by Jada Cox
She was beautiful.
The sun shone behind her, creating a silhouette of her perfect shape. She wore a simple and professional light blue pant suit, just the color that would match my scales, leaving her jacket open to reveal her white, button-up shirt under it. The blouse wasn’t entirely buttoned, but instead left undone right at a painfully sexy point, which was hidden behind a colorful, ruffled scarf that tied around her neck and was tucked into her shirt. It was stylish and a tease. In her arms she held a file, a paperclip, and an iPad.
“Good afternoon,” she said.
“Hi,” I breathed.
“Can I come in?”
“Oh, of course!” I said, stepping aside.
She glanced up at me and gave me one of those smiles that don’t quite reach the eyes nor any other part of the face. Instead, it was just a widening of the mouth into a smile position without actually completing the facial expression. A form of awkward politeness.
This was going to be hard.
“Can I get you some coffee?” I joked.
“I’m fine,” she said, not even glancing at me.
She didn’t want to be here. I could tell she didn’t. She had shut down, had left any trace of personality behind so she could be here in body.
“I spoke to Jeremy yesterday,” she said. “And he had found some potential furniture for a couple of the bedrooms and for the guest bathroom on this floor.”
She entered her code on her iPad and opened the images before passing it to me.
“The beds, of course, are for the guest bedrooms,” she said. “Though, he said that those should have arrived already?”
“Actually, they came this morning. Only the beds, though.”
“That sounds about right,” she said casually, returning her focus to the device. “There was a wardrobe he thought that you might find of particular interest. He said you’d know what he meant.”
I looked through the images. They were nice. What Jeremy and I had discussed was an attempt at a rustic modern look for the house. The idea being that the coloring for the house was of a more modern, industrial, and somewhat masculine touch for the majority of the house, but using things that looked antique, or that—what was it he had said? Shabby chic? Whatever it was, we wanted to have that faded roughened look to any of the wood we brought into the house. We had both agreed that with the dark wood of the staircase, it would be a shame to not incorporate wood into the theme of the house.
The pieces of furniture he had found were truly beautiful. I had no idea if they would go with the house or not, but I trusted his artistic eye.
“What do you think?” she asked.
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” I said. “I know that Jeremy and I have been over this design, but we’re two guys. What do you see for this place? From a more feminine perspective?”
I leaned toward her so she could see the images on her iPad. She leaned closer to me without crossing that line of professionalism and glanced between what we had already done with the living room and the furniture pieces.
“I know what you guys are trying to do,” she said. “And I think that if this were to remain a bachelor pad, then you would have a very impressive and stylish place to be. However, depending what you want for your future, I think you run the risk of the house coming across as a little dark and cold.”
“Dark and cold?” I asked, laughing. “This place is just about wall-to-wall windows. How can it be dark?”
“Well, landscaping isn’t my thing, but you’ve got a lot of trees outside, which do block a lot of the light. Because you have so many windows, you don’t have much space for lighting, which means that if you want to bring light into the place, then you need to reflect it in your furniture and paint color choice.”
I looked around. Our walls were gray, but so light of a gray that it was almost white unless you really looked at it. Jeremy had said it was important that we didn’t put any white furniture against the wall, lest it look grimy.
“What would you suggest?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No, I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to bring in my opinion when a room is already done.”
“Indulge me,” I said.
Cora drew in a breath. “I think we can both agree that your staircase is beautiful, and it would be a shame to make it anything other than what it is. That needs to be the off-set color to the rest of the room. As it is, because it’s that beautiful walnut, I personally would want to focus everything else being bright. I wouldn’t even paint it, but maybe do a light wallpaper that had a dark pattern on it so that it didn’t clash with the staircase.”
“So, the exact opposite of what we’ve already done,” I said.
She blushed and looked down. “Well, you asked for a feminine perspective. But it doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what you’re happy with.”
“What do you think of the furniture that he’s picked out?” I asked.
This question she answered without hesitation. “Jeremy has impeccable tastes and has a way of finding pieces that baffle me.”
“But is that what you really think?”
“What I really think is that we should go over a few of your ideas. I’m meant to relay what we’ve talked about to Jeremy. Do you mind if I record this session? It just makes sure that I don’t miss anything in translation.” She held up her phone.
Her eyes met mine for the briefest of seconds, but that was all I needed. I saw it in them, the want and the attraction. I hadn’t imagined it. It wasn’t just lust. She had a thing for me, too. That, I could work with.
But what she was showing me more was her insistence that we keep things professional. I was going to need to be on my best behavior if I was going to be recorded. Perhaps this was more to keep her in line than me, but if allowing her to be professional was what she needed right now, then I could do that.
“Not a problem,” I said, then immediately wishing I hadn’t. How the hell was I supposed to ask her out now?
“Right,” Cora said. “I think that just about covers everything.” She held up her phone, which had been recording us through the basement, the bathroom downstairs, the basement kitchen, the guest bedrooms, and finally my own bedroom. “Anything else you want to add?”
