Opening up the double doors, she gasped at the beautiful black marbled tub filled with bubbles and smelling like honey musk. He had to nudge her a little bit for her to enter the room that seemed almost sacred as it was decorated with candles and flowers.
“You did this for me?” she asked spellbound by the romantic notion again. “Why?”
“Why not?”
She shook her head still not believing he had gone through so much trouble. “This is unbelievable.” Sitting down on the edge of the tub. “Why Jacoby would you go through so much trouble to arrange this? You don’t owe me anything and you’re definitely not sorry for anything?”
He snorted annoyed narrowing his eyes at her. “Is that your ex-husband wisdom again?” Reaching behind her, he calmly unzipped her dress, which came down quite easy now that he wasn’t in such a rush.
She flushed remembering what he had asked her to do before. “It’s hard to change from what you’re use to.”
Kneeling down at her feet, he took off her shoes, then guided her to stand up. With a tug on her dress, the soft velvet fell to her feet. He planted soft kisses on her stomach.
Her breath caught in her throat at the pleasurable sensation he could cause within her by doing something so simple. Swallowing hard and licking her dry lips, she said, “Even I find it rather strange you would go through so much trouble for me when I didn’t ask for it or expect it, Jacoby.”
He looked up at her. “That’s why it was done. I wanted to do it for the effect it would cause.”
“So you do these things to see me surprised?”
“Were you?”
“Yes.”
“And did it make you feel something?”
She only smiled not answering the question. “Is that what you are trying to do?”
He stood up and handed her a thick terry cloth robe to adorn then began to undress himself. Phoebe found herself watching him reveal every inch of skin closely admiring the muscles and tone of his body, which he was not a bit ashamed of. While he undressed he spoke matter of fact, as if he was discussing the weather.
“I realize that we both were in the same rut. Feeding off the hurt others had done to us, but I also realized something else. In order for anyone to experience the thing we call life, one must experience the terrible hurt and the pain life gives so that we can also truly experience the unbelievable happiness life delivers.”
“Does that mean I make you unbelievably happy?” she allowed to slip out.
“I wouldn’t have asked you back if you didn’t.” He checked the water. “Are you ready?”
“For what?”
“To take a bath.”
She frowned looking at him as if he had lost his mind. “Together?”
He pulled her to him. “Trust me, you’ll love it.”
Phoebe watched as he slipped himself into the water, and then looked up waiting for her. “When are we going to talk?”
“Soon as you get in.” He patted the space in front of him.
Filled with hesitation, she took off the robe and stepped into the water. He guided her down until she was sitting in front of him with her back resting up against his large chest. She was stiff as a board.
“Phoebe, you should relax.” He chuckled at her uneasiness.
“Why?” Phoebe asked uptight.
He took a sponge and began to wet her arms and stomach. “That’s what baths are for.”
She tilted her head back and looked at him in an awkward position. “You really don’t expect me to relax with you sitting right behind me.”
“It’s not like I haven’t seen anything, Phoebe.” He kissed her pouting lips.
She straightened back up. “Point well taken, Jacoby.” After a thoughtful moment, she said, “Madeline’s going to fire me when she finds out about this.”
He nudged her to lean forward and began to wash and massage her back at the same time. “Madeline and I had an arrangement. I wasn’t seeing anyone and neither was she. Now that she knows that I have an interest elsewhere - and she doesn’t know who and she didn’t ask - she understands that it is the end of our arrangement.”
“Then you don’t know how serious Madeline took your arrangement. She told me things and she was very fond of you. Just because you thought differently, that doesn’t mean everything is fine.”
He pulled her back and began to spread soap all over her chest, arms and stomach. Phoebe’s body was very relaxed but her brain wasn’t. “We’re friends and only friends. We spoke about it and I think she took it quite well.”
“Madeline’s very good at hiding her feelings. Especially when she’s been properly dumped. I’ve seen it before. I really don’t see why you had to tell her about us. This wasn’t planned to happen again.”
“Whether I saw you again or not, after being with you, Phoebe, I had a different outlook on everything and would have still ended the arrangement with Madeline.”
“She’ll still fire me.”
“Then you can work for me.”
Again she tilted her head back in the awkward position. “You don’t pay very well,” she snorted.
Jacoby burst out in a booming laughter immediately catching her meaning. He laughed so hard, Phoebe had to hold on to the sides to keep from sliding in the water. “Oh damn. I haven’t laughed like that in years, Phoebe,” he said through his laughter wiping the tears off her face. “Your sense of humor is truly refreshing, but in no way was I speaking about our situation right now. I was speaking of a real job.”
She turned her whole body around to look at him. “Our situation would have nothing to do with a job with you?”
“I don’t mix business with pleasure, Phoebe. I find it a very bad combination.”
“I don’t sleep with co-workers. I find it in very bad taste. I couldn’t work for you.”
“So you’d be fired and that’s it.”
“I’m good enough. I believe I can find another job.”
