Odalisque

Tyler glanced back, and Denver was still standing by the front desk, studying him as Callie hemmed and hawed. There was no way this guy could be any more obvious, Tyler thought. Despite her explanation, he knew something else was going on. The hostility Tyler had picked up on was somehow personal. No boss got this irritated about a visitor during an employee's lunch hour. Tyler shifted his gaze to the floor and stared at the marble tiles.

"Okay. That's fine." Tyler took a moment to recoup. "Well, my older brother is in town for a week. I'd like you to meet him."

"You don't think that's a little bit serious?"

"Not at all. My brother loves to meet my friends. I'll pick you up tonight when you're off work, and we'll have dinner at my place." Tyler's jaw was set, and his mind made up. Callie recognized that she wouldn't be able to argue. She didn't want to.

"Okay. All right."

"Great. I'll pick you up at six."

"You will? Or your driver will?" Tyler actually felt relieved at her fiery response. It was different from her earlier anxiety. It was playful, more in line with the Callie he knew.

"We will pick you up. I know how stressful it can be to meet the family."

"So I'll see you later."

"Yep. Bye Callie." He briefly considered giving her a goodbye kiss, then decided against it as he saw the look on Denver's face. "Nice meeting you!" he called out with mock cheerfulness.

"Nice meeting you too Mr. Stone." Denver had obviously attempted sincerity, but the terseness of his voice betrayed him. Tyler waved a hand without looking back, relieved as he rushed down the stairs and away from the office.

***

Callie was already waiting outside the apartment building when Tyler's car pulled up to the curb. She wore a bright floral-print sundress with sunglasses and a huge hat, her lips a vivid pink. Everything from her outfit to her pose to the brilliant sun behind her made her look like a model on a photo shoot. He forced himself to take a deep breath as she climbed in the car, the hem of her dress riding dangerously high as she sat next to him.

"Hey, you." Tyler moved to kiss her but Callie kept still, so he settled on her cheek. Her expression was unreadable behind the sunglasses. "Everything okay?"

"I'm not sure," she started, and then saw the worried look on his face. "Well, when Denver called you Mr. Stone earlier, it rang some bells so... I decided to look you up."

"Uh oh."

"You're Tyler Stone."

"That's right."

"You said you worked for a record company. You never said you were the CEO of one."

"You're right, I wasn't specific." He'd predicted that he'd probably get in trouble for leaving this bit of information out, and he was right.

"Why did you lie?"

"I didn't lie." She looked at him crossly. "It was a lie of omission, maybe. Look, I just didn't want you to agree to spend time with me because of my title. You understand that, right? I didn't become the CEO until after Beth. It's been weird navigating dating now that this is what I do. I haven't held anything else back."

"Okay," Callie said slowly. She looked thoughtful. "Okay, you're right. I'm being a little harsh. I guess it just took me off guard. Sorry I've been so weird. You were just trying to do something sweet today by trying to take me to lunch, and I was terrible. And I'm being terrible now." It occurred to Callie that she was being a hypocrite, and that she was needlessly angry because she'd the one who'd been lying.

"I understand. It's fine. We're fine. We start over."

But then the car pulled in to the driveway of the mansion where the party had been, and Callie looked on in astonishment. Tyler sat next to her, biting his lip as he tried not to imagine the worst-case scenario of Callie's second discovery that day that he hadn't been entirely truthful.

"Wait, this is your house? I mean, your mansion?"

"It is."

"Seriously? Another lie?" But Tyler shook his head at this.

"Not so. I never told you I lived here, but I never said I didn't, either." As Callie fumed, a man emerged from the house. "How did you think I knew about the painting in the study? The door was closed. Did you think I'd been snooping?"

"I don't know! I guess I hadn't thought it through." The driver opened her door, momentarily quieting her. Tyler followed, and the man approached.

"Callie, meet my brother Jacob. Jacob, this is Callie." Callie reached out a dainty hand, which Jacob held and then bowed. He was almost as handsome as Tyler, with darker hair and eyes. He also looked much more conservative, almost military compared to Tyler who looked like a beach bum in a suit.

"She looks mad. Why is she mad?"

"Ah, Callie didn't know that this was my house."

"So?"

"This was where we met. She didn't know it was my house or my party. And she didn't know what I did for a living until the car ride over."

