Jeisa wiped away tears that started streaming down her cheeks.
Once Jeremy started talking, the story came out of him like water over a dam that had held back too much for too long. “He passed away during what would have been my last year of high school.”
“And?”
“And I discovered that high school wasn’t all I’d dreamed it would be. I attended for about a week before it was painfully obvious that I didn’t fit in.”
“Oh, Jeremy,” Jeisa said, her voice thick with emotion.
He didn’t look away. He didn’t have to. This was Jeisa, his best friend. “We are what we know. I had weird little habits I wasn’t even aware of at the time. Some of them I’ve eradicated, some still crop up now and then. Hoarding food is one of them. My mother worked two jobs to pay for the nurses and medication my father needed. Sometimes we didn’t have money for groceries. I used to steal food from anywhere we visited. Sometimes I still catch myself filling my pockets if I’m somewhere I don’t feel comfortable.”
Jeisa nodded with understanding. “That’s very common in children who were neglected.”
Jeremy’s head whipped back and hot anger surfaced. “I was not neglected. My mother is one of the strongest women I know. She could have left him when things got hard, but she didn’t.”
The touch of Jeisa’s hand on Jeremy’s cheek calmed him. He hadn’t realized until just then how raw his emotions still were on some topics.
She said, “No, but you paid a hefty price for that decision.”
He didn’t agree, or was it that he had never allowed himself to consider it? “When you love someone, you do what you have to do, not what’s easy. We made it work. Who knows who I would be today had she chosen another path? I used that time at home to learn about computers and to hone a skill that is more marketable than any college degree would have been.”
“And Alethea?”
He didn’t want to discuss her, not now, not with Jeisa, but he did because he knew she needed to understand. “I met her online when I was fifteen and we’ve kept in contact since then.” He thought back to the first time he’d met Alethea in person, tall and lean with a riot of sophisticated red hair and a dangerous gleam in her eyes. “She was everything I wasn’t. She was popular, rich, and crazy enough to do just about anything for the bragging rights of saying she did it. I used to tell myself if it weren’t for my father, I would have been the same.”
“But you never dated?”
Jeremy shook his head. “You saw the way I was. I was so far out of her league it’s amazing she used to visit me at all.”
Jeisa hugged his chest. “No, it isn’t.”
Jeremy’s heart warmed at Jeisa’s words. With fresh eyes he looked back at the times he’d spent with Alethea. He realized that the memories he had of her were tied more to his desire to feel worthy of her than to actually wanting to be with her physically. He’d never seen their relationship in that way before, but when he compared how he felt about Jeisa to his feelings for Alethea—there was no comparison.
Alethea was a boyhood dream.
Jeisa is the woman I love.
Every muscle in Jeremy’s body tightened as the realization hit him hard.
I love Jeisa. She is the first person I want to share good news with, and the only one I feel truly comfortable sharing my shortcomings with. I’m a better person because she came into my life. He looked down into her upturned face and smiled. And she loves me.
Why the hell are we pretending to watch this movie?
He had to tell her. “Jeisa—”
She put a finger on his lips and silenced his words with hers, saying, “I’m tired of talking about Alethea.”
Me, too, Jeremy thought and pulled Jeisa onto his lap.
The ability to speak left him when she lifted her dress over her head, filling his vision with her beautiful, full breasts. There would be plenty of time to tell her about his revelations.
Later.
For the moment, all he could think about was how he was going to employ every technique he’d read about until she was screaming his name as she came over and over again. And then, when she was quivering and almost spent, he was going to sink into her and claim her as he brought her to yet another orgasm.
He wasn’t sure how many times a woman could climax in one session, but he’d always liked to push the limits of what was considered possible. It was how he’d become so good at hacking. You don’t ask yourself if something can be done. You choose your path and do whatever it takes.
Again and again.
All day long.
As often and as creatively as necessary.
Back in the guestroom of the jet, Jeisa woke slowly without opening her eyes. Every muscle in her body was relaxed, every inch of her sated. A satisfied smile curled the corners of her mouth as she remembered how she and Jeremy had spent the last several hours.
Holy shit.
The way he’d explored her—worshipped every corner of her with his tongue and hands—was gloriously insane. She’d thought she knew the difference between good sex and bad sex . . . or at least mediocre sex. She had no idea her body was capable of reaching multiple orgasms again and again. Like fad diets that promised crazy results, she’d always assumed those how-to articles were all sensation and very little reality.
Until Jeremy.
What he lacked in experience he more than made up for in enthusiasm and attention to detail. I don’t really care where he takes me. I may never have the energy to move again.
As if sensing her thoughts, he shifted against her back. His strong arm pulled her tighter against him, but he didn’t wake. Their spree had apparently left him just as spent.
This is what I get for not telling him that he was amazing the first time. Jeremy sees failure as a challenge. I’d better give him some good news about his performance after this or it’ll be like this every time.
Jeisa smiled at the thought.
Which might not be such a bad thing, she thought and chuckled.
“Are you okay?” a deep male voice asked in her ear before he nuzzled it and relaxed again.
Outside of the emotional roller coaster I’m on?
