by Nancy Warren
“Hey, that’s great! I’m so glad I bugged you about getting a decent website.”
“You did. And the brochures were your idea, too.”
“Now, I know you and I know Sylvia. If she needs to turn that around in four weeks, she’s expecting to pay you extra for you putting everything else aside.”
“I don’t really have a lot of other—”
“I don’t care, and neither does Sylvia. We all know you’ll lose sleep and work yourself till you burn out if you have to in order to meet this deadline. Add a fifteen percent premium to your proposal.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely. You’re both an artist and a craftsman, and they don’t grow on trees. If they did, she’d have found one by now. Look, don’t waste time going to your place to work on the proposal. Come here. I do these all the time for my job. I’ll help you. I’ll make it look pretty and I’ll make sure you don’t sell yourself too cheap.”
“That would be amazing. Thanks. But are you sure I won’t be in the way?” Amy was married now and she had to keep reminding herself of that.
“No, not at all. I think Seth’s going out tonight.”
“Okay, I’m on my way.”
When she got to Amy and Seth’s, she was greeted warmly by both of them, and then Amy took her into her office. With three bedrooms, each of them had their own home office for now.
They got started right away. Amy was right. She was a lot better at this stuff than Lauren.
Amy was writing an intro while Lauren worked out pricing, when Seth yelled from downstairs, “Bye, see you later.”
“Bye,” they chorused.
She glanced at Amy, but her friend didn’t seem bothered by his casual farewell. Lauren remembered how they used to kiss goodbye if one of them was going into another room. But this? Leaving without giving his new bride a kiss goodbye? Maybe for other couples it would be normal; for Seth and Amy, it seemed cold.
“He’s playing squash with Jackson,” Amy said, as though she’d read Lauren’s thoughts.
“That worked out well.”
“Yes. He can have a boys’ night out and we’ll have a girls’ night in. As soon as we get this sent.”
They worked on the proposal until Amy was satisfied, and then emailed it to Sylvia.
“You want to order pizza?” Amy asked.
“Sure.”
So they sat at the kitchen table eating pizza and chatted about everything from Amy’s plans to redecorate the upstairs to Lauren’s budding career to old times. The only thing they didn’t talk about was the one thing they used to talk about most when they were young: boys.
Seth’s name never came up in conversation. Neither did Jackson’s.
Lauren was excited about this project. Sylvia had hinted that if it went well, there would be lots of other work coming her way.
She was also in the city with a set of keys burning a hole in her pocket. Since she was fairly certain she was going to be kept extremely busy for the next four weeks, she figured she’d better treat herself to a night of hot sex while she was waiting for the final go-ahead on Sylvia’s project.
When Amy excused herself to go to the bathroom, Lauren pulled out her phone and sent a text.
12
SETH AND JACKSON usually got together once a week for a squash game and he was relieved that marriage hadn’t interfered with their games.
He liked the total focus, the speed, the squeak of the ball skidding on the court. He and Seth were well matched so it was always a fight to the finish. This time he eked out a win, but he’d had to fight hard for every point.
After they’d showered, they settled in the lounge for a beer.
“You hear about Willy?” Seth asked.
“Do I want to?” Not that he didn’t have a special fondness for their old schoolmate since his wedding-night prank had resulted in Jackson ending up in Lauren’s bed, but the guy was a pratfall on legs.
“He got arrested.”
Jackson almost choked on his beer. “What?”
Seth couldn’t keep the grin off his face. “He went to a bar, see. Got shitfaced. Fell for the cocktail waitress and wouldn’t leave her alone until she agreed to go out with him. She told him to pick her up the next day and gave him her address.”
“She must be as dumb as he is.”
“She would be if she’d given him her real address.”
“Oh, I’m liking this girl.”
“Yeah, so he’s too drunk to realize he’s got an address but no phone number. After they get kicked out of the bar because it’s closing time, our boy genius decides to surprise the waitress. He shows up at somebody’s place and starts banging on the door, screaming all the things he’s going to do to this woman.”
He knew Willy. He would not be cooing sweet nothings, but yelling crude suggestions. Also, Willy liked to sing when he was drunk. Loud, inappropriate songs. “Was there singing involved?”
“Probably. So the woman at the address calls the cops. They arrest him for lewd behavior or something. She also caught him peeing in her front yard so she decided to press charges.”
“Ouch.”
“Yep. Willy had to call in his dad.”
“Double ouch.” Willy’s father was a famous criminal lawyer who would not have been thrilled by his son’s antics.
“But there’s a silver lining.”
“I can’t even imagine.”
Seth leaned back, enjoying telling the story almost as much as Jackson was enjoying hearing it. “The story gets out on some blogs and the cocktail waitress tracks him down. I’m not implying that she’s figured out he’s a rich kid with a silver spoon. Maybe she fell in love with his mug shot—who knows? She tells him she made a mistake giving him the wrong address. The person whose bushes he peed in took a cash settlement and an apology, and his dad smoothed things over with the cops. Now Willy and the cocktail waitress are dating.”
