by SJ McCoy
Chapter Thirteen
Chris felt like a little kid waiting for Christmas as she stood watching out the windows for Seymour’s jet to come in to land on Friday afternoon. It had been a long week since he left, and she was excited to see him again.
She smiled when she spotted the plane, just a gleam of silver in the sky at first, growing larger until it turned onto the final approach and came in for a smooth landing before taxiing toward the FBO building where she stood.
Her phone buzzed in her purse, and she pulled it out.
I just landed.
She smiled as she tapped out a reply.
I know. I’m here watching.
She saw the door open, and the pilot let down the steps. A few moments later, Seymour appeared at the top of them. Her tummy flipped over at the sight of him. He must have come straight from work. Instead of the jeans and T-shirts she’d grown used to seeing him wear, he was dressed in pants and a dress shirt. He’d probably been wearing a tie earlier, but it was gone, and the top button of the shirt was undone, giving her a sudden urge to unfasten the rest of them and finally run her hands over what was underneath.
She looked around guiltily, grateful that no one could hear her thoughts.
When she looked back out the window, he was striding across the tarmac. Her heart raced. He looked like something out of a movie. This didn’t feel like real life—at least, not her life.
She hurried over to the doors to meet him. When he came through, he smiled, and her heart beat even faster. He came to her and closed his arms around her, lifting her off her feet and twirling her around before setting her down again and planting a kiss on her lips.
“I missed you, Chris.”
She touched his cheek. “I missed you, too. Though if this is the greeting I get after just a week apart—”
He dropped another kiss on her lips. “Just a week? It seemed like forever to me. I’ve decided a week is the longest I can go without seeing your beautiful face.” He tightened his arms around her waist. “Without having you this close to me.”
She laughed. “So, absence did make the heart grow fonder?”
He took her hand and started walking her toward the doors. “My heart was already very fond of you. It took the absence—and a bit of tough love from Ivan—to help my mind catch up.”
She looked up at him. “That sounds like you have a story to tell me.”
He chuckled. “I do. Ivan’s a good kid. Better even than I realized. What’s important, though, is this week has made me realize how much I want this, Chris. I want you; I want there to be an us. We just need to figure out how we can make it happen.”
She sucked in a deep breath. “Can we make it up as we go along?”
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Of course, we can. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come in like a freight train. I just need you to know. I’m all in. It’s one thing to talk on the phone. It’s different when we’re together. When I can hold you and look into your eyes and tell you I love you.”
He held the door open for her and let them out into the parking lot, leading her to a little grassy area with benches. When they reached it, he put his hands on her shoulders and looked down into her eyes. “I love you, Chris.”
Her heart was racing. She’d been excited to see him; she’d known that their friendship would move to another level this weekend, but she hadn’t expected this. “I love you, too. You crazy man!”
He laughed. “You think I’m crazy?”
“You’re acting a little that way. I knew there was more to you than the stuffy, formal guy I saw on the financial TV shows, but I didn’t know there was this side to you.”
He surprised her by closing his arms around her waist and swinging her around again. “I didn’t know this side of me still existed, but you bring it out in me. You make me happy.”
“Well, can you make me happy and tell me why we’re out walking in the parking lot when I thought we were getting on a plane?”
He laughed. “They need to refuel. I’m doing my best to loosen up here, but public displays of affection aren’t really my thing. I didn’t want to do this inside and have people watching.”
He cupped her face between his hands and tilted her head back. A sigh escaped her lips as his eyes locked with hers; they were that beautiful deep green color. He lowered his head until his lips were less than an inch from hers. She closed the final gap, pulling him down to her.
Just like every time they’d kissed before, he made her knees weak. She sagged against him as he kissed her deeply. His strong arms held her up, close against his chest. She clung to him and kissed him back, their tongues mating, hands roving from hair to cheeks to shoulders to … ooh! She moaned as his hands closed around her butt and pulled her against him—hard. It seemed he was more than happy to see her. She sank her fingers in his hair and rocked against him, desire mounting inside her.
When they finally came up for air, he winked at her. “I think we should go and see if they’re finished refueling. I need to get you home.”
She shook her head.
His smile froze and then disappeared. “You don’t want to go?”
She laughed. “Of course I do. But there’s no way on earth they could have refueled in that short time, and I’d rather wait out here than inside where I can’t kiss you anymore.”
He laughed and pulled her back to him. “In that case …” He lowered his head and claimed her mouth again, and she got lost in the kiss.
~ ~ ~
Seymour took hold of her hand as the plane banked to the left, turning onto its final approach. She turned and smiled at him.
“I wasn’t sure how this weekend was going to go. Wasn’t sure how enthusiastic you’d be to see me again after a week back in your own world.”
He smiled. “I have to be honest, the first few days I fell back into my old routine. I got lost in work. I didn’t intend to. I wasn’t seeking escape like I usually do. It just …” He shrugged. “There’s the element of habit, you know? Even when you don’t need something anymore, don’t crave what it can do for you, when it’s all you know, it’s what you do.”
