by Tara Mills
She turned, and flipped, and maneuvered things until she blasted herself with freezing cold water.
With a yelp she ran out and picked up a bath towel. Padding her way over to the door, she pulled it open and called, “Jackson?”
He walked around the corner wearing a silky robe. “Problems?”
“Can you show me how to run your shower?”
He chuckled. “Sure.”
He walked around her and she followed, not realizing that she was giving him a clear view of her bare backside in the large mirror. She’d been too worried about hiding her front to give her bottom a second thought.
Jackson reached in and adjusted the water temperature until she approved of the setting.
“This one controls where the water comes out. If you want the wand, switch this. If you want the top head, move that here. For the side bars, this is the one. I like the top and the sides. That’s this adjustment.”
Ooooh. “Leave it there,” she said breathlessly, her excitement betrayed by the hedonistic look in her eyes.
Jackson grinned. “Have fun.” He walked out, flipping on the exhaust fan as he closed the door.
He could hear her full-throated moans and playful giggles through the wall, and he shook his head in amazement. What would it be like to experience a woman like that who could give herself up so utterly to the simplest of pleasures? What would she be like when she was truly inspired?
Holy hard-on, he was back again.
****
“Heaven,” Sabrina crooned at the top of her lungs, her ecstasy beyond anything she’d ever experienced outside this shower.
Bliss, it was utter bliss, and she hated shutting off the water, but she couldn’t hog it all day knowing Jackson was waiting.
Jackson. She thought his name with a sigh. He came close, damn close, in the stimulation department, but he didn’t top his shower—yet. Something told her he certainly could if given half a chance. That was a scary and titillating thought, but it took a strong person to risk bending to a man like that, and Sabrina hated to admit that she wasn’t up to the challenge.
As she toweled off, she let her eyes drink in this incredible bathroom, knowing it was the last time she’d be in it. She was saying good-bye to that deep Jacuzzi, the his-and-hers sinks, and that incredible mirror. Then there was the love of her life—the shower. She turned back to the glass enclosure and rubbed her hand up and down the door, giving it a sad caress.
****
The bed was made when Sabrina walked out, and her clothing was lying neatly on the spread. She dressed quickly and went to find Jackson.
He was in the kitchen, reading the newspaper, with a cup of coffee in front of him. Still wearing his robe. She stared for a moment, transfixed by the long vee of bare skin running from his throat to his sternum, but then he stood and broke her trance by pointing out the cup waiting on the counter for her.
“There’s milk in the fridge, toaster in the corner, and there’s stuff to put into it in the fridge and freezer. Feel free to investigate.” He walked around her. “See you in a bit.”
****
Left on her own, Sabrina did exactly that. She opened everything while her bagel toasted. She’d never seen such a gorgeous kitchen, and the cabinets were amazing. Every drawer opened smoothly, the finish glowed, and he had more fun built-in details than she even knew existed.
“I want this,” she announced to the beep of the toaster.
She put the bag of bagels back into the right-side door of the fridge where she’d found it and tucked the cream cheese into the deep door.
Wandering out to the spacious living room while she ate, Sabrina admired the continuation of windows, the small private deck, the sprawling sophisticated furniture, and the artwork he had on the various cabinets and shelves.
What was his deal with turtles?
Curious, she wandered over to an interior wall and looked at the four framed collector cells from the Merrie Melodies animated short “Tortoise Beats Hare.”
She shook her head and laughed at his unusual affinity for all things turtle.
****
Jackson came out of his bedroom in a polo shirt and casual slacks. A garment bag was draped over his arm, and he laid it down across the couch, then went looking for Sabrina.
He found her in the kitchen reading his paper. Jackson poured himself a second cup of coffee and smiled at her.
Sabrina’s hair was still damp, she was completely make-up free, and she looked marvelous sitting at the end of his counter.
She closed the paper in half and smiled. “I looooove your place. Would you consider a trade?”
He pretended to think about it, and then grinned. “Nope.” He held up the pot suggestively. “Warm up?”
“I’m good.”
Is that right? He set the pot back on the warmer and turned off the switch.
“So what’s new?” he asked, referring to the paper. He wanted to know what she chose to read first. Her reply surprised him.
“Let’s see. I drank too much last night and took over your apartment. I’m really sorry about that. Where did you end up sleeping?”
“On the couch. It’s actually pretty comfortable.”
“You could have put me on it.”
“I didn’t want you stumbling around in the dark looking for the bathroom out here.”
“That makes sense.” She gave him a shy smile. “Thanks for undressing me.”
He grinned wickedly. “Anytime.”
She laughed. “So you do have a pervy side.”
“Sorry, but when you wear underwear like that, you’re asking for trouble.” He took a swallow of coffee. “Got any more of that stuff lying around?”
“Maybe.”
“We could have a little fashion show of our own.”
“Yeah, let’s do that,” she said rolling her eyes and celebrating the suggestion on the inside. “So tell me, what’s with you and turtles?”
He chuckled. “Well, I’m uncircumcised, so—” He paused at her wide-eyed stare. “We do exist, you know.”
