Sparring Partners

by Leigh Morgan

  "If you won't kiss me, yet, come closer. Let me see if your skin smells as good as it tastes."

  Her quick intake of air and the look of surprise on her transparent face had Jordon wondering if he'd taken his flirtation too far and then, just as he as about to back away and answer her questions, she rallied. Giving him a long narrowed eyed look followed by what he could only describe as a don't-push-your-luck-too-far-smirk, she inched her chair close enough for him to touch her when he wanted.

  "So the answer to my question is, yes. You do bargain all the time. My guess is that you do it for a living, and you usually win. Am I right?" Reed said, sure of herself and her opinions.

  Now that she was closer, not quite close enough to name her perfume, but close enough to touch the way he wanted to, Jordon ran the back of his hand lightly down her arm. When Reed didn't pull away he captured her hand in his, brought it to lips, and blew softly on her knuckles. He didn't touch his lips to her skin, she wasn't ready for that yet, but Jordon promised himself that she would be, soon.

  Lowering their hands to his thigh, Jordon ran his fingers over her palm before entwining his fingers with her much smaller ones. Again, Reed didn't pull away, but her breathing was shallower than before. Her pulse beat strongly, rhythmically, at the base of her throat, no longer erratic but noticeably faster than it had been when they sat down.

  "One question at a time. We've got all night." Jordon said.

  If he had anything to say about it they'd have more than just tonight, they'd have at least thirty-one days beyond that. He needed his life back. The thought of William stripping away everything that mattered to him steeled Jordon's resolve. He'd do what ever it took to get back to work at B.H. again. He loved his work, it defined him. The board already approved him as William's successor on the condition that William vouch for him.

  This whole wife thing was just another one of William's tests; just the latest in a long line of seemingly impossible tasks to groom Jordon for B.H.'s top spot. Jordon was getting sick of the crap, but he wasn't about to fail now. Not when he was so close. He'd pass William's test, it was just a question of how much it was going to cost him to do it. Any other result was unthinkable.

  Reed gently squeezed his hand, bringing Jordon back to reality.

  "Okay." She said, drawing his full attention. Jordon was more than willing to allow thoughts of William to evaporate into the night. "Let's start with your name. How did your parents come up with it?"

  "I'm named after my grandmothers. Both of them were extraordinary women, and I loved them very much."

  "They're dead?" Reed asked, a slight frown marring her brow.

  "Yes."

  "I'm sorry." The sincerity in her voice said she meant it.

  "Don't be. I spent my childhood being doted upon by both of them. Nothing to be sorry about. Nothing at all. I was well loved and totally spoiled. Not much of a story there. Just an average Joe with a weird name."

  "What were your grandmother's names?"

  "Jo and Don. That's what they insisted on being called. My father's mother was Johanna and my mother's mother was Donna. My parents didn't think Jodon sounded quite right so they came up with Jordon instead. The grands, short for the grand-dames, had a fit when my parents named me. They wanted me to be named "John" or "Kennedy", they didn't care which, after JFK." Jordon smiled, remembering.

  Reed moved their commingled hands under her chin. Jordon didn't think she did it consciously, but he hardened anyway at the intimacy.

  "They wanted me to be president. They even drafted a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and argued for it in front of both of Wyoming's sitting senators. They insisted that the age to serve as president should be lowered to twenty especially for me. They wanted me in office before they died."

  "How did they die?" Reed asked, then she flushed and lowered her eyes, seeming to sense she'd gone too deep, but she hadn't. Thoughts of his grands only brought lightness, not sorrow.

  "They jumped off a mountain." He said, laughing as her head jerked back in surprise.

  "The official story is they fell while hiking Mount Moran. There's no way those two fell. Not on accident. The grands were far too agile for that." Jordon nodded his head to the side. "Taking a running leap, now that would be more in character."

  "What do you think happened to them?"

