by Sandi Lynn
She gave me a small smile as she set her dress down on the lounge chair and climbed back into bed. Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her into me as she snuggled tightly against my chest. She fit perfectly into me. Almost as if she was made to be there.
Kissing the top of her head, I asked the question that I was sure she wouldn’t answer.
“Why haven’t you had sex in seven years?”
Chapter Eighteen
Lorelei
I wanted to tell him so badly about Hope. He needed to know, but I was scared. He hated kids and what we had just shared was beyond magical. I’d never felt this kind of connection before. Don’t get me wrong; I loved Brett with every fiber of my being. He was the love of my life. But this connection I had with Jack was something different. Something I couldn’t explain. Did I want to open up the wound that never fully healed seven years later? Not tonight.
“Can we talk about it in the morning? I’m really tired right now.”
“Of course. Get some sleep.”
I lifted my head from his chest and kissed his lips. He gave me a small smile and my insides filled with happiness. This was the tender side of Jack Sutton. A side I hadn’t been so sure existed.
The next morning, I opened my eyes and looked around the room, trying to focus where I was at, forgetting at the moment that I wasn’t in my bed in my apartment. Rolling over, I stared at the empty spot where Jack had laid last night. Regret started to settle inside me as I lay there. What the hell did I do? Now what? I sat up, holding the sheet over me as my eyes looked around his bedroom. The gray walls were the same as the rest of the house, as were the white crown molding that accented them. His bedroom furniture was black and very much the same style as the downstairs.
Climbing out of bed, I used the bathroom and then grabbed a blue t-shirt Jack had lying on the chair. After slipping it over my head, I walked downstairs and into the kitchen where the aroma of coffee awoke my senses.
“Good morning.” Jack smiled. “Coffee?” he asked as he held up the pot.
“Yes. Please. Coffee is very much needed right now.”
He poured coffee into the mug and handed it to me. His eyes raked over me from head to toe.
“You look great in my t-shirt. Very sexy.” He leaned over and kissed my lips.
“Thanks. I hope you don’t mind. I didn’t want to get back into that dress.”
“I don’t mind at all. I really like the view.” He winked.
Sitting down on the black stool at the island, I took a sip of my coffee. Jack set down a small brown basket filled with croissants, muffins, and small pastries.
“Dig in.” He smiled as he took a croissant. “My maid, Madeline, is off on the weekends so she makes sure to pick these up every Friday.”
“You have a maid?”
“Yeah. She’s great. She’s more than just a maid, though. She’s my chef, my friend, my confidant, my tailor if something needs mending, and she’s just an overall great woman. Between you and me, I think she and Tony have a thing for each other.”
I laughed. “Really?”
“Yeah. Even though they won’t admit it, I know something’s going on.” He set down his coffee and sat on the stool next to me. “How did you sleep?”
“Great. How about you?”
“Good.” He slowly nodded his head. “Are you ready to tell me why you hadn’t had sex in seven years?”
I tilted my head as I stared at him. “You’re just dying to know, aren’t you?”
“Actually, I am, because I can’t imagine someone as beautiful as you not having sex for all those years.”
Taking another drink from my cup, I sighed. “When I was sixteen, I met this guy named Brett. We fell in love and had big plans for our future together. We were going to go away to college, graduate, get married, start a family, and live happily ever after until he was killed in a car crash two years later by a drunk driver.”
“Lorelei, I’m sorry.” He reached over and placed his hand on mine.
“After he died, I had no interest in meeting other guys. Brett wasn’t just my boyfriend and my lover; he was my best friend and I couldn’t see myself with anyone else.” I looked down.
He gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “I can’t even imagine what you went through but not to have sex for seven years seems a little ridiculous.”
There was no way he could understand. He was Jack Sutton and apparently not a very emotional man. I turned my head and glared at him for a few moments. Our eyes locked on each other.
“Have you ever been in love, Jack?”
“No. I can’t say that I have.”
“Then you could never understand. Do me a favor. When you do fall in love at some point in your life, get back to me on how you’d feel if something happened to that person. How your whole world comes crashing down in a split second and you find it hard to breathe and go on without them in your life.”
I got up from the stool and went upstairs to get dressed and leave. As I put on my dress, Jack walked into the bedroom and clasped my shoulders.
“Lorelei, I’m sorry. I was being insensitive. To be honest with you, I’m not a very sensitive person. Let me ask you something. Why me? After seven years, why did you finally choose to have sex with me?”
“If you would have asked me that last night, I would have told you something different from what I’m about to say now. The truth is, I don’t know. I have to go.”
I grabbed my shoes from the floor, my purse from the nightstand, and walked down the stairs. I expected him to follow me down, but he didn’t. Walking down the street and trying to put on my shoes, I waited until I reached the corner to hail a cab. My stomach felt sick and my feelings were hurt. Maybe Jack wasn’t the man I thought he was. Or actually, maybe he really was and I just chose to see him as someone different. Who the hell knew and who the hell cared? I was happy I didn’t tell him about Hope. Jack Sutton was nothing to me but a one-night stand who happened to be my boss.
