Darren tried to hold his orgasm back, but Jill made that impossible when she took his hand and placed it inside her jeans. Heat radiated from her middle and when he stuck his finger inside her, she was wet and ready. As she pulled her lips off his manhood, he exploded with a groan.
Jill snaked up his body, rubbing her breasts, her stomach, against his sex, arousing him all over again. When she straddled him, he plunged right into her. Jill gripped his shoulders as she rode him, allowing his thickness to fill her.
He kneaded her breasts as she bounced up and down, tightening her walls around him. Darren had never experienced such raw passion, such desire and longing. Jill was a fire he couldn’t put out, but he was having fun trying. Her body thrashed and flailed against his like that of a flamenco dancer. She was in control of his body. Whatever she wanted him to do, he did it. She pulled him deeper and deeper into her, as if trying to merge their bodies into one.
After they were spent from their lovemaking, Darren clung to Jill, kissing her on her forehead. “And what did you want to talk about?” he asked.
“I don’t remember,” she breathed.
He ran his finger down the valley of her breasts. “Don’t remember, huh?”
She shivered and inhaled sharply. “Ooh, you made me miss the game.”
“I didn’t hear you complaining,” he said. They didn’t unwrap themselves from each other for the next few moments.
“I’m going to take a shower,” Jill said, as she stood up. “Care to join me?”
Darren leapt to his feet and followed her up the stairs. “You wash my back and I’ll wash yours.”
Jill and Darren were squeaky clean and sexually satisfied when they returned downstairs to catch the second playoff game. She had changed into an oversized tee-shirt and a pair of boxers, a simple outfit that was incredibly sexy on her. Darren fought with himself not to rip her clothes off and make love to her all over again. As they snuggled on the sofa, Darren took a look around her place. Jill had excellent taste. Her walls were painted a pale yellow and decorated with nouveau art, including a portrait of herself.
“That’s lovely,” he said, pointing to the portrait.
“Thank you. That was the first time I ever spent $1,000 on myself for a picture of myself.”
“Wow.” Darren wondered, though he would never ask, how much money she made. Does she even need a man in her life? She has everything. “How important is your career to you?”
“It’s been my focus for a number of years. Some people say I hid behind my career and used it as an excuse not to date.”
“Really?”
Jill sighed. “Not that most women haven’t been, but I’ve been hurt before and instead of letting it happen again, I threw myself into my work, early mornings, late nights, weekends. All I did was work.”
“Has that changed?” he asked.
“Somewhat. I mean, having you in my life has definitely shown me that there is a lot more to life than work and football.”
“I’m glad I could help, because there is more to life than work and football.”
She stroked his arm. “What about you? Why is a fine, hard-working man like yourself still single? You live in a city filled with beautiful single women.”
“Beauty is only skin deep and beauty may open the door but it takes a lot more for a woman to enter my life and my heart.”
Jill propped herself up on her elbows. “And what more does it take?”
“I want the total package. Brains, compassion, and if she looks like you, then I’m a lucky man.” Darren held her face in his hands. “In other words, you’re the one I’ve been looking for.”
Jill cast her eyes down and Darren knew she was blushing.
“How do you know you’ve been looking for me?”
“Because when you collapsed in my arms New Year’s Eve, I knew you were an angel and meant for me.”
Her eyes glistened with tears, a reaction that confused Darren. He was opening his heart to her and she seemed sad.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Darren, I’m overwhelmed. I know we’ve known each other for only a short time, but I feel such a connection with you that it scares me because I don’t want to be hurt. I don’t want to give you my heart and have it crushed.”
“I’d never do that. I’ve been on the other side of heartache and I wouldn’t wish that on my worse enemy.”
“Sometimes things happen that we don’t plan for.”
Darren placed his hand on her thigh. “I’m planning not to hurt you. I’m planning to have you in my life for a long time. You know, my ex-wife robbed me of happiness. She cheated on me, got pregnant and had an abortion. I don’t know if it was my baby or if it was her lover’s child. For a long time I didn’t want anything to do with a woman. Well, I wouldn’t say I didn’t want anything to do with a woman, but I didn’t see a future with a woman. And then I met you.”
“What if I’m not the woman for you?” she asked.
“Why would you say that? Jill, you’re damn near perfect, self sufficient, a woman that isn’t looking for a man to carry her. Hell, maybe I’m not worthy of you.”
Jill looked away from him and started gathering their dinner dishes. Darren stood up and grabbed her arm. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“You would make any woman happy and for you to think that you’re not worthy of me, that’s crazy.”
“Well, I am crazy. Crazy about you, whether you can cook or not.”
Jill disappeared into the kitchen and Darren sat on the sofa, turning the television up as the highlights from the Falcons game began to play.
“Michael Vick had a great game, rushed for more yards than Warrick Dunn,” Darren called out.
Jill dashed into the living room. “Go Michael! We’re going to win the Super Bowl this year.”
Darren wrapped his arms around Jill’s waist, feeling as if he had already won the big game. He had her in his life.
