by Peak, Renna
He walked over and took a seat next to me. A jolt of electricity went through me again when his leg touched mine as he sat down. I knew I shouldn't be that sensitive to his touch already. It was too much.
He took a bite of his cereal and frozen yogurt concoction and made a face that told me he hated it. He pulled the spoon from his mouth and made a gagging sound.
I couldn't help but giggle again. I took another bite of my own dessert and turned back to watch the faux flames. There was something relaxing about watching a fire, even if it was fake.
He tapped his leg against mine. "You know, I wouldn't have taken you for a lemon and raspberry girl. You seem more like the chocolate type to me."
I smiled and looked down into my bowl. "Chocolate has its place. But I know what I like."
He pressed his leg against mine again but let it stay there this time. "Do you?"
I sucked in a jagged breath. I know he had to have heard it. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. It was so loud I thought he must have been able to hear that, too. "Yes." I hadn't meant for it to, but it came out as a whisper.
He chuckled again and stood up. "I'm thinking that trying a little of everything wasn't such a great idea. Kind of disgusting, actually." He looked at me with a grin and took another large bite of his dessert before he walked over and chucked the rest into the trash. He turned and came back to sit next to me. I hadn't thought it possible, but he was even closer to me than he was before, his leg still pressed against mine. He slipped an arm around my shoulders and rested it on the back of the couch.
We sat there like that for a long time in total silence, watching the fake flames. It felt like a dream. My mind wandered until I felt his fingertip drawing lazy circles on my shoulder and I jolted back to the present moment.
He cleared his throat. "Jen, I feel like I need to say something to you." He paused and I heard him swallow hard.
I should have known it was too good to be true. He was out of my league—so far out of my league. I could have kicked myself and I knew what was coming. He was going to tell me he wasn't into me, that this had been fun, but that was all it was. I knew I had made up everything in my head. God, I was an idiot. I wasn't good enough for him. I wasn't good enough for anyone, not after what I had done.
"I… I hope you don't feel like I took advantage of you that night." He rubbed at the stubble on his jaw. "I mean, I got you drunk. I took you home."
I turned to face him. "I wasn't drunk," I interrupted and my brow furrowed. "You didn't take advantage of me. I made my own decision to go home with you."
He looked into my eyes and it was like he was looking right into my soul. "The truth is, I went to that class to take someone home. It didn't matter who. I had every intention of taking a woman home that night. I've done it a hundred times before."
My gaze shot back to the fire. "I'm not sure I needed to know that."
He placed a hand on my chin and turned my head back to meet his gaze. "But I didn't expect to meet you."
9
He pulled my hand into his. "I meet two types of women at art classes. Lonely women who are looking to make a connection and women who aren't that lonely but have nothing better to do on a Saturday night."
I thought about his words and turned my head back to the fire. I finally cocked my head to the side. "What if you're both?"
He squeezed my hand. "You can't be both."
I rolled my eyes. "You obviously don't know me very well. I'm a lonely woman and I definitely don't have anything better to do on Saturday nights."
"But that isn't why you were in that class." He pulled me closer to him and whispered in my ear. "Do you remember what you said to me that night?"
"I'm sure I said a lot of things." I pulled my hand from his. This conversation was getting too familiar, too uncomfortable. It felt like it was time to leave, to run.
"Every woman I meet, I ask her the same question. ‘What are you looking for?' I get a variation of the same answer every time."
I stood up. I felt the heat on my cheeks. I didn't want to hear what I'd said or how I'd answered him because I didn’t remember. I had no recollection of this discussion and I just wanted out of there. "Then why do you keep asking?"
He stood up next to me and took my hands in his. "I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess. Do you remember what you said to me?"
I felt heat stain my cheeks and creep into my ears. My bare toes curled on the cold concrete floor. The memory came flooding back to me, even though it was hazy from being about half-drunk when I had answered it. "Someone to dance with me." I cleared my throat.
His blue eyes burned into mine. I felt like I might drown in them—it was like he looked into the bottom of my soul. His voice lowered to almost a growl. "Not once, not even one time before has someone said anything other than 'someone like you' or 'someone to take care of me.' Not even once." He squeezed my hands. "I shouldn't have taken you home that night. I should have asked for your number. I should have called you and taken you out to dinner, known you first. But I wanted you. I wanted you more than I've ever wanted a woman in my life."
Someone behind us cleared his throat and we both turned to look. The guy from the counter was standing there with a sheepish grin. "Sorry folks, we're closing up." He motioned to the door.
I grabbed Melissa's shoes from the couch and we both walked outside into the night. I took in a deep breath of the fragrant spring air, allowing it to wash the heat from my cheeks. It smelled like fresh spring rain, my favorite scent, but it wasn't enough to take the twisting feeling out of my gut. This was too much—he was too much. There was no way a one night stand could be true love--if that was even what he was saying. I wouldn't let myself even think it.
We walked the short distance to where I had parked my car. I unlocked the passenger door and threw Melissa's shoes and my purse on the passenger seat. "Well, this is me." I gave him a small smile and tried to pretend that things hadn't become way too intense, way too fast. I felt like I needed to bolt before things got any weirder.