****
Jack
Lorelei left in anger and I just let her leave. I should have gone after her, but I didn’t like what she said to me. I still didn’t understand why she wouldn’t have sex. I guess it was a woman’s thing. I knew that I would never go without having sex for seven years. Good grief, I couldn’t even make through a week. I sighed as I stepped into the shower. Once I was finished, I went into my closet to get some clothes. As I was getting dressed, I looked at the crumpled sheets where Lorelei lay in my arms and slept last night. She didn’t know it, but I lay there for a while and watched her as she slept. She looked so peaceful and so angelic. She made me feel things last night as we were making love that I’d never felt before, and for her to just walk out like she did today really bothered me. Great. She was mad and now things were going to be tense at the office on Monday. I needed to rectify things and I needed to do it now.
I walked down the street to the florist. As I was looking in their cooler at the beautiful arrangement of flowers, a woman approached me.
“Hello, there. Is there something I can help you with?”
“I need to send some flowers to a woman I pissed off.”
“Ah. Apology flowers. I understand. We send a lot of those. I would suggest our apology bouquet, which consists of red and white roses arranged in a glass vase with greens and sprigs of baby’s breath.”
“Okay. That sounds nice. I’ll send one of those.”
“Very good. If you would follow me to the counter, I’ll get some information from you.”
When I approached the counter, the woman showed me the cards they had on display.
“Here are your choice of cards to send with the flowers and here’s a pen.” She smiled. “The name of the recipient is?” she asked.
“Lorelei Flynn,” I replied as I took one of the white cards from the display.
“Address, please.”
“Oh shit. I don’t know her address. Hold on a second.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out my ph
one, dialing Garrett.
“Hey, what happened to you last night?” he answered.
“We’ll discuss that later. I don’t have time right now. I need Lorelei’s address. Do you have it?”
“It’s at the office and why do you need her address?”
“I just do. I can’t explain now. But I need to send her some flowers.”
“Jesus Christ, Jack. NO!” he yelled and the woman looked at me.
Then it hit me. Tony had driven her home so he would have her address.
“Just remembered something. I’ll call you back later.” Click.
I dialed Tony.
“Hello, Jack.”
“Tony, I need Lorelei’s address. You have it, right?”
“Yes. Hold on a second and I’ll get it for you.”
After a moment, he rattled off her address as I wrote it down on the white card. “Thank you.” Click.
I handed the woman the card and pulled another one from the display. She glared at me.
“What? You can charge me for that card.”
She typed the information into her computer and I handed her my credit card as I wrote an apology to Lorelei.
Lorelei,
I’m sorry for what I said. I hope you can forgive me. I don’t want things to be tense between us in the office on Monday.
Jack
“I need these delivered today and as soon as possible.”
“Very well, Mr. Sutton. I hope she accepts your apology.” She smirked.
“So do I.”
Chapter Nineteen
Lorelei
When I arrived home, the first thing on my mind was taking a hot, relaxing bath. My mom and Nick wouldn’t be bringing Hope home for a few more hours, so I had a little time to myself. Walking into the bathroom, I started the water and poured some vanilla-scented bubble bath under the stream. Twisting up my hair, I looked at myself in the mirror. Who did I see staring back at me? A stupid woman full of regret. Before climbing into the tub, my phone rang. It was Stella.
“Hello.”
“I’ve been waiting all morning with my phone glued to my hand for your call telling me all about last night.”
“I’m sorry. It’s been a crazy morning. I’m just getting into the tub. Come over. I need to talk to you.”
“Are you okay?”
“I don’t know. I slept with Jack.”
“Oh shit! I’m on my way!” Click.
I climbed into the bubbly water and sank down until it reached the top of my neck. It wasn’t too long before Stella came over, running into the bathroom, and out of breath.
“What did you do? Run here?” I asked.
“Pretty much,” she spoke breathlessly. Setting her purse down on the bathroom counter, she pulled up the stool I had in the bathroom and sat down next to the tub.
“Tell me everything. I want every last fucking juicy detail.”
I sighed. “One minute we were at the bar talking and the next we were in a private room kissing. Then we went back to his place and had some serious mind-blowing sex.”
“Eeek! How big was he? Was he really extra-large worthy?” She grinned.
“Yes. He is extremely blessed in the goods department. I was really nervous that it wasn’t going to fit.”
She waved her hand in front of her face. “Oh please. You popped out a kid. Speaking of which, did you tell him about Hope?”
“No. I couldn’t.”
There was a knock on the door and Stella looked at me. “Are you expecting anyone?”
“No. My mom won’t be bringing Hope home for a few more hours.”
“I’ll go see who it is, and then, when I get back, I want to hear more about this amazing night.”
She got up from the stool and left the bathroom. Grabbing the loofah from the shelf, I soaked it in the bubbly water and ran it across my arm.
“Look what you got!” She smiled as she walked into the bathroom holding a beautiful arrangement of red and white roses.
“Who are those from?”