“I…I…” She stuttered helplessly, trying to picture his unit, trying not to picture his unit. God, she was hopeless.
Jackson laughed and slapped the counter. “I’m sorry. I’m messing with you. The turtles just kind of evolved for me. It was the first live creature I caught as a kid. I must have been five, and it was this little tiny thing with a shell no bigger than a fifty-cent piece. I was completely won over. After that, well, the collection just kind of grew.” He took a sip of coffee and continued. “You think this is bad, you should see my office.”
“Are you really uncircumcised?” she asked, unable to get past that bomb.
“Sorry, that’s privileged information.”
She blushed deeply, surprised at herself for asking something so personal.
He turned his wrist and checked his watch. “Ready? I’ve got a tee time this morning.”
“Yes.” She hopped off the stool and took her empty cup to the sink and rinsed it out the way he did his.
****
It was at the elevator she discovered they were on the twenty-second floor of a twenty-five-story high-rise.
“How long have you lived here?” she asked, her eyes trained on the lights flashing each floor they passed.
“Three years.”
He glanced over and gave her a queer smile. “I found out you moved recently. Can’t imagine why.”
She turned. “What? How?”
“I brought you back to your old place and met your scary landlady.”
“Ex-landlady. That must have been pleasant.”
“She scared the hell out of me. Worse than you do,” he added with a straight face.
Sabrina laughed. “She always freaked me out, too. Did you meet the dog?”
“I heard him.”
“His name’s Muffin.”
“Incredible.”
The door pinged and slid open.
“I kid you not,”
she assured him, stepping out into the underground garage ahead of him.
****
Jackson dropped Sabrina at the Oasis, and she quietly climbed into her car and left immediately to go home and change her clothes before anyone saw her.
She called and left a message for Tanya that she’d be late getting in but to expect her around ten a.m.
****
Jackson found his father at the driving range warming up. Jack set his basket of balls down and pulled a club out of his bag. Setting up his tee, he addressed the ball, then drew his arms back and let it swing. His ball cleared two hundred eighty yards straight and true.
“Damn,” his dad said behind him. “You’re on today. I’m cutting right every blasted time.”
Jackson turned. “Let’s see.”
The surprisingly handsome older man took another swing, and Jackson nodded thoughtfully.
“It’s not your swing. You’re moving your hips at the last second.”
“Is that it?”
“Try again.”
His dad took another stab at it and his ball straightened out. “Thanks.” He smiled at his kid. “Take a few more swings, then we’ll hit the links.”
****
It wasn’t until they rolled to the third green that Jackson decided to mention Kelli’s condition.
The corner of his mouth curled up on one side as his carefully timed question sent his dad’s putt wide of the cup.
His dad turned in annoyance. “You suck!”
Jackson grinned. “I couldn’t help it.”
“Bull.” Then his old man chuckled. “I’d have done the same thing.”
“So it’s true.”
“Baby’s due second week in November.” He knocked his ball into the cup and retrieved it.
“How’s Kelli?”
“She’s pretty excited. She really wanted this.”
That’s what Jackson figured. She’d better be prepared to do most of the raising on her own. Considering his dad’s age, she probably was.
Jackson walked over to his ball and eyed the green, then straightened, stepped out behind it, and tapped it in.
“Nice.” His dad came across and replaced the flag as Jackson walked his putter back to his bag.
He turned and looked at his father. “How do you feel about it?”
Hal dropped his putter into his bag and climbed into the cart. Jackson got in beside him.
“You know,” his dad said thoughtfully, “I was too damn young when we had you and Rob—mentally that is. I simply wasn’t ready. I couldn’t appreciate what was happening at home when I was so focused on myself, my career, and what I wanted. I’m sorry to say this, but I didn’t give you guys everything I should have. You and your mother were always an afterthought.”
It hurt to hear it, though it wasn’t exactly a surprise.
His dad went on. “I wish I could take the credit for more than your genes, but your mother is responsible for all the things that make me so damn proud of you both now.” He chuckled softly. “Listen, I get it that you find my taking a younger wife—”
“Dad, she’s younger than me.”
“Granted, but I love her, and she loves me, too. She doesn’t just put up with me. I found her when I was ready to settle down. I knew a second family was part of the bargain when we married. You’re my son. I want you to be part of my life. It’s still the same book, just a different chapter. You don’t have to forgive me for what I did or didn’t do. I screwed up, many times, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement and understanding between us, does it?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” Jackson said. “Baby steps.”
“Then I’m there for those after all,” his old man said with a smile.
Chapter 11
Tanya poked her head into Sabrina’s office. “Whatcha doing?”
“Stupid wait staff schedule. Everybody wants special accommodations for one thing or another, not to mention the extra-time-off requests. Sometimes I want to pull all my hair out at the roots and run screaming from this place.”
Tanya dropped into the extra chair. “So take a break.”
Sabrina pushed all her notes away and gave her friend a long look. “I’ve been expecting you.”
“Couldn’t get in here any sooner.” She gave Sabrina a bubbly smile. “So, how’d it go last night?”
