by Katie Dowe
He opened the silver tray and sniffed at the tender roast beef. It smelled good but he was not hungry. He sliced a piece of it and drank the rest of the drink before taking a bite of the meat. The place was spotless and shiny and he thought to himself that he might have to give his housekeeper a raise. She was doing a damn good job!
His phone rang just then and he prayed that it was not Emma.
“Darling! Dining alone as usual?” Leesa’s sultry voice came over the line and he relaxed.
“How do you know I am dining alone?” he asked her mildly.
“Your apartment is as quiet as a pin. Where is that good looking lawyer lady of yours?”
“Aren’t you happily married with twins and expecting another child?” Jeffry asked her dryly. “How on earth do you find time to delve into my business?”
“I have all the time in the world,” she told him smugly. “My very indulgent husband does not allow me to lift a pin. We are inviting you over for the end of summer party darling and I want to tell you to bring the lady friend if you want to.”
“Where is Brad?”
“Right beside me. Where do you think?”
“Is he man enough to speak to me himself?” he asked her mockingly.
“He is all man, take it from me darling.” She said with a laugh as she passed the phone to her husband.
“I sometimes prefer to stay out of these arrangements my wife is making, I have more peace that way. It is not a reflection on my manhood.” His voice was relaxed and soft and Jeffry wondered at the change in him.
“I was beginning to think you were whipped.” Jeffry said caustically.
“I am whipped but occasionally I come up for air.” He said in amusement not in the least bit offended. “You need a woman in your life man. You are sounding sad and lonely.”
“You and Patrick are determined to convert us single men because somehow you have found some good women in your lives. Leave me out of it.”
“Not a chance. Come over early on Saturday so we can play some tennis. Leesa has invited the entire club members to come over as well.”
“I know who wear the pants in that relationship.”
“My wife of course. Who else!”
Chapter 3
Jeffry saw her the moment she arrived. He had gone by at three at Leesa’s insistence and somehow that woman did not take no for an answer so he had decided that it would be a break from his apartment and from Emma. He had told her he had an engagement today preferring not to be tied down. He had admired the beautiful children and held the incredibly adorable Leigh-Ann in his arms for some time that Leesa had teasingly told him that the look became him. He had given her a dry look and handed the toddler to Brad. He had seen the look on the man’s face and besotted did not even begin to describe it. And who can blame him? His wife looked like something out of a fashion magazine and their children looked like posters for beautiful babies. Leesa was pregnant and Brad seemed unable to leave her side for a minute. Patrick and Carrie were no better. He had had to practically force the two men to go a round of tennis with him on the smooth court available. The place was crawling with people and he realized that when Leesa did anything it was done on a wide scale.
He was standing by the pool when she came by. But she was not alone. The tall muscular African American towered over her and kept a proprietary hand on her arm. She looked great in a long pink and grey dress that billowed around her. She glanced up at something the man said to her and the smile she gave him had his heart skipping a beat. Christ! What a smile! He frowned as he looked at the man she was with. So she was into that tall muscled type, he thought cynically. He accepted a beer from one of the guys and wandered over to where Leesa was talking to Carrie and some other women. He had taken a dip in the pool and was still wet but had not bothered to dry off, the day was warm enough for that. He had not bothered to put a shirt on either and ignored the admiring looks he was receiving from the women.
“Darling you are going to need to put a shirt on,” Leesa said touching him lightly on the arm. “You are going to cause a fight amongst the single women here.”
“Your husband is wearing less than I am,” he pointed out, his dark blue eyes teasing.
“Oh but the women know they have to stay away from that area. I fight dirty when it comes to my man honey.” She told him with a wicked grin.
Before he could respond Diana and her companion came over. “Oh honey good to see you and you brought your brother.”
Jeffry felt himself going weak with relief! Her brother!
She introduced him all around and Jeffry felt him eyeing him up and down before he nodded. He left shortly after to go and mingle. He watched her for a moment as she chatted with the rest of the women and then he was hailed by some of the guys.
He half listened to the woman beside him as she talked his ear off and tried to get him to pay attention but he found himself looking at her. She was vivacious and laughed a lot. She had changed into a black one piece bathing suit that sat well on her full body. She had gone into the pool and was playing water volley ball with some of the ladies. Her brother was entertaining some of the admiring ladies on one area of the stony surface. He decided to make things interesting.
“How about guys against girls?” he called out as he moved away from the annoying woman without saying excuse.
“Good idea darling!” Leesa called out.
“Baby remember your condition.” Her husband reminded her.
“What condition?” she scoffed as she took off her robe and slid into the warm soothing water. “I am pregnant darling and I am asking the men to kindly remember that.”
