There was a time when he would have given anything for such a message from Alethea. Today, it left him cold. All he could think about was Jeisa and how he wanted to spend the week getting to know her better.
Bold plans for a man who had no experience in such things.
Why the hell did I say I’d pick her up on Monday? I should have given myself more time to come up with something amazing. Still seated at his desk, he was staring out the window of his office when Marie knocked lightly on the door and entered. He stood to greet her.
Marie studied his face. “I’m glad to see you’re sporting fewer bruises these days.”
Jeremy smiled. Marie’s visit felt like sunshine after a storm: welcome, warm, and an uncomplicated joy. “Good to see you, Marie.” He held out a chair for her and sat across from her. “What brings you here?”
“Have you seen Jeisa since you returned?”
He felt his face redden. “Yes.”
“So, you know she’s quitting?”
“I talked her into staying for one more week. She and I will be at the Andrades’ house with you for Thanksgiving.”
“That’s wonderful! How did you convince her?”
His face warmed even more.
A huge smile lit Marie’s face. “You don’t know how happy this makes me.”
Jeremy cleared his throat and cautioned, “Marie, don’t make it more than it is. We haven’t even had our first date yet.”
“Well, what are you waiting for?”
He leaned back in his chair and covered his face with one hand. “I told her I’d pick her up on Monday morning and to have an overnight bag ready.”
“You did that?” Marie asked with happy surprise.
Jeremy grinned, unable to conceal the pride he felt in his confident order. “I did.” Then he sobered. “Now I have to figure out where to take her. Where did Dominic take Abby on their first date?”
Suddenly serious, Marie leaned over and placed a hand on Jeremy’s. “It doesn’t matter where they went. This journey is all about you and Jeisa.”
Jeremy shrugged, uncomfortable with her correction. “I don’t want to disappoint her.”
Marie lightly squeezed his hand. “When a man plans something special for a woman he cares about, there’s no room for disappointment. Choose something you know she enjoys doing.”
Feeling a weight settle on his chest, Jeremy admitted, “That’s a problem, then, because we’ve spent most of our time together talking about my goals and what I want. I don’t really know what she likes.”
Marie smiled again. “She likes you. Even I know that. A smart man like you will figure the rest out.”
Jeremy stood, sudden inspiration hitting him. “I’ve got it.” He returned to his desk and started typing on his laptop. “You’re a genius, Marie. I know how to find out what she likes.”
Marie went to stand behind him. “Jeremy.” She stretched out his name as a warning.
Jeremy was too excited by what he was uncovering to let her concern slow him down. “She doesn’t even use numbers or symbols in her passwords. That was the easiest code to break. I’ll have to talk to her about that.”
Marie put a hand on his shoulder. “This wasn’t what I meant, Jeremy.”
Jeremy pointed to his screen and said, “Marie, you said that I need to know what she likes. Well, what better way to do that than to check out her recent searches online?” He tapped the screen when a local florist came up. “She has a standing order for a weekly delivery of a bouquet of flowers native to Brazil, but she states that she wants it to be different each week.” He took a moment to digest what it meant. “So, she misses Brazil and likes surprises.” He continued to scroll through the information, his fingers furiously taking him from link to link. He paused on one page and said, “Hey, she searched for information about me while I was gone.” He smiled back at Marie, who simply shook her head at him.
His lightheartedness fell away as his searches revealed more. He covered the page with his hand when he stumbled upon a personal purchase. Heat filled his face. He said, “I love that she has one, but you shouldn’t see this, Marie.”
Marie stepped away from the computer and cautioned Jeremy, “Just because it’s easy for you to do, Jeremy, doesn’t make it right.”
Jeremy reassured her. “I won’t read more than I need. I promise. As soon as I find something that makes for a perfect date, I’ll stop.”
Marie leaned over and closed the laptop on his fingers. “Take her to California. There is a university out there that is working on a prototype for a toilet they say will improve the living conditions in third world countries. Jeisa is very interested in that research. Interested enough to consider moving out there to be part of the project.”
Jeremy eased his fingers out of his laptop. His own mother had never tried to rein him in, perhaps because she’d always felt guilty for how much she’d asked of him. Marie had no such qualms. He had a greater respect for her and her relationship with Dominic now that he’d seen this side of her.
Toilets?
Marie was never wrong, but Jeisa hadn’t given any indication of being interested in them.
Toilets, huh? He couldn’t suppress his smile. Is it possible that beneath her sexy façade there beats the heart of a geek?
While cautiously watching Marie out of the corner of his eye, he slowly reopened his laptop and did a quick search for the project she’d mentioned. After reading the university’s article on the subject, he said, “These prototypes are amazing! And solar powered. That is so cool. The site talks about saving the world and I can see how they could. Just amazing.”
He closed the laptop and looked across at Marie dubiously. “Can I really build a romantic trip around visiting a waste-disposal facility?”
Marie smiled, her good mood returning. “Normally, I would say no, but it’s a passion of Jeisa’s. You know how they say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach? The way to a woman’s heart is through appreciating whatever she loves. Let me make a few phone calls. I’ll set everything up. All you have to do is get in the limo I send for you.”
