2. Illawarra Flame Ch. 07-09

'What are you smiling about?" She asked.

'I just kissed the most beautiful woman in the world, you'd be smiling too if you were me."

She couldn't help but smile back at him, he was such a goof ball.

There was a noise above them, someone unlocking a door. Tyler looked at his watch.

'That's probably the physical therapist," he said. 'Come on, let me buy you lunch."

He called out as they moved through the house so as not to scare the physical therapist.

'Tyler? Is that you?" It was a woman's voice.

Tyler froze momentarily. 'Shit, it's my mom," he whispered to her. He bit down on his lower lip as if considering what to do.

'Sashenka?" It came from the woman's voice upstairs.

'Yeah mom, it's me." His shoulders relaxed in acceptance and he walked towards the stairs. She followed timidly behind him.

'What are you doing here?" She asked when he got to the top of the stairs, she was still out of Maya's view.

'What? I'm not welcome in your home anymore?" He deflected the question.

Maya got to the top of the stairs, there was a dining room and kitchen that opened onto a balcony from which there was a view of Jacinta's tree and the ocean beyond. Tyler's mom was in the kitchen putting groceries away, easily reaching the top shelf to store something. She had tanned skin, like Josh's. She paused when she saw Maya.

'Mom, this is Maya. Maya this is my mom," Tyler said as they entered the kitchen.

She smiled widely at Maya, the sort of smile that you might reserve for old friends. 'Of course, hello Maya," she said as she continued to shelve the groceries. She didn't offer her hand to shake.

'Hi, it's nice to meet you Mrs. Gray," Maya responded.

'Oh please, call me Nadia," she said with a wave of her hand. She had an informality about her that made Maya instantly comfortable.

'Shouldn't you be at work?" Tyler asked.

'Didn't I tell you? I don't work on Fridays anymore... furloughs."

'Oh, no you didn't tell me."

'Mmm, best thing that ever happened to me."

'Mom!' Tyler exclaimed, an expression of mock insult on his face. When she looked up he pointed to himself expectantly. 'Hello? First born son in the room!'

'Ha! You think you should be the best thing that ever happened to me? Sorry darling, your father might come close to being as good as my Fridays off but nobody surpasses them." She looked at Maya and winked.

Maya smiled, Nadia was teasing him.

'Nice mom, no wonder I have self confidence issues."

Nadia laughed. 'Tyler, your self confidence issue is that you have too much of it, not too little."

Maya laughed, she was starting to like this woman, she could see that there was no coddling in this house.

'Did you offer Maya something to eat or drink?" She asked him.

'No, I was going to take her to Pedro's," he said with a grin.

'You're not," she said in disbelief.

'Best tacos in San Dog," Tyler was delighting in his mother's discomfort. Maya couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

'Tyler," she said seriously, 'you are not taking her to Pedro's. I forbid it."

'Why not, it'll harden her up," he said, his eyes sparkling.

Nadia gave an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. 'God help you Maya."

'Why, what's wrong with Pedro's?" She asked.

'It's infested! The health department had to shut it down last year!' Nadia said dramatically.

Maya looked to Tyler. 'Nah, it's fine. They reopened didn't they?" He winked at her to let her in on the joke. It seemed that this family was big on teasing each other.

'Honestly Tyler, sometimes I don't know who's son you are."

'Nonsense mom, you know you love me. We'd better go, I haven't packed yet."

'Okay, take care," Nadia said as she crossed the kitchen to hug Tyler. 'You're not really taking her to Pedro's are you?"

'Why? You want me to bring something back for you?" He asked.

Nadia shook her head as if to scold him, but she was smiling. 'Don't eat anything that he recommends," she advised as she opened her arms to hug Maya. It seemed like the most natural thing in the world, of course she should hug Tyler's mother goodbye.

He didn't take her to Pedro's but they did eat tacos from a little hole in the wall restaurant, and they were delicious. On the car ride back to the hotel he asked who was looking after Nicholas.

'Urgh, Hamid's parents are there," she said. 'I'm thankful. I didn't want to bring him here and my mom and dad work so they couldn't help, I'm just not looking forward to seeing them when I get back."

'Stay at my place," he said.

