One Little Letter_A Bad Boy, Second Chance Romance

by Robin Edwards

  Kezia snorted. “You can say that again,” she replied, brushing her thumb along Jenny’s cheek. “Though to be honest, I’d thought we’d just go right to sleep after all that turkey.”

  “What can I say?” Jenny shrugged. “That hair…those breasts…I just can’t help myself.”

  Kezia chuckled. “Do you remember how you used to stare at my tits whenever you thought I was distracted by another customer? You thought you were so sly.”

  “Oh my God, you saw that?” Jenny looked horrified.

  “Of course,” Kezia smiled. “But it was cute how you always did it out of the corner of your eye, pretending to be reading the whiskey labels behind the bar.”

  Jenn groaned. “It’s that uniform you wear…it just…they look so round and…”

  Kezia laughed, pressing herself against Jenny. “And yours for the taking,” she said.

  Laughing softly, Jenny stroked the sides of Kezia’s breasts with her fingertip. “And if that isn’t something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, I don’t know what is.”

  Kezia smiled, nestling down into Jenny’s shoulder. “Oh, I don’t know,” she said.

  “I can think of a few other things I’m thankful for.”

  “Well,” Jenny replied, yawning, “Unlike God, I accept displays of gratitude in the form of either sex or cheesecake. Or both, actually. I wouldn’t say no to both at once.”

  Kezia smacked Jenny’s stomach lightly. “You’re outrageous,” she said.

  “And that’s just how you like me,” Jenny replied sleepily.

  Smiling, Kezia nodded. “So it is,” she agreed as her eyes finally fell shut.

  The End

  I wanted to thank you for taking the time in reading Reunion. We hoped you enjoyed reading this happily ever after story.

  It brought me great joy to write this as I love writing stories that entertain readers and draws them into another world with characters you love and hate. They say great books are those that evoke emotion out of you and I hope that’s what it has done for you.

  Thank you once again, and I’ll see you in the next one.

  Risky Surprise

  A Lesbian, Older Woman Office Romance

  By Elle Crosby

  © Copyright 2016-2017 by Elle Crosby

  and Second Chances Press

  All rights reserved.

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited, and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

  Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher. Names and persons in this eBook are entirely fictional. They bear no resemblance to anyone living or dead. To protect the privacy of certain individuals the names and identifying details have been changed. This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Chapter One

  Ginevra Sachs rested her head against the airplane window, watching what the onscreen map told her was North Carolina pass by far below her. She was on her way back to Washington after yet another flurry of meetings in Alabama and Georgia. She was exhausted.

  Her last meeting before flying back to Washington had been with a state senator and his posse – a presidential hopeful for the next election - but the luncheon had gotten so out of hand that she wouldn’t have been surprised if someone (the senator in particular) had started pulling pigtails. At least they had been eating in a private room, and there wouldn’t be any embarrassing photos in the paper tomorrow. With a sigh, Ginevra sat back in her first class leather seat. To be honest, there were times when she had just about had it with this job.

  When she’d just been starting out in PR, national politics had seemed so glamorous. Now, after a decade in the business, Ginevra found that even the most powerful people in the country had a marked tendency to act like whiny school children if they weren’t allowed to get their way. So much for her naïve undergraduate dreams of changing the world – it turned out that working as a campaign manager was more like being a nanny than an activist, no matter which party you were working for.

  The plane landed at night, just it began to rain, which did not help improve Ginevra’s mood. Cinching her fitted Armani trench coat tightly around her waist, she stood in Arrivals looking out at the greasy night and waiting for her assistant to come pick her up. Sam was a dear girl with many talents, but punctuality was not one of them. Checking her watch, Ginevra swallowed another sigh. She’d landed twenty minutes ago and still had tons to do before she slept. Plus this humidity was going to make her carefully straightened hair curl.

  As if to add insult to injury a trendily-dressed girl bordering on her twenties strolled past Ginevra and out into the rain, dragging a leopard-print carry-on behind her. The teen had a tropical-print scarf wrapped around her hair, knotted on her forehead and holding up her own tightly-wound dark curls in effortlessly hip looking updo. Ginevra pouted a little.

