“She’s not a personal friend,” Lenora explained. “She’s a club member.”
“It’s still a personal relationship.”
“What the hell is wrong with you, Gerald? A deal is a deal. You of all people should understand that. You’re supposed to be such a savvy businessman. Although sometimes I wonder.”
He paused at her sudden abrupt tone. “Damn, what’s gotten into you? You’ve really changed.”
“What do you mean?”
“You seem different these past couple of weeks. You used to listen to me and trust my judgment. Now you’re distant and testy.”
She softened her voice. “I’m sorry if it seems that way.”
“Do you still want to get married?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said quickly. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Maybe it’s my imagination, but the enthusiasm seemed lacking when I proposed. Do you still love me?”
“Yes. Of course. Just because we’re disagreeing about something doesn’t mean I don’t.”
“But it seems that we argue much more lately,” he said. “We can hardly talk without arguing. Have you noticed?”
“It’s just a tense time for both of us. For you because of the business, and for me because I won the lottery.”
“You sure that’s all?” he asked.
“That’s a lot, Gerald.”
“I know, but is anything else bothering you? Anything you want to tell me?”
Yes! she wanted to scream. Her whole world had flipped upside down. She didn’t know which way was up anymore. She was foolishly lusting over a man she knew she could never have and pushing the one she did have away.
“Nothing else is bothering me,” she said simply. “Everything is fine. We’re fine.”
After they hung up, Lenora moved to the bed and flopped on her back. She stared at the ceiling in frustration. She still loved Gerald. A part of her still wanted to marry him. The question was whether she should, given what she had just done with Ray. Again and again.
Lenora realized that she had no real future with Ray. But she also realized that she wasn’t going to let him go as long as he wanted her, not even for Gerald. Ray made her feel too good. And it wasn’t only the sex, as awesome as that was. It was the thrill of being with a sexy, attractive man. Ray was so hot that he could have any woman he wanted; yet he had chosen to be with her. She was going to enjoy him for as long as she could.
Chapter 33
After one more trip with Deanna looking at several houses for sale, Lenora and Gerald finally narrowed the choice down to three that they liked, ranging in size from five to seven thousand square feet. Gerald thought they should go with one of the two smaller homes. Lenora had fallen in love with the largest. It had a huge kitchen with top-of-the-line luxury appliances such as a Viking stove and Sub-Zero refrigerator. If she had the money, she reasoned, why not go all out and get everything she wanted? She had done without all her life. She didn’t want to hold back on anything anymore.
Lenora and Gerald were discussing the three houses as they returned to Lenora’s condo and she glanced at her watch. She realized with alarm that it was much later than she thought. Instead of the house-hunting trip taking a couple of hours as she had expected, it took nearly four. Ray was supposed to call so they could decide when and where to meet that evening, and she had less than fifteen minutes to get Gerald out of there.
“The fifty-five-hundred-square-foot house is perfect for us,” Gerald said as he made himself comfortable on her couch. “There’s more than enough room. It’s got a pool, gardens, and plenty of land if you should want to expand it someday.”
“Why buy something you might have to add on to later when we could have everything we can imagine with the bigger property now?” she said. “It’s already got a library, a sunroom, a theater, and five acres of land.”
“We obviously need to give this more thought,” he said. He glanced at his watch. “Let’s go get a bite to eat. We can discuss it over dinner.”
Dinner was the last thing on Lenora’s mind. She wasn’t even hungry, she was so full of anticipation for Ray’s visit. “That took longer than I thought it would,” she said. “I have a lot of work to do on the freelance job. Maybe another time.”
“Then we can grab a sandwich near here. You got to eat.”
She shook her head. “I’ll just get a salad out of the fridge later. I really want to work on the brochure.”
“Fine, you work,” Gerald said, standing up from the couch. “I think I’ll go pick up a sandwich for myself and come back and watch a bit of tube while you work.”
Huh? Lenora swallowed hard. She shifted from one foot to the other. This didn’t sound at all like her workaholic boyfriend. She had fully expected him to want to go home and get some work done for his firm. Then she remembered. His firm was winding down. But she decided to go along with Gerald’s plans to grab a sandwich. It should at least get him out of the house for twenty minutes or so and give her a chance to talk to Ray in private.
As soon as Gerald left, Lenora decided to call Ray instead of waiting for him to call her. She needed to speak to him in this window of opportunity while Gerald was out.
“So what time do you want me to come by?” he asked after they greeted each other.
“That’s why I’m calling,” she said. “I was hoping we could meet at your place tonight.” She would simply tell Gerald that she had to step out for something if he insisted on hanging around her condo.
“That’s not going to work,” Ray said.
“Oh,” she said with disappointment.
“My folks are visiting from out of town.”
Suddenly she realized that she knew very little about this man. “Where are they visiting from?” she asked.
“Chicago. I lived there myself until about eight years ago. They’re staying for the week.”
She smiled. Interesting, she thought, but irrelevant to the task at hand: finding somewhere to hook up that night. “So your place is obviously out.”
