by Vi Keeland
Chapter 17
The next week flew by and Jack and I were almost inseparable. I spent most of my time at his apartment, when I wasn’t working. After our first week together, he had insisted that Mateo would pick me up after work, and I knew that arguing a cab was just as safe was a losing battle. Each night Mateo was waiting outside when I walked out and he whisked me directly to Jack’s hotel. We had started to settle in a routine where Jack would get up early to exercise and I would find him working in his home office when I crawled out of bed about 11. He always seemed to finish up whatever he was working on when I came into his office, and I wasn’t sure if it was sweet or he didn’t want me to look at what he was working on.
I was excited when Jack invited me to a business dinner, there was such a big part of him that I didn’t know and I thought that perhaps seeing him at work would quell that tiny little nagging feeling in the back of my head that kept me always searching for signs of a different man than who I was hopelessly starting to fall for.
I dressed for the dinner in a simple cream pencil skirt, rose colored silk blouse and nude sling backs. I decided to pull my normally loose falling blonde hair back into a slick ponytail for a more demure look. I must have achieved the look I was going for, because when Jack saw me, he told me he hard the urge to fuck me hard in between the stacks at the library.
***
Dinner turned out to be with an older gentleman who brought a woman that me initially thought was his daughter, which turned out to be his wife. The restaurant was packed with businessmen and a few women, most of which eyed Jack as he passed. I didn’t blame them; Jack was a sight in his navy sports jacket with light tan pants and a simple striped tie. Aside from being devastatingly handsome, Jack carried himself with such confidence it exuded masculinity from him that made women swoon.
Jack and I maintained a physical connection throughout the meal. We either held hands, or he leaned his leg against mine or rested his arm around the back of my chair. It made me wonder if he was aware of the women that looked his way, and it was his unspoken way of comforting me, or if he had caught the guy at the table closest to us looking my way, as I had earlier. Either way, I thought it was sweet and his touch on me just seemed so natural.
It turned out that our dinner guest owned a small chain of hotels in Illinois and Jack had been researching the properties as potential purchases. The Heston hotel chain had two properties in Chicago, but none in the outer cities, which apparently were good investments as the population was growing in the smaller, outlying cities. Jack discussed what his engineers had found and while I thought it was all very interesting, I was mildly disappointed that the business dinner was hotel related. I was curious about the other side of Jack’s business and I secretly had hoped that the lunch would give me insight into that part of Jack’s life.
After dinner we headed back to Jack’s penthouse. Traffic was gnarled for a few blocks and, by the time we arrived, I only had twenty minutes to change or I would be late for work.
Jack and I changed together in his closet, where I had left my outfit for the night.
“Thank you for coming to dinner with me. I hope you weren’t bored too much?”
“No, it was nice, I was glad to come.” I thought for a minute, he had given me an opening and I needed to take it if I was ever going to satisfy my curiosity on the other side of his life. “Although I have to admit, I was a little disappointed it was hotel business. You never mention your other business.” I emphasized the word other, as if he wouldn’t have known what business I was talking about without my doing so.
Jack stood silent for a minute and then came up behind me as I was letting down my hair. “You want to know more about my other business?”
I felt my face flush and was glad that he was behind me. I don’t know why it embarrassed me to admit that I wanted to know more, but I did. “Yes, I do. You didn’t even want to tell me about that side of your life, so I think it has me curious.”
Jack’s arms wrapped around my waist and his face nuzzled in my hair. “Okay then, I’ll bring you to my office with me one day if that will make me feel better.”
I felt a flood of relief from a place I didn’t even know was stressed. I turned to face him. “You will?”
Jack kissed me, a sweet, tender kiss on the lips before answering. “Whatever you want is yours babe.”
I smiled and kissed him chastely back with excitement.
“Two conditions, babe.”
Damn it, I knew that was too easy. I looked up at him expectedly waiting for the other shoe to fall.
“One, you remember it is a business for me and not part of my personal life.”
I could do that. “Okay. I can do that. What’s the other condition?”
“You put your hair back in that ponytail and put back on that naughty librarian outfit when you get home tonight.”
My insides melted a little bit, and it had nothing to do with him wanting me to play naughty librarian with him. Jack called me coming to his penthouse, coming home. It was exactly what it was starting to feel like, although it was the man and not the place that made it feel like home.
I reached up on my tippy toes and gave him a kiss. A long, sultry kiss that said I want to fuck you. I sucked in his tongue and nibbled on his lip, but broke the kiss before I was unable to.
Jack leaned his forehead against mine. “Fuck Syd.” He pressed his obvious erection into me. “The librarian is going to get a spanking tonight for leaving me like this.”
I knew it wasn’t nice to do, but I loved leaving him wanting more of me. I felt empowered by the effect I had on Jack, who seemed so unaffected by everything else in his life.
***
An hour into our performance, I spotted Lyle come into the club. He waited until the end of our first set and then huddled us together whispering as if he were about to let us in on classified government secrets. “There have been some reports of a rat being in the club today. We are closing down two hours early for the exterminators to treat the entire floor.” I immediately started scanning the room to look for the creature and I suddenly had the urge to get back up on the raised stage. Lyle went on that the patrons would be offered free drinks to move to the lobby bar at closing, but that we were free to go early but would be paid for the full night.