  She’d often thought about letting her hair stay in its natural state but, in her line of business, she worried that it would be more hassle than it was worth. She worked with a lot of people who weren’t as open-minded as it was possible to be when it came to race or gender, and she had both going against her. Ginevra had the sneaking suspicion that coming to meetings (especially when they were with people like today’s Alabama senator) with an afro (no matter how well coiffed) would only exacerbate both the overt fetishism and casual racism that she dealt with on a near daily basis. But damn that girl had looked good. Ginevra’s pout intensified, and she looked at her watch once more, allowing herself a little wave of self-pity.

  “Oh my God, oh my God, Gina, I’m so sorry!” Sam came flying through the glass doors, purse swinging from one hand, the phone being waved wildly in the other.

  “Traffic was madness, and there was a last minute debriefing about Governor Jackson and the puppy incident just as I was leaving the office. I recorded the whole thing for you, don’t worry. God, how do you always look so put together, even after flying all over the country?”

  Sam leaned in, giving Ginevra a quick peck on the cheek – Sam had recently returned from a two week trip to France and now kissed everyone up her arrival anywhere.

  “Here,” she handed her boss her phone, earbuds already plugged in. “Plus I jotted down some thoughts for his apology speech – just open the app,” Sam waved a pink-nailed finger at the giant screen of her phone.

  “Thanks, Sam,” said Ginevra, popping one earbud in.

  “Do you want me to grab you a tea for the ride back?” Ginevra was famous for her disdain of coffee.

  “Don’t worry about it, let’s just get home.”

  “Okay,” Sam smiled and gently relieved Ginevra of her purse and carry on. Her boss smiled her thanks.

  As they exited the building, Sam drew a black-and-white-striped umbrella from her oversized green purse and opened above them, saving Ginevra’s straightened hair for a little longer.

  As Ginevra got comfortable in the back seat of the car, already absorbed in the meeting she’d missed, Sam loaded her luggage into the trunk and then flopped down into the driver’s seat.

  “Oh! One more thing!” Sam twisted in her seat, gesturing for Ginevra to take out her headphones.

  “Yes?” Ginevra paused the playback.

  “Senator Tully’s wife sent you a present.”

  Ginevra raised her dark eyebrows. “A present?”

  “Yeah. I guess her husband was a bit of a cock at the meeting today? The email just said ‘For your patience’ in the subject line.”

  Ginevra chuckled. “Well, that’s the understatement of the year. What was it?”

  “A gift certificate for a week at a holistic spa retreat in some picturesque little corner of the Big Sur. I
think she thinks you deserve a break.”

  “And after the way, her husband behaved today she would be right,” Ginevra replied. “That was kind of her.”

  “Want me to book you in? Your calendar is pretty clear in about three weeks’ time. I can just rearrange a few meetings and badda-bing badda-boom, you’re sitting with your feet up while some hunk gives you a back massage.” Sam paused then smiled impishly. “Sorry, I meant some cute babe.”

  Ginevra rolled her eyes. “Yes, don’t project your fantasies onto mine.”

  Sam laughed. “Sorry, boss. So, what do you say?”

  “I don’t know, Sam…”

  “Oh, come on, Gina. You deserve it! Even some Alabama senator’s wife thinks you owe it to yourself. And she’s only met you the one time.”

  “Do you really think I have the time?”

  “I really do. In fact, I would say take advantage of the opportunity and go take another week to visit some vineyards and get properly relaxed.”

  Ginevra looked out at the dark, rainy, Washington night and bit her lip. “Okay. You’ve convinced me. Book it.”

  “Wahoo,” Sam yowled as she revved the engine. “Look out California, Ginevra Sachs is coming for you!”

  “Don’t do that to the car, Sam. You know it’s terrible for the engine.”

