He told her everything. Well, it was her right to know what her boyfriend was up to since they were separated by a few countries and then a full ocean. My heart nearly stopped when I saw him standing there as I went to answer the phone. I wanted to say something - anything - but the phone continued ringing mercilessly. I didn't feel any better when I found out that the girl on the other end was Elvis's teen-aged girlfriend. But were they really a couple? Well, maybe now they weren't, after their conversation. She knew that her man fell for another woman. His maid! How terrible! That poor girl...
"The next time I talk to 'im, I'm gonna demand that he keep his relationship with 'er," I said as I fluffed a pillow a little too forcefully in one of the eight guest rooms close to nine o'clock. "That girl doesn't deserve to be dumped because of a maid."
I finished up with the room and went on down the hallway. I stopped at Elvis's closed bedroom door. He wasn't home. He left shortly after that phone call and hadn't been back since.
"I think it's okay to go in," I muttered. "Momma wants me to tidy up all the rooms before I go to bed."
I opened the door to reveal a very clean room. I surmised that he kept his room clean on purpose as to not give us hired help more work. I smirked. He was such a nice man. A handsome, unselfish, caring and talented man. A man who any woman would love to call her own.
Including me, but that wasn't possible. I couldn't be with him no matter how much I wanted to... and no matter how much he wanted to, also.
"Don't think about it," I ordered myself. I went and fluffed up the pillows, straightened out the pink blanket a little more and made sure everything else in the room was in order.
Something caught my eye, something I had seen before and glanced at, but didn't take a good look. I came up to it as it sat on Elvis's dresser. It was a picture of him and Priscilla, with her looking absolutely stunning with her curly brown hair down, and him looking breathtaking in his army uniform and hat. Both were smiling.
"Lucky girl," I said. "I wonder if this was taken while he was still in the army, or if it was taken when he was filming."
"It was taken while I was still in the army."
I gasped. I didn't turn around. My heart went racing, making my hands start to go numb, and heat burned my cheeks. "Um... I'm sorry. I was only cleaning a bit, and I..."
I trailed off. I really needed to stop acting like an idiot.
"It's okay. I always seem to startle ya."
"I thought you were goin' to be home later, that's all. If I knew you were home now, I wouldn't have come in here."
"I really don't mind it."
Of course he wouldn't. "I will just be on my way..."
I turned around and I let out another gasp. He stood there about ten feet away from me, wearing nothing but a pair of black sleeping pants, and his hair was wet, like he had just stepped out of the shower. I had never seen a more steamy, attractive sight.
Oh, sweet mother of God...
He smirked, and I knew why he did. My face probably resembled a cherry. How the heck did I not hear him behind the closed bathroom door?!
I have to get out of here!
My legs wouldn't move me. He started walking over and stopped a few feet in front of me, his gaze melting my insides. "Pardon me, Megan," he said in his low drawl, and my nerves tingled. I looked at the dresser. Oh. I stepped out of the way, and he opened a drawer and pulled out a white shirt. I took that as my leave to go. At the door, "Megan."
I stopped. I didn't turn around.
"I know you heard that conversation I had with Priscilla this mornin'. Well, at least what I said of the conversation. I saw a bit of your dress behind the dinin' room wall."
I winced, mortified. He knew I heard?! Doggonit! "I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself. I think you've come to know that I can be really impulsive."
"It's okay."
"Still, I'm sorry. And I'm sorry that I ruined your relationship with Priscilla. From what you said to 'er, she seems heartbroken." He said nothing to that, but the silence was response enough. "I think you should mend things with 'er. She doesn't deserve to be dumped because of me, a maid. A little nobody."
"You're not a nobody, Megan."
"I am. Please, go call Priscilla up and tell 'er that you two still have a chance. Be with 'er, and..."
Two hands took hold of my shoulders, and I swallowed my words. His presence loomed behind me, and it, his clean scent and body heat became all I focused on. I felt his head get closer to me, and his nose touched my cheek. He said in a low tone, and his hot breath hit my skin, "I can't be with a girl when I'm in love with another one."
I could turn to goo at his sweet and tender confession. His lips started kissing my cheek. "Elvis..." I managed weakly, my mind muddled.
"Priscilla knows that she and I aren't possible. Not any longer."
"But..."
He wrapped his arms all the way around me, and my back pushed against his chest. I alarmingly noticed that he was still not wearing anything on top. "I love you, Megan," he whispered into my neck.
I had to walk away from this somehow. I had to. I had...
I turned my head slightly and my lips somehow melded with his. His hold on me loosened and I turned myself around and wrapped my arms around his neck and his wrapped around the whole of me, holding me so tight that I could barely breath, but... I didn't care. I slid a hand through his cold, wet hair as my mouth ran with his, and he wasn't shy about the movement of his own. I savored the warmth and the softness of it.
Never in my life have I felt so enthralled and wanted.