  "They were both eighty-five and strong. They walked five miles every morning together. Then, Donna found out she had pancreatic cancer. It had already progressed past the point of treatment. Two days later, the grands went out hiking and didn't come back. They both knew Mount Moran, they'd climbed her since they were kids. They knew where to climb and where not to." Jordon took a sip of his water, wetting a throat suddenly gone dry.

  "They didn't fall. I'm sure of that. They'd spent their whole lives fighting, trusting and loving each other. They went out the way they wanted to."

  "You're okay with that?" She asked, sounding more intrigued than surprised.

  "Personally, I'd have chosen white-water rafting or hang-gliding, but jumping off a mountain is as good a way as any to go out, I suppose. If I know the grands, they ingested more than a little Jack Daniels before they jumped. I doubt they were ever in any pain. We were told they died instantly. They were still holding hands when the rescue team found them."

  Reed's gaze softened, and she seemed to look into him instead of just at him. The feeling was a little disconcerting. Most people Jordon met stopped at the surface. This woman plunged into the depths. Everything about her was intense. Maybe that's why she didn't go on too many second or third dates, if Henry's report was accurate. And Henry was always accurate.

  "You respect their decision?" It was more of a statement than a question.

  Jordon shrugged. "They lived well. They died on their terms. Together. What's not to respect?" Jordon flagged down the waitress and ordered another beer for Reed. "Now let's talk about you."

  "I'd rather not."

  Jordon narrowed his eyes. "Then kiss me. Tit-for-tat Darlin. I told you what you wanted to know." The brief flash of fear in her eyes surprised Jordon. Reed didn't seem the type to scare this easily. He wondered what she was thinking. Was she that private of a person? The flash of uncertainty left her lightly freckled face as quickly as it appeared, a small closed lip smile crinkling the corners of her lovely blue-gray eyes taking its place.

  "Okay. What do you want to know?" She asked.

  "When was the last time you had sex?"

  "With a man? Or with a woman?"

  Jordon choked. Reed disengaged their hands to pound on his chest. His hand covered hers on the second smack. For a little thing she sure packed a wallop. He was too intrigued now to let it drop. Henry didn't mention anything in his report about Reed dating women.

  "Either." He said, clearing his throat. "Make that both."

  "Never with a woman. Although I thought about it once or twice." Jordon quirked a brow wondering if she really had thought about it, or if she was just teasing him. The grin she shot him made him think it was the latter, but he wasn't quite sure.

  "You know this is a completely inappropriate conversation given the fact that I still don't know your last name."

  "Now who's bargaining? My name's Bennett. Now answer the question, woman." Jordon already knew the answer to how long it had been since she'd slept with a man. Henry's report on the matter was quite thorough. He was more interested in finding out whether or not she'd lie about it.

  Reed seemed to think about it a second, holding his gaze the entire time. "Twenty-seven months. Ten days..." She looked at her watch. "...and four hours. Give or take."

  Within hours of Henry's estimate. So she wasn't a liar. Not a casual one anyway. Not even when the subject made her blush. An unusual reaction for someone past thirty, at least in the circles Jordon usually traveled in.

  "Don't you miss it?" He asked, intrigued.

  "Yes."

  "Care to expound on how much."

  "No." Her r
apid fire answer told him it was time to change the subject.

  "You were married. You have a son. Tell me about that."

  "Then it's your turn." She smiled evilly at him. "Tit-for-tat. Remember?"

  Jordon let go of her hand and leaned into her. He ran his hand through the short curls at the back of her neck and down her nape, relishing the shiver she couldn't control, and the goose bumps beginning to pebble her skin from his touch.

  "There's nothing you can ask I won't answer. There's nothing you can ask me for that I won't give you. Come at me with both guns blazing little elf. Please. Give me your best shot. I'll tell you everything you want to know." He meant it, all she had to do was ask, but it was a limited time offer. His clock was ticking.

  "Can we get the food to go?" She asked, surprising and pleasing him.

  "Most definitely." Jordon answered, feeling hopeful, hard, and more than pleased with himself and her.

