A Year in His Life

by Eunice Hart

  “Yes, I kissed him,” Elena said, almost snappishly. “Why are you guys looking at me like that?”

  She dropped the rag and her hands flew to her face as a thought filled her mind. “Oh, my God. That was stupid of me, wasn’t it? I shouldn’t have kissed him. I should’ve just waited until –”

  A sudden noise cut her off. She gazed at her friends in alarm and was shocked to discover that they were laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” she said to Giselle, who literally had tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes.

  But it was Martha who replied. “You’ve got no reason to feel stupid just because you kissed a guy on the first date. It doesn’t make you desperate or cheap. It just means you’re attracted to him.”

  “And I bet he’s equally into you. So –” Giselle leaned forward on her stool so that her cleavage moved into Elena’s field of vision “how was it? I want to know every detail.”

  Elena couldn’t help smiling at her friends. What else was new? If only describing the kiss was easy. There couldn’t possibly be any words that capable of explaining how wonderful it felt. Elena opened her mouth to speak, but just then her phone rang and she fished it out from her apron pocket.

  Giselle and Martha could easily tell from the look on her face who the caller was. Wolf-whistling, they slid off their stools and went to attend to a couple of customers who’d just walked into the bar.

  She answered on the third ring. “Hello?”

  “Hey, beautiful.” Justin’s voice was deep and husky over the phone. A shiver raced through her and she could feel her nipples poking through the front of her shirt.

  It was amazing how easily this man could make her feel this way. They’d only gone on one date and he’d already got her thinking of all the things she’d like him to do to her in the bedroom. Elena shut her eyes for a second and tried to concentrate.

  “Hey, Justin,” she said. “How are you today?”

  “You know I usually feel good on other days, but today I feel different. I feel…wonderful.”

  Elena had a very precise idea why he felt that way. “Oh? That’s good to hear. I suppose you want to continue feeling this way?”

  Justin laughed, a deep, sexy laugh that resonated through her very bones. “Who wouldn’t? I love it.”

  “You want to feel even better?” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. Elena clamped a hand over her mouth. Had she just flirted with him?

  For a couple of moments, there was complete silence on the other end of the line. Elena wondered whether he’d somehow hung up without her registering the telltale click, then wondered if she’d stunned him into silence. More thoughts raged through her mind, powerful as whirlwinds. Maybe he thought she’d gone too far too soon. First the kiss, and now she’d started flirting with him. She was just about to give an apology when he spoke.

  “I would love that very much,” he told her, his voice even huskier than before. “What time?”

  She stopped herself before she could mess up by sounding too desperate and taped her chin, pretending to think. “How does tonight– I mean, tomorrow night sound?”

  More silence. Elena wondered if he could hear her heart jackhammering in her ribcage.

  “Sounds splendid.”

  ***

  The rest of the day went by rather slowly – too slowly for her liking. No sooner than she’d hung up, Giselle and Martha had materialized at the counter again, eager to find out what she and Justin had discussed over the phone. After several moments’ hesitation, Elena told them.

  Martha’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

  “You’re kidding,” she said. “This must be some sort of trick.”

  “She’s not kidding,” Giselle told her, looking equally stunned. “I’ve known Elena long enough to be able to tell when she’s lying. Her eyebrows start twitching like crazy.”

  “It does not,” Elena said. She tried to swat her friend on the arm, but Giselle moved out of reach.

  “So you’re gonna do it with him?” Martha wanted to know.

  “Do what?”

  “Go kayaking in the nearest lake while singing ‘Kumbaya’.” Martha gave a dramatic roll of her eyes. “I mean have sex with him, for goodness sake!”

  “Oh, that.” Elena could feel her face growing hot. She scratched the back of her neck, remembering her conversation with Justin. “Yes. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

  Both her friends smirked at her, but neither said anything on the subject.

