He was too used to controlling his environment as well.
When she walked back to him carrying a hard hat in her hand, his heart rolled over in his chest. The sense of her belonging to him and with him was strong.
“Here. Bend your head down,” she ordered, putting the hat on him and fastening the chin strap. “There—you’re safe now. You’re going to get saw dust and god knows what else on your clothes, but there’s no protection from that. Come on.”
Seth laughed and followed, letting Jenna walk him through the chaos of saws, air tools, and hammers. The plumbing was being installed and the back of the house was being covered in the framing that would act as support for the stucco and river stone finish. Beyond the foyer was a great room with a vaulted ceiling and a loft area framed around the edge. At one end was a floor-to-ceiling fireplace that was installed but not yet finished.
“So did the mystery man ever engage with you,” Seth asked when they had walked to the master bedroom wing of the house and away from the tools. They could almost talk without yelling there.
“I sent the final plans over along with video of myself explaining my intentions. I had to make the video on my computer even though I felt like a complete dork talking about what would have taken me ten minutes to do in person, and I could have given him a tour,” Jenna replied. “The lawyer called me personally to say his client was very pleased. If things keep going this well, I may even get this done a few weeks sooner than I thought.”
“Well, even I can see how awesome it’s going to be.” Seth told her sincerely. “What’s the master bedroom going to be like?”
“Huge,” Jenna said, laughing, the one word saying everything from her perspective. “Room for a bed and a sitting area. I wanted it to be a true getaway from everything. I’m also adding a hidden mini-bar and invisible flat screen in the master bathroom. And I made the walk-in closet the same size as a small bedroom. It will have cherry shelving and a dressing area. He might not appreciate it, but his wife is going to love me for it one day.”
“Oh, you never know. A man like Ben Kaiser would love it. Somebody with a dual life like Allen would enjoy it. Hell, even I would appreciate it. I’d probably buy more suits and find many ways to fill up the space. Evidently, two suits aren’t enough anymore anyway, especially if I keep leaving my pants abandoned in the floor,” Seth said, joking.
“I’m sure Sydney would just love to make you some suits,” Jenna said, grinning.
“Yes, I’m sure he would. Do you know what the man charges for a suit? It’s criminal,” Seth complained. “Casey would never have bought one on his own if Alexa hadn’t insisted. Neither of us is used to spending the kind of money Sydney charges on clothes.”
“Well, get used to it, Seth. Think of buying Sydney’s suits as a business investment,” Jenna said seriously. “You work damn hard for your wealth. You deserve to look like it.”
Seth smiled at her compliment. “Their cost wouldn’t stop me from leaving them in the floor on the way to bed with you,” he told her.
Jenna looked through the walls and across the rest of the lot without commenting back. She always got a little uncomfortable when Seth started talking about how things were between them.
“About last night, Jenna,” Seth began, knowing there was never going to be a better segue into talking about what brought him to see her. “Did you realize we forgot to use a condom?”
Jenna sighed. “I realized it this morning when I woke up. It’s okay. I’m using birth control. I meant to tell you before. We don’t have to use the condoms, but I just figured they were a back-up precaution. I’ve been on birth control almost since the first day I met you.”
“So the night of the engagement party, I wouldn’t have made you pregnant?” Seth said, realizing the greater error of not following through now. And the even bigger one of just not talking to her about such things.
“Well, there’s always a chance of pregnancy, even with the best birth control. If you hadn’t insisted on stopping that day, I would have told you,” Jenna said, shrugging. “I did try to tell you several times while we were dating because I thought knowing might make you feel better about sleeping with me. Eventually it became a moot point so I just shut up about it. I stayed on the birth control after we broke up because it didn’t make sense to go off when I was actively dating. I have a lot of faults, but I’m not going to be careless about creating a child.”
“So you were planning on eventually sleeping with Stedman,” Seth said, not really upset about it, but he couldn’t help feeling like he’d barely prevented the worst from happening.
“I prefer not to discuss the rest of my personal life,” Jenna said quietly. “I’m not involved with anyone physically other than you at the moment. I do have a date for next weekend, but it’s nothing major. I keep my word.”
A date. Another man. Again, Seth thought. And he couldn’t say anything because it was a violation of their agreement.
“So you’re okay with how things are with us?” Seth asked instead, not liking where this conversation was going, but unable to avoid asking the questions that had been festering in him for a few weeks.
Jenna crossed her arms and looked up at him. “Yes. I guess I am. Are you?”
Seth looked down into her face, looking hard for signs that Jenna was not being completely honest. Dismayed when he found nothing but sincerity, Seth slowly nodded yes.
What other choice did he have?
“If that’s all you’re willing to give me of yourself, I guess it will have to do for now. I don’t want out of our deal yet, but you probably need to know that I’m going to eventually want more from our relationship than just sex. If you’re not going to, then I’m definitely going to want out one day,” he said.
“Okay. Thanks for making that clear,” Jenna said softly. “And thanks for caring enough to come tell me about last night.”
“Well, at least you realize I care,” Seth said, sarcasm getting the best of him at last when he realized she wasn’t going to say anything more about her feelings for him. “I’ve got plans for this evening so I need to run. Thanks for the tour. I’d like to come back again when it gets closer to being finished.”