"Ah," was Jacob's response. "That's a lot to take in." Callie did her best to look unruffled.

"I'm fine, sorry. And I'm not mad," she clarified. "It's just a shock." A lithe redheaded woman stepping out onto the porch interrupted the awkward introduction. She paused for a moment, shading her eyes against a setting sun, then sauntered over.

"Deirdre. Meet Callie." Tyler took a step back as the women shook hands. "Callie, this is Jacob's wife. They're practically newlyweds."

"A pleasure. And actually, it's been three years now, so we're a little past newlyweds," Deirdre gently corrected. "We've got the grill going, the table is set. Why don't we all head out back?"

The troupe marched single-file down the cobblestone path into the backyard. In the dusky light and with so few people, it was almost unrecognizable.

"Just like home," Callie quipped. Jacob guffawed at this, which made Tyler laugh nervously. Deirdre smiled serenely at all of them as she slipped into a chair near the grill.

"My brother's blunders aside, how are you?" Jacob asked with a polite nod at Callie.

"I'm doing well. Had a long day at work but ready to relax. And you two? When did you guys get in?"

"We flew in yesterday," Jacob answered. "We had a long night to recover from the flight." He winked at Deirdre, who blushed.

"So what is it you do, Jacob?" Callie asked, hoping to curb some of Deirdre's embarrassment as well as her own.

"I'm a financial analyst with a hedge fund in Boston. Sounds dull as death but I love it."

"Two successful brothers?" Tyler raised an eyebrow at Callie's flirtatious tone. She caught his look and shrugged apologetically.

"Who'd believe it?" Tyler deadpanned. "I think we better get to grilling. Right, Jake?" Jacob glanced at Tyler and recognized the beginnings of what could prove to be a foul mood, then nodded in agreement.

"We'll just be a second, ladies," Jacob announced. With that, Jacob and Tyler were off toward the kitchen to pick up their food.

"So what do you do, Deirdre?"

"I run a daycare center."

"Oh! That's wonderful. Do you and Jacob have any kids?"

"Not yet. We both want them but we also want to have a little more time just to ourselves."

"Are you from here or did Jacob meet you in Boston?"

"Oh, I live in Boston. Lived there my whole life." Deirdre seemed distracted or even bored. "You know," she said, "you're the first woman Tyler's wanted us to meet." Callie sighed as she realized that this topic of conversation was Deirdre's priority, and it probably from the beginning.

"You mean since Beth."

"Yes."

"What were the two of them like together?" Callie asked, though she worried that she might not want to hear the answer.

"I was only around for the second half of their relationship. I'm not sure what the beginning was like, but as far as I could tell, the two were cold with each other. They weren't cruel, just distant. There were rarely any spats, but not much affection, either. I would have worried Tyler was aloof by nature but he's so close to his brother and was very welcoming to me." Callie was relieved to hear someone else confirm what Tyler had told her, yet she couldn't help feel a certain compassion for him, spending all those years in a loveless relationship.

"I'm glad to hear your perspective on all this. I've met Beth, and it worried me that we were so different. I've only heard what Tyler has to say about all of it."

"I know we've only just met, but I think I can already tell that you two are good for each other. You rile each other up. I've seen more passion between you already than I ever saw between him and Beth. And from the way he's talked to Jacob about you, I think he's very fond of you." Callie felt a twinge of guilt at this last declaration. She hadn't thought of the consequences of getting involved. It was supposed to be casual, but Tyler was already developing feelings for her. She hadn't counted on that complication.

Relief surged through Callie when Jacob and Tyler returned with some readymade side dishes and all the ingredients they'd need for hamburgers and hot dogs. Conversation turned to lighter subjects and the guilt Callie had felt about Tyler was forgotten, at least for the time being.

***

After Jacob and Deirdre had gone to bed, Tyler invited Callie into the living room to sit with him on a brocaded lounge of muted purple.

"I think they liked you. I know they liked you."

"I liked them, too."

"Deirdre and you seemed to hit it off. What did you talk about? Me?" He took her hand in his own and caressed it.

"You may have come up, you narcissist."

"I like you even when you're mean," he confessed, a faraway look on his face. "Maybe even more when you're mean."

"Tyler," she said, her tone serious. "Are you sure you aren't just pursuing me because I'm unavailable?"

