by Anita Kidesu
“Are there more questions, or are we done here?” Jon said, interrupting her thoughts.
“Um. Yes. Some of these I can fill in myself.” Eyes—brown, soulfully delicious, making my heart pitter-patter. Hair—brown, thick, shiny, making me want to run my fingers through it during hot, hot sex.
Bart leaned over and looked at the paper. “Like what?”
Heat rose from her toes to her face. How embarrassing to be blushing like a teenager. “Uh. Eye and hair color. Race.” At his nod, she asked, “What is your occupation?”
His hesitation was barely noticeable, but it was there. Why hesitate? “Engineer.”
“Any health issues or problems that would hinder your travel?”
This time, his hesitation was more pronounced. She looked up from the paper and glanced at him. His face had turned the same pale shade as earlier when she talked about travel sickness.
“Is there a problem?” She sincerely hoped not. She wanted more than anything to be with this man.
****
Crap. Jon hated lying about his occupation, but he didn’t like people knowing he was an author. Let Matt take the limelight. Besides, he really was an engineer; he just didn’t use that degree anymore.
And now, Reenie was going to know what a wimp he was. What the hell. If Jon decided to go on this trip, she’d find out anyway. It was pretty hard to hide throwing up. Not to mention unsexy as hell. Time to man up. He really wanted to be with this woman, but if his affliction turned her off, then so be it.
Jon swallowed around the lump in his throat. “Uh. My health is good. It’s just that…I…uh…”
Reenie placed her hand on his arm. Her frown wasn’t a good sign.
“What is it? You can tell me.”
“It’s silly, but is a real problem for me.”
“What?
Jon took a deep breath. “I have acute motion sickness.”
Reenie smiled and leaned back in her chair. “Is that all? We have lots of travelers with this problem.”
“It’s more than just a problem. It’s an affliction.” Here comes the part where she’d either laugh or tear up the application. “I don’t just get sick. I get sick. I can’t swing, roll down a hill, or play on a merry-go-round without getting nauseous.”
Her smile grew. “We don’t plan on doing any of those things on our trip, Bart.”
“There’s more. I can’t fly, go on a boat or ride on a train or bus without getting nauseous. Riding in a car is iffy. If I take enough motion sickness pills, I get sleepy. When I do get sick, I’m out of commission for at least twenty-four hours.”
“That’s awful for you. Have you tried the non-drowsy pills?” Her hand touched his arm.
Even through his flannel shirt, his skin burned under her palm. Its warmth distracted from the discomfort in talking about his problem. “Yes. But they’re not as effective.”
“There are other options out there. Have you seen a doctor?”
There were other things he could try besides pills? “Not since I was a kid.”
“If you want to go on this trip, you may want to see one.”
Did Reenie really want him to go? She tightened her fingers on his arm, and his heart flipped as blood flew to his cock. “More than anything.”
Reenie huffed out a breath. “Good. I would suggest seeing your doctor about your motion sickness problem well before the trip.”
“When do we leave?”
“September. Fall in Greece is gorgeous.”
That would give him three months to find a cure or a fix for his problem.
“Reenie, are you almost done?” Zelda stood next to the table. “I’m ready to lock up.”
Jon looked over his shoulder. Everyone else had left the room.
“Almost, Mom. I just need to get a down payment from Bart.”
“Uh, I didn’t bring a checkbook along. Can I call in a credit card?”
Zelda raised an eyebrow at him as if she didn’t believe he had the funds. “That would be fine I guess.” She sniffed and looked down her nose at him. “Just do it in the next two days, or your place will be taken by someone else. Reenie, give him the information where to send his fee.”
Jon stood as Zelda turned her back on him to collect papers and take them to her desk.
“Sorry about Mom’s attitude.” Reenie picked up her own papers and put them in a manila folder. “She must be getting tired.”