  He summoned their server before Reed could change her mind.

  ...

  "There is nothing I won't give you..."

  Those words and the rest of Jordon's dinner declaration flowed through Reed's blood like warm honey through freshly brewed green tea. A perfect blend of exactly what she needed, almost too perfect to be consumed. But, oh, how she wanted to consume him. She'd been celibate way too long. Funny, that didn't bother her until tonight.

  There was something about Jordon Bennett that made Reed take him at his word, something that screamed confidence in his ability to give her whatever she wanted. He was the kind of man who kept a promise once he made it, Reed could feel it. She was equally sure he didn't make promises often or lightly. Why she was so certain about him, Reed couldn't articulate, she just knew down deep in her soul she was right. Jordon could be trusted to deliver on his promises.

  Riding in his car, up I-94 toward Jordon's loft in downtown Milwaukee, Reed felt anxious and alive, more so than she'd felt the last time she chose to spend the night with a man. Even though that was more that two years ago, the memory wasn't so far gone Reed couldn't retrieve it. She'd been nervous then too, but not this nervous. She'd also been sure then that sex and human connection was what she wanted. She was more sure now. Everything about Jordon screamed more to Reed, more of everything that made her feel like she could jump over the moon. More potential for landing battered and broken after the fall. Pushing thoughts away that wouldn't change the outcome of what she wanted to happen tonight, Reed asked what she really wanted to know.

  "Have you ever been married, Jordon?"

  "Yes." He answered without taking his eyes from the freeway. He was a good driver, confident, aggressive, moving gracefully through traffic slightly faster than everyone else. She didn't think he was going to elaborate, but he did. "Once. I was seventeen, she was nineteen. It didn't last a month. I filed for divorce on my eighteenth birthday. Left home the same day."

  His tone was light, but Reed didn't push for more since the subject seemed to sadden him.

  "Have you thought of marrying again?"

  "Yes."

  There was something in the way his eyes measured her, willing her to look deeper into his soul, in the millisecond he glanced at her before he concentrated on traffic again, that stopped Reed from exploring the topic of marriage any further. She felt like a moth drawn to flame, serendipitously being blown away by the breeze before the heat scorched her wings, deciding not to turn around and go back for a closer look.

  "How old are you?" She changed the subject to a safer one.

  "How old are you?" He countered.

  "Does it matter?"

  "Not to me. Do you really care how old I am?" Jordon said.

  "If you're asking if I'll change my mind about wanting to see you naked because of the date on your driver's license, the answer is no." Reed took a deep breath. Planning on sleeping with someone wasn't something that came easily to her, talking about it on the way there was even harder.

  "Then why bring it up?"

  Reed shrugged, heat radiated from her toes to her nose. She cracked the window open before answering.

  "It's just that you seem different tonight than at the museum. Younger, more open, than the tightly controlled man in a suit I encountered this morning. Then I'd have put you at about forty. Now, I'm not so sure. Thirty-five maybe. I'm just curious, that's all. Usually I can tell, with you it's not so easy."

  Dressed as he was now, in expertly tailored, perfectly pleated summer weight wool pants, that hinted at the perfect control he exercised over his life if only subconsciously, he looked young and vital. The long sleeved light weight crew neck sweater he wore pushed up to his elbows exposed strong tanned arms. It hugged his muscled shoulders and the powerful but lithe muscles of his torso. Dressed like this, Jordon looked more touchable.

  Tonight, he wore his thick mahogany hair unbound, long and loose, curling in waves that brushed his shoulders instead of clubbed severely at his nape, as it had been the first time she saw him. He was still G.Q. perfect, just dialed down a notch. More rugged. More approachable. More, more, more, of everything that made her palms sweat and mouth go dry.

  "I'm a few years older than you are." He said.

  "How do you know how old I am."

  Jordon seemed to startle, his hands clenched on the steering wheel briefly before his grip eased again.