“But with no references then what? You think Madeline’s going to give you a good reference?”
“I’ve had temp jobs before her. I can use those.”
“Everybody’s going to wonder.”
“Are you trying to make me feel better?”
He stole another kiss with that same look of amusement in his eyes. “Work for me and you’ll never have to worry about that. I assure you I wouldn’t be hiring you because I feel I owe you. I’ll hire you because I know you are a great employee. If this distances me with Madeline, I really don’t care. I would value your skills, unlike she has done and kept you just over broke.”
“What’s that suppose to mean?”
“It means, you should be getting paid more than what she pays you.”
Defensively she asked, “How do you know what she pays me?”
“Let’s just say the old girl loves to brag about your skills and how cheaply she had to acquire them.”
There was still perplexity in her eyes.
He sighed tiredly. “I don’t want to get into anything right now, Phoebe, but if I were you, go see how much the other managers were getting paid before you. Right now, we’ll drop the subject and speak of other things.” He handed the sponge over to her.
She began to wash his chest and arms just as he had done her. “So now we can talk about the loan?”
He rolled his eyes heavenwards exasperated. “Do you ever just enjoy the moment or are you always business?”
“What moment am I suppose to enjoy?”
“Lovemaking always has its afterglow. If you’d relaxed you’d feel it.”
“There we go talking about feelings again. I think you do enough feelings for the both of us, Jacoby. Before we go any further we should talk about this loan,” she demanded.
He leaned forward and rested his head against her chest to indicate for her to do his back. As she did this while kneeling on her knees, he said, “I have the money, what else is there to discuss, Phoebe?”
“How I plan to pay you bac
k?” she stated obviously.
“Hopefully with money,” he teased.
“Jacoby, I’m being serious,” she said in frustration rubbing hard on his back.
He looked at her. “Fifty dollars a month. Is that reasonable?”
“No. I’ll be paying you back for the rest of my life.”
A wicked smile touched his lips.
She sat down pushing him back to look directly in his face. “You are not taking this serious enough.”
“You have enough seriousness for the both of us, Phoebe,” he shot back sarcastically.
Phoebe didn’t like him taking her words, turning them around so they could benefit him. “Fine, I’ll pay three hundred a month. Will you adding a percentage to that?”
“No.”
Frowning, she asked, “How do you expect to make any money from all of this? No one just makes loans for the fun of it?”
His amusement quickly returned as his hands came up to cup her breast. “Trust me, I’m having a lot of fun.” His mouth attacked the pert dark nipple that seemed to cry out for his touch.
Her breath became erratic and the room seemed to spin. Phoebe held on to his broad shoulders for support as he moved over to attack the other areole. She could not believe taking a bath would be so indulging and just as he had said relaxing.
Hours later, they winded up in the bedroom famished. He ordered room service and laid next to her under the sheets to await for the food to get there.
When she sat up and looked down at him, Jacoby chuckled knowing she was about to try to get back to business. Putting his hands behind his head, he pretended surrender.
“We are never going to get anything done if you continue to distract me,” she said trying to sound angry.
“What more do we need to discuss, Phoebe?”
“Are you always this playful?”
“Only when I’m enjoying myself immensely.”
“Are you often in the habit of giving loans out?”
“Actually, no. The last loan I gave out was to help Desmond and Lawrence open up their company. They borrowed over half of million, which was why I wasn’t so thrown off when you ask.”
“You are use to people using you?”
“I get my money back from them. Especially since I own twenty percent of their company in as a silent partner. I occasionally tag along with them on appointments, but I really stand back and let them make the money. They are quite good at doing that.” He gently rubbed the back of his knuckles against her cheek. “You aren’t using me, Phoebe. I think it was a very fair trade off.”
She snorted. “Sex for that amount of money?”
“I don’t see it as just sex.” He stood up hearing someone at the door and put on a robe. “I see it as nice companionship, plus you’ll pay me back. Although I do love the interest on this loan much better than any loan I’ve ever given out.” Again he stole a kiss from her before leaving out the room.
In frustration, Phoebe laid back and stared up at the ceiling. She had to admit she was having a wonderful time, but all of this came at a very high price. If she wasn’t so businesslike and serious it was almost easy to forget why she was with him today and if he kept up this wonderful demeanor and easy going character, she would find herself very much in love with him.
Sitting up again, she looked around the room to see a briefcase sitting on the table. Would that contain a little bit more of the answers she craved to know about him, but was afraid to ask?
Getting out of bed and putting on the robe he had given her earlier, she walked over to the briefcase and opened it. There were lots of files and important documents, plus sundries, but nothing to really pinpoint on his business. From what she read, his company was small, yet it handled large clientele with lots of money and spent abundantly on marketing research.
“Did you lose something?” he asked from the doorway holding a tray of food and staring at her his eyes filled with curiosity.
“No I didn’t.” She closed the briefcase guiltily and sat down on the bed. He set the tray down beside her and reached in his pocket in his robe.
