by Roxy Wilson
But, just for this moment, Jordan allowed his mind to think of other vacations, the ones he’d spent with Shannen. She was always so much fun, willing to try new things and daring him to join her. Mountain biking, water skiing and scuba diving were just some of the sporting activities they got involved in when they went vacationing. But as much as Shannen had enjoyed adventure sports, she didn’t dare participate in sports that involved flying. So hot air ballooning and parachuting were definite no-no’s. Sometimes Jordan and Shannen took in the local entertainment or just went dancing. Other times they rented motorcycles and explored the area. For Shannen, though, the highlight of their vacation was spending hours at the gift shops and selecting and purchasing souvenirs to take back home with them. For Jordan, just being with her was good enough.
The sound of a vehicle’s tires screeching in the distance roused Jordan from his musings and jolted him back to his present dilemma. How was he going to survive the evening? He couldn’t remember the last time his body reacted this way. His palms were too clammy, his heart galloped like horses and his stomach felt queasy. It was really hard to believe after braving a stint in Iraq as a volunteer, and surviving a near-death experience, he still felt as if he wouldn’t be able to live long enough to even enjoy this date. Damn, he was afraid he’d make a fool of himself or worse yet, have his date think he had some kind of mental disorder. If things go south, he wouldn’t hear the end of it. Caleb would make sure of it.
God forbid!
Jordan released the breath he didn’t even realize he held, rotated his stiff shoulders and opened the doors which led to the lobby. He strode to the check in counter, performed the formalities of checking in, took his key card from the clerk and requested directions to the dining room, where he was supposed to meet his date for the first time. This was so out of the ordinary for him. Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought of going on a blind date ever again, yet here he stood, about to embark on one.
Shit. Why am I doing this again?
Perhaps he should’ve just stayed at home and kept the date he had with his right palm instead. At least it would save him the humiliation of what may or may not happen in a little while. So deep were his thoughts, the vibration he felt in his pocket startled him. Jordan fished out his smart phone and read the text message.
JC, don’t be nervous, everything’s going to be okay.
Don’t be nervous? Yeah, right. Nervous was an understatement, Jordan was terrified. His first reaction was to ignore the message, but then he considered how much his cousin and their employee, whom he hadn’t even known for that long, were doing to try and jerk him out of the slump he’d found himself in. After chewing over a suitable response to Caleb’s text message, he decided to just go with the truth.
Yeah, I’m very nervous, but I trust your judgment. For once.
His cousin knew him so well, he wasn’t surprised he’d sent him a text to reassure him everything would be okay.
Good. Raina is waiting. Jayce and I reserved the private dining room especially for both of you.
Jordan thanked his lucky stars. Caleb was a genius. In a private dining room he wouldn’t have to worry about making an utter fool of himself in front of a group of diners. Doing so in front his date was the lesser of two evils.
Thanks, I owe you.
Not a problem. Just think positively and be on your best behavior.
Jordan narrowed his eyes. He couldn’t be that bad. Caleb made him out to be an ogre. Sure, he could be cranky, but it wasn’t as if it was an intrinsic part of his DNA. As far as Jordan was concerned his manners were always above reproach.
Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. A smiley face appeared on his screen
Well, that pretty much leaves the field wide open.
A thumbs up smiley popped up on his screen. Relax and enjoy.
Jordan smiled. Talking to Caleb had been just what the doctor ordered.
It was time to pull himself together, and meet his date.
* * * *
Raina studied the man who opened the double doors, which led to the dining room. What a man he was! As he walked toward her, she took in all of him. It did not escape her notice his strides were slightly uneven, and on closer inspection she deduced he’d lost a part of his right leg, just below his knee. However, he walked with such utter confidence, it only added to his appeal. He was quite tall, about six-four or five, he was muscular, but not as huge as a certain oversized cartoon character who sounded suspiciously like Elvis Presley. His dark hair curled at the nape of his neck. His amber eyes were his most arresting feature, they seemed to be tinted with yellow and copper. But, boy oh boy, Raina could see herself drowning in them!
