by Dawn Tamayo
Jake always prided himself that he never got involved with someone who worked for him, but Victoria was pushing his principles to the very limit now. There was only so much a man could take and he had already gone way past that point. For crying out loud he had been tethering on that point from the moment Victoria had walked into his office that morning in London with such a look of determination in her eyes. And he was supposed to watch her walking around in her skimpy little tops and sexy short skirts or tight trousers that left absolutely nothing to his imagination and not want to take her in his arms and kiss her to within an inch of his life? And now it was only worse! Now he knew exactly what her beautiful lips felt like, tasted like, and it left him wanting so much more. If he kissed her again and did nothing else he surely would die! And if he didn’t kiss her again? Well he didn’t want to think about that because he had to.
It was a busy day, but even if it hadn’t been Victoria had every intention of keeping out of Jake’s way just like she had managed to yesterday. She wasn’t embarrassed to see him, she had put that feeling to bed when she lay alone for the past two nights in her bed and remembered the look of disappointment on Jake’s face as she practically ran out of his apartment after their incredible kiss. But she had no intention of putting herself in that position again - where she went weak at Jake’s touch like so many other women had. She wasn’t going to be just another woman in a long list of women for any man, not even the wonderfully gorgeous Jake Cumberland.
Victoria’s phone rang on her desk and she answered it as she scanned through the latest news from the UK on her laptop in front of her. “Victoria speaking.”
“You’re a difficult woman to get hold of Vicky, I’ve been trying all morning. And all day yesterday for that matter.”
Victoria stopped what she was doing as she heard Jake’s smooth voice through the telephone. “I’ve been busy. I’m sorry, you should have asked Andrea to find me, I would have come to your office.” She knew she had several missed calls from Jake yesterday, but she also knew that if he really needed her for business then he would have had Andrea find her or send her a message. So Victoria decided to avoid Jake’s calls until she heard from Andrea, and since no such message had come she thought she had succeeded.
“I didn’t want to, it’s not about business.”
“Oh.”
“What are you doing after work, are you free?”
“Jake I don’t think that is a good idea.” She started but Jake cut her off.
“Wait, I don’t want to talk about this on the phone. Meet me in the coffee shop next door in five minutes.” When he didn’t hear an answer he continued, “Please?”
Victoria knew she should just say “no” but she found herself agreeing. The coffee shop next door to their office building it was then! She had five minutes to stop by the ladies’ toilets to brush her hair and apply a thin coat of lip gloss.
Jake was already waiting at the coffee shop door with a large clear plastic cup of Frappuccino in each hand as she walked the short distance from the building’s exit escalator. He took a sip of his cup and looked cool in his white rolled up shirt sleeves and faded green jeans.
“I got you a Frappuccino, I hope that’s okay. It’s hot today and I thought you might want something cold.” He didn’t mention to her that he had asked Andrea to find out what drink Victoria usually bought from the coffee shop when she popped there each morning just so he would have her favourite drink ready and waiting for her.
“That’s perfect, thanks.” She took her drink and followed Jake to a table shaded by a large umbrella. Victoria sat down and Jake pulled the seat from across the table around next to hers, so he was sitting just a couple of feet away from her without the table being in-between.
“What did you want to talk about? Is everything alright?” She asked suspecting this little out of office meeting was going to be about their kiss, but she had hoped it wouldn’t make it awkward between them now.
“I think you know Victoria and I also think you were avoiding me yesterday.”
“I was not.” She lied, “I was just busy.”
“Liar.” He teased good-naturedly as she sucked her iced coffee through the long black straw.
‘Oh those lips’ Jake wanted to groan.
“Look Jake I don’t want things to be awkward between us. It was just a kiss and we’re both adults. You were just messing around and it got a bit out of hand. Okay?”
“If that’s what you want then okay, but that’s not what I want. Whatever you decide I promise you it won’t be awkward in the office, but it was more than just a kiss for me and I wasn’t messing around.”
“Oh.” This, Victoria hadn’t expected, and she put her plastic cup down on the table.
“You know I liked you from the minute I met you, I made no secret of that, but you asked me not to pursue you so I didn’t. But now I want to, I want to ask you out on a date and I really hope you will say yes.”
Slowly Victoria shook her head. “I’m sorry Jake, but I can’t go on a date with you. Not you or anyone else, I’ve only just split up with my fiancé and this isn’t good timing.”
“Forget timing and forget about Mark, you will get over him one day, but for now I am just asking you to be open minded about us and come on a date with me. It doesn’t even have to be a big date thing if you don’t want it. But I know by the way you kissed me the other day that there is something between us and I can’t ignore that. Can you?”
No she couldn’t ignore it, it had consumed her every thought since it happened, but Victoria wasn’t sure that meant she had to act on it either.
“Come on, don’t make me take you to the beach again just to persuade you. I seem to remember you agreed to come back to my apartment when I asked you on the beach.” Jake teased.
“Now there’s an offer no girl could refuse!” She laughed, “But that was different. You weren’t asking me on a date then.”
