by Maddie James
“You’re right,” Jackie said. “I’m tucking it safely away in the fun-but-stupid-file. It’ll have to stay there. Forever. Accountants can keep secrets.”
Leah and Teri looked relieved, even though Jackie could tell they were trying not to show it. She knew they were relieved for her sake that she was not going to freak out. But they had to be at least a little relieved their wild weekend would stay secret and they could go back to their boring existence in the gray cubicles of the eleventh floor accounting office.
Teri hugged her and recited slowly, “We’re going to get some sun and get some more of those wonderful fruity drinks. We’re going to get on a plane tomorrow. We’re gonna be alright.”
“Shower and breakfast first,” said Leah. “Jackie, you’re next in the shower. Take your time getting that sand out of your hair.”
Jackie took Leah’s advice and took a long, long shower. Removed all traces of sand from her hair, removed all traces of his scent from her skin. Tried to erase the feeling of his lips on hers and his hands tangled in her hair.
Jackie groaned as she towel-dried her long hair. It was going to be almost impossibly hard to pat her memories of Mitchell into a nice safe shape and pack them away in a cool place to dry. But it was the only thing she could do to protect her friends and her own heart. She’d gotten over guys before. She would get over Mitchell.
“Your turn,” she called to Leah as she emerged from the bathroom looking a little flushed, but a little excited about a day of sightseeing and sun. She slipped on a red sundress and was digging in the bottom of her suitcase for her favorite sandals when there was another knock at the door of the hotel room.
The shiver down her spine at the firm, loud knocking on the door told her what she was almost afraid to even think.
It was the knock of a man.
Chapter Seven
“Got it,” called Teri as she strode past Jackie.
Jackie struggled to make a sound. She couldn’t move, her hands stopped searching for her shoes and she stood there with her hair over her bare shoulders and her feet naked on the carpet. She felt immobilized, but she had to stop Teri before she flung open the door.
“Wait,” she croaked.
Teri waved her hand casually at Jackie. “I called down while you were in the shower and asked for more towels.”
Without even looking through the peephole, Teri opened the door wide. Instead of a housekeeper with towels, a tall man with dark green eyes and dark hair stood there holding a single pink rose. The door was open wide and Jackie stood in front of her open suitcase in full view of Mitchell. In what seemed like only a second’s time, he looked her over from her loose bangs swung over the side of her face down to her bare feet.
Teri, usually the calm self-assured one of the group, stared open-mouthed at Mitchell for the full five seconds he breathed in the sight of Jackie.
“Wrong room,” she said, and she shut the door right in his face.
Teri leaned against the back of the closed door and gave Jackie the “what the hell do we do now?” face.
Jackie was too stunned to say anything and just shook her head. A loud knocking sounded right over Teri’s head. They listened to it for a moment, eyes locked. It stopped briefly, then began again. It was louder this time.
“He’s not going to go away until you open that door,” Jackie whispered.
“Is that what you want me to do?”
“I don’t know. Why is he here? What do you think he wants?” said Jackie.
“You,” whispered Teri.
Jackie felt panicked, trapped. She wanted to tell him to get lost before her heart and her body betrayed her into doing something foolish again. She wanted to protect her friends and keep their identities from him so they would keep their jobs. She wanted to forget she’d ever been to Key West and go back to Chicago. More than anything, though, she wanted to see what those kisses would feel like in the light of day.
“What do I do?” whispered Jackie.
“He looks lovesick. Maybe you could play along?” Teri suggested hopefully.
“Play along? Pretend some more so we don’t all get caught?”
“He does look pretty good,” Teri conceded. “Maybe he just wants to take you out for breakfast. You could see what he wants and then try to get rid of him.”
Jackie thought about it for a second. Just the sight of him sent warm shivers over her shoulders and down the whole length of her body. Seeing him standing at her door with a single flower in his hand reminded her of what he could do with her in those hands.
She nodded, straightened her shoulders, and took a long deep breath.
“Open the door,” she said.
Teri gave her one last searching look and reached for the door handle just as the knocking started to get even louder. She opened it wide again and smiled at Mitchell.
“Sorry about that,” she said, “we weren’t decent. Come in.”
No doubt he could see they looked exactly as they had a minute ago when she shut the door in his face, but Mitchell said nothing and stepped in before Teri had a chance to change her mind. He towered over both of them and his broad shoulders filled the door frame as he walked through it.
He was only a few feet away from Jackie when he stopped, the flower outstretched in his hand. Jackie faced him in silence for a second. He was freshly shaven and wore a faded green t-shirt which was the same hue as his eyes, just lighter. He wore knee-length tan shorts and a pair of worn leather deck shoes. It was far from the stripped down expensive business attire from last night. This morning he looked like he might live in Key West. And he looked more tempting than ever.
“Jackie.”
That was all he said. She knew it was practically all he knew about her. When he said it, though, she felt his words deep inside and she remembered the first moment he’d spoken to her in the bar. The brush of his words and his lips across her ear. She felt like he knew a lot more than just her name.
“Breakfast?” he asked.
