His grip on me relaxed, and he lowered my body onto the cushion of the chair. I drew my legs down, aware of a sudden onset of weakness.
Jack remained on his knees between my legs with his eyes closed and his body glistening with sweat. He was breathless, so I pulled on his arm, coaxing his body back onto mine. He collapsed into my embrace.
I held him, unconcerned with the weight of him upon my chest or to the heat that radiated off his body. I wrapped my legs back around Jack’s with my feet resting on the backs of his knees. Tracing my fingertips along his back, I whispered my gratitude to him over and over again in hopes of relaxing him. It worked and soon his arms reciprocated the embrace. We were both quiet, and as I held onto him my thoughts began to wander.
I wanted to tell Jack Evans I had fallen in love with him, but I couldn’t find a way to do so. I doubted my ability to make him happy, so I kept the words to myself.
WHEN THE sunlight appeared, I did my best to put on a brave face. The prospect of sleeping alone at day’s end was an unwelcome one. Just thinking about that empty bed in my condominium brought tears to my eyes.
Jack was still in this bed with me, so I placed an arm over my eyes in an effort to disguise my emotions. Almost immediately, the soothing touch of his fingers slid along my arm.
“Good morning.” His voice was happy.
I raised my arm just enough to uncover one eye and turned my head in his direction.
“Hey.” Compared to his, my voice was croaked and thick.
His eyes took in my guarded expression. “Is something wrong?”
I shook my head and cleared my throat. “It’s just … um … it’s just so bright in here.”
We watched one another for a few seconds.
“Are you hungry?”
I shook my head as my arm dropped back down over my eye. “I’m too ravaged to be hungry.”
Jack laughed and I smiled, my sadness now forgotten. Emerging from my shell, I rolled on top of him and hovered just above him with the tips of my breasts skimming his chest.
“What about you?” I asked as he caressed my backside.
“Starving,” he whispered.
“Well. I can’t blame you for that,” I said, playing it safe. “You’ve earned your breakfast. What do you want to do?”
Jack raised his hips to meet mine and smiled. There was nothing subtle about that.
I pursed my lips in mock seriousness and playfully waggled a finger. “Don’t distract yourself now.”
He pushed against my body again but with more insistence and coaxed a low moan from me.
“Do you want anything?” he asked.
“I’ll always want you. But let’s worry about feeding you first. Where do you want to go?”
I went to move to the edge of the bed, but Jack’s arms held me in place. I looked at him with amused curiosity.
“I don’t want to waste our morning getting dressed and going out. Let’s order room service.”
I arched an eyebrow and grinned. “Naked breakfast?”
Jack sat up and kissed the tip of my nose before flipping me on my back.
“We didn’t get breakfast in bed last time, remember? I’ll grab the menu.” Jack rose from the mattress, and I was delighted to reacquaint my eyes with his lean body in the light of day. As soon as he found the room service menu, he returned to my side and I snuggled up against him.
“I chose our breakfast before.” He opened the menu above us. “So why don’t you choose this time?”
“I don’t bother with much more than coffee when I travel,” I confessed. “If anything, I just have some fruit and toast.”
Jack mumbled disapprovingly.
I took the hint. “We both need a protein boost though, so add some scrambled eggs and bacon.”
“I’m adding some potatoes, too. Do you want some juice?”
“Orange juice sounds good.”
Jack set the menu aside and ran his fingers through my hair. “I’ll call it in. Do you want to take another bubble bath while we wait? I’ll run it for you.”
“That’s sweet, but you don’t have to.”
“Sure I do. I don’t want you to get dressed yet, and I can’t have anyone else seeing you naked when they bring our food up.”
Jack enjoyed taking care of me, and despite my fair level of independence, I found that I enjoyed it. He didn’t make me feel childish or helpless. In fact, I felt beautiful. Celebrated.
I agreed and within a few minutes, I was settled in the tub, determined to cherish each remaining second of our morning together. I let go of the lingering tension and even giggled as Jack closed the bathroom door when our meal arrived. As Jack directed the placement of our breakfast dishes, I stepped from the tub.
I dried myself with one towel before wrapping my body with another. As I returned to the main room, our breakfast waited on the work desk. Jack was sitting up in the bed, shirtless, the sheets drawn up to his waist.
I strolled over to him and lifted the edge of the sheets. “Still naked, I see. Did you answer the door like that?”
He hooked one finger into the seam of my towel.
“Speaking of which,” he murmured. “You’re a little overdressed.” He yanked the bath towel from my body and tossed it to the floor.
I casually glanced down at my body. “I don’t know, Jack. I’m not sure naked breakfast is considered good naked.”
Jack tilted his head to better observe my breasts. “Jerry Seinfeld didn’t have you to look at. Believe me, there is no such thing as bad naked.”
“I’ll remember you said that.”
“Please do,” he answered with sincerity before patting my side of the mattress. “Come back to bed, and I’ll bring our food over.”