Jackson threw his head back and laughed, which started Seth off. They laughed so hard that other club members turned to stare. “Ain’t love grand,” he said when he could finally speak.
They toasted Willy. Drank some beer. “Speaking of love, how’s married life treating you?” he asked.
Seth’s humor faded. “It’s okay. Takes some getting used to, I guess.”
And a resounding advertisement for marriage that wasn’t.
His text message alert sounded. Simple message. I’m in the city. Your place tonight?
His reply was instant and heartfelt. Yes.
“Some hot chick waiting for you?” Seth asked.
He grinned. “Totally.”
“Lucky bastard.” And the worst part was that the newly married man sounded as if he really was jealous of his single friend. What the hell was going on? He’d been sickeningly in love with Amy before the wedding. Now it sounded as though he might be having doubts.
Well, if he wanted to talk, Jackson guessed he would listen. And if Seth didn’t want to talk about it, that was even better. Jackson had no idea what he could say, but he thought that if asked, he’d tell his friend to suck it up. A man didn’t make promises to a woman and not try a little harder to keep them.
Luckily, they also had work to talk about and it was clear that now that Seth was a married man, his dad was giving him more responsibility in the firm. He hadn’t come right out and said so, but Jackson had a pretty good idea that Amy and Seth’s folks had bought them the townhouse. So why would a man who had a new bride, a new home and a rising career be jealous of a guy who worked for everything he got, had never had a girlfriend longer than a year and who, if he wanted to visit his family, had to go to a graveyard?
Amy wouldn’t have been his choice, but ever since he’d met her, Seth had acted as if he was the luckiest man in the world. Now it seemed as if he wasn’t so sure.
* * *
WHEN LAUREN LEFT Amy’s place, Seth still wasn’t home, but she could see Amy was ready for bed and she didn’t want to stay any longer. Once again,
she turned down an offer to stay the night and hugged Amy thanks.
Then she drew in a deep breath of the city on a summer night. Got into her car and headed for Jackson’s place.
When she arrived at his building, she dealt with the front door and rode the elevator up to his apartment. All the time wondering what the hell she was doing. Even as she put the key into his lock.
The apartment was dark. Of course it was. If Seth wasn’t home, Jackson wouldn’t be. Maybe she should have headed to her own home first. It wasn’t as if he was so eager to see her that he’d rushed home or anything.
She paused for a second wondering what to do, but he’d given her a key and asked her to stop by, obviously he wanted her to wait for him. She supposed she’d do as he’d suggested.
Get naked.
And wait.
But when she walked into Jackson’s bedroom, even though it was dark, she knew he was there. His breathing was soft and slow, and she could smell him. She closed her eyes for a second, wondering when she’d learned his smell as intimately as she knew her own face in the mirror. Then she walked the rest of the way across the room and quietly stripped off her clothes, each movement feeling sexy and special, before she slipped into bed beside him.
When she wrapped herself around him, she found him also naked and warm from sleep. She kissed his chest first, then his belly, trailing her tongue down his buff, gorgeous abs. By the time she took him into her mouth, he was already hard. He’d woken and not made a sound or said a word.
As she pulled him into her mouth, he muttered something and reached for her, slipping a hand between her legs, teasing her, exciting her as much as she was him.
She licked and sucked him for a while, making sure he had a good head of steam going, enjoying the way his hips began to move with her rhythm, feeling the heat building in her own body.
Then she climbed to her knees and straddled him, grasping his hard cock, wet from her mouth, and rubbing it against her entrance, dragging this out for both of them before she slowly lowered herself onto him.
She sank down and stilled for a moment, savoring the pleasure of having him deep, all the way inside her body, of the feel of him stretching and filling her. His hands reached up, caressing her breasts.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come,” he said softly.
“I was at Amy and Seth’s. I waited for him to get home so I’d know you were here. But he wasn’t home yet when I left. You guys really partied.”
“What are you talking about? I’ve been here for two hours.”
There was a moment when she suspected both of them were thinking the same thing. If Jackson had been home for two hours, where the hell was Seth?
“Maybe he got an emergency call at work.”
“An emergency real estate call?”
Jackson shoved his hand through his sleep-messed hair. “I don’t know. Maybe his folks needed him.” He glanced at her. “You going to tell Amy?”
She shook her head. “Nothing good can come of me getting involved in their private business.”
“Good. I have some private business that I’d like you to take care of.”
She felt him smile in the dark, felt her own lips curve. Then she started to move and neither of them could speak.
She set the pace exactly as she liked it, changing the angle of her hips a little to increase her own pleasure, until she drove herself up to the first peak and over, tipping her head back as the force of her climax shook her.
She’d barely caught her breath before he pushed her back, raising himself, so they were face to face, legs crossed over each other’s, open and equal.
She came again, crying out as she ground her pelvis against his, their bodies slick with sweat. They were both breathing hard. She collapsed onto her back and he followed her, still inside her, still hard as a rock.
She clung to him during the final moments of their mating, and he dipped his head and kissed her, so soft and sweet that she felt her breath catch in her throat.
