[Intertwined Souls 05.0] No Good Deed Read online

  “Stop looking at me like that,” Eva said without turning around.

  “Like what?”

  “Like you want to throw me on the bed and make love to me, because if I turn around now, we will end up doing just that.”

  “Don’t turn around,” Zoe said as she came up behind Eva. “Aren’t you lucky you haven’t got a sunburned butt?” She put her hands over Eva’s behind and squeezed, getting a little yelp from her.

  “Zoe, Earl is here!”

  “Yes, I know,” Zoe said. She turned Eva around and took over buttoning her shirt. Her hands deliberately touched Eva’s breast, causing Eva to gasp. “It won’t take much,” Zoe whispered.

  “Oh, don’t...do that.” Eva closed her eyes and smiled. “I do love it when you dress me.”

  “Me too, but I’d better stop touching you or else.” Zoe reluctantly allowed Eva to finish dressing on her own. “Earl has got some new overalls to impress Tommy.”

  “Being naked will impress Tommy.”

  “Eva!” Zoe scrunched up her face in distaste. “I don’t want to think about that, not with Earl in the next room.”

  “I bet Tommy does.” Eva giggled and sat down on the bed. “Are you going out there again?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you want to get dressed first?” Eva asked, and untied Zoe’s robe, pulling the garment off her body and letting it fall to the floor. She put her arms around Zoe’s bare waist and brought her in for a quick kiss. “Easier than leaning down,” she whispered in her ear when Zoe sat on her lap.

  “Oh, I liked that.”

  “Let’s go and speak to Earl, and then you have a date with me, your magic concoction and my sunburn.”

  “I get to have my hands on you… I like that idea.” Zoe grinned and she got off Eva’s lap. She watched Eva pick up a brush and leave the bedroom chuckling.

  ***

  Eva walked out, brushing her hair, and smiled when she saw the very clean overalls Earl was wearing.

  “Morning, Earl,” Eva greeted him and beckoned him into the kitchen.

  “Hey, what happened to you?” Earl asked. He cupped Eva’s cheek with his hand.

  “Gardening,” Eva replied, getting a chuckle out of Earl. “I didn’t think the afternoon sun would be so hot.”

  “Yeah, well, the sun does like fair skin like yours, so you’re easily burned. Is it just your face?”

  “Shoulders. They feel really tight. Want some breakfast?”

  “Are you cooking?”

  Eva stuck her tongue out at him as she passed him in the kitchen.

  “Hey, Wiggy.” Zoe bounced into the kitchen.

  “Ah, she returns. Sorry I got you two out of bed.”

  “I forgive you, my friend, but don’t do it again, or else,” Zoe joked and looked up at Eva, giving her a little headshake.

  Earl watched them for a moment. “Okay, what’s up?”

  “Aresti is dead but I don’t think she can be resurrected again. Can you see if she can be or if we may need to go car shopping?” Eva replied as she turned to take the kettle off the fire.

  “Uh huh, and what?” Earl sounded suspicious.

  Eva went about making the tea without paying Earl too much attention while Zoe set the table, leaving Earl scratching his head. “Will you two tell me what’s going on?”

  “You have new overalls.” Eva looked up and pointed at Earl, who merely looked down at himself.

  “You noticed that I have new overalls?”

  “Yes.” Eva sat down at the table and gazed at him. “I usually have a lot of patience, Earl.”

  “Yes, you are the most patient person I’ve ever met.”

  “A lot of patience,” Eva repeated. “I’ve run out of patience.”

  “Alright,” Earl said. He accepted a cup of tea from Zoe and leaned against the kitchen counter. He brought the hot liquid up to his lips and blew on it for a moment.

  “What are you intentions towards Zoe’s husband?”

  Earl was in the middle of sipping his tea when he stopped and looked up over the rim of the cup at Eva. “What?” he squeaked out.

  “Are you interested in Tommy?” Eva said quietly.

  “Um.”

  Zoe covered her mouth to stop the giggles. “I’m shocked as well at Eva’s interest in your love life.”

  “Um.” Earl turned to Zoe and then back to Eva. “Um.”