Although the thought of a rat in the same room as me made my head spin, the early evening was a welcome surprise, and I had decided to take a cab over to Jack’s to surprise him. But when I went out front to hail a cab, I found Mateo waiting for me. I walked to the car and, as usual, he jumped out to open my door. “Good evening Ms. St. Claire.”
“Hi Mateo. How did you know I was getting out early?”
Mateo seemed confused by the question. “Jack called to tell me to pick you up at 10.”
I climbed in the car and sat thinking. How did Jack know that I was getting out early? I knew he owned the hotel, but did they really bother him with every little thing that went on in the hotel? It seemed odd for a man who owns a chain of hotels to be aware of a club closing a few hours early.
The doors opened to the penthouse and I found Jack standing in the kitchen pouring two glasses of wine. He handed me a glass in exchange for a kiss and I kicked off my shoes as I spoke. “How did Mateo know that I was getting off early tonight?”
Jack looked at me with a sheepish, but devilish grin. “You left with some unfinished business.” He sipped from his glass, his eyes watching me intently as he drank.
It took me a second to connect the dots, but then I gaped at him with my mouth hanging open. “Are you saying what I think you are saying?”
“I don’t know what do you think I’m saying?” He smirked, actually smirked, at me!
“You had them close down the club just to get me home two hours early to have sex with you?”
Jack clanked his wine glass down on the counter and took mine from my hands, as I was about to take a sip. “You have no fucking idea what lengths I would go to
to have sex with you.” Then he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder caveman style as he walked to the bedroom.
Chapter 18
Almost a week went by before Jack asked me if wanted to come to his other office. I was starting to think that he had forgotten, and a strange part of me almost hoped he had. I wanted to pretend that the other part of him didn’t exist. I was blissfully happy with my Jack, the hot hotelier that I had become inseparable from. The thought of seeing another side to him, one that had the potential to change who he was to me, was physically painful to me.
I was surprised when we pulled up at a nondescript building that I had passed by many times but never actually noticed. I’m not sure what I had expected, but flashing neon signs with a large triple x, would have fit what my wild imagination had envisioned better.
The lobby was typical office building gray and there was a central desk with a security guard who greeted Jack by name when we entered. I still hadn’t said a word as we entered the elevator and Jack pushed the button for the third floor.
“Is just your office on the third floor or do you share space with other companies?” I was forcing myself to make small talk to keep my heart from pounding out of my chest.
“I own the building, Cole Productions occupies the entire space.”
Cole Productions, it sounds so business like, definitely better than Jerkoff Jack’s I suppose. And his business occupies the entire building? If there were no other companies in the building than I would have expected there to be half naked girls making out in the hallway or something.
We approached a door and I started to panic. My heart raced and I was sure Jack could feel the sweat in my palms. Jack stopped at the door and turned to me. I must have looked as bad as I felt, because I saw the panic written on his face. “Are you okay babe?”
“Yes.” I lied.
“Are you sure you want to do this? I’ve been sick the last week thinking of bringing you here. You are so good and sweet and everything I’m not and I don’t want to taint you with my disgusting life.” He held my face in his hands and wiped away a stray piece of hair.
I put my hands on his and didn’t expect what came out to come rolling off my tongue. “I don’t want to come, but I have to. I need to know who you are and this is a big part of you. I can’t let myself fall in love with a man who has another side that I’ve never seen.”
“Fuck, babe. That’s what I love about you, pure and honest, no games.” He kissed my lips gently and pulled me close to whisper in my ear. “I’m falling in love with you too babe.”
Holy. Shit. We picked a fine place for a heart to heart. The door we were standing in front of abruptly opened and my momentary swell of love in my heart was pierced by a silver bullet as I stared into the face of the woman that Jack had brought to the conference what seemed like a long time ago.
“Jack, baby, it’s about time. We have two live shoots today, a cover to pick and the writers want approval on the final script in the Candy series.” She put her long red fingernails on his arm and I immediately wanted to scratch out her eyes.
“Jenna, this is Sydney. Give us about 15 minutes to settle in and I’ll start with the cover.”
Jenna gave me a fake smile and I gave her one back. I’d seen the woman twice and heard her speak once, and I was damn certain that she wanted Jack. Or worse, she had already had him.
Jenna walked off and Jack took my hand and squeezed it tight before leading the way to his office. The walk down the halls to his office gave the first glimpse that the office was anything more than a typical office. There were framed posters and awards, much of which would have seemed normal in a movie production company, if the people in the posters had clothes on. I tried not to gawk as we walked, but I couldn’t help myself.
Jack’s office was nothing like the hall and nothing like I expected. If was big and clean and there were no signs of either porn or his personal life. “Did you clean out your office for my visit, or does it always look so empty and sterile?”
Jack laughed. “Nope, this is how it always is. I take it you expected something different?”
