Want You Back

by Lulu Pratt

  Chapter 27

  Jacob

  NOW, I GOTTA tell you, of all the reactions I might’ve ever predicted getting from Charles, a round of applause was not one of them.

  But sure enough, right there before my eyes, the man was clapping loudly, and before long, crying, “Bravo!”

  I tensed, clutching Sierra’s palm tighter. Was this some sort of sick mind game? Was Charles clapping to throw me off my guard before lunging for my throat? I tried to angle my body and ensure that Sierra was protected by my broad shoulders, but she refused to be shielded — she stuck herself firmly to my side and returned my squeeze.

  “What is this?” I asked Charles, in no mood to play games.

  “Oh, calm down, kid,” he chortled. “Take a seat.”

  “I’d rather stand. And I’m not a kid.”

  “Fine,” he replied, flinging his hands in the air. “Be dramatic. It is, apparently, a talent of yours.”

  Charles moseyed back to his seat, in no apparent rush, and I heard Sierra inhale, felt the breath reach her shoulders and arms. You’re okay, I thought, trying to telepathically calm her. You’re okay, I’m here, I’ll keep you safe.

  But Charles wasn’t calling the hounds. Instead, he was crossing his hands behind his head and looking rather pleased with himself. I wanted to push further, to ask what was going on, but I knew that didn’t work with people like him — they take their sweet damn time.

  Once he was settled, he continued. “What you just did there, your little declaration of love? That was honest. The complete and total truth. For the first time since you and your gang—” he gestured to the Pillers workers “—arrived, I am certain I’m dealing with serious, earnest people. I needed that confirmation before I moved forward with the project. And now I have it.”

  Sierra spoke up before I could, and I could see from the way she pursed her lips she was furious. “So, what, that’s it? You pushed us to a mental breaking point so you could see if we were being honest about our personal lives, which by the way have nothing to do with our work ethic?”

  She looked like she might go on, but I held her back, placing an arm in front of her hip before she could dip forward in anger.

  Charles rolled his eyes and worked his jaw, almost like a crazed horse. “Oh, Sierra. Personal lives are always relevant to work lives. Besides, you all set up this little scheme, this fake dating, as it were — as it was, rather — to bamboozle me. I saw through the bamboozle. Don’t get mad because I played the game and you lost.”

  My heart sank. We’d lost. But hey, at least I’d gotten the woman. The game didn’t mean shit.

  But then Charles went on.

  “And I thought we were done after that, truly, I did. Until you came in here, and you folks delivered me a dynamite pitch, with a remarkably bright person at the helm. And then, then! You told Sierra you loved her, and the entire company was on pins and needles to see what you’d say. You care about one another like family. That’s family values, not some inane partnership games.”

  Much to my surprise, I… I can’t believe I’m saying this… I saw Charles’ point. We’d been fractured, messy, trying to fit ourselves into a mold, when all we had to do was be true to who the company was, and to who we were. Maybe he wasn’t such a terrible businessman after all.

  Charles looked at his fingernails, then up to the rest of the room. “So. How’d ya’ll like to build me a retirement village?”

  Gasps abounded, and Joe stood shakily up from his chair. He began, “Are you saying—”

  “Yes,” Charles interjected. “The deal’s yours, if you still want it.”

  “Of course we want it!” Sierra crowed.

  Charles sat back in his chair, pleased, and the room went berserk — shouts exploded from every corner, exclamations of sheer glee, hands touching hands in mutual support and excitement. But I only had eyes for Sierra, who was turning towards me, and whispering, “You saved the day.”

  “No,” I negated. “You did. I just gave it a little extra push.”

  My head was tilting towards hers, and I knew that if I moved one inch closer, I could catch her bottom lip between mine and then I’d be kissing Sierra and the world would be perfect.

  “Ahem.”

  I glanced away from her rosy lips to see where the noise had come from.

  Uh, oops.

  It was Joe and Tom. Who were still, for those of us keeping score, my bosses.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Joe grumbled as I took two full steps away from Sierra, making sure to performatively indicate how professional we would be.

