by Mia Zachary
The next message was more like a form letter, using the exact wording from the list of introductory icebreakers that Lunch Meetings had provided.
Hello, RLD49
In order to get to know each other, I’d like to ask you the following questions:
1) Describe some personal habits that are important to you.
2) During a typical week, what physical activities do you enjoy?
3) What do you like to do on your day off?
And to show my willingness to be open, I’ll share my answers:
1) It’s important to me that a woman be clean shaven and that she doesn’t swear.
2) I’m not really into exercise, but I do have a treadmill in the basement
3) I like to go bird watching or visit a museum.
I can’t wait to read your answers and I hope we can have lunch soon.
SD1975
It would be a long wait. SD1975 seemed creepier than DumpsterKing1. Why ask about physical activity if he didn’t do any? Besides, she wasn’t sure whether clean shaven referred to her chin or points south. Maybe P.J. shouldn’t invest after all. With a sigh, Rei opened the last e-mail.
TO: RLD49
FROM: DCL3
HI THERE
I hope you had a good day. Mine was pretty great—I got some news at work.
Listen, I know the computer says we’re compatible, but maybe we should judge that for ourselves? If it’s okay with you, I’d like us to get to know each other a little via e-mail first.
What do you think?
Rei smiled at the computer screen, relieved that DCL3 seemed normal. His message conveyed an easy-going charm, as if they were already old friends just touching base at the start of the week. She shouldn’t answer him though, for the same reasons she didn’t reply to Carter. Why waste everyone’s time if she wasn’t looking for a relationship?
She read the message again. Then again, if she were going to help P.J. with her decision, maybe she ought to find out more. She could always break things off as soon as they went too far. She composed a quick reply, in what she hoped was the same friendly tone, and clicked “send.”
7
“SO, UH, HOW’S everything going, son? You doing okay?”
“Yeah, Dad. I’m fine. How about you?”
Chris wrinkled his brow in confusion. David had called him out of the blue, apparently to chat. His father never chatted. When they spoke it was always a brief, stilted conversation about a specific topic like asking for help with a home improvement project or what to get Gabriel for his birthday.
“I’m good, I’m good. Uh, how’s business?”
“Lunch Meetings is doing great, thanks. So, what’s up?”
David cleared his throat. “I haven’t seen you in awhile. I thought maybe we could get together. Maybe meet at that sports bar you like.”
His brows arched toward his forehead. His father was not a big sports fan, nor was he one to hang out in bars. But now his curiosity was aroused. “Sure, Dad. How about Thursday night for happy hour?”
“Sounds good. So, uh, okay then. I’ll see you there.”
Chris hung up the phone and decided that both of his parents were acting weird. He wondered if his father had somehow found out that Jeanna was dating again. The idea of permanently losing her to another man may have prompted a need to get closer to his kids. He’d check with his sisters later to see if David had called them, too.
Opening the notebook computer on his desk, Chris moved the mouse around to click on the e-mail icon. His Lunch Meetings account forwarded copies of messages to his private address. When the program opened, his eyes skimmed down the sender line until he spotted the reply he’d hoped for. With a grin, he opened the message from RLD49.
RE: HI YOURSELF
I think that’s the best idea for now. I’m very big on judging things for myself, so not meeting right away is fine with me.
My day was pretty good, too. I think I may have made a difference in someone’s life. Always a good feeling.
RLD49
Chris frowned slightly at her reply. He hadn’t said anything about not meeting. But if she was new to Internet dating he guessed he couldn’t blame her for being cautious. He’d follow her lead and just play it cool, though that’s the last thing he felt when he thought about her.
RE: THE DIFFERENCE
It’s a great feeling, isn’t it? My clients have told me that what I do has changed their lives, too.
So, I have a really exciting night planned. Cold beer, hot chicken wings and a sci-fi movie marathon on cable.
How about you?
DCL3
RE: PARTY CENTRAL
My night is going to be much more exciting than yours. I’m going to the gym, then, because I’ll probably need it, I plan on taking a hot bath with a good book.
RLD49
Chris stared, unseeing, at the e-mail. He was picturing Rei in that bathtub, without the book or anything else to obstruct his view. She would close her eyes and rub soapy lather over her bare breasts, then down the length of her body and between her thighs. The hot water and her arousal would bring a pink hue to her golden skin….
His fingers flew over the keyboard, composing an intimate reply, and then froze. He couldn’t say any of that. Rei didn’t know that he knew about Jade. Chris tapped the backspace button and deleted the text, not sure what to say but knowing there was no way he could voice his lust and frustration.
RE: ENJOY
I hope you have a good night and I’ll talk to you later.
DCL3
He closed the e-mail program. He didn’t know whether Rei would write again, and if she did, would she be more open with him electronically than she had been in person. He also didn’t know if “Jade” would call again, nor whether she’d let him get to know more about her than which physical touches made her moan his name.
Feeling like he didn’t know anything anymore, Chris got up to grab a beer and watch that movie marathon.