“Sure,” Jenna said, having to stretch her legs to keep up with Seth’s long strides now that he seemed in a hurry to leave. “You working tonight?”
Seth looked sideways at Jenna as they walked through the chaos in the great room again. When they were out of the noise and to his car, he unsnapped the hard hat, removed it, and handed it to her.
“Thanks for tour. No, I’m not really working tonight,” Seth said enigmatically. “A business acquaintance is in town. We got finished with the business part this morning. Tonight, we’re going to dinner and touring the town while she’s still here. This is her first time in Falls Church. She flies out tomorrow morning.”
“So you have a date then?” Jenna asked.
Seth narrowed his eyes at Jenna and the snippy way she had asked the question. She seemed determined to call his business dinner a date, probably to justify her own date next weekend. Damn the woman. “Yes. I guess you could call it a date. I wasn’t thinking in those terms, but what the hell.”
“Look, you don’t have to be so secretive about seeing other people. We have an agreement,” Jenna told him, kicking gravel with the toe of her boot. “I’m not jealous.”
“Great. Good to hear,” Seth said, climbing into his car. He needed to leave before he lost his temper.
Jenna Ranger and her stubborn refusal to acknowledge the truth of their relationship were straining his patience to its limit.
Chapter 12
After dinner at the hotel, Seth arranged for a limo to take them all on a tour of the city. Talia seemed content as she took in the sights.
“Everything is very historic here,” Talia said, hoping Seth Carter would see her comment was not a judgment. “Boston is like that too.”
“Oh, the modern is here as well. You just have to
know where to look for it. The locals don’t want it making too much of an impression on the public at large,” Seth said, laughing. “Still, Falls Church is a good place to live and work. I like the East Coast and the business community on this side of the US. However, I vacation in California a lot. The West Coast has its charms as well.”
“Ian and I used to travel a lot before Mason was born,” Talia said, putting her hand on her son’s back where he was stretched out in the long seat beside her. Kendra was asleep in the car seat the limo service had provided. “I miss traveling at times. I tell myself the kids will be older soon, and then I’ll get to travel again.”
“I’m sure you could travel for our company all you like. I’ve managed to do all the business electronically up to now, but face-to-face is always better,” Seth said.
“How about multi-media conferencing? Maybe we could set up video and audio in a room of one of our homes and use that for meetings,” Talia suggested. “It would be the next best thing to being there. Then you can get in the bowing and so forth that many Asia cultures observe even in business. It’s quite charming to follow their customs.”
“You’d have to teach me,” Seth told her. “I learned the languages but didn’t study the culture. Believe it or not I made Cs in my French classes at college.”
“But you speak several languages now?” Talia asked, laughing.
“Even Français, Madame Martin. Avec la compétence passable,” Seth said, laughing in return. “Mind over matter. Never underestimate the power of determination.”
“I think I never want to underestimate you,” Talia said lightly. “This has been a great evening. I look forward to coming back now.”
“I look forward to it also,” Seth told her. “Tomorrow, I’m going to prepay three months rent on your condo and arrange for a six month lease. That will get you started. You can have your household items sent anytime. The rental company will let the movers inside.”
“You make it all sound so easy,” Talia said in wonder, climbing out of the limo at the hotel. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Good. Here—let me get Mason,” Seth said, easily lifting the sleeping boy into his arms. “You can get the baby now.”
Seth settled Talia and her children into their suite, said goodnight, and headed home to an emptiness greater than he had ever felt. Spending time with Talia Martin’s family had forcibly reminded him of the life he truly wanted and how very different it was from the life he had.
For once, he didn’t even long for Jenna to be with him. If she had come by, probably nothing would have prevented him from the fight Seth knew there were going to eventually have about the nature of their relationship. Maybe tomorrow night he would be back in control of himself again and able to keep to their stupid agreement.
But when the text message came moments later asking if he was home yet and could she come by, Seth sent back a yes without any hesitation at all.
Jenna arrived at his place at just about the same time he did. He was dressed in his suit and Jenna was still in her work clothes. She had come straight to him from another long day of battling to make her dream come true.
Damned stubborn woman, Seth thought, locking his car and walking to her where she stood by his door. She was jealous and had wanted to see if his “date” had meant anything. It was the first time he had ever been tempted to punish her for first accusing him of something that wasn’t true, and then coming around to check on it.
“I probably need a shower, but if I went home first, it would have been too late to come, and I thought—I—well, I just wanted to see you,” Jenna stopped. Stupid, stupid to come here. She could smell the other woman’s perfume on his suit, and here she was ready to fling herself into his arms. Where was her pride now, she wondered?
Seth put his hand behind Jenna’s head and pulled her mouth to his for a searing, mind-numbing kiss that he only hoped let Jenna know how welcome and wanted she was.
“I. Need. You. Just you.” They were the only words he knew Jenna would hear and understand. He would have gladly added that he loved her, if there had been slightest chance of Jenna being ready to hear how he really felt. But she wasn’t.
