What to Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection (WTRAFSOG Book 3)

by Lauren Hawkeye

  “That’s low.”

  “It’s only five fewer than you minus your reckless summer. And you’re so much older than me.”

  He laughed. “Good point. Well, except for the age thing.”

  My stomach growled.

  “As much as I don’t want to move from this spot,” he said, squeezing my naked bottom, “we need to get breakfast. Or—” he glanced at the clock. “—lunch.”

  I kissed his chest. “Let’s do it.”

  “Again?”

  “Lunch, nerd.”

  He laughed and smacked my bottom hard. I yelped, and then we both got up out of bed to face the day.

  Nick made sandwiches while I poured us each a glass of water, and then he set our food down and sat across his kitchen table from me.

  “So tell me about your last girlfriend,” I said, curious about the sixteen women before me after our morning talk about numbers.

  He paused, swirling his water around his cup. He glanced up at me.

  “You first.”

  “God, it’s been awhile.”

  “For me, too. Start at the beginning and tell me all of it.”

  “All of it?”

  He nodded. “Sure. We’re getting to know each other, and our past makes us who we are, right?”

  I shrugged. “Well, I dated Travis my junior and senior year of high school. We broke up before college, but we still hooked up occasionally after that. During my junior year, I dated a guy named Mike. He was a year older than me, and he was the first guy who showed an interest in me besides Travis. I fell hard for him. We broke up in the fall when he took a job in Chicago when he graduated, and I wasn’t ready to just pick up my life and relocate to somewhere I hadn’t even visited before. Then I kind of dated around my senior year. I met Holly at McMillan, and a few months after I started, she introduced me to a friend of a friend named Tim, and I dated him for a little over a year. He was the last guy I dated seriously before I met you.”

  “So that’s three,” Nick said. “Who was the fourth?”

  “A guy named Anthony. It’s cheesy, but I met him at a bar, and we dated for about a month shortly after I broke up with Tim. I slept with him and he turned out to be a total douche, so I don’t count him as a serious relationship.”

  “So how long ago did you and Tim break up?”

  “It’s been, God, about a year and a half now. I liked him a lot, but we were stuck in a rut and we had only been together for a year. I just don’t think either of us saw it going anywhere long term, you know?”

  He nodded.

  “So tell me yours now. I want to know about all sixteen before me.”

  He smiled. “It all started with a girl named Jennifer when I was in high school. She was a senior when I was a freshman and she was the first girl I ever slept with. We broke up when she went to college.”

  “You dated a senior when you were a freshman?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. I was always tall for my age, and I bulked up in eighth grade. I didn’t look like a freshman.”

  “So you’re saying that you were sexy even back then?”

  He grinned. “I guess Jen thought I was.”

  I giggled.

  “So after Jen, my sophomore year, I hooked up with Heather. She was a junior, and we dated until prom. I went with her to prom and broke up with her shortly thereafter.”

  “That’s mean!”

  “She was a drama queen and I was tired of it. After that was Kim, another drama queen, and I dated her off and on my junior and senior year. She was a year younger than me. We broke up when I went off to college.”

  “So you slept with three girls in high school?”

  He shook his head. “No, those were just the ones I had relationships with.”

  “Jeez!”

  He shrugged. “There was only one other girl, the summer before college started. Let’s just say that it was a short-lived relationship.”

  “So we’re up to four. You had the seven during your wild summer, plus me. That leaves five.”

  “My freshman year of college, I met Sarah at a party. She was funny and cute and so different from the girls I had dated in high school. I dated her for three years, almost all of college.”

  “Did you love her?”

  He nodded. “Yeah.”

  “So what happened?”

  “She and I had so much fun together, but we fought a lot. She was stubborn, and I was immature, so I would egg her on just to piss her off. It got to the point where it felt like we were fighting more than we were getting along. In the end, I couldn’t remain in a relationship where all I did was fight. It was exhausting, and even though I loved her, I knew that we weren’t right for each other.”

