“Well…” He smile craftily, pausing for embellished weight. “There was that one girl…”
“Oh, shut up,” Charleigh cut him off.
They both had a good laugh before going back to work on the envelopes. She went on to explain her relationships to the others, “Emily is a distant cousin on my Granddad’s side of the family. Eric and Marianne are college friends of my Mom and Dad. I’ve known them all my life.”
“You want to remind me of the reason why we’re writing these out instead of making mailing labels on the computer.” Jamie stopped to rub his throbbing right hand. “It would’ve taken maybe half an hour to do it that way, and we’re going on three with this one.”
“Because your grandmother said that it would be more personal to do it like this, so we’re doing it.”
“Yeah, remind me to thank Gram when I have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.” Jamie yawned. He arched his back and stretched his arms up above his head.
Standing up, Charleigh pushed everything aside. She threw her pen down on the table and came around to Jamie’s side. He looked up at her questioningly.
“Come on. Let’s go up to bed.”
“What about all this?”
“This can wait until tomorrow. You’re tired. I’m tired. We’ve both had long days, and tomorrow will be too.” She took him by the hand and tugged gently.
Obliging, Jamie stood up and followed Charleigh from the dining room. He flipped off the downstairs lights as they passed by. They were at the bottom of the stairs when he was reminded of something from work.
“Can you meet me at my office tomorrow evening?”
Charleigh was a couple of steps above him, making them the same height. She looked Jamie straight in his eyes. They reminded her of melted milk chocolate. Yum. “Yeah, I guess I can. Why?”
“Crane and Macmillan invited us out to dinner. They want to meet you.”
“Since I seem to be all you can talk about?” She prodded.
“That and I think because they want to meet the head honcho.”
Charleigh rolled her eyes upward as she turned to continue on up the stairs. “I am not the boss. Your dad is. I don’t want to be the boss, and I wouldn’t do it even if they put a gun to my head.”
“Nice visuals. Thanks.”
“Sorry.” She wasn’t sure if it was because it reminded Jamie of what had happened to Rheanna or of the nightmare he’d had about Aaron shooting him point-blank. “It’s just… these people don’t get that I don’t want the responsibility that’s been placed upon me. I don’t even know what goes into making the kinds of deals Davidson does or how to design a building.”
“You’re content with your horses, huh?”
“For sure.” The comment brought a smile to Jamie’s face. “Humans as a species are just too complicated. We put too much weight on the fancy and not enough on the basic. And we’re the only creatures on earth that have sex for reasons other than breeding.”
Jamie was halfway undressed. His shirt was unbuttoned, hanging open to reveal his ripped abs. He had the kind of chest muscles that could make a woman purr. His pants had fallen down around his ankles, and he stood frozen in place, staring at his significant other with puzzlement.
“I learn something new from you everyday. Whether I want to know it or not.”
“It’s true.” Charleigh sat cross-legged on the bed.
“Are you telling me that we should stop making love unless we’re trying to conceive?” He watched her squirm. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it, remaining silent.
Finally, Charleigh heaved a sigh. “That is not what I said, and you know it.”
“Sounded like it to me.” Jamie finished disrobing and went to put his discarded clothes in the hamper. He came back into the bedroom, wearing a great, big, amused smile on his face.
“You’re wrong,” She retorted.
“Are you sure? How long do you think you’d last?”
“Longer than you.”
“Really?” He said down on the bed in front of Charleigh. Their faces were only a breath apart. “The way you scream out my name at climax. The way you beg for more. I don’t think you’d last longer than a couple of days.”
“You are a vile man, James.”
“But I’m right, aren’t I?” He eyed her. “Aren’t I?”
“You could possibly be… the most conceited man I’ve ever met.”
“But I’m right?”
“Yes, you are. It’s because you’re so irresistible.”
She closed the tiny space between them, kissing him. Her hands moved smoothly along Jamie’s skin coming up to link around his neck. Jamie slipped a hand up Charleigh’s leg and underneath the silky material of her nightie. He came to a stop just at her hip, gently squeezing, kneading the velvety flesh.