Elvis picked me up off the floor and moved me over somewhere, and I found myself sitting on something, maybe the top of the dresser, since he pushed me into things and they fell over. I felt his mouth and his teeth as I wrapped my legs around his. His tongue touched the roof of my mouth, but as soon as it left, his mouth left mine and moved along my cheek and to my ear. My body shivered pleasurably as his mouth lowed to my neck, kissing it.
"Elvis," I breathed, but he still went at it. "Elvis." He brought his head back, and I stared at his blue eyes. My face felt so heated, my cheeks hurt, and my whole body felt weak. "Um..." His gaze held mine, and oh, did I want to just kiss him and kiss him and be with him! "I can't do this."
I hopped off of the dresser and went for the door. "Megan, I'm... I'm sorry."
Tears stung my eyes as I had my hand on the doorknob. "Gosh darn it..." I muttered and turned around. His sad eyes made my heart hurt. "I want this. I want this more than I think I've ever wanted anythin', but it's not right."
He took a few steps up to me, his soulful gaze glued to mine. "Do you love me?"
I couldn't lie. "Yes, I do. More than I thought I could love any man, but... you're off-limits. I shouldn't even be in this house, let alone like this with you. It's..."
"Please don't say 'not right' again. Megan, we can be like this. I can deal with the Colonel. I..." I let out a massive breath and planted his hands on his hips. He bowed his head down and his bangs fell. "I love you. I want to tell the world about us."
My eyes widened. "What? No, don't do that. I don't want you to be another one of those stars who gets involved with his maid. I really don't want that to be you."
"We're already involved," he argued, looking up at me again.
"But I don't want the world to know about it."
He pursed his lips, lips that I really, really wanted to kiss again. He nodded. "Okay. Okay, Megan."
His sad puppy-dog eyes gripped my heart. I ran up to him and wound my arms around his neck in a hug. He wrapped his arms around me tightly like he did a moment ago, and he dug his head into the crane of my neck and kissed it. I held his head there for a moment, then I leaned away from him. "This should be the last thing," I said, not wanting this to stop, but it had to. "I'm gonna leave now."
I let go of him and promptly left the room. I cantered down the hallways and made it to mine and Momma's room. She had just pulled a pink nightgown over her head, and her long graying brown hair was down and waving passed her shoulders. She saw me and alarm came to her features. "Oh my heavens, Megan, what in the name of the Holy Lord is wrong?"
A sob burst out of me, and I ran to her and embraced her, letting out the tears. She held me to her.
"Oh, my darling..." she cooed.
"I wanna be with 'im, Momma," I cried. "I wanna be with 'im so bad, but I can't!"
She nodded and started rocking me back and forth like she always had. "I know, sweet thing, I know. C'mon."
We went and sat on the bed, and she held me there, still rocking me back and forth as her cheek sat on my forehead. "I've seen it," she revealed. "I've seen how you two act around each other. That man is so nuts about ya. I don't blame 'im."
"It hurts that he's nuts about me. I'm nuts about him, too."
"I know, but this is how it should be. He's a world-famous star, and we're ordinary folk."
"What if we were famous, too? Or, what if he was an ordinary man?"
"Well, if either of those were the case, I would say that you found a man that I whole-heartedly approve of, and I know will treat you right, but since those aren't the cases here, it's different."
"I hate it."
"I know, Megan. So, what happened?"
I should just tell her. I opened my mouth and spilled everything like a tipped jar of milk running off the counter. When I finished, she nodded.
"I see," she said. "I knew he was fibbin' that time I asked about the relationship with you two."
I wasn't surprised Momma confronted him about this. "Maybe the Colonel was right to kick me out. Maybe I should just leave again."
"No, don't do that. You two will soon get over this and be the good friends you were before."
"I don't think we'll be able to go back to what we were before."
"Then, you have to do your best. I know how it is to love a man with all my heart and not have it work out." I leaned out of her hold and gave her a questionable look. She explained, "Back when I was 'round your age, before I met your daddy, there was this boy that I got myself involved with. He wasn't a famous star or anythin', he was just a boy that all the girls at school wanted since he was so handsome and kind. He took a likin' to me and we started seein' each other. I had no idea that he was my father's boss's son. Once my daddy found out about the relationship, he made it end. I was heart-broken, and so was this boy, but I got over it. I met your daddy the year after."
I stared at her, taking this in. "And how in heaven's name did I not know about this boy?"
She shrugged a shoulder. "I never felt the need to tell ya before, but now, you need to hear it. Us girls just need to pull through the best we can, especially in love."
"Do you still harbor feelin's for this boy?"
She was silent a moment, then she brought up a hand to my cheek and wiped away my tears from my left eye. "It's more that I just remember them."
"You said you were in love with 'im."
"Yes, and I thought I was. We both said how madly in love with each other we were, but it wasn't meant to be."
I nodded. "So... I have to deal with this. I can't do it."
"Yes, you can," she said, shaking me a little. "You're a tough bucket of nails."
"Not when it comes to this."
She held me to her again and rocked me like she did when I was small. I would have to do my best not to come across that gorgeous man who loved me. I would need to get up before he leaves, go to bed before he gets home, and vacate or hide whenever I sense he's around.
Why does this have to be so hard?!