I shook my head. “I think if I talk about decoration anymore I’m going to get dizzy.”
She stopped the recording and named the file before putting her phone in her purse. “Not very artistic?”
“Actually, not that at all. I used to be a painter.”
“Really?” Cora asked. “Why only used to?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess life just happened and got away from me. Besides, it’s not like I can do anything with my art.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” she said. “Your name alone will carry your painting. Billionaire turned artist? People will go nuts for that.”
“That’s not being an artist, though.”
“I’m sure that if you were good enough that you called yourself a painter, you actually were one.”
“Depends on your taste, I suppose.”
“There’s no accounting for taste. People like what they like, or they don’t like it.”
“What do you like?” I asked.
She thought about it, tilting her head to the side and looking up as she thought. She had a beautiful neck, and the way she looked up reminded me of royalty, posing at a seductive angle.
“I think I like a little bit of everything,” she said. “Abstract, impressionist, romantic—I think I just like what the human mind comes up with and conveys through art.”
“How about in men?” I asked.
Cora blinked as she looked at me. I took a step closer to her, unable to help myself.
“What’s your type when it comes to men?” I expanded.
“I don’t have a type,” she said shyly.
“What type is your boyfriend?”
“I don’t have a boyfriend,” she said softly.
I moved closer to her, and she stayed in her spot. She could move to the door, she could make her excuses and go, but she didn’t. She was staying right where she was. “I’ve never had one.”
Something in me surged. She’d never had a boyfriend. Did that mean that … she was a virgin? There was something about this that urged me forward, made me want her more, like she had been waiting for me and only me.
I brushed the backs of my fingers against her cheek, moving her hair away from her face. Her eyes met mine, and for the first time, they didn’t look nervous, didn’t look like they didn’t know what they wanted to do. I saw the want in them for this, for me.
I bent my head down, keeping my eyes looking into hers, looking for any sign that she was going to change her mind. Her lips parted slightly as mine hovered above hers.
I let my hand slide around her waist to her back, pulled her gently closer to me, and kissed her.
Kissing her was like being able to breathe after a lifetime of holding my breath. I drew her against me, folding her into my arms, feeling the tremble coursing through her. But she wanted this; I could feel it in the way she pushed herself up to meet me on her toes.
The walls of my room disappeared, the neighborhood, the town, the entire state of Georgia. All that there was, was the cosmic force that brought us together, here in this massive universe, finally coming together and becoming one with such as simple act as a kiss.
I never wanted to let her go, never wanted to make this moment end, but a hunger was growing in me, and I wanted more. I wanted all of her. Not in a carnal way, but in a way that unified us completely, that allowed us to move as one being, to share one experience, and to express our place in the world at each other’s feet.
She may not yet have known it, but I knew it right then: I was hers, entirely and completely.
Chapter 7 – Cora
I could have melted in his arms. I had told myself that I needed to be professional, but when I saw him coming nearer to me, I couldn’t make myself move. I urged every part of my body to move, but the only thing I seemed to manage was to let myself lean into him and hope to be carried away.
Carried away.
I couldn’t be carried away. No, I was meant to be working, on a job, with my boss’s account—the very expensive account that the company stood to make quite a bit of money from.
I pulled back. “I need to get this recording to Jeremy,” I said. “Um, thank you.”
I couldn’t think what else to say. The heat of the day was radiating from my core, trapped in that room, and I needed air. I grabbed my purse from the floor and left, not waiting to hear what Julian had to say. I didn’t even look back. I was too afraid to. What if I let him take me all the way?
As I got to the car and turned on the engine, I had the sudden horrifying though that I might have blown this account. What if Julian wasn’t after me at all but just got off on the thrill of bedding me? What if this messed up the account?
I sped away, in horror at what I had done. How could I have let myself get into that situation?
I didn’t even remember the drive to the office. I was too blinded by what just happened, what it could mean for my job, what it meant for me. How could I let myself give into—into—
Was that what lust was? True mind-altering lust? I had read about it in books, and let’s face it, I was known to read the more dirty romance from time to time, but I never thought I would be put in what could have been a scene in a dirty romance book.
Before I got out of the car, I checked my makeup, making sure there was no evidence that I had, not fifteen minutes earlier, been pressing my face up against the most attractive man I had ever seen.
I burst into the office through the back entrance, hurrying to get to my desk. A few eyes glanced up at me, watching me as I made my way through the cubicles to my own. I felt them all, just knowing that they knew. I didn’t know how they knew, but somehow, they knew what I had been doing, what I had let myself get drawn into.
I cupped my forehead in my hands as soon as I sat down and gave myself a moment. Just one moment to breathe through it. There was no way that they knew what had happened. I hardly even knew what had happened. It seemed so surreal that I was beginning to doubt that I had been there at all. Maybe I had just gotten to the office, fallen asleep and now I was waking up.