“That’s not going to work with us Leesa,” Jeffry told her. “If you are not in the condition to play sit it out.”
“Darling you are mean!” she said with a pout that had him laughing at her.
The ladies had the first try and Diana was the one who batted the ball with a force that had him jumping into the air to play it forward! Their eyes met and he grinned as he saw the battle light in hers. She had beautiful eyes, he thought for a moment distracted by them. She saw it and batted the ball which went over his head! The women cheered at the victory and the rest of the men gave him dark looks. He made it for his mistake by attacking with all his might. Jeffry was good at every game and he did not like losing so no matter what the game was he had to win. They ended up playing a vigorous game with the women losing to them by two points. He threaded water and went over to Diana with his hand held out. “You played well.”
“You were not so bad yourself for a white guy,” she told him a little insolently.
“Oh? We are playing the color card?” he held her hand in his and felt the heat of her body.
“Of course,” she pulled her hand away. “You played as if your life depended on it. I wonder why?”
Before he could respond she sank down to the bottom of the pool and when he saw her next she had gone over to her brother and they were splashing each other like children. He watched her for a moment and then threaded water going out of the water and reaching for a towel.
She did not come near him for the rest of the day and he found that try as he might he could not stop thinking about her!
*****
Diana was dreaming! Growing up without a father had made her wonder about him. She had talked to her brother about it and he had told her gently that his leaving was probably for the best. They had had a happy childhood and had turned out well but the dreams still plagued her and she never said it to her mother in case she brought up bad memories. It was always the same dream: one where she was a little girl maybe five or six years old reaching out to him and he would be running away from her. She would be calling out to him and he would run farther and farther away from her. She would be clutching a well worn stuffed elephant and tears would be coursing down her cheeks. Then the voice would say that it was her fault that he had left. She would wake up shivering and feeling the desolation clutching at her chest.
She blinked as she stared around the darkened room. The blinking eyes on the clock radio told her that it was a little past one. She had gone to bed early last night because she had felt the starting of a headache blooming. The work had started on her mother’s place and she had gone there to see how it was going. September had started and the weather had slowly changed. It had been a week since the party at Leesa and Bradley’s and she had called and told the woman how much fun she had had. Her brother Michael had been moody and silent all the way to her apartment and she had left him to his thoughts.
She got up and reached for her old ratty robe pulling it on over her pajamas and headed for the kitchen to get herself some water. She did not turn the lights on but sat at the counter and sipped the water from the tap.
She suspected that part of the reason she was not involved with anyone had to do with her father running out on them but she had not looked at it closely enough, preferring to put the thought away from her in the deepest recesses of her mind.
With a shake of her head she emptied the glass and went back to bed trying to capture her sleep. She had a shoot first thing in the morning!
*****
Michael felt the unbidden desire crawling through him as she ran her hands over his muscled chest. He had met her at the end of summer party he had accompanied his sister to a week ago and they had struck up a conversation. She was a divorcee who claimed that her husband had run off with another woman. She was blonde and sleek and loaded and he usually stayed away from women like her. They meant trouble but she had come to the gym to work out and had stayed until the place had emptied. She had walked over to lock the doors and peeled off the lycra suit she had on and reached for him. He had taken her right there on one of the benches, plunging into her as she wrapped her legs around him. He had vowed not to see her again but she had called him and he had told her to come over. He moaned as she kneaded his balls before bending her head and taking his dick inside her mouth. She licked it lovingly as if she was licking her favorite ice cream and he felt his hands curling into fists on the sheets as she took little bites out of him. With a groan he pulled out of her and turned her around. He entered her from behind and gripped her narrow white hips pushing up and into her hearing the gasp escaping her lips as he plunged in and out of her. He was sure it would have been a onetime thing but he found that he was becoming more and more attracted to her. He brought her up against him and cupped her breasts in his large hands using his fingers to massage her nipples. She turned her head around and sought his lips. With a groan of defeat he captured her lips, his mouth ravishing hers! He felt his body exploding and his mind becoming foggy as he emptied himself inside her as if he would never stop!
He stumbled away from her as soon as he regained strength and went into his small kitchen. He did not really use it much but it was clean and useable. He poured water and drank thirstily as if to get the taste of her out of his mouth and felt himself stiffening as she came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He pulled away from her deliberately. “I think you need to go on home.” He told her heading back into the room.
“I want to spend the night,” she told him softly reaching for him and putting her arms around his neck.
“I don’t allow the women I am screwing to stay over,” he told her crudely trying to diffuse the desire he was starting to feel again.
She stiffened against him but did not let him go. “There is always an exception,” she told him and bringing his head down she took his lips with hers. He wrapped his hands around her and deepened the kiss, bearing her back down onto the already messy bed!
