by Lauren Wood
I pulled out my phone and flipped to Isabella in my contacts.
“Speak,” she said curtly when she answered.
“Oh, hey…Isabella. This is Jada Meadows.”
“Oh, right. The Heartstring girl.”
“That’s me!” I chirped. “I was wondering…what are you doing right now? I’m downtown and if you’re around…I thought maybe we could meet up and grab lunch or something. To, you know, hang out…but also, I can get more of your thoughts on how things are going with the app.”
She was quiet for a while. Too long. Enough to make me regret calling her up so casually.
“Where are you?” she finally asked with a despondent sigh.
I glanced up to the nearest street signs and rattled off my location.
“Alright, meet me at the corner of Broadway and Spring,” she shot back. “I’ll be there in ten.”
She hung up before I could say anything else, and it took a full twenty minutes for her to arrive…after I showed up at the designated meeting spot. I shrugged it off, reminding myself that chicks as cool as her could afford to make people wait on her. Just as men like Mike Rosner could afford to be picky and aloof. And Jack could afford to be blase about the night we spent together. I was determined to get used to it.
It was hard to chastise Isabella anyway when she showed up looking like a vintage supermodel. If that was the kind of effortless beauty and grace Jack grew up around, I shuddered to think what he saw when he looked at me. Whatever it was had to have been what sent him running that morning. Or at least part of it.
“Follow me,” was the only greeting Isabella gave.
And I did. I followed her in and out of a slew of shops I had never dared go into before. Even with my new persona, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable going in without her by my side. She barked orders at shopkeepers, even more forcefully than Victoria had, and commanded everyone to her will, including me. All the stores were ridiculously overpriced and filled with the most outrageous fashions. But somehow, everything I thought looked silly on the hanger looked amazing on me. If Isabella picked it out, that was. The few chances I tried to take on my own didn’t work out. She had a special knack for knowing what would work, and what wouldn’t.
My feet were aching by the time we were done when Isabella suggested we dip into another one of her trendy hangouts for cocktails and salads.
“So. Jada,” she said, leisurely chewing on a crunchy breadstick. “What’s your story? Have you ever used your company’s site for yourself?”
“For dating? Oh! No. We have a sort of unspoken rule about not using our own service. It’s a sticky security situation.”
“But you’re single?” she pressed.
“Yes,” I blurted. “Sort of. I mean, yes.”
“Well…are you or are you not? If you have to think about it so hard, you’re probably single.”
“No, I’m definitely single,” I corrected myself. “I’m just…”
Her eyes lit up. “Sleeping with someone.”
“Not just one someone. There’s someone new, but I’m not tying myself down,” I tried to explain. “I’m kind of new to…”
“Hooking up? Casual sex?”
“Yes and yes,” I confessed, feeling foolish for admitting something like that to someone like her. If she didn’t think I was pathetic before, she certainly did now.
“I know what you need,” she decided suddenly, flying up to her feet as she waved to the waiter. “Charge this to my account.”
I rushed to grab my bag and run after her. “Where are we going?” I asked as I struggled to keep up.
She didn’t answer. She just led me into a nearby spa and marched right up to the counter. “Two full luxe spa packages please, for my friend and I.”
“And do you wish to have the included bikini waxes?”
I was so giddy from Isabella referring to me as “friend,” I didn’t have time to panic when she smiled at the woman and said, “Yes, of course. That’s the whole point.”
“Wait.” My face dropped. “What’s the whole point?”
She laughed and leaned towards my ear. “Darling, if you’re going to be out there sleeping around…you have to have the proper landscaping down there.”
Once again she was off, leaving the poor clerk to usher me along in my shock.
11
Jack
All the lights in the city blurred together with neon strings of cars zipping back and forth, restaurant signs glowing with advertisements of their ramen and sushi. I loved the charged energy of Tokyo, even with the unfamiliarity of the language and some of the culture. The waning voice of a Japanese singer blared from the outdoor speakers of a nearby club and another one sang out from a karaoke bar. It was like one big giant party, and there were plenty of other Americans visiting to enjoy it.
As I was the visiting consultant, my clients had treated me to everything the city had to offer as I guided them on their business ventures. The work had been satisfying, and the fun parts made the trip more than worth it. But every step of the way, my thoughts were stolen back by something waiting back home…or rather, someone.
If there was ever a place to get lost enough in the busy shuffle and bright lights to forget what happened before or what was coming next, it was this place. And yet I was painfully aware of what my send-off had been, and the temptation that would still be there when I returned.
Jada. I was oblivious to everything she possessed all these years. That body, those lips, her eyes. They burned into my mind and consumed my thoughts.
I snapped aware at the sound of an old man shouting at me in Japanese. I took in my standing position on the street corner and the cab waiting in front of me, finally clearing my mind enough to reach out for the door and get in.
“Haneda airport, onegaishimasu.”