Tuesday, April 15th
Accomplishments: Try kickboxing; Eat junk food all day; Volunteer to be a literacy tutor at the library
REI’S STOMACH rumbled as she approached the restaurant on the first floor of the courthouse building. It had turned out to be another short cause day with a heavy caseload. So the chance to have lunch with her friend and fellow Commissioner, Sarah Whitney, was a welcome break.
Running into Associate Justice Gordon Davis was not.
Her father was leaving Indigo at the same time she and Sarah arrived. He was as good-looking in his sixties as he’d ever been, a combination of wise statesman and gracefully aging actor. His silver-shot hair swept back dramatically from his forehead to emphasize his piercing brown eyes.
Eyes that at the moment regarded her with the expression of faint disapproval she’d never understood.
“Hi, Dad.”
“Hello, Rei.”
He glanced around, as though some of his peers might be watching, then grasped her shoulders to hold her six inches away while she kissed the air near the cheek he turned.
Perhaps sensing the tension, Sarah touched her arm. “I’ll go in and get us a table.”
Rei nodded absently, then spoke to the young man standing beside her father. “Hi, Hunter. How’s it going?”
“Good, really good.” Her eighteen-year-old half brother gave her the same awkward kind of shoulder squeeze her father had. “How about you?”
There was no sense in being honest since her “family” rarely saw each other except on holidays. “I’m fine, thanks.”
“Hunter, tell Rei your news.” Gordon didn’t wait for his compliance, instead making the announcement himself. “He’s been accepted to Stanford. And, of course, he’ll go on to Stanford Law when he finishes his undergraduate work.”
The look he cut to her was an abbreviation of the indictment she’d endured when she had chosen Boalt Hall instead of Gordon’s alma mater. UC Berkeley’s school of law was also ranked among the nation’
s top ten, but that hadn’t mattered. Now, at last, her father had a true heir, a son molded in his own image.
“Congratulations, Hunter.”
“Yeah, well, as I keep getting reminded, Stanford is a big deal. Not only did Dad go there, but so did Supremes Rehnquist and Day-O’Connor.”
She wondered whether it had really been Hunter’s choice at all and felt sorry for the boy with whom she shared blood but no kind of relationship. “You’ll be in good company.”
Gordon smiled at the fair-haired young man. “I’m proud of you, Son.”
Rei had learned at a young age to clamp down on any feeling regarding her father, but somehow the insidious hurt seeped around the edges. She looked over at Gordon, who had glanced toward her at the same time. For a moment their eyes, so alike and yet belonging to such different people, met and held.
She hoped her expression didn’t reveal all the longing and resentment squeezing her throat closed against unasked questions. Are you proud of me, Dad? You’ve never said so. Do you love me? Did you ever? But she held her tongue as always.
Gordon broke contact first, looking at the gold watch on his wrist. “Well, we’d better get going.”
Rei nodded. “Me, too. Take care.”
As she watched them walk away, she was once again grateful for the love her grandparents had always shown her. She opened the door to the restaurant, already planning to order a glass of champagne and the most decadent chocolate dessert Indigo had to offer in lieu of a real lunch.
AFTER WORK, Rei had a dinner meeting with the Bay Area Barristers Alliance. The group of female attorneys had started off as a study group when they’d attended Boalt. It had been good to see her friends tonight, especially after getting an admonishing phone call from Dr. Solís this afternoon.
Rei hadn’t needed the reminder that time was limited. What she’d needed was to be around people. She’d needed to talk and laugh and feel connected. Now, as she started the car, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, she debated where to go next. She was driving toward Miraloma Park, but the quiet solitude of her house didn’t appeal right now.
She let her mind drift back to that night. She’d been unable to stop thinking about Chris, about the delicious taste of his kiss, the searing heat of his touch. She shifted subtly in her seat as the mental images caused an all too physical reaction.
Her other reaction was purely emotional and it surprised her. They’d only met four days ago—how could she possibly miss him? And yet there was no denying that she’d woken up this morning cuddling the spare pillow and wishing it were him.
Turning the Lexus into a parking space on Market Street, she pulled her cell phone from her purse. She dialed a number that she hadn’t had long enough that she should have memorized it. Chris answered on the second ring.
“Hi. It’s Jade.”
“I was just thinking about you.”
She could hear the smile in his voice and the sound of it uncoiled the tension she hadn’t been aware of in her chest. “Oh, really? What were you thinking?”
“Actually, it was more like remembering and wondering. I was remembering the warm scent of flowers on your skin and how hot you felt in my arms. How you tasted when we kissed and how you whimpered when I touched you a certain way, how wet you got.”
Rei leaned her head back on the driver’s seat and closed her eyes. Her pulse accelerated as his words and images seduced her. This was what she needed, to forget everything except the demands of her body. “And?”
“I’m rock hard right now and remembering how it felt to be buried inside of you, to feel you clench around my cock and call out my name when I made you come. And—”
She gasped softly as desire pooled between her thighs. Oh, yeah. She remembered that, too. Vividly. “And…?”
“And I was wondering when I would see you again. When can I have you again?”
“Is now a good time?”
“Now?” She’d surprised him but he recovered quickly. “Now is the best time.”