  “Very insightful for a college student.”

  “As you know, I had a bit of a rough summer before my senior year. That part of the story gets complicated, but suffice it to say, I stayed away from women my senior year of college. I had a broken heart after Sarah. And then I graduated and immediately went back to school for my Master’s. I met Stephanie in my Master’s program, and I dated her for four years.”

  “Long term.”

  “Yeah. I thought I was going to marry her, until I found her quite literally underneath my boss.”

  “Shit.”

  “It wasn’t pretty. I quit my job and broke up with Steph in the same night. That wasn’t a tough decision, but living with the consequences was tough. I had to scramble to find a job, and that’s how I ended up at Glasgow Marketing,” he said, referring to the place he worked before he joined the team at McMillan. “It was a good enough job, and a good competitor for McMillan, but it just didn’t have the size or the sustainability that McMillan has. I think if I wouldn’t have been so rash to quit my job, I could’ve ended up somewhere much better than Glasgow. But I needed a quick fix to my issue of unemployment.”

  “This is a fascinating story.”

  He grinned. “And I’m not even to the best part. So I took a break from women for a few months. I was hurt by her and the thought of getting back into a relationship terrified me for awhile. After Steph, I got together with a friend a few times, but nothing more ever came from it. Then a girl from Glasgow showed some interest, so we sort of casually dated on and off for maybe two years or so. I told her that I didn’t have time for a relationship because I wanted to focus on building my resume. It was never anything serious with her, but when she found out that I slept with a different girl that I met at a friend’s party, she wasn’t too happy, even though we had agreed that we weren’t exclusive. So our hooking up ended, and then I met Katie through a mutual friend, and I dated her for about a year. She had issues with jealousy. It wasn’t like she would just get kind of jealous when I talked to other girls. She would literally get pissed at me when I would hang out with my brother and Eric. She was awesome at first, but she got more and more possessive of me and my time and I felt like she was turning me into who she wanted me to be rather than just allowing me to be who I am. So I had to end it with her. And then I quit Glasgow shortly thereafter and came to work for McMillan, and then I met you. And I haven’t slept with another woman since the day I laid my eyes on you, and that’s the best part. The happy ending.”

  I grinned, feeling closer and closer to this wonderful man with every passing moment as we truly got to know everything about one another.

  All too fast the weekend came to a close. Eric had texted Nick to let him know that he wouldn’t be coming home until the following morning, so we still had time together. But when 8:30 rolled around, it was time to head home. I hadn’t been home since Friday, and I didn’t have anything to wear to work the next day.

  We sat on the couch watching a television show, and I stood up at a commercial.

  “I need to head home.”

  Nick took my hand in his and pulled me down into his lap. “I don’t want you to go,” he complained. “I’ll miss you too much.”

  “I don’t want to go. But I’m out of clothes,�
�� I grinned. “You’ve ruined all of my panties.”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, we did some damage there.” He kissed me, his lips warm and sexy against mine, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to motivate myself to walk out that door.

  I broke from him breathlessly. “Come with me. You can bring clothes and get ready at my place in the morning. Then we don’t have to be apart.”

  “It’s risky, but you’re worth it.”

  “No one will ever know,” I promised, and I sealed it with a kiss.

  I packed my bag while Nick gathered his stuff and then we headed for my apartment, Nick leading the way in his BMW so I could stare at his back end the whole way.

  When we arrived back at my place, Nick graciously carried my bag as well as his smaller overnight bag, laptop case, and iPad. I unlocked my front door and he set everything down, and then somehow I was in his arms with my back pressed against the front door and his mouth was on mine, greedy and wanting and blazing.

  He ripped my long-sleeved t-shirt over my head and I did the same to him. I scratched my nails down his bare, firm chest, and he yelled out in wicked pleasure.

  He fumbled with the button on my jeans, and when he got it, he yanked them down, slipping my shoes off and then my pants. I stood against the front door in my bra and panties.