Pulling out a check and handing it to her, he said, “Were you looking for this?”
She read the check in the amount of ten thousand dollars made out to her from his personal checking account. Looking at him, she admitted, “No. I was being nosey if you must know.”
“What did you want to find out?” He sat on the other side of the tray he had brought.
“Where did you get the money from? Your company’s not that prosperous.”
“Indeed, but my father was a wise investor when I was born and decided to buy lots of stocks in my name. My portfolios pretty thick and with lawyers and smart accountants my father makes sure I’m never wanting anything. I see him and my mother on holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving, once and a while Easter and I get a call and a present through the mail on my birthday. I was sent away to military school and he bought my way into Yale by being a very generous donor to the college. I practically raised myself, but that’s alright, I find my life in Michigan where my mother was raised quite satisfying. I’m running my own business while my parents, decide to track all over the world for the rest of their lives. I figure I’ll get a phone call when they die telling me to come pick up their bodies and bring them back here to bury. They’ve already bought plots on the family cemetery on the outskirts of Lansing. I’ll take you up there when I get a chance if you’re interested. Is there anything else?”
If that was not the most depressing thing she had ever heard. How could a man so rich in wealth have such a dreadful existence? She couldn’t imagine her parents leaving her to other people to be raised. What about his values and morals and what about that motherly and fatherly love she just couldn’t imagine not having? Warm tucks in bed, wet kisses to the forehead, tickles until you passed out, and hugs that just never stopped.
“So why can’t you have children?” she asked.
He hesitated before answering, and as he spoke his words were slow and careful as he were controlling everything around him. “I was four and my parents were preparing for this huge Christmas party. About three days before the party I told my parents I wasn’t feeling well. The nanny had gone to visit her family and my mother insisted she could watch her own child until the woman returned in a week. I tried my best to stay out of my parents’ way and I understood how important this party was to them, but I had the worst fever and by the next day it was worse. I was throwing up and I was dizzy. My mother gave me some medicine and sent me to bed, but I guess in all the holiday excitement I was forgotten and by the time they discovered me I was near death on the floor of my room laying in a pool of blood filled vomit and a temperature of one hundred and two. They said I had to have been there for about three days before they found me and took me to the hospital. I had no idea how long I had been on the floor. Either way, I didn’t wake up until a week later and so weak I could barely breath on my own. They said I had fried a few brain cells. I had to learn how to walk and use my right hand all over again. I was in the hospital recovering for over a year, and my parent swore I would never be left alone with them again. They didn’t find out until I was ten that I was infertile. I could produce the testosterone, but I couldn’t make them swim. A lot of people told me to hate my parents. It was all their fault, but they were so filled with so much guilt, I couldn’t hate him. They’ve always been there for me when I have called upon them. They always return my phone call and anything I’ve ever wanted they have given me. What more could a child ask for from two people who were never ready to be parents? They carry around the guilt that they can’t be parents by staying away from me as much as possible and allowing other people who can naturally nurture raise me. Besides, there are other options. I mentored in college and I taught class for a while. If I get married, adoption or foster parenting is also a good choice.”
“You don’t seem mad at them?”
“I never was. I love them. They were alwa
ys wrapped up in their world and I knew this from almost the beginning of my life. I understood this and me becoming sick was just not in their plans. I don’t blame them, and I don’t blame myself. It’s just one of those things that happens. Life gives you lemon and you make lemonade, right?”
She shrugged. “So you have a lot of money?”
“Enough. I’m not a needy person. I’ve never been - A trip to New York once a year and I live in the family house in Lansing. My business makes enough money to pay for my traveling and business necessities and I don’t indulge in a very expensive life style of partying, drinking, and so on like Lawrence. Going into my private funds in the past ten years has been little to none.”
“I’m sorry about sneaking,” she apologized.
He shook his head. “No problem.”
“I can’t believe you gave this to me in a check. I thought you might give it to me through a bank transaction.”
“That felt too impersonal. Too business. I wanted to give it to you, but I didn’t want to walk around with that amount of money. Is this check not sufficient?”
It was perfect. This amount of money would secure the debt Patricia and she were in and very well have enough to give the twins a very enjoyable Christmas.
“The check is sufficient.” Her stomach broke the somber mood by growling quite loudly.
“I take it you’re hungry?” he asked.
She said teasing, “Just a little.”
He picked up a piece of watermelon in one of the bowls on the tray. “I have a confession to make, Phoebe.”
After taking a bite, she asked warily, “What confession?”
“I didn’t ask you to my hotel room to make love to you. I really had plans to speak just business then offer you more money if needed for you to make love to me. I really just wanted to see you again. Yet now that I have you I would like to keep you here until the sun goes down. There’s really no strings attached to the money. If you pay it back then fine, if you don’t I won’t hunt you down for it.”
“I take this amount of money very serious.”
“I don’t, so please don’t think of yourself as a prostitute.”
Deceptive Nights Page 9
