by J A Fielding
“How about dinner tonight? I have the keys for the production studio and I would assume you’ll be needing that soon,” Ken asked.
“Sure, that sounds great. I was going to try and go through some of the footage we already have, but it would be much better to do that in the studio,” she said, thinking it would be nice to see Ken. They talked on the phone almost every day but hadn’t seen each other in a week.
“I’ll pick you up in 20 minutes, I have the perfect place in mind.”
When Ken picked her up, he refused to tell her where they were going for dinner, only admitting that there was a connection to the towers. They arrived at a hole in the wall diner, which appeared to have been there for 100 years. Surprised, Leslie looked at Ken for an explanation.
“You’ll see,” he said, helping her out of the car.
When Ken opened the door to the diner, the most amazing smells wafted out and Leslie’s stomach immediately began to growl. Hearing this, Ken laughed and escorted her inside. The place was crowded with nearly every table full. They managed to find a small table at the back of the dinner and gratefully sat down.
“Wow, this place is busy. If the food tastes as good as it smells I can understand why,” she said, grabbing a menu.
“It is, they’ve been in business for 65 years. It’s a family business, father to son, for three generations. I’ve been coming here for years,” Ken explained.
After they had ordered their food, Ken gave Leslie the keys for the studio as well as several credit cards and the keys to several vans they could use to transport equipment and people.
“This should be a big help. If you have time tomorrow morning, I’m going to start going through the footage Mark already filmed. I’m meeting with Professor Sterling the next afternoon. Would you like to join us? You’re welcome to sit in on any of the interviews you want.”
“As much as I would love to, it’s crunch time at the towers, only a few months until opening and so much still to do. Professor Sterling is a brilliant man. He will be able to give you a lot of background on the project as well as an overview of the building design.”
“I thought he would be a great place to start. Thanks for setting up his visit. Bruce and I spent the day yesterday scheduling interviews with the other people on the list. It’s a very diverse group of people. I’m looking forward to hearing what they all have to say.”
Leslie gave him a quick rundown on who she was meeting with and when. She would have to go out of town to meet with several people but had managed to schedule those interviews in a group at the very end of the interview schedule.
“I was thinking of taking some time right after that to go home and visit my mom, then I can focus on the film without that hanging over my head.”
“I know it’s going to be difficult for you, but regardless of what happens remember what you’ve accomplished. I’d still love to go with you if you want some company.”
“I think I might take you up on that offer, but can you take a whole week off?” she asked.
“I can manage it for you,” he said, taking her hand.
Leslie was surprised at the warmth she felt with just that simple gesture, and she realized that her heart was beating just a bit faster at the thought of spending an entire week with Ken. Even if it was for a trip home, they would have some time alone, during the drive if nothing else.
There was still a lot she wanted to know about the inspiration for the towers; there was definitely more to the story than Ken had revealed. Most people don’t take on a project like this just because they think it’s a good idea.
Just as they were getting ready to pay the check, a man approached the table. He was clearly the owner and clearly knew Ken.
“Hey, Ken. I didn’t know you were out here until just now. How was your dinner?”
“It was wonderful, John. I’d like to introduce you to Leslie Bergan. She’s going to be producing a documentary on Paradise Towers.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Leslie. Quite a place Ken’s building there,” John said, offering her his hand.
“Leslie, John’s going to open a café in the towers. He’s going to include items from his menu here as well as a variety of dishes that will appeal to people of many different tastes,” Ken explained.
“Well, I have to say those are some lucky people. Will it be open to the public as well?” Leslie couldn’t repress the journalist in her.
“Oh definitely. It’s a huge space, I’ll need outside customers to keep it going. The problem with offering such a wide variety of food is that costs can get high if you’re not serving lots of people. But I don’t see that as being a problem at the towers,” John said, clearly looking forward to the challenge.
“You can count on me to help you out there,” Leslie said, with a big smile on her face.
John excused himself as the diner began to fill with the late night crowd. Even though it was getting late, neither Ken nor Leslie was ready to call it a night. Instead, they decided to take a walk in the neighborhood.
As they walked, Ken put his arm around Leslie and she moved closer, enjoying the feeling of him being so close. They spotted a small park down the street and made their way towards it. Finding a bench, they sat down to enjoy the quiet around them. Traffic on the street had died down and Leslie could hear small creatures scrambling around in the underbrush.
Ken put his arm around her and pulled her closer, then turned and took her face in his hands.
“I’m going to kiss you, I’ve been wanting to do this all night,” he said as he lowered his mouth to hers.
As his tongue gently explored her mouth, Leslie felt a strong wave of desire begin deep in her stomach and spread to her loins. She moaned which only encouraged Ken to delve his tongue deeper into her mouth.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, as he continued to kiss her. Her body was responding in a way it hadn’t in a long time. She ran her hands up and down his back, loving the feel of his muscles beneath her hands.
