by J. E. Taylor
“What about my parents?”
He closed his eyes and exhaled. “They hired me to look after you this summer.”
She jerked away from him but he was faster. He clamped his arms around her and held her in place.
“Let go of me!” Lynn struggled in his grasp.
“No, Lynn, listen. They were worried about your ex. They knew something happened, and they were right about him coming after you.”
She pushed against his chiseled chest to break his grasp. “All this is a lie!”
“The hell it is!”
The aggravation in his voice snapped in the air, and she stared into his fiery green eyes.
“When I took the job, I never thought I’d fall in love with you, but I did.”
“Are you even going to med school in the fall?”
He nodded. “And I did do work on your parents’ cottage. That’s how they knew I sometimes moonlight as a bodyguard.”
She slapped his chest. “You bastard, let me go.”
His arms slipped off her. She gathered her clothing and threw a dress on inside out without thought of what she was doing. She was too preoccupied, too pissed at him, livid enough to feel the throb of anger in her temple.
“I never lied to you.” He slipped on his shorts and crossed the room to tower over her.
She stared up at him. “But you didn’t tell me the truth either.”
“If I had, would you have gone to dinner with me?”
Lynn took a step back and raised her eyebrows. “Wasn’t that the deal? Wine and dine me for the summer, keep my mind off Bryan?”
“No. I wasn’t supposed to make contact. I was just supposed to make sure he didn’t show up and do more damage than he already did.” He reached out to touch her face and she slapped his hand away. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, gaining control over a temper on edge. “When I first saw you on the beach...I don’t know, it sounds trite, but I felt a connection.” He walked to the sliders that led to the private lagoon. “I mean, I had seen your pictures at the cottage and the one your folks sent but it didn’t prepare me for...it didn’t prepare me for the real thing.” He glanced over his shoulder at her and offered a shrug before swinging his gaze back to the cove. “And then he showed up, and everything changed.”
He let the silence overtake the room.
Lynn stared at the tense muscles in his back and the same heat she felt the first time she saw him took hold. The overwhelming bond, the electrifying attraction, and she knew what he meant; she hadn’t been prepared for it either.
“I was hired to protect you, not...not this.” He propped his hands on his waist and hung his head, audibly exhaling. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
“Is there anything else you haven’t told me?”
He turned at her accusatory tone and shook his head. Resignation reflected in his eyes along with a guarded look, as if he were emotionally building walls. She could almost see the progression of bricks rising in front of him. Her heart fluttered with panic.
“Don’t shut me out.” The words tumbled out, a knee-jerk reaction to the distance he attempted to put between them.
His eyebrows rose and he crossed to her. “Why not?”
“Because that’s not what I want.”
This time when he reached out, she didn’t stop his hand and the gentle graze of his fingertips on her cheek lit the fire again.
He traced her face with his fingers to memorize every line. “I’m gonna miss you when you go back to New York.”
Before she could speak, his lips crushed any response. He led her back to the bed and stripped the sundress off without protest.
Tender and sweet, he made love to her, slowly bringing her close to climax and then stopping; he waited until her body dialed back a notch before he continued. His green eyes glimmered and kept eye contact, silently relaying the depth of adoration, the depth of his love, and leaving her breathless.
On the brink of orgasm, he stopped again; her body ached and she cried, “Don’t stop! Oh God, please don’t stop!”
Jim smiled and quickened his pace. She didn’t just jump the hurdle; she catapulted over it—screamed his name, arched, trembled, panted until there was nothing left.
They lay in each other’s arms, drenched in sweat and satisfaction, not daring to let go for fear they would never find their way back to this place, this intimacy.
“You really love me?”
“Yes, and I want you to stay,” he said softly in her ear.
“I can’t stay.” As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t. The job, the obligations in New York all rolled into this impossible relationship.
Jim nodded and rolled away; the connection broke and left a chasm between them. He sat on the edge of the bed, his head hung low and his feet planted firmly on the floor. “I don’t want you to go.” He headed into the bathroom and the long-forgotten shower.
THE EXPANSIVE GLASS of the dining room overlooked the long sandy beach across the street. They quietly ate and enjoyed the change from ambient twilight to darkness. Their conversation was easy but the tension persisted.
“You could transfer to NYU’s med school.” She broke a lull of silence.
He stared out the window and sipped his wine before returning his attention to her. “I’ve got a scholarship to Johns Hopkins.” He set his glass on the table. “You could always see what’s available in DC.” An eyebrow rose along with the hope in his voice.
She tilted her head. “Yeah, well, DC isn’t New York.”
He nodded with a sigh and signaled the waiter.
The serious set of his mouth, the melancholy hue to his eyes and the tension in his shoulders spoke to her, telling her this was real and he didn’t want it to end.
“Let’s take a walk,” Jim said after he paid for dinner. He took her by the hand and led her across the road to the stretch of soft sand and ocean beyond. They listened to the wush of the ocean lapping the shore and strolled casually hand in hand. Jim was the first to break the comfortable silence. “We still have six weeks.”
