.
If he does, that would certainly speed things up.
If not, it will actually be closer to January.
The election has to finish, and then he would have to be confirmed before we could file for divorce. "
"First, I can call him a Ken doll if you can call me. What was it, Dr. Delicious? Secondly, we are not waiting until January to be together."
"I call you that because you are so delicious to look at and to taste."
"You are trying to distract me so I will forget about how far away January is. But you make a good point. Speaking of tasting, I can still taste you on my tongue. I want to do much more than that as soon as possible. Any idea when he might make a decision about dropping out?"
"I don't know. I know Poppy doesn't want him to drop out, either.
She is afraid that he will resent her later if he does.
As long as he is still in, we have to remain married, and you and I must put whatever this is between us on hold.
But I like talking to you and spending time with you.
This was the best weekend I have had in years. "
"Me too. Just so you know, I am serious about this, seeing where this can go.
You are an amazing woman; I want to know you inside out.
I am determined to see this through. But I have to be honest, I would prefer it if the physical side of the relationship were not delayed any longer than absolutely necessary. "
"Duly noted, Dr. Delicious. I will let you know the minute my situation changes. Until then, when are you scheduled to return for another medical mission?"
"Not for another four weeks."
Taylor groaned as if in pain. "Wow, that is a long time."
"Yep," replied Greer, irritation evident in his voice.
"That is way too long," replied Taylor. "Do you think you could maybe fly down before then? Or I could come there?"
There was a long pause, and he said, "I don't want you to take this the wrong way because there is nothing I would like more than to spend more time with you."
"Oh, I didn't mean to push you or anything, I just—"
"Whoa, slow down. You are jumping to the wrong conclusions here.
I like you. I mean, I really like you. I want us to be together and spend as much time with you as possible.
But the more we are together, the more likely we won't be able to stop.
I don't want you to regret being with me for any reason.
I especially don't want to make love to you, and you walk away feeling ashamed or bad about yourself.
"When we are together again, and make no mistake, we will be together again; I want you to wake up the next morning as happy about it as you were when you laid down with me."
Taylor was silent for a moment, and she said, "Yes, I know exactly what you mean.
And thank you for respecting me enough to protect me even from myself.
Because you are right. The more we are together, the harder it will be to hold back.
So, how about this? Let's plan to see each other again four weeks from now.
Hopefully, by then, I can better understand how the election business will go and have a firmer timetable for the divorce. "
"That sounds like a grand plan." At that moment, Greer got a text from the hospital. "Hey, I have an emergency, so I have to run. Have a great night, and I'll call you tomorrow."
"Okay, tomorrow. Bye," Taylor hung up, feeling happier and lighter than she had in years.
As she lay down that night to go to sleep, she remembered what Joules had said about getting your trigger tripped.
She laughed because she realized that Greer so tripped her trigger, and he could do it from two hundred miles away.