“No crumbs in the sheets. I may not be done with you just yet.” I settled myself on the bed, and soon we were enjoying our breakfast. I was hungrier than I’d realized. For a few minutes, all conversation halted as we satisfied our appetites.
Once our eating slowed, Jack said, “I want to talk with you about something. I was going to wait, but maybe it’s better to talk now while we still have some privacy.”
I paused mid-bite on a strawberry and tried not to jump to any immediate conclusions. “Okay.”
Jack stroked my knee. “Please don’t worry.”
I nodded, swallowing my fruit and waiting for him to continue.
“We haven’t said this to each other yet, but I think you feel the same way I do. I want to see you exclusively.”
My heart filled with happiness at his words. “That’s what I want, too.”
Jack smiled and leaned over to kiss my lips before resuming his place. “Good. There’s more.” He hesitated and then added, “I want us to be open about our relationship. I need to be upfront with Allison about you, and I need to explain to Heide that we’re a couple now.” Jack paused again and searched my face.
I glanced down at my lap. Allison was far away, and Heide did appear to like me. I looked back up at Jack. “If you think that’s for the best, but please remember, I’m not interested in complicating things between the three of you.”
“There’s nothing to worry about between Heide and me. Allison already knows about you, and I don’t think she’ll be surprised to learn that I’m making this commitment.”
A tinge of nervousness gripped me and I shrugged. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. There’s just one other thing.”
“What?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to hide our relationship at the office.”
I immediately opened my mouth to object.
Jack held up his hand. “Think about this for a minute before you answer. We don’t need to flaunt ourselves at work. But I’ve mulled this over a lot, and it’s important Robert finds out about us under our own control. I don’t want to sneak around at the office because these things never stay hidden for long, and I won’t have him think we’ve been deceiving him. That won’t help anything between the two
of you.”
“You’ve mulled this over?” I repeated his words, somewhat stunned. “For how long?”
Jack smirked. “At least since you dropped teriyaki sauce down your shirt.”
I reached out and playfully smacked his arm. “Be serious,” I chided, but I was flattered.
“Have you thought about how Robert should find out?” I asked.
“A little bit. I thought we could arrange a dinner with your family. That way we’d say it once and be done with it.”
I frowned and bit the inside of my cheek as I tried to imagine the proposed evening. “I don’t like that idea.”
“Why not?” he asked, but it wasn’t accusatory.
“I’m not concerned about my grandparents. I already know they’ll approve of you. Robert’s wife and I can’t be in a room together for ten minutes before one of us storms away. I couldn’t care less what she thinks about anything. And aside from them, there’s no other family.”
“What about your mother?”
Jack’s question shocked me into silence. No one had asked about my mother in eons. I just shook my head. She was a nonfactor.
I sighed. “We’ll go see Robert together, but you have to accept that things with him will not go well. They never do.”
“Do you think my job will be in danger once he knows?” His calm tone indicated he’d been mulling that scenario over as well.
I owed it to Jack to think about my answer, and so I did. “No, your job will be safe as long as we’re the ones to tell him of our situation.”
With reluctance, I accepted that Jack was right. Robert’s criticism would be directed at me, but I decided against saying this to Jack. I didn’t want to deter him from his idea because it would never matter to Robert what choices in life I made. He would find a way to dredge up my worst fears. Robert would leave Jack alone. But I would not be so fortunate.
“What are you thinking about?” Jack asked, drawing my attention back to our conversation.
“I’ll do this on one condition.”
“What is that?”
“Whatever we set up with Robert, Heide cannot be a part of it. Robert is too unpredictable where I’m concerned. I don’t want her exposed to his harshness.”
Jack stared at me for several long agonizing moments.
Perhaps he was reconsidering his decision. Maybe I’d just lost him for good, and the prospect of this was frightening, although I wouldn’t blame him one bit for wanting to keep his daughter far away from my crazy family.
“Agreed,” Jack answered. “Thank you for thinking of her.”
I nodded, too overcome with relief to be able to say anything else.
Jack’s lips pressed into a hard line. “You know Robert best. Is there something we could arrange that would be relaxing for him? Something that would make the news easier to accept?”
“Yeah,” I mumbled in resignation. “I know what we could do.”
Jack’s brown eyes brightened with anticipation. “What?”
“What do you think about a round of golf at Widgi Creek?”
ONCE WE agreed on announcing our news to Robert during a golf outing, I was content to let Jack work out the specifics. We left the hotel just before the lunch hour, and it was with great difficulty that I parted company with him. With one last lingering kiss, Jack went to his client appointments.
I decided to take in a little shopping before driving back to Bend, but I was antsy, not to mention sleep deprived, and couldn’t focus on buying anything for myself. However, I did purchase a gift for Heide after spotting the whimsical item through a shop’s window. I considered stopping by the Evans house that night to deliver it to her, but decided the gift could wait. Better to let Jack and Heide spend their evening together.
