Love past 40 (BWWM Romance Book 1)

by BWWM Club

  “Sure.”

  Good, because she was having another glass…or three.

  She poured it to the rim, not caring that it wasn’t classy or what people usually did. Their conversation required a buzz. “That’s a good, hearty glass of wine,” he said with a chuckle, wrapping his fingers around the stem and bringing it to his lips. His perfect, shaped lips that had a cupid’s bow that was to die for.

  She chuffed, bringing the edge of the glass to her lips. “I’m a hearty kind of woman.”

  “I see that.”

  If she wasn’t mistaken, his eyes wandered down the length of her body and made their way up again. She didn’t know what to say to that. “You’re staring,” she stated, watching him lean against the counter .

  “I am.”

  “Why?”

  “You’re beautiful. I’m sorry. It isn’t professional, I know that. I can’t stop looking at you though.”

  She took a big gulp of her wine and looked anywhere but at him. This wasn’t how tonight was supposed to go. Her plan had been to drink the entire bottle of wine, read her filthy romance novel, wake up with a slight hangover, and go to a spa. “I think it’s best if you go, Josh. This can’t happen. You’re everything I’ve been against for so long,” she admitted, her voice quiet.

  He set the glass down with ease and took a step closer to her. “I’m not the person you’re against.”

  “You’re with the company I’m against.”

  “The company reflects its leader. The company you were against is gone, and the company now is an entirely new being.”

  “And that’s because of you?” she asked with a shake of her head before taking a gulp of wine.

  He took another step, until he was so close she felt his breath against her cheek again. She didn’t want to love it so much, but she did. Oh, she really did. “It is. The company you hate, the man you hate, is dead. I’m the new face.”

  “How do I know you’re any better than your father?”

  “You don’t, but I’m asking you give me a chance to show you I am.” He put his hand around her waist, settling the large palm in the middle of her back. She noticed he didn’t pull her closer but savored the ability to touch her.

  “I don’t know.” Her heart beat was quick and unsteady, pounding against her chest with the scenarios that were running through her head. He could kiss her, roam his hands over her ass, or even her breasts. He could let his tongue probe her mouth and stroke her tongue. There were so many scenarios that she wanted to happen, but they couldn’t.

  “I promise to go at your pace. I just want a chance to show you I’m not as bad as your mind is making me out to be.”

  As she as she opened her mouth to reply, she heard the light jiggle of the front door. Her heart, that was once beating so hard she thought it was about to fall from her chest, stopped. She glanced at the clock on the oven and it flashed eleven−thirty. “My sons! I forgot they're on spring break!” She shoved Josh from her and grabbed her glass. “They've never seen me with another man.” She downed her glass of wine and poured another right as the door opened.

  “Mama?” her son Heath shouted.

  “Sorry we’re late. Traffic was brutal,” Jamal echoed after his brother.

  “It’s going to be okay,” Josh reassured, drawing lazy circles on her lower back.

  She took a deep breath, clutching her coffee for dear life as her nerves took over. “In the kitchen, boys!” she shouted. Her hands trembled, causing her wine to slosh and trickle down the glass onto her hand.

  “Hey, Mam—” Heath stopped dead in his tracks and Jamal slammed into him from the back. He went to open his mouth to say something smart, she was sure of it, until he glanced her way and saw the man standing behind her.

  “Um, boys. This is Josh. Josh, these are my sons, Jamal.” She pointed to the left and then right. “And Heath.”

  “Hi, it’s nice to meet you.” Josh stretched his arm out for a proper handshake and the boys just stared at it for a moment before blinking away the shock.

  Jamal was the first one to reach his hand out. “Sorry, wow. This is a surprise. It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Yeah, we're used to be the only men in her life,” Heath joked, shaking Josh’s hand.

  Ginger cleared her throat. “Oh, boys. He'd far from a man in my life.” She gripped the glass so hard she was afraid the stem would break. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

  Josh tossed his head back and laughed. “That’s what your mother thinks. I’m not a man in her life…yet.” He took a sip of his wine, looking smug.

