by Leah Holden
The door swung inwards and there was Jared—AJ—whatever the hell his current name was—looking like some kind of avenging angel.
“Shaniah, I need to talk to you.”
“Well, I don’t want to talk to you,” I said.
My heart was still racing but the sense of betrayal and weakness was quickly being replaced by blind anger.
“Don’t be so melodramatic,” he said impatiently moving a little way into the washroom. “If you hadn’t been acting like some kind of drama queen for the past two weeks, I would have explained everything to you.”
“You had plenty of time to explain your sordid little life the last time we met up.” I was speaking through gritted teeth. But immediately I wondered how he would have woven this little bit of information into the evening. We hadn’t invested time in having quality conversation. What could he have said? ‘Thank you for the sex; my pregnant wife will be grateful to you for keeping her man happy?’
I glared at him uncompromisingly.
“Er, excuse me,” said Ria, trying to sneak out the door.
“Ria, stay!” I said.
Ria stopped moving.
Shellie was just staring at Jared with her brows furrowed.
“Shaniah,” she said hesitantly. “I don’t think…”
“It’s okay, Shellie,” I said. “There’s no need for you to get involved.”
“No, leave us for a minute, please,” said Jared, smiling benevolently at Shellie and Ria.
Obviously caring more about her job than her younger sister, Ria shrugged and looked at me sympathetically, “You’ll be fine,” she said, and she actually smiled at Jared as if they were conspirators. Shellie looked like she was desperate to say something, but she wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to say.
“It’s okay,” I said to them both. “I can deal with this.”
It was show-time!
I needed to tell Mr. Sleaze-ball, AJ, Jared, married man, baby-father, exactly what I thought of him.
Jared took up the position that Ria had previously occupied and tried to put a hand on my shoulders.
“Back off,” I said.
“We can’t stay in the washroom forever,” he said gently.
That had better not be laughter I could hear in his voice because pregnant wife to take care of or not, I was tempted to knock him out cold.
I was livid!
Who did he think he was, laughing at me, or maybe he had been laughing for the last few months?
“You need to leave,” I said, “I’m not walking out of here with you…you sleaze-ball!”
“I know it might have been a bit of a shock for you, but I’ve been trying to get in touch with you despite the fact that you’ve blocked my number.”
“Look, Jared, AJ, Jared—Jesus, I don’t even know what to call you.”
“Take your pick.” He actually had the audacity to grin,
“Well, whatever the hell your name is, I’m not interested. You’ve had your fun, let’s just leave it at that, shall we? Oh, and won’t your wife be missing you?”
“Wife? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Your pregnant wife!” I snapped.
“You’ve gone crazy,” he said. “And I have no intention of leaving anything. You know how I feel about you. And for the record, my name is Aaron Jared. You saw my driving license. I got the nickname AJ at school and it’s stuck ever since. Nobody ever calls me Jared except my mother… and you. I’ve always used Aaron for business activities.”
How the hell was I supposed to remember the details of his driver’s license—I’d been too preoccupied with his eyes, his lips, oh God, I’d been too preoccupied with getting my hands on his body…that first night by the lake…I’d almost got totally carried away with him, and after that…well.
I could feel myself blushing.
“Yes, it must be very convenient to have so many names to switch between,” I said.
The door swung open again and two women walked in.
“Oh, sorry,” they said, giving each other a knowing look.
“No, we’re just leaving,” said Jared and grabbing my hands, pretty much yanking me out into the corridor.
“You’re coming with me if I have to give you a fireman’s lift out of here—the choice is yours.”
As I hated any type of public scene, I acknowledged that he was going to win the first round! Besides, I had plenty I wanted to say to him in any event.
But naturally, I was alarmed. What would people think? I couldn’t see his wife anywhere, but that didn’t mean I wanted everyone to know that I’d been messing about with her husband behind her back.
Oh my God! What about his wife? What would she think of me if she ever found out? I looked around carefully for anyone with a big baby bump. She was absent.
I traipsed after Jared because I had no choice as the pressure of his fingers on my upper arm was noticeable even though he wasn’t hurting me.
As we made our way through the crowded room, I was aware of a few eyes on me. I mean, this was AJ, the boss, and who was I? I was an unknown interloper, apparently—a mere marriage-wrecker.
I cringed as I found myself being led towards an elevator.
“Jared, let go of my hand,” I hissed.
I was tempted to stomp on his foot with my heels.
“Not until we’ve had a chat. I’m taking you somewhere private. Or if you really insist, we can have the chat about our previous meetings right here in front of your sister and her colleagues.”
I shot him a dirty look.
“Fine, you win,” I said through gritted teeth. Really, Todd had been much easier to deal with.
The elevator arrived and Jared pressed the PH button. As soon as the door closed, he pulled me against his body and kissed me hard. I tried to resist. Was there no end to his audacity?
His lips were firm, punishing and my lips felt bruised. I was pinned against his chest—a prisoner in the confined cell of the elevator which seemed to be taking forever to make its way to our destination.
My heart was racing again and despite my anger and disgust, a warm need was spreading through my body.