Get a grip, Cora, I told myself. You were playing tonsil hockey with Julian, and you know it.
I could still feel the warmth of him on my lips. No matter how much I thought I wanted to pretend it hadn’t happened, I wanted even more for it to happen again.
My phone rang from inside my purse. I pulled it out and saw that it was Jeremy.
“How did it go at Alder Grove?” he asked before I could say anything.
“You’re sounding better,” I said.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “I’m fine. I said I was from the get-go.”
“Are they discharging you?” I asked hopefully.
“Not yet. I don’t know what they’re waiting for,” Jeremy lied. I liked Jeremy a lot. He was hard to work for and challenged me, but he was a good guy. He loved to laugh and loved to have a good time, and it showed in his appearance. He always looked as though he had just been told the best joke, and his belly was always ready to rise and fall in response. If he wasn’t out yet, there was likely something that was concerning the doctors, and my guess was that it was related to his heart. “So Alder Grove?”
Butterflies in my stomach fluttered at the very mention of the place. A flash of Julian’s eyes on mine just before we kissed made heat stir up in me again.
“Yeah, no, it’s fine,” I said, trying to keep the shakiness out of my voice.
“Did he like the furniture? What about the proposal I sent to you, did you show it to him?”
Damnit, I swore to myself. I had completely forgotten about the proposal. I had been so caught up in Julian’s questions about what I thought that I forgot to let him know what Jeremy thought. I hoped I hadn’t screwed up what they had already been working toward. And now, even worse, I was going to have to see him again. What was I going to do?
“It turns out that he didn’t have much time,” I said. “He said he wanted me to come by again so he could look at it. But he okayed the furniture that you picked out, so if you want I can get those—”
“I don’t want,” he said. “I will order those. Just because I’m stuck in this hospital doesn’t mean I’m useless.”
“You’re supposed to be resting,” I reminded him. “Maybe you should take advantage of the downtime.”
“Have you ever been stuck in a hospital?” Jeremy asked. “It’s nothing but seeing what drama is outside your door and watching trash television. I don’t even have anyone sharing the room with me to keep me occupied.”
I giggled. “Alright, fair enough. I can bring by some reading materials or something.”
“No, it’s fine. Wilma is coming by with some clothes for me and a book.”
I smirked. Of course she was.
“Look,” he said. “Just email me the notes you have, if you’d be so good, and I’ll go over them. I’ll make any amendments that are needed, run them by you, and then you can talk to James about the proposal.”
“You mean Julian,” I corrected.
“That’s what I said.”
“Okay,” I said, trying to keep the amusement out of my voice.
I hung up and felt a little bit better now that I’d gotten myself out of my cycle of embarrassment from earlier. As the memory started to creep back up on me, I shifted my focus to my work, which helped a lot.
I ended up getting more done than I had expected to during the day. I had a few emails that I needed to send, and something that needed editing regarding some of the other houses, as well as the general work I already was tasked with doing, regardless of Jeremy’s health. I managed to sail through it all while I tried to keep my mind diverted from my earlier experience.
I finally closed all my program
s down on my computer and glanced at the time.
“How the hell is it already six o’clock,” I asked myself, bewildered. I really had been in the zone. Maybe I should get kissed more often. Clearly it had done wonders for my productivity and focus.
I felt the color rise to my cheeks and a bout of nerves flutter through my tummy. I didn’t have anything else to distract me.
I stood from my desk and looked around to see if there was anyone I could force some conversation on, anything to get my mind off it.
No one. Most of my coworkers had gone home, except for an intern and a couple of the much higher-ups in the company. I was nowhere near comfortable enough with the idea talking to any of those options.
I gathered my things into my purse and marched out of the office. I would just have to hurry home and get Margaret to distract me. She was pretty good at that, most of the time. So long as we weren’t watching a movie, I would likely be fine.
I opened the door and just about jumped back into the office building.
“What are you doing here?” I hissed at Julian, who was leaning against a parking meter.
“I wanted to see if you wanted to go for some coffee,” he said, smiling. Damn that smile. It was too beautiful for words, and there it was, directed right at me.
“Coffee? Now?”
“Why not?” he shrugged.
I opened and closed my mouth, not sure what to say. All I could think about was the feel of his breath so close to me and the pressure of his body against mine. I couldn’t. I couldn’t spend time with him. He was a client, and it would be a conflict of interest. I needed to make sure I did well and did well by my own merit, not by giving in and courting this guy.
I opened my mouth to tell him no, that I didn’t think it was a good idea, but the word that came out was, “Alright.”
“Great,” he said. “I know just the place. It’s a quick walk up here. Is your car alright here?”
I nodded. “Staff parking is around the back,” I explained.
We began walking down the road, and I felt myself relax, just a little bit. I didn’t need to be worried about this. This was outside of office hours, and what I did outside of my work time was my business. It was a whole other thing if I was meant to be on the clock.