by Joan Hohl
* * *
When Val awoke, the sun was shining. Her world was beautiful, because Jonas was there, stroking her, soothing her, loving her. His power over her was complete; she was his to command. In the light of that acknowledgement, his very first words to her were enslaving.
“Good morning. I adore you.”
Tears brightened her eyes and clung to her inky lashes. “Oh, Jonas, I love you so very much.” She gazed at him, her love shining from her eyes as brightly as the sunlight sparkling outside. “And I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry?” Jonas narrowed his eyes. “Sorry for what?”
“I accused you of being possessive,” she answered. “And now I’m sorry for not realizing that in your own way you were caring for me.”
His smile was a little tender, a little self-derisive. “I didn’t realize it, either.”
“That you were caring for me?”
“No. That in your own way you were caring for me.” He shook his head. “I didn’t really appreciate the care you took, keeping me well fed and comfortable, armored to face each and every day, good, bad or indifferent.” He gave her a chiding smile. “Now that I do realize it, I’m almost sorry I offered you the job of part-time assistant.”
“But that’s the beauty of it, my love!” Val exclaimed. “Don’t you see that now I can care for you in the office, as well as at home?”
Jonas laughed and hugged her to him. “At the risk of repeating myself, I adore you, Valerie Thorne.”
Val planted a smacking kiss somewhere in the vicinity of his laughing mouth. “And I love you, Jonas Thorne, sir.”
“That’s all I want,” he said, lifting a hand to gently stroke away a teardrop lingering on her lashes. “Having your love is all I need to survive.”
“And that’s all?” she asked in teasing awe.
“Well,” Jonas drawled. “Maybe that…and some breakfast.” Grinning wickedly, he hauled her on top of him. “But let’s have the loving first, then the breakfast.”
* * *
Valerie and Jonas spent one laughter-filled, love-drenched week in San Francisco, enjoying the honeymoon they had never had, the honeymoon they would have been too uncertain of each other to enjoy if they had had it three years ago.
Valerie gained four pounds. Jonas lost the lines of strain around his mouth. She looked sleek and content. He appeared vital and energized. They turned heads wherever they went. They went just about everywhere.
Jonas took her dancing. Val took him shopping along the wharf. He escorted her through Chinatown. She guided him through art galleries. They rented a car and drove down the coast, through Big Sur and into Los Angeles. There they boarded a flight back to San Francisco.
And for the first time in three years of marriage, they took the time to talk…and talk…and talk.
“She’s like a child, you know,” Jonas said at one point, when Lynn’s name was mentioned. “A selfish, greedy child. In intellect, if not in years, she is younger than Mary Beth. But Lynn is her mother, and for Mary Beth I’ll tolerate her.”
“Of course,” Val replied, at last fully understanding his position. “And so will I.”
* * *
“Oh, Jonas, the exhibitions were dreadful,” Val confessed at another point, when he asked about the rally. “I knew I had wasted my time after five minutes of the first event.”
“So why didn’t you come home?” Jonas growled.
“I was being independent,” Val admitted. “Besides, I didn’t want to face an `I told you so’ look from you.”
Jonas laughed. “You should’ve braved my expression. You could have saved the office from the beast.”
“Were you being a brute, love?” Val inquired, delighted by the idea of him being as miserable without her as she had been without him.
“No, I was being a regular bas—”
“Jonas.”
“Basket case,” he finished with an unrepentant grin at the warning in her tone.
* * *
“Where am I going to work?” Val asked, cuddling as close as she could get to him in the seat of the plane as the Lear jet streaked eastward.
Without ceremony, Jonas hauled her from her seat and settled her on his lap. “I was thinking about the room separating my office from Charlie’s.”
“The one used for storage?”
“Mmm.” Jonas nodded. “Would that be big enough?”
Thrilled at the prospect of being situated just a few steps down the hall from him, Val said eagerly, “That’ll be fine. When can I start?”