She nodded. “And you said Ivan helped you?”
He chuckled. “He did. I almost bit his head off, but he stood his ground. Even said I could fire him if I didn’t like what he had to say. He was more concerned about me than he was about his job.”
“Aww. He looks up to you so much. I’m glad he looks out for you, too.”
“I’m grateful to him. You’re at the bottom of it all, though. The way you treated him last week at the lake made me think about the way I treat him—and it wasn’t good enough. I want to kick myself when I think that he’s been with me all this time and I mostly ignored him—treated him more like a piece of furniture than a friend. He told me I saw him as the help. I denied it, but he’s right. I don’t want to be that way anymore, Chris.”
She smiled. “You won’t get a chance to be if you’re going to keep spending time with me. I don’t know what it’s like to employ people—in any capacity. I only know to treat people as equals, and if I catch you doing anything other than that, I’ll let you know about it.”
“Thank you. I’m coming to see there are a few areas where I might need my butt kicking.”
She laughed. “I can do that if that’s what you want.”
When the plane landed, he thanked the pilot, Jeff, and introduced him to Chris.
She shook his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jeff. Have you worked for him for long?”
Jeff flicked a glance at Seymour and looked away again. “Four years now.”
“I hope he’s good to you?”
Jeff nodded. “It’s a great job.”
Chris laughed. “Diplomatic answer, well done. Hopefully, sometime soon, you’ll get to spend another weekend at Summer Lake.”
Jeff nodded. “It’s a great little town.”
“It is, and there are a lot of good people there. I’ll introduce y
ou. I imagine in your line of work you end up spending a lot of time hanging around. It’d do you good to make some friends up there.”
Seymour smiled at him. He didn’t do well when he was put on the spot like this, but he promised himself that he’d make some time to have a chat with Jeff soon, maybe invite him up to the house. He smiled to himself. He could come and hang out and drink beer with Ivan and himself. “Your weekend is your own. Chris and I won’t be flying anywhere.”
“Okay.”
Seymour met his gaze. “I mean, you’re not on standby. Take a break, relax, have a few beers.”
Jeff grinned at him. “You’re sure?”
“Absolutely sure, and we need to start scheduling in more downtime for you. Call Karen in the office and ask her to set something up next week. Tell her we’ll need an hour—or better yet, get her to book us a lunch.”
“Okay.”
Chris touched Jeff’s arm. “Don’t worry. You’re not in trouble, and he’s not losing it. He’s just finally waking up to the fact that people are more important than work.”
Jeff shot a glance at him, and he nodded. “She’s right. I’m going to be making some changes, but I think you’ll like them.”
Chris took hold of his hand as they walked into the general aviation building. “I’m proud of you. I think you’re going to have more fun if you decide to shake things up a bit.”
“I know I am if you’re going to shake it up with me.”
She smiled up at him. “I’m all in.”
Ivan was waiting outside and came around to open the car door when he saw them.
Seymour had to smile when Chris went to give him a hug. “It’s good to see you again.”
Ivan grinned at Seymour over her shoulder. “It’s good to see you, too. I hope this is the first of many visits.”
“I do, too. And you’re sure you don’t mind taking me into the city on Monday?”
“Mind? I’m looking forward to it.”
“I’m not as excited about that,” said Seymour. They both turned to look at him. “Only because Monday will mean that the weekend is over, and we haven’t even started it yet.”
Ivan gestured to the car. “Then let’s get going. Your chariot awaits.”
~ ~ ~
When the car pulled up in front of the gates, Chris did her best to look nonchalant. She’d been expecting a big house, but this place was something else. The gates swung open, and Ivan pulled forward along the driveway that seemed to be at least a mile long.
He brought the car to a stop in front of the steps—not just steps up to a front door, but a grand sweeping stairway that reminded Chris of something out of a movie.
Ivan got out to open her door, and Seymour came around to meet her.
“You have yourselves a great weekend,” said Ivan. “You know where I am if you need me.”
“Thanks,” said Chris. “You, too. Oh, wait. I need my bag.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll—” began Ivan.
Seymour smiled at him. “That’s okay. I’ll get it.”
Chris got the idea that it was out of the ordinary for Seymour to follow Ivan to the trunk of the car and take the bag from him but decided not to ask about it.
They watched Ivan pull away. “Where does he live?”
“In the guest house by the pool.”
She laughed. “Of course, he does.”
Seymour made a face at her. “It’s not that unusual.”
“Not around here, I suppose. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be … I don’t know how I’m being. It’s just that this …” She swept her arm out in a gesture that took in the grand house and the amazing ocean view. “It’s not what I’m used to.”
He took her arm, and they walked up the steps. “I know, and as I’ve said before, I hope you won’t hold it against me.”
She laughed. “I’d be crazy if I did. It’s lovely. It’s just, it makes me wonder what’s important to you.”
He opened the front door and led her inside. “Do you want a drink?”
She nodded and followed him through the spacious hallway to a beautiful den with a bar that ran along one wall.