As mother and daughter made final preparations to lock up, Jon decided he wasn’t ready to end the evening. He checked his watch. Eight o’clock. Still early enough to go for a drink. Should he ask Reenie? After another glare from Zelda, Jon decided it would be better if he left now and took his chances with seeing Reenie at another meeting.
Jon entered the dim hallway, lit only by a few exit signs and light coming from the transom window. The hell with it. He wasn’t going to wait for another meeting. He hadn’t been this attracted to a woman in a long time and wasn’t about to let this opportunity go by. He slouched against the wall by Zelda’s door, listening to the sounds of the women’s voices.
Only when Reenie raised her voice was he able to understand anything they said. “I told you, Mom, I’m not ready to go home right now.”
Zelda’s response was too low to hear.
“If I want to go out with someone, I can. If I leave now, maybe I can catch up with him.”
“Just look what happened the last time you chased a man.”
This was getting interesting. Jon leaned around the corner of the door to get a glimpse of the two women. Reenie’s hands were at her waist. Her flushed face was inches from her mother’s.
“If you recall, I didn’t chase him, he chased me.”
“Semantics. It still turned out to be a bad situation all around. You’re constantly looking over your shoulder, waiting for him to appear and do something to you.”
Who the hell were they talking about? It sounded as if Reenie had a stalker. Did he want to get involved with someone who was having trouble with another man?
Their steps grew closer, and he realized they were approaching the door. He bolted across the hall to the men’s room, pushed the door open, and spun around as Reenie stepped from her mother’s office. He faced her.
Reenie stopped short when she saw him. “Bart. You’re still here?”
“I had to use the facilities before I headed for home. Uh…” Jon glanced at Zelda as she locked the door.
“Mom,” Reenie said, switching her backpack from one shoulder to the other. “I want to talk to Bart for a minute. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay. Fine. Whatever.” Zelda’s clipped words sounded like she was anything other than fine with Reenie’s decision. She looked Jon over from head to toe. “Just be careful. Call me when you get home.”
“What was that all about?” Jon asked as they listened to the staccato clicking of Zelda’s heels as she disappeared down the hall. “Your mother seemed a little upset.”
Reenie sighed and went in the opposite direction. Jon hastily followed. “Mom can be a little over protective. I’ve had some issues with an ex-boyfriend.” Her hips swayed as her long legs took her to the front entrance. They had gone only a few steps when a noise sounding like keys hitting the shiny slate floors stopped them.
“What was that?” she asked, her eyes wide.
Jon took a few more steps before she grabbed his arm.
“Wait,” she whispered in a shaky voice.
“It’s probably just the janitor.”
“Reenie?” A deep voice echoed down the hallway.
“Shit.” Reenie closed her eyes and swayed toward him.
Jon had no idea what was going on, but his nerves jumped. “What?”
“Reenie, honey. I saw your mother leaving, so I know you’re in here.” The man’s singsong voice sounded as if he were teasing, but the threatening tone sent shivers down Jon’s spine.
Grabbing Jon’s hand, Reenie raced down a hallway, first turning left
then right, taking them farther into the bowels of the building. After feeling as if they’d run a mile, she pulled him into an alcove, set her backpack on the floor, grabbed his shoulder, and buried her face in his neck.
“Shh. It’s my ex-boyfriend,” she whispered against his skin.
Despite the danger he sensed, blood boiled through his system and into his cock. He wrapped his arms around her waist, willing the damn throbbing in his pants to settle down. Obviously, Reenie was in some kind of trouble. Getting a hard-on right now wasn’t cool.
“Cyrene Anatole,” the man’s voice, while farther away than before, still sounded ominous. “I won’t give up, you know. I’ll be waiting by your car.” The sound of keys jingling grew quieter as the man headed away.
They heard a door slam shut, and Reenie relaxed against him, her breasts pressed to his chest. His heart raced as he wondered how her bare breasts would feel touching his skin.
“Want to tell me what that’s all about?”
“My ex-boyfriend, Perry, seems to believe we’re still a couple. We broke up almost six months ago.”
