“Yes, I do. Besides, you should get back to your date. Good night, Jay.”
Jason stood staring at her as she found Ed and headed for the door. Now, what happened here? What did I do? He had tried to do a nice thing—play an old song that Jane liked. So sue him! How was he going to work with her if she fell apart at something as trivial as an old song?
What had possessed him to have the band play that song anyway? He should have known that any woman would overreact to it. He hadn’t planned to be dancing when the song was played. He had thought he would just lift a glass of wine to her and smile, as if to say, “To good times.” He had no idea that he would be holding her in his arms, running his hands along her skin, enjoying the feel of her fingers in his hair. He clamped his eyes shut as a string of curses ran through his mind.
Okay, he had to add two more caveats to their dealings. No music from their past and definitely no dancing.
“Jase, darling. You’re not paying any attention to me,” Dana pouted in what she thought was a striking pose.
“Sorry, honey. Let’s go get another glass of champagne.” Jason took her arm and led her to the drinks totally oblivious to the happy sounds of a party going on around him.
“Are you ready for lunch, Jane?” Ed asked as he stuck his head in Jane’s office.
“I’m just finishing up here. Come on in.” Jane was bent over her desk working on a copy writing draft.
Ed admired the intense look in her eyes, the total concentration as she finished her work. Jane was working too hard. This Talbot Toy guy must be really hard to please, Ed thought. “So, how’s the CURTIS project going?”
“CARL,” Jane said without looking up.
“Oh yeah, that’s right. How’s that big boss of theirs treating you?”
“What?” Jane finished writing and stretched her arms over her head to release a few kinks.
Ed enjoyed the sight of her slim figure stretched taut. He appreciatively looked her over. “Just wondering. You seem especially diligent with this project.”
“Well, of course. This is a tremendous opportunity. If I handle it right it could be a huge boost for my career,” Jane said as she rolled her head back and forth.
Ed took that as a cue for him to massage her shoulders. His hands were hard and demanding as he attempted to ease the tension in Jane’s neck and shoulders. “Is that all? I mean, is it the work or the boss?”
Jane froze. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Jane, I saw how uncomfortable you were at that Cuban restaurant. I saw the two of you dancing at the club. It certainly doesn’t seem like a typical business relationship.”
Hesitating for a moment, Jane sighed. “Listen, Ed. I probably should level with you. Jason Collins and I grew up in Jacksonville together. His family lived behind mine. We grew up playing sports and going to school together.”
“Yes, you told me that you were childhood friends. But it doesn’t explain why you were dancing so closely last Saturday.”
Jane was frustrated trying to explain herself. “We were high school sweethearts. Saturday night at the club the band played a song that had been very special to us.” She didn’t dare tell him that Jason had paid the band to play it. How could she explain that? She wasn’t sure herself. Jane looked up at Ed. “We were reliving the moment, that’s all.”
Relaxing his grip on her shoulders he began caressing them. He wanted to ask her more questions about this old boyfriend but looking into her sincere expression he decided to let it go. “Glad to hear it.” Their eyes held. Ed leaned over intending to gently kiss Jane.
“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
The voice caused Jane to quickly jump up from her chair and move away from Ed. She was turning red all the way to the roots of her scalp. “Oh, hello. We were just talking about you.”
“Really?” Jason puzzled.
Ed was frustrated by Jason’s appearance. “We’re going out to lunch now,” he smirked, “unless there’s a problem with that.”
“No problem with that,” Jason smirked back. Then turning to Jane he said, “I just wanted to remind you about the two o’clock meeting. You do have your marketing brief ready for me to go over, of course.”
“Of course.” Not sensing the growing tension between the two men, Jane reached for her purse and coat. “Did you need anything before then?”
“No, I just came to have lunch with Terry.” And then turning to Ed and smirking he added, “Make sure she’s back at two. We have plans, you know.”
