“Hey, Ray,” she said, holding the phone between her head and shoulders as she continued to put lotion on her legs.
“Hi,” he said. “I’m calling about our meeting later today.”
She grimaced. Was she about to lose her one and only client before they even got started on any real business? “Something came up?”
“No. Well, yes. We had the office painted over the weekend and ran into some problems. They won’t be able to wrap up until tomorrow.”
“So you need to postpone the meeting,” she said.
“I hate to do that,” he said. “Can we meet somewhere else? Maybe your office.”
That would have been fine, she thought. Except after she talked to Dawna later this morning, she would have no office. “I’m afraid that’s not going to work.”
“Okay. Then how about meeting over lunch?”
“Not sure about that, either,” she said. “Last time I had one mockup. I have several this time, and I really need a place to spread them out.”
“Then it will have to wait,” he said.
“Or we could meet here at my place.”
“You sure you don’t mind?” he asked.
“It’s a small condo,” she said. “But it’s better than a restaurant. We can work on the coffee table.”
“I don’t mind if you don’t,” he said.
“Good. I’ll see you at noon.”
She gave him her address and they hung up. She sat still on the bed. What had she just done? She had invited Ray to her little rinky-dink hole-in-the-wall. She smacked her forehead. What was she thinking?
She looked around the condo in a panic. Then she jumped up, made the bed, and cleaned off the coffee table. She grabbed the vacuum from the closet and ran it over the floor while holding the towel up over her body. She finally got tired of trying to hold the towel up and dropped it.
By the time she was done cleaning in the raw, it was after ten a.m. Ray would be there in less than two hours, and she still needed to put some final touches on the mockups. Then she had to do her hair and makeup. There was no way she could do all that and go into the office to talk to Dawna. She was going to have to quit her job over the phone. She didn’t want to end it that way, but getting her new business off the ground was more important than being nice to Dawna. Besides, it wasn’t as if Dawna would hear the news cold. She’d had a warning last week.
Lenora slipped into a bathrobe, sat on the edge of the bed, and took a deep breath. Then she dialed Dawna’s number. As expected, Dawna uttered a few choice nasty words when Lenora gave her the news. Lenora simply held the receiver away from her ear and waited for Dawna to simmer down.
“You’re going to end up regretting this,” Dawna said, her voice finally dropping down to a normal tone. “Mark my words. It will take you years to get a freelance photography business off the ground.”
“What makes you think that’s what I’m going to do?” Lenora asked. Lenora hadn’t told Dawna a thing about her plans. In fact, Dawna was the last person she would ever tell.
“That’s what I assumed since you’ve done some freelance photography in the past,” Dawna said.
“You shouldn’t assume,” Lenora said, irked that Dawna’s guess about what she planned to do careerwise was absolutely right. “I do have other options.”
“Right,” Dawna said. “Good luck!”
Lenora didn’t think she’d ever heard the words “good luck” spoken with such venom. It sounded almost like a curse. “Figures,” Lenora said under her breath as she hung up the phone. That was a fitting end to a long, tortured relationship. At least it was over.
She had no time to dwell on it now anyway. Ray would be here soon, and she had a thousand things to do to get ready for him. She dressed in a new black pencil skirt and a white cotton blouse that made her look slimmer. She walked Paws, then ran back up to the condo and worked on the mockups for about forty minutes. Finally, she went out to pick up some turkey sandwiches and a bottle of wine. She decided against flowers. That might seem too flirtatious for a business meeting, and this was a business meeting. But it wouldn’t hurt to pamper the client a little, she told herself as she picked out a nice bottle of Chardonnay. If things went well with Ray, it could mean other clients for her down the road.
Back at the condo, she placed the Chardonnay on the table in the kitchen area, along with two of her best wineglasses. She spent several minutes arranging the sandwiches on a platter near the kitchen sink. Once satisfied with how the platter looked, she centered it on the table. By that time, it was almost noon and she led Paws to her bed and gave her a chew toy to keep her occupied.
She checked herself one last time in the full-length mirror near her bed, then reached for the telephone on the nightstand and dialed Gerald’s work number. She wanted to make sure he had no plans to drop in for lunch that afternoon.
“Hi, sweetie,” she said.
“Hey, what’s up? I’m surprised you haven’t left for your meeting. Isn’t it at noon?”
“Um, we said between twelve and twelve-thirty,” she said. “You about to head out for lunch?”
“Nah, I’ll be working at my desk all day long,” he said. “That is unless you want me to head your way when you get back from your meeting for a little quickie.”
“I wish I had time,” she said. “Unfortunately, it will probably be after two by the time the meeting ends, and then I want to go by the office to get my things. That could take some time.”
“So you don’t want to see me?” he asked in a teasing tone. “Is that it?”
“Of course I do, Gerald. But later tonight might be better than this afternoon. I have a full day.”
“I’m kidding,” he said. “I’ll call you this evening. Love you.”