He was hot.
He was perfect.
He rivaled a magazine’s sexist man alive cover.
He’s so not going to be into me.
“Don’t forget to breathe, Raina,” she chided herself. Then she repeated mentally, “He’s only a man. He’s only a man.” She tried to relax.
Shit. Who am I fooling? All my flaws are as plain as day. Big boobs, broad hips, sagging butt, definitely not a pretty picture. What the hell am I doing here? Why, oh why, did I let Jayce talk me into doing this? Wait just one damn minute! I have spent the last year creating a new me. I am beautiful, I am confident…I am so screwed… Stop it Raina. No more negative thinking. He will like you, Jayce promised. Plaster on a smile and breathe. She rose from her seat and extended her hand. “You must be Raina.” Jordan clasped her hand in his, raised it to his lips and dropped a light, feathery kiss on it. He waited for Raina to sit back down before he took his seat.
Doesn’t his hand feel a tad bit cold, clammy even? “It’s a pleasure meeting you, Jordan.”
He cleared his throat before he smiled. Ah, his smile! His smile revealed both dimples and her breath caught in her throat. Still, if she could remember where she hid her title deed, she’d bet her house and land Jordan was just as nervous as she was.
Jordan looked directly in her eyes. “Am I right in assuming you were named after Raina Petkoff in Arms and the Man?” When Jordan saw her questioning look he supplied, “I remember my cousin Caleb telling me your parents are professors of literature. I figured they were fans of Bernard Shaw and named you after the heroine in the play.”
Okay, so maybe he wasn’t that nervous. Raina looked at him admiringly. “You’re absolutely right.” Gingerly, she leaned forward and placed her elbows on the table. “I know your area of expertise is finance, so I’m really curious to find out how you know about a play written more than a hundred years ago?” Raina winked and then grinned good-naturedly. Okeydokey, so she was feeling a little better now, a tad more relaxed.
Jordan chuckled. “Let’s just say, when I was in college I noticed all the pretty girls did those literature courses, so I always felt I should do at least one literature course per semester. It was the only way they paid any attention to me, when I waxed poetic.”
“Oh, I see. I guess it was just one of your strategies for getting the pretty co-eds to go out with you.”
“Definitely. And it worked too. Of course, discussing Shakespeare, Browning, Dickenson and Hemmingway were not always high on my list of things to talk about on a date, if you know what I mean.” He wiggled his eyebrows playfully.
“No, I don’t.” Raina fashioned her face into a playful frown. “Care to enlighten me?”
Jordan raised his hands in mock surrender. “I plead the fifth.”
They both laughed at that and then lapsed into companionable silence. Raina used the moment to steal some glances at Jordan. She marveled at how handsome he was, from his windblown hair, to his elegantly casual clothing, and it didn’t seem as if it was affected at all. “So, where did you attend college?
“At FSU, not too far from here.And you?
“Good ole, Brooklyn College.
“Ah, yes, the poor man’s Harvard.”
Raina chuckled good-naturedly. “And I’m proud of it, too.”<
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All too soon the waiter arrived to pour some water in their glasses and take their order. Jordan’s such a cool guy. I can’t believe I was nervous about this date.
Chapter Three
This date is easier than I expected. Hell, I’m thoroughly enjoying Raina’s company. Yet, Jordan wondered over dinner, whether he should broach the subject uppermost in his mind. Why did Raina want to go on a blind date? Caleb had given him very sketchy details about her and after getting to know her himself, he was even more curious to find out why she’d agreed to come. Of course, he could think of a dozen reasons why she didn’t need a date like this. His gaze roamed over her features. Her skin was the color of dark sienna and her eyes were so dark brown they appeared almost black. Her full lips held such sensual promise for the night ahead—a man could hope, couldn’t he? Raina’s smile fascinated him, not because of her perfectly white teeth, for which she gave credit to her orthodontist. It was because of the dimple on her left cheek. It was there for the whole world to see, even when she wasn’t smiling.