“Well we can do that at the weekend then, I’ll take you to the beach and if you want we can take a boat out, just off the coast of Miami for a bit.”
“I’m really flattered by everything you are saying, and I am sure you must have guessed by now that I find you attractive too, and I think you are a really nice guy,”
“Not to mention a multi-millionaire.” He interrupted.
“That too, but I’m not going to be just another woman in your little black book Jake. I’m not going to be another woman on your very long list, I’m sorry.”
Jake looked at Victoria and let out a sigh. “Is that what you think I mean?”
She shrugged. What else did he mean - he had asked her to go on a date with him so what else was there?
“I don’t want you to be just another woman in another bed Vicky. I think more of you than that. I really like you and I want to see where, whatever this thing is between us, can go. I can’t explain why but you are already more to me than any of these other women were. I think you could be my Miss Right and if you give me the chance I can show you that I am not the man I have allowed the press to paint me as. But I think you know that already don’t you? I just want to spend some time with you.”
Victoria sat back in her chair and looked at Jake, he looked serious and his eyes shone with sincerity.
“Wow Jake that is quite some speech. Just make sure you know what you are saying before you say it - I am not someone to be played with and I don’t deserve that.”
“I know exactly what I am saying Victoria and I am not playing with you. I can be myself with you, and you don’t care about my money or what I have got.” He reached across and let his fingers play with the ends of her dark red hair loving the feeling of it against his skin, “I think you’re beautiful.”
Victoria almost laughed. With all the incredibly beautiful women in Miami who surrounded him on a daily basis and he thought she was beautiful? She wanted to believe that but she found it hard to. If someone like Mark, who even though was very good looking but wasn’t a pat
ch on Jake thought she wasn’t enough for him then what hope did she have with someone as incredibly gorgeous and rich as Jake?
“Please, let’s talk about it tonight. Come to my apartment straight after work, I’m going there soon to sort some things out for my house and we can have a quiet dinner there and talk, then if you want we can go out for a drink, go to the cinema, whatever you want. Just a normal date for the two of us. What do you think?” Jake hoped she would say yes, he had laid his soul out to Victoria and told her exactly how he felt. He had been completely honest with her and he had never felt so vulnerable in his entire life.
Victoria nodded her head and smiled. She wasn’t sure what could come of a real date with Jake Cumberland but she didn’t want to turn it down either, she knew him well enough by now to know he wouldn’t look her in the face and lie to her. So far Jake had been true to his word on everything and she had no reason to doubt him now. She found it hard to believe he felt the way he said he did, but there was a part of her deep down inside that wanted to find out if he really did.
“Great.” He said smiling taking a sip of his drink.
“Let me get changed first, then I’ll be there at six thirty, is that okay?” Victoria smiled.
“Perfect.”
Victoria picked up what was left of her iced coffee and took it back into the office with her. She had butterflies flurrying around in her stomach at the mere thought of tonight. Part of her wondered what on earth she was doing agreeing to see Jake later, and another part of her was excited. Mostly she was excited!
Jake opened his apartment front door and gave a long slow whistle as he looked Victoria up and down. The concierge had phoned up a couple of minutes earlier to let him know she was on her way up so he had been expecting her, but seeing her standing in his doorway looking like a beautiful angel in a simple white top and a red multi-coloured frilly knee-length skirt had still taken his breath away. He bent and kissed her gently on both cheeks and stepped aside inviting her in. Tonight was going to be so very different, he was just a man and she was a woman. No business and no engagement.
Victoria walked into Jake’s living room and put her little red bag on the side of the sofa. It was the same room she had been in the other day but tonight it felt different, or was it just that she felt different, walking in knowing she was there on a very much more personal level with Jake this time.
Jake closed the door behind her and walked across the room taking the remote control and turning the television over from the evening news to a music channel. The sounds of Marc Anthony and Pitbull dueting surrounded them and he turned the volume down to a more comfortable level.
“Are you hungry?”
“Starving.” She wanted to leave work a little earlier than normal so she worked through her lunchtime and had only had time for a cereal bar and yoghurt before she took a shower and dressed for tonight.
“Great. What type of food do you want?”
“What’s on offer?”
“Just about anything. You can choose from a Chinese or pizza to having a meal from one of the restaurants downstairs or across town, they all deliver here. All I need to do is phone our order down to the concierge and they will sort it out for me.”
“Very nice.”
“It is, that’s partly why I like this place.”
“And for the views of course.” Victoria said as she looked out of the window seeing the sun start to fade.
“So what is it to be? Jake walked over to the house phone.
Victoria thought for a moment and then smiled wickedly. “Friday night, a huge sofa and good company, that’s got to be a pizza night.”
Jake laughed, a girl after his own heart. “Good choice. What do you want on it?”
“Anything except anchovies and olives.”
He picked up the phone and the concierge answered immediately.
