by Dawn Tamayo
“So you like a good body then?” Jake teased.
“Show me a woman who says they don’t and I’ll show you a liar.” Victoria smiled back, her dark brown eyes smiling in silent challenge.
“Fair play Victoria. Tell Jenny and she’ll put it into practice.”
As Victoria left Jake’s office Andrea stopped her by the lift doors. “Has Jenny mentioned to you about tonight yet?”
She shook her head. What was happening tonight – she was sure the promotional schedule had nothing planned for tonight.
“A few of us girls are going out and we wondered if you wanted to join us. It will be a laugh, just some dinner and a few drinks afterwards.”
Victoria nodded. “Thanks, that will be great. I will be there.” She liked the idea of a night out, it sure beat sitting alone thinking about what should have been and no longer was!
CHAPTER SIX
“Ouch!” Victoria said as she tried to raise her head from her pillow but it just didn’t want to play ball - her head didn’t want to play anything and certainly not ball. She reached across and switched off her alarm as each beep thumped through her head. Last night had been fun but she was certainly regretting it now. Victoria, Andrea, Jenny and a few of the other women from Creative Technology Holdings had gone out for dinner followed by cocktails and dancing until the early hours of the morning. Wow those cocktails were certainly stronger in Miami than back in London, and Victoria made a mental note to remember that the next time she ordered her second jug!
Victoria pulled herself out of bed and rummaged in her drawers for some Ibuprofen and downed two with half a bottle of mineral water. She went and stood under the warm shower and let the water cascade over her body rubbing her face her with her hands. Today would have to be the day, there was going to be no better time - today she was going to make the phone calls and send out e-mails cancelling the wedding. She took a deep breath but it was no good, the tears fell regardless and she gave into the feelings she had been trying to ignore for the last few days – complete and utter loss. She slid her body down to sit on the shower floor and rested her head on her knees as she sobbed under the cascading water.
Victoria hadn’t cried this hard since the night she found out about Mark’s infidelities. She had cried enough tears that night for a lifetime, and yes there had been a few tears here and there along the way, but cancelling the wedding and sending out e-mails to everyone was so final - the absolute end of her dreams and the future she had planned, the future they had planned together. She knew it had to be done, and there was a part of her that wanted to do it so she could finally be free of any ties with Mark, but it was still heart wrenching and she needed to let that out. Every day she put on a brave face and pushed all feelings she had about Mark and his affairs to the back of her mind, trying not to think about it and trying to enjoy her time in this amazing place with her incredible job opportunity. Last night had been such fun, she had genuinely enjoyed herself and even swapped phone numbers with a few very handsome men at one bar or another on her journey through the night. But just now, for this moment in time, she needed to take a few minutes and let the pain consume her as she sat naked curled up on the shower floor soaking wet. Then, when she felt she had no more tears left to cry and her chest hurt, she stood up and turned the water off. Reaching for a towel she stepped out from the shower.
Jake sat in his office listening carefully to the conversation going on around Andrea’s desk over mid-morning macchiatos. He knew they had no idea he was listening, normally he wouldn’t be bothered with a few minutes of office girlie-chat but this morning he heard Victoria’s name mentioned and he was intrigued.
“That guy was so hot, no wonder she took his number, I would too given half the chance.” Jenny said.
“If I was that way inclined I’d agree with you too.” Andrea laughed.
“Besides she needs someone to get her over that idiot. I mean what a creep to be sleeping with his secretary and who knows who else. I think Victoria’s done the right thing getting away from him and everything. I would never have believed it if she hadn’t told us, she looks so together. I mean I’d be a wreck if my fiancé had cheated on me with half of London and I found out just before our wedding!”
Andrea nodded - Victoria looked so together, no one would have guessed what she must be going through.
Jake stepped back from the doorway surprised. He knew Victoria wasn’t engaged anymore because she wasn’t wearing her ring, but he didn’t know the reason why and it hurt to hear what she was going through. He hurt for her. Jake knew how much she loved her ex-fiancé when they were engaged, he remembered how she spoke about him at dinner in London, and from previous experience he knew what a pain like that felt like – betrayal and heartbreak all rolled into one. He thought this Mark guy must have been a complete idiot to let someone as beautiful, funny and sweet as Victoria slip through his fingers let alone cheat on her. What a complete and utter jerk.
“Hey, thanks for inviting me last night, I had a great time. My head hurt like hell this morning though.”
Jake heard Victoria’s voice and he quickly went back to sit behind his desk pretending to be deep in concentration with some papers in front of him.
“Is Jake in?” Victoria asked Andrea as Jenny smiled walking past her towards the lift.
“Yes, go on in.” Andrea said as she turned back to her computer.
“Thanks.”
