Suited For Love

by Coleman, Lynn A.

  ❧

  Fred was a hit with Jordan. They stayed for a few minutes and played with the baby. Back in his car, Krispin asked, “Can I make you dinner?”

  “Anytime,” she quipped.

  “Good. I’m enjoying the cooking.”

  “When I was in college, I was the takeout queen. As I told you before, Dena turned me on to cooking. I’m starting to like it, but not with the same enthusiasm as you have.”

  “We can learn together.”

  “I’d like that.” Jess reached over and placed her hand on his. Krispin turned his hand and curled his fingers around hers. She brought his hand up to her lips and kissed the back of it. “I love you,” she confessed.

  He opened his mouth to blurt out the same when his cell phone rang the too familiar ring of his ex-partner in business. He answered. “Hi, Gary, what’s up?”

  “I need you. We have a huge emergency.”

  “What’s the problem?”

  “Something is wrong with the main components of several of your encryption codes. I know you’re off somewhere finding yourself, but I really need you, man. The techs here have only been making the problem worse. I’ll triple your pay. I need you for a month, possibly less.”

  “This isn’t a good time, Gary.”

  “I don’t care what it takes. Get here, and get here now. You gave your word you’d stand behind your product, and it is failing miserably. Get here by tomorrow morning. I’ll hire a jet, if need be.”

  “All right. I’ll be there in the morning.”

  “How about yesterday?”

  “Okay, I can get there shortly after midnight. I’ll need a room. I’ve sublet my apartment.”

  “Trust me, you won’t have time to sleep. I’m setting you up in a secure and sealed-off room. You won’t have access to any outside numbers.”

  “No way. I need an outside line, even if it is just the Internet.”

  “Separate unit?”

  “Of course.”

  “Fine. I’ll see you at midnight.”

  “What’s the matter?” Jess knitted her brow. “You’ve got to go?”

  “I’m afraid so, Jess. I don’t want to, but I gave my word. I have to help.”

  “That’s not a problem. I understand.”

  Krispin drove past his house and toward hers. “I’ll drop you off. I’m sorry.”

  “Shh, don’t you worry about it. I’ll see you when you get back.”

  “Jess…” How could he tell her he might not be coming back for a month? With all the clarity that could come from a divine revelation, Krispin realized he might not know what he was going to do the rest of his life, but it would include Jessica Kearns. If she’ll have me.

  Sixteen

  Thirty days later, Krispin had still not returned. A weekly e-mail from him wasn’t giving Jess a whole lot of satisfaction. She made arrangements with Myron Buefford to run the co-op in her absence while Dad took care of the lobstering. Jess drove up to the software company that Krispin had worked for, and even owned a portion of, before settling in Squabbin Bay. But had he really settled? He’d been gone for so long and—

  She stopped the circular thinking that had plagued her for weeks.

  Jess parked next to his Mustang and walked into the building. Its modern art and stainless steel statue in front glistened in the bright afternoon sun. The windows were three stories high. If a building could look high-tech, this one sure did.

  She marched up to the receptionist.

  “May I help you?” The woman had straight black hair pulled back in a bun. Her gray pinstripe suit declared all business.

  “Yes, could you please tell me where I can find Krispin Black?”

  “Do you have an appointment?”

  “No.”

  “Well, I’m sorry, Mr. Black is not seeing any customers at this time.”

  “I’m not a customer.” Jess narrowed her gaze. She wanted to say she was his fiancée, but nothing had ever been said about such a relationship, and she wouldn’t presume it upon him. “Would you please just tell him that Jessica Kearns is here to see him?”

  “Jessica Kearns.” The woman wrote the name down, then popped her head up and scanned Jess from head to toe. “You’re Jess?”

  “Yes. Can I see him?”

  “Uh, yeah. I guess so. Take the elevators to the third floor and take a right. His office is on your right. You can’t miss it. It’s the corner office.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.” She grinned as if knowing a secret. Whatever it was, Jess really didn’t care. She wanted to see Krispin, and she was only a few feet away from him. If this elevator would move. Jess rapped her fingers on the stainless steel plate that housed the buttons for the various floors, having already punched in the number three. Impatient, she tapped it again. The doors closed. The floor jerked, then seemingly nothing until the door swooshed open on the third floor.

  She walked down the hallway to the last office. Inside she found him with his back to the door. “Krispin?”

  He jumped up and banged his knee on the keyboard. “Jess?” He ran up beside her. “Oh, honey, you’re a sight for sore eyes.”

  Jess giggled and held on to him tightly. “So are you. I’ve missed you.”

  “And I, you. It’s been horrible here. But I think I’ve finally created a new system.”

  “Krispin, I just want to hold you.”

  He held her close and kissed the top of her head. Joy filled her. “How long can you stay?”

  “A couple days.”

  “I’ll get you a suite.”

  “A suite?”

  “Don’t worry, it’s a trade-off with the hotel. When we have customers we want to treat well, we put them in this suite. We manage the hotel’s security software. It’s a fair trade. The cost for me is that of renting a regular hotel room.”

  “All right. How long before you can take a break?” Jess asked and stepped out of Krispin’s embrace.

