by Maddie James
Jackie stared right into his chest and didn’t even have to look up to know it was Mitchell. He took hold of her upper arms in a tight grip. He lowered his face to hers and stared questioningly at her. His face distorted and swirled through her tears.
“Where are you going?” he asked. His voice was tender, concerned. “What happened?”
Jackie pulled her eyes from his face and stared down at the ground. She took a deep steadying breath and tried to think of her friends waiting for her in their hotel room.
“I’m leaving,” she said.
“Leaving?” his voice was incredulous. “Tonight?”
Jackie nodded.
To her astonishment, Mitchell pulled her into his arms and held her. She had no idea what to do. On one hand, it felt so good to be in the grip of his strong arms. She smelled the soap mixed with cologne smell she first noticed last night. He must have showered somewhere while she was freshening up in her hotel room.
It was intoxicating.
On the other hand, this man was a total jackass.
He used her for the weekend. He was putting them all out of a job. Worst of all, he had a wife. This tenderness and compassion was just a big show so he wouldn’t lose his playmate for the weekend. Why should he care anyway, he knew she was leaving tomorrow. So what’s one night?
“I saw you on the phone,” he said, still holding her body against his. “Was it your cruise ship? Are you leaving ahead of schedule?”
There it was. He filled in a story all by himself. It reminded her of how he assumed she was a dancer on a cruise ship last night. His talent for filling in stories turned out to be pretty handy for her. Especially since he wasn’t very good at discovering the truth, and she wasn’t very good at lying.
She nodded.
“So this is it?” he asked. He drew back and looked at her tear-stained face. Maybe he interpreted those tears as sadness at leaving him. Jackie figured he could think whatever he wanted as long as she got away from him. And soon.
“I hate to say goodbye to you,” he said.
Jackie took another breath and pulled free of his arms. She started to walk away. She made it five steps, and just when she started to feel a little braver, she heard his voice.
“Jackie,” he said. She turned around. She wasn’t going to, but something in his voice made her do it. He stood still where she had left him. Both feet rooted to the ground, but both hands at his sides, palms turned up. It was a gesture showing he was adrift and didn’t know what to do. If she had to guess, it also proved he wasn’t used to dealing with disappointment, either.
“There’s so much I didn’t say to you. So much I don’t know…”
“Maybe,” she said, in a tone she hoped would put the lid on and screw it tight, “you know all you’re ever going to.”
She turned and walked away, half fearing he’d follow her, half disappointed he didn’t. She started to walk faster and faster through the crowd and across the street to her hotel. He didn’t have to follow her, he knew where she was staying. If he wanted her, he could come find her.
She stumbled across the gleaming lobby floor to the elevator where she managed to push the button for her floor. She held her breath as the doors opened on the fourteenth floor, almost afraid Mitchell would somehow be standing there.
The doors opened.
The hallway was deserted.
Chapter Fifteen
“Could you go just a little faster?” Leah urged the taxi cab driver. One thing they all learned in Key West is that the whole island moves at its own pace. Slow.
Except them. They stayed up way too late last night eating room service and drinking what they could arrange to have delivered. There was no way they were leaving their suite because they didn’t want to risk running into Mitchell. And they were not answering the door if anyone knocked. Jackie alternated between being hurt and angry all night. Leah and Teri had mostly gone with angry. They rehashed the whole brief history of the encounter between Jackie and Mitchell, and Mitchell unanimously won the title of villain.
Now, for better or for worse, they were headed home. They had no idea what awaited them in Chicago, but they knew it wasn’t going to be good. If the boss never figured out who they were, they might not get in any trouble for calling in sick and taking off for the weekend. All they’d have to deal with is a whopping helping of anger, hurt, remorse and regret when it came to Jackie’s feelings.
If Mitchell did figure it out, he’d be pissed off and they were going to get it. Probably fired. Possibly tortured first. And worst of all, he would confront Jackie. She knew she was going to get it worst of all. And it was her own fault. She knew she shouldn’t fall for him, even a tiny bit. But she couldn’t fool herself. Her heart ached almost as much as her head this morning.
What had she been thinking? There was only one explanation for her behavior. Tropical weather. She just wasn’t used to it. It was climate-induced insanity and she wasn’t to blame. It was a flimsy excuse, but it took the edge off the hurt for a little while at least.
She wondered bitterly if Mitchell’s wife would buy such a lame excuse from her traitorous husband. Why the hell hadn’t Jimmy or Marybess said anything to her about a wife? They had to know, and they had to notice she and Mitchell were not just casual friends. Maybe they were used to Mitchell bringing his girlfriends to rent a moped. Ugh.
Maybe none of it would matter anyway. According to Teri’s friend Margie, the bigwigs were coming for a Monday morning pow-wow. They were probably discussing how they were going to sell off the Chicago office, piece by piece, floor by floor, one unprofitable accountant at a time. They’d all be let go. And maybe it would be easier to let go of her feelings for her CEO.
Getting canned never sounded so good.