*****
Jeffry watched her from a distance. She had come back to do their fall campaign and this time she was wearing a bright red sweater, faded denims and knee high boots. Her hair was curly and piled on top of her head. She looked radiant as she smiled. They were assimilating her negotiating the terrains with several hair pin bends. She demonstrated how the four wheel drive of the rugged Explorer was more than capable of bringing a person safely to and from the area because of the reliability of the vehicle.
“That’s a wrap Diana!” the producer shouted. It took her a few minutes to get out of the vehicle and her feet mad a path through the powdery fake snow. A few tendrils of hair had escaped and floated around her cheeks. She stopped and talked to several of the crew members and his eyes narrowed as she laughed at something the photographer said to her. She had a very seductive laugh that brought attention to her. He never usually go on location but he had felt the need to go telling himself that he wanted to see how it was going but who was he fooling? Ever since the party at Brad and Leesa’s he had been thinking about her a lot. Emma had called him several times but he had been putting her off telling her he was busy. What the hell was wrong with him? He straightened up as she came closer to him.
“That was quite good,” he told her casually.
“Thanks I had no idea you were here.” She slipped her coat over her sweater and tied the belt loosely before taking up her pocketbook.
“I come on locations sometimes,” he told her the lie easily. “We were thinking of letting you drive one of our vehicles seeing as how you are practically the face of the company.” He had not cleared it with the rest of the management team yet but he had made the decision in a flash!
Diana stared at him in shock. “You want me to choose a vehicle to drive free of cost?”
“Part of the package. Except the Porsche and the Benz of course.” He told her with a grin.
“Of course,” she said dryly. “I happen to have a reliable car.”
“We want to see you in one of ours.”
“I can accept that.” She said with a smile. “When?”
“How about coming by later today and I show you around and you choose?”
Diana calculated swiftly in her mind what she had to do when she left here. The additions to her mother’s building was finished with and she was planning on having a party on Friday which was two days away and insisted she wanted Diana to come and help her sort out the menu. She would understand that her not coming was for a worthy cause, she decided.
“What time?”
“About seven.”
Okay,” she nodded waving at a member of the crew. “I will see you later.”
*****
Jack looked up as his son came into his office.
“I thought you would have already left,” Jeffry said glancing at his watch seeing that it was almost six. He wanted the place empty when Diana came for some reason he did not want to explore.
“I have some reports to finish up. I am leaving in a few minutes. Taking the wife out to dinner, she said she is feeling neglected.”
“Spending a fortune is not enough for her?” Jeffry asked him sardonically going over to pour himself a drink.
“Can’t you at least try and be civil where she is concerned? After all she is your stepmother.” Jack asked him wearily.
“She is your wife dad and that is a difference.”
“I happen to love her,” his father said defensively.
“Just like how you loved Sara your second wife who was caught with a man half her age?” Jeffry tossed back his drink and watched as the man winced in pain.
“She is different.” Jack told him quietly.
“Of course she is. Anyway I will leave you to finish your report.” He put the glass away and left the office swiftly.
Jack put away the folder he was working on and closed his eyes wearily. He had made a great mess of things and somehow he did not think it could be fixed!
*****
He watched in amusement as she ran her hand over the shiny exterior of each vehicle, her brow furrowed in uncertainty. “I cannot decide,” she said finally looking up at him.
“I can see that,” he came forward. He had taken off his suit jacket and pulled back the sleeves of his light pink shirt. “How about this one: it’s classy and reliable and I think it suits you.” He opene
d the door of a brand new Mazda with a shiny red coat. It was large but not overly so and looked good.
She slid behind the wheel and looked around. It was also the latest of its kind. “It’s going to take me ages to figure out all of these gadgets,” she admitted ruefully. “I am not exactly tech savvy.”
“You will learn. So what do you think?”
“I think I will take it.” She told him with a smile. “Now what do I do with the car I came in?”
“We will have someone drive it to your place in the morning. Are you leaving now?” he asked her casually.
“Not really what do you have in mind?” she climbed out and closed the door quietly.
“I was thinking a little dinner. The chef brought something up to my office and it is too much for me.”
“I never refuse a free meal.” She told him with a grin.
*****
“You are quiet?” Abigail said softly reaching out a hand to touch his on the table. She had dressed in one of the dresses she had bought only this week, a shimmering green gown that clung to her figure and showed her cleavage.
“I had an argument with Jeffry earlier.” He admitted, his appetite nonexistent.
“About me again?” she deduced.
He nodded apologetically.
“I can take it darling don’t worry about it. He will come around one day.”
“I think his anger is directed towards me more than you.”