  Sierra coughed sheepishly. “Oh that’s… no worries.”

  “We came to say,” Tom inserted, picking up the reins from his brother, “that we’re so impressed with you. Obviously, we knew you were talented, that’s never been a secret, but the pitch was phenomenal. We couldn’t have done it without you. And we know, because we tried.”

  All four of us laughed at that, and I moved a little closer to Sierra, close enough that I could wrap my arm around her shoulders. I rubbed her smooth, downy skin, and drank in her heady smell.

  Sierra asked, “And, if we decide to date…” She looked at me, and paused, before continuing, “Whatever we do… you won’t stop us? Even with the workplace fraternization rules? Because if that’s a deal breaker, I’m not sure I could stay.”

  “What are you talking about?” I whispered in her ear, but Joe and Tom were already on it.

  “Of course you can date,” Joe allowed. “You, uh, ‘getting together’ damn well saved the company’s ass. So I think we can all agree to break the rules just this once. Though—”

  “No more relations on company time,” Tom finished sternly.

  “Deal,” Sierra said.

  “Well,” Joe said, looking away, “guess we’ll give you two time to celebrate. Appropriately, that is.”

  The men walked away to talk with Charles, presumably to begin discussing the final terms of the deal. I shook my head at Sierra, who tilted hers up to find my eyes.

  “Why’d you object?” she asked.

  “I wasn’t going to let you lose your job for me. Not again.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “You don’t ‘let’ me do anything, Jacob. I make my own choices. And you’re my choice.”

  Her blonde hair spilled over her shoulders as she moved away from my arm, ducking out of its reach. I was worried I’d offended her, or been presumptuous, when she said, “But Jacob… I am still worried about the distance.”

  She wrung her hands out, her delicate fingers twisting and turning her various pieces of gold jewelry.

  “I — I don’t want to live far from you,” she said. “If we’re going to date. And I think I want to date. For real this time, with no secrets, no sudden departures. Just openness, honesty. All that good stuff.”

  I couldn’t help myself. I broke into a huge grin. “You wanna date me.”

  “Yeah. Stupid, I know.”

  “More like brilliant,” I cried, delighted, before growing serious again. “Distance is hard, I get it. But it’s only, what, a three-hour drive? I can come up on the weekends, maybe you could come for the occasional vacation. We’d make it work.”

  Her lips quivered as she admitted, “I don’t think I’m at an age where I want to just occasionally see my partner. I want somebody in my life, day in and day out. Building my life into our life. Does that make sense?”

  My heart sank. Had we just been through all of this for nothing? Would the universe, ultimately, shoot us down before we’d had a chance to even fly?

  That’s when Charles stepped in.

  “Couldn’t help but overhear you two,” he said as he sauntered between the two of us, with total disregard for normal human spatial boundaries.

  “That was private,” Sierra informed him, her tone flinty, her lips now firmly pressed together, quiver-free.

  Charles shrugged. “Be that as it may, I’ve got the solution for it. Unless you don’t want to know the s
olution, because your precious conversation was private.”

  I exhaled, exhausted with his unpredictable temperament. “Fine, Charles.”

  “That’s no way to talk to your future boss,” he remarked, “but I’ll let it slide. Anyhow — Jacob, you’re going to be in town for the next eight months, working on the project.”

  Shit. Somehow, in the process, I’d forgotten that if the project went through, I’d actually have to build the damn thing. Fort Myers and Jacksonville were further apart, and that meant less time together, if any, and—

  Charles interrupted my spiraling thoughts, saying, “Sierra, I’m going to ask Joe and Tom to leave you here in town for the next eight months as well, to help me handle the marketing of this facility to the community. You’ll have to field questions about construction integrity, ecological impact, the usual shit. I know normally, the marketing manager wouldn’t necessarily stay in town to handle all of that, but it is a big job.” He chuckled, and went on, “And you two sound like you gotta make up for lost time.”

  “Are you — are you serious?” I stammered.