He slipped his tongue inside her mouth to intensify the kiss. To get a taste of the essence of her. It brought about a deep, satisfied moan from the back of Charleigh’s throat.
Gliding her hands down to Jamie’s shoulders, she pushed down, bringing her body up until she was on her knees, halfway straddling him. Charleigh pulled away; she wanted to see the heat of desire in Jamie’s eyes for her. It was there; of course she knew it would be. It was always there, but she just wanted to make sure.
Continuing eye contact, Jamie pressed his thumbs to her hipbones. He dug his fingertips into her derriere, guiding her down until she was sitting on his lap.
“Char,” he whispered gruffly.
“Hmm.” She pulled the chopsticks from her bun, shook her hair loose. The curls came tumbling down over her shoulders.
Jamie pushed the coils away and pressed a kiss to Charleigh’s decolletage. The scent of her soap was fruity, like kiwi. He loved the way she smelled, and she tasted just as good as he made his way up the long column of her neck. He nibbled at her earlobe, causing Charleigh to gasp.
“You smell so nice,” Jamie whispered in her ear. Charleigh only raised a brow.
Arching her body to Jamie’s, Charleigh pushed him back until he was lying flat on the bed. She leaned down and kissed him, her hair splaying over their faces. Jamie’s hands slithered along the lace of her underwear, up and under the material of her gown. He made his way up, up, up along the smooth skin of her tummy, over the contours of her ribs, and still higher until his fingertips came in contact with Charleigh’s nipples.
The caress caused sensations to flow through her body, and she nipped Jamie’s neck with her teeth as a result.
“Easy,” Jamie whispered, cupping both sides of Charleigh’s face in his hand, guiding her back so he could look in her eyes. He ran his thumbs along her jawline.
“Sorry,” she replied with a rueful smile.
Charleigh touched her hand to one of his. She turned her head to kiss Jamie’s palm, holding eye contact.
It was a while before either spoke; they just continued to gaze into each other’s eyes. In those silent moment was when Jamie felt like he knew Charleigh best. He could get a glimmer of what she was feeling and thinking, with just one look in her green eyes.
At the moment, she was thinking something… There was a mischievous twinkle in Charleigh’s eyes, a naughty smile played on her lips.
Moving her hands down to the bed on either side of Jamie’s body, she pushed her own body up, sliding back until her head was level with his chest. The playfulness was still present in Charleigh’s eyes as she lower her face… and blew. Loud and wet, she blew a raspberry right between Jamie’s pectorial muscles.
“What the…” Jamie said, pushing back a mess of curls to look in Charleigh’s face. “What was that for?”
“Because,” she laughed. “Because I felt like it.”
“Oh, you did, did you?”
“Uh-huh.”
Bucking his hips upward, Jamie twisted his body until they had switched positions and Charleigh was lying beneath him. The motion sent her shrieking and laughing the entire way.
“What was that for?”
Charleigh asked, echoing Jamie’s question from before.
“Because. You once told me, ‘All’s fair in love and war,’ babe.”
“Oh, you think that way now, do you?”
“Uh, yeah.” Jamie wriggled his eyebrows. He began tickling the area below Charleigh’s ribs and all the way up to her armpits— her most sensitive areas— and blowing raspberries all over her arms and chest.
“Stop it! Stop!” She laughed, struggling to get a hold of his hands.
“No,” Jamie replied between raspberries.
“Please? Please!? I think I’m gonna pee my pants, if you don’t.”
And Jamie knew she was telling the truth. They’d been in the same situation once or twice before, and she’d almost done it then, as well. But the roughhousing didn’t stop, despite Charleigh’s pleas. If anything, it got rougher.
He pinned Charleigh’s arms back over her head with one hand and brought the silky gown up with the other to provide more access. She kicked and screamed, begging and pleading for mercy.
“Why should I?”
“Because…” Charleigh shrieked. “You just wait, pal.”
“For what?” He blew once more before stopping to look up into her face.
