She scrambled out of the tub. “No way. Keep your hands to yourself.”
Jake wiggled his brows at her. “What about my other body parts?”
“This is funny to you, isn’t it?” Eleanor said, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around herself. “It’s all one big joke.”
Jake stood up in the tub and Eleanor admired his soapy body. Goodness, he was a well-built man. From his broad shoulders to his tapered waist to his tight buns and thighs.
“See something you like?”
Eleanor looked up into his grinning eyes. “Nothing I haven’t seen before.”
He stepped out of the tub and grabbed himself a towel. “Does this mean the thrill is gone?”
She looked down at his arousal. “Apparently not for you.”
He rolled up his towel and swatted her bare thighs. “Now, don’t go hurting my feelings.”
“You know, Jake, sometimes I wonder what I see in you. You have the sensitivity of a door post.”
Jake pulled her to him and let her feel him taut against her. “You talk too much, woman.” He kissed her hard.
She gave herself to the kiss, admitting to herself it was somewhat erotic to think of her friends on the other side of the door while she and Jake made out.
Jake lifted his head. “Now that’s more like it. Do you want to get back in the tub?”
Eleanor actually considered his proposal, but her more conservative self won out. She pointed to the door. “You first.”
“Chicken,” Jake said, tightening his towel around his waist. “Am I decent?”
“As decent as you’re going to get,” she said, pushing him toward the door.
Jake opened the door and peeked out, scanning the master bedroom. “The coast is clear. They must be in the living room.”
Eleanor took a deep breath. “Lead the way then. Let’s get this over.”
She followed Jake through the bedroom, out into the hall, hoping her prayers would be answered and she’d be able to get to the guest room for her clothes before Megan saw her. It was not to be.
“You’re looking good in that towel, girl,” Megan said as soon as Jake and Eleanor walked out of the bedroom door.
“We’re a matching set,” Jake responded, and Eleanor was glad he’d spoken. All she wanted to do was separate Megan from that silly grin she wore.
“So I see,” Megan said, not taking her eyes off her friend.
Eleanor fingered her towel, then stepped away from Jake. “Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I’m going to change into something that covers a little bit more of my body.”
Megan grinned. “I guess you’d better. I wouldn’t want my Carl to get any ideas.”
“Megan,” Carl’s voice came from down the hall. “Leave them alone.”
Megan hunched up her shoulders and whispered, “I just love it when he goes Tarzan on me.” With that, she turned and went down the hall to Carl.
Eleanor almost ran to the spare bedroom, a chuckling Jake in her wake. He grabbed her when her towel hit the floor.
“How about a quickie?”
She reluctantly pushed away from him. “You’ve really lost your mind. They could hear us.”
He grabbed her again. “That’s the point. A bit dangerous, a bit forbidden.”
“No way.” She pushed him away and quickly donned her black satin panties and a pair of white cutoffs. “Stop staring and get dressed,” she ordered Jake, who stood studying her every move.
Jake looked as if he wasn’t going to do as she suggested, then he tossed her bra to her. “Put this on so I can concentrate.”
She quickly fastened the bra and slipped her T-shirt on over it. “Okay, slow poke, I’ll see you when you’re dressed.” She dropped a kiss on his forehead as he riffled through his dresser looking for something to wear.
***
“You looked better in the towel,” Megan said when Eleanor joined her and Carl in the living room.
“Thanks a lot.” The sight of the two of them curled in each other’s arms on the couch as if they’d been together forever caused a budding of envy to settle in Eleanor’s stomach. “Why are you two back so soon? I thought you’d be away at least another day.”
Megan pouted her red-glossed lips. “I wanted to stay, but Mr. Responsibility here started getting the guilts. He had to come back to the paper.”
“Thanks, Carl,” Eleanor said, then remembered a conversation she’d had with Jake about showing more appreciation for Carl. “We certainly missed you around the paper. It made me realize how much we count on you. I don’t tell you often, but we really do appreciate what you do and we’re glad to have you on our team.”