  “There is a word that comes after ‘um,’ isn’t there?” Eva asked impatiently to Earl, who was still watching her with a puzzled expression on his face.

  “Yes, I like Tommy. He’s…”

  “Oh, for goodness sake,” Eva exclaimed. “Tommy wants to kiss you; you want to kiss him. Just go and kiss the boy! While you are kissing him, can you please fix my car or suggest another car we need to buy because I don’t know anything about cars!”

  “Who is this woman?” Earl turned to Zoe. “She looks like my mate Eva but she is sounding like you.”

  “You make that sound like it’s a very bad thing,” Zoe replied with a mock scowl, causing Eva to laugh.

  “Will you please kiss the boy and while you’re doing that, fix my car? I’m feeling a little hot,” Eva said. She got up from her chair and opened the kitchen door to go outside.

  “Who was that?” Earl said in a loud voice.

  ***

  A gentle breeze blew through the open window, and Eva sighed contentedly, making Zoe smile. She was stretched out on their bed while Zoe spread lavender oil across her lower back. The baking soda and water for Eva’s sunburn had cooled down her shoulders, and Zoe had decided to continue the helpful ministrations with some lavender oil. She loved the feel of Eva’s skin under her fingers.

  “Hmm, this is nice.”

  “I’m enjoying it,” Zoe said with a little laugh. “It’s a nice view from up here.” It was indeed a nice view from where she was. Eva was naked and in bed. Her broad shoulders still had a pink tinge to them. Zoe gently applied the soothing lotion while her thoughts turned to their most unusual morning. Eva was not behaving normally. She was sick, irritable and definitely not herself, especially when it came to Earl. Her legendary patience had evaporated. Little things niggled her, and Zoe put it down to her anxiety about her new job and their baby making efforts. Zoe wasn’t at all comfortable with having to do what was required to make both their dreams a reality, but she did it. She had to contend with her own discomfort and with Eva’s distress every time she and Tommy would go away to a hotel. Zoe refused to have sex in the house she shared with Eva. It was always some hotel as far away as they could find.

  Eva twisted around when Zoe’s hands stopped. “Zo, are you all right?”

  “Yes, I’m fine.” Zoe leaned down and gave Eva a kiss.

  “Are you thinking about next month?” Eva asked quietly as she resumed her position.

  “Yes.”

  Eva remained quiet for a long moment. “I’m jealous of Tommy.”

  “What?”

  Eva turned around with an inscrutable look, one Zoe had never seen before on her face, and then turned around and rested her head on her arms. “I’m jealous of Tommy. I’m jealous of my cousin, who has no interest in women and who is doing us a favor,” Eva muttered darkly. “I’m jealous of the fact he gets to have sex with you.”

  “I’m having sex with Tommy,” Zoe said, feeling a little uncomfortable at even saying the words. “I don’t make love to him.”

  “I know,” Eva murmured.

  “Evy, are you feeling alright?”

  “No. I hate that Tommy is with you. I know we agreed and all, but anyone other than me making love to you…it makes me angry. I’m jealous and I’m resenting Tommy for having you.”

  “I know how this makes you feel. I feel like I’m cheating on you,” Zoe replied. She lay next to Eva and gazed at her. “I think if I don’t get my monthlies, it’s time to end this.”

  Eva gazed back at Zoe, and for a long moment she stayed silent until she leaned over and tenderly kissed her.
“I don’t want…I don’t want you to stop because of how I feel, love. We have to do this if we want children, and we want them.”

  “No, it’s time to end it.”

  “No.” Eva pushed a strand of Zoe’s curly hair behind her ear. “I don’t want you to stop because I’m uncomfortable. I’m not the one having sex with a man. I know how uncomfortable that is and I know how it makes you feel. Yes, I’m jealous, but you are doing something that you hate for us to have children.”

  Zoe watched Eva’s eyes glisten. “It hurts me that this is hurting you. I feel like I’m cheating on you even when we both know I’m not, but that doesn’t make that feeling go away.”

  “Do you want to end it because of the way I feel?”

  “Partly. I don’t like the way I feel either. I want to stop.”