“I know.” She couldn’t see how this would work beyond that. Long-distance relationships were impossible, unsustainable. Hollow panic grabbed her, tore at her stomach; tears burned her eyes before brimming and slicing hot paths along her cheeks. A lump of despair crawled into her throat and she turned to face him under the moonlight.
“Ah, babe.” His hand brushed the tears from her cheeks and she nestled against his palm. “I promise, we will see each other again. There are plenty of shuttles from LaGuardia to Washington.” He kissed her and allowed the kiss to linger for a moment before pulling away. “Close your eyes.”
Lynn cocked her head to the side for a moment.
“I’ve got a surprise for you. Now close your eyes.”
Lynn obeyed; she closed her eyes and listened to the shuffle. He picked up her left hand and slid something on her ring finger. Her heart rate tripled, sending tingling tendrils through her flesh.
Oh my God, he’s proposing! Her eyes flew open and she stared at the dark stone flanked by brilliant diamonds. Even under the moonlight, she caught the green tint of the emerald. Uncertainty overtook her and she glanced down at him on one knee before her. “It’s beautiful, just like your eyes.”
“It’s not exactly a traditional engagement ring...”
Her eyes dropped to the ring and then flew back to his. “Are you asking me to marry you?”
Even in the darkness, the blush in his cheeks stood out.
“I guess in my roundabout way I am.”
“Wow.”
He wasn’t kidding when he said he loved me.
Speechless, she studied the ring and his sincere gaze as he waited for an answer. A million excuses flew through her mind, compounded by the repeating phrase two weeks, but none of them passed her lips, not when her heart sang in joyous revelation.
“I’d want to wait till I’m out of med school.” He stood, shoved his hands in his pocket and shuffle
d from foot to foot. Her lack of an answer obviously spun his nerves into a frenzy.
“After this afternoon, I guess I’d understand if you said no, but I had to ask.”
In that instant, she knew he was the one, the man who she wanted to spend the rest of her days and nights with, share her every fear, every desire, every dream. Their life stretched before her—the joys, the celebrations, the love—and she smiled.
“Okay.” Just as easy as that, she accepted his promise, his faith that distance wouldn’t harm the relationship.
The slow grin that found his lips and made his eyes sparkle sent a delicious chill through her. He swept her off her feet and twirled her in a small circle; he planted his lips firmly on hers. The kiss broke and he planted her back in the sand, dimples still embedded in his cheeks.
“I love you.” She clasped his hand and pulled him toward their secluded hideaway.
The click of metal stopped them in their tracks.
Bryan stepped out of the shadows, the Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum trained on them.
Lynn’s breath caught in her chest and fear squeezed a dribble of piss from her bladder. The gun swung from Jim’s chest to hers.
“Cheating slut.” His growl preceded the deafening roar of the gun.
At the same time, Jim moved. He blocked the path of the bullet; the impact slammed him backwards into her and knocked both of them to the ground. A sharp pain ripped through her shoulder and her scream filled the night.
Both the report of the gun and her shriek brought people running. Bryan leveled the gun once more, aiming at her.
“Hey you!”
The cry grabbed his attention and the gun wavered; the second round missed its target, but ripped through Jim’s chest and sliced a superficial path in her side.
Bryan disappeared into the darkness.
She shifted under Jim’s weight, his breathing labored and spotty and his shirt covered in a spreading red stain. Awareness slammed into her as hard as a bullet ripping through her heart. It knocked the wind out of her and sent a cold terror through her bones, filtering outward until the entire surface of her skin screamed with it. A wail, like that of a lost child, shattered the unearthly silence. “No!”
She maneuvered into a sitting position, cradling him in her lap. Sobs took hold and she stroked his face, aware of the gathering crowd and the distant sirens. “Jim, wake up! Please, God! Please wake up!”
Jim’s eyes fluttered open. “Lynn.” His voice was full of the pain wracking his body and he coughed, sending tendrils of blood from his mouth.
“Jim, you’ll be okay. Really you will. You have to be. We’re going to get married when you get out of med school.” She stumbled over the rush of words, all the while praying the sirens in the distance would get here before she lost him. “Please don’t die on me, please, not now.”
“Sorry.” A tear slipped out of the corner of his eye before they glazed over and her name came with his last gurgling breath.
The pungent odor of urine filled her nostrils, mixed with the smell of blood and death radiating from his body. She shook him. “No! Don’t you die on me!” Sobs overtook her until all that came out was one continuous groan and she rocked with him in her lap.
It took three paramedics to pry his dead body from her grasp. She sat in the ambulance, dazed and inconsolable as they assessed her shattered shoulder.
“Miss Spoffard?”
Lynn’s eyes rose to the young cop. “Did you catch the bastard?” she asked in a scream-hoarse voice.
“Yes. Can we get a statement?”
CLOSE TO FIVE YEARS passed since her last trip to Florida. She sighed and looked out into the night at the passing clouds. The empty pit in her stomach grew vast at the memory; she swallowed the burning tears that laced the lining of her throat and blinked back the mist forming over her eyes. She could almost feel his touch—his fingers tracing the lines of her face: soft, sensual, loving.