I shook my head embarrassed.
“Like I told you Syd. This started out as nothing more than something to embarrass my father. Then it turned into a profitable business. It’s a business to me. One I actually like running, unlike the hotels which scream of my father at every turn. I don’t keep pictures on the wall or films all over, because I keep it strictly business in here. And you’re the only woman I’ve ever wanted to look at while I was working, so I guess I’ll have to break the sterility and get a framed picture of you for my desk soon.”
I rolled my eyes at him, but the thought of him only having a picture of me in his stark office did warm my heart. “So am I going to get a day in the life of Jack Cole Heston view today?”
“We should talk about that before I start the day babe. There are shoots going on here and I usually go check them out. I can go check in and you can hang out in here if that makes you feel more comfortable.”
His offer was thoughtful, but I wanted to see it all, the good, the bad, the ugly. “I want the full tour, you don’t need to leave me behind.”
Jack eyed me tentatively and I could tell he was considering his response carefully. His eyes caught mine, searching for something. He blew out a deep breath. “Okay.”
Our first business of the day was script approval. We met with two men and a woman that I came to find out were the writing team for the multi partner movies. I was surprised to find a woman writer and even more surprised at how business like and professional the meeting was. They skipped over the sex scenes and just spoke about the storyline. I wasn’t a virgin to X rated movies, but I must have watched the wrong ones, because none of the movies that I watched seemed to have had an actual story that was realistic, like the ones we reviewed that day.
After script approval we moved onto covers. We met with a photographer, who showed Jack and I a bunch of glossy photos for a movie called Triple Double, which apparently referred to Triplets that starred in movies together that all have double D breasts. The photographer was a nice older man, maybe in his late sixties. It was odd to hear the man talk about his grandchildren, while they looked at glossies of women while holding themselves open with one hand and inserting a vibrator with the other. But the way that they all seemed to work together, it really did seem like a business instead of the wild orgy that I had imagined.
Our last stop of the morning was a visit to the set, to check in on the progress of two movies. I wasn’t nearly as nervous as I was when we first arrived, after seeing how professional things were run. Jack’s assistant came by and took our lunch order and then we headed down to what Jack called “the hanger”. The hanger was the entire basement of the building that was split into two extremely large wide open spaces that were each set up to accommodate many sets.
Jenna met us at the door and I cringed when she put her hand on Jack’s arm as she spoke.
“Set 2 is vanilla, it might be the better one for you to take your friend on her tour.”
God I hated that woman. She needed to get her fucking hands off of Jack and stop speaking about me as if I wasn’t standing right there. I didn’t want to come across as a jealous crazy person, but I couldn’t let her get away with it. “Since we had vanilla at home this morning, why don’t we try Set 1 honey?”
Jack’s eyebrows shot up, then I saw a glimmer of a smirk. He looked proud of my response. Before Jack could respond, the door to Set 1 opened and a man walked out.
“Hey, Mr. Cole, I’m glad you made it, we’re just taking a ten minute break while they change into leathers. I have a few chairs set up to the left of my cameras whenever you are ready.”
“Perfect, I actually need five minutes to make a call, so I’ll see you inside in a few Frank.” Jack turned to face me. “I’m going to run upstairs for a few minutes to make a quick call, we can’t get service down here. You want to come or wait down here babe?�
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“Actually I saw a ladies room down the hall, why don’t I meet you back here after your call?”
Jack nodded and planted a quick kiss on my lips before disappearing down the hall.
I didn’t give any thought to the sound of the door opening in the ladies room. I used the bathroom and exited the stall, to find Jenna leaning with her back against the sinks, waiting for me. I pretended her presence didn’t faze me and stood next to her in silence as I washed my hands, looking at her back in the mirror.
“A word of advice, woman to woman. Don’t get too attached, Jack will get bored of you soon, he always does. He’ll wine you and dine you and take you to his love nest in that fancy hotel of his for a week or two, then he’ll move on to the next plaything.”
I felt bile burning my throat. I had suspected that Jenna wanted something from Jack, I just hadn’t been sure if it was business or personal. Her words confirmed that she wanted more from him than he had given her, but the thought of her being in Jack’s love nest room made me physically sick. I had to grip the sides of the sink to hold myself steady. It took everything I had to plaster a smile on my face, but I knew I needed to deliver my message strong. Ready, aim, fire…“He told me he used to take his concubines to a room on the 13th floor. I’ve never seen it though, we spend most nights in his penthouse or my apartment.” Score! I watched her vicious smile fade and went in for the kill. “And, by the way, he’s giving his girlfriend a tour, not his friend.” I stressed the word girlfriend to get my point across. Then I dried my hands and held my head high as I walked out of the bathroom leaving the bitch no chance to respond.
Jack was waiting for me outside the set, when I got back. He had become so good at reading me so quickly. “Everything okay?” He looked at me concerned.
Just as I opened my mouth to respond, Jenna passed without a word and went into the set. “Yes, everything is fine.” I knew I didn’t sound that convincing, because I wasn’t convinced I was fine either.