“Jackson’s actually a pretty nice guy.”
“And…” Tanya said, rolling her hand.
“And nothing. We dropped by The Fox and Hound, where we had a really nice time just talking about all sorts of things, and he got me drunk, carried me back to his apartment, where I woke up this morning practically naked in his bed. Oh, and I’m in love.”
Tanya’s jaw dropped.
Sabrina burst out laughing. “I’m kidding. Well, not really, but it wasn’t exactly the way it sounds.”
“Enlighten me.”
“I really did get drunk, but that was my fault, not his. I know my limit and I asked for another glass of wine anyway.” She took a deep breath and ran with it. “So apparently I passed out in his car and he couldn’t wake me up, so he had to look at my driver’s license for my address, but when he brought me back to Mrs. Starkey’s she basically chased him off. Since I wasn’t any help, he was pretty much stuck with me, so he took me home with him.” She gasped for air at the end.
“Well what about waking up naked in his bed?”
Sabrina held up a finger. “Practically naked. He stripped me down to my underwear and covered me up.”
“Did you sleep with him?”
“He crashed on the couch.”
“Bummer.”
“I wouldn’t have remembered anyway, and that’s one experience I’d rather be completely awake for.”
“No kidding.” It took Tanya a minute to shake herself out of her daydream. “What did you mean when you said you’re in love?”
“Oh,” Sabrina said, moaning like a well-pleasured woman, “his apartment! You have to see it to believe it. I could never do it justice, and his bathroom, my god; I’m getting warm just remembering his bathroom.” She fanned herself rapidly. “Pretty amazing shower.”
Tanya rolled her eyes. “You’re nuts.”
“This memory is going to carry me a long time, maybe the rest of my life.”
“Now I’m thinking you’re just sad and pathetic.”
“It was so elegant, so understated and gorgeous, and at the same time incredibly touchable. Does that make sense?”
“Oddly enough, it does. Kind of describes him, too.”
“Huh.” Sabrina thought about it, remembering how perfectly natural he looked in his apartment. She blushed warmly when she rounded out her little picture show with him standing comfortably in the bathroom door wearing only his boxers. No question he belonged there.
“He has this weird thing for turtles,” she said with a soft faraway look.
“Turtles? What kind of turtles?”
“All kinds. Pictures of them, carvings and sculptures. They’re all over the place but quiet-like. They’re just there, like they belong in the same way the furniture does.” She shook her head helplessly. “I can’t explain it, but you’d understand if you saw it.”
“I suppose it beats some of the things people are known to collect.”
Sabrina bit her lower lip pensively, then came to a decision. “Have you ever been with an uncircumcised guy?”
Tanya’s brows crept up her forehead. “He’s uncircumcised?”
Sabrina shrugged uncomfortably. “I’m not sure. He joked about it, then wouldn’t confirm or deny it when I asked, and now I can’t stop wondering.”
“Huh. No, I haven’t.”
“Have you seen anyone like that?”
“Sure.”
“Seriously?”
Tanya shrugged. “In magazines. They’re usually huge, but I think that’s a prerequisite for the porn and doesn’t reflect the general population. It’s not like the presence or absence of
the foreskin is going to affect size either way, right?”
“I have no idea, but I’m looking at you in a whole new light.” Sabrina giggled. “So what are they like?”
“Flaccid I couldn’t say, but hey, I can bring you a picture of a full extension.”
“You have one?”
“I’ll grab one of Brian’s smutty magazines. They usually have at least one of them in there.”
“I feel so cheap and dirty asking about this, let alone thinking about it.”
“Don’t, because I’m curious, now that you’ve got me started. When you find out the truth, you have to tell me, okay? Better yet, snap a picture.”
Sabrina stared at her. “Are you out of your mind? I don’t even know if or when I’ll see him again, and even if—and this is a huge if—I get the opportunity to find out about his johnson, I wouldn’t take its picture just to show my friends.”
“Can’t blame a girl for trying. You could at least give me the thumbs up or the thumbs down.”
“Which is which?”
“That will depend on whether you like the turtleneck look or not.”
****
Dark thunderheads were rolling in when Jackson and Hal finished out the sixteenth hole, but at the rate the clouds were moving they decided to forgo the last two holes and cut their game short.
Jackson left his father at the clubhouse and hurried to his car. The first sprinkles were already sizzling on the hot pavement as he hopped in and placed a call to the station. It was eerie, because the clouds were dark pencil-lead gray and the sun was still out just ahead of them.
“Yeah, it’s me. What’s happening with these storms?” Jackson listened while watching the young trees planted around the parking lot bend horizontal under the next gust of wind. Their leaves fluttered wildly.
“Get Becky on the air for weather updates and pull feeds from whoever’s got them to our west. I want video. I’m heading in. This is our lead today, and it’s going to dominate the newscast.” He paused to listen. “Yeah. Let’s work the show around it. Okay, I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
As soon as he pulled onto the road he needed his wipers. The storm was coming fast.
****
Jackson slipped quietly into the studio booth and put on a headset to hear Becky’s weather update.