Jeremy crossed the room and hugged Marie. She protested lightly and brushed him away, but she was smiling as she did so.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Marie.”
Her smile was kind when she said, “I get that a lot.”
Jeremy stared absently out the window long after Marie had left his office. His phone rang several times, but he didn’t answer it. His body might still have been in the office, but his heart and mind were already imagining California with Jeisa.
On Monday morning, poised on the edge of her couch, Jeisa started to text Jeremy but then deleted the partially written message. Instead, she reread the earlier text he’d sent her.
“See you at eight.”
Not, “I love you.”
Not, “I can’t stop thinking about you.”
Just, “See you at eight.”
Oh, my God, what if he didn’t really mean it about the overnight bag? Or he might have changed his mind. What if he met up with Alethea over the weekend?
I’m not sixteen. I know the rules.
Rule number one in the book of how to protect your heart: Do not go away with a man who loves another woman. It only leads to heartache.
Rule number two: Do not spend the weekend shopping and having your hair done for a date you are not going on. If you forget why, refer to rule number one.
Rule number three: Do not sit on your couch, dressed to impress, for an hour before said date with an overnight bag by the door and then overthink the situation. If you’ve decided to throw caution to the wind and do something you know is wrong, at least try to enjoy yourself.
Jeisa jumped off the couch at the first knock. She smoothed the skirt of her dress and answered the door. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw Jeremy.
Dressed in one of the designer suits she’d chosen for him, he held out a bouquet of red begonias.
Jeisa took the flowers. Beautiful and odd at the same time. Only Jeremy. She said, “I should probably put these in water.”
Neither of them moved.
Jeremy said, “You look amazing.”
Jeisa smiled and said, “So do you.”
Which earned her a smile in return.
Jeremy took her by the hand and said, “Don’t worry about the flowers. Let’s just grab your bag and go.”
Before we both change our minds. He didn’t have to say it.
Jeisa looked into those deep blue eyes and made a decision.
I want Jeremy.
For tonight, if that’s all we can have.
Screw playing it safe.
With that she threw the bouquet of flowers over her shoulder and into her apartment with abandon.
Jeremy laughed in surprise and pulled her to him for a crushing kiss, one that cleared her head of any lingering second thoughts and replaced them with a hum of need. The kiss deepened as his arms enfolded her and she sank into the bliss of his embrace.
When they were both shaking with need, Jeremy broke off the kiss, rested his forehead on hers, and said, “We’d better go.”
“Where?” she whispered.
He straightened and took her hand in one of his and her bag in the other. “It’s a surprise, but I think you’re really going to love it.”
Her heart tightened in her chest. I already do. That was never the problem.
Jeremy followed Jeisa into the back of the Hummer limo that Mrs. Duhamel had arranged for the date. Soft, romantic music filled the dimly lit interior. Jeisa looked uncertain where to sit and finally chose the back corner. Jeremy chose the seat next to her, but left a space between them.
She was nervous, and he felt ridiculous.
Get a grip.
We’ve ridden in dozens of limos together.
This time was different and they both knew it. As they pulled out into traffic his phone rang. Dammit, I should have turned it off. He decided to ignore it.
Jeisa looked across at him. “Aren’t you going to answer it?”
“No.”
It stopped ringing for a moment, then started up again.
Jeisa said, “Someone really wants to speak to you.”
With a sigh of resignation, Jeremy took out his phone and checked the caller ID. He groaned. “It’s my mother.”
Jeisa relaxed a bit and waved her hand. “She’s only going to worry if you don’t answer.”
“You’re right,” he said and swiped the phone’s screen with his thumb. Way to kill a mood. “Hi, Mom. Can I call you back tomorrow? I’m kind of busy right now.”
“You’re always busy lately,” his mother said with no intention of hanging up. “I miss you.”
Jeremy looked out the window and spoke softly, hoping his words were not audible to Jeisa. “I miss you, too.”
“Well, all I wanted to tell you is I changed my work schedule around so now I will be able to spend Thanksgiving with you and your friends.”
Oh, boy.
“Will Jeisa be there?” his mother asked.
“Yes,” Jeremy said and instantly regretted sharing that information. By the pleased expression on Jeisa’s face, he guessed she’d heard his mother’s question.
“Fantastic! Next time you see her, tell her I asked about her. She is so sweet. That’s the kind of woman I’d like you to marry one day.”
Oh, the universe has a sense of humor.
“Mom, I have to go.”
“I mean it, Jeremy. You’ve wasted enough time on that crazy redhead. You need a nice girl. You two would make the most beautiful children.”
Is it any wonder I’m still a virgin?
“Bye, Mom. I’ll call you when I get back.”
“Back from where? Where are you going?”
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he repeated and hung up.
A hint of self-doubt began to creep in and sour Jeremy’s mood. It doesn’t matter what suit I wear or how much money I make. Am I fooling myself to think I belong here? To think that someone as cultured and beautiful as Jeisa could really want a man like me?