He kept yelling at me halfway there, but I slipped back into my dazed, distracted state through paying him and making my way across the terminal to my flight.
I wanted to take Jada places, to whisk her off around the world, showing her all of my favorite places and what was special about each one. I could imagine lounging on some tropical beach with her, sipping cocktails while I took in long looks of her in a bikini. For all the women I had met in different places, Jada was the first one I imagined traveling with, rather than to or away from.
The whole flight back, I kept thinking how funny it was that I was worried about her getting attached to me, since I was her first. And now it seemed the tables had been turned on me.
Fourteen hours later, I was back in JFK airport and headed for the familiarity of the busy New York streets. My phone had been out of airplane mode barely five minutes when it started to ring with Lucas’s name scrolling across the screen.
I nearly forgot myself and answered with a smart ass remark on how he must have some sort of sixth sense about when my planes landed. He always seemed to catch me the moment I stepped off, but I quickly remembered he wasn’t supposed to know I had just flown across the world and back for my “personal matters.”
I managed to keep my secret and talk to him long enough to gather he wanted me in the office ASAP. I was exhausted and needed a shower, but I took a cab over to the Heartstring headquarters anyway. For as good as I thought I was at lying, I could still sense a tension over the phone, which only became more obvious when I walked into his office to find him stone-faced and silent.
“Have a seat,” he said dryly, waving me in.
As I got settled, he pursed his lips against his forefinger, wrapping his hand around his chin. It was easy to see something was bugging the guy.
“Troubles with Veronica?” I asked, deflecting any blame. “You seem like you’re in a mood.”
“Call it intuition,” he replied. “Or whatever it is…It’s got me nervous about you and your future here.”
I swallowed hard, trying to keep it cool. “Thinking of rescinding your offer?”
“I’m wondering if that’s what you want.”
He stood and circled his desk for a moment before pouring us a couple of drinks.
“None for me, thanks,” I told him. “Why would you think I want you to rescind the offer? We agreed I’d have a few months to think about it.”
“We did,” he nodded. “And that still stands. I guess I just don’t understand your reservations. You’ve spent plenty of time in New York. You’re familiar enough with the company. Shouldn’t be so hard to envision what it would be like and make up your mind.”
I let out a subtle sigh of relief. If he knew anything about me and Jada, he would have said it right then. But this was something else eating at him, which meant I was momentarily off the hook for at least one of the secrets I was keeping from him.
“I wouldn’t say I’m an indecisive person, but I do make my big decisions carefully,” I explained. “The last thing I want is to accept something that won’t work out in the long run and be forced to leave you hanging and disappointed in me. I’m just being cautious.”
He considered it for a moment. “I guess I appreciate that. But…I have to ask. Are you leaning any particular direction?”
“No, not yet.”
He exhaled, and I knew he was disappointed. I felt like a kid being scolded, only it was for something I didn’t do…and the things I had done, he was still oblivious to. But I sure wasn’t. Not only had I slept with his sister, I was still jet-setting around and working for other people. Both of those things were eating at my gut, making me feel like a horrible friend.
“You’re going to take every second of these next couple of months to make up your mind, aren’t you?” he smirked.
“That was the agreement.”
“I know…” he groaned. “I guess I just thought…the offer was good enough…and we’ve come so far around here. I thought after a couple of weeks, you’d be sold.”
“I am weighing all of my options carefully. And when I do make up my mind, you’ll be the first to know,” I assured him.
“I suppose that’s all I could ask for.”
I winced a little. If he only knew. He could have asked me to never lay a finger on his sister again, if he knew. He could have asked me not to take my time away from the company to cheat on them with other consulting jobs, if he knew.
My guilt and stress were through the roof by the time I smoothed things over, temporarily, and left his office. It would only make things worse if I left yet again to go home and get settled after the long trip. I had to continue onto my office and started gearing myself up to work a whole day as if I hadn’t just stepped off an international fourteen-hour flight. I would never let any other guy who signed my checks back me into corners like that, but when that guy was such an old close friend, things were different.
When I was stressed I would usually act out, often being tempted into doing the very thing that was the cause of the stress. And that’s exactly what was plaguing me the rest of the day. Jada devoured my thoughts even more than before, and I had the itch to see her again. More than just seeing her, I had the craving to do everything I swore we wouldn’t do again.
I kept my head on my shoulders and behaved, staying holed up in my office to avoid running into her. One look at her in the flesh again, and I was certain my defenses would be shot. But it was no small feat. Controlling my impulse made my stress worse and left me unbearably restless.
Still, I made it through the day without incident. I didn’t run into her, or anyone for that matter. By six o’clock, Lucas was gone for the day and I thought it was finally safe to venture through the office to head home. Finally, I could have that shower and sleep I so desperately needed.
But I wasn’t as safe as I thought. I wasn’t even half-way across the workroom floor when I caught sight of her. Just keep walking, Jack. Just keep walking.