“It’ll have to be cleared out and decorated,” Jonas said, weighing the possibilities. “How about, say, a month?”
Fully aware of how quickly Jonas could get a job accomplished if he was determined to have it done, Val gave him an arched look. “How about one week?”
“Two.” Jonas grinned, obviously enjoying the new sensation of bargaining with her.
“Ten days,” Val said, returning his grin, telling him she was enjoying herself as much as he was.
“You win.” Then, just as her grin slipped into laughter, he added, “This time.”
* * *
It was Friday. It was late. It was quiet. The weather was warm and fine. Eager to commence their summer weekend, the employees of J.T. Electronics had left the building over an hour before. The place was deserted except for the security personnel…and the boss.
A smile of satisfaction easing the firm line of his mouth, Jonas stood in the doorway of the newly refurbished office. Thanks to the generous bonus he had offered the work crew he’d hired to renovate the storage room, the office was finished, five days ahead of schedule.
Jonas felt a surge of anticipation as he slowly ran his gaze over the interior of the room.
Taking precious time from his schedule, Jonas had personally chosen the decor. Now he couldn’t wait to tell Val about her office.
Why should he wait? Jonas asked himself. Both his smile and feeling of anticipation growing, he turned away and strode the few steps to his own office suite. Using his private line he punched out his home number and drummed his long fingers impatiently on the desk top while the connection was made. The phone at home rang and rang. On the fourth ring, Jonas curled his fingers into his palm in frustration.
Damn it! Where was she? Even as he fired the question at himself there came a click. At the breathless sound of Val’s voice, he redirected the question at her.
“Where the hell were you?”
“Right here,” Val replied, unruffled by his impatient tone. “Where the hell are you?”
Jonas suppressed an urge to laugh. His wife was picking up his bad habits…and his language. “I’m still in the office,” he said in a much milder tone.
“Why?”
Jonas shot a glance at his watch, the new one Val had given him for his birthday. It had been a belated gift, arriving the day after they’d returned from the West Coast. It was fashioned in mat gold, elegant in its simplicity. In that flashing instant, Jonas could see with his mind’s eye the message Val had had inscribed on the back. There were two dates, those of their wedding and of that memorable first night they’d spent together in San Francisco. Jonas treasured the gift, as he treasured its giver.
It wasn’t past his usual time for leaving the office. He frowned and replied, “Why what?”
“Why aren’t you here with me?” Val asked softly. “When the phone rang, I was in the shower—” her voice dropped even lower “—and missing you.”
The image that sprang into Jonas’s mind displaced every other thought. He forgot his intention of asking her to come to the complex to see her new office. He forgot the report he had planned to skim over before calling it a day. All he could think about was Val with her hair pinned up, water cascading over her slender form.
“I’ll be home in fifteen minutes,” he promised, the huskiness in his voice betraying the sudden tightness in his body. “Keep the water running.”
“It’ll get cold.”
“Drive carefully, darling,” Val cautioned. “I want you in one piece.”
Jonas groaned. “No comment.”
Jonas walked away from his desk without a second thought or backward glance. He drove his car into the driveway exactly fourteen minutes after hanging up the phone.
Val was waiting. She swung the door open as he loped along the flagstone walk to the front of the house. Her hair was not, as he’d imagined, pinned up. It tumbled in a mass of loose curls on her shoulders. From neck to ankles she was covered in a belted robe, the picture of modesty. But the toes peeping out from beneath the hem of her robe were bare. Jonas fervently hoped the rest of her body was the same.
Stepping over the threshold, he pulled her to him with one arm and shut the door with the other. When her soft curves conformed pliantly to the hard angles of his body, Jonas knew he was home. He didn’t bother with a verbal greeting. Lowering his head, he said hello by crushing her raised mouth with his own.
“What are you wearing under your robe?” he murmured, ending the kiss, but maintaining contact by brushing his mouth over her lips.
“Expectations,” Val breathed, bringing her hands up to frame his face.