  Jamal raised his fist to his mouth. “Woo! Mama. I like him. He is going hard.”

  She noticed that Heath didn’t say anything, but he smiled. He wasn’t being rude, but she saw the sadness in his eyes.

  “I’m going to bed, Mama. I’m tired.” Heath leaned in and kissed her cheek.

  “Sure, baby. I’ll see you in the morning.” She kissed him back.

  “It was nice to meet you, Josh.”

  “You as well, Heath.”

  Ginger watched her youngest, disappear down the hallway into the darkness until she heard his door shut.

  “He’ll come around, Mama. He isn’t used to seeing you with someone.”

  She laughed, staring into the red pond of wine. “I’m not either, Jamal. Josh, I think it’s best if you go.”

  “I understand. Jamal, it was nice to meet you. Ginger, I’ll be seeing you again.”

  “Maybe,” she said.

  “No, I will.” He leaned forward and shook Jamal’s hand before turning and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

  She felt the kiss through her entire body. Her nipples beaded and for the first time in years she felt an ache between her legs—all from a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be seeing you, Ginger Lanton,” he whispered before turning around and walking away, vanishing out the front door.

  Once it closed with an audible click, her shoulders sagged. The brief moment had her so stressed out.

  “Well?” Jamal leaned against the counter and crossed his arms.

  She lifted her gaze to her oldest son and sighed. “Well, nothing.”

  “Aw, come on. I’m happy for you. It’s about time you started dating. I love you, Mama. I don’t want you to be alone. You deserve to be happy.” He pulled her in for a hug.

  She didn’t realize until then how much she'd needed to hear those words. She always assumed they would think she forgot about their father and that was far from the case. “Your brother doesn’t seem to agree.”

  “He’ll come around. It’s okay to move on, Mama. It’s why we're all here.”

  “When did you grow up to be so smart?”

  “Family trait, I suppose.” He winked. “Alright, I’m going to bed too. I’ll see you tomorrow, alright?”

  “Goodnight, baby.”

  “Night, Mama.”

  She exhaled when his door shut and rubbed her temples with the headache she felt pulsing in her temples. Her boys might not have a problem with her dating, but they might have a problem with her dating a Hart of Hartline industries. “Why couldn’t it be someone else?” she whispered, taking a sip of wine only to find it empty. She grabbed the bottle and poured, only to find that it was also empty. “Damn it,” she said, strolling back out onto the balcony to watch the night life pass her by.

  She missed when things used to be simple.

  Chapter 6

  Ginger

  Oh, yeah. This was exactly what she needed. She sat in the chair with her feet soaking in hot water. She had a cucumber−avocado mask on her face with slices of cucumber over her eyes. Tina, an employee, was giving her a hand massage. She didn’t want to think about anything—especially Josh.

  “Feel good?” she asked.

  “Yes. This was needed, girl”—she sighed—“twenty years too long.”

  “Twenty years? Wow. Why so long to treat yourself?”

  She reall
y didn’t want to get into that. “Life happened.”

  “I understand. Well, you sit back and relax. Let us take care of the rest.”

  “That won’t be a problem.” She exhaled, sinking deeper into the chair. It heated her lower back and massaged all the knots. She couldn’t remember the last time she'd felt this relaxed. A brief moment of cold air hit her skin as Tina took her left foot out of the hot water, making her skin pebble.

  She groaned when Tina started to knead the bottom of her feet. This was just the start. She was getting works done today. Mani, pedi, facial and extraction to get those pores back to the way the used to be, seaweed body wrap, a chocolate sugar scrub, and a Swedish full body massage. Jamal had dropped her off at the spa because she knew she would be way to relaxed to drive.

  She wasn’t sure how much time had passed by, but Tina took the cucumbers off her eyes and wiped away the green mask on her face and smiled. “Would you like something to drink? Water? Champagne? Mimosa?”

  “You guys do that here?”

  “It’s two−thousand−nineteen. We can do anything.” She winked.