  Eva closed her eyes and took a shuddering breath. When she opened them again, Zoe watched the tears that ran down her cheeks. She reached out and cupped Eva’s tear stained cheek. “I love you, Evy. You have stood by and watched me go away without saying anything. You lie beside me and love me without saying a word about Tommy or showing how you feel, but I know you. I know how you think, and even when you don’t say anything, I can see it. I know how you feel because I can feel it myself.”

  “I don’t—”

  “I know. No more. I’m not doing this anymore. I love Tommy and he is very gentle with me,” Zoe quietly revealed. She watched Eva wince. “You’ve wanting to ask me that, haven’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “He is gentle and I’m not making it easy on him. We are both finding it difficult, so I think this isn’t going to be a big surprise to him.”

  “I don’t care about Tommy,” Eva said. She kissed Zoe on the lips. “I don’t care how he feels. I only care how you feel.”

  “I know that and I know you sit in our room and see it in your mind and that makes you mad. I come home and you don’t want to do anything other than hold me. You don’t say anything, but I know. This is hurting so much that you can’t even put it into words.”

  “I keep seeing Tommy kiss you.”

  “He doesn’t kiss me. I asked him not to.”

  “He doesn’t? How…um...”

  “Do you really want to know how I get aroused?” Zoe asked, a tiny smile playing on her lips. She knew what Eva wanted to know without Eva even voicing her thoughts. She leaned in for a deep and passionate kiss and lovingly let her hands roam, massaging and caressing Eva’s back, reveling in the feel of Eva’s body pressed against her own. “I only have to think about you lying on our bed, your hair all tousled after we make love. The way your eyes darken when you make love to me and the feel of your body —that’s all it takes.”

  Zoe entangled her fingers in Eva’s dark hair. She leaned down and kissed Eva, who responded by scooping her body closer. “I want to spend the rest of my life loving you,” Zoe whispered as she nuzzled Eva’s neck, and then kissed her passionately. The feel of Eva’s hands on her skin, touching her, caressing her lovingly, drew a soft moan from Zoe. They broke apart and she fanned herself with her hand. “Getting aroused by thinking about you is the easiest thing in the world,” she added, making Eva smile.

  “I had this image in my head…”

  “Yes, you did, and please, don’t make me think about that scene. It would make me ill. Your cousin looks like you, but he isn’t you. If my monthlies arrive, I think we should think about adoption.”

  “But…”

  “You’re an heiress; you’re married to my brother. You could adopt as many children as you want. If you do, they become my nieces and nephews and that means I’m family to them.”

  A smile spread across Eva’s face. “I can, can’t I?”

  “Yes. The wealthy can get what they want, isn’t that what you say? Well, let’s see where your money gets you.”

  “Our money. It’s not my money. It’s our money.”

  “Alright, let’s see where our money gets us. We want children. You want me to stop trying and I’m all for that. If I get my monthlies then we go to the next step, alright?”

  Eva nodded when Zoe indicated for her to turn over so she could finish the massage. Without a word, Eva acquiesced to her request. Zoe looked down and shook her head at her gentle partner. She bent down and kissed Eva’s scarred back. “I will always love you,” she murmured. She felt Eva take a deep breath before she continued her massage.

  After a long silence, Zoe looked down at Eva and wondered if she had fallen asleep. She leaned across and saw Eva’s eyes flutter. “There is something else wrong, isn’t there?” Zoe asked quietly. “You told Earl to go kiss Tommy, which isn’t like you.”

  “I don’t feel right. I don’t know what it is, but I feel very unsettled.”

  “Other than our baby making troubles, I think you’re just unsettled about this new job and Uncle Wilbur’s plans for Lambros Steel and all the other things going on in our lives at the moment. You don’t like change and this is a huge change.”

  Eva made a noise which sounded halfway between a grunt and a snort. Zoe continued the massage while she patiently waited for Eva to open up to her.

  Eva turned around fully. She opened her arms and Zoe settled down next to her, her hand resting on Eva’s flat stomach. “Don’t worry about me. You know I take time to adjust and this is going to take quite some time. Everything is moving so fast, and before I have a chance to catch my breath, something else happens.” She stroked Zoe’s face and turned her towards her.