She smiled at the husky emphasis he put on the word “best.” “I’m in the Financial District—where’s the best place to meet?”
“Since you’re close to the Bay Bridge, why don’t you just come to my place in Oakland?”
Rei hesitated. This was supposed to be uncommitted sex with no real life overlap. Meeting at his home was more intimate than a hotel, so much more personal.
His voice was low and seductive in her ear. “You’re already in the car, so let’s cut down on the wait time. I promise to make it worth the drive when you get here.”
“I know you will.” She laughed softly even as her body thrummed in anticipation. Scribbling on the notepad she pulled from inside the dashboard, she wrote down the directions he gave. “I’m on my way.”
She was about to hang up when he spoke again. “What are you wearing? I want to fantasize about the clothes you’ll be stripping off in a few minutes.”
Rei looked down at her oxford cloth shirt and light wool trousers. And she didn’t even want to think about the plain cotton bra and panties she wore underneath. But there wasn’t time to go home to change or to stop and buy something more enticing. So she told the truth and described her attire. “Not exactly sexy, huh?”
“On you, I’ll bet it is. Besides, I never told you about my wool fetish.”
Rei laughed. “My turn. What are you wearing?”
“I’ve got on a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. But, by the time you get here, I’ll be naked.”
LIPSTICK HAD probably been a mistake.
She’d taken the time to paint on a dark peach gloss she’d found in her purse. However, in the next few minutes she’d either chew it off in nervousness or Chris would smear it off when he kissed her. Applying the lip color had been as much a waste of time as securing her hair in a chignon when she was only going to let it down again.
Why the hell was she nervous anyway? She stepped into the elevator and stood near the wall, remembering how she’d made Chris do the same thing at the hotel. It should have calmed her, knowing that he wanted her, knowing that he waited for her. Sex was a sure thing and, based on their last encounter, so was satisfaction. So why did she feel so anxious?
Rei walked up to the address Chris had given her and saw an envelope taped to the door. Her name—or rather Jade’s—was printed in a bold, sure hand on the front. Inside was a note that read, ‘I’m glad you’re here. The door is unlocked. Come on in and be prepared to come a lot.’ She smiled at the sexual arrogance but also the warmth that suddenly filled her.
She turned the knob and stepped eagerly into the entryway. Dozens of bright spotlights shone down from tracks on the high ceiling. Soulful jazz music drifted softly from a stereo somewhere, both calming and seducing her. There was another note on the floor with only an arrow pointing deeper into the loft.
Rei walked further inside, her heels clicking on the hardwood, and glanced around curiously. To her right was a rustic-looking Italian kitchen; to the left an ornately dramatic French Provincial dining room. Ahead she could see that the living room was decorated with British Colonial pieces while the office area was strictly modern.
She stopped in her tracks, bemused by the schizophrenic mix of styles. The eclectic décor made her wonder if Chris had serious commitment issues. Shaking her head, Rei looked down to find another paper arrow. This one directed her to the circular staircase near the wall of windows overlooking the city.
She made her way up the steps and finally rounded a half wall that opened onto a deep, carpeted room. Here the only light came from a gas fireplace and the candles illuminating the animal print motif. She stifled a giggle when she saw the zebra striped throw rugs and leopard spot armchair. Good grief, this man had awful taste.
At her feet was a long arrow made of silver foil condom packets. Giggling aloud, she looked over to see that the unusual sign pointed to the king-size bed. Chris was lying on the mattress with a tiger print sheet draped over his lap and a grin on
his handsome face.
“Welcome to the jungle.”
Rei laughed heartily. “You need to fire your decorator.”
He gave a good-natured shrug. “I can’t. She’s my sister.”
“You Tarzan, me unimpressed.”
“You’re also overdressed. Do something about that, will you?”
She tossed her purse onto the leopard chair and toed off her pumps. Rei unfastened her trousers and slid them down her hips, along with her underwear. Kicking the pants aside, she watched Chris’s face, saw the quickening rise and fall of his bare chest. In the firelight, she watched him watching her. She saw the desire in his expression…and in the tented shape of the bed sheet.
Tilting her head, she smiled at him and reached up to pull the clip from her hair, releasing it to flow over her shoulder. Letting the sexy wail of the saxophone on the stereo set the pace, she undid her shirt, one button at a time. With a quick snap of the front hook, she opened her bra and let both articles slide off her shoulders to the floor.
She stood before him, her breathing rapid and her limbs heavy. A quiver of excitement darted through her body, settling between her legs with electric anticipation. You’d think it was their first time together. But having had him before only made her want him more.
“Come over here, lady.”
His voice was hoarse with lust. She walked toward him with confident steps, her hips swaying seductively, her attitude a blend of temptation and intention. His blood sizzled in his veins and his shaft thickened against the sheet. Damn, she was beautiful.
Yet there was something else in her eyes, the barest hint of uncertainty, which made her look soft and fragile. Tonight she looked more like the woman from the dating service than the exotic temptress from the nightclub. His protective instinct surfaced and he wondered who the real Rei Davis was. He wondered if she knew.