  “You are the actual worst at acting out, Gina, you know that right?” Sam replied. Nevertheless, she calmed the engine and eased the car out into traffic without any further theatrics, letting Ginevra get back to the debriefing.

  Chapter Two

  Even though she hadn’t planned on taking any time off in the foreseeable future, once Sam had planted the idea in Ginevra’s head, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. All of a sudden, regular daily tasks that used to be unpleasant but “just part of the job” had become absolutely unbearable, and three weeks seemed like an interminable age.

  “See,” said Sam smugly one afternoon, exactly 9 days before Ginevra left (not that she was counting), “you needed a break. Always trust your assistant, Gina. I know what you need.”

  Ginevra laughed, leafing through various versions of an upcoming speech. “I knew there was a reason I hired you,” she smiled.

  “You hired me because you think my red hair is sexy,” Sam said with an impish grin. “But I’m glad you’ve learned to appreciate me for my other qualities. I don’t just want to be a hot body to you, Gina.”

  “Get out of here, Sam,” said Gina, tossing a paperclip in her assistant’s general direction.

  “Want a tea?”

  “Yes, please. Anything to make this day go by faster.”

  Sam laughed, collecting her purse. “‘Oh no, I don’t need a vacation. I’m Ginevra Sachs. I don’t take vacations! They’re for mere mortals!’” Sam twittered in a falsetto that sounded nothing like her boss.

  “Don’t make me regret falling for your hair, Sam,” Ginevra called after her ebullient assistant.

  “I’ll make it a London Fog!” Sam winked, knowing her boss didn’t treat herself to the creamy tea latte very often.

  “Thank you!” Ginevra replied as Sam disappeared out the door.

  Ginevra looked back down at the speech and made a face. 9 more days, she told herself.

  Finally, the day of her flight arrived. As always, Sam drove her to the airport (later than she’d have preferred) and followed her to the counter, carting around Ginevra’s matching brown leather carry-on and briefcase along with her own enormous green purse. Ginevra had always told her that she could carry her own luggage, but Sam took it as a point of pride and Ginevra left her to it.

  “Okay, you all set?”

  “Yes, mom,” Ginevra smiled.

  “You have your boarding pass?”

  Ginevra waved the ticket.

  “Your reading glasses?”

  “In my purse.”

  “Sunscreen?”

  Ginevra raised an eyebrow.

  “Oh right, you and your beautiful goddamn skin,” Sam pouted. Unless she kept herself permanently slathered in sunscreen from May to October, Sam’s pale Irish skin took on a decidedly lobster-coloured hue. “Tanning lotion then, you jerk?”

  “In my suitcase. May I go now?”

  “Yes.” Sam gave her boss a quick hug and a huge smile. “Have a great time, Gina. You deserve this! And have a whole bottle of wine for me, okay? Something pink and girly.”

  “I hate rosés.”

  “You’re drinking it for me, remember?”

  “Right, sorry,” Ginevra smiled. “Pink and girly. Got it.”

  “Okay,” Sam eyed her boss like a proud mother on the first day of kindergarten. “Now go enjoy the hell out of yourself.”

  “Bye, Sam,” Ginevra smiled and headed for the gate.

  “They just grow up so fast,” Sam sniffed, wiping away an imaginary tear as she waved Ginevra off.

  The moment Ginevra stepped off the plane, she felt better. Even just in San Luis, the air seemed a hundred times cleaner than it had in Washington. It was evening, and the sun was shimmering on the horizon, but the air was still warm, and Ginevra was over the moon.

  Ginevra hated driving, especially in places she didn’t know, so Sam had hired her a driver to ferry her from the airport to the resort.

  “I specifically asked for a great, big, hulking man so that you wouldn’t be tempted to replace me just because he arrives on time,” she’d told Ginevra, making her laugh. They both knew that Ginevra would never replace Sam, no matter how annoyed she got with her tardiness.

  Sure enough, an enormous man in a surprisingly well-tailored suit was holding a card with her name on it when Ginevra strolled into Arrivals. She sighed. So punctual. What a dream.