“Love you back.” They hung up just as the doorbell rang. Perfect timing, Lenora thought. She felt a little guilty for misleading Gerald about where and when she and Ray were working. Gerald thought she was still meeting Ray at his office, and she reasoned that there was no need to tell Gerald she was actually going to be working alongside a man alone in her condo. Gerald would then want to know all sorts of details about Ray. Such as how old he was, what he looked like, whether he was single or married. And he wouldn’t like the answers.
At the last second, just before opening the door, she remembered her engagement ring. She stared at it in horror. What should she do? Ray was a client. The ring didn’t matter. Still, she yanked the diamond off her finger and placed it at the back of a drawer in the kitchen. Why? She didn’t know why, and she didn’t have time to figure it out either.
She ran back into the front room and opened the door. Cold shivers ran down her arms. Lenora could not believe that Ray was actually standing at the entrance to her condo.
Chapter 32
They greeted each other with smiles, and Lenora noticed everything Ray was wearing, from the neatly pressed blue jeans that fit his cute, tight butt perfectly to the crisp white shirt and stylish brown loafers.
“Have any trouble finding it?” she asked as he stepped in with his briefcase.
“None at all. In my line of work, you have to have a navigation system since I’m always going to new sites all over the state. Looks like my next job will be in Frederick.”
She pointed to her couch, and as he sat down, she regretted not having had it reupholstered. She noticed the walls and regretted not having had them repainted. Or the floors redone. But the truth was, until very recently she hadn’t been able to afford to redo anything.
“Frederick is beautiful, but it’s way out,” she said. “Do you ever work outside Maryland?”
“No, haven’t needed to. I get plenty of business here. Hope it stays that way.”
She nodded. “Would you like some wine before we look over the mockups? I also have sandwiches.”
He smiled with appreciation. “Sounds perfect.”
She walked toward the kitchen, feeling very much aware that his eyes were likely following her ever
y move until she disappeared around the corner. The minute she was out of his sight, she squeezed her eyes and fists tightly. Damn, he was looking hot. And they both had on white shirts. That was cute.
She picked up the bottle of wine and the glasses from the kitchen table and paused in the doorway just out of his sight to let out a deep gust of air. Get a grip, girl, she thought. Breathe in and out.
She strolled back into the main room and placed the bottle, glasses, and a corkscrew on the coffee table. She went back for the sandwich tray, and when she turned around, Ray was entering the kitchen. She lifted the tray to offer him a sandwich, but he shook his head. Without ever removing his eyes from her face, he took the tray and placed it on the countertop. A tiny voice in Lenora’s head said, No, don’t do this. An even tinier voice said, Tell him to stop. You know you can’t handle it, girl. Put an end to it now before it’s too late.
But it was already too late. It was too late when she agreed to work with him, too late when she allowed him to come to her place, too late when he wandered into the kitchen and hooked her with his eyes. She was hopeless, defenseless, mesmerized. If she had really wanted to avoid this, she should have stopped it way before now.
The next thing she knew, he was bearing down hard on her lips and backing her up against the base cabinets. He was undoing the top buttons to her white shirt, unfastening her bra, and running his lips down her neck.
He removed her top completely, and at first she tried to cover her waistline. But he was having none of that. He spread her arms and flicked his tongue across her nipples and down to her stomach. She ran her hands down his back and shut her eyes. He was rekindling all sorts of feelings that she had long since forgotten.
When he lifted her hips onto the countertop and reached down to remove her underwear, she pushed the sandwich tray out of the way. It fell on the floor with a loud clang. Neither of them paused. She spread her legs wide and he bent over until his tongue met her inner thighs.
Soon—too soon to her liking—he lifted his head and led her to the bed on the opposite side of the room. He lay down beside her and she could hear him panting heavily as he undid his fly and removed his slacks and shirt. He turned onto his back and she lifted herself up over him and guided him inside her. She squeezed the bars on the brass bed until finally she could hold back no longer. Her body shuddered from head to toe. The muscles in Ray’s face and arms tightened and he swung her around until he was on top. His mounting desire sent Lenora soaring to new heights until finally they both cried out.
Minutes later, they lay side by side and the only sound was their heavy breathing. She had longed to feel this man next to her almost from the day they met, and she wanted to savor the moment. She hoped his silence meant the same. He sat up against the headboard and smiled down at her. He was already breathing at a normal pace, whereas Gerald would still be trying to catch his breath. Ah, the blessings of youth, she thought, breathing a little heavily herself. Ray’s work also kept him in much better shape.
“Whoa,” she said.
“Whoa back at you,” he said.
They both laughed.
“Don’t know where that came from, but I’m glad it did,” she said. “I don’t remember ever wanting anyone so much.”
He placed his hand over her stomach. “I felt sparks flying from our first meeting.”
“Really? I had no idea. You didn’t let on,” she said. “I actually thought you were being real mean.”
“I thought you were being mean,” he said, chuckling. “Showing up late, copping an attitude.”
She smiled, lifting his hand and admiring it. She could barely believe she was holding one of his hands so tight. “I was frustrated that I might not get to photograph you.”
“But you did. So it all worked out, I’d say.”
“Couldn’t be better,” she said.
“So tell me, you still seeing anyone? You once mentioned a boyfriend.”