A knock sounded on Jake’s door and he looked up pretending he wasn’t expecting to see Victoria standing there. But then his false surprised expression changed to one of puzzlement when Victoria walked in and he couldn’t help notice her puffy red eyes, something that no amount of make-up and eye drops could disguise. Once again his eyes travelled down her little black sleeveless top and black skinny trousers, and his insides sighed wondering if he would ever get used to the sight of Victoria, and if one day his trousers wouldn’t feel like they were uncomfortably tight every single time she walked into his office. Then he remembered her eyes and quickly pulled his mind away from what he wanted to do with her and her sexy curvy body.
“Are you alright?” He asked concerned. He knew she couldn’t be alright, but he didn’t know what else to say.
“What? Oh yes I’m fine.” Victoria said subconsciously touching her cheek realising she obviously hadn’t managed to disguise her eyes as well as she hoped, but then again it wasn’t as if she could go around wearing a pair of sunglasses in the office all day so she didn’t have much choice in the matter.
“Your eyes say you’re not. Come in and sit down.” Jake motioned for Victoria to take the seat across the desk from him but she shook her head.
“No I’m fine. Sorry, I just had to take care of some stuff.” She said indicating to her face and grimaced, “I just wanted to tell you that Jenny said the meeting this afternoon is cancelled. I’ll let Andrea know on my way out.”
“Where are you going now? What have you got planned?”
“Not much now the meeting has been cancelled, so I’ll have a think about a few promotional ideas for London and I’ll e-mail them over to Ben Chapman so he can give me his feedback tomorrow morning.”
“Wait a minute.” Jake got up from his chair and walked to the door, “Andrea, my meeting this afternoon with Jenny and Victoria is cancelled now, so do I have anything else today that can’t be rescheduled?”
She shook her head and looked at him questioningly.
“Good, reschedule what I’ve got, I’m going to be out of the office for a while and I’m not sure what time I’m coming back.” With that Jake walked over to his desk and pulled open his top drawer and took out his keys and wallet.
Victoria stood watching wondering what he was doing and why she was even waiting.
“Come on Vicky, you’re coming with me.” Jake said as he scooped up Victoria’s hand in his and pulled her out his office along with him.
Andrea watched in surprise from her desk and then closed her gaping jaw.
“Jake! What are you doing? Where are we going?” Victoria asked as she hurried to keep up with him as his long legs strode fast along the corridor. He didn’t let go of her hand, not even when they were standing in the lift as it descended through the floors.
“Jake!” Victoria squeezed his hand, he still hadn’t said a word to her, just stood next to her smiling like a cat who had got the cream. Finally the lift stopped and Victoria realised they were on the ground floor about to walk out of the building.
“Wait Jake, I need to get my bag, my purse.”
“Don’t worry about that, you don’t need anything. I’m taking you for some famous Miami frozen yoghurt.”
“But we can’t, what about work? Your meetings?”
“You heard Andrea, everything can be re-arranged and you can do your London planning another time. Work can wait, some things are more important.”
“Oh what, going out for frozen yoghurt is more important than work?” She said incredulously.
“Sometimes, when the moment is called for, then yes.” Jake said as he stepped onto the edge of the pavement and hailed one of the many yellow taxis. He held the taxi door open for Victoria and motioned for her to get in. She took one more look at Jake with his playful smile looking all sexy and cool in his short sleeved white linen shirt and tan coloured trousers, his dark hair contrasted with his blue eyes, and she decided to get into the taxi. Victoria scooted across the seat for Jake to get inside next to her.
“Hollywood Beach please.” Jake told the driver.
Victoria stood looking at the sea and breathed in a deep breath as she watched the dark clouds moving towards the shoreline.
“Maybe this isn’t the best day to bring you for frozen yoghurt on the beach.” Jake said as he looked over her shoulder at the storm clouds heading inland.
“Don’t worry about it, I think it’s beautiful. Rain or sun the beach is still beautiful and the sea is magical to me. Obviously I’d rather be sitting in the sunshine, but I really don’t mind. I think this is just what I needed, a bit of fresh air.” She turned and walked with Jake along the promenade.
Pausing for a moment Victoria wiggled her toes in her strappy sandals and decided to take them off, she hadn’t planned on going for a long walk when she put the five inch heels on this morning.
Jake saw and told her to hold on for a moment as he darted into a little shop selling beach accessories. After only a few minutes he returned with pair of red flip flops in his hand and handed them across to Victoria.
“I know how much you like red so I hope they are alright. I think you will be more comfortable walking in these.”
Victoria took the flip flops and slid her feet into them. Before she picked up her strappy shoes she took her hair out of the high ponytail and shook her head feeling the instant relief as it fell down around her shoulders. She smiled as she ran her fingers through her hair.
“That’s better.” She heard Jake murmur and turned to see him looking at her.
“I’m sorry?” Had she missed something?
“Your hair.” He said indicating to the dark red strands which fell across her shoulders, “It looks better down.”
“Don’t you like my ponytail.” She said feeling unexpectedly disappointed that Jake didn’t like the way she looked.
Jake wondered if she was kidding? He loved it when her hair was pulled back in a ponytail so he could see the contour of her long slender neck as it called out to him to kiss it.