Breaking the kiss, he began to nibble on her neck then kissed that sensitive spot behind her ear, creating a throbbing between Leslie’s legs that only intensified when his hand found her breast and gently kneaded it.
Leslie gasped at the pleasure that rushed through her body at his touch, her head spinning. Unable to resist, Ken pushed his hand up under her shirt and bra to cup her breast in his warm hand. He kissed her again and Leslie could feel the wetness between her legs growing.
He found her hard nipple and toyed with the stiff peak making her squirm. Breathing hard, he broke the kiss before things could go any farther. “I would love to take this further, but we are sitting on a park bench.”
“Might not be the most private place,” she said, snuggling up against his chest to give them both a few minutes to recover.
Chapter 4
The day started early for Leslie. She was up at dawn and at the production studio early to meet Mark to start going through the footage he’d already shot. Then they would be off to the interview with Professor Sterling. It would be a full day, but Leslie hoped that by the end of it she would have a clearer view of project.
The production studio was everything she had hoped it would be and would make this project go much faster. Ken hadn’t been kidding about the budget. The truth was, this project was a documentary maker’s dream, rarely did a budget this size come with a project. Plus the subject matter was rich with possibilities.
Mark and Leslie spent the morning and early afternoon reviewing the footage and constructing a general outline of the film. They ordered lunch in and barley stopped in time to make the interview with Professor Sterling. They arrived with just enough time to set up the cameras before the interview was scheduled to begin.
Professor Sterling joined them in the conference room at the hotel and Leslie found that he was an extremely likable man, who was obviously dedicated to teaching architecture to each new generation that appeared in his classroom.
“Ken came to me through a classmate of his from boarding school. He had this wild idea to build an apartment building that offered all the best of city living at a price the working man could afford,” Professor Sterling began.
“He wanted a new perspective on old ideas and was sure that the best place to find it was in the educational system. He proposed a scholarship competition for the winning design. Honestly, I was a little blow away, no one had ever proposed such a thing before.”
The professor went on to explain that over the course of several months he and Ken had made contacts all over the country with other schools and professors, gaining several other professors and professionals as contributors along the way. Eventually, a committee was formed to oversee the process of designing the building.
“We needed people who were experts in lots of different things. That garden on the roof for example required some major reinforcement. It was designed by a group of college students in California, but they were mentored by their professor who was chosen by the committee.”
“So there must have been a lot of entries for the scholarships,” Leslie prompted him to continue.
“When you added up all the projects, we had over a thousand participants. The committee was able to send feelers out all over the country. It became a network of contacts as word spread from institution to institution. We even had submissions from high school students and one group won; they designed the playground, outdoor restrooms, and the group picnic area.”
“I saw them on my list, I’ll be doing an interview at their high school at the end of next week. This was quite an accomplishment. How long did it take to come up with a final design?”
“Well, it was almost a year and a half from the time Ken came to me with the idea until ground breaking at the site. There were many design revisions that had to be done to meld the different designs into one. But it was excellent experience for the students to see how things work in the real world.”
“Sounds like a win-win situation for everyone,” Leslie said, pleased that the interview had gone so well. Not only was the professor great on camera, but she had learned a great deal about how the towers had come to be. She still didn’t know what had sparked Ken to come up with the idea, but she was determined to find out.
After the interview, Leslie called Ken to let him know how well it had gone. She had a true vision now of the path the film would take and was excited to get started compiling the footage she wanted to use. She talked nonstop all the way back to the studio and the only thing that stopped her from jumping right in when they got back was Mark’s desire to go home to his family.
Knowing that she couldn’t push her crew the way she pushed herself, she relented and they planned to meet early the next morning. Leslie suddenly found herself at loose ends; time on her hands was a new thing for her, but she decided to go with it.
Ken was out of the country, so she went home, found the book she had been planned to read for three months, and settled down for a quiet night at home. She was in bed and asleep by ten, a thing that never happened. After a good night’s sleep, she was ready to take on a new day and arrived at the studio even earlier than the day before.
Mark showed up shortly after she did with coffee and food. Today would be the first in a bunch of long days. The full crew would be here today to tape interviews and begin the process of putting together the footage Leslie chose for the film. Feeling back on comfortable ground, she lost herself in the process, working long days to put together something they could all be proud of.
She kept Ken informed about their progress, but he was busy with the towers; they had reached the stage of getting the merchants and health professionals moved in and it was a logistical nightmare. The staff was also in the process of getting not only moved in but trained to do their jobs, so Ken was spending huge amounts of time with them.
Longing for something was a new feeling for Leslie, but by the middle of the second week of interviews, she found herself longing to see Ken. Normally, they only saw each other for a few hours a week, but they had not even had time for those stolen hours since the interviews had started.