  “Jesus, how’d you get to be so fucking sexy?” he asked, his lips on my neck.

  I shivered with lust at his touch and his words. He kicked off his own shoes and then pulled his jeans off, and he stood in front of me in just his boxers. He fumbled around in his overnight bag and produced a condom, which he put on after losing his boxers. My breath caught in my throat as I took in the glory that was naked Nick. He was ridiculously gorgeous and I was still in awe that this was mine to play with.

  Nick pulled my panties down my legs slowly, a contrast to the sexy way he had attacked me the moment we walked through the door. And then he stood, and he pulled me close to him, lifting me gently off the ground and urging my legs around him.

  I wrapped my legs around his waist and he rammed into me, his hands under my bottom as my back was supported by the cold front door. His rhythm was fast as he pushed me higher and higher. I held onto his neck as he buried his head in my chest, and it wasn’t long before I spiraled out of control, squeezing his neck tightly as I came. Nick followed quickly, pumping a few more times as he grunted incoherently, and then he held me close to him as he lingered inside of me, our connection unbroken while we both regained our composure. After a few moments, he pulled out and set me down, and then he hugged me close to him. He kissed my cheek down to my neck and back up to my lips.

  He pulled back and looked into my eyes, and he looked like he was struggling with what he wanted to say. I knew I was feeling strongly about him, and it was written in his eyes that he felt the same. It was just too early to say those words. I knew neither of us wanted to jinx anything by moving our relationship along too quickly, but I also knew that we were both feeling something stronger than a crush. Whatever we were starting had the potential to last forever, and I saw in his eyes that he knew it, too.

  We both washed up and got ready for bed. Right before we fell asleep, I asked Nick if he wanted to go up to my parents’ cabin in Payson with me the following weekend. He agreed, and then we both fell asleep, and I dreamed of late nights and sensual touching and scorching kisses.

  Chapter Nine

  The week dragged by at work; while it was much more enjoyable now that Nick and I shared a secret, I was excited for our weekend trip. We had an hour and a half car ride – plenty of time to bond – and then two uninterrupted days just for each other, and I couldn’t wait.

  We tried our best to stay away from each other in the romantic sense at work, though it was difficult. We went to lunch most days and told our coworkers that we were working together on several projects, which wasn’t entirely a lie. We did collaborate often, but not quite as often as we let on. I avoided Lucy and Holly as much as I could, claiming that I had a lot of work to do. I knew that if I spent too much time with either of them, they would be able to tell that something was different. I was just wondering how long Nick and I would have to keep our relationship a secret, because it wasn’t working for me. I considered talking to Davidson and asking for a transfer to a different department, but it was still early days in our relationship to be making those kinds of monumental changes.

  Lucy and Holly must have sensed that something was off with me, but I got lucky in the fact that both of them were in newer relationships themselves, so both were too preoccupied with their new men to really spend much time worrying about me.

  Finally Friday arrived. We planned to go to my apartment after work to drop off my car and then to head right up to Payson from there in his car. The day began as usual, and it wasn’t until a little after 10:00 that I received a phone call from an unhappy client claiming that I hadn’t met a deadline. The last thing I wanted to deal with on a Friday morning was an unhappy client, particularly when they were blaming me for the error. I checked my calendar and saw that I had marked their work due on the following Thursday, and I explained that Richard Cabrillo, the man on the phone.

  “Your calendar is wrong,” was his reply. What a jerk! “I’m looking at the paperwork in front of me, and our contract says that you would have the marketing plan draft to us yesterday. Pull the contract.”

  I glanced through my files and found his contract, and sure enough, there it was, in black and white. This was the first time in my life that I had ever missed a deadline. I prided myself on my organization, and I couldn’t believe I messed up the date. I had the project about half-done, and I had put it on my calendar to work on the following week.

  “Mr. Cabrillo, I’m looking at the document now, and it appears that you are correct. Please accept my apologies. I will talk with my supervisor and call you back with our action plan.”