They stayed tangled up, their harsh breathing filling the room. When they’d cooled down, she rested her palm lightly on the back of his hand where it was curled around her breast. “Amy worries that we don’t like each other. She wants me to try harder.”
He gazed at her through heavy-lidded eyes. “You try any harder and I may not survive.”
She chuckled. “I’ll leave your key when I go.”
There was a moment’s silence. “Keep it.”
“But—”
“It’s more convenient.”
She felt suddenly out of her depth, as though the rules, such as they were, had changed without anyone telling her. “I wouldn’t want to walk in on anything, you know, awkward.”
He rolled over and gazed at her. “I told you I’m not seeing anyone else.”
“But every woman I know thinks you’re hot.”
He was stroking her—long, sensuous movements of his hand down her breast, her belly and up again.
Three orgasms and she was heating up again.
“If I want my key back, I’ll ask you.”
He frowned suddenly and his stroking hand paused.
“What?”
“Nothing much. You talking about the key made me think about tonight, with Seth. We were having a beer and your text came in. He asked if it was a hot girl and I said yes. He sounded really jealous. What’s that about?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. Did he mention going anywhere else after he left you?”
“No. He didn’t say he wasn’t going home, but I got the impression he was.”
“I don’t like this. I don’t like it at all.” Amy was her best friend. If her marriage was in trouble, then Lauren felt it was partly her burden, too.
“Hey. There are a hundred places he could have gone.”
“I’m not going to tell Amy. I have nothing to tell. But I still don’t like it. Name ten of the hundred places a married man might go to at ten o’clock on a weeknight.”
“I don’t know. He could have gotten a flat tire. Maybe a friend called and needed help with something...”
“Maybe he got lost on the way home,” she threw in. When he sent her a look, she said, “Just trying to be helpful. If it were any of those things, he’d have called Amy and let her know. You know what those two were like. They called each other or texted constantly.”
“Don’t remind me. Used to make me queasy the way they’d coo at each other.”
“Now he doesn’t even kiss her goodbye when he leaves the house.”
“How could their marriage be going south already? They’ve only been at it a few weeks.”
“Did you ever feel like Seth was sort of unrealistic where Amy was concerned?”
“Completely. No offense, I know she’s your friend, but the way Seth used to talk about Amy, it was like she was the most amazing woman in the universe.”
She nodded. “It was the same for her. He didn’t even sound like a guy when she talked about him. More like a fantasy.”
“You think they made each other up?”
“In a strange way, yeah, I do.”
“And now that they’re living together the fantasy’s falling apart.”
“Exactly. They are real people. And they are falling off the pedestals each of them built for the other.”
He took in a big breath and let it out, which made her head rise and fall. After a while he said, “I’ve known Seth a long time. I don’t think he’d screw around on her.”
“I hope you’re right. But where would he go, then?”
“How do I know? I can’t ask him.”
She felt suddenly irritated. “What is it with you rich, entitled kids? You all act like the world’s a big, happy theme park and you’ve got a free pass.”
His chest muscles went suddenly rigid and then she felt them relax. “Where did you get the idea that I’m rich and entitled?” She heard an edge of bitterness and wondered what she’d stumbled into.
“Come
on, you went to boarding school with Seth and Willy and all the other rich boys.”
“There are other reasons why a kid gets sent to boarding school. Trust me.”
Again, she heard the undertone: bitterness, maybe some anger. What on earth? She noticed him glance across the room to where a photograph sat on his chest of drawers. He wasn’t a man who filled his home with pictures and trophies. In fact, as far as she’d noticed, that framed photograph was the only one on display. It showed a much younger but identifiable Jackson with two people who had to be his parents.
She’d taken a peek earlier and thought that he looked a lot like his dad. Both had the same Irish good looks. In the picture, his father couldn’t have been much older than Jackson was now and the resemblance was strong. His mother was a pretty, fresh-faced young woman who had an arm around each of her men and smiled happily at the camera. It was a photo like a million other family photos.
“What am I missing?” she asked softly.
For a moment, she thought he wouldn’t answer, but finally he said, “Nothing. We weren’t rich. My folks died. That’s why I got sent to boarding school. Their life insurance paid for it.”
There was a world of what was not said in his terse recital of the facts, and she felt immediately ashamed of herself for lumping him with Seth and Willy and the frat boys. “I’m so sorry,” she said, having no idea what else to say.
“It’s okay. It was almost twenty years ago. I don’t want you thinking you’re getting naked with a rich guy, because you’re not.”
In fact, she was getting naked with a guy she barely knew and didn’t particularly like. She turned her head to look at him. “What are we doing?”
“Hell if I know,” he answered, putting his lips to her shoulder. “But let’s do it again.”
He was obviously trying to lighten the mood, push away her sympathy and get them back to the easy, sex-only relationship they had going. She couldn’t take away his bad memories, but she could give him the comfort of her body, which she gladly did.
13
WHEN SYLVIA CALLED Jackson and asked him to have an after-work drink with her, he didn’t know what to say. She was terrific. Interesting, smart, attractive, and she lived here in the city, not miles out of town.