At about five-foot ten or eleven inches, Raina was an exceptionally tall woman. From what he could see, her body was toned, which proved she worked out really hard at the gym, but he didn’t think he would have liked her any less if he’d met her before the weight loss she mentioned in their conversation. Jordan was always attracted to women with curves, lots of curves in fact, and Raina was certainly a voluptuous woman. Her full breasts were accentuated by her stylish wrapped dress, just what the doctor ordered. From the instant he laid his eyes on Raina he wanted to wrap his fingers around her sister locks, which were swept up to one side and exposed her graceful, swanlike neck. This greatly appealed to him as he was not a man who was into weaves and wigs, although he made it his business not to complain when the women he dated in the past wore them. It was good to know Raina was naturally beautiful, though.
Jordan felt himself hardening when he envisioned her ample hips and thighs wrapped around his waist as he plunged deep, really deep, into her ready and waiting pussy. Not to mention her round, luscious ass, that he really wanted to sink his teeth into. There was no way any red-blooded male would not fight tooth and nail to get the opportunity to know her intimately. He couldn’t believe he was thinking that way about a woman he’d met only a few hours ago. Perhaps Caleb was right about him hibernating for too long. Then again, he could be wrong.
Their meal was finger-licking good, but the company was even better. As they dined, their conversation varied from the current state of the economy, to their love of music, to who would be the eventual winner of a reality show both of them enjoyed watching. Their debate over whom they believed would be the eventual winner of the reality series sparked a series of giggles and pseudo threats. Jordan couldn’t remember the last time he had such stimulating conversation with a woman…since Shannen. There was no doubt that apart from Raina’s physical appearance, he was attracted to her quick wit and intelligence. Her penchant for quoting poetry at odd moments was testimony to how much her parents’ love for the literary genre influenced her while she was growing up. In sum, Raina was simply breathtaking
And though he thought of Shannen from time to time while he was with Raina, it seemed as if the bitter taste of grief had somewhat receded, and he felt the seed of hope that his heart was finally on the mend. It was five years since Jordan had felt this light-hearted and free. For the first time in years, he was genuinely interested in a woman and looked forward to the night ahead. The possibility of getting to know her intimately just blew his mind. His cock became impossibly harder as if confirming what his head, the one which housed his brain, wanted.
After their scrumptious dinner he left nothing to chance. When Raina shyly agreed to continue their date, he whisked her away from the dining room. Only a few minutes later they were ensconced in his suite, but he still wanted to find out why Raina was here. Jordan was a man who liked answers and at the moment he wanted some answers from Raina.
The beauty about complimentary high speed internet access at the resort was that before he met Raina in the dining room he’d quickly purchased and downloaded Bryan Adams’s The Best of Me album to his MP3. Jordan always had a fondness for the Canadian rock singer’s hauntingly soulful ballads. So after a few rapid touches on his player, wearing the grin which seemed to be permanently stamped on his face since meeting Raina, he extended his hand and when she clasped it, he led her to the center of the floor. They faced each other a bit self-consciously and he placed his hands on her hips, while she wrapped her arms around his neck. Their movements were slow and simple, as they swayed in time with the music. Time passed in a haze, they sang along with Bryan Adams, albeit horribly off-key, but it was all in fun. Fun was something Jordan hadn’t experience in a long, long time.
“May I ask you a question, Raina?
“Sure.”
“I just wondered why you’re here with me.”
“Because you invited me to your room, remember?”
It was obvious she evaded his question. It was the first time Jordan noticed Raina wasn’t altogether comfortable. So why in the world is she here?
“You know what I mean. Why are you on this date?
“Why shouldn’t I?”
“You’re beautiful, charming and intelligent. I would think you’d have men lining up just to be with you.”
Raina laughed without humor. “The trouble is, the guys I know either don’t want to be romantically involved with a full figured woman or just pretend they do.”
“You’re telling me you’ve never been seriously involved with anyone? Never been in love?”