"I'm sure." He paused. "I haven't felt this way about anyone in a long time. Maybe not ever." Tyler took her face into his hands and kissed her. His hands roamed down her neck, over her shoulders, and to her back. He brought her down with him until she lay on the couch beneath him.

"No, don't. I can't." He stopped and stared down at her but wouldn't budge.

"I wish you'd just explain to me what all these rules are about. I know there's something you're not telling me, and I can't stand it."

"I should go home." She tried to sit up but Tyler still refused to budge.

"Don't evade me." He tried to touch her hair but she turned her head.

"I'm sorry. I just can't explain it."

"All right. Then yes, maybe you should go." Tyler pushed himself up and off the couch. He escorted her to the door, both of them deathly quiet as they waited for Tyler's driver. When the driver finally showed, he escorted Callie to the waiting car and opened the door for her, where she slid into the backseat alone.

On the car ride home, Callie couldn't remember the last time she had felt so conflicted and, well, awful. She was accustomed to fun. She knew how to navigate simpler relationships, like trysts or friends with benefits. With Tyler, she was out of her depth and floundering. The truth was that she was keeping a secret from Tyler, and it weighed on her more and more. She regretted a deal she'd made, a deal she once believed would help her. Now it just brought agony, and Callie wanted more than anything to be free of it.

Callie remembered the day that Denver had innocently asked whether she might be interested in a position as his personal assistant. Her employment as a blogger with his magazine was part-time only, and she had been struggling to find another job so she could finally make ends meet. It had seemed, at first glance, like the perfect opportunity. Like a prayer had been answered.

But he had requested that they hold their first meeting at his house, and that alone had made her uneasy for reasons that, at the time, she found difficult to explain. Under his watchful eye, she performed some very basic tasks that would have taken him less than an hour to do himself. And that's how it had continued for a little while, a few hours here and there each week in his home, her tasks ranging from light housekeeping to organizing his files. She hadn't understood then that she was being prepared, groomed for something more.

Then one day her boss had brought up the idea of an arrangement that he insisted could benefit them both. He spoke of it as innocently as if he were asking what she wanted for lunch. He explained that, if she took on a few additional responsibilities, he could pay her three times her usually wage. His proposition: in return for the raise, she would be expected to perform all of her usual tasks in his household nude. "For the time being," he had added ominously. Not only that, but he demanded her discretion and her faithfulness as well. Their "verbal contract," as he had put it, would disallow boyfriends.

Her boss was an intimidating man, and Callie was sick with worry over her money problems. She had complied and convinced herself that her decision was her own, and one that she was satisfied with. She even told herself that she was lucky. But he was slowly changing the rules of their initial agreement, and he had recently begun to touch her, was even campaigning for Callie to sleep with him. And the time she spent with Tyler, coupled with her moments away from him, had made her acutely aware of just how miserable she was and how used and vulnerable she felt. Her field of vision had narrowed to the point of seeing Tyler only. And she desired Tyler only.

Callie shuddered at the thought of letting her boss touch her again. Even letting him see her again would be too much to bear. And the guilt she felt at withholding this secret from Tyler was one more burden she could do without.

Tyler was struggling himself. He had sunk back into the couch where he had tried to seduce Callie, a freshly poured glass of whiskey in his hand. If Callie had been any other woman, he would have slept with her by now. And he never would have put up with a woman so elusive, so closed off, especially not after Beth. Even Beth had been easier to court in the beginning. But Callie was unique, unlike any woman he'd met before, and that made her precious to him. He couldn't forget about her so easily.

The mystery of her elusiveness remained. He thought that a cold shower might alleviate his situation, but once in the shower, he realized his mistake. All he could think of was Callie in the shower with him, her body made phosphorescent under water and the silvery bathroom lights. He considered calling up one of his short-lived flings, but the thought of bedding any of them again left him cold.

He thought of her then not like the woman in the portrait above his desk but like one of his favorite paintings, Ingres's Grande Odalisque -- the impossibly long wing of her body spread out on silks; the wan, inscrutable look on her face. Tyler went to bed with this image seared in his mind's eye and endured a long, numbing, sleepless night.