The shock in Carl’s eyes took Eleanor by surprise. “What?” she asked. “You don’t believe me?”
Carl shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. “I never thought I’d hear you admit it.”
“Well, even old dogs can learn new tricks.”
Jake entered the room dressed in khaki shorts and a regulation New York Giants football jersey. “Who’s an old dog?”
“Eleanor,” Megan quickly chimed in.
Jake draped an arm around her shoulder. “I wouldn’t call you a dog, honey. A tigress maybe, but definitely not a dog.”
Eleanor colored, Megan laughed, and Carl grinned.
“What happened while we were away?” Carl asked.
Jake looked from him to Megan. “If you can’t guess, it won’t do me any good to tell you.”
Megan giggled.
“Stop with the innuendoes, Jake,” Eleanor warned, slapping his wrists.
Jake dropped down on the couch and pulled Eleanor onto his lap, ignoring her discomfort in the company of Megan and Carl. In the almost two weeks Megan and Carl had been away, he’d gotten used to having her close. He wasn’t going to give that up now. “Tell us about your trip,” he said to Megan and Carl.
Carl and Megan told the story together, with Carl giving the highlights and Megan filling in the details.
After a few minutes of this, Jake whispered to a fidgety Eleanor, “You’d better stop wiggling before I embarrass us both.”
Eleanor immediately stopped moving. Megan giggled, Jake groaned, and Carl resumed his story.
***
“Mat, you need to get away. You’re worrying about them too much.”
Mathias rested his chin on his hand propped on the desk. “I should never have let him move out.”
“Come on, Mat. Jake is a grown man. There was no way you could make him stay at your house if he didn’t want to.”
Mathias leaned back in his chair and breathed deeply. “He’s sleeping with her on a regular basis.”
Randolph could barely contain his excitement. If Jake and Eleanor were sleeping together, maybe he’d have that grandchild a lot sooner than he expected. He didn’t think it was wise to mention that to Mathias, though. No, Mathias wouldn’t appreciate it. “Why don’t you come up next weekend? I’m giving another party.” When Mathias hesitated, Randolph urged, “Come on. It’ll do you good.”
“I don’t know . . .”
“You’re sounding like an old woman, Mat. You have to trust Eleanor. She’s a grown woman. You need to treat her like one.”
Mathias knew Randolph was right. His Eleanor was a good girl. That was what had him worried. If Eleanor was sleeping with Jake, it meant she thought she was in love with him. He knew his daughter that well.
But Jake was the unknown. He knew Jake was a good man, but he was still a man. Mathias wasn’t so old he didn’t realize a man didn’t have to be in love, or even in like, to have sex. Particularly good sex. “Do you think Jake cares about her, Randy?”
“I know he does,” Randolph said without hesitation. “You should have seen them when they were here, Mat. Jake couldn’t keep his eyes off her.” Randolph chuckled at the thought. “The only person that kept his attention more was her date. Jake may not know it yet, but Eleanor is the one.�
��
“I certainly hope so. I don’t want my little girl’s heart broken.” Randolph sighed. “I can’t promise her heart won’t be broken, Mat. I loved Tammy, but there were times I thought my heart was going to split in half. I bet Barbara sent you through some rough times as well.”
Mathias remembered with glad sadness the times he’d made Barbara cry and the times she’d driven him to beat his head against the wall. He shook his head. Why did love have to involve pain?
“You know I’m right, Mat,” Randolph said, interrupting his thoughts. “Either one or both of them is going to feel like their heart is breaking before this is over.”
“How can you be so calm about it? Aren’t you worried about Jake?”
Randolph sighed. “He’s my boy, Mat. Of course I worry about him. I worry about him growing old and alone. I worry about him looking back and regretting his carefree youth. I don’t worry about him loving Eleanor. She’s right for him. When you first met Jake, you thought he was right for Eleanor, too.”
“That was before he slept with her,” Mat mumbled, not yet ready to give up his position.
“How about it, Mat?”
