Michael's Baby

She nodded dazedly. The merest brush of his hand and her knees went weak. The rattling radiators had nothing on the clatter of her heartbeat. She stood there after he’d walked away, her mind racing as fast as her pulse, filling her thoughts with images of Michael scooping her up in his arms and taking her to bed.

“Girl, you look like you got hit by lightning,” Keisha noted dryly as she walked in the front door to the building.

“Yeah.” Brett dreamily sighed. “I feel that way, too.”

“Oh-oh.”

“Why is it oh-oh?”

“I saw the way you-looked at Michael. He may not have owned this building long, but I told you I work as a security officer at the library’s main branch. Anyway, Michael is well known in security circles. Likes working alone, always solves his cases. Nothin’ slips past him.”

“That’s good, right?”

Keisha shrugged. “Girl, he doesn’t let anyone slow him down. As in females. He changes them often and likes them gorgeous.”

“Gorgeous, huh? Well, that lets me out of the running,” Brett noted ruefully.

“Don’t you be down on yourself. You got plenty going for you. I never seen a girl knows as much about hardware as you do.”

“I may know about hardware, but I don’t have any of my own,” Brett replied, waving her hand toward her small breasts.

“You never heard of those push-up bras they’ve got? My sister works in a lingerie store. Talk about hardware.” Keisha grinned and rolled her eyes. “We’re talking heavy-duty stuff here. We’ll go over there my next day off.”

“I don’t know…”

Keisha waved away Brett’s uncertainty. “I gotta get over there to pick out my Christmas present from Tyrone anyway.”

“You pick out your own present?”

“Only since he bought me a steam iron last year.”

Brett winced in appreciative understanding.

“So this year I pick out my own things. Safer that way. How ‘bout you? Got your shopping done yet? Christmas is only three weeks away.”

“I know. It’ll be here before you know it. I’m just about done with my shopping.” Despite the fact that Brett had no family, she did have a large list of people she remembered at the holidays. Since money was tight, it was always a challenge coming up with gift ideas under five dollars, but she managed. After all, practice makes perfect, and Brett had had plenty of practice at making a dollar stretch.

“You know what you’re gonna ask Santa for?” Keisha inquired.

The mental image of Michael with a bow around his neck flashed into Brett’s mind, followed by a picture of their children gathered around the tree. “Santa can’t give me what I want,” Brett whispered in a slightly melancholy voice, before dismissing the unobtainable image from her thoughts. “Tell me more about that lingerie shop your sister works in…”

While Brett was speaking to Keisha outside, inside his apartment Michael was talking to his dad, or attempting to.

“Fuji has better phones,” his father was saying. “I can hear you now.”

“So what do you know about a Janos family curse?”

“Curse? Have you been betting on the horses again?” his father demanded.

“No. I only bet on the horses once in my life, Dad. That’s not what I’m talking about.”

“Then what are you talking about?”

“I got a package from Hungary. From someone who claims they are a relative.”

“Must be your Great-Aunt Magda. What did she send you?” his father demanded suspiciously.

“An engraved metal box with a silver key in it. And she sent along a letter.” Michael read it to his father. “Do you know what this is all about?”

“There is a spell,” his father confirmed before static broke into the line.

“Wait, I didn’t hear what else you said,” Michael shouted. “The line is breaking up again. Did you say that there really is a curse?”

“Not a curse. A spell…was meant to be bahtali.”

“I don’t understand. Are you still there?”

The only answer he got was static.

“Can you hear me?” Michael shouted.

“The entire building can hear you,” Brett wryly noted from the doorway to his apartment.

“How did you get in? Never mind. I’m on the phonelong distance.”

“I’ll try to call you when we reach Hawaii,” he heard his dad say over the briefly clear line.

“Dad, wait!” Michael said into the phone. “What about the bahtali?”

The dial tone was the only reply. Muttering a choice Hungarian curse under his breath, Michael hung up the phone.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Brett said contritely. “But the door to your apartment was ajar. You said you needed to approve any expense over thirty dollars and I forgot to tell you earlier that I think you’re going to have to replace all the bathtub and kitchen faucets in Keisha’s apartment.”

Instead of responding to her comments, Michael said, “What do you know about keys?”

She blinked at him. “Excuse me?”

“Keys. What do you know about them?”

“That they unlock things. Why? Is someone having a problem with their locks?”

“What about a key like this?” Michael opened the Rom box and held out the silver key to her.

Brett suddenly felt as if she were on a merry-go-round going at 78 rpm. She was so dizzy she couldn’t stand straight. Putting out her hand, she reached for something to hold her upright, but found nothing but air—until Michael caught her in his arms.

The power of his embrace was both humbling and exhilarating. The world slipped away as she gazed into his eyes. He looked as dazed as she felt. Then passionate hunger replaced surprise. Seconds later he bent his head, slowly lowering his lips to brush hers.

What began as a soft inquisition was soon transformed into a fervent exploration as Michael claimed her mouth with bewitching kisses, urgently coaxing her lips apart. The beguiling thrust of his tongue made her weak at the knees.