“We can always meet another time if your place is a problem,” he said.
“I really don’t want to have to wait to see you. My boyfriend went to get a sandwich and he’s coming back in a few to watch some TV. For some reason, he’s decided to hang out here tonight. But I could slip out for a while if we had another place to meet.”
“Now I get it,” Ray said. “Let’s meet at my office,” he suggested. “No one is there on Saturdays, and it’s not far from your condo.”
“Sounds perfect,” she said, relieved that they wouldn’t have to wait. She hung up and wiped her brow after they finalized the arrangements to meet in fifteen minutes at Ray’s office in downtown Columbia. All this scheming and sneaking around was going to make her an old woman before her time. But it also made things more exciting. She paced the floor, cell phone in hand, trying to figure out what to do about Gerald. Finally an idea came to her. It was kind of weak but would have to do. She dialed Gerald’s number and he picked up on the first ring.
“Don’t tell me,” he said. “You changed your mind and want a sandwich.”
“No,” she said, ignoring the guilt welling up inside her heart. The desire in her loins was so much stronger. “I have to run out to the printer for something before it closes.”
“Huh?” Gerald said with clear surprise in his voice.
“I need to get something printed for one of the brochures I’m working on.”
“I heard what you said,” he said. “It just seems odd that this came up all of a sudden.”
“I just realized I needed it as I was going through my paperwork after you left.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I called the printer and they close in less than an hour, so I need to get over there now.”
“What’s wrong with Kinko’s?” Gerald asked.
“Huh?”
“Kinko’s,” he repeated. “They’re open all night, I think. You could go after we eat.”
“Right.” She smacked her head in frustration. “But they can’t do what I need done. I called and asked. That’s why I have to go to this other printer. I’ve used them before and I know they do a good job.”
“Uh-huh,” he said slowly. “I have my key. I can let myself in while you’re gone and wait for you to get back.”
“I’m not sure how long I’ll be,” she said.
“You just said they close in an hour. So you can’t be longer than that.”
“Right. That should be fine. I’ll see you when I get back.” She hung up and threw her hands into the air. Bad planning. By the time she allowed for driving to and from Ray’s office, she would have far less than an hour to spend with him. Whatever, at least she had an excuse to get out of the condo.
She ran into the bathroom to apply more makeup, just the way Ray liked it. She also tried on a tight-fitting denim skirt that she hadn’t worn in a few years. She was actually surprised that she could get it on, even though she had to twist, turn, and tug to get it over her hips. Thank goodness for all the pounds she had shed recently. Satisfied that the skirt would work, she lifted it and changed from her usual bikini underwear to the only thong she owned. She had never learned to feel comfy in them and had stashed this one in the back of her underwear drawer after wearing it just once. Now the little black number felt just right for her rendezvous with Ray.
She lowered the skirt again and checked herself in the mirror one last time. She knew that Ray was likely a bad boy, the kind of man who would discard a woman like yesterday’s news the minute he found someone else more intriguing. But she decided not to worry about that as long as she was today’s news.
She snatched a pair of baggy jeans from her closet. If Gerald was here when she returned, he would wonder why she had changed into a skimpy skirt he had never seen before. She stuffed the jeans into a tote bag along with her engagement ring and ran to the door. Then she remembered that Gerald thought she was going to the printer. She needed to have something work-related. She grabbed her briefcase from her desk and dashed out.
She and Ray had so little time at his office that they didn’t even fully undress. And that was fine with Lenora. She wanted to feel him inside her, and the sooner the better. Ray cleared his desk with one swoop of his arm and unzipped his jeans. She hiked her skirt and he helped her slide her thong down to her ankle. She leaned back on the desk, spread her legs, and bit his bottom lip as he finally enveloped her.
They ground urgently against each other and their movements became frantic. She couldn’t remember feeling so much in need of another man’s body. Right now, this very moment, was the only thing that mattered. Nothing else came close. She peaked once, then again and again and again.
Back at the parking lot of her building an hour and fifteen minutes after she had gone out, she dug her ring out of the bottom of the tote bag and slipped it on. She would have gotten back sooner if she and Ray had not ended up going for seconds on the floor of his office. Then she had taken a few minutes to freshen up and change into the baggy jeans.
As soon as she opened the door to her condo, she was greeted by Paws, and Gerald’s head popped around the corner of the kitchen. He was holding a spatula and had a smile on his face. “It’s about time,” he said, standing in the doorway of the kitchen. “I was expecting you sooner, since the printer closed thirty minutes ago.”
“They still help clients who are already in the shop even after they close,” Lenora said as she dropped her briefcase on the couch.
“That’s what I figured,” he said. “Did you get what you needed?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Did you get whatever it was you went to the printer to have done?” He looked her up and down quizzically, clearly expecting to see a package or something from the printer. That was when Lenora realized that she had nothing that even remotely looked like it had come from a printer. No brochure, no poster, no shopping bag, nothing.