He leaned into me and I thought he was going to kiss me. He pinned me with his body against the door of my car, his body pressed against mine. His scent overwhelmed me and it was all I could do to not tilt my head and kiss him hard. He touched my cheek and his fingertip traced my cheekbone back to my ear and he tucked a loose lock of my hair behind it.
He brushed his lips against my cheek and backed away. I let out a jagged breath and he narrowed his eyes and smiled. Another bolt of electricity coursed through me and I cursed my body for how it responded to him. He was too much for me to handle. I would lose myself in him—I was sure of it.
"Do you have your phone?" His question shocked me back into the moment. I'd been so focused on the heat rising in my body that I wasn't prepared for such a mundane question.
"Um, yeah, in my purse." I motioned behind me to the car window. He nodded like I should get it so I opened the car door and reached in to grab it.
He took it from my hand and dialed a number. He handed the phone back to me a moment later. "Now I have a missed call from you and I have your number. And now you have my number on your phone."
I nodded and turned the phone over and over in my hand. "Thanks. That's smart." That's smart? God, I was an idiot. It was like there was a disconnection between my brain and my mouth when he was this close to me.
He smiled, but he didn't acknowledge my dumb remark. "I need to see you again. I wish we could do it sooner, but I have some business I need to take care of this week."
I nodded. My mouth opened and words flew out before I even knew what happened. "Me, too. I'm going to Tokyo this week."
His eyes widened and he cocked his head. "Tokyo? No kidding? I'll be in Osaka this weekend."
I nodded as though I knew what the hell he was talking about. "Oh."
"Tokyo is amazing. Do you have any free time this weekend? I can take the bullet train up, show you around the city."
I nodded again like the fr
eaky bobble head doll I felt like. "I think so. I mean, I don't know for sure. I don't have an itinerary quite yet. But probably." God, I don't think I even made any sense.
He narrowed his gaze. "You know what this means, right?"
I had no flipping clue what he was talking about. I raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"
He leaned into me again and whispered in my ear. "I don't believe in coincidences, Jen. This, whatever it might be, is no mistake."
10
I managed to find my way home that night. I hadn't had a drop of alcohol, but I still felt drunk. I couldn't think and I couldn't see straight. My stomach twisted and I felt nauseated. I was sure I was about to puke at any moment. I didn't know what it meant. Maybe I was coming down with something. I just knew I was not falling for him. Definitely not.
I opened the door of my apartment and saw Melissa splayed out on the couch, wine in one hand with her laptop balanced on one knee. I set her ankle-breaking shoes on the table.
“Well?" She tossed the computer onto the empty seat next to her and jumped up.
“Well, what?” I feigned innocence as if I didn't know what she really was asking. I set her computer on the floor and flopped down where it had been.
“Oh my God, don't do this to me. What happened?” She sat down next to me.
I shrugged. “It wasn't a big deal. We went to Lotus and it sucked, so we got fro-yo for dinner instead.”
“And...?” Her eyes were as wide as saucers and she looked like she was about to explode, waiting for me to clue her in.
“And what? There isn't anything else to tell.”
She slapped my shoulder. “Did you kiss him? Did you do anything else?”
“Not really. There was a little kissing, nothing major.”
She threw her head back into the cushion. “You are killing me.”
I smiled and stood up to walk into the kitchen. “What did you do tonight?”
She grinned. “Actually, I do have some news. I went to dinner with my dad tonight.”
“Really? How did that go?” I got a glass of water and took a sip.
"I'm going to Japan, too! You won't believe what happened."
"Oh?" I walked back into the living room and sat down on the chair facing the couch. Between maneuvering in the heels for most of the night and prancing barefoot through the streets of San Francisco, I didn't think I could stand on my feet for another second.
"I can't believe you didn't answer your phone tonight. I must have called you a hundred times." She pulled the laptop from the floor back onto her knee. She downed the wine she had left in her glass and set it down on the side table next to her. "Dad asked me to dinner."
"So you said." I didn't see this conversation ending well. Whenever Mel played the daddy card, things never ended well for me. Her father was a named partner at the company we both worked for, so his nepotism shouldn't have been a huge surprise to me when it happened. And yet, it always was.
"Anyway, I told him how disappointed I was that they chose you for this big Tomojii account. I told them I thought it was wrong that I've been working there for almost two years and no one has even asked me to go on a trip. So guess what?"
I felt my cheeks redden and my nostrils flared despite themselves. "What?"
"He's sending me to shadow Robert. Isn't that awesome?" She threw herself back on the couch and seemed to be oblivious to the fact that her shadowing Robert meant that I would not be.
I cocked my head to the side. “Robert is going now?”
She nodded. “Yep, they're sending him to Tokyo instead, now. Isn't that awesome?”
I think my voice got about four times deeper, but I tried to cover my rising anger. "Wow, Mel. Yeah, that's awesome."
She winced. "You're pissed? I thought you'd be happy for me. I've wanted this for so long."
I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath through my nose. "And I don't want it?"
She seemed to register a bit of understanding and her eyes softened. "Honey, you're still going. It isn't like I told them to send me instead of you."