'What?" Did she hear right? Did he just ask her to stay at his place?

'Just for tonight. Call them and tell them that your flight was cancelled and you have to stay here another night, and then come and stay at my place."

'Wow, your mom was right about that self confidence issue," she said, bemused by his proposition.

He smiled. 'Come on Maya, we need to talk, when else are we going to get a chance?"

He was right, she did want to talk to him, to figure out what he was thinking. She needed to make sure they were both clear on what was happening. Hari and Priya were staying through until Tuesday, she wouldn't have a chance to see him alone again outside of work for a while and there was no way that she would talk to him about personal issues at work.

'Okay," she said, starting to come around to the idea.

CHAPTER NINE

It had seemed like a good idea at the time but now that she was sitting in Tyler's truck moving towards his house Maya was second guessing herself. She wasn't ready for this. Yes, she wanted to talk to him, but staying the night was a whole different kettle of fish. Every mile brought them closer to his place. Every mile she felt more nervous.

'What's the matter?" He asked.

'Nothing," she said.

'Come on Maya, I can see that you're anxious, what are you worrying about?"

She was silent for a second. She should just say it. 'I don't want to have sex with you."

Tyler glanced at her and started smiling. 'Now or ever?" He asked.

'Not now, maybe not ever. I don't know."

'But if you don't know that means there's still a chance for the future?" He was grinning at her widely.

She started laughing. 'I guess there might be a chance at some point in the future."

'Yesss!' Tyler pumped his arm as if he was a ten bowler who had just rolled a strike.

She leaned her head back into the headrest and shook it, he was like a big kid.

'Hey relax, I wasn't planning on trying to seduce you, I just want to hang out. You can sleep in the guest room if you like. Besides, we couldn't have sex tonight even if we wanted to."

'Why?"

'I don't think I have any condoms that aren't past their expiry date."

'Really?" She had assumed that women would be beating down the door to get into bed with Tyler.

He glanced at her again, taking his eyes from the road for a second. 'Maya, what sort of a person do you think I am? You think I bring women home on a regular basis?"

'I don't know, you were pretty quick to invite me home."

'Okay, first, that's totally different. Second, like I said, I wasn't planning on trying to have sex with you."

'Why is it different?" She asked.

'Because, you're Maya," he said as if that explained everything.

'Yes, I know who I am but why does that make me different from anyone else you might bring home?"

'Maya, think about it. You've met almost my entire family, you're friends with my best friend's wife, I look after your kid, you're my boss... it's not like I can fuck you and then just forget about it. Not that I would do that to anyone anyway."

He pulled into a driveway, this must be his townhouse. It was cold and dark outside, Maya hugged her arms around herself while Tyler pulled their bags out of the bed of the truck and led her up the path to the front door.

Cassie was waiting on the other side of the door, sitting patiently just inside, her tail wagging like a maniac.

'Cassiopeia!' Tyler called her to him. She whined and wagged and danced and licked Tyler excitedly, and then she came to see Maya. She nuzzled her little head up into her hands and whined and shook her butt. Maya laughed, she'd never gotten such a reception before, nobody had ever been this excited to see her.

'See, I told you she's a good dog," Tyler said as he smiled at her.

'She hasn't been here the whole time has she?"

'No, Sam must have dropped her off."

She entered the house behind Tyler. He turned on lights as he led her through to the kitchen. It was clean but lived in, modest but nice.

'See?" He pulled a post-it note off the refrigerator and handed it to her.

It said, 'T. She's already had dinner. S." in small messy letters.

'How is it that Sam is so neat but his handwriting is so messy?" She asked.

'Dunno, probably a different part of the brain," he replied. He was looking through the fridge. 'Are you hungry?" He asked.

'No." They'd eaten at the airport. 'He's really into post-it notes huh?"

'God, Sam is the king of post-it notes. I swear he must own stock in 3M or something."

Tyler started chuckling. 'Look at this," he handed her a second post-it note from out of the fridge.

In big shaky handwriting it said, 'T 'heart' G'

'Gracie made me banana bread and wrote me a post-it note, how cute is that? Anyone who says she's not Emma and Sam's kid has smoked too much crack."