  “Have you had any more visions?” Zoe asked.

  “No. Not since the ship when I saw our babies, and now I’m not sure if they were the babies you might make with Tommy or our adopted babies. They fit so perfectly in what we want our children to be.”

  “Have you asked Aunt Tessa if this is normal?”

  Eva smiled. “Zoe, my love, nothing about this is normal. Normal would be our lives before we went to Europe.”

  “No, that wasn’t normal either. You still had your gifts, but you didn’t know it.”

  “Don’t they say that ignorance is bliss?”

  “Yes, and they also say that sticking your head in the sand is a good way to get your butt kicked,” Zoe quipped, making Eva smile.

  “I think we both got our butts kicked in Larissa and Berlin,” Eva said and sighed deeply.

  “Yes, but we also found that we had people who loved us. We found Stella, Tessa, Theo, and Tommy. We found out about Irene and Johan.”

  “And my evil bitch of a grandmother and her evil spawn.”

  “Yes, but there was also Uncle Wilbur, Marlene, and Leila,” Zoe countered. “We found good people as well as the evil witch and her spawn.”

  “I don’t know. It just seems so hard at the moment.”

  “You’ve also been sick now for a few days and it’s not getting any better. You’re irritable—”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Yes, you are. You’re short tempered and that’s not you. You’re distracted and—”

  “I’m just tired.”

  “I wish Aunty Stella was here. I want her to check whether it’s more than just a cold or you being worn down by what happened to us in Europe.”

  “I need things to slow down so I can catch up.”

  “Hm, I think we need to speak to Tessa and see if she felt the same way when everything went haywire for her.”

  “I don’t think our experience was the same.”

  “I still want to talk to her and also ask Aunt Stella to make sure there isn’t anything physically wrong. You’ve had colds before and you’ve never been this irritable.”

  “Maybe the gifted are irritable when they have colds,” Eva joked only to find Zoe shaking her head.

  “You tell lame jokes.”

  “At least that hasn’t changed,” Eva said, making Zoe smile.

  “In any case, they come back on Tuesday. First thing when they come back we will get to see them. Alright?”

  “Yes. There’s no ne
ed to call them now. Let them have some time alone up in the mountains. Aunt Tessa loves it there,” Eva said as she twirled Zoe’s curly hair with her fingers and smiled. “Don’t worry.”

  “I worry because you haven’t been yourself lately. I worry when you are not feeling well and I don’t know why.”

  Zoe rolled on top of Eva’s long body and stared into her eyes, letting her finger trace Eva’s strong profile and settle on her dimpled chin. “I want to make love to you. I love you so much,” she said with an intensity that seemed to surprise Eva. She pressed against Eva’s body, sliding her hand down the soft skin of Eva’s stomach as her mouth covered Eva’s lips in a fiery kiss.

  CHAPTER 7

  Zoe was aware of two things. She was alone in bed and she didn’t have to open her eyes to know that, and there was an unpleasant smell that almost made her gag. Her nose crinkled in disgust as she slowly opened her eyes. She lifted her head and scanned the room to find she was indeed alone. The bedroom door was slightly ajar and the awful smell needed no detective work to find out where it was coming from.

  “Oh, Evy, breakfast in bed is only a surprise if you don’t burn anything,” Zoe mumbled. She threw back the light blanket and sat on the edge of the bed. She could hear Eva in the kitchen and could guess the state of that area of the house. Just as she was about to get up, Ourania came ambling into the room and sneezed, causing Zoe to smile at the blue eyed feline.

  Ourania decided to jump onto the bed with her mistress and promptly found Zoe’s lap, where she flopped herself down.

  The sound of Eva’s cursing made Zoe giggle. “I hadn’t heard that one before, Ourania. I think it’s time to go and rescue the food from Eva,” she said to the cat. She gently picked up the feline and put her to one side.

  Zoe found her robe and tied it as she left the bedroom and padded quietly to the kitchen. She leaned against the doorjamb and watched her frustrated partner as she gazed forlornly at the baking tray, which was set on the stove cook top.