“How about what?”
“You coming to New York. It’ll do you good.”
“I’ll think about it,” Mathias hedged, not sure he wanted to leave town at this point. What if Eleanor needed him?
“You know, Mat, you and I have been the best fathers we knew how to be. I think getting Jake and Eleanor together is the last thing we should do. They’re grown. They need their own lives and we need ours.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Randolph cleared his throat. “Jake might not be the first Mason man to the altar.”
Mathias straightened in his chair. “What are you saying, Mat?”
“Maybe I want to get married, too. Maybe I don’t want to live out the rest of my days alone.”
Mathias snorted. “You haven’t exactly been alone.”
“You know what I mean. I can’t believe you haven’t thought about it. Are you still seeing Maxie on the quiet?”
***
Jake grabbed the ringing phone on his way out of the office for lunch. Eleanor had already gone home for a swim and he thought he’d surprise her.
“Hello,” he said, hoping this call would be short. He loved seeing Eleanor in her bathing suit.
“Jake, it’s me, Buddy. Do you have a few minutes?”
Jake sighed. This was the second time he’d talked to his old college acquaintance, Broderick “Buddy” Hamilton, since he’d been in Lamar. “A couple. What do you want?”
“How about coming over to Welles for dinner? My old man wants to meet you.”
Jake looked at Eleanor’s chair. He’d done enough research on Hamilton News since his first conversation with Buddy to know Eleanor would consider his visit to the Hamiltons of Hamilton News Company a mistake. “What’s this about?”
Buddy laughed. “Don’t be paranoid. Consider it one college pal being hospitable to another. That’s the benefit of a Yale degree. Networking. Contacts.”
Jake leaned back in his chair. “So this is business.”
“I won’t lie to you, Jake. My dad and I have some ideas for the Lamar Daily we’d like to toss at you.”
Tell me something I don’t know. “Why aren’t you discussing these ideas with the Sanders? It’s their paper, after all.”
“The word on the street is that Mason Publishing is taking over.”
“Not taking over. There’ll be a merger, but control of the paper will remain with the Sanders family.”
Buddy chuckled. “Maybe that’s the way it’ll start, but you know as well as I do that the health of Mason Publishing comes first. Maybe we can make a deal that’ll leave all parties happy.”
“The question still remains: Why haven’t you come to Sanders with this deal if it’s so reasonable?”
Buddy sighed. “Sanders and his daughter are unreasonable. They aren’t moved by money. They won’t even listen to our plan.”
“Maybe they have good reason.”
“Look,” Buddy defended. “What happened with the Gaines Weekly was a one-time thing. That’s not the way Hamilton News normally does business.”
Jake wasn’t too sure. He’d become skeptical of Hamilton News when he’d learned how they’d bought the Gaines Weekly one day and dismantled it a week later, deciding it was more cost-effective to have the paper in a larger town nearby, which they also owned, do weekly inserts for Gaines instead of producing a weekly Gaines paper. “I’m not sure I believe that, Buddy.”
“Come on, Jake. This discussion we want to have is bigger than any one newspaper, including the Lamar Daily. Much bigger. At least hear us out. If you don’t like the deal, there is no deal. If you like it, then we can talk. No strings.”
Jake looked at his watch. “I’ll think about this, Buddy, and let you know. I have to go now.”
Jake said his goodbyes, hung up, and rushed out of the office to meet Eleanor. His instincts told him to have the meeting with Buddy. Maybe he’d get some information that he could use to sweeten the Mason-Sanders merger.
***
Eleanor, dressed in his favorite white thong swimsuit, was already in the pool when he arrived.
“What took you so long?” she asked when he dived in after her.
“I’m a busy newspaperman. Emergencies come up all the time.”
“Bah.” She kicked water in his face and swam away from him.
“You’re going to pay for that,” he challenged, charging out after her.
After an hour or so of enjoying Jake’s company, Eleanor swam to the side of the pool and hoisted herself out. “I’m tired.”