This guy is smooth Shaniah. He’s, a traitor, a con artist, an untrustworthy ne’er do well! Every time you meet him, he has a new personality; a new story; a new location; a new wife—a new pile of bullshit.
My outrage would give me the courage to resist that need.
The elevator door opened directly into an apartment—no corridor—just straight into the penthouse. We barely made it inside before I was back in his arms, his lips raining kisses on my face and then my lips as his hands moved down to clutch my ass.
“Look, get off me, you jerk,” I said.
This time I was truly furious. It was one thing to have this secret life of crap that no one knew about, but now the game had changed. Ria knew this guy. Oh, God, how was I ever going to live this down—my behavior was hardly going to remain a secret—what had Ria meant by the girlfriend? Did everyone know about my role in wrecking his marriage?
“If you think I’m going to let you lay one finger on me, you are sadly mistaken! You have a lot of explaining to do.”
“Later,” he said, taking hold of my hands and pushing me up against the wall. I could feel his hands reaching up under my clothing, caressing my thighs. I fought him until he realized I was serious.
“Oh God, Shaniah; why do you have to be so difficult?”
“What about your wife, you rotten bastard?” I shouted, hitting out at him. He caught my hand and held it firmly.
“There you go again, accusing me of having a wife.”
“Don’t lie,” I said. “Shellie saw you with her downtown. Jesus, Jared, she’s about to give birth at any moment, don’t you have any decency, any shame?”
He seemed genuinely confused for a moment and I thought that his acting skills deserved an Oscar. Clearly, he was in the wrong profession.
Suddenly his face broke into a wide grin. “Come w
ith me,” he said and pulled me towards a side room that obviously functioned as an office. He went to a desk and picked up one of the pictures.
“Is this my pregnant wife?” he asked.
I stared at the photo. The woman was a petite brunette with the biggest pregnancy bump I’d ever seen. The picture must have been taken at some party recently because there were other people in the background. The woman looked like she was having triplets. My heart sank for a moment until I took a good look at the man standing beside her.
He looked like Jared, but there was a subtle difference. The eyes weren’t as forceful and the hair was curlier and maybe even a bit darker.
“I’ve seen this guy before,” I said.
“It’s Paul,” he said, “my cousin. Remember him from the website? That’s his wife, Anna, who’s due to have her baby any day now. This picture was taken just a couple of weeks ago. I can assure you that I am not married, nor do I have anyone pregnant in the background.”
I was still suspicious. Maybe that had been what Shellie had been trying to tell me in the washroom, I mean, she’d looked a bit confused and I’d just ignored her.
And what about his daughter whom he had mentioned? Wasn’t he in some custody battle? This was all too confusing.
It was then that I noticed another picture on the wall. The picture looked familiar—Jared was standing with a group of other business professionals. The picture reminded of the one I’d seen in Ria’s office. I remembered now—the picture of his management team.
I stared at it. So that’s why he’d seemed so familiar and all the while I’d thought that feeling of familiarity was because we were kindred spirits. I made an unintelligible sound. I could feel my reality beginning to crumble. There was truly no fool like an old fool. None of what I had been experiencing with Jared had been real. I snapped out of my lethargy to register what Jared was saying.
“Jesus, Shaniah, what type of guy would I be, to come after you and drag you through my entire workforce if I had a pregnant wife in the background? At least give me some credit for basic decency.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling foolish. If he was telling the truth, then there was nothing to stop us getting back together. Okay, hold it right there. I was shocked by that thought. Surely I didn’t still want him?
“But the fact still remains that you lied to me,” I said.
“How exactly have I lied to you? Well, apart from the bit with Paul’s picture. We met under fairly normal circumstances for this day and age. Clearly, we had an amazing chemistry; we made love, a few times. If my memory serves me correctly, I think I even remember you telling me you loved me during our love making.”
I cringed, suddenly remembering how I’d beckoned him to come closer and how I’d whispered those words in a moment of passion. Maybe the wine hadn’t helped either. He hadn’t responded and I hadn’t been sure he’d heard. I’d prayed he hadn’t heard. Now he chose to let me know that he’d registered those words?
“That was the sex and numerous glasses of wine talking,” I said, embarrassed.
“That was probably your heart talking,” he said, grinning.
“No, it wasn’t.”
His mouth covered mine before I could say another word. My hands wrapped themselves around his neck. I hated my weakness, my ridiculous body that allowed itself to be played too often like some cheap instrument by this man who seemed to have problems sticking around or using the phone.
But I pretty much knew I didn’t really want to resist any longer. I mean, it wasn’t like we were complete strangers. I could deal with the self-respect thing later on.
His tongue darted into my open mouth and I knew I was lost. Ah, what the heck, I thought as I could feel his need pressing hard against me as he pinned me up against the wall. Weird really, but that was how it had been that very first time and yet I was still kind of furious with him.
Maybe the sex thing between us was all that we really had. He was acting like nothing had changed; like I hadn’t been betrayed; like this was still the Jared of old; like his name wasn’t really AJ.
When I was eventually standing again on firm ground again, he smoothed my hair back tenderly.
