Chapter 2

What was she doing? She had never felt so nervous before. Elizabeth combed out her black hair, braided it, and then pinned it up. She hoped Sean liked it. He was just as fun over the phone as he was in person. They talked every night of the week and now she was going to see him again tonight. She had been anxiously waiting for Saturday night to come and now that it was here she was terrified. So many thoughts ran through her head. What did he see in her? Why did he ask her out? Did he have any idea who he had humiliated at the dinner party? She thought she was done with relationships and getting into trouble after she divorced her husband but now she was jumping into a whole new set of problems. She had vowed to herself that she wasn't going to get into anything entangling, just sit back, relax and enjoy the money that Charles was more than happy to give her in order to shut her up. And now, she was jumping into something entirely new with a younger man. A much younger man. She was thirty-four for Chrissakes! Granted, Sean made her feel like she was ten years younger but that wasn't it. There was more to it when he danced with her at the dinner party than just feeling young again, somehow he had gotten under her skin. There was something else about him that made her feel like she was the younger one.

The door chimed. Oh shit! He's here already! She looked up at the clock. He was ten minutes early! Didn't he know better than to show up early? He didn't give her time to put her makeup on. Barefoot, she made her way down the stairs and opened the door. It wasn't Sean.

It was Charles.

"Hello, Elizabeth."

Her heart froze in terror; she didn't know what to say.

"How kind of you to get all dressed up for me." The icy look in his eyes brought back so many terrible memories. Charles overpowered her and stepped into the house and shut it behind her. "Now it wasn't very nice of you to have left me like that at the dinner party the other night was it? Was it?!!"

"Well hello again," Elizabeth fought to keep the fear from reaching her voice, "I thought we had an agreement to stay away from each other."

"What, you actually believed I would stay away from you? After the humiliation you caused me with stunt with the GenenCorp stock?" Elizabeth found herself on the cold marble floor, her jaw throbbing. "Listen, bitch. No one makes a fool out of a Talworth, are we clear?" All Elizabeth could manage to do was gasp for air when his foot swung up and knocked the air out of her. "I SAID..."

"I believe Elizabeth heard you just fine."

Sean. She didn't hear the door chime. Charles must not have locked the door. Sean will get the crap beaten out of him. Oh, God, Sean, get out of here. RUN! But the words never came as she continued to catch her breath. All she could do was play silent witness when he got beat up.

"You again!" She watched Charles turn around to face the college boy. "You have a little something coming to you you little twit. No crowd to hide in this time." Elizabeth watched from the floor as Charles threw a meaty fist at Sean. Again, Sean wasn't where the punch was aimed and appeared beside Charles. Elizabeth could hardly follow the flurry of punches and elbows that Sean rained down on her ex-husband and stared when Sean launched himself in the air while grabbing Charles by the collar, rolled backwards, and hurled the larger man out the open door.

The door slammed shut and Sean was by her side asking where she was hurt. She felt herself being lifted then placed gently on the couch by the fireplace. She heard him make some noise in the hall bathroom and then in the kitchen. A soft washcloth soaked in hot water was placed on her brow and gentle fingers probed her body for tender spots. She flinched when he touched her ribs and then moved on. The whole time she heard Sean softly cursing himself for showing up too late to help her before Charles could have harmed her.

By then Elizabeth had regained her breath and placed a hand on his to calm him. "Sean, I'm okay."

"Like hell you are. You just lay there and I'll see what I can do."

Elizabeth brushed away his hands and sat up. As much as she enjoyed the pampering, she had been through a lot worse and his efforts were very much appreciated but unnecessary. "Sean, really, I'm fine. I just had the wind knocked out of me is all." She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly. "But I could really go for a hug right now." He returned her hug, carefully avoiding where Charles had kicked her. She may have felt like crying right then but she didn't. All those tears were shed a long time ago.

"It looks like I came just in the nick of time to rescue you again, O fair maiden."

Elizabeth chuckled at that and pushed back to take a good look at him. He definitely didn't look like he could take on someone nearly twice his size. What exactly was all that?

"I must say though," Sean whispered in her ear, "This has got to be the most exciting first date I have ever been on."

"I'm so sorry you had to see all that." She didn't want to say it but she had to. "If..." damn this shouldn't be so hard. "If you don't want to talk to me anymore I understand and..." A finger on her lips cut her off.

"No apologies." He cupped her face and stared intently at her with those beautiful brown eyes of his. "I'll have none of that. I have to admit, you definitely screwed up what I had planned for the evening but that's okay, hardly your fault. But the night's still young," he grinned at her, "and so am I. So how about we pick something up at the video store and order us a pizza and call it even. I'll even be gallant enough to order for you." That got a laugh out of her and she hugged him again. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Hey, I think she likes it!"

Elizabeth could only nod as she took another bite out of the pizza with chicken and pesto. "I didn't know they made pizza with pesto. How'd you find out about it?"

"You kidding me? I'm a college student. To me pizza is cuisine." She smiled around her slice while they watched Magnolia. She had never seen it before and he said it was one of his favorites.

"Tom Cruise at his finest," he said at the video store.

"Really?" she couldn't help saying, "I thought he was very fine in Top Gun. Fine bod, fine butt, fine..."

"I get the point," he muttered, and then chuckled. "Plus there's Julianne Moore. Talk about fine."

"Touché."

"Speaking of fine," he bent over and nuzzled her neck.

"Oh my God," she gasped in surprise. "You keep this up and I'll take you right here in the store. What will the people think?"

"Nothing as bad as what's running through my mind," and he gave her warm body another squeeze as he briefly nuzzled her again.

Jesus Buddha did I just say and do that? Man, Sean, what's gotten into you? "Sorry, couldn't help myself."

"No apologies," she fired back without missing a beat.

They got back without any further incidences and Sean wrapped his arm around Elizabeth's shoulder and she wrapped hers around his waist like it was the most natural thing in the world. Sean held her close all night. She was a tough cookie but from what happened earlier in the evening she didn't have much choice in the matter. He gave her a gentle squeeze and she snuggled a little closer. He wasn't sure what it was about her but she definitely seemed to light his fire, and stoke it. She was beautiful for starters but it was more than that. There was that light of intelligence in her eyes hiding behind a playful glint. But sometimes when she thought he wasn't looking there was a pained expression on her face. Whatever it was he was willing to wait for her to tell him. No use rushing skeletons out of the closet. There was a good chance it had something to do about the age difference. She didn't say how old she was but they both knew that she was a good deal older than he was. In the end he hoped that they could put that behind them. He too had his own reservations about seeing a much older woman so he shouldn't be one to complain but he really liked her. Maybe, just maybe they could have something lasting. His best friend, Cheryl, said 'Guys like you aren't the dating type. You're the marrying type.' And he had to agree. He only had one other girlfriend before that lasted for a year, and in terms of high school time anything longer than three months was considered serious, a year was almost unheard of. The movie ended and Sean let it sink in.

"So, how'd you like it?"

"Well, I must say the ending was very interesting. I'll never look at frogs the same way again. And Tom Cruise had an interesting role. There wasn't so much a plot so much as a group of stories but it all tied together in an interesting fashion. All in all it was a great movie."