Jonas’s blood raced, he was immediately hot and tight and more than ready to fulfill her slightest whim. “And what are they?” he asked, teasing her by holding his mouth a sigh away from hers.
“I’ll tell you after dinner,” Val promised, teasing him in return.
“The hell with dinner.” Sweeping her into his arms, Jonas mounted the stairs. “I’ll have `dessert’ first.”
* * *
Jonas groaned a sigh as he slid into her satin warmth. For a moment he didn’t move, savoring the sensations streaking through his body. Making love with Val had always been better than good. Since San Francisco, it was better than fantastic.
“Jonas.”
He shivered, both at the enticing sound of her voice and the inflaming caress of her silken thighs gliding slowly around his hips. Obeying her plea, Jonas began to move, stoking her passion and his own as he drove deeper and yet deeper into the heart of her desire.
Jonas was trembling outside, quaking inside from the intensity of need consuming his body. His teeth were clenched and the tendons in his neck were rigid from the strain he was exerting on his control. Conflicting desires warred inside him. While part of him screamed to let go, to surrender to the blazing joy of release, another part of him fought to hang on, drawing out the sweetness of pleasure to the point of pain.
Strong tremors rippled through his muscles wherever Val’s restless hands paused to stroke and caress. His breathing grew ragged; his skin grew moist. Still he held on to his control, wringing delicious agony from the pleasure.
When, at Val’s moaning plea, Jonas relinquished control, he cried out her name as he was flung into the fiery center of his exploding senses.
“Are you ready for dinner now?” Val murmured teasingly a while later, as she smoothed back his hair from his damp brow.
“Do I have to get up?” he muttered, groaning as he heaved himself onto the mattress beside her. At that moment, Jonas felt positive he’d never move again.
“No, of course not.” Val’s tone of unconcern had him prying one eyelid open. “I’ll serve you dinner in bed,” she said agreeably, sliding off the side of the bed. “But first I’ll take a shower.” She sighed and glanced over her shoulder at him as she went toward the bathroom. “All by myself.”
Jonas was off the bed and after her as if he’d been shot from a cannon. “Vixen,” he growled when she evaded his hands. But his growl turned to a purr beneath the soothing shower spray and the gentle ministrations of his laughing wife.
* * *
“Did we ruin dinner by lingering over dessert?” Jonas asked, tucking a short-sleeved sport shirt into his pants.
“No.” Val’s voice was muffled by the silky knit top she was pulling over her head. “Since it’s Friday,” she continued, smoothing the blouse over her skirt, “I was hoping to beguile you into taking me out for dinner.” Tossing him a coaxing smile, she slipped onto the velvet padded stool in front of her vanity table.
Jonas fastened his watchband before crossing to her. “Lady,” he said to her reflection in the lighted mirror, “You are one expert beguiler.” He didn’t mention that her suggestion fitted in neatly with his plans for the evening. “Where would you like to go to eat…and do I have to change again?”
Val paused, one hand raised, her fingers gripping a mascara wand, and ran a comprehensive look over his image in the glass. “No.” She shook her head and smiled. “You look devastating in casual clothes.”
“Devastating?” Jonas laughed. “After that workout a few minutes ago,” he drawled, “don’t you mean devastated?”
Finished applying her makeup, Val set down the wand and picked up a hair brush. “It was rather invigorating, wasn’t it?” She stroked the brush through the strands Jonas had tangled with his fingers. “I’m starving.”
Jonas grinned and plucked the brush from her hand. “Let me,” he murmured, gently drawing the brush through the long strands, still damp and gleaming from the shower.
“Mmm.” Val sighed with pleasure. “That feels lovely. You’re spoiling me, Jonas.”
“I’m working at it, darling,” he murmured, sliding her hair to one side to expose her nape to his mouth.
“Heavenly,” Val breathed, shivering in response.
“Dinner,” Jonas said decisively, backing away from her while he still could.