  “I’ll take a nice big mimosa.”

  “Sure thing. I’ll be right back.”

  Ginger sat there for a moment, taking in her surroundings. She couldn’t believe Mr. Williams had made an appointment for her and paid for it all. It made her feel like a valued employee. The spa was beautiful. It had vaulted ceilings, gold trim, and marble floors. The chair she sat in was leather and even the tub her feet were in a few moments ago was made out of marble. It was the best spa in New Orleans, the most expensive too, only the wealthiest of the wealthy went there. She shouldn’t get too used to it. This was a treat, something that wouldn’t happen that often.

  Tine came back with a huge glass and Ginger’s mouth watered. “Here you go. Just sit there and I’ll be back in about ten minutes to get you for your facial.”

  Oh, she was so excited! “Thank you.” She leaned her head back and shut her eyes. The condensation from the glass dripped onto her hand and the soft classical music in the background soothed her soul.

  “Fancy meeting you here.”

  She popped her eyes open and glanced to the right. There, right beside her, was Josh Hart. “What are you doing here?”

  “Just relaxing.”

  “I just bet,” she mumbled, downing half her mimosa.

  “What, you think I’d come here just for you?”

  She scoffed. “What? No. It’s a coincidence.”

  “You’d be right.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him, tapping her freshly painted pastel orange nail against the glass. “About which part?”

  Her smirked before he took a sip of his champagne, or she assumed it was, because of the bubbles that popped above the flute. “You decide.”

  “Oh, Mr. Hart. I didn’t know you’d be joining us today. What a special surprise,” Tina said, as she refilled Ginger’s glass.

  “Tina, lovely to see you. Yes, I thought it would be a good day to get a massage. Is that possible?”

  “Um, well, the only opening would be along with Ms. Lanton here as a couple massage. That’s the only time Jennifer has open.” Tina swallowed, looking a bit nervous as the tumbler shook in her hand.

  “That’s fine. Thank you, Tina. Also, please send out an email letting all employees know they're getting a five percent raise.”

  Tina smiled so large her white teeth were blinding Ginger. “Oh, gosh. Thank you, Mr. Hart. Thank you so much.” Her bouncy brunette ponytail swayed as she hopped toward the front desk.

  Ginger started to put the pieces together. It wasn’t Mr. Williams that had set up this appointment, it was Josh. “You own this spa?” she asked, a little irked.

  “Hart Industries isn’t the only thing I dabble in.” His heart-shaped lips wrapped around the rim.

  She found that she saw him doing that a lot, wrapping his lips around something. She shouldn’t find it so appealing, but she did. The way his tongue flicked out and licked the rim to get every drop. She shook her head, remembering that she was only there because of him. “I don’t need your charity.” She didn’t say it with heat, if anything, she said it with an exhausted sigh.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said nonchalantly.

  Her temper spiked. “You know, don’t do that. Don’t play dumb with me. I know that you set up this appointment. I know you paid for it and I know why you're here. I get it, single−mom who raised two boys all alone and it was because of your dad, so you feel like you have to repay the debt. I don’t want your money. I can pay for it.” She grabbed her purse off the floor and got out her checkbook. “How much is it?”

  “Alright, you caught me. I’m here for you and it’s not because of charity or whatever you're thinking. It’s because I wanted to see you and I had a feeling the only way I’d be able to do that is if I invited myself.”

  “That’s called stalking, Josh.”

  “Really? I call it dating.”

  “We have very different definitions of the word.”

  He rubbed his hand over his trimmed beard that was sprinkled with salt and pepper. “Well, if you’d agree to go out with me once, maybe we would be able to compromise on the definition.”

  She clicked her pen, bringing her attention back to the check book. “How much is today?”

  “Please, don’t worry about it. Think of it as a bonus for work.”

  “Is everyone getting the bonus?”

  “They can.”

  “That’s what's fair.”

  “Then, yes. Monday I’ll have gift certificates for everyone.” He sipped the bubbly.

  “I’ll hold you to your word then, Josh.”

  “You can count on it.”