“Hmm. I wonder.” She smiled. “Here’s the card.”
“You open it. My hands are wet.”
You’d think I had just given her a gift by her giddy reaction.
“Lorelei, I’m sorry for what I said. I hope you can forgive me. I don’t want things to be tense between us in the office on Monday. Jack. What the hell did he say? Oh my God, did you leave angry? Did you two have a fight? You just had sex. How could you have a fight?”
Taking in a deep breath, I told her to calm down.
“I told him about Brett and how I hadn’t had sex in seven years.”
“Oy. Why did you tell him about the not having sex part?” She looked at me as she crossed her eyes. She knew I hated when she did that.
“First of all, stop doing that, and second of all, I just told him. He proceeded to tell me how ridiculous that was. So I asked him if he’d ever been in love and he told me no. Which I’m not surprised because I don’t think the man is capable of love. He even admitted he was a little insensitive. I just told him that when he does fall in love with someone in his lifetime, to get back to me about how he would feel if something were to happen to that person. Then I left.”
“Damn. What an asshole. But he did send you flowers and apologized.” She scrunched her face.
“Only because he doesn’t want things to be tense at the office on Monday. He said so himself.”
“True. But he could have just sent you a text message saying that. He took the extra step and sent flowers, and you know his PA didn’t do it for him.” She smiled. “He did it himself.”
“Why are you defending him?”
“I’m not. He’s a total douchebag. You had sex. First time in seven years, may I add, and you said it was mind blowing. Take it for what it is and move on.”
“Easy for you to say. You don’t have to sit and look at him all day.”
Stella sighed.
“I’ll meet you out there in a minute. I’m going to get out of the tub before I turn into a prune. Can you pour us a glass of wine and get those flowers out of here?”
“Of course.” She placed her hand in the water and flicked a bubble at me.
****
Jack
She should have received the flowers by now. Why wasn’t she calling me? I threw my phone across my desk. It rang. I grabbed it. It was Garrett.
“What?” I answered.
“Were you expecting someone else?” he asked.
“Sorry, man. What’s up?”
“I’m on my way over to your place with a pizza. We’re going to sit down and talk about why you needed to send Lorelei flowers.”
“Garrett, now isn’t a good time.”
“Sorry. What did you say? I can’t hear you. Seems like we have a bad connection.” Click.
Shaking my head, I set my phone down and sank back into my chair. He was going to kill me. It wasn’t too long after he hung up on me that I heard the elevator doors open. I stepped into the foyer only to catch Garrett glaring at me as he took the pizza to the kitchen.
“I’m going to assume that the flowers you sent Lorelei were a nice gesture for a job well done.” He reached into the cupboard and pulled out two plates.
Reaching into the refrigerator, I took out two bottles of beer and set them on the table.
“A job well done indeed, my friend. But no, they were apology flowers.”
“What the hell did you do now, Jack?”
We took the pizza over to the table and sat down. “I was insensitive and said something I probably shouldn’t have.”
“Doesn’t surprise me. But anyway, go on. What did you say?”
“She told me this morning that she hadn’t had sex in seven years since her boyfriend was killed in a car crash. I might have said that it was ridiculous to go that long without sex.”
Garrett shook his head. “Wait a minute. You said that to her this morning?”
“Yeah.” I bit into my pizza.
“And what was she doing here this morning?”
I gulped and shrugged.
“For fuck sake, Jack! You had sex with her?!!”
“Yeah, and then I said that, and she left here all pissed off.”
He set down his pizza and placed his hand on his forehead. “Why for the love of God can’t you keep your dick in your pants? Just once, Jack. This one time was all I asked.”
“Because I wanted her and she wanted me. It was completely mutual.”
“You, my friend, have crossed the line. She’s your assistant. You’re her boss.”
“So what? I like Lorelei. I sent her flowers and told her I was sorry.”
“Did she call you?”
“No.”
“Great. I better start placing an ad first thing Monday morning.”
“Stop jumping to conclusions. She’s not going anywhere. And why didn’t you tell me she lived in Harlem. My God, the area she’s in isn’t safe.”
“It’s not my place to tell you.” He narrowed his eye at me. “Did she tell you anything else?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. I was just wondering if she told you more about her boyfriend.”
“She just said that she loved him and he was her best friend and she couldn’t see herself with anyone else.”
“That’s terrible that she suffered such a loss. So you’re the first man she’s had sex with since him and you go and open your dumb-ass, rude, insensitive mouth.”
“Yeah. Pretty much. I told her I didn’t want things awkward between us on Monday.”
“You slept with her, so it’s a little too late for that.” He kicked back his beer.
Chapter Twenty
Lorelei
My mom and Nick brought Hope home just as Stella was about to leave.
“Hey there, Hopester.” She high-fived her.
“Hey, Auntie Stella. What are you doing here?”
“Just visiting with your mom.” She bent down and gave her a kiss on the head. “I have to run. I’ll see you soon.”
“Okay.” She giggled and then ran into my arms. “Hi, Mommy.”
“Hey, baby. How was your day?”