“What would you like?”
She laughed as she eyed all the bottles. “Whatever you want to make me.”
“Wine?”
“That’d be good.”
“This?” He handed her a bottle of Cab Franc that looked very familiar.
She smiled. “Yes, please. Where did you find that?”
He smiled. “Chance introduced me to it. It’s very good; it’s not one of the big labels, but apparently, it’s a very good winery.”
“It is. The boy who owns it is a friend of Jack’s, Antonio.”
He smiled. “It’s a small world.”
“It is.”
He poured their drinks and came to sit down beside her. “I wasn’t avoiding your question.”
“Did I ask one?”
“Not directly, but you said that all of this makes you wonder what’s important to me. It’s a fair question. It’d be fair to assume, judging by the house and the plane and the lifestyle, that material things are most important to me. Especially when you add in the fact that by the way I’ve treated them, you wouldn’t guess that people are important to me—but they are. I want to reassure you, Chris. I’m better than the man I’ve been. I didn’t chase wealth because I craved it. I chased wealth because it was easier for me to attain than any genuine human connection was. I knew how to trade, I knew how to analyze the markets, I got results—big, tangible results in the form of large sums of money.
“On the other hand, with the people who were left in my life, all I produced was sadness and disappointment. I let my daughter down when she needed me the most. I didn’t know how to be there for her. I couldn’t stand to be around my brother and his wonderful wife. I love them dearly, but all I could see was what I no longer had.”
He shook his head. “I know I sound like an asshole. I’m not trying to justify my choices, only to explain them to you so that you don’t see me as materialistic and heartless. It’s not that I don’t have a heart; it’s just that it was too battered and bruised for me to use it.”
She leaned her head against his shoulder. “I would never think of you as an asshole.” She turned and smiled up at him. “You’ve done the best you could. I guess what I want to know, is why you think you’re ready to change it now?”
“Because of you.”
She pursed her lips.
“I’m not saying that being with you has brought this sudden miraculous change to every aspect of my life. Things have been changing for a few years. It started when Hope met Chance. I had to change, and I discovered that I wanted to. Chance taught me a lot about people. Since then, I’ve worked my way back into my life. Spent more time with Johnny and Jean and their boys. I don’t know. Hope made me see that my work was an addiction, and I’ve been doing my best to break it. You’ve come along at the right time. You’re like the capstone. You’ve drawn together and strengthened everything that I’ve been learning and waking up to.” He squeezed her hand. “You’re good for me.”
She reached up and kissed his lips. “I want to be.”
Chapter Fourteen
After dinner, Seymour took Chris’s hand and led her out onto the terrace by the pool. Seeing the way she looked around her made him realize that he rarely came out here. He looked around, too, taking in the beautiful view of the sun setting over the ocean.
She looked up at him. “You really are crazy if you don’t ever walk on that beach. It’s amazing.”
“Do you want to go down there?”
She nodded eagerly, making him laugh.
“Okay.”
When they reached the bottom of the steps, she kicked off her shoes and wriggled her toes in the sand. “That feels so good.” She looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you’re going to leave yours on?”
“No.” He removed his shoes and socks and wished that he was wea
ring shorts. That way, he wouldn’t have the question of whether to roll up his pant legs or not.
Chris chuckled as she watched him. “Roll them up. It might make you look like a goofball, but it beats them getting wet and sandy.”
He gave her a rueful smile. “Thanks for the tip.”
They walked down to the water’s edge, and Chris dipped her toes in. “Oh, that’s not as warm as I thought it would be.”
Seymour followed her and sucked in a deep breath as a wavelet washed over his ankles. “It’s freezing!”
She laughed. “You should know this! You should come for a walk down here every morning before you go to work. I can’t believe you live here and you don’t make the most of every minute. If I lived here, I’d start every day with a walk on the beach and at least dipping my toes in.”
She looked so beautiful, the last rays of the sun touching her skin with gold and the wind whipping her hair around her face. She was so alive, so in the moment. He wanted to capture this moment and bottle it. “You should stay here, and we’ll make that our morning routine.”
She shook her head. “I can visit here sometimes and make that my routine, but you need to figure out your own.”
He chuckled. “You don’t want to share yours with me?”
“It’s not that. You need to find your own. I can distract you from your usual routines, but you won’t break them until you make new ones. Walking on the beach, freezing your toes in the ocean—they’re not things that you’d do. You need to find something that feels good to you.”
“You’re right.”
She came to him and slid her arms around his waist. “I’m not saying I don’t want to share with you. I’m only saying that if you want to change, it has to come from within.”
He dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I understand. Don’t worry. I’m not looking to you to be my savior.”
“Good. I can’t be. You have to save yourself. We all do.”
He slid his arm around her shoulders, and they walked on along the shoreline. “What do you want to do this weekend?”
“I just want to hang out with you. I could spend hours down here on the beach. Or I could relax by the pool …” She turned to look up at him. “When was the last time you swam in that pool?”