And she’d survived this before. If only her friends weren’t in the middle of this with her…
They were toast. They were about five minutes away from missing their plane. The cab driver fiddled with the radio and pointed out places of interest on the way to the airport as if he didn’t have a care in the world. The three friends crammed together in the back seat despite the heat because the cab driver looked a little too friendly. The bride and bridegroom were still at the hotel. Shelly opted for a later flight so she could travel back with her beloved. At least the weekend had turned out happily for someone.
Jackie sat between Leah and Teri, not really caring what happened to her today. Miss the flight? Who cares. She couldn’t possibly go back to work anyway. The chance of running into Mitchell on any given day would be enough to make her life a living hell of dread, ulcers, and pink slips in her nightmares. Maybe she’d go back home and spend some time with her parents. There had to be a job, any job, she could do there until she could forget this whole nightmare. When she was one hundred and fifty years old.
The cab pulled into the airport parking lot and all three girls jumped out and stood by the trunk while the driver opened it with an ancient-looking key. Teri paid him and they grabbed their bags and took off. Mercifully, it was a tiny, one-room airport. Luggage in one corner, tickets in the other, airplanes right out the back door. They already had their boarding passes courtesy of the hotel concierge, and they weren’t checking luggage, so the three of them hustled out the back doors and onto the white glare of the concrete tarmac.
This was a casual airport. Commuter planes and private charter planes were lined up, and passengers simply walked over, climbed the silver steps, and got on. This was an airport, island style, with about as many rules as the average bar on Duval Street.
They knew they were the last ones to board because they were arriving an embarrassing five minutes before departure. They were usually so responsible, filling in spreadsheets in their gray office. The weekend had been one of exceptions, though, and they were just going with the flow this morning. It was the best they could do after a very long night.
The stewardess standing at the top of the metal staircase on wheels didn’t look happy to se
e them. No surprise there, thought Jackie, they were practically late. Stewardesses probably hate late people. Still, it was a surprise when the stewardess put out a hand to stop the three of them when they were halfway up the stairs with their carry-ons in tow.
“Sorry,” she said, “this flight is overbooked.” She didn’t look sorry, Jackie thought, but she probably had to say it anyway.
“Overbooked?” asked Teri. “We have boarding passes. We’re checked in.”
“Well, actually, it’s overweight,” said the grim-faced stewardess. “It’s a short runway, if there’s too much weight, we don’t get off the ground.”
“So?” asked Leah.
Jackie could tell Leah was about to get belligerent. It would be entertaining, but not very helpful. Jackie put down her bag and leaned against the stairway. She fished her sunglasses out of her purse. Her eyes were killing her from too little sleep over the past two days and way too much crying last night. She was emotionally done in and just wanted to go home to face her fate, whatever it was. And now this.
“So,” repeated the stewardess, “we need to lighten the load. Three passengers and their luggage have to volunteer to get off.”
“We’re not volunteering,” said Leah.
“You’re the last ones here, we volunteered you.”
No one moved for a full minute. The hot sun was killing Jackie’s head and she was willing to lie down under the aircraft and let it run over her. It might not be a bad idea.
“If you’ll go inside to the ticket counter, I’m sure they can get you on a later flight,” the stewardess said in a fake nicey voice. “And since you’re already here, maybe you’ll be on time for that one.” She disappeared inside the plane and several large men arrived to roll away the steps. The airplane door shut emphatically, and the three women stood there in the bright morning sun with their luggage at their feet. They were still standing there when their plane rolled away to head for the runway.
“Okay,” said Teri. “Well…alright then, I guess…”
A private jet rolled past them only a few yards away. It was loud enough to interrupt their conversation because it was obviously gearing up for takeoff. They all turned and stared at it. At first, they stared at it because it was loud and there and they had nothing else to do. After a first glance, though, the private plane riveted the attention of all three would-be travelers who were marooned with their luggage on the sunny tarmac.
Emblazoned on the side of the plane in bold blue paint were the words “Ames Worldwide Industries.” A row of windows down the side of the jet provided just enough space to see anyone who was sitting inside, buckled in for takeoff. Leah, Teri, and Jackie could only see one face in the window on their side.
The face they saw looking through the side window was Mitchell Ames himself. It was impossible to mistake his square jaw and dark hair. He stared at them all with shocked recognition for a moment, his eyes locking on Jackie. And then he was gone. The plane must have enjoyed preferential and immediate tower clearance, because it rolled away and was gone in a flash.
“Nice of him to offer us a ride,” said Leah.
“I think it was nicer of him not to,” Teri said, “or that would be one long flight to Chicago.”
Jackie stared after the plane long after it had taken off and made a graceful arc in the sky. She wondered if Mitchell could see her and her friends, tiny dots on the sunny white concrete.
Chapter Sixteen
It was only a tiny one-bedroom apartment in a reasonably safe neighborhood in Chicago. Sure, the elevator didn’t always work and parking would more aptly be called searching. But it was her own apartment, and Jackie dreaded locking the door and leaving it on Monday morning. There were plenty of reasons not to go to work today.