  Sierra’s voice shook as she repeated my sentiment. “Charles, if this is another game—”

  “No games,” he said, raising his hands in surrender. “Just trying to help out young lovers. Unless you’d rather—”

  “We’ll do it,” I agreed immediately. Then, turning red, I asked Sierra, “That’s what you want, right?”

  Her face shone, as if illuminated from within by a sheer ball of joy. “You’re kidding, right?” she laughed, the sound skipping over the pebbles of her throat. “Jacob, of course it’s what I want.”

  “Good,” Charles chimed in. “Then I’ll go settle it with the boys right now.”

  He ambled off towards Joe and Tom, who looked nervously at his looming presence.

  “I’m sorry for everything,” I said again, facing Sierra full on, taking in her entire being, trying to sear this moment into my memory. “I’m sorry for—”

  She put one lacquered fingertip to my lips. “No more apologies. Just don’t break up with me, then work at my company, then pretend to be my boyfriend for a project, then make me fall in love with you, then break my heart and then mend it again. Okay?”

  I laughed exuberantly, feeling the weight lift off my chest, for good this time. “I promise. After all, it’d be pretty hard to replicate all that.”

  Sierra giggled and placed a hand on my chest, gently stroking my pecs beneath my collared shirt.

  “Now,” she whispered. “Where were we?”

  Like I could forget. I pulled her in tight to me, and she squealed softly at the sudden movement before letting her body go slack against mine, dropping her final defenses.

  “I’m going to kiss you now,” I murmured in a low voice. “And it’s going to be the first kiss of the rest of our lives.”

  “Well? What’s holding you back?”

  I grinned then grabbed her head in my hands, lowered my face to meet hers, and brought Sierra in close. Our lips met, and then we were kissing, our lips saying words that our voices never could, apologizing and forgiving and planning and dreaming. We were in perfect sync, like… well, like nature. Harmonic.

  “Did I mention I love you?” I asked, pulling away momentarily, my lips still barely brushing hers.

  “Only once or twice.”

  “Should I say it again?”

  She smiled. “Yeah.”

  “I love you.”

  “Good.”

  I chuckled, “Now it’s your turn.”

  She feigned hesitation, saying slowly, “Well, I guess I kinda—”

  I squeezed her playfully on the shoulder, and she relented.

  “I love you too, Jacob.”

  That was all I needed. I closed the tiny breach between our lips, and we were kissing once more.

  Chapter 28

  Sierra

  “LET’S GET out of here,” I whispered into Jacob’s ear.

  Co-workers were swarming around us, and while I was as eager as the next person to revel in our victory, I also knew that my panties were on fire, my clit begging for Jacob’s touch.

  And none of that was exactly “workplace appropriate.” Stupid jobs, with all their stupid rules.

  Jacob grinned, catching my insinuation — I suspect because he was thinking much the same thing.

  Then his smile dimmed for a moment, and he said, in a voice inaudible to everyone else, “I want to but… where? Charles is probably not eager for us, and I mean especially us, to use our old rooms.”

  Hm, Jacob made a good point.

  But where there’s a will there’s a way, and I had enough will for the both of us.

  I grabbed his hand, and asked, “Will you follow me?”

  “To the ends of the earth,” he replied, and though his tone was light-hearted, I knew the sentiment was real.

  “Okay then, go tell Joe and Tom something compelling,” I instructed. “Tell them we need to…”

  “Water the lawn? Walk the dog? Buy groceries?”

  “My, you’re already so domestic.”

  He chuckled, a throaty rumble from deep within his chest. “What can I say? You bring out the husband in me.”

  My brows shot up at that, and he quickly attempted to walk it back. “Oh, no, I’m sorry, I meant — uh… what did I mean? Fuck.”

  But I guess the truth must be that I wasn’t too put off by his slip, because I immediately responded, “It’s okay, Jacob. Really.”

  He looked relieved, but I could still see the lingering embarrassment in the red surging to his cheeks.

  “I’m gonna go, uh, tell Joe and Tom something,” he said, then walked off in the direction of our bosses.