***

Tyler had missed Callie more than he was willing to admit. It had been a week since he'd seen her, and it had taken all his energy to act chipper around his brother and his wife. Unfortunately, they weren't blind, and before they had left for Boston the day before, Deirdre urged him to get to the bottom of what was troubling Callie. Failing that, he should at least try to make amends.

So Tyler made a special stop to see the florist and found a bouquet of rosebuds. He meant to surprise her, to make up for the first bouquet that he had brought her. But when he rang her doorbell, there was no answer. His call to her cell went straight to voicemail. It was late, a weeknight, and the fact that she wasn't at home nor answering her phone worried him. In his fantasy of how the night played out, he got to catch a glimpse of her in her robe, bedheaded. Hell, he had just wanted to see her, period. Feeling disheartened, Tyler sank against the door and waited. And dozed, and then waited a little longer.

It was midnight when Tyler finally gave up. He had waited just a little over two hours. His joints felt stiff as he rose from his cross-legged position. He carelessly dropped the bouquet in front of her door. What most incensed him was that he had let himself be needlessly hurt. She had warned him, but he had ignored her. To think that she was in some kind of trouble was too painful to consider, so he pushed the fear from his mind, focusing only on his anger. He flung open the door leading to the winding stairwell and flew down the steps, where he almost ran headlong into Callie.

"Callie!" he gasped, steadying himself before he crashed into her.

"Tyler? What are you doing here?" She was startled, but there was also a note of worry in her voice.

"Where were you?" Callie was taken aback by his tone. She was accustomed to his coolness and, before this, wouldn't have even been able to imagine him angry. As far as she was concerned, he had no right to be and it raised her ire.

"Why do you think it's any of your business?" she retorted hotly.

"Were you working? Or partying?" He evaded her question, his tone almost derisive, and Callie just stared at him dumbly. This incensed Tyler all the more. The heat trapped inside the stairwell had turned it into a chimney. It oppressed him and spurred his annoyance, his jealousy. "We never did talk about how sex fits into your 'rules,'" he snapped. "Were you fucking someone else? Your boss, maybe?"

"You have no right!" she spat and slapped him unthinkingly, her eyes burning with the threat of tears. Tyler grabbed her raised wrist and used his body to force her backward until she was up against the wall, then pinned her arm to it. He kissed her hot and hard, then eased back to bite her lip. She gasped at the sting of it and bit him back. This just inflamed his passion further, and his mouth was on hers again, roughly invading. Callie surprised them both when, after the initial shock wore off, she began to respond to his advances. Her kiss was deep and languid, and time seemed to slow. The thought that she had bewitched him entered his mind. In his state, the idea was almost plausible. He thought again of an odalisque, intoxicating and dreamy.

Tyler slipped his free hand under her dress and grabbed her ass, his fingernails cutting into that tender skin. It struck him that she wasn't wearing underwear, and this maddened him all the more. He grinded against her and felt satisfaction at the moan that followed. The feel of her firm against his body exhilarated him. Callie grasped the collar of his perfectly tailored, crisp button-up shirt and ripped it apart, right down to his navel, the buttons pinging against the metal of the steps as they flew. She kissed his throat, tongued the hollow above his collarbones, and left the singeing mark of her mouth on his nipple. Bringing her close to him, he slid down along the wall until the two of them were on their knees facing each other. He found the zipper at the back of her dress and pulled it as far as it would go, her sleeves slipping down her shoulders, revealing that she hadn't worn a bra, either.

Tyler reached up to hold Callie's face in his hands and, for a brief moment, they were sharply aware of the other and the reality of their situation. But their lust outweighed all reason. As if magnetized, they flew toward each other and kissed feverishly. There was no thought of being seen, no thought of the repercussions, their anger long forgotten as passion prevailed. He unzipped his trousers and fumbled for her, grasping again at her ass, raising her up and against him so he could find his way inside her, pushing his cock ardently, impatiently into her. Tyler's mouth silenced Callie's scream as he drove himself in, filling her so completely that she felt she might burst or split in half or faint.

Tyler was drunk with the sensation of being inside Callie, buried as he was in her welcoming warmth. He watched intently as her eyes closed and she fell back, as though overwhelmed by him, arching her spine and putting her pert breasts just within reach of his mouth. She shuddered as he nipped at them, her eyes flying open as she felt his five o'clock shadow roughly grazing the sensitive skin.