Tyler pulled a big bowl full of fruit out of the fridge. 'Come on," he motioned for her to follow him back to the living room. He sat on the couch and put the bowl of fruit on the coffee table. Maya sat at the other end of the couch. He started eating a nectarine.

'So," he said, 'the way I see it you owe me a lot of information."

'What do you mean?" She asked.

'Well, you got to meet my family and see where I grew up, I don't know anything about your past. I want to know."

'Okay, ask away," she said. And ask he did. He wanted to know everything. He wanted to know how many kids were in her elementary school, about the cat she'd had as a child, if she'd ever snitched on her sister, how many different countries she'd been to, if she'd ever been camping, what her favorite city to visit was... His questions went on and on and on, but she didn't feel interrogated, quite the opposite. He was warm and funny and affectionate. He seemed to have a genuine interest in learning about her, in hearing what she had to say. They talked all night. It was two in the morning before she even looked at her watch.

'No wonder I'm tired, it's really late," she said.

'Come to bed?" He asked.

There wasn't even a question in her mind of whether or not she should say no and stay in the guest room. She trusted Tyler. She nodded her head.

He picked up their bags and led her up the stairs to his bedroom. They brushed their teeth beside each other in his en suite bathroom, he looked at her in the mirror and smiled through the toothpaste foam.

She lay with her head on the place where his pectoral met his shoulder and draped a leg over his midsection, letting her hand rest on his breastplate. He put his arms around her but didn't try to kiss her. She had never just lain with anyone like this. With Hamid it had always been sex or nothing. She had been missing out, she realized.

When she shifted to get more comfortable her leg brushed against his erection.

'Just ignore that," he told her.

Even though her panties were drenched in her desire and her pussy was aching from wanting him so much, she did ignore it, she thought better than to push things at this point.

'Good night Maya," he whispered, and then he softly kissed her on the head.

'Good night Tyler," she whispered back. She kissed him once on his hairless chest.

It was still dark when he woke her up. He was sitting on the bed stroking her hair off her face and whispering her name.

She opened her eyes and tried to focus. She knew where she was immediately, she was in Tyler's bed. He was trying to tell her something.

'What time is it?" She asked

'It's almost five, I've got to go to swimming." He said.

'Oh, okay."

'I'll be back around nine, will you still be here?"

'Um, I don't know."

'Please?"

'Okay."

He leant down and kissed her on the lips. It was more than a goodbye peck, he lingered for a moment before he pulled away. And then he left. She heard Cassie trot after him, her nails clicking on the hardwood floor, then a click of a door and all was still. She snuggled back down into the blankets, Tyler's blankets. She breathed in deeply, smelling him, remembering him, and then she slept again.

When she woke for the second time the sun was up and the room was bright. She looked around. It was seven thirty, still plenty of time before Tyler would come home. She wanted to snoop. Not bad snooping, she wasn't going to try and hack his computer or read his mail, she just wanted to see how he lived.

She got up and took a shower. He had left towels out for her. How did he have the presence of mind to think of that at five o'clock in the morning?

Once she was dressed she wandered around his townhouse. The master bedroom, where they'd slept, was pretty plain. He didn't have any decorations on the walls, there was no TV in there, just a chest of drawers, the enormous bed and a nightstand. She peeked in the nightstand drawers, nothing of interest really. There were a couple of books and a bunch of over the counter painkillers. The books were all travel guides, China, London, Saint Petersburg, Sydney.

She opened his wardrobe and was surprised to see that there were no suits in there. Tyler wore a suit every day, not always the jacket but the pants, shirt and tie for sure. Where were they all? The closet in his room was full of casual clothes.

The guest room was similarly plain, and devoid of suits. It was all a bit disappointing until she found his office. The office was where it was at. This was obviously where he spent his time when he was home. It was actually bigger than the guest room, with a futon, a stereo and TV with an X-Box and a half a dozen different controllers. There was a massive desk with no fewer than three computers on it and cables all over the place.

He had a CD tower. It was ironic. Tyler worked in the information technology industry and he still had a tower full of outdated technology. She looked over the titles and was surprised to find that it was mostly classical music, not only that they were the right renditions. He didn't own flashy mainstream recordings of bland performances, he owned the good stuff, the real art. There were a few operas and symphony performances but he seemed to prefer chamber orchestras and concertos. And he liked Chopin. How many guys in their twenties like Chopin?