“Oh, um, actually, I left it there,” she said, licking her lips. “I wanted some changes made. Should be ready in a day or two.” Damn, she thought. She was going to have to get better at this or she would get caught in no time. And as unlikely as it seemed, she did not want to lose Gerald. In fact, this little goof made her realize that even more. Ray wouldn’t stick around forever; Gerald would. She smiled broadly in an attempt to take his mind off her flimsy lies and excuses. “So what’s cooking?” she said as she approached the kitchen.
“Just some…” His voice died down slowly as she put her arms around his neck. The smile that was on his face earlier turned into a frown. Lenora was about to ask him what was wrong when it hit her just before he spoke.
“You have on a ton of makeup,” he said, pushing her back to arm’s length so he could see her face clearly. “You wear makeup only when we go someplace special, like the theater. And never that much.”
She felt her face grow hot. While one part of her brain searched for an excuse, no matter how flimsy, another part was telling her that it was hopeless. She should just come out with the truth. How the hell had she thought she could get away with an affair for any length of time? What made her believe that she should be able to hold on to two men? Did she think that because she was now a millionaire she could have any-and everything she desired?
Yes.
“Oh, that,” she said, laughing lightly, trying her best not to sound nervous. “I was practicing putting on makeup before I went out.”
“For what?” Gerald asked, looking unconvinced.
“I’m going to have a pamphlet designed for my new photography business.”
“Yeah?” he said, his voice still full of doubt and confusion. “So?”
“I want to include a portrait of myself. I was trying to see if I could do my own makeup or if I need to hire someone. How did I do?”
“Huh?”
“How does my makeup job look?” she asked.
“Good,” Gerald said.
She could see that his accountant mind was turning this over furiously, trying to get to the bottom of her strange behavior.
“Really?” she said. “Then I’ll save a bunch by doing it myself.”
“Like you need to worry about money,” he said sarcastically.
“I still hate to waste it on things I don’t need.” She turned back toward the main room and away from his probing gaze. She might get away with the lies, excuses, and deception now, but not for long. She had never done this kind of thing before and obviously wasn’t very good at it. Sooner or later Gerald was going to catch on if she didn’t end this thing with Ray.
She had no intention of stopping.
Chapter 34
Over the next few weeks, Lenora spent every moment she could spare with Ray, from midafternoon trysts when he slipped away from his job sites and they got it on in the bed of his pickup truck under a blanket, to late at night when she slipped quietly out of bed as Gerald slept beside her and met Ray at the edge of the parking lot. She was always careful to remove her ring and tuck it somewhere near the front door and then to replace it when she returned.
She did move on in other areas of her life, sometimes making what she thought were difficult but winning choices. “Eliminate the bull, bring on the fun,” was her new mantra. When Monica called to arrange the details for a meeting with Alise, Lenora cut her short.
“I’ve changed my mind,” Lenora said. “I don’t want to meet with her.”
“But why?” Monica asked, clearly stunned. “You said you would. And Alise has agreed to a meeting.”
“I have so much else going on now, what with getting engaged to Gerald.” And screwing Ray. “Looking for a house.” And Ray. “I really don’t want to deal with her now.” Only Ray.
“I don’t know you anymore,” Monica said. “You’ve changed.”
“I haven’t changed,” Lenora protested. “I just know what I want and I’m in a position to have it.”
“All right,” Monica said. “Just don’t t
hrow the baby out with the bathwater.”
Lenora laughed and brushed off the warning. She didn’t have time for admonitions from people who frankly weren’t in her position. As dear a friend as Monica was to her, she didn’t have money to burn or a hunk like Ray to make love to. Only she was in this position. Not Monica, not Alise, not Gerald.
After arguing back and forth with Gerald about which house to choose, she had Deanna make a low offer on her dream house. She and the seller went back and forth for a few days until finally they reached an agreement. Despite his misgivings about her choice, Gerald congratulated her and took her out to celebrate over dinner at the mall. Not surprisingly, they got into an argument in the car on the way and were still bickering as they wove through the crowded parking lot.
“You really don’t approve, do you?”
“I don’t understand why you had to rush into this,” he said. “It’s not like that house was going anywhere quickly in this market. You had time to give it more thought or keep looking. But lately it seems you have no patience. You want what you want and you want it right away.” He shook his head with exasperation.
“I’ve waited so long to be able to have the things I want, Gerald. Why should I put it off if I don’t have to? And this is a house. It’s not like I’m throwing my money away gambling or on something frivolous. A house is still an investment.”
“Fine,” he said. “I can see you’re not going to look at it any other way. You don’t feel that you need to consult me anymore or take my thoughts into consideration.”
“I mean, I know we’re engaged and that you—”
“Oh, so you remembered,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Stop being silly,” she said. “I listened to what you had to say and I considered it, honestly.”
“How? When? It was almost all about what you wanted.” He paused. “No, wait. It was completely about what you wanted.”
“The house that I finally got was one of the three that we both liked,” she protested. “And you influenced me to offer a lower price and drive a hard bargain.”
Money Can't Buy Love Page 20