“No I think you look great, it’s just you have beautiful hair and it is nice to see it down sometimes.” He couldn’t help it and ran his fingers along the ends of her hair just where it turned up slightly.
“Mark used to hate my hair down, he said it got in his way. I think he preferred short hair so I sort of got used to wearing it up all the time.”
“What, even at home?” Jake wondered if this Mark guy was crazy. How could anyone not love Victoria’s long dark red hair and want to run their fingers through it.
She nodded her head, “I guess so.”
Jake couldn’t believe it, her ex-fiancé really didn’t seem to know what he had got.
They walked along the promenade a little further until Jake steered Victoria in the direction of a frozen yoghurt shop. Walking inside she marvelled at all the different choices of frozen yoghurt and ended up choosing a mixture of berry flavoured yoghurts with shortbread sprinkles while Jake chose an exotic mango mix. They took their frozen yoghurts back outside to the almost empty beach and this time walked on the sand towards some empty sunbeds and parasols.
“It might rain. If it does we can always go back inside to eat this.” Jake said as they sat on the sunbeds.
She nodded as she took a spoonful of frozen yoghurt and tasted it smiling, it was delicious.
“So what happened this morning to upset you so much?”
“It was just something I needed to do. It was personal, but don’t worry I’ll make up the time later today, I just needed to make some calls and send some emails to London before it got too late over there.” She suddenly realised she had just told the boss she had been doing personal work in office hours and cringed slightly.
“Don’t worry about that Vicky, you do what you have to do. But what got you so upset?”
Victoria took deep a breath and sighed, she didn’t really want to talk about it to Jake or anyone else for that matter, but then again it wasn’t any big secret. It was what it was! “I had to cancel my wedding. You know, the logistics of it, the venue, the caterers, cake makers, my dress, the lot.” She took another bite of her frozen yoghurt sucking on the berry taste to ease the pain in her throat.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Thanks.”
“What happened? Why did you call the wedding off?” Jake heard what Jenny and Andrea had said this morning but it could have been gossip for all he knew. He wanted to hear it from Victoria herself.
Victoria shifted her position on the sun lounger so she was sitting cross legged looking directly at Jake giving him her full attention. “He cheated on me.” She said matter-of-factly, “Not just once, not that it would have made any difference anyway because cheating is cheating in my book, but he was sleeping with his secretary.”
“Ouch.” Jake said as he turned around on his sun lounger and put his feet on the cool sand and sat directly looking at Victoria.
“Yeah apparently she wasn’t the first or the only one either. It seems he had been cheating on me for at least a year. Who knows it could even have been longer than that!” She shrugged her shoulders and took another mouthful of frozen yoghurt.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, sure.”
Jake took a deep breath and looked out to the sea. “I know how that feels you know.”
“Really!” She said thinking he was just trying to appease her, she highly doubted anyone had trampled on Jake Cumberland’s heart. From what she suspected he did the trampling.
“Yes really.”
“So what happened?” Victoria put down her yoghurt cup and small spoon.
“It doesn’t matter, it was a long time ago now.” He focused his attention on his frozen yoghurt cup and stirred what was left inside.
“That’s not fair, I just told you about me, so now you should tell me about you. Come on, make me feel like I’m not the only one, because I am feeling pretty stupid right now. I can’t believe I didn’t see it! When I look back now I can see all the signs, but I really didn’t see it at the time. It never even occurred to me that he would do that to me.”
Without looking up Jake told Victoria something he hadn’t planned to say, something he had never spoken to another woman about since the day it happened. “It was about eight years ago now, my ex-wife cheated on me with my then business partner.”
“What? That’s awful. What happened?”
“One night I went to his condo to talk to him about some urgent business and I found them there together. He wasn’t expecting me
. When I walked in I knew he had someone there because I saw a woman’s jacket on the chair in the living room. I just assumed it was some woman he was seeing, but I had no idea it was Felicity. She didn’t realise I was there and before Luke had a chance to stop her she walked out of the bedroom wearing nothing more than his shirt!”
Victoria could see the hurt in Jake’s eyes as his usual sparkle left them. She could imagine how he felt.
“What happened then?” She found herself asking. She didn’t know who this Luke was but she couldn’t imagine any woman not wanting to be with Jake, he was gorgeous, sexy, funny, and kind too!
“Obviously they tried to say all the usual things, ‘it’s not what it looks like’, ‘okay yes it is but we couldn’t help ourselves’ etcetera. So I bought Luke out of our partnership after that, Felicity and I got a quickie divorce and they got married a few years ago.”
“Wow that’s rough. So that explains all the women huh?”
“What does that mean?” Jake asked looking at Victoria seriously.
“You are never going to trust another woman and let her break your heart the way this Felicity did so you just keep playing the field. I bet when anyone gets too close you pull away because you don’t want to get hurt again.”
“No, that’s not it at all. Is that what you think?” Victoria had it all wrong, he couldn’t believe she still believed everything she read in the papers.
“It’s okay Jake, no one could blame you for being like that. Your wife cheated on you! I don’t know if I will ever trust another man again.”