Page 75 of The Woman Who Couldn't Scream
Stupid distraction.
By the time she was done, he had touched her. By the time she pushed him off, he was hard and hot and she knew she had made him suffer.
If only she didn’t still feel the pressure of his hands cupping her breasts, the thrust of his hips against hers. If only she wasn’t suffering, too.
She stood and set off across the sand, running fast, desperate to get away until her flush had faded and her pulse roared aerobically rather than lustily.
The sand ruined that plan. She had to stop, sit, shake out her shoes and empty her socks.
By the time she was done, he was standing, waiting. He set the pace up the steep path onto the cliff and he didn’t slack off to accommodate her. Or maybe he did, which made her gasping at the top even more humiliating. She wanted to take a break; she couldn’t because he kept running. Once again it had become a contest, and she wasn’t going to catch him without a strategy.
She’d traveled this path before; he probably hadn’t. She tracked him until he followed the trail as it cut inland, through a stand of cypress trees, and disappeared from sight. Then she took the shortcut, thrashing through the underbrush to cut him off.
She barely made it, leaping out in front of him where the path cut sharply back toward the sea. His competitive smile changed to surprise and he skidded to a stop. “How did you do that?”
“I cheated,” she signed, and grinned and plucked cypress bark from her hair.
“Wish I’d thought of that.” He looked beyond her. “Hello.”
She swung around.
The maid from the Good Knight Manor Bed and Breakfast stood there in her drab garb, holding her bag of cleaning supplies. Susie looked more surprised than Benedict or Merida, then annoyed, then embarrassed. “Sorry. Sorry! I’m in your way. Seems like I’m always in the way.” She shuffled off the trail and back into the trees. “Go on. Finish your run. I’ll stand here and wait.”
Merida gestured in question.
“What? Oh. What am I doin’?” Susie shifted her bag from hand to hand as if it weighed her down. “If I’ve got time before I go to work, I like to come look at the view. Refreshin’, it is, like a really good bathroom cleaner.”
“Oh.” Merida mouthed the word, began to sign, then stopped in frustration.
“Go ahead,” Benedict said. “I’ll tell her what you’re saying.”
To Susie, Merida signed, “I thought you didn’t start work at the B and B until later. Around eleven.” As she spoke, Benedict translated the sign language into spoken English.
Interesting. When Nauplius translated for Merida, he used her gestures, her expressions, to bring attention tohimself. With Benedict, she felt as if he was simply making her life easier.
“I’ve got another job today, cleanin’ a house down here by the ocean. Please don’t tell Mrs. Glass. She’s real funny about me workin’ for someone other than her.”
Merida pantomimed zipping her lip, then signed, “Enjoy your quiet before your busy day.”
“Right. I’ll see ya at the B and B. You going to let me in to clean your room today?” Susie looked so worn down by life, so eager to please. “I promise not to touch any of your stuff, not ever again.”
Merida nodded. Reluctantly, but she nodded.
“Miss, what time you want me in there?” Susie asked.
“I’ll go out for lunch about one. You can do it then.” Merida would make sure she locked her computer in the safe.
“Okay.” Susie looked at Benedict. “You going out with her? To lunch?”
Benedict raised his eyebrows to Merida.
She nodded.
Susie said, “I’ll prep your room, too. There’ll be clean sheets.” Susie looked horrified. “Which… I mean… when you get back, everything else will be clean, too, not just the sheets.”
Merida was already flushed from the run. Thank God, for Susie made such a big deal covering her blooper that Merida blushed.
Benedict, naturally, seemed unaffected. “Sounds good, Susie. We’ll leave you to your view.” He gestured to Merida to go ahead, and when they were out of earshot, he said, “Bathroom cleaner?”