Sure.
Jeisa rolled over in his arms and tucked one of hers beneath her head. Nothing in her experience had prepared her for Jeremy, and she didn’t mean his sexual talent. The thought of losing him now was unimaginably heartbreaking, and she wasn’t one who normally mourned the end of a relationship.
Because I’ve never been in love before. What she’d thought was love now seemed so shallow and juvenile to her. A part of her was terrified of how their week together would end. He couldn’t share all of this with me and then choose her.
He cares about me. Please let that be enough.
She touched his cheek with one hand. “I’m more than okay.”
She felt his smile before she saw it.
Their eyes met and held for a long, suspenseful moment. He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and with a chuckle she admitted, “You’re incredible. Is that what you want to hear?”
His smile dimmed a bit and his eyes revealed the seriousness of his answer. “Only if it’s true.”
“Because you want to be better than anyone else?”
He laid his hand over hers on his face. “When it comes to you, yes.”
The way he was looking at her had her almost believing he could be in—
No, don’t do that to yourself.
Reading more into what he’s saying or trying to rush him will only lead to heartache. Give him his week and just try to enjoy this while it lasts.
In case it doesn’t.
He was still watching her.
Still waiting.
Post-sex commentary wasn’t comfortable for her. She looked at his chest as she spoke. “It’s never been like this for me before. I’ve had good sex, but until you, I never had great sex.”
He lifted her chin and smiled into her eyes. “I was afraid I might hav
e gotten a little carried away, but after the first time I wanted to make sure.”
God bless his dedication to mastery.
He rolled onto his back, pulling her with him so she was half-draped across his chest as it rumbled with humor beneath her. He stared up at the ceiling while absently running a finger down her bare back. “Jeisa, we need to talk . . .”
The pilot’s voice came over the intercom. “We have about twenty minutes before we begin our descent. You will want to secure yourself for landing at that time.”
Jeremy nodded and kissed Jeisa’s forehead, easing away from her and throwing the comforter back. Jeisa felt the physical separation like a loss. She sat up without thinking of covering herself.
She had to ask. “Jeremy, what were you going to say?”
He was already pulling his trousers up over his boxers. After he picked his shirt off the floor, he leaned down and gave her lips a quick kiss. “It can wait. Right now I am going to take the world’s fastest shower in the other room. I’d invite you to join me, but then we’d never make it to our appointment on time, and I can’t wait to see what you think.”
What I think?
We both know what I think.
You’re the wild card here.
He gathered his socks and shoes and bolted from the room. The plane banked, and Jeisa caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror across the room and shot out of bed.
Thankfully the plane had two showers. It was one thing to engage in a marathon of steamy sex and quite another thing to go out into public looking like you did.
Beneath the hot spray of water, Jeisa closed her eyes—at peace with the universe and completely sated. The plane dipped beneath her feet, shocking her into action.
Okay, okay.
She rushed through the rest of her shower and threw on a form-fitting orange dress in record time. The lightest touches of makeup, a quick brush of her hair, and she made it to the seat beside Jeremy with very little time to spare. He handed her a seat belt and then secured himself.
Landing was a reminder that not everything lasts forever. Not their flight. Maybe not their time together.
“You look . . .” Jeremy’s voice trailed away as the words eluded him.
“I hope the word you’re searching for is ‘beautiful,’” Jeisa joked, but the heat in his eyes replaced her humor with an emotion so poignant that Jeisa suddenly felt uncertain. “Where are we going?”
With some relief, Jeremy regained his composure. “I told you, it’s a surprise. You’ll have to wait and see.”
Jeisa looked out the window as the jet touched down with a few light bumps and decided that surprises were overrated. One moment she had felt a joy unlike any she’d imagined possible, then her mood had flipped and she wanted to run back to Boston. Try as she might, she didn’t feel there was much chance that she was going to enjoy this surprise, considering that her nerves were already beginning to fray.
When the plane came to a stop, Jeremy linked his fingers through Jeisa’s, and she turned back to meet his eyes. With his free hand, he undid his buckle and then hers, and pulled her out of her chair into his arms. “Trust me,” he said, misunderstanding her mood as anxiety related to their outing.
“I do,” she whispered and meant it, meeting his kiss halfway.
I just don’t know how I’ll survive if you tell me this isn’t what you want.
Chapter Eight
Stepping out of the limo and into the faculty parking lot of the Watts Institute of Technology, Jeisa was overcome with emotion. Not only was it one of the country’s most prestigious schools, but it was also the home of the Global Water Project—the same grant-funded initiative she’d told Marie it was her dream to work for. She was familiar with the building they were about to enter because it was featured in almost every documentary she’d watched on the project. Of all the places Jeremy could have taken her on their first date, bringing her to the doorstep of her life’s ambition felt a bit surreal and took their excursion to a whole new level. She clung to his hand, too overwhelmed to speak.
Looking a bit uncomfortable, Jeremy confessed, “I guess I can tell you now. Marie told me you were interested in a certain project to help third world countries. We looked into who was working on it and Marie took care of the rest. I thought you would want to see a demonstration and meet the team.”