"Really?" I frowned. "Then I don't get it." I dropped my head into my hands.
She let out a long sigh and giggled. "Jenna, they're having two meetings now. Robert said you were going to lead the other one."
"What? What do you mean two meetings?" I rubbed small circles on my temples.
"Robert told my dad that they asked for two meetings, one at each office. You're going to one and I'm going to the other. Isn't that so awesome? I can't believe I'm going to Japan!"
"I don't get it. Now there are two meetings?” Maybe I had misread Robert when he had come to talk to me. I guess I had totally misunderstood him because I was sure he was saying that Tomojii wanted me for my name. But whatever, at least Mel was going to go, too.
"No joke." She held her hands up to me. "Robert gushed to my dad about what an amazing find you were. I think my dad is starting to wish you were his daughter. I guess I've been a huge bust." She laughed a little, but I could tell just thinking about it was hurting her.
"You're not a huge bust, Mel. You're even more amazing. I just can't imagine that they want two meetings now. This is a big deal for the company." I thought my stomach might drop out of my body. It was a big deal—a huge account for the company and if I blew it, the company would fire me.
"Yeah, but you're ready. I guess the company believes that taking those extra two years to finish your MBA makes a difference in your ability to be ready to do that sort of thing. Which is why you're ready and I'm not, at least according to my dad." I could see her eyes were starting to swim. We had planned to go to business school together after undergrad, but she hadn't been accepted. Too many parties and late nights and her grades just didn't cut it for grad school.
"Obviously you're getting there, Mel, or he wouldn't be giving you this chance." I switched seats and flopped down next to her again, patting her leg. "You're ready, too. I just hope I don't embarrass the company."
"Are you kidding? You're going to be fantastic." She swiped at her eyes. "You're going to own that town. They'll probably invite you to come work there."
"We'll both paint the town. You'll see." I patted her leg again.
She shrugged. "I guess we can both paint two different towns. I'll be in Tokyo with Robert. You'll be in Osaka, knocking the socks off the toy division of Tomojii."
I felt a stab in my heart. "What did you say?"
"I said you'll be in Osaka and I'll be in Tokyo. Didn't you read your email?"
The knife twisted and I thought my heart might beat out of my chest. "I'm going to Osaka? Are you sure?"
She nodded. "Go read the email. You leave in the morning so you should probably get some sleep."
Sleep was something that would not find me that night. Brandon's words rang in my head. I don't believe in coincidences.
11
"You have to be kidding me. How do you lose a reservation?" I could hear the panic rising in my voice. I was doing everything I could to remain calm. "I have the number right here."
"Yes, I understand miss, but it isn't on the computer." The woman behind the counter at the hotel could not have been more polite. Her English was almost perfect, so I knew there was no language barrier, no miscommunication.
"And there isn't a single other room available in the hotel?" I balled my hands into fists.
"No miss, I'm afraid not. With the convention and the sporting events this weekend, all of the area hotels are quite full." I think there was a look of concern in her eyes, but it was probably more pity than anything.
"No room at the inn. That's my luck, for sure." I tried not to go into a full blown panic attack. The day had not gone at all as I had planned. First I had forgotten my phone. My flight had been delayed twice, and now this.
"I don't understand, miss. This is a hotel, not an inn." There was the language barrier I had been looking for.
I shook my head. "Nothing. It's a joke." I looked around the lobby, trying t
o think of anything I could do to find a room. "Can you check again, please? And can you check around to see if any other hotels have a room?" I pulled at my ponytail and tried to tighten it. I'm sure I looked like a hot mess and getting upset over this latest misfortune was not helping with my jet-lagged look.
She nodded and began typing into the computer. I folded my arms in front of me, then turned around and leaned myself against the counter. What in the hell was I going to do in Osaka with no hotel room?
I saw his form through the glass entrance and I knew it was him before his name even registered in my brain. I should have known he'd be here. With all of the other weird coincidences—I should have known. I could have set my clock to it—there was no way he wouldn't have been at the same hotel in this huge city. Freaking coincidences.
I could see the twinkle of amusement in his eyes and he grinned. He walked through the large lobby and headed straight for me. "I thought that might be you. Are you stalking me?" He narrowed his eyes, but I could tell he wasn't serious.
I rolled my eyes and turned back to the woman at the counter. "Anything?" I said a silent prayer that she would have found my room reservation. I knew how this scenario would play out if she didn't find something for me.
"I'm afraid not, miss. I can check in Kobe or Kyoto if you would like. There is fast train service to Osaka from both cities." She looked behind me. "Hello, Mr. Richardson. I'll be with you in just a moment."
"She'll stay with me. Is my regular room available?" I turned back to look at him with horror in my eyes and he just winked at me as though it was nothing. "I'm always happy to help a damsel in distress."
"I'm afraid not, Mr. Richardson. I only have a standard king room available due to the convention. Will that be satisfactory?"
He nodded and took my place at the counter.
I felt something akin to rage welling inside of me and tried not to lash out at the clerk, but I couldn't stop myself. "Wait, wait. He doesn't have a reservation, but there's a room available for him? And I do have a reservation and there's no room available for me? How in the hell does that work?"