“Hi George, can you have some dinner delivered for me please. We would like an extra large pizza, stonebaked from Giovanni’s with pepperoni, barbeque chicken, and ham, with a rocket and parmesan salad on the side. And can you have the Cheesecake Factory send across my favourite lemon cheesecake for desert. Thanks.”
Victoria went to sit on the sofa as she listened to Jake speaking to the concierge with their dinner order and her mouth began to water at the thought of their delicious dinner. She loved a good tasty pizza and the Americans took their pizzas to the next level!
“What would you like to drink? I have beer, diet coke or some other stuff in the fridge, or I can get something sent up from downstairs.”
“That’s okay, a beer sounds good.”
“Listen, I just need to close down my computer in the office, would you mind grabbing a couple of beers from the fridge?” Jake said as he walked off into his office, business was finished for tonight and he wanted to enjoy his time with Victoria now.
Victoria kicked off her shoes and stood in the middle of the large living room trying to remember which door was the kitchen – there were three closed doors and she didn’t want to get the wrong one.
“It’s the door over here the other side of this one,” She heard Jake call from his office, he sounded amused, “but feel free to have a look around the apartment if you want, there’s a great view from the bedrooms, you can see right across the sea.”
“Oh that’s okay, I’ll just go grab a beer.” She said as she made her way into the kitchen and marvelled at the high-tech ovens and highly polished black marble worktops. She opened the fridge and found a selection of fresh food but no drinks so she made her way along to the next large fridge and found it stocked from top to bottom with a wide selection of drinks. Victoria grabbed a couple of bottles of mineral water and took them through to the living room placing them on the dining table, then went back into the kitchen and grabbed two bottles of Budweiser. She opened the beers and walked into Jake’s office holding out a bottle for him to take.
“Thanks.” Jake said putting the last of his papers into a pile at the edge of his desk and took his beer. He held it out to Victoria’s and they clinked bottles together.
Victoria took a drink as she turned towards the window. “Wow that is some sunset.” She could see the dark evening sky encroaching on the pink sunset as the lights of Miami city started to turn on and appear like little dots on the horizon.
Jake didn’t think he could bear it anymore. Seeing Victoria standing totally relaxed and bare footed in his office drinking his beer, with arguably the most amazing view in the world behind her, made him ache from every pore of his body. He hadn’t planned to feel this way, he hadn’t planned anything for tonight except some time alone with her for them to get to know each other on a more personal level. He knew it would be hard and full of temptation, just being around Victoria was tempting enough and that was when they were at work or surrounded by a crowd of people. But he hadn’t expected it to feel as hard as this, or as beautiful. Jake reached across to smooth a piece of Victoria’s hair behind her ear and let his hand linger at the slope of her neck gently rubbing his thumb along her soft bare skin.
Victoria looked back at Jake as his thumb sent tingling sensations down her spine. She looked at his lips as she heard her name whispered. She remembered the feeling of them and she wanted to feel them all over again, and this time there was nothing stopping her. Victoria put her bottle of Budweiser down on Jake’s desk and took a purposeful step towards him closing the distance between them. Before she knew what she was doing she had her hands on either side of Jake’s face and her lips was on his kissing him.
Jake felt like he was going to explode as Victoria’s lips touched his. He felt the soft warmth of her hands on his face and was all consumed as he opened his mouth to deepen their kiss. He was on fire. Jake licked at her sweetness and let his tongue explore the contours of her mouth, tongue and lips. He slipped his arms around her body and pulled her in close to him felling her breasts press up against his chest. As she moulded her body into his, Jake felt Victoria’s hair fall back
across his hands and that was his undoing.
“Victoria. You are driving me crazy. I am not sure how much more I can take.” He groaned wanting more, so much more that he was hurting with lust for her.
“Then take me somewhere more comfortable and drive me crazy Jake.” Victoria said hardly believing what she was saying but realising that she meant every single word of it. She wanted Jake. She knew she wanted him the very first moment she saw him, but she couldn’t even contemplate it back then, there had been something standing in the way, someone. But there was nothing and no one in their way now and she wanted Jake. Oh she wanted Jake so very much.
“Are you sure?” Jake said as he pulled back to look into Victoria’s eyes and what he saw made him ask no more - he saw deep brown pools of passion and he didn’t need to be asked twice.
Victoria laughed gently as Jake took her by the hand and led her out into his living room and through a doorway leading into a huge bedroom with a monster size crisp white linen bed.
Jake took Victoria’s face in his hands as he brought his lips down to meet hers. He ran his fingers through her hair and down her back, bringing his hands around her waist and slowly up the front of her to cup her breast. The soft fabric of her little top was an unwanted barrier but he ignored that for the moment allowing himself the pleasure of holding Victoria’s ample breasts in his hands, and oh it felt so good! Victoria kissed him back tasting the masculine warmth of his mouth and let her hands explore his hair, his neck and finally to the warmth of his skin as it vanished beneath the top button of his shirt. She flicked the button undone and slid her hands underneath the soft cotton material and felt Jake take a deep breath in.