  “I need those ASAP.”

  “I understand that, sir.”

  “I expect that you will offer sufficient discounts for this extreme inconvenience.”

  “I will speak with Mr. Matthews and return your call.”

  “I’d like to speak with your supervisor directly.”

  “I’m sure that won’t be necessary.”

  “I’m sure it is since you have been useless. Put me in contact with him.”

  That “useless” comment hurt. “I will have him call you today.”

  He hung up and I cursed under my breath. I gathered all of the information I had for his account and then headed to Nick’s office to explain the situation.

  His door was open, so I walked in. He was on the phone. He glanced up at me and grinned, motioning for me to sit. I did. He finished up the call and turned his full attention to me.

  “Julianne Becker.” God, I loved the sound of my name coming out of his mouth. “What can I do for you?”

  I fidgeted, knowing that I had bad news to deliver. If he was just my boss and not the guy I was sleeping with and falling for, this conversation would have been so much easier. But now that I had a personal investment in him, it became a whole lot harder to admit that I had made a mistake.

  I glanced up, and his smile faded as he saw the look on my face.

  “I missed a deadline for a marketing plan yesterday, and Richard Cabrillo of Dorsett Printing wants my head on a platter.” Apparently blurting the issue out was my game plan.

  “Okay, so we’ll damage control and fix it.”

  “He wants to speak with my supervisor.”

  “I’ll take care of it.”

  “I’m sorry, Nick.”

  “What happened?”

  Tears filled my eyes. “I had the deadline on my calendar for next Thursday, but I pulled the contract and it shows that the deadline was yesterday. I don’t know what happened.”

  “Hey, it’s okay. It was clearly a mistake, and in my experience working with you, such an oversight is unlike you. When can you have it done?” I wondered if he w
asn’t reprimanding me because we were dating. If Lucy had done this, would she have gotten in trouble?

  I took a deep breath. “I can get it done by Monday if I work this weekend. But I sort of have plans this weekend.”

  “Close the door.”

  I got up and shut it per his request, and then, to my mortification, tears started falling. It was the first – but not the last – time that I ever cried in front of Nick.

  Nick stood and rushed to my side, pulling me into his arms. “Baby, it’s alright. We’ll fix this. I need you to clear the rest of your day and just work on this project.”

  Then I really started crying. He was being so sweet to me after I fucked up, and it didn’t help that I kept replaying the conversation with Cabrillo in my head, his “useless” comment on repeat in my head.

  “Why the tears?” he asked gently, kissing my forehead. He pulled back and wiped away a tear with his thumb.

  I took a shaky breath. “Cabrillo called me ‘useless.’”

  “What a fucking asshole.”

  I nodded.

  “Listen, don’t let that get to you. He was just angry.” He wiped another tear and then he kissed my lips. “Here’s the plan. We will stay here as late as we need to tonight and I’ll help you, and then we’ll work on it this weekend in Payson. I know it isn’t ideal, but we’ll get it done hopefully with minimal consequences.”

  “Let’s just postpone our trip.”

  Nick shook his head vehemently. “No. I don’t want to postpone it. We’ll get it done and we’ll still have time for each other.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t want to ruin our weekend with work.”

  “Of course. I am happy to help.”

  “Again, Nick, I’m so sorry.”

  He nodded. “Do you have Cabrillo’s contact information?”

  I handed it over, and then I gave him the full details and ran down our conversation again. I stood to leave when he started dialing his phone, but he motioned for me to stay.

  “Good Morning. This is Nick Matthews of McMillan Marketing. I am calling for Richard Cabrillo,” I heard Nick say. “Thank you.” He waited as he had obviously been put on hold. “Mr. Cabrillo, hi, Nick Matthews of McMillan Marketing. My colleague Julianne has informed me of the missed deadline. I can offer you a ten percent discount with a guaranteed plan put together by next Wednesday.”