Chapter Eleven
Jill walked Darren to the front door at the end of the evening. She wished he could spend the night, but Monday marked the beginning of a seven day shift at the fire station. A week without Darren. Jill didn’t know how she was going to get by.
“Sorry you missed the game,” he said, leaning in to kiss her good night.
“Being with you was better than watching Vick run.”
“Ugh, I’m going to hate working this week. You’re going to have to come to the station and bring me some more of Shari’s cooking.”
She playfully slapped him on the shoulder. “Maybe I’ll get Shari to teach me one of her signature dishes and make it for you. Let me know when.”
Darren pulled her into his arms and rubbed his nose against hers. “I’d better go before I can’t leave. I’ll call you later tomorrow unless Sherman is resurrected and Atlanta burns.” He let her go and headed out the door.
“Good night,” she said. When Jill closed the door, she leaned against it, thinking that she shouldn’t have let Darren walk out of this house without telling him her true identity. I can’t worry about that right now. Maybe it doesn’t even matter. Obviously he knows I’m wealthy, and he hasn’t tried to get into my bank account. He doesn’t need to know; we’re just fine. But how can I fall in love with him and still lie to him?
The revelation that she was falling in love with him excited her. She’d finally put David in her past and was able to open her heart to another man and let him love her. The hurt that she’d held on to for so long wasn’t shackling her anymore. She was a woman renewed by love and if she had to learn to cook to please her man, then that was just what she’d do. Jill pushed back as far as she could the nagging voice that said she was making a mistake by not being completely honest with him, that if she waited too long, someone else was going to tell him and make her look like a big liar.
* * *
Monday morning was a frigid day in Georgia. Snow clouds hovered in the sky and there was a threat of an ice storm, accordi
ng for the weather forecasters. This meant the fire department had to be on standby. Ice storms in Atlanta meant car accidents, downed power lines and chimney fires. No one seemed to think about their fireplaces until it was cold outside. With all the built up gunk in the chimney, fires were a given. Darren wished they weren’t shorthanded at the station because he knew they were going to be busy if the forecasters were right.
He and the fifteen other firefighters planted themselves in front of the television hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
It didn’t take long for the forecasters’ predictions to come true. Three and half inches of snow and sleet blanketed Atlanta. The city was paralyzed and all Darren could think about was Jill. Was she safe? Had she stayed off the roads as the governor had recommended.
I hope Ms. Goal Oriented stayed home today. DVA doesn’t need her as badly as I do, Darren thought as he drove extremely slowly to an accident scene that was less than a block from Jill’s workplace.
Luckily, no life had been lost, but the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was going to have to replace their vending machine. When the police arrived, Darren was tempted to go check on Jill and drag her out of her office if she had braved the elements to go to work. But a call on his radio stopped him. There was another weather-related accident about three miles up the road.
What a day, Darren thought as he got into his car to follow the fire truck. The sight of another mangled car made his heart lurch. I’ve got to call Jill and check on her. If he happened upon an accident and Jill was involved it in, he didn’t know what he was going to do.
* * *
The lights in the office flickered on and off, then popped. Everything was pitch black.
“Damn,” Jill swore. She hadn’t saved the document that she’d been working on.
The back-up generators kicked on for about ten minutes, giving Jill enough time to recover her work, save it and shut down her computer. She was going home just like the rest of her employees had. Jill hated southern snow. Atlanta didn’t get white and fluffy snow like the Weather Channel showed. Atlanta got a combination of snow and ice. The roads were treacherous and driving could mean sudden death if you missed a slab of black ice.
I’ll stay here, she thought, when the generators kicked on again. Pulling out her battery-operated space heater and two blankets, she set the heater near the sofa in the corner of her office, and then settled on the sofa, wrapped in the blankets.
She was about to drift off to sleep when her cell phone rang. “Hello,” she said.
“Are you all right?” Darren asked. “And please tell me that you’re at home.”
“That would be a lie. I’m trapped in my office.”
“Do you have power?”
“For now. The back-up generators are on and I have small heater.”
“Why did you even go to work today?”
“How many times have the weathermen been wrong this winter?”
“I’m coming over there.”
“What about your shift? I know you guys are busy.”
Darren sighed into the phone. “I’m going to make some arrangements so that I can keep an eye on what’s going on and check on you. I know you’re safe, and that’s good. Traffic has died down a lot and most people have returned to home. I’m going to wait a few hours and see if some other guys can make it in so that if I leave I won’t leave the station in a lurch.”
“Darren,” she said, “you really don’t have to do this.”
“I know but I’m doing it anyway. Stay warm,” Darren ordered.
“Yes, sir,” she said. Hearing his voice had already warmed her, at least between her legs.
A few hours later, her phone rang again. “Hello?”
“I’m at your front door.”
“I’ll be right down,” she said. She had to walk down ten flights of stairs because she didn’t want to risk the electricity going out while she was in the elevator.