  "I'd put you between thirty-five and thirty-six. I'm a little older than that." He said, before changing the subject so completely she forgot about age entirely, not that it mattered unless he wanted to marry her and father her babies. Reed smiled, laughing internally at the thought.

  Jordon glanced at her. "Thoughts of me naked got you smiling already?"

  "Thoughts of you naked have had me wandering around the house all day singing like a fool, hoping you'd actually show up at my door."

  He seemed to think about that for a moment before he clicked a button on the steering wheel and began talking into an ear bud Reed hadn't seen before under all that hair.

  "Ready the jet, I'll be there in ten. Return flight a.m." His eyes flashed to hers. "I'll give you the details later. Yes, Henry, I know what I'm doing, just get it done. Thanks." He flicked the button again and the puzzling one sided conversation was over.

  "Have dinner with me."

  "We tried that." Reed said, smiling at him. "I thought we'd eat our carry out at your place."

  "We can eat on the plane."

  "Where would this plane be taking us?" Reed asked, heart pumping so quickly the rushing in her ears was more than traffic noise through her cracked window.

  Jordon glanced at the clock on the dash. "It's too late now to take you to Paris and get you home by tomorrow. How does Las Vegas sound?"

  Crazy. Totally insane. Take your pick.

  "Can we have a drink at the top of the Eiffel Tower in the Paris casino?" Was that really her voice coming out of her mouth?

  Jordon seemed to visibly relax, shoulders lowering, grip easing on the wheel, slow smile transforming him from handsome to breath-stealing-gorgeous.

  "Done."

  What did she just get herself into? Before Reed could weigh the pros and cons of going cross country on a first date, they were pulling into a hangar in an area of the airport she'd never seen. Jordon was holding her car door open gesturing, as he bowed deeply like a prince to his princess, toward a private plane.

  "Milady, your carriage awaits."

  She could have stayed in the car and asked Jordon to take her home. She could have walked away and called a taxi. She could have called Finn, or Charlie or even Jesse to come and get her.

  She stepped out of the car and took Jordon's hand instead, not realizing that this small act would change her life forever.

  CHAPTER SIX

  "Ouch. Lighten up, Reed. That hurt."

  Reed looked down at her sparring partner who was taking up residence on the dojo floor, where she dropped him. She hadn't meant to take him down so hard, but Shannon O'Shay was nothing if not resilient. That was ju
st one of the things Reed loved about Shay, he was great to work out with. More than that, he was Reed's best friend. She could tell him anything. Shay didn't judge her, he just took it all in and told her when she was being a complete idiot.

  Unfortunately, 'idiot' didn't cover what she'd been the last twenty-four hours. 'Complete idiot' didn't quite get there either. Blind-ass-dumb was probably closer, but that didn't precisely describe the enormity of her stupidity which was as profound as it was unprecedented. She'd thrown caution to the wind over a man for the first time since she was fifteen, on such a grand scale that she wasn't sure the English language had words to describe it.

  Bouncing up from the dojo floor, Shay shook off the hit and threw a jab at her jaw, bringing Reed back forcefully to the here and now. She envied the way the Shay moved. He was medium sized, laden with muscle and so light on his feet he was a joy to watch. Like a world class dancer, Shay routinely made the improbable look easy. Any other day, she'd compliment him on his grace and the way he was able to transfer that efficiency of movement into raw power. Today, his dancing around her was making her dizzy. Her head still hurt from all the champagne she consumed last night, correction, this morning. And, she hadn't gotten any decent sleep in two days. Oh, and there was that little trip to Las Vegas. No wonder she was cranky.

  "What's eating you, Red? You seem distracted."

  Reed fired a back-fist, reverse punch combination at Shay's jaw which he easily countered by landing a lead punch to her solar plexus followed by an elbow to her floating ribs. It was a solid shot, knocking the wind out of her. She bit down hard on her mouth guard and went after him, managing to land a hit of her own. The 'oomph' sound he made when she connected with two rapid hits to Shay's solar plexus was particularly satisfying.

  "Not too distracted to knock you on your tail."