  What had his error meant? What did I want it to mean? ‘Husband’ had fallen off his tongue as easily as ‘hello.’ And it had sounded right. Oh God, I’m getting carried away again, I thought to myself. This had happened last time — the last time we dated for real, that is. Two dates in and I knew he was marriage material, only to get my heart broken.

  But we’re not thinking about the past this time, my brain reminded me. That was true. If I was done reliving the past, and thinking purely about the future… well, then, ‘husband,’ free from the baggage of history, did indeed sound right.

  Ahem. Not that I was, like, rushing into anything, or was already ring shopping. It’s good to know what you want, to have a vision for the future. I’m a planner, not a reactor. I have three calendars, not to mention a bullet journal. You don’t become head of marketing in your twenties by just going with the flow.

  Aaaand now I’m making excuses. Just ignore me, I’ll probably turn normal sometime in the next ten years. At least, that’s the rough timeline in one of my three calendars.

  Thankfully, Jacob returned before I could spin out more about this ‘husband’ business.

  “We’re all set,” he smirked, his single asymmetric dimple showing. “What’s the plan, Stan?”

  Phew. Time for easy things. Like public sex.

  I grabbed his hand and bid goodbye to the co-workers closest to us — it was mostly men, who all gave me polite smiles and waves. The one woman in the cluster shot me a knowing look and a very discreet thumbs up. Do girls have a sixth sense, a ‘sex sense’? I’d have to study up on that.

  Jacob’s hand firmly in mine, I began dragging him out of the conference room, gracefully accepting compliments and congratulations as we passed by a few more small groups, but not lingering long enough to let any of them slow me down. It was seven, nearly nighttime. Which meant that if we wanted to fuck, we’d have to move fast.

  “Okay, move it, move it,” I ordered Jacob as my marching turned into racing.

  He kept pace easily. He has longer legs, it’s kind of a stacked game, his free arm swinging and his occupied one holding on to me.

  “Where are we going?” he asked, another variation on his earlier question.

  “Don’t you like surprises?”

  Even
mid-run, I could hear him emit a very tiny, very resigned sigh. I took that as reluctant acceptance and continued to tug his hand, until at last we were bursting through the French back doors and onto the terraced lawn.

  “Your plan is to have sex in the pool?” Jacob questioned, his tone skeptical.

  I rolled my eyes. “No, I’m not stupid.” I paused, then said, “My plan is to have sex in the bushes.”

  He hesitated for a split second, before replying, “Sounds great.”

  Well, that was surprising. “Really?”

  “At this point, I’d fuck you in a Ferris wheel, the back of a taxi, a pool filled with sharks—”

  What a gentleman. I laughed, and tugged on his hand. “Then what are we still doing here?” I asked, then led him further out back, past rows and rows of rose bushes, until we came upon a spot that I’d only glimpsed as he was carrying me back from the boat — a small but perfectly suitable hedge maze.

  His expression betrayed him.

  “You’re still not convinced, are you,” I said.

  He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, you’re convinced, and that’s enough.”

  “Good, because I want your cock, and I want it now.”

  His expression changed from deeply uncertain to unpolished lust. Good — that’s when his face looked best, when his jaw was clenched, his brows furrowed, those brown eyes twinkling with thoughts best not spoken in polite company.

  I wasn’t done yanking his chain. “You’ll have to catch me first,” I giggled, letting his hand slip out and running headlong into the maze.

  It was small, and he was fast. I could hear his footfalls a few feet behind me, loud even on the soft grass, hear his heavy breathing, labored not from exertion but excitement. I only made it about three turns in — right, left, left — before I felt large arms encircling me at the waist.

  “You thought you’d make it to the center?” he growled in my ear, nipping my lobe with his teeth. “Oh, babe. You gotta know that when you start saying things like ‘my cock,’ I can move pretty fucking fast.”

  “Yeah?” I replied. “Then how about this. We’re gonna lose the light any minute, so take your cock out and make me scream.”