“Payback.” She wriggled unsuccessfully. “I’ll get you back when you least expect it.”
“I don’t think so.” And Jamie continued with the noisy, slobbery actions.
After a while longer, Jamie finally complied, sitting back on his haunches with a satisfied smile. Brooding, Charleigh looked as if she was going to take a chunk out of his chest when she sat up. Instead, she linked her hands behind his neck, kissing Jamie, as he slowly lowered them back down on the bed.
Chapter Thirteen
The building of Crane and Macmillan looked like any other typical office building, but it was anything but that to Charleigh. A twenty-five story building, she stood on the sidewalk outside looking up at the magnificent structure in awe. This was hers. Charleigh didn’t know why, but she felt an air of doubt settle in her stomach as she moved toward the revolving doors. Not exactly all hers— only ninety-four percent. That little tidbit of knowledge still didn’t sit well.
Charleigh stopped just inside to look around. There were large, black ceramic tiles on the floor, polished to shine. A pair of elevators occupied one wall; a long corridor went beyond them as far as the eye could see. There were two sofas and four chairs grouped to form a waiting area. An abstract painting hung on the wall over one of the couches, which was flanked by two side tables with obviously fake potted plants setting on top of each.
A reception desk was only a matter of steps away, where a pretty woman, about the same age as Charleigh, sat answering the phone. She puffed out her cheeks and hesitantly went toward it. The receptionist looked up at her skeptically as she worked the switchboard, Charleigh responded with a shy smile, pressing her full weight on the balls of her feet.
“Can I help you with something?” The other woman finally asked over the ringing.
“Can you tell me how to find Jamie? James Matthews?” Charleigh inquired, stuttering over her words.
The receptionist smiled kindly. “You must be Charleigh. He wanted me to let him know when you arrived so he could come down and meet you.” She pressed a few buttons on the telephone on the desk. “You can wait over there.”
Charleigh nodded, turned and went to sit down. On the partition behind the reception desk, twenty or so pictures hung in a pyramid formation. A brass plate above them all announced that they were members of the board. Curious, she went over to take a look. Not surprisingly, pictures of Amanda Douglas Randall and Michael Randall hung side by side at the very top.
The pictures were clearly old, taken in 1981, at the very least, since she’d been around two years old, Charleigh estimated, when the company was headed downhill. Her dad looked so handsome, and he still had a head full of black hair. He was smiling brilliantly in the photo, though the suit he wore was drab and ugly. She studied the picture of her mother. The color eight-by-ten photo showed Amanda, a mass of tight curls atop her head. And it was in early ‘82 when her mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. By then, all of her mother’s hair had fallen out from the chemotherapy. Not that Charleigh remembered, but there were pictures of her bald mother. She looked just as beautiful without hair as she did with it. Bright green eyes. The smile of a beauty queen. She was wearing an electric-blue suit.
“Searching for the resemblances?” Jamie whispered from behind, causing Charleigh to jump.
“No reason to,” Charleigh replied, turning around to face him. “There are none.”
“There’re more than you are willing to see.” He put an arm around her shoulders and led her back toward the elevators.
Upstairs, Jamie showed Charleigh around. He showed her the break room and where he worked. He’d claimed that it was only a small cubicle, but she thought of it more as a broom closet. It did have a door, after all, and it had a nameplate. On his desk were a computer monitor, keyboard, a picture of Charleigh, and a pen and pencil cup.
“It’s nice,” Charleigh commented, trying not to laugh at the bemused expression on Jamie’s face. “No, it really is.”
He nodded, noncommittal. “Question: if you did decide to become CEO, would I get a bigger ‘office,’ being as it is that I’d be your husband?”
“Uh, no, because I never want to be CEO.”
They went on up the elevator to the top floor, where the offices of Mister Crane and Mister Macmillan were.
At the end of a long corridor was an old, gray-haired lady sitting at a desk, and beyond her was a set of double doors. The nameplate announced that it belonged to Daniel Crane. The woman smiled, immediately picking up the phone.
“We don’t need to interrupt him. I’ll meet him later,” Charleigh told the secretary and grabbed onto Jamie’s arm.