  The next day seemed even quicker. From the time she arrived at work until she went to get Madison from school, she couldn’t seem to get rid of the jitters. Today was the day it would happen. Elena couldn’t remember ever being so nervous about this sort of thing before.

  I’m going to have sex with this man. The thought just wouldn’t leave her mind. I’m going to have sex with this man.

  That afternoon, after dressing up in her most stylish work clothes – a white shirt and a pair of high-waist jeans – she offered to pay Kelsie extra to get Madison to go to sleep earlier today. She didn’t tell the babysitter why she’d made this odd request, but she tell from the look on her face that Kelsie knew what was going on.

  “Okay, ma’am,” she said brightly. “She’ll be asleep before you guys get back.”

  “Thank you so much, Kelsie,” Elena said, turning to leave. Then a thought hit her and she stopped in her tracks. “Wait a minute. Did you just say, ‘you guys’?”

  Kelsie seemed to realize her mistake. The next thing Elena knew, the cheerleader had her hand clamped over her mouth, her face turning redder by the second. Elena couldn’t tell who was more embarrassed: her or this young girl.

  “Anyway,” she said awkwardly, “I’m heading back to work. Bye!”

  And with that, she headed out of the house as quickly as she could.

  She and Justin had agreed to meet at The Sparkling Spout, but when she got there, he still wasn’t around. Elena tried to look on the bright side: she had more time to prepare for his arrival. As she stood behind the counter, her gaze landed on her guitar and she gave a small smile. She would not be doing any singing tonight. At least, not in the bar.

  The thought sent a shiver racing through her.

  And then the door swung open and he walked in.

  It was uncanny how she’d known it was him so suddenly. At night, the bar was usually so crowded with customers that Elena and her friends could hardly tell who exactly it was walking in or out. But somehow she’d zeroed in on this man the second he showed up.

  He wasn’t wearing a suit, which was a bit of a bummer, but he still managed to look sexy as hell. He wore a red muscle-shirt over a pair of blue jeans and white sneakers. His dark eyes scanned roved about the bar for a couple of seconds, then landed on her. He grinned and headed over, and Elena’s heart nearly flew up into her throat.

  The first thing he did when he got to the counter was lean in for a kiss, to which she was more than willing to oblige. Sparks exploded in her belly as their lips connected. When they pulled apart, she felt like a beached whale gasping for air.

  Justin perched on one of the stools. “Hi.”

  “Hi,” she replied, still feeling rather breathless. “Uh, you need anything to drink?”

  “I’m already drinking in the sight of you,” he told her, his running his gaze up and down her body in a way that caused her extremities to tingle. She heard his sharp intake of breath. “How do you manage to look so damn beautiful all the time?”

  How do you manage to make me feel so much by merely gazing at me? she wanted to retort, but all she said was, “I should be asking you the same thing. I guess being a billionaire comes with its perks.” Or maybe it’s just because you’re so handsome I can’t seem to get you out of my mind.

  Justin gave a slight chuckle. “I’ll have a margarita. Want to head to my place afterwards?”

  The question made her freeze. Not once since their conversation yesterda
y had that thought even crossed her mind. Going to his house? It sounded like something she’d never forget for the rest of her life, but she wasn’t so sure about that.

  “Um, I can’t,” she said. “I already planned for it to be at my house. Besides, my daughter is there. I left her with a babysitter who’s going to leave when we get back.”

  “Aren’t you afraid we’ll wake her up?”

  “The babysitter or Madison?”

  Justin blinked at her. “Madison, of course.”

  “Not if we’re quiet.”

  His lips curved into a grin. Feeling herself blush, Elena turned and reached for the margarita. She poured him a glass and decided to help herself to some, too. They clinked glasses together and drank.

  It wasn’t long before she caught Justin gazing at her, a somewhat thoughtful look on his face. She set down her glass and cleared her throat to get his attention.

  “Penny for your thoughts,” she said.

  “It’d take more than a penny to know what’s on my mind right now,” came the reply.