  “Ms. Sachs?” he asked, his rumbling voice void of personality.

  Ginevra nodded.

  “This way,” he said, leaving her to pull her own luggage. The moment passed quickly, and Ginevra missed Sam’s bubbly personality already.

  He led her to a sleek black car, a variation on all the other cars in her life, and, popping the trunk, finally reached for her bag. He held the back door open for her and Ginevra caught him ogling her long, slender legs as they disappeared into the backseat. Alone in the back, while he went around to the driver’s side, she rolled her eyes.

  The drive along the coast was slow, the road crammed with commuters desperately trying to get home and tourists desperately trying to see a few more feet of the stunning coastline. While delays usually drove her crazy, Ginevra forced herself to sit back and enjoy the view, safe in the knowledge that, for once, she had nowhere to be and nothing to do. It was an exhilarating feeling.

  Bon Esprit Resort was tucked away just off the beaten path, a little further north than the more famous beaches. Its rambling grounds were perched above a protected cove and included natural hot springs, a sprawling English garden filled with sweet-smelling herbs, a small, manicured labyrinth, and an unbelievable view. From the main building, guests could follow a stone path that led down to the private beach, where they could stretch out on wooden deck chairs under the swaying palms or swim in the crystal clear water. For Ginevra, it was love at first sight.

  She was greeted at reception by a smiling but a vapid teen who, if Ginevra had to guess, was someone’s daughter or niece – she certainly hadn’t been hired for her computer or organizational skills. It took her nearly 15 minutes to find Ginevra’s reservation. Eventually, an older woman appeared, introduced herself as Sally, and took control of the situation. Quickly settling whatever spreadsheet problem the younger one had been having, she took Ginevra in hand.

  “Your room is right this way, Ginevra. If you’ll just follow me?” Sally slid out from behind the desk and led Ginevra down a long hallway, one side of which was all windows with a view of the ocean. “We’ve got you in the sage room – the color is very soothing. Your assistant said that you would need all the help you could get.”

  Ginevra laughed. “Yes, that sounds like Sam.”

  Sally u
nlocked the room and passed Ginevra the key card. “Dinner’s already been served, but we keep light refreshments, tea, and coffee in the dining room until midnight, if you’re peckish. Chef’s made some lovely wild blueberry clafouti today that I highly recommend. Tomorrow we’ll be doing a coastal hike if you care to join, as well as a special workshop on kundalini yoga. But you have an acupuncture appointment tomorrow afternoon if I’m not mistaken. Just let me know if you want to reschedule.”

  “Thanks,” said Ginevra. “Acupuncture will be just fine.”

  Sally nodded. “You’ll love Dr. Cho. She’s truly gifted. Well, I’ll leave you to it. If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate.”

  “Thank you,” said Ginevra as Sally left her alone in the room.

  The sage room was spacious and airy – and painted a very relaxing shade of sage green. The bay window, like all the windows here it seemed, opened out onto a sea view, with a comfortable-looking cushioned seat built in underneath for better contemplation of the waves. The large double bed was made in clean, crisp white linens and a door next to it led to a large bathroom with a Japanese-style cedar wood soaking tub under yet another window with an ocean view.

  Ginevra didn’t know where to start. She was hungry – did she go for coffee and cake? Did she immediately strip off her business suit and heels and soak away the last few months in the tub? Did she hit the hot springs? Relaxing involved so many choices.

  Reminding herself that she had a week here, Ginevra opted for a quick snack and exploration before indulging in a nice long soak in her private tub. Leaving her suit jacket on the bed, she slipped on a pair of comfortable flats, grabbed her phone and key card, and headed for the dining room.

  As expected, the dining room was stylishly but simply decorated, each of its rustic wood tables sporting mismatched bottles with delicate wildflower bouquets – this was California, after all. And, as was to be expected, the far wall was all windows. Ginevra helped herself to a plate of clafouti, some fresh fruit, and a mint tea, and chose a table by the window bank. She was alone in the room.