The warmth of Jeisa’s hand on one of his thighs jolted him. He swung around and found that she had closed the distance between them and was smiling sweetly up at him.
“I think it’s beautiful that you’re close to your mother,” she said and gave his thigh a supportive squeeze.
He laid his hand over hers on his leg and said, “I’m sorry. This isn’t how I imagined the beginning of our first date would go.”
A look came into Jeisa’s eyes that he hadn’t seen before, and the intensity of it shook him to the core. She said, “I don’t want to go on a date with the man you think you need to be to impress me. I love the man you are.”
“Love?” Jeremy gulped hard.
Jeisa nodded.
When he said nothing, a hurt darkened her eyes. She said, “I know you’re not in the same place I am, but I thought you should know.” Her voice was thick with emotion.
Love.
Shit.
The words took root in his heart and a warmth spread through him. Jeisa loves me.
Then panic stole his breath. Jeisa loves me. None of the etiquette lessons she’d given him had prepared him for what to say when he couldn’t sincerely parrot the words back. Do you thank someone for their honesty? Do you pretend you didn’t hear it?
Oh, look at her face.
She really wants me to say it back.
A thousand wild emotions rushed through him.
Last week I still thought I wanted to be with Alethea.
I’m not ready for love.
I care about Jeisa.
I want to be with her tonight.
That’s not love.
I can’t say something I don’t mean just to get in her pants. She deserves better than that.
She deserves honesty.
He cleared his throat awkwardly and said, “I don’t know what I feel, Jeisa, or where this is going. If you want me to drop you back off at your apartment, I can do that.”
Those brown eyes of hers darkened further as she asked, “Is that what you want?”
He squeezed her hand beneath his and said, “No. I want to spend this week with you.” As he said the words, his confidence in what he wanted from her grew. Yes, he would love to explore her incredible body and discover what it’s like to sink into the hot, welcoming center of a woman, but he wanted something else even more. “We don’t have to have sex. I want to get to know you. I want to know what you like, and what you hate. The past few months have been about me. I want this week to be about you.”
She met his eyes and seemed to be debating something. “I’ll give you one week. But if you don’t know how you feel by Thanksgiving, I’m leaving and I won’t want to see you again. Promise me that you’ll respect that.”
Jeremy considered her beautiful face, her kind eyes, and pulled her closer. He hugged her into his chest and tucked her head beneath his chin. He tried to lighten the mood with a joke. “It’s going to be embarrassing if I have to return the value pack of condoms to the pharmacy.”
She sat back, some of her sadness dissipating, and swatted at him. “Value pack?”
He pulled her back into his side and said, “One didn’t seem like enough—we do have a whole week.”
She chuckled into his chest. “You’re an ass.”
He hugged her tighter.
I am, but hopefully it’s a temporary condition.
Chapter Seven
When the limousine pulled onto a private airfield just outside Boston and stopped alongside a 757 jumbo jet, the light conversation Jeisa and Jeremy had maintained for the last twenty minutes came to an abrupt end as her jaw dropped. She looked from the jet across to Jeremy, and then back to the supersized aircraft. “Oh, my God!”
Jeremy guided her out of the limo and up the stairs to the jet. The attendants stood back, present and welcoming but unobtrusive. The room just inside the aircraft was
furnished with cream-colored leather chairs and couches which surrounded a dark wooden table. The walls were covered with silk and accented with gold.
“Would you like a tour?” a woman in a formal tan suit asked. She then led them through the plane, describing the contents of each opulent room as they passed through it.
Jeremy took Jeisa’s hand in his and flushed a bit. “Is this where I confess that Marie helped me plan out the details of the trip? The jet I rented was about a quarter of this size.”
A wave of relief flooded Jeisa. This isn’t the one he rented for Alethea.
Jeisa had grown up in the comfort of an upper-middle-class Brazilian family, but this kind of wealth was beyond anything she was used to. The jet made a statement, and it was a bold one.
She and Jeremy followed the attendant through a dining area, past the guest bedroom, and into a master suite that was another exercise in luxurious excess. Gold-plated fixtures in the master bath. Mohair furniture embroidered with emblems that were repeated on the accent pillows throughout the room. A king-sized bed was the focal point of the suite.
Hand in hand, Jeisa and Jeremy stood at the foot of it. The attendant said, “We leave in about ten minutes. Make yourselves comfortable. You’ll have absolute privacy unless you’d like something, in which case just press the button on this screen. We have a fully stocked kitchen and bar.”
Jeremy was the first to speak after the attendant left. He said, “I bet this is one of Dominic’s.”
Jeisa nodded. It made sense.
“That makes this his bed,” he said with a light laugh in his voice. He ran a hand over his face. “Even if you throw yourself at me, we can’t use this room.”
Jeisa looked up at Jeremy from beneath long lashes. “What makes you think I’m going to throw myself at you?”
Jeremy turned her toward him and put his hands on her hips. “A man can hope, can’t he?” And he lowered his mouth to hers. Between kisses he said, “We don’t have to take it further, but I can’t help myself. I’ve thought about kissing you all day.”
The Legacy Collection Box Set Page 61