  Elena’s lips curved into a smirk. “Do you accept cash?”

  He chuckled again, then got a little serious. “I was thinking about…well, us.”

  That wasn’t quite what she’d expected him to say. Elena’s eyes rose and she blinked at him. “Spill.”

  “I was thinking about how we met just recently, how we’ve already gone on a date and kissed…” he trailed off.

  “Oh, my God,” Elena said. “We’re moving too fast, aren’t we?”

  She knew she shouldn’t have kissed him that night. Agreeing to go on a date with him had been her first mistake. It wasn’t so much the fact that she’d agreed to date him as the fact that she’d agreed so soon. And then she’d kissed him? Elena had her mother and friends to blame for the first mistake, but the second was totally on her.

  She expected Justin to nod in agreement and was surprised when he said, “No, not at all. I’m just surprised. I actually like it.”

  He was silent for a couple of seconds. Then he said, “I actually really like you, Elena.”

  “I really like you, too, Justin,” she found herself saying. A warm fluttery feeling had developed in her chest and was growing rapidly. What struck her the most was the fact that she’d almost said she loved him. But she couldn’t love him so soon, could she?

  After all, love only led to pain. That was how it had been with Darrel. But Justin wasn’t anything like Darrel.

  Or was he?

  ***

  He stared at her face as she smiled, feeling a surge of emotion that he couldn’t quite place. This woman was special. She was different, and somehow, he liked it. Very, very much.

  Even the dumbest of people could tell that she wasn’t like the others. For one thing, she wasn’t after him for his money. He could see that. Heck, this woman had hesitated to go on a date with him. And she wasn’t boring. She was pretty much everything he wanted, or perhaps he just loved everything about her. He wasn’t sure which, but that didn’t really matter. He was into her.

  He was a bit concerned with the way things were going, though. It all seemed a bit fast. Not as fast as any of his previous relationships had been – he’d slept with Alicia Hargreaves the night he met her – but it still scared him how things were going. Justin had a feeling his relationship with this woman wouldn’t last very long with the way things were going.

  He just wasn’t sure why that scared him so much.

  Chapter 5

  Oh, Great – The Kid Knows

  He wished time wasn’t going by so slowly. Sure, being at the bar with the woman he was attracted to was pretty cool – splendid, actually – but he couldn’t wait till they were out of here and in bed together. He could already imagine how sexy she would look without those clothes on, her hair down, her eyes reflecting the thick lust in his as she rode him like a racehorse…God, just thinking about it was enough to create a bulge in his pants.

  “Hello? Earth to Justin?”

  Justin blinked. Elena was staring at him with a mildly amused expression on her face.

  “Yeah?” he said, embarrassed. “I’m listening.”

  She smirked, obviously aware that he hadn’t been paying attention. “I didn’t ask you to listen, silly. I asked you to talk.” She swirled around the remaining contents of her glass and downed it all in a single gulp.

  Talk? “About what?”

  “Yourself. Your life. Your past.” She set down the glass. “I don’t know why, but I just feel like I don’t know as much about you as I should.”

  At her words, he felt himself stiffen. It wasn’t strange for her to want to know about him, but something about the way she’d said it sent a chill racing down his spine. What was he supposed to tell her about himself? That he had issues with attachment and couldn’t seem to maintain a relationship long enough to really enjoy it? That wasn’t exactly the sort of thing you said to the person you were dating. It would only make things worse, and Justin was really hoping to see where this newfound relationship would lead.

  His mind wandered into the future. What would it be for them? Would they end up separated? Would she just be another Alicia Hargreaves paying visits to his office only to be sent back by Eleanor, the receptionist? Justin wasn’t sure why this bothered him so much. He’d never thought about any of his exes this way, not even while they were dating.

  “You’re doing it again,” Elena said, dragging him out of his thoughts. “Something’s distracting you. What is it?”