  He looked back at his computer, then back at her. He was pale and at least ten pounds thinner.

  “Have you been eating?”

  “A little. I’ve been shut up in a solitary room for days. I finally worked out the bugs and got through. It’s an incredible program, Jess. The next level in encryption.”

  “I thought Gary asked you to fix a problem, not create a new program.”

  “I forget you don’t understand all this stuff. Sorry. I fixed the problem. But what happened meant that all our other encryption programs that had those same components were vulnerable to this hacker. Replacing the software program with a totally different matrix seemed the logical course of action for the future. The stopgap I finished in a week. If the hacker’s as good as I think he is, and if he’s dedicated, he’ll probably figure this one out in three months, possibly six. But that gives Gary’s crew time to develop the new software they’ve been working on.”

  “I see.”

  Krispin chuckled. “I can tell by the glazed look in your eyes that I lost you. Suffice it to say, it’s fixed, and the new and improved model should keep folks safe for a while.”

  “If you say so.” Jess shook her head in disbelief. “You really are good at this stuff, aren’t you?”

  “He’s the best,” a deep male voice from behind her answered. She turned to see a man in his early thirties leaning against the doorway. “So you’re Jess, huh?”

  Krispin wrapped his arms around her. “The one and only.”

  She could feel Krispin’s smile even if she couldn’t see it.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Gary Ladd, owner of this company, and I’d be in your debt forever if you’d convince this man to come back to work for me. I’ve offered him fifty percent of the company, his own hours, and still he refuses.”

  Jess stilled in Krispin’s arms. He shouldn’t be giving up his future, Lord.

  “I’m renting the suite for her.”

  “Not on your life. I’m paying. And I’d like you to take h
er out to the finest restaurant and put it on my credit card. Remember, you’re unemployed. I’m not.”

  “But you’re paying me three times the normal rate for the past month. I think I can afford to take my girlfriend out to dinner.”

  “Okay, I’ll give that—you can afford it. Allow me to give you this gift.”

  “We’ll think about it,” Jess answered for him.

  “That’s all I ask.” Gary turned his wrist. “Gotta run. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jess. Stop by again tomorrow. Perhaps we can chat some more.” And he was off.

  “Is he always like that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wow, he must take some getting used to.”

  “Most couldn’t handle his abrupt changes in persona. By the time I was in the upper ranks of the company, I’d already seen how he operated, and it didn’t bother me. He and I got along well. He truly does want me to come back. I’m not surprised, but I’m not really interested. I don’t mind doing limited projects like this for him. But I don’t want to have to be put in lockdown for weeks at a time. It’s not healthy.”

  “No, you look horrible. I mean… ” Jess stumbled over her words. “I mean, you don’t look as healthy as when you left Squabbin Bay.”

  “I’m not. Besides not eating right, I’ve been working day and night to get this done, so I could get back to you. Jess, I’ve missed you so much. E-mails only made it more difficult to concentrate. That’s why I didn’t send you many. I’m sorry.”

  “Now that I’m here with you, everything is fine.”

  “Hang on a minute, and I’ll take you to the hotel.”

  “I can find it.”

  Krispin chuckled. “I know you can. It’s basically across the street. I want to get out of here, though, and I don’t want you out of my sight.”

  Jess’s heart jumped. “I’m all for that.”

  Within a couple minutes, they were locking his office and heading down the hallway, walking arm in arm. It was hard to believe how much she missed this man. Inside the elevator he leaned down and kissed her. Jess savored the moment and held on until they heard applause coming from behind them. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks. How’d they not noticed the doors had opened? She wanted to crawl under the floorboards and hide. Krispin wrapped a protective arm around her and escorted her out of the building.

  ❧

  Inside her suite Krispin removed his shoes and gazed over the cart of food he’d ordered from room service. “Honey, do you want ice cream later?”

  Jess came from behind the closed door of her bedroom. Her hair was damp from the shower. “What did you order?”

  “A little of everything.” He handed the waiter a substantial tip.

  “Thank you, sir. Can I get you anything else?” The waiter smiled and waited for a response.

  “No thanks. We’ll call if we have any other need.”

  “Very good, sir. Ask for Ramone, and I’ll take good care of you, sir.” Krispin knew he could count on Ramone getting him and Jess anything they desired tonight. Krispin closed the door. Jess’s beauty took his breath away.

  As if reading his mind, she ran to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Kiss me before I faint,” she begged.

  She didn’t have to ask twice. He kissed her with the fervor of all the love he had for her. It had been growing day by day for the past month. Whoever had said absence made the heart grow fonder certainly nailed it for the two of them. “Marry me, Jess,” he blurted out.

  “Yes,” she answered.

  Then it hit him: what he had asked and what she had responded with. The realization struck him at the same time it dawned on her. An awkward silence filled the room. “I love you, Jess. I want you to be my wife, if you’ll have me as a husband.”

  “I want to be your wife. But there’s so much left unsaid between us. So much we don’t know about one another yet.”

  “Agreed. How do we approach this situation now?”

  “We could marry ASAP. Dad told me to be very careful and guard my heart so as not to be too vulnerable while we’re alone together.”