Ed returned a forced smile and put a possessive arm around Jane as he directed her past Jason towards the elevator. Jason watched Ed continue his hold on Jane. He didn’t like it one bit. “Executive Frankenstein Goes To Lunch,” he murmured as he left Jane’s office. And then his mind was filled with ideas for accessories to go with the incredibly big and ugly action figure he was designing.
Ed did have Jane back for the two o’clock meeting with only one minute to spare. Jason was waiting in her office, pacing, when she blew in the door. “Good afternoon,” she said hanging her coat on a nearby coat tree.
Jason flashed a frozen, humorless smile on his face. “Did you have a nice lunch?”
“Yes, it was lovely, thank you,” she returned. Looking over at the two assistants sitting on the couch, pads in hand she said, “Oh, hi Shelly. Have you met my assistant Sally?”
“Yes, we’ve all met each other while we waited for you,” Jason said sharply.
Not taking the bait, Jane said, “Wonderful. Shall we get down to business?”
After the brief was discussed, highly impressing Jason, calendars were opened, notes were brought out, and the planning began. Phase one of the complete marketing campaign had to be in place before a meeting with a very important global toy distribution conglomeration took place. Since that meeting was already scheduled in a little over four months, advertising of all types would have to be ready to roll out immediately after that meeting.
Deadlines for drawings, commercials, and publicity were added to the calendars. Jason and Jane clicked off details as their busy assistants were quickly jotting information down. But as successful and driven as the meeting seemed to be there was an underlying current of tension that was as intense as the conversation that zinged between the executives.
“I want the first commercials to be set to air during Labor Day Weekend. That won’t be a problem, will it?” Jason asked.
“No. We’ll want to film them in late spring and then do a test market and gauge response to see if we need to revise,” Jane said.
“I understand, but I don’t want to test revise, test revise, test revise to death.”
“Understood. We think we can test once and then get a handle on what will work for the general public.”
“You ‘think’? You’re not certain? Jane, I’m not paying you to just ‘think.’ I need results and I need them fast so we can be on top of the Christmas market.”
“I understand,” Jane said through her gritted teeth. “And you will be. CARL is going to be a big success—after we revise the initial approach.”
Sally and Shelly sat quietly, eyes big as they watched the interaction between Jason and Jane. Just like a tennis match their faces turned to listen to one and then the other.
“Are you sure all that testing isn’t just a waste of time? With ‘Racing Rally’ we knew we had a great product. We just put it out there and it was the biggest seller for that Christmas.”
“Yes, but CARL is a little more complicated than a simple race track with glow in the dark cars. You’re introducing a complex electronical toy for the whole family. The marketing has to be done correctly or it won’t succeed. You have to trust me on that.”
“Yeah, Mrs. Carter, our English teacher used to call it ‘analysis paralysis.’ A person analyzes everything to death so that you end up accomplishing nothing. You had a particular hard time in her class because you did that.”
“I got an ‘A’, didn’t
I?”
Sally and Shelly watched and listened as voices were raised. Not moving her eyes from the action, Sally leaned over and whispered to Shelly, “English teacher? What’s that about?”
Shelly whispered back as the arguing continued, “They grew up together. Went to high school together.”
“No way!” Sally thought for a moment. “Does this argument make any sense to you?” Shelly shook her head.
“I’m just saying if you look on the calendar, we’re set to waste practically a whole month on testing and revising. You could rewrite the constitution in that amount of time.”
“You’re the boss and we’ll do it your way, but as a marketing specialist I’m saying for a product to be the huge success that CARL should be we’ve got to take the time to test and revise.”
“And I’m saying with too much of the revising, it will be hard to establish a consistent brand. I think all this testing will not help, but may actually hurt CARL in the long run.”
“You think? You’re not certain? I can’t believe you don’t know for sure. You’re always so sure of yourself.”
“Yeah? Well, I learned how to be when I was a kid and the smartest guy in school Gary Watkins was trying to steal my girl.”