Jackie shot a look at Teri who was standing behind Mitchell. Teri shrugged and turned up her hands in an “I don’t know, do whatever you think” gesture.
She didn’t answer right away, so he held out to her the single rose still clutched in his hand. It was like he was handing over an admission ticket and he hoped it would get him what he wanted. Did it like a man who was used to getting what he wanted and it reminded Jackie he was not only her boss, not only a millionaire several times over, but also reputed to be cold and ruthless when it came to getting what he wanted in business. She would be wise to remember that.
Still, it was a delicate pink rose. It wasn’t like he was handing her stock options and a 401(k) for having breakfast with him. She reached out and took it from him, feeling strangely shy. Last night had been passionate, primal, magical. She had abandoned self-control and did what felt right. Now, in the stark light of a new day, she felt like a freshman on a first date. With a senior boy that none of her friends approved of.
“Thank you,” she said.
He didn’t relinquish the offered rose right away and their hands touched as she curled her fingers around the stem. He stepped just a little bit closer.
“I’ll wait for you in the lobby,” he said.
She knew she was going to say yes anyway, and now she had no choice. He had chosen to see the “thank you” as a “thank you, yes, I will have breakfast with you” instead of her intended “thank you for the flower.”
“I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
Mitchell nodded and gave her a long look before leaning down and brushing a kiss across her lips. If he intended to seal the deal with a kiss, then he was a good businessman because Jackie’s lips responded to the fleeting kiss and left her wanting more. It was like he wanted a guarantee that she would meet him in the lobby and her lips signed it on the dotted line.
He turned around and walked straight through the open door without even a look at Teri. She shut the door behind him and leaned against it again.<
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“I can’t take this kind of excitement,” she said as her back slid down the door. “This shit never happens in Chicago.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Jackie said. She was still staring at the rose in her hand.
“Oh, man, are you in trouble,” Teri said. “He likes you. Really. I saw that look.”
“You think? Well too bad for him. I’m going to tell him my cruise ship is leaving early and I won’t be seeing him again,” Jackie said. She straightened her shoulders and tried to sound surer than she felt. “One breakfast and that’s it.”
“Maybe I better go down there and get rid of him for you because you’re treading some dangerous waters,” said Teri. “Don’t forget, I saw your face, too.”
“We could go down the fire escape,” Leah suggested when she got out of the shower. “We could all sneak out, catch an early flight back to Chicago and hide in his very own building. He’d never find us there.”
“Not a bad idea,” agreed Teri. “He’s never been to our office in the three years I’ve been there, why would he look on the eleventh floor for Cinderella here?”
“You weren’t planning to leave him a glass slipper or anything, were you?” Leah asked Jackie.
“I don’t even think a fairy godmother is going to get me out of this mess,” sighed Jackie.
“Why did you say yes to breakfast?” asked Leah.
“You should have seen his face,” Teri said. “I don’t think he’s used to taking no for an answer.”
“I was afraid he wouldn’t leave if I said no, so I thought it would just be easier to have breakfast with him and then tell him I’m not going to see him again.”
“Do you want to see him?” asked Leah.
Jackie couldn’t answer the question honestly. Seeing Mitchell reminded her how cavalier she had been in giving herself away last night. It also reminded her how much just the sight and touch of him took her breath away. She rationalized it overnight by claiming it was the drinks, the darkness, the warm night air. In the climate-controlled sober daylight of her hotel room, though, there was no mistaking the same electricity was still there.
Did she want to see him again? No doubt it would be easier not to. Pack the experience away like her luggage and begin the long process of forgetting it had ever happened. Every moment in his presence was going to make it harder to forget him. One minute in her hotel room reignited every spark from last night’s fire. Breakfast sounded dangerous. After all, he was her boss. And she had been down that road before.
“Okay, let me rephrase that since you’re not going to answer me,” said Leah. “Why do you think he wants to see you? He’s crapping on the rules of one-night stands by showing up the next morning with a rose. What’s the message there?”
Surprisingly, Jackie hadn’t thought of it that way. She had been busy thinking of her own feelings, worrying about her friends, and trying to think of a hundred ways to forget her need to have him touch her just one more time. This was a new consideration. Why did he want to see her? Had last night meant something to him, too? Did he view it as more than just one impulsive and satisfying night?
“I think there’s only one way to find out,” Jackie said.
****
Mitchell tried to get comfortable in one of the overstuffed lobby chairs. He wanted to look casual, but his nerves were taut. Last night, after he left Jackie at her hotel, had been miserable. He got to his brother’s house late and had to wake him up to open the door. Jimmy had a huge house by Key West standards. It was a former cottage in Old Towne which he had added onto enough times that it no longer resembled the original but had a style all its own. Kind of like his brother Jimmy. Defying a simple description, but somehow memorable and comfortable in a nonconventional way.
His secretary had called Jimmy to let him know Mitchell was coming down for the weekend, but it didn’t matter. Jimmy wouldn’t have done anything special anyway. He didn’t have to. Mitchell had his own guest wing built a few years back when things first started to go south with his marriage. He had spent a lot of weekends letting the Florida sun leech the bitterness out of his bones. Late last night, he and Jimmy had propped up their feet, pulled something good from the liquor cabinet, and settled in to get caught up.