  Krispin laughed. “I can see you paid attention.”

  She jabbed him in the ribs. “Let’s eat. We’ll figure this out as we go along.”

  “Excellent idea.”

  Jess took the hotel’s white china plate and sampled the different cheeses and fruit, then placed the steak with mushrooms and onions on her dish. Krispin did the same and added a bowl of cream of asparagus soup.

  “Be careful not to eat too much. How many meals did you skip?”

  “Way too many. You look great, though.”

  “Thanks. The shower helped.” She sat down on the sofa and put the plate of food on the coffee table. “Krispin, why didn’t you call me?”

  “I was afraid if I heard your voice I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the project. I was trying desperately to finish it so I could get home to you. I told Gary if I didn’t finish it in two more days, I was leaving for a visit. I’m so glad to see you.”

  “Krispin, we should get married, just not tonight.”

  “Agreed. Don’t you need to get blood tests or something first?”

  “Not anymore. But you do need a marriage license, and we have to pick that up at the town hall.”

  “We could find a minister to marry us tomorrow,” Krispin hinted.

  “And who’s going to tell my father we eloped?”

  “I get your point. What if we call them and ask them to join us?”

  Jess took a forkful of steak and chewed it thoroughly before she spoke. “I think I know why you’re so good at writing software—you stick to it. Which will be a good thing in marriage. However, I’ve always dreamed of getting married in Squabbin Bay at the church, the white gown, walking down the aisle, a flower girl, the whole bit.”

  Krispin swallowed the chunk of apple he’d just bitten off. “How much time do you need?”

  “Honey, there’s a lot of work at the co-op right now. I can’t see myself getting married until next June.”

  “June? That’s like seven months away.”

  “Exactly.”

  Krispin sobered. “If you want to wait seven months, I think I’ll take a couple of jobs Gary offered me. They will take a couple of months.”

  “Why?”

  Krispin swallowed hard. “Jess, that’s a long time to be close to you without something else to occupy my thoughts.”

  “Yes, so? Oh!” Her eyes widened. “Okay. What about you helping me at the co-op?”

  “Doing what?”

  “There’s a ton of things. I know we could be better organized. The software we have doesn’t fully integrate all the information to the various areas I need to retrieve it, so I’m inputting the same information two or three times a day.”

  “I can handle that. So could we get married in November? If I take that on?”

  “That’s next month.”

  Okay, I’m missing something here. He thought of a movie he’d seen about what women want and remembered a line about proms being all about the dress. “Jess, how much time do you need to get the dress, set up the wedding the way you’d like? I want you to have the wedding you’ve always dreamed about.”

  Jess giggled. “Daddy would die. He’d have to work a third job to pay for it.”

  “Seriously, Jess, what do you want? I’ll do whatever it takes to make that day special for you. And I can pay for it. Your father doesn’t have to.”

  There was a long pause. “You know what? I’m not thinking about this right. You’re willing to give me everything I want, and I haven’t offered to give you anything you want. What do you want, Krispin?”

  “Only one thing: to be your husband. I don’t care how the process happens. I just want to do it right.”

  “What about your parents?”

  “I’ll find them and let them know. I’m pretty sure they’ll come, if they can be reached.” Krispin resumed eating. So did Jess.

  After a few minut
es, she said, “How about if we get married a week before Thanksgiving?”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah. I know the photographer, so that’s not a problem. We can have it at the church, and we can have it catered or have folks bring potluck.”

  Krispin wiped his mouth with the linen napkin. “We’ll cater.”

  “How many invitations for your friends from here?”

  “Probably no more than a dozen, if that. If you’ve noticed, no one came out to visit with me.”

  “Do you think Gary would come?”

  “If he can still do business on the side.”

  “He can’t be that bad, can he?”

  “Just about. But he’ll come, and he’ll bring his wife.”

  “He’s married?”

  “Yeah. I never could figure how he managed to keep a wife, but he does, somehow. Are you sure, Jess?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. Now hurry up and finish your dinner. I want to go out and spend some time in your city.”

  “Okay. What about careers, Jess? Are you willing to leave Squabbin Bay, lobstering, and the co-op if some opportunity came up for me to work somewhere else?”

  Seventeen

  Jess fought all night with the question Krispin had asked her before they went out. She avoided the answer, saying something lame like she’d deal with it when the time came. But the time was now. Krispin had excellent opportunities to stay with this company. He meant a lot to them and their future. How could she possibly pull him away from all of that?

  She’d gone to work with him in the morning in order to retrieve her car. Today she sat in the suite, bored and alone. She thought about going shopping, but that wasn’t the answer. This was what life would be like with Krispin. He’d go to work, she’d stay home and do what? Raise babies?

  Jess wanted children, but that wasn’t her only goal in life. She had a business degree and would like to continue using it. I wonder if I could find a job in this company? But what about the co-op? I can’t desert them now. Perhaps in a year, when we’re really established, but right now seems too soon, Lord. What should we do?

  She picked up her cell phone and called her stepmother. “Mom, it’s Jess. I need some help.”

  “What’s the matter, Jess? Are you all right? Krispin didn’t—”