Darren looked like an Eskimo in his fur-lined parka and snow boots. As she opened the door, to usher him in, she saw that more snow was falling. “Ugh! Why is it snowing here?”
“Hey, Atlanta gets snow sometimes. I think when all of those northerners moved down here they brought old man winter with them.”
Jill unzipped his coat. “We’ve got climbing to do,” she said, leading him to the stairwell. Once they made it to her office, Darren was a little winded.
“You make this climb every day?” he asked.
“No, I prefer going to the gym, but I don’t really have a choice today. These back-up generators are flaky and the last thing I need is to be stuck in the elevator.”
“You mean to tell me that you braved the ice-covered Atlanta streets but you’re afraid of a little elevator ride?”
Jill sat on the sofa and wrapped up in a blanket. “There was no ice when I left home.”
Darren slid beside her. “But there was the threat. I hope your boss realizes what an asset you are to this company.”
“I think that goes without saying.”
He looked around the office and let out a low whistle. “Yeah. How did you snag such a big office?”
“A lot of hard work,” she said, feeling guilty with every word she spoke. Of course she had the big office, she’d built the company.
“Hopefully, the ice will melt by morning and we can get out of here.”
“Morning? Are you going to be able to spend the night here?” Jill asked.
“Three more guys came in, and I delegated some authority. I’m only a radio call away.” Darren held up his radio as he removed his heavy coat and tossed it on Jill’s desk. “I just didn’t like the idea of you being her alone without any security.”
“You’re too good to me,” she said with a smile. “But how will we pass the time?”
He touched his chin thoughtfully. “I can think of about fifty things we can do, but it’s too cold for that.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. “You know you should have stayed home.”
She stroked his cheek. “Shoulda, woulda, coulda,” she replied. “Maybe I just wanted to be rescued again.”
“You know I’m your personal hero,” he said. “Honestly, I was so worried about you. Those last two accident scenes I worked; all I could think about was you. The last thing that I wanted was to roll up on a scene like that and find you mangled by a crash.”
“You really care about me?”
“That goes without saying. Jill, you are the most intriguing woman that I’ve met in a long time. I think, no, I know I’m falling in love with you.”
Heat rushed to Jill’s cheeks, her face flushed and she held him tighter. I’m already in love with you, she thought, but was too afraid to say it.
“Darren,” she said.
He drew her face into his hands. “I’m not trying to rush you into anything and if you don’t feel the same way right now, I understand. But I know you’re the one for me.”
The lights flickered again then went out. Jill searched for the right words to say. She searched her heart and it told her to tell him that she loved him. But the doubts and fears in her head told her to keep her mouth closed.
Darren kissed her cool lips, sending a warm sensation down her spine. Who needed a blanket when she had Darren, a man who was falling in love with her?
“Jill, I’m not scaring you off by putting my feelings out there like this, am I?” he asked, misreading her silence.
“No,” she said, blinking back her tears. “Not at all. Darren, it’s just…you’re the kindest man I’ve met in quite sometime. You give and expect nothing in return. You don’t care about what I have, just who I am.”
He held her hand. “I know you have a lot. Financially, you’re probably set for life, so I know you can’t be bought. But whatever you’re lacking, I can take care of for you. When you need a shoulder to lean on, someone to hold you and someone to love you, I’m here. All of this other stuff doesn’t matter. It doesn’t make me think any more or
any less of you. You’re the woman I’ve wanted to come into my life. I’ve dreamed of you and here you are.”
“I’d given up on love and finding someone that I could be myself around. Then you came through the fire, literally.”
He pushed her hair back off her face. “Everything happens for a reason. Best fire I ever put out. And to think I was upset that I had to work New Year’s Eve.”
“Did you have a hot date or something?” Jill asked.
“Nope and it’s a good thing, too. She would have been heartbroken when I dropped her for you.”
Jill wrapped her arms around his waist, “Good, now I don’t have to bump her off.”
He brushed his lips across her neck. “Umm, I like this aggressive side of you.”
She pounced on him, pushing him backwards on the sofa. “You haven’t seen aggression yet.”
“Treat me like I’m from Missouri, show me.”
Jill climbed on top of him and lifted his sweatshirt over his head, all the while kissing every inch of skin she exposed. First his shoulders, a smooth chocolate treat if she’d ever tasted one. Then she moved to his neck, using her tongue to heat him up in her lukewarm office. She unbuckled his belt as she suckled his nipples, which were as hard as diamonds. Darren arched his back, pressing his hips into hers. He reached up and slid his hands underneath her layers of clothing. At first, his hands were cold and made her tingle but it didn’t take long for her body to feel as if it were on fire from his touch as he sensuously peeled each article of clothing off her upper torso.
Jill had never experienced this kind of sexual awakening with a man before. But Darren allowed her to release all of her inhibitions. She wanted to please him in every way possible. She pushed his corduroys down to his ankles and found him standing at attention in his boxers. Jill kissed his stomach, allowing her tongue to dance in and out of his navel.
Business of Love Page 11