“What’s love anyway?” she asked mockingly, and then shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe it’s just the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.”
“You think quoting Robert Frost is a satisfactory answer?” Jordan shook his head. “Be honest with me.”
Raina stopped swaying to the music and looked at him seriously. “Okay, you want to hear the truth? The truth is, I met a man who threw kindness my way, flowers, late night phone calls, the works. Within three months I moved in with him, much to the angst of my family. It didn’t dawn on me that he never took me anywhere, never invited his family or friends to our apartment, until I had invested so much time and effort in the relationship, I felt I shouldn’t leave him. He treated me like crap, insulted me, nothing I said or did met his approval. I became a chicken-shit, afraid of him, afraid of my freaking shadow, for god’s sake. I felt like such an idiot, because I didn’t even realize what I had become. Everyone noticed but me.”
Jordan clenched his fist. “Did he…Did he ever hit you?”
“No. But, I guess the thought of me having three older brothers, who wouldn’t think twice about beating his ass, may have saved me from any physical abuse. The psychological abuse was more insidious. The more he insulted me, the more he told me I needed to do something about my fat ass, the more I ate. He hated my body so much, it reached the point where we barely had a sex life, and when we did have sex it was always with the lights turned off. I didn’t realize he was getting his nookie on the side. To make matters worse, I kept everything I was going through to myself. My family and friends suspected things weren’t all roses and sunshine, but I never confirmed their suspicions.”
Raina paused, her chest heaving as she drew a deep breath. . “Then one morning I got up, took a long, hard look at myself in the mirror, and told myself I deserved better. I simply walked away, with just my handbag and the clothes on my back.” Her smiled melted his heart. It was so sad. “So what does that make me? A dumbass, right?”
Jordan gently cupped her face and looked deeply in her eyes for several minutes.
Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.
Jordan caressed her cheek. “I bet you know Christina Aguilera’s song Fighter.” Ah, yes. The song aptly reflected what he saw in Raina, a woman on the verge of overcoming her insecurities and pain to become the strong woman he instinctively knew was within.
When Raina nodded he continued, “It’s about a woman with a lying, cheating, manipulating ex, but her experience with him only made her stronger.”
Jordan sat on the sofa. “Take off your clothes, beautiful.” His voice sounded raspy to his own ears. “Do it slowly.”
The scowl on Raina’s face was priceless. She arched a perfectly groomed eyebrow. “I hardly know you and you want me take my clothes off? Are you kidding me?”
“You wouldn’t be here if you thought I would do anything to hurt you. So, here’s the thing, I’m not going to repeat myself,” his voice was thick with emotion, and just the faintest note of warning. Her confession had really done him in. It was hard to imagine the beautiful woman standing before him had endured so much pain by a brute she had given her heart to and trusted. But, he’d be lying if he said she didn’t affect him physically, as well. His cock was so hard he felt it could bore a hole through his Levi’s. Jordan surreptitiously adjusted himself, since he didn’t want it to get sore before he’d even had a chance to use it on this tantalizing woman. At least, he hoped he’d have a chance to use it.
Jordan had every intention of doing and saying everything he could to make Raina see, without a shadow of doubt, she was attractive and a person deserving love, affection and the best life had to offer her. He heard her mutter under her breath. By the look on her face, he wouldn’t be surprised if she had a few choice words for him, but he didn’t let it faze him one damn bit. Jordan almost applauded when he saw his Raina—No, just Raina, dammit, hesitate only for a moment. When she released the band of her dress and peeled it slowly down her arms, exposing little by little, her surprisingly slender collarbone and the dark mysteries of her lightly powdered cleavage, Jordan felt as if he had died and entered paradise. He silently urged his greedy hands to stay still, because at the moment he wanted to grab her and plunge his tongue deep enough into her mouth to hit the back of her throat. After what seem like agonizing minutes in a gas chamber, he released his breath in relief when the damn dress finally fell to the floor. His baser desires were still not completely under control by the time she stepped out of her dress and kicked it aside.