At this point, hands were fisted and voices were raised as both parties were standing toe to toe. Sally and Shelly looked at each other baffled. “Should we do anything?” Shelly said.
“You got me,” Sally shrugged.
“I was not your girl at the time and I was never interested in Gary Watkins. I went with him to the Junior Prom because somebody else was so interested in Karen Carmichael’s pom poms they didn’t know I even existed.”
“That’s bull. I was never really interested in Karen Carmichael. For God sake her I.Q. wasn’t as big as her pom poms. Although she did have nice pom poms.”
“All right,” Sally said jumping off the couch and into the mix, palms up to stop the verbal war. “Suppose we just get back to the calendar and see where we can have a win-win,” she said in a cheerful singsong way with a smile on her face.
Jason and Jane just looked at her.
“I used to work for a union arbitrator in Detroit.” They continued to look at her. “How about we have a five minute break and take a breath.” Then turning to Shelly she said, “Let’s give them a few minutes.”
As they left the room, they heard Jane say, “How could you embarrass me like that? I’m stilled traumatized by Karen Carmichael.”
Sally and Shelly huddled near the closed door. “Do you think we should have left them alone?” Shelly asked.
“Something tells me they have some issues to work out between them. That is, if they don’t kill each other first.” Walking away she added, “Let’s take that break and get some coffee.”
“I didn’t mean to embarrass you.” Jason walked towards the window and looking out said, “Don’t you know you had it over Karen in spades. Her breasts were all she had.”
“Well, in high school, that’s enough,” Jane said fighting unwanted tears.
Still looking out the window, Jason said, “You’ve proved your worth, Jane. You’re a big time marketing executive. You can let high school go now.”
“I haven’t even thought about high school until you showed up.” Jane fisted her hands at her sides in rage. “I was just fine, happy and content in my life. Now you’ve got me second guessing my decisions. Jason, you’ve got to trust me with CARL.” Jason was looking blankly out the window. “Jason?”
“Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about a new game. Listen to this. How about a board game that has people going to a high school reunion and guessing what became of the classmates? Huh?”
Irritated, Jane yelled, “I don’t know! Maybe. You weren’t listening to me. Jason, you’ve got to listen,” she said as she walked towards him.
“And you’ve got to understand how important my business is to me,” Jason answered just as loud. “I’ve got everything in CARL. If it flops, I’m ruined.”
“It’s not going to flop. I guarantee it. And you’re wrong. I do understand how important CARL is to you. The toys have always been important. They’ve always been the most important things in your life!”
Jason abruptly grabbed Jane’s arm. “They weren’t always the most important thing.” His eyes glared at her, emitting hurt and pain. Jane couldn’t understand it. They stood looking at each other, frozen in time.
The questioning look in Jane’s eyes was killing Jason. He was overwhelmed with a desire to give her answers, to fill her eyes with joy, with passion, with . . . The hell with it, he thought as he pulled her into his arms. His mouth came down on hers with a vengeance. The taste, the sweetness that was Jane’s essence returned to Jason as a storm hitting his system. He wrapped his arms around her and plundered her mouth taking in her small gasps.
Jane was too shocked to do anything but react. She let him take as she surrendered to his ardor. She was swept away into the passion of the embrace. She answered his seeking tongue with her own and plunged her fingers into the curling hair on his neck.
Jason’s hands began to roam Jane’s back massaging and caressing. He remembered what he had put away for years—the beauty, the completeness of being with her. All the feelings came back so strong that he couldn’t contain them. They fought to explode inside of him. Jason jerked back and set her away from him.
It took a few minutes for both of them to steady their breathing. Finally, Jason said, “Whoa, where did that come from?”
Needing to lighten the moment, Jane replied, “Still got a great tongue, there, Collins.”
Walking away and sticking his hands in his pockets, Jason said, “Ditto, Kendall.” Then seriously he looked at Jane. “Jane, that probably was completely inappropriate.”
“Probably.”