She arrived home very late last night after catching a later flight out of Key West and then an even later flight from Miami to Chicago. She had a slight sunburn. She had slept almost fifteen minutes all night. There was nothing in her closet she could possibly make herself put on this morning. Then there was the small matter of her job probably being sold out from under her today in the big corporate meeting taking place in the office of the company owner. The owner she had accidentally slept with and then spent the rest of the weekend with, alternately spinning lies and falling in…in something not easy to forget.
Those reasons seemed like enough motivation not to venture out into the slushy December morning. The wind seemed to take her southern desertion personally as it punished her on the way to her compact car hidden among its compatriots on the street near her apartment. The gray skies mocked the blue ones which had reigned spectacularly over her all weekend. Her foul humor and general despair matched the weather.
Still, Jackie was determined to go out with class. She would show up to work, give her two weeks notice, ask her supervisor for a letter of recommendation, and go about the business of making a graceful exit.
If Mitchell stayed true to form, he would never come near her floor and she would never lay eyes on him. And never have to explain why her “cruise ship” was actually an overloaded commuter flight at the airport. She would also never have to confront the feelings he had kindled in the twenty-four hours they spent together.
Her only hope was to remain anonymous. What are the chances he would find out her identity and figure out where their commuter flight was headed? If he did check, he’d find out the plane was headed to Miami. He might assume her plans had changed and she was boarding her ship in the Port of Miami. He might also assume she was playing one heck of a game with him. A lot like the game he played with her.
What are the chances she could survive a two-week exit at Ames Worldwide, Chicago office? If he did try to track her down, he would waste hours of time trying to find a woman named Jackie who was a live entertainer on a cruise ship line. If he believed that at all. There were lots of cruise ships and lots of entertainers. He would never sift through them all, and if he did, he would find she was nowhere to be found.
When Jackie arrived at her building and walked up to the glass front doors, she almost chickened out. But she did it. The doorman smiled, she stepped into the lobby, and she headed for the elevators.
She resolved not to look at the picture of Mitchell that she now realized she had sashayed past a hundred times without ever looking at. She knew the picture was there and she stoically looked away as she waited for the elevator. She resolutely pressed the button for the eleventh floor and took a deep breath. It was a regular Monday, she was wearing a typical gray pantsuit, and the faces all around her in the elevator looked…depressingly familiar.
Jackie kept her head down and headed straight for her office. She expected gray solitude with her friends as usual, but her office was anything but quiet and dull when she walked through the door. An imperious looking man in his mid-thirties stood in the middle of the office and demanded files and paperwork from Teri. Leah looked angry and sassy, and Shelly looked like she was in dreamland and didn’t even notice the commotion.
The man in the expensive suit had stress written all over his face. His dark gray suit and red power tie made him look classy, but he swatted Leah on the behind when she bent over to show him a report on a computer screen.
“Nice guy, huh?” Leah whispered to Jackie when she came into her cubicle to get some reports.
“Who is he?”
“Hal Burton. CFO and a royal SOB. Never been to this office before, don’t think he’s ever been in this building before, and I didn’t know I should have been grateful for that all this time.”
Hal Burton. The guy Mitchell took the call from while she was visiting the animal rescue shelter in Key West. Mitchell seemed lighter, almost relieved when he got off the phone. If this was his henchman, then no wonder Mitchell felt better. He planned to unload this company with the help of mean-spirited Hal here to do the dirty work.
“He’s cherry-picking information to present to the board of directors,” Leah continued when Jackie didn’t res
pond. “Looking for ways to make it look like our whole operation ought to be sold.”
“Isn’t that meeting this morning?” Jackie asked.
“Going on right now from what I hear,” Leah said, “that’s why he’s hustling to get ammunition to take back with him.”
“It might be difficult to find the motivation to help him with his cause,” Jackie suggested.
“What do you think Teri’s doing?” Leah said with a grin. “To the casual observer, it would appear that she just doesn’t know how to access those reports and it’s just taking the poor dear forever.”
Jackie walked over to their shared break room and tossed her coat across the back of a chair. Bummer. No one made any coffee yet. They were busy scurrying around pretending to help the CFO find whatever it was he was looking for. She didn’t feel any compulsion to go dance that dance with them. Her position as the newest person in the office with the least knowledge and seniority was going to pay off just this once. She planned to take her time making coffee. The longer she hid out in the break room, the less time she’d have to look at Hal Burton, CFO and buddy of Mitchell Ames.
Jackie filled the carafe and slowly poured cold water into the large coffee machine. They were going to need it. She tried not to imagine Mitchell several floors above her head sitting in a meeting right now with other corporate executives weighing the fate of this company. What was he wearing today? Was it a black suit that matched his hair? Did he have on a green tie that brought out the color of his eyes? In a white shirt, his tan would look great. She had seen what he had under those clothes.
Maybe she should save some of that cold water for herself. This kind of thinking was going absolutely nowhere. If Mitchell wanted to know her better, he would have asked for some real information about her. He seemed so interested, but didn’t take the next step. He did not follow her back to her hotel that night on Mallory Square. Not that she really wanted him to. What would have happened anyway? He did not ask her full name or how to reach her.