Jake swam to her and grabbed both her legs in his arms. “I’m not,” he said, eyes dancing.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” she said, knowing where his thoughts were. “We have to get back to work.”
“You’re the boss. You don’t have to be anywhere.”
She pulled away from him before she gave in to the temptation he posed. “Not today.”
He lifted himself up and sat next to her. “What do you know about Hamilton News?” he asked casually, drying himself with a towel.
“They’re scumbags as far as I’m concerned.” She went on to repeat the story of the Gaines Weekly. “They come to us every year with some wacko idea or another. We don’t even bother to listen.” She paused. “Why the sudden interest?”
Jake stood up, extended his hand to her, and helped her to her feet. “I got a call from Broderick Hamilton.”
She stared up at him, her fingers tightening on his hand. “What? Why is Broderick Hamilton calling you?”
“There’s nothing to be excited about,” he said, rubbing her hand with his thumb in an effort to calm her. “Buddy and I are old college acquaintances.”
She released his hand and stepped back a few steps from him. “And?”
Jake picked up his towel and casually threw it across his shoulder. “He wants to have dinner with me.”
“Just dinner?” she questioned, her eyes sharp with skepticism.
He moved close to her and pulled her into his arms. “That’s all. You’re welcome to come along if you like.”
Eleanor shook her head, then relaxed against him. “That’s not necessary. You go if you want, but don’t believe anything they tell you about the Lamar Daily, Jake. They’ve wanted our paper for a long time, but they’re never going to get a piece of it.”
Jake thought about her words, and wondered, not for the first time, if Eleanor was too emotional about the paper. He believed the sense of responsibility she felt for the paper kept her from doing some of the things she really wanted to do. He knew how much she wanted to work on Our Family, but she was going to deny herself that joy because she couldn’t see turning over control of the Lamar Daily to anyone else.
That didn’t seem right to Jake. He could hardl
y wait to dive into the new magazine and he wanted her to share that joy with him. Somehow he knew that his future and Eleanor’s was with Our Family, not the Lamar Daily.
He made up his mind then. He was going to have dinner with Buddy Hamilton. What harm could it be to listen to what the man had to say?
***
Jake spread the final sheet on the desk in front of Carl and ran his index finger down the last column. “So what do you think?”
“I think Eleanor is not going to understand.”
“I didn’t ask you that,” Jake said, knowing Carl was right. Since his meeting with Buddy last week, he’d tried to think of a way to tell Eleanor of his revised plans for the merger without her discarding them out of hand. He hadn’t come up with one. Yet. “I asked what you thought about the idea. Let me worry about Eleanor.”
“It’s a great idea, you know that, but is it worth Eleanor?”
“I told you. I’ll worry about Eleanor.” And he was worried about her. When he’d agreed to meet with Buddy, he’d had no idea the Hamiltons would suggest such a viable venture. When he’d heard their proposal, he’d known immediately that it was the angle he’d been looking for to impress his father. So, even though he knew Eleanor didn’t trust the Hamiltons and wanted no association with them, he’d considered their deal. And when he’d presented a counterproposal with conditions that safeguarded the Lamar Daily and Mason Publishing, he’d been surprised and elated the Hamiltons had accepted it.
“Why will you worry about me?” Eleanor asked as she entered the office she shared with Jake.
Jake stopped his musing and got up, covertly turning over the pages he’d been showing Carl. “What are you doing here?” He bussed her cheek. “I thought you were taking the afternoon off.”
Eleanor glanced at Carl. “Is he trying to get rid of me?”
Carl raised both hands. “I’m not in this.” He nodded to Jake. “See you later, man.”
Eleanor watched Carl leave the room, then turned to Jake. “What was that all about?”
Jake shook his head and pulled her to him. “Nothing.”
“Jake, we shouldn’t.”
He touched his lips to hers. “Why shouldn’t we?”
She gave in to the kiss, then stepped away from him. “We decided to keep our relationship out of the office. No kissing, no touching.”
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