She never anticipated setting foot in Miami again, not after the best thing she ever found was ripped from her, shot, left for dead on the beachfront. But Bryan’s execution was scheduled for the end of the week and she wanted to see that bastard die.
The emerald shimmered and caught her attention. She studied the ring and allowed a small smile to form. That night was the worst night of her life, but it also was the best memory she had of Jim and the gifts he gave her.
“Mommy, are you okay?”
Lynn looked at her four-year-old son and wiped the blonde bangs from his emerald eyes.
“Yes, honey. I just miss your daddy.”
The End
Office Games
“Hey what-cha-doin?” I smiled into the phone when he answered, being my facetious pain-in-the-ass self.
“Getting ready to head home, why?”
“Just wanted to give you some grief.” I chuckled. “Besides, I’ve got another stinkin’ hour to burn before I head to a late meeting. I’m the only one down here and it’s really creepy.”
My office was one of thirty high-walled cubicles in the dead center of the building. Marble hallways lined the room on all four sides and created an almost soundproof area, leaving it unearthly quiet. Mornings alone in this closed-off space never bothered me, but then again I knew eventually someone would come in. But after the last of the staff went home, this room took on an eerie, morgue-like quality: silent air, broken only by the constant cool flow from the air-conditioning vent above.
I shivered.
“Perfect opportunity for you to come scare the hell out of me.”
His laugh traversed the phone line. “I’ll be right down.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
Relief washed over me when Jake stepped into the room and crossed to my desk. “You were right. It is kind of creepy.”
I spun my chair in his direction and waved to the seat at my back wall. He parked there. Only a foot separated the distance between our knees and I was aware of every last inch of that space. I swiveled nervously in the chair. Utterly alone—we were utterly alone—and just a few inches from trouble.
My concentration crumbled, and I rambled. I talked a mile a minute about everything but what was really going through my mind, talked about everything but the desire flooding my veins. Having him this close was as intoxicating as a dozen shots of tequila and equally as hot.
Conversation tapered off and he smiled a knowing smile, the one that sent shivers from my toes to the tip of my head and tripled my heart rate; the temperature in the little cubicle skyrocketed. Hell, if there was a sprinkler system, the current between us would have tripped it.
“I should be going.”
I returned his smile, a little disappointed. This situation—no one in the office, secluded, cut off from everyone—didn’t happen, not in the place we worked. It was like all the stars aligned for that brief span of time; the weather patterns fell into place to form the perfect storm. Exactly the situation we both dreamt of and yet all I could muster was a lame, “Okay.”
He paused, ready to stand but not quite. “You surprised me.”
My eyebrows rose in response. “How so?”
He waved his hand, a silent comment on the sheer emptiness surrounding us and then flashed that smile again.
Oh my God, he thought I’d make the first move. That’s why he shot downstairs so fast. I almost laughed out loud but I kept the question in my eyes.
“You’re all talk, aren’t you?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m not.”
He settled back in the chair.
“What we need is some conference to go to, a couple drinks...” I let the rest go unsaid, our imaginations wandering.
“That would be particularly dangerous.”
I cocked my head and teased him with a bite of my lower lip before I spoke. “How so?”
“A hotel room...” A single eyebrow rose, the insinuation complete. Jake let that hang in the air for a moment and glanced around the empty office. “Y
ou’re all talk.” He grinned. “No one’s here and yet you didn’t even broach the subject.”
My smile faded. “That’s because you’ve been putting distance between us lately. On purpose.” It was something I inherently knew, just like I knew he felt the same things I did. That miracle sixth sense of mine, yippee, and he nodded, confirming what I already knew. He studied his hands, the wedding band catching the light just so.
“Sorry about that.”
I nodded and shot a quick glance at the diamond gracing my hand before raising my eyes back to his. “I’m not all talk like you think I am. I’m not about to make the first move here, not after the conversation we had last fall. You made it clear you weren’t comfortable with stepping over the line, and I would never put you in that position.” The playful flirting, the dirty references, the innuendo, all part of the game we played: thrilling but safe and that’s the way he said he wanted it. “Soooo, maybe you should be going.”
He lingered, his grin infectious. “Maybe I should.” Yet he didn’t move a muscle.
“Besides, if anything IS to happen, you have to be the instigator.”
“Really?” His grin widened.
I nodded, even as the wheels turned in his head. His eyes made the slow scan of my body before returning to meet my gaze. Slowly he put his notepad on my desk and leaned forward. He stopped a foot or so short.
“And if I did this?”
I played the game; my heart pounded, my hands shook from the electricity between us. The thrill of it engulfed all sensibilities. I moved forward, stopping just shy of his lips and smiled. “Then I’d probably do this.” Our eyes met for a fraction of a second and then in the same instant, we closed the distance.
He tasted like peppermint, and the kiss...ah, God, the kiss was the kind that made my knees melt, made me feel seventeen all over again. First love kind of kiss. Sweet and slow, hot, controlled...mesmerizing. I didn’t dare move closer. The kiss lingered even though he was just as wired as I was. My heart leapt in my chest and throbbed with the need now burning my veins. I wanted much more than just the kiss, but we pulled away. Both of us took a deep breath before settling back in our chairs.