  She stared at him with a bit of skepticism and tucked her checkbook back into the pocket of her purse. “Okay, then.”

  “So, you’ll give me a chance?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Gosh, you don’t quit, do you?”

  He smiled and that was when she noticed that the hair above his top lip was a little long; it needed a trim. She always gave her boys haircuts, so she wondered if he would let her do the same. “Do I look like a man that quits?”

  She let her eyes roam over his body from the tips of his hair to the leather shoes he wore on his feet. “No, honestly, you don’t.”

  “You just checked me out.”

  Her jaw dropped, appalled that he would think such a thing. “I most certainly did not.”

  “You did. Come on, admit it. I won’t tell.” He leaned over the arm rest.

  She mimicked him, leaning over her own arm rest until she was just a few inches away. “Fine. I was. You’re a good-looking man, but you know that. You don’t need me to tell you that.”

  His eyes never left her lips. “No, but it’s still nice to hear.”

  “Why won’t you leave me alone, Josh?”

  “Why do you insist on being left alone, Ginger?”

  That made her lean back. The fun teasing she'd felt gone. “You know why.”

  “It isn’t a good enough reason for me.”

  “That isn’t my problem. I have my sons to think of.”

  “Your sons seemed fine with it.”

  “They won’t be fine with it when they find out that the guy that wants to date me is the Hart of Hartline Industries.”

  “You haven’t told them?

  “It isn’t their business since nothing is happening between us, Josh.”

  He laughed, tossing his head back before finishing the flute of champagne, and popped his lips when he was done. “Is that what you keep telling yourself, Ginger?”

  “Excuse me?” she lifted a brow at him.

  “Is that what you tell yourself when you find yourself thinking of me?”

  “You’re pretty into yourself if you think I think of you.”

  “Don’t you?”

  She turned to look at him, seeing no insecur
ity in his eyes. She knew that if she said no he wouldn’t believe it. “You’re fishing.”

  “I am, but I really want to know.”

  “I’m not used to this, Josh. I’m used to being alone. I’m good at that. I’m good at only worrying about myself and my boys, everything else is just noise.”

  “I’m sorry, Ms. Lanton. It looks like we have to push your facial back thirty minutes. Please, enjoy a drink on the house and perhaps a nice soak in the hot tub?” Tina asked. She seemed a little unsure since the boss was around and Ginger could understand that.

  “A soak in the hot tub would be great.” She stood, peaking over her shoulder at Josh before she left. “It was good to see you, Josh.”

  “Oh, you’ll be seeing me again soon.” Those sinful lips curved into a grin that she wanted to wipe off with her own lips.

  “I just bet,” she said while adding a sway to her hips. She knew he was looking and it made her feel young again—almost giddy. She followed Tina through double glass doors and humidity slapped her in the face from the hot tub and sauna. “Wow.” The jacuzzi must be the biggest she'd ever seen. It looked like a pool.

  “We're very proud of our facilities. It's cleaned in between each guest to ensure satisfaction. May I take your robe?” she asked.

  “Oh, right.” Ginger forgot that she already had her swimsuit on. It was just a plain, black one−piece. She handed the softest damn robe she'd ever felt in her life to Tina with a little resistance. She wondered if there was a way to stuff it in her bag? It wouldn’t be stealing if it was paid for, right?

  Tina took it and hung it up on the rail next to the hot tub. Ginger could have done that herself. “I’ll be right back with your next drink.”

  Ginger glanced down and giggled. She hadn’t even noticed that she'd finished it. Today was going to be a good day. “Thank you, Tina.” She handed the glass off to her and tested the water with her foot. Oh, it felt perfect. It was scalding, just like she liked it and bubbling and steaming like a volcano underwater. She lowered her body into the hot cauldron, groaning when the heat of the water seeped into her shoulders, relaxing the muscles instantly. She laid her head back against the pillow. The comfortable, waterproof, memory foam pillows were placed around the hot tub so people could relax. She closed her eyes, enjoying the way the jets pulsated against her back.