Jon set her away from him, keeping his hands at her elbows. Moonlight shone through a window several feet above them. Tears brightened Reenie’s wide eyes, and her breath came in short puffs. She worried her bottom lip as her fingers dug into his forearms. She was definitely petrified of this man.
“Will he hurt you?”
Reenie shook her head. “I don’t think so. Anyway, he hasn’t in the past, but he’s been getting more and more insistent that we get back together.”
“And you don’t want to?” Jon resisted the temptation to brush loosened wisps of curling hair from her forehead and kiss her pale skin.
“No.”
“Why not?”
Reenie grasped the sides of his flannel shirt. “He was becoming too possessive. Always wanting to know where I was, who I was seeing, how long I’d be gone. It got to the point where my friends no longer wanted to spend time with me, because that meant spending time with Perry.”
With his shirt in her hands, she inched closer to his body. Her heat and subtle perfume sent waves of desire through him. She pulled him closer. He wrapped his arms around her waist and touched his lips against her forehead. Fuck, she was sexy as hell.
“They didn’t like him?” he said into her hair as her arms came around his waist. He wanted to ease his erection against her, but hell, they’d only just met.
Reenie shook her head against his chest and looked up at him. She parted her lips and ran her tongue over the lower one. If that wasn’t an invitation, he didn’t know what was.
Tipping her chin up, he looked into her eyes. No longer brimming with tears, they now held desire.
“You sure?” he asked, tilting his head to the side, bringing his mouth closer to hers.
“Hell, yeah. Since the second I saw you, I was sure.”
Jon tentatively pressed his lips to hers. He swore a flash of fire jumped between their lips, thought he’d even seen the spark. Reenie wrapped her arms around his neck, tangling her fingers through his hair.
He’d died and gone to heaven.
****
I’ve died and gone to heaven. The velvety warmth of his lips sent pleasure radiating through Reenie. When he swept his tongue across her bottom lip, she opened her mouth and let him in. Her body burned from the tip of her tongue down to her core.
Reenie whimpered when Bart broke his contact. She moaned when he peppered kisses up her neck and nibbled on her earlobe. She’d hated it when Perry had slobbered on her ear, but Bart’s breath sent shivers down her spine. When he caressed the sides of her breasts through her shirt, her nipples pebbled. She thrust her pelvic bone against his rock-hard cock.
“Fuck, you’re so sexy,” he said against her neck. “I could simply taste my way from your neck clear down to your pussy.”
“I’d let you.” Reenie didn’t know where this wanton behavior came from, but she wanted Bart with every fiber of her being. She’d never felt this hot, this feeling of wanting to explode with anyone before, not even Perry. She licked the side of his neck while tugging his shirt from his jeans. Her fingers tingled as she ran her hands beneath the shirt, from his tapered waist to his broad shoulders.
He stepped back and looked at her. “You would? Please say you would.”
Reenie nodded, grinning at the look of delight on his face and desire in his eyes. His nostrils flared as if he was taking in her scent. “I would.”
Bart yanked her shirt from her pants and slid one hand into the back of her jeans, beneath her underwear. At the contact of his heated palms against her bare ass, her pussy pulsed, aching to have him slide to the front, caress her lips, and ease the throbbing between her legs.
Bart slid his other hand up her side, raising her top to lift her bra over her breasts and cup one. He lowered his head and swirled his tongue over a taut nipple before drawing it into his mouth.
Reenie closed her eyes, threw her head back, and sucked in a breath of air. Her thoughts centered on only one thing—the shockwaves racing from her nipples to her pussy. As he nibbled and sucked, her clit tingled and pussy clenched. He increased the pressure until her body exploded.
Reenie rested her forehead on his shoulder, trying to catch her breath. Heavens, she’d never had an orgasm from having her nipples sucked.
“Incredible. More?” His deep voice brought her back from her orgasm.
All she could do was nod.
“I don’t want to do this in a hallway. Is there somewhere we can go?”