She had her own damn date next weekend, and if she had been ready to love him back, it would have been a date with him. Knowing she was going out with another guy hurt, but he’d let the jealousy she felt tonight reassure him that there was hope one day she’d forgive the past and let herself love him again.
So tonight, instead of hurting, or fighting the way he wanted to, Seth settled for kissing Jenna like she was the most necessary thing in the world to him.
It was exactly the truth of how it was between them, whether Jenna Ranger wanted to hear it or not.
*** *** ****
It wasn’t like Seth not to answer his phone even at ten-thirty at night, but Casey wasn’t too concerned about stopping by unannounced on a weekday even as late as it was. He had been wanting to retrieve his humidor from the kitchen pantry where he’d forgotten it. The latest job he and Ben were working on was close to Seth’s condo, so it just made sense to stop by briefly while he was in the neighborhood.
He turned his key in the condo’s lock and stepped silently into the foyer.
Then he heard voices coming from the obviously open door of Seth’s bedroom. One man and one woman. The woman was moaning and calling Seth’s name, and his cousin was groaning hoarsely in reply. Even though the rest of the dialog was muffled, it was pretty easy to figure out what they were doing.
At first the shock of Seth having a woman there was so great that Casey stood frozen in place.
Then he noticed the trail of clothes littering the hallway. He felt his eyebrows lift as he recognized the clothes even if he still had trouble believing it.
Humidor forgotten again, Casey slipped silently back out the door so neither Seth nor Jenna would ever know he’d been there and heard them.
*** *** ***
“I’m sorry to wake you, honey. I couldn’t help myself,” Casey said in apology, his breathing still not back to normal yet. He lay on his side with one arm and one leg thrown possessively over his wife’s relaxed body.
“I don’t think a woman ever minds waking up to a hard, horny man begging to get inside her, especially one that knows how to really, really, really make it worth her while,” Alexa told her husband, laughing.
Casey touched the smile lines beside her eyes. “I want a set just like these. Did I ever tell you that?”
Alexa reached out to touch the corner of his eyes in return. “You’re getting them. If you want, I can get mine reduced until you catch up. At the rate you’re laughing these days, it’s not going to take many years.”
“Don’t iron out a single line or wrinkle for me ever,” Casey whispered fiercely. “They’re my favorite things about you. You’re as perfect as a woman can get, Alexa. Please don’t change anything.”
“Good lord,” Alexa said, heart swelling in her chest, her voice breathy and overwhelmed. “All this romance at midnight? I’m wide awake now. If you want to go another round, I’m game after all that sweet talk.”
Casey laughed against Alexa’s shoulder. “I just—I just wanted you to know how much I love you. I’m so damn glad I married you.”
Alexa snorted. “Really? Didn’t you slam the garage door as you left this morning, fuming about how I could make the coffee occasionally when you had to be somewhere so early in the day? I wasn’t completely awake yet, but I believe the slammed door was accompanied by a symphony of creative swearing and further banging noises as you peeled out of the garage like a bat out of hell in the truck.”
Casey’s groan vibrated in his chest. “Yeah, okay. Maybe I was a bit cranky at crawling out of bed at 5 a.m. and took it out on you. I know you can’t even see the coffee pot before seven.”
“Well, next time you throw a tantrum over coffee I’m going to remind you that you think I’m the perfect woman. I swear I’m going to put a tape recorder by
the bed to catch things like this in the future,” Alexa said, giggling at his consternation. “And I’m buying a damn programmable coffee pot so you can have more control over the coffee situation. We will never repeat this morning. I almost took poor Allen’s head off because I was mad at you.”
“I’m sorry,” Casey said, his laughter making it somewhat less than sincere. Alexa had gone from holding a grudge to holding him accountable. It was healthier communication, but he ended up apologizing more and more. Evidently, he had some faults he hadn’t been totally aware of until her.
“Well, you should be sorry,” Alexa said firmly, closing her eyes at his stroking hand, which found its way to her backside for a stroke and a loving pinch.
“Don’t start,” she warned.
Casey sighed in contentment and pulled her tightly into his arms. “I love you so much, Alexa.”
“I love you too,” Alexa said. “Where’s all this humility coming from? What happened to you today?”
Casey ran a hand over her stomach and up to her breasts as he pondered how to best tell his story.
“Since I was in his neighborhood all day, I decided to go by Seth’s on the way home and pick up the cigar humidor. It was around ten thirty and still early on the Seth Carter clock, but I didn’t make it past the foyer. There was a line of discarded clothing down the hall and double moans coming out of his bedroom. I got the hell out before they heard me,” Casey said, grinning in the dark.
Alexa looked at the ceiling and sighed. “Well, it was inevitable. Seth’s a good-looking guy. Jenna is being stubborn about the attraction between them. Who could blame him for wanting some companionship?”
Alexa used the nicer term Casey had coined for sex because it helped her not be so disappointed in Seth for not waiting. Though Alexa would agree that the boy had waited longer than any other man would have to be with her daughter.
Casey chuckled at his wife’s misunderstanding of a situation he knew was secretly breaking her heart. She had been doing all she could to encourage Jenna to give Seth another chance.
Dating A Metro Man Page 12