The following morning, I was back in the office and catching up on my e-mail when Jack arrived with my coffee. He closed my office door behind him and set a Dutch Bros. windmill cup on my desk. Before I could even offer my thanks, he lowered his head to mine for a surprisingly passionate kiss. I had arrived at work lonely after just one night away from him, but his eager mouth restored my happiness. He held my face with his hands, and I relaxed within his embrace. After a time, he withdrew.
“How did you sleep?” he asked.
“Better than I thought I would,” I told him. “But I missed you.”
“I missed you, too. Will you come over tonight?”
I blinked in surprise. “I’d love that. Are you sure?”
His expression turned playful. “Yes. I want something to look forward to. It’s going to be hell keeping a respectful distance from you.”
I grinned. “That would make things tolerable today.”
Jack kissed my forehead before stepping to the door. “Robert asked me to stop by his office this afternoon. I’m going to invite him to play golf.”
I nodded, trying to keep my nervousness at bay.
“Are you having second thoughts?”
“No, are you?”
“Nope,” he said as he opened the door and returned to reality.
In the wake of the Portland luncheon, there was plenty of work to keep me busy and the hours flew by. Before I knew it, Jack was back at my office door, offering a quick wave on his way to his meeting with Robert. I mouthed good luck and blew him a kiss.
My office was only a few doors away, and since my door was open, I heard my father welcome Jack into his office along with the distinctive click of his door as it closed. I needed something to do to keep me distracted from the meeting inside my father’s office. I glanced around. When my eyes landed on my purse, I remembered the various business cards I’d collected during the Portland trip.
I closed the day by e-mailing the new contacts. It was a perfect task in its important simplicity. I took the cards out and set them down on my desk and grabbed one at random. The name brought a smile to my face.
Ryan Murray
Owner / CEO
Innovative West Media & Marketing
44 Cook Street, Suite 1300
Denver, CO 80206
303.555.0141
[email protected]
Turning my attention to my monitor, I began a new e-mail.
Hello Ryan,
Thank you once again for stopping by our event in Oregon this week. It was nice speaking with you. If I can ever be of any service, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
I don’t know if you’ve returned to Denver, but I hope your trip back home proves to be uneventful.
If you should ever find your way back to Portland (or even better, Bend) please let me know. I would enjoy the opportunity to share another meal and talk shop.
You can even choose the restaurant next time!
With Warm Regards,
Kathleen Brighton
Senior Target Marketing Strategist
Aurora Advertising
Just as soon as Ryan’s e-mail was on its way to him, my office phone rang. The caller ID said Robert.
Hell.
I picked up the receiver and stared at the ceiling. “This is Kathleen.” It was my standard office greeting, and Robert was no exception.
“Come over to my office for a minute.” No standard greeting, no pause for my answer, just his command and a click when he hung up. That was Robert.
As I walked to Robert’s closed door, I listened for raised voices or other noises associated with conflict. Nothing. The tranquility made me anxious as I knocked and opened the door.
“You rang?” I asked as I attempted to gauge the mood in my father’s office.
Robert sat behind his desk, leaning back in his executive chair. His expression was masked by indifference. Jack sat, facing Robert with his back to me. He looked over his shoulder as I made my way to stand behind the empty chair to his right. Robert gestured for me to sit down, and as I did I kept my eyes trained on my father and away from Jack Evans. It nearly killed me.
Once I was settled in my chair, Robert resumed the meeting. “We were just ta
lking about Portland. I think this year’s lunch was one of our best yet, and Jack here thinks you deserve most of the credit.”
I nodded in Jack’s direction before turning back to Robert. “I’m glad to hear you think it went well, too. We had some new faces in the room this year. I’m happy about that.”
“So am I,” Robert said. “You talked a lot with a man at your table. I didn’t recognize him. Who was he?”
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Jack shift in his chair.
“Honestly, he was a party crasher.”
Robert angled his chair in my direction and leveled me with a serious look. “Competition?”
Jack cleared his throat and I glanced in his direction.
“I don’t think so,” I murmured, turning my attention back to Robert. “The gentleman owns a marketing firm based in Colorado and was in Portland visiting a client. But he was dragged along to the lunch.”
Robert narrowed is eyes. “Who brought him?”
Shit.
“I didn’t ask.”
Robert expression morphed into an aggravated stare. “I don’t understand. You didn’t ask him who he was with?”
I shook my head. In fact, I had chosen not to ask, but Robert would never understand.
“He didn’t seem interested in getting the inside scoop on us,” I offered.
“Nevertheless. Did you volunteer any information to this guy?”
“Of course not,” I replied defensively. “We chatted and exchanged cards. That’s all.”
“If he contacts you, let me know. Best to be wary of someone like that. The whole thing sounds suspicious.”
I nodded once. However, I couldn’t bring myself to agree with his assessment. It was obvious both men in the room viewed Ryan as a threat for different reasons. I found this commonality perplexing and attempted to shift the conversation in another direction.
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