“Maybe we needed that kiss to . . . I don’t know, clear the air between us.”
“Yes. It was probably inevitable that we would need some kind of . . . contact, some kind of closure.” Jane’s eyes glazed over as she thought about her whole relationship with Jason, not just the breakup but all that came before. Then coming to herself she said, “Maybe it was a completion of sorts.”
Jason nodded and looked back out the window. Quietly he said, “I’ve missed our friendship.”
Jane was shocked and touched. She smiled at him and said, “So have I.”
Turning, Jason said, “Do you suppose we could be friends again?”
“Only if you go back to calling me ‘Janie.’”
Jason laughed. He wanted to hug her to solidify their bond but the passion of their kiss was still cursing through his body. If he touched her just yet, he might not let go and he didn’t want to ruin what they were hopefully starting.
The door to the office suddenly flew open and Sally and Shelly came running in, one carrying two mugs and the other carrying a pot of coffee. Jason and Jane looked at them confused.
Sally said, “It got too quiet in here. We were afraid you were throttling each other so we grabbed the coffee to divert you.”
Laughter rang out of the office. Jason and Jane were doubled over holding their sides in glee.
Looking at Shelly, Sally said, “Did you get the joke?”
Later, as Jane was putting her work away for the day, her mind replayed the passionate embrace that she had shared with Jason. As she placed papers into her case, her hands slowed as her body again felt the warmth and strength of Jason’s arms. Being with him had always been magical. It was consuming.
She shut her eyes and shook her head. No, it was over. Just like they said, it was just leftover emotion from the past. After all, she was engaged to another man. Jane winced. Ed had been the furthest thing from her mind when Jason had taken her in his arms. Trying to expel the guilt, she reminded herself that it was just one kiss. Nothing would come from it. Nothing could come from it.
Jane sighed. He wants to be friends, she thought. Okay, I can do this. I can forget the heartache and just conc
entrate on doing a good job for my “friend.” As she grabbed her bag, turned out the light, and closed her office door she vowed that it was possible. After all, she’d come through worse in her past.
CHAPTER FOUR
The first big meeting of the Patterson marketing team and the Talbot Toy Executives was scheduled for the end of the next week. The schedule for the campaign would be discussed and ideas shared. Shelly was working with Jane to get preliminary information for the meeting ready. Jane was enjoying getting to know Shelly, finding her congenial and capable as an assistant.
“Shelly, do we need to make copies of these documents?” Jane asked.
“Just for you and Jason. No one else needs them.”
“So, how did the CARL testing go last week? I’m sorry I couldn’t get away to be there for it,” Jane said.
Shelly frowned. She took a deep breath and said, “It was a complete disaster. The CARL unit that Jason used went haywire. Something about defective rotating gears.”
“Oh, no. How did Jason react?”
“He was pretty wrecked about it. But he went ‘back to the drawing board’ you could say, and has been working hard on it. He really believes in this toy. There’s nothing he can’t do.”
“How long have you worked for Jason?” Jane couldn’t help asking.
“I’ve been with him for three years now. And I’ve loved every minute of it.” Shelly beamed.
“He must be a good boss.”
“He’s the best. He’s so generous and intelligent. Of course, that’s in addition to being gorgeous.” She continued to beam.
Jane felt a tension headache coming on. “So, you . . . have a little thing for him?” she ventured to ask.
Shelly laughed. “My husband would be pretty mad if I did. So would our son come to think of it.”
“Oh, you have a son? How old?”
“Brandon is six and the best thing to ever happen to me. That is, other than his dad.”
Jane felt a wave of depression fall over her as Shelly talked about her family. “My Nick’s a security guard at the Talbot Building. Jason has helped us out in so many ways. Nick had some troubles a while back but Jason didn’t hesitate to hire him. We adore Jason. He’s always been like a big brother to me. But I don’t mind saying, I would be glad for him to find someone.”
The Biggest Part of Me Page 6