But the only thing Mitchell really wanted to talk about was Jackie.
“So let me get this straight,” Jimmy had said after listening to his brother for a long time. “Before you come say hello to your only living relative, you stop by a bar, grab a woman, and have sex on the beach.”
“Sounds bad when you put it that way.”
“I think it sounds pretty good,” Jimmy said. “And you look a hell of a lot more relaxed than you have in years.”
“But…”
“But what?
“I’m never going to see her again.”
“Thought you said it was good sex. Heard something about chemistry in there.”
“Uh-huh.”
Jimmy laughed. “Come on. Give up the self-flagellation over Lisa. That was over a long time ago.”
Mitchell had sat, head in hands, across from his younger brother.
“Signed the final papers this week. She got half of enough stuff to remind me not to be so stupid again.”
“But she doesn’t own any of you anymore.”
Mitchell’s head came up and he stared at his brother with appreciation. “You’re right about that. Sometimes you’re a genius, Jimmy.”
“And I believe I’m the one who told you to do the pre-nup thing.”
“Do you think she planned to get her hands on my money from the start?”
“Dunno. I don’t plan what I’m doing tomorrow, so I’m no judge.”
Mitchell had been silent a moment.
“Don’t tell me you think your chemistry lab partner from tonight is after your half of your money,” Jimmy said.
“Nope. Doesn’t even know who I am. Just a guy named Mitchell.”
“That all?”
“I might have told her about Rocky.”
Jimmy smiled and took a long drink. “I loved that horse.”
“Me, too. But now I have to figure out what to do about Jackie.”
“You know where she’s staying. What’s stopping you from showing up at her room in the morning? Bring her to the shop, I’ll hook you up with moped rentals for the day.”
“Think that’s a smart idea?”
“Already told you that you look relaxed for once.”
They had talked half the night and Mitchell had lain awake the other half, watching the clock.
Now in the lobby, the clock ticked off ten minutes since he first tried to make the upholstered chair bend to his will. He vaguely noticed the tropical-style Christmas songs playing in the lobby and the colorful bulbs on small trees placed tactfully around the seating area. His eyes were trained on the elevator door. He watched an elevator start on the fourteenth floor and make its way down, stopping several times. He stood up. This was the one.
Chapter Eight
Jackie clutched the small bag she packed just in case. It was only one meal, right? She felt a little stab of guilt when she remembered what she put in the bag. She told her friends it was breakfast and goodbye so they’d get off her case and they could get on with their last day in paradise before boarding their flight to Chicago tomorrow morning, bright and early.
She really did have good intentions. She was just a little weak. Weak in the knees when Mitchell handed her the rose and brushed her fingers. Weak everywhere when he commanded her presence at breakfast, assuring she wouldn’t stand him up with a short but powerful kiss. Most of all, weak in resolve.
There was something, okay everything, about him that she found hard to resist.
So the sunscreen, sunglasses, and red dotted Swiss two-piece bathing suit were rolled up in the corner of her bag. Just in case she had to sacrifice her whole day to save her friends from getting canned by the boss. They were small items, but she felt a little guilty tucking them in
. Her cell phone was in the bag, too, and she promised to call Teri and Leah so they’d know what she was up to and where they could meet up with her later.
With each floor she descended, her nerves increased. Sure, she was operating on an empty stomach, a cup of coffee, no sleep, and a giddy rush whenever she even dared to review last night. But she was trying to look cool and play it cool.
The door opened, she tightened her grip on the bag over her shoulder, and she strode out of the elevator in her red sling-back sandals and knee length red sundress.
Mitchell stood next to a chair which looked much too small to contain him. He was a commanding six foot two and she felt a thrill race through her empty stomach when she remembered how he had mastered her body last night. He looked like he was ready to do the same thing this morning. Despite his casual clothes, he still looked like he could be presiding over an international business meeting.
He was waiting only a few yards from the elevators, and he closed the distance as soon as her door opened. Like a tiger ready to pounce.
“Hungry?” he asked.
“Starving.”
He stepped behind her, reached an arm across her and rested his large warm hand on her cool shoulder. Her sundress was perfect for the hot day promised by the weather forecast, but the cool lobby and the touch of his hand made her shiver. She knew he had to notice it.
“Maybe you’d like to eat outside? I can get us a table in the sun.”
“I’d love it.”
Mitchell spoke quietly to the hostess at the little stand on the patio. The restaurant overlooked the Gulf of Mexico and the morning light shimmered over the water. Their table had a prime view of the water because it was by itself on a small upper deck, its own island. There were no tables near them, but they could see the whole restaurant. Last night, Jackie had seen Mitchell put a fifty dollar bill on the bar for the waitress. How many of those bills did he have on him? She imagined the hostess would be having a fun day of shopping when she got off work.
She forgot she was staring at him instead of her menu until he spoke without even glancing up.