But my feet betrayed me, skidding to a halt right outside her door. The office was deserted for the night, all except for her, hunched over her desk next to a lamp, the only light in her dark room. I lingered near the doorway for a moment, just watching her.
A strand of hair hung down over her eyes, her hand spread across her forehead. She leaned against her elbow on the desk, staring down a stack of papers while tapping her pen on the corner of them. Every few seconds, she’d draw a line through some words on the page or scribble notes in the margins.
I could suddenly remember times in high school when I’d spot her just like that in a corner of the library. Even then, I was vaguely aware of how much she intrigued me. But I was a horny teenage boy then and popular in our school. I didn’t have to seek girls out. They came to me. I didn’t have time to chase my curiosities about the Meadows sister…which I knew all too well now was an intense attraction.
I started to turn to leave her there, undisturbed. That was the right move. But the moment my feet pivoted, I felt the ball of stress and guilt build back up in my chest again. I was going to feel that way with or without being around her again. I also couldn’t avoid her forever.
Why not drop in and say hi? It was the gentlemanly thing to do, for her sake, considering how I had to leave in an awkward hurry. What could it hurt? It’s not like we were going to bang right there in the middle of the office…right? No. No way I would cross that line. So, there was no reason not to give a friendly hello.
12
Jada
I jumped at the sight of the shadow moving in the doorway, looking up to see Jack standing there…which did next to nothing to calm my nerves. For as much as I had tried not to think about him, I’d be lying if I said I succeeded in the slightest. He kept sneaking into my brain, and all of a sudden there he was, sneaking into my office.
“Jack!” I held my hand over my heart, grateful at least that it wasn’t some ax murderer.
“Sorry. Did I startle you?” He flashed that lady-killer smile of his.
“Just a little.” I reached for my bottle of water and took a sip. “You’re back.”
He nodded and stepped in further. “Got back in this morning. I see nothing went up in flames with me gone.”
“Stick around longer and we’ll depend on you enough that things may not go so smoothly next time.”
He towered over my desk with a devilish look in his eyes. There was something different about him:the way he looked at me, the pattern of his breathing. Then there was the intense energy crackling between us, which could have been lost on him for all I knew. But I sure felt it. It was enough to make it hard to breathe.
“You look good,” he commented, eyeing my cleavage.
Maybe I would have been pissed at anyone else for being so obvious. But this was Jack. My first. The man who blew my mind in bed just a few nights before.
“So do you,” I offered. But of course he always looked good, and he had to know that.
“What are you working on?”
“These interviews,” I replied, trying to calm myself. “The first set goes up on the site tomorrow, so I’m just doing a little proofreading. It’s always easier for me to do in print rather than on a screen.”
I could have kept rambling just to fill the room with anything other than my intense craving for more of him. But he circled around my desk, leaning against it right next to me. The closeness made my throat tighten up and my stomach explode with butterflies.
“Catch me up on everything.”
“Well…” I looked back down to the papers, trying to ignore the heat emanating from his body. “I’m editing this interview with a guy named Mike Rosner…”
“No, not on work,” he cut me off. “I mean with you. How have you been while I was gone?”
I stared back at him, blinking. Was he on the hunt for some sign that I caught the “first lover” attachment and obsession for him? Was he doing damage control? Snooping for any hint that I might have run my mouth off about what happened between us?
“Me? Oh…well…things have been fairly uneventful, I guess,” I stammered nervously. But it was clear by the way he crossed his arms and waited th
at my answer wasn’t enough. I racked my brain for what I could say to make myself sound interesting. “I hung out with your sister again,” I blurted.
“Hung out with her?”
“Yeah. I mean, I continued our interview, of course. But…we’re friends, sort of.”
He pursed his lips, looking surprised. “That’s weird. She doesn’t normally like the women that I’m into. It seems you’re a first for me too.”
My cheeks blushed. I didn’t need any more of a reminder that he took my virginity. And I sure as hell didn’t need more reasons to want him again. But being around him gave me just that, whether I liked it or not.
The sexual tension was too thick to bear. I gave up on trying to act normal and shot up from my seat. He didn’t budge an inch, but instead turned to meet me face to face.
“Are you saying you’re into me?” I dared to ask, our eyes locked intently.
His gaze dropped, taking in long, slow drinks of my body. I didn’t recoil this time, but straightened and let him get a good look. If he wanted what I had to offer, I wasn’t going to try and talk him out of it.
The corners of his lips curled ever so slightly just before he reached up and brushed a strand of hair out of my face. But he didn’t answer my question. He didn’t have to. The hungry look on his face told me everything.
“We went to the spa,” I continued, taking on a suggestive tone and grin. “I had something done.”
“Something done?” his brow raised. “That sounds ominous.”
The bikini wax had left me raw and exposed in a way that I wasn’t used to. I was getting wet just feeling Jack’s breath so close to my face and neck. It felt so much more obvious to me, being completely bare down there. I wanted him to see it. To feel it.