“No, Mister Crane clearly told me this morning that he wanted to meet you as soon as you got here,” Jamie replied.
“And you always do everything you’re told?” she asked, eyebrows raised.
“Most of the time.” Jamie smiled. “What my bride-to-be says she wants, my bride-to-be gets.”
She let out a ha! sound, rolled her eyes just as the door started to open.
“You must be Charleigh,” Daniel Crane said, stepping toward her. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Oh, wow! Is Daniel Crane spelled H-O-T, or am I wrong? Shamelessly, Charleigh stared at her fiancé’s boss. He looked like Ewan McGregor’s twin, only with a southern accent. With light brown hair, hazel-eyes, and a finely defined jaw line, Daniel couldn’t have been more than thirty-two or thirty-three years old. And he’s an associate in an architectural firm? How can that be?
Jamie had to elbow her to bring her back down to earth. Charleigh shook her head, hoping she hadn’t been drooling, and extended her hand.
“I’m sorry,” she said, biting her bottom lip. “Just kind of… blacked out there.”
As it turned out, Daniel was more like forty-one.
They all sat together at a table at Marco’s, a trendy steakhouse near the office, Charleigh found out that he was a confirmed bachelor, but he did say that he hoped to get married one day. And he definitely wanted children. If only, Charleigh thought dreamily, though she wouldn’t have traded Jamie in for a million Ewan McGregor look-alikes.
She looked over at Jamie, who sat beside her with his arm slung over the back of her chair, and smiled. The foolish thought simply dissipated when the smile was reciprocated.
Fredrick Macmillan was an older, portly gentleman, who turned out to be Daniel’s stepfather, and Renee, his wife, was Daniel’s mother. They were all very friendly, in Charleigh’s opinion.
And Charleigh appreciated very much that there wasn’t the merest mention of business, or her interest in the company. The evening consisted of good food and good company.
“So, I’m told the two of you will be getting married in less than a month now,” Renee said,
winking at Charleigh. “September fifteenth, is it?”
“Twenty-eight days,” Charleigh replied, looking down at her wristwatch to find that it was nearing ten o’clock, “twenty-one hours and about fifteen minutes.”
It made Jamie laugh at her accuracy.
“Well, I hope it’s not too presumptuous to ask if the boss and his wife are invited, Jamie?” Fred Macmillan asked, fishing for an invitation.
“Of course, you are,” Charleigh answered for him. “I sent all of them out today. If it had entered my mind, I’d have just brought it with me.”
“You got all of them finished?” Jamie looked over at her, worried.
“Yeah,” she laughed. “I took them with me to the store. Liz and Lauren came up and helped me.”
“What kind of store do you own, Charleigh?” Daniel asked, curious.
“It’s a feed store,” she explained, “We sell all kinds of stuff. I started it almost two years ago after I graduated from college. Kind of an addition to my father‘s veterinary clinic.”
“Two years ago?” Daniel inquired. “You can’t be more than twenty or twenty-one now.”
“I’m twenty-two,” she answered, “I graduated on an accelerated program. I went concurrent during high school, and all through the summer my junior and senior years. I also went two more summers, my freshman and sophomore years of college, taking a full workload. I wanted to train horses. I guess I still do.”
“That’s right,” Fred said. “Both of your parents were vets. Sorry to hear about your father’s death. Didn’t know him all that well, but I can tell you that I thought your dad was a good man from the first time I met him.”
“Thank you.”
“Your mama was a lovely lady, too. You look a lot like her, by the way.”
“That’s what I’m told,” Charleigh commented. Fred could see that he’d struck a chord, but remained silent on apologies, not wanting to ruffle anymore feathers.
Chapter Fourteen
The house was quiet when Jamie stepped through the laundry room door, just off the garage. All of the lights were off in the kitchen. It was still light outside, and the rays of the setting sun that came through the picture windows was enough for him to see that Charleigh hadn’t fixed anything for dinner.
You're Gone (Finding Solid Ground) Page 11