Reenie’s heart fluttered at his consideration. Truth be told, she didn’t like the idea of having sex where anyone, like the evening custodian, could find them. Going to her place was out since Perry said he’d wait at her car.
“Do you have a car?”
“Yes,” Bart answered, pulling her bra down and rearranging her shirt.
“Where’s it parked?”
“Parking lot in back.”
“Shit. So is mine. Perry will see me leave.”
“I couldn’t take you to my place, anyway. My brother is home.” Bart pressed his forehead against hers. “Any ideas?”
Reenie thought about the office keys her mother had given her in case of an emergency. If this wasn’t an emergency, she didn’t know what was.
“My mother has a small bed in her office.”
“I didn’t see one.”
“It’s one of those fold-up ones. She has it in a closet behind a screen she bought in Greece.” Reenie knelt down and dug in one of her backpack’s many pockets. After a few seconds, her fingers curled around the metal ring. “Ta-da,” she whispered, holding them in the air. She picked up her bag and grabbed Jon’s hand. “Let’s go.”
Combined with the need to touch Jon again and fear that Perry would show up, her hands shook so badly she could barely insert the key into the lock. The door creaked open.
“Who’s there?” a voice called from down the hall.
“Hurry, get in,” Reenie whispered, shoving Bart into the room. “Be quiet.” She stood in the doorway and faced Al, the night janitor. She liked the older man, but right now, she wished he was on the other side of the building.
“Oh, it’s you, Reenie.” Al looked over her shoulder into the office. “What are you still doing here?”
“Mom and I had a meeting for an upcoming trip. I forgot my papers in her office and came back to get them.”
Al took off his baseball hat and scratched his head. “Well, there have been some strange noises in here tonight.”
Reenie thought Bart swore. She coughed to cover the noise. “Like what?”
“Footsteps. Voices. Moaning. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the place was haunted.”
Stepping through the doorway, she said, “Well, I’d better look for those papers. I may be a while. Mom also wants me to do some updates on her computer.” She went to shut the door.
Al said, “Oh. I saw that boyfriend of yours, too.”
Reenie’s heart sank. “You did? Where? When?”
“He’s been standing outside the front door. Is he waiting for you?” Al glanced down the dim hallway. “I lock all the doors at nine o’clock. Should I let him in?”
“No.” Reenie tried to keep the panic from her voice. “And he’s not my boyfriend anymore.” She shivered. Would Perry ever leave her alone? “He’s been bothering me lately, so if you see him trying to get in, call the campus police.”
Al frowned. “Is he stalking you?”
“Something like that. I just don’t want to see him anymore.”
“Do you need me to escort you to your car when you’re done?”
Reenie shook her head. “I may be a few more hours. It depends on how messed up Mom made her computer. If it gets too late, I’ll just bunk in her office until morning. I’ve done that before.”
“I know you have.” He tapped the brim of his hat. “Well, you have a nice night, and don’t work too late.”
“Thanks, Al. I won’t.” She closed the door, clicked the lock, and sighed. “That was close.”
Chapter Four
Jon came from behind the room divider in the office and walked over to Reenie. He pressed her against the door, wanting to pick up where they’d left off. The frosted glass rattled.
“Wait.” She slipped beneath his arm. “Al could hear us.” She walked over to Zelda’s desk and turned on a lamp, bathing the room in a warm glow. “I told him I would be working on Mom’s computer.”
“I heard.”
Reenie jerked her head up. “Did you hear everything?”
Jon nodded, worried that knowing her ex was lurking outside the building would ruin what they’d started earlier. Hell, he’d stay here all night with her if he had to. “But let’s not worry about him right now.”
“Shhh. Keep your voice down. Al will wonder why there’s a man’s voice coming from Mom’s office.”
He clicked on a radio on the corner of the desk and found a station with a male deejay. If the janitor wondered about voices, hopefully, he’d think it was the radio. “Turn on the computer, so if he comes back this way, he’ll see the light from the screen.”