  He gazed up at her, wondering if his absent-mindedness had hurt her in any way. To his relief, she didn’t look hurt at all. On the contrary, she was smiling. Pouring a glass of liquor for another customer, she leaned closer, resting her elbows on the counter so that her shoulders looked hunched, and her cleavage popped into view.

  Justin was going to rip the front of his pants to less than shreds if he didn’t do something about his erection soon.

  “I was thinking about you,” he told her. Which was actually the truth, just not the full story. “Is there any chance we could go to your place now?”

  “It’s just one more hour till the bar closes,” she told him with a smirk. “What’s the matter? Is someone finding it hard to keep still?”

  “You’re damn right I am.”

  “Well, you know what they say: the most patient dog gets the fattest bone.”

  Now it was his turn to smirk. “You’re one to talk, especially since you’ll be the one on the receiving end of that fat bone.”

  He ended his statement with a seductive wink and was pleased when she suddenly sucked in a breath, swallowing almost audibly. Perhaps he was wrong, but he could’ve sworn her breathing had gotten fast-paced in the past five seconds.

  Good. Now they were even. Even though she’d probably gotten him aroused without intending to.

  This was going to be a very long night.

  And he was going to enjoy it.

  ***

  One more hour? Elena might as well have said an entire year. That was how long it seemed Justin waited until the last customer left The Sparkling Spout.

  Elena didn’t seem too bothered. Justin could tell from the smirks she occasionally shot in his direction that she was enjoying his discomfort. If his erect cock ripped through the front of his jeans she’d most likely burst into hysterical laughter.

  He looked around the bar. Customers were already leaving, though there were still a lot of people present. Most of them were bike riders in leather jackets, or just people who couldn’t seem to accept that they’d had enough to drink. Not too far away, Elena’s friends Giselle and Martha stood watching them. Every now and then the two ladies would gaze in their direction, giggling whenever he caught either one of them staring at him.

  When the last customer finally decided to leave, Justin nearly shouted his joy. After Elena had convinced the poor guy that the toilet wasn’t the exit and he’d staggered out of the bar, they all made to leave.

  �
�You want me to drive you ladies home?” Justin said to Martha and Giselle.

  Giselle blushed. “No, thanks. I’ve got a car. Martha and I will be fine.”

  She nudged Martha, who looked as though she wanted to disagree with that. Both ladies said their goodbyes and headed for out of sight.

  At least neither of them seemed to have noticed the tent in his pants. Taking her arm, Justin led Elena to his car and held the door open for her to get in, then slid behind the wheel a moment later.

  “So,” he said, “your place, huh?”

  The look she gave him was enough to get make him harder. “Of course. Where else?”

  “Maybe we could do it in the car.” The words were out of his mouth before he’d even really thought about them. They sounded more like a question than a suggestion.

  Elena’s lips curved into a slight smirk. “No. If I were you, I’d get going now.”

  “Right.” He pressed the button to start the car engine and drove away from the bar, trying to keep himself from moving too fast and crashing the Mercedes into another vehicle or something. Every time he turned the steering wheel, his heart beat faster in anticipation of what was to come.

  All he had to do was look at the stunning woman in the passenger seat to excite him more. She looked so hot, so inviting, even fully dressed. He could only imagine how it would feel to be in bed with her, feeling every inch of her beautiful brown skin on his.

  The ride felt like an eternity, but eventually he pulled up in front of Elena’s house and switched off the engine. Justin wanted more than anything to start kissing her right there and then, to start touching her body, but somehow he managed to keep his hands to himself. Climbing out of the Mercedes, he helped her out of the passenger seat and, resisting the urge to pull her against him, let her lead him into the house.

  It wasn’t nearly as big or fancy as his home, that was for sure, but Justin was never one to look down on others on account of social or economic status. If he liked you, he liked you, and that was that. Besides, Elena’s house was pretty cool. For one thing, it was well-organized, just the sort of place Justin would easily feel comfortable in. It was neat and actually good-looking, he observed. He could get used to this.