They dined on broiled seafood and icy mugs of beer in a local tavern with a reputation for excellent meals and a friendly atmosphere. While they ate, Jonas asked Val about her day and told her some of the details of his own, which in itself said reams about the increasing depth of their relationship. Never before had he discussed anything other than the most trivial things about his business.
“I’m going to stop by the office before we go home,” he said casually over coffee. “I want to pick up a report to read—” he grinned “—sometime over the weekend.”
Val looked stunned. “You’re not going into the office this weekend?”
Jonas smiled with wry humor. He understood her amazement; he had always gone into the office on the weekend, if only on Saturday, both before and since their marriage. But since returning from San Francisco the previous Sunday, he had reorganized his thinking. Jonas was still dedicated—no, addicted—to his work. He had simply decided that from now on, if there was work to be done over the weekend, as he knew there invariably would be, he’d do it at home at the convenience of his wife. He told her so, enjoying the changing expressions on her face, which ranged from amazement to sheer delight.
Val bombarded Jonas with questions during the short drive to the office building. Since she barely paused for breath, never mind waiting for an answer from him, he kept his responses to murmurs and grunts laced with amusement.
“Does this mean I can actually look forward to tripping over you in the house on weekends?”
“Mmm.”
“Jonas! Do you think we might steal a whole weekend away every so often?”
“Sure.”
In love with her, enthralled with her, Jonas smiled and listened as Val went on and on with questions in the same vein, until they arrived at their destination.
“Want to come along and see how the work’s progressing on your office?” he asked casually as he brought the car to a stop.
“Of course!” Val exclaimed, jumping out of the vehicle. “I can’t wait for it to be finished,” she went on as the elevator swept them to the sixth floor.
Jonas smiled and ushered her along the carpeted corridor to the closed door a few steps down the hall from his suite. “Let me go first,” he said, stepping in front of her to block her view. “There might be ladders left standing or something.” He opened the door, reached inside to flick the light switch, then stepped aside to watch her reaction. It was imm
ediate, vocal and extremely satisfying.
“Oh, Jonas, it’s finished.” Val’s cry came out in a choked whisper. “And it’s beautiful! How did you manage it? I mean, you’ve only had five days and…oh, Jonas, thank you!” Spinning around, she flung herself into his arms. For Jonas, that was even more satisfying.
Later that night, satisfied now in body as well as in spirit, Jonas lay awake, cradling his sleeping wife in his arms. He was relaxed and thoughtful. Val had been more thrilled with her office than she’d been with any of the luxuries he’d given her. And all because he had finally agreed to share a portion of his working life with her.
Incredible. Val loved him, truly, honestly, unconditionally loved him. Jonas closed his eyes and thanked God for the inner wisdom that had sent him to California. He had thought he had been happy before, but only now did he realize the magnitude of true happiness.
Val loved him.
* * *
The work was demanding. The boss was at times a tyrant. Val loved it…and him. It was the end of her second week in her new office. After the expected interval of confusion, Val was settling in, getting back into the swing of the electronics business.
Although her job description was different than when she’d manned the desk as Jonas’s secretary, and the work more involved, she was beginning to get a handle on it.
Val had received invaluable help from Charlie, Janet and Jean-Paul, but the biggest and best assistance had come from her employer and husband.
Val was so happy that sometimes, if she allowed herself to think about it, it scared her. So she seldom allowed herself to think about it. She simply felt and rejoiced in the feeling.
Living with Jonas, sleeping with Jonas, had been wonderful, even when it wasn’t so great. But living, sleeping and working with Jonas was as close to perfection as Val could ever hope to get, and so far it had all been great. A day didn’t pass that Val didn’t thank God for the defiant determination that had sent her to San Francisco.
Val was holding a prayer close to her heart. She had missed her normal cycle the week before. Hope bubbled like champagne inside her—hope that, as she had on their wedding night, she had conceived Jonas’s child on the night of their reconciliation in San Francisco.