But in only a few days, she would have him all to herself for an entire week. She and the crew were leaving tomorrow for the out-of-town interviews. They were driving because of all the equipment they would need, so Ken planned to fly out to meet her in Savanna, the location of the last interview.
Leslie had planned it that way so she would be closer to home; the little town of Macon, Mississippi was only 12 hours from Savanna so she would complete the last leg of the journey by rental car. Just the thought of home made her stomach hurt a little. Pushing the thought of what she might find there aside, she concentrated on the time she would get to spend with Ken.
On the night before she was to leave for the interviews, she and Ken did manage to find time to have dinner together. After a quick rundown of her progress on the documentary, they turned to the topic of the trip to visit her family.
“Are you still nervous about going home?” Ken asked, taking her hand as they sat waiting for their dinner to arrive.
“Yes and no. I’m looking forward to seeing my mom and reconnecting with my brothers and sisters, but not my father. I’ve worked so hard to get where I am, and knowing him all I’m going to hear is about how I’ve done everything wrong. He absolutely hates anyone who shows even the slightest bit of ingenuity or drive.”
“Knowing you, that must have been difficult. You are a very driven person.”
“I think I surprised my father, the rest of the family was always happy to have a little piece of land, a place to sleep, and enough food to eat. I, on the other hand, wanted more. I had big dreams even as a little kid. I had this drive, this need to compete, to be better than everyone else. I think it was just more than my father could handle,” she said, feeling tears begin to build.
Not wanting to ruin their time together, Leslie excused herself and visited the bathroom to get control of her emotions. There would be plenty of time to tell Ken the rest of it. Now she just wanted to enjoy spending time with him.
Ken told her some funny stories from the tower. Getting everyone moved in would be quite an accomplishment, especially with all the equipment that would need to be installed. “Day before yesterday, there was an installer who was supposed to be in the health clinic. He ended up in the kitchen of the restaurant, installing the wrong piece of equipment. No one figured it out until the other guy showed up.”
Leslie caught him up on all the latest Hollywood gossip, making them both laugh at the antics of the stars as they vied for the spotlight. They enjoyed dinner but were not ready to call it a night. Ken suggested a trip to the towers. The lights had been installed in the roof garden and it was a beautiful night. California’s usual smog had been blown away by a nice ocean breeze and the stars were shining brightly.
As the elevators opened onto the roof, Leslie was greeted with a beautiful sight. Large potted trees had been installed and small twinkling lights had transformed the roof to a fairy garden. Although it would be much more beautiful when all the beds were full of fruits and vegetables, it was magical now.
They wound their way through the beds, to the far side of the roof where there was a collection of trees. Under the trees, benches and comfortable couches were grouped around a fire pit which could be enjoyed on cooler evenings.
As they settled on one of the couches, Leslie’s heart began to beat a little faster. She sensed that tonight was a turning point in their relationship. They had definitely gown closer over the last few months. She like and admired Ken and the fact that she found him incredibly sexy was never in doubt. She’d avoided relationships for a long time, not having the time nor the inclination to sacrifice the time relationships inevitably required.
But with Ken it had been different. She’d wanted to sacrifice time to him and since he’d asked for so little it had been easy to give him what he’d asked for. The work on the documentary had helpe
d as well, giving her more time with him as well as letting her get to know him better.
She worried about what would happen when her show was back on the air and she was unavailable for days at a time. That had been fine when they were in the coffee date, occasional dinner stage of their relationship, but things were about to get much more serious. That had been obvious from the moment she stepped off the elevator.
Ken had put his arm around her when they sat down and had been content to leave her to her thoughts, but he finally said, “Penny for your thoughts. You seem very serious tonight.”
“I’m just thinking about us,” she said, glad it was dark so he couldn’t see the blush that had crept up her cheeks.
“I’m actually glad to hear you say that. It’s time we talked about where this is going. We’ve kind of blurred the lines between personal and professional, but I want you to know that I really like you and I’d love to get to know you better on a personal level.”
“I’d like that too. Does it worry you that we’re so different? Your family might not be wild about you dating me. I’m not entirely sure what my family is going to say when you show up with me,” Leslie said, wanting to get this conversation over right from the beginning.
“Well, they may not be wild about the idea at first, but when they see that you make me happy they’ll come around. We’ll just have to take it one step at a time and find our way thought it together.”
“It won’t be easy, but I would really like to get to know you better as well,” Leslie said, taking his hand.
“This might be a good place to start,” Ken said, pulling her to him and kissing the palm of her hand. “We can take this as slowly as you want, but you should know that I want you like I’ve never wanted another woman.”
Leslie’s heart almost skipped a beat with that admission. To hear a man so clearly speak his desire for her was a new experience and one she found she thoroughly enjoyed. She wouldn’t be sleeping with him any time soon, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t have some fun before then.