And with those words he catapulted Lenora into reality. And back to the thought of what she had just done to Gerald, her fiancé. She put Ray’s hand down on the bed.
“Sorry to change the mood so abruptly,” he said. “But this happened so quickly, and we need to talk about these things.”
Lenora nodded. “I’m still with him.”
Ray wrinkled his brow in thought. “How serious is it? Not very, I’m assuming.”
She didn’t know how much she wanted to tell Ray about Gerald. She didn’t know how much she would tell Gerald about Ray. She didn’t know anything. She was so confused right now. “Um, you assume right.”
“You sure?” he asked. “ ’Cause I don’t like dealing with women who are in serious relationships with other people. Gets too messy.”
“It’s not serious.” How easily she lied, she thought.
“Good,” he said.
“I thought you were in a relationship,” she said.
“A casual relationship, nothing exclusive. We both see others. I’m not sure where this is going between us, but I’ll always be up front with you.”
She nodded. “Likewise.”
“Good,” he said.
Well, she wasn’t being totally dishonest. At least Ray knew she was seeing someone else. A part of her wanted to tell him the entire truth about Gerald—that she wasn’t seeing him casually, that they were engaged. But the truth might scare Ray away before she got a chance to really experience him. Actually, based on what Ray just said, the truth would chase him away. And she wasn’t prepared to let him run off so soon. She would figure out how to unravel the mess she had created later. For now, she was going to be selfish for a change. She was going to keep both men.
“Too much talk, not enough action,” she said as she leaned over and ran her lips across his chest.
He laughed. “Fair enough,” he said.
Her lips slid lower and she quickly realized that Ray was a lot faster at something besides catching his breath. Like getting it on a second time.
It was a couple of hours before they got around to the mockups.
When she kissed Ray good-bye at her door, it was almost 9:00 p.m. In between looking at the mockups and her phoning Gerald with excuses to delay his arrival, Lenora and Ray had made love three more times. She lay across the bed after Ray left and petted Paws. She was exhausted. Her head was swirling with emotions. Ray was young, vibrant, sensuous. He aroused in her a burning, insatiable passion, something she had never felt with Gerald or any other man.
The phone rang and she thought her heart would pop out of her chest. She was certain it was Ray. He couldn’t get her out of his mind any more than she could him. She grabbed the phone without checking caller ID.
“Hey, you,” she said in her most sexy voice.
There was a momentary silence and Lenora panicked as she realized that it might not be Ray on the line.
“Hey, baby,” Gerald said. “You sure answered fast. Sounds like you’re missing me.”
Lenora swallowed. She felt some guilt but more disappointment. She had to work hard to keep that out of her voice.
“Of course I miss you.” She got up and dug her engagement ring out of the utensil drawer, sliding it back on her finger.
“You sound different,” Gerald said. “Everything okay?”
“Yep, I’m good.”
“So should I come by now?” he asked. “Or you still working?”
She sat at the kitchen table. “I’m done but I’m really tired, Gerald.”
“You sound tired,” he said. “Glad you at least had a good, productive day.”
She cleared her throat and tried to perk up. “How did it go for you today?”
“Not good.”
“Oh, really?” she asked with genuine concern.
“We can’t make the numbers,” he said. “Afraid this is the end for us. Or close to it.”
“Oh, Gerald. I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Them’s the breaks sometimes,” he said.
“My offer to help is
still good,” she said.
“No,” he said. “The more I thought about that, the less I liked the idea. Didn’t even bother to ask the guys about it because I can’t be sure we would ever pay you back. I want you to use the money to buy your dream house and start your own business.”
“Oh, Gerald, this is sad,” she said, her voice breaking. “This was your dream and now it’s gone, just like that. What will you all do?”
“Don’t worry about us. We’ll manage. We’re already discussing other ideas. But first we want to take a break, take some time to get our heads together.”
“That makes sense. Whatever you need, I’m here for you.”
“Thanks,” he said. “Are we still on for looking at houses next weekend?”
Lenora frowned. She had completely forgotten that they were supposed to do more house hunting together now that they were engaged. She was so confused. She wasn’t sure she was even in the mood to think about buying a house now.
“Uh-huh,” was all she could manage in response.
“I spoke to Patrice, a Realtor I told you about who specializes in high-end houses. She’s been doing this for thirty years, and she’s willing to show us around on Saturday.”
“Wait a minute,” Lenora said. “What about Deanna?”
“I honestly don’t think she’s right for us, sweetheart.”
She could see that they were headed for an argument about which agent they would use. “Look, Gerald, I don’t want to get into this now.”
“I’m trying to be helpful. We should at least give Patrice a chance. If it doesn’t work out, we can go back to Deanna.”
“You can’t jerk agents around like that,” Lenora protested. “I signed on to work with Deanna for sixty days. Besides, she’s a member of The Girlfriends. Some of them could become photography clients of mine in the future. But not if I get on their bad side by dumping one of them as my agent.”
“If she’s a personal friend, she should understand and let you out of your agreement.”
Money Can't Buy Love Page 19