“You’ve probably ruined my dress,” I said.
He grinned at me, “I’ll buy you a new one.”
“No thanks,” I said.
“Still mad, huh?”
“What do you think? You totally conned me.”
“Shaniah, for the love of…stop arguing with me, and if it helps, I think I love you too.”
I gawked at him.
“What do you mean you think?”
“I mean just that. I haven’t felt this way about anyone for a long time. Look, we have a lot to talk about. Like, you need to know that I had a wife and that she died well over two years ago.
You need to know that after I lost my wife, I kind of went into a decline. I swore I’d never do permanent again. Anyway, my relationship with Liz was different. We didn’t have hot steamy all night sex or romps in cars on the beach on our first date. We dated in college; she got pregnant so we got married. Hell, we were way too young. She actually lost that baby but we stayed married – maybe to prove everyone wrong.”
“What’s with the custody of your kid then?” I asked.
“Liz was diagnosed with cancer four years ago, just after the birth of our daughter. After undergoing chemo they gave her the all-clear. She was okay for a while but then the doctors told us that her cancer had returned. She died three months later.”
“Shit,” I said. This story was sounding way too familiar. I thought of Nicole.
“Yeah. I suddenly had a baby to care for and a company to run and no motivation to do the latter.”
“Where’s your daughter now?”
“She’s been staying with her grandmother, Liz’s mother. When Liz was sick they volunteered to help out as I had the business to run and a new baby to care for. After Liz died, they thought they would try for custody. I don’t think they could handle the loss. Anyway, we’ve been in a battle over custody; it’s all a very long and depressing story.”
“Is that why you kept disappearing?”
“Partly that, and partly because I was scared to get too attached to you. On top of all that’s been going on, I acquired a new company last year and it turned out to be a lot more problematic than I could have imagined. I think that for once I might have bitten off more than I can chew. So, I’ve been thinking of ways to try to offload it. Otherwise, it’s going to take a lot of work to sort out all the unresolved issues.”
“Oh my God, is that what you were trying to tell me the other day?”
“Yes,” he said hesitantly. “That, and the fact that I saw you once before we met online. You were with your sister—coming out of her office, in fact. I’d just acquired the law firm where your sister works and Paul and I had popped in to meet the existing management team. I was floored when I saw you. I knew straight away that I had to meet you. I guess Paul noticed. Hell, I’d scarcely noticed a woman in the past two years, so when he saw my reaction to you, I guess he felt he had to do something to help my case.”
I was speechless.
“I think I’m a bit confused,” I said.
“Well, when I had finally met with all the attorneys I eventually found an opportunity to pick Ria’s brain about you—discreetly of course. I just assumed, in any event, that you worked for the company. Anyway, I now suspect that Paul might have beaten me to it and prepped her because she was very forthcoming with a lot of personal details about you.”
“Oh no,” I groaned. “Just wait till I get my hands on her!”
“Take it easy on her,” said Jared, “both Paul and I are experts at what we do. We manage people very well.”
“You mean you play people,” I gasped.
“As long as you realize that I always play to win.”
“Doesn’t Paul’s wife mind her husband’s picture being on a dating site?”
Jared
looked like that had been one aspect they hadn’t considered.
“She was good with it,” he said. “Besides, we took down the picture once I’d met up with you.”
“And when were you going to tell me all this?”
I wasn’t sure whether to be mad or not. Should I be flattered that someone had gone to such elaborate lengths to meet me?
“But why didn’t you just ask for my number?”
“Because apparently you were ‘off men’, as Ria put it, and you’d recently launched your internet project, so Paul thought I’d better get in on the act before someone beat me to it. He’s a force to be reckoned with.”
“I’m glad you thought it was just one big game.”
“Calm down,” he said pulling me into his arms. “Really, I couldn’t just bring it up into the conversation. On the first date, I was just blown away by how truly gorgeous you were close up and things just got out of hand. Then I felt bad that I’d got so touchy feely with you so quickly on that first night. For Christ’s sake, I hadn’t tried a move like that since I was in my teens.”
He grinned wickedly at me.
“And I fell for it,” I said.
“I could see your attraction to me,” he said. “Once we’d kissed, I knew I had no intention of ever letting you go. Well—at least not for a while! Don’t feel too bad about the car thing, I was pretty determined and, as I said, I usually get what I want.”
I stared at him incredulously. He sounded like someone—or something—out of the dark ages.
“And what if I hadn’t wanted you?”
“I’m an entrepreneur, a company director. I acquire businesses and new people to work for me all the time. Failure is never an option.”
I looked at him, feeling unsure about what to say next.
You Tarzan…me Jane!
Except, I wasn’t Jane. I was Shaniah, a modern girl with very definite ideas about men. Someone needed to talk to this guy, to let him know that other people’s feelings mattered. Anyway, I hadn’t got a clue how to handle that yet, so I looked briefly around the penthouse apartment.
“Is this another one of your properties?”
“Another temporary home,” he said. “I sold the other place sooner than I thought so I had to move fast. We usually keep this for out of town visitors.”