“You set up a tour of the Global Water Project?” Hers was a rhetorical, wonder-filled request for confirmation rather than an actual question.
He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers before answering with humor. “Unless you’re harboring another waste-disposal fascination that you didn’t tell Marie about?”
Her eyes filled with instant tears, probably smearing some of her newly applied mascara. Jeisa wiped it away even as she looked up at Jeremy in awe. She was so happy she started to cry again. “I can’t believe you did this.”
He went pale and asked, “You’re saying that because you’re glad we’re here, right?”
She threw her arms around him and buried her wet face in his neck as she hugged him. “I love it! I absolutely love it!”
After only the slightest of hesitations, he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her shaking body to him. He murmured into her hair, “I just wanted to make sure.”
She tilted her head back and pulled his down so she could express in a kiss exactly how much the surprise had pleased her. With a teasing flick of the tongue, she deepened the kiss and reveled in how his tongue met hers with a hunger their earlier time together should have alleviated but hadn’t. Had they been somewhere private, she would have ripped his clothing from him and thanked him in a way he would not soon forget.
A young man’s voice spoke beside them, softly at first and then with increasing volume until neither she nor Jeremy could ignore the interruption. Jeremy broke off the kiss, but instead of instantly addressing the other man, he looked down into Jeisa’s eyes, and the fire she saw burning there tempted her to say they should forget about the tour and spend the rest of the day on the plane.
The man cleared his throat loudly and, in a tone that revealed his immense discomfort with the scene he’d just witnessed, said, “Excuse me, Mr. Kater?”
With a shake of his head, Jeremy turned and put out a hand to greet the man, even as he pulled Jeisa close to his side. Jeisa couldn’t help herself—she wrapped both arms around Jeremy’s waist and hugged him tight, then wiped a stray tear from one of her cheeks.
Jeremy laughed at the man’s expression. “She really likes toilets.”
The man had brown hair, was of average build, and looked to be in his mid-twenties. His honey-colored round-rimmed glasses made him appear a bit bug-eyed, and his plaid shirt and argyle sweater gave him a geeky look. He smiled at Jeremy’s comment. “No one here would consider that odd. It’s one of our obsessions. My name is Henry. I’m one of the post-grad students working on the project and Dr. Wheaton asked me to be your tour guide today.”
Jeisa pried herself from Jeremy’s clutch and also shook the man’s hand. “Thank you for letting us visit your facility. My name is Jeisa. You have no idea how much this means to me.”
Henry shook her hand and grew more flustered the longer she looked at him. He quickly broke off contact with her and returned his attention to Jeremy. “We were told that one of you might be interested in joining us on the post-production side.”
Jeremy nodded toward Jeisa. “That would be Jeisa.”
Jeisa breathed out a dreamy sigh. “I’d love to help in any way I could.”
Jeremy looked down at her and asked, “You believe in the project that much?”
What she might have protected from another man, she didn’t feel she needed to hide from Jeremy. He’d said that he wanted to know her and he was honest to a fault. She nodded slowly. “Yes, I do.”
He took her hand in his and gave it a supportive squeeze. “Then so do I. Let’s go see what makes these toilets so amazing.”
During the tour th
at followed, Jeisa was sure that Jeremy would lose interest, but he didn’t. And she herself was absolutely engrossed. Periodically she would realize that she was asking question after question without really giving Henry time to answer. She pondered the team’s decision to keep the prototype simple and inexpensive instead of using more cutting-edge technology. Yes, the units needed to be easy to maintain and had to be cost-effective, but some of the more expensive materials might survive extreme outdoor conditions longer. She inquired if their decisions had been influenced by budgetary concerns, and of course they partially had been.
I could change that. The thought echoed through her.
Too soon, Henry concluded the tour in the department’s office area. Jeremy assessed the variety of computers being used—everything from desktops to razor-thin tablets were scattered on the five desks that shared one large room. Without asking, Jeremy took a seat at one of the desks and turned the computer on. “Do you ever worry that someone may tamper with your records or steal your ideas?”
Henry rushed over to where Jeremy was seated. His voice went up a few octaves. “Most of what we do here is pretty transparent, since we hope the technology we’re designing is going to be utilized by many countries in the future. But we do have some sensitive information on our server that we safeguard.”
“What do you use? A closed network?” Jeremy typed something in even as Henry protested.
Suddenly sweaty, Henry said, “I don’t really know. Our IT guy sets it up for us.”
Jeremy kept typing. “Do you want to test how secure it is?”
Henry paled a bit and croaked, “No. I’m not authorized to okay that.”
Jeremy continued, regardless of Henry’s lack of permission. “Get your IT guy on the phone. I’ll ask him.”
Jeisa put her hand on Jeremy’s arm in caution. “Jeremy, what are you doing?”
Jeremy paused for a second. “This project is important to you. That makes it important to me. Do you know how much data the Waltons had stolen from them because they didn’t properly protect it? One day you’re designing a humanitarian Global Water Project, the next you see your invention powering drone missiles. Is that what you want?”
The Legacy Collection Box Set Page 63