There was a guitar case in the corner and there were photos taped to the walls. Photos printed straight from one of his computers, some on photo paper, some on regular white stock paper. She surveyed them.

There was a young Gracie sitting in her high chair with cake all over her face, there were Josh and Tyler in those stupid paper crowns that you get out of Christmas crackers, there were Sam and Tyler soaking wet with an arm around each other and a swimming pool in the background, there were Zach and Sam sitting beside a camp fire, there was an old one of Jacinta putting white zinc oxide on Emma's nose at the beach, both of them laughing, and then there was Nicholas at the park, his little arm extended petting Cassie, his face turned towards the camera with a big smile.

Nicholas had made it onto Tyler's photo wall. She stood and stared at it. Nicholas meant something to Tyler.

Touching as this revelation was, it did not quell her desire to find his business suits. She looked in the closet expecting to find them there, but there were none. There were those weird swimming tights that she had seen him in on the TV hanging in there and there were piles of manuals and boxes filled with swimming trophies. She had a bit of a look through the trophies thinking that she might find his Olympic gold medal, but it wasn't in there. At least, it wasn't in the box that she looked in, there were others that also appeared to be full of trophies and medals. He probably had that one in a safe or something anyway.

Where were his damn business suits?

She went downstairs to continue her snooping in another room. First was the dining room, which was actually just an extension of the lounge room they'd been sitting in last night. There were framed photographs in here. Not that many of them, but enough to keep her interested.

There was one of Sam and Emma's wedding, she'd seen a photo like it at their house, this one was just slightly different. They must have been married in Colorado, it looked like they were up in the mountains, there were big pine trees and craggy peaks behind them. In the photo at Emma and Sam's house the three off them were looking at the camera smiling, in Tyler's photo Emma had her head back laughing while Sam and Tyler smiled at her. It was a beautiful photograph, it captured a moment of real joy.

There was a photo of Zach sitting in a kayak, his paddle held up above his head, happiness beaming from his young face.

In a carved wooden frame there was a picture of Grace sitting on Sam's lap at a picnic table, piggy tails in her hair and a fork in her hand. Sam was looking down at her and she had a huge grin on her face, not a posed smile, a big grin.

The other photos were of his family. She examined the one of Jacinta carefully, she looked like she was about fifteen or sixteen years old. It was taken on the back deck of his parents' house, she recognized the little slice of ocean in the distance. In the photo she was looking up and smiling in a sly way, she looked mischievous. The photo gave the impression that she was colluding with the photographer.

She was beautiful. There was no doubt about it, the girl was gorgeous. She had the fairest peaches and cream skin and the darkest brown hair. She had a delicate look about her, her cheek bones were prominent and she had a smile that a supermodel would be jealous of.

Maya sighed. What a horrible waste.

She walked through the lounge room, but she had been there last night, she felt sure she would have noticed a closet full of suits in there. The only place left to look was the laundry, and they weren't in there either.

'What the fuck?" She said out loud. Then she thought of it. There was another place, the garage. It was a long shot, but she was so intrigued that she gave it a try.

There they were, hanging in a large double door armoire. It was unusual in two ways. First, why did he store business suits in his garage? Second, when she looked more closely she realized that they were packaged in a specific way. Each hanger had a pair of pants, socks, underwear and an undershirt, business shirt and a matching tie, some had suit coats some did not. It was odd.

She looked around the rest of the garage. Toys. He had a kayak suspended from the ceiling, a mountain bike, a surf board (where did he think he was going to use that around here?) and a ping pong table that was folded up and rolled to the side.

She went back into the kitchen and put the kettle on for tea, looking through drawers and cupboards to find what she needed. The refrigerator was remarkably well stocked for a person who had just been out of town for three days. Everything looked fresh.

True to his promise he had put the coloring in 'art work' that Grace and Nicholas had made for him on the day of Gracie's birthday party on his fridge.

'It's bold Nicholas, I like it, it makes a statement," he'd said of Nicholas' page, which was mostly red scribbles. Maya admired the messy squiggly N that Tyler had shown Nicholas how to write.