by Cora Brent
“Are you sick?” Marnie wanted to know when I told her I was leaving for the day.
“A little,” I lied, coughing once for effect.
Marnie recoiled. “Hope you feel better,” she said, already beginning to hastily wipe down the reception counter in case any of my germs had found a home there.
Jason had volunteered to drive to Mesa to pick up a minor part that was needed on-site. On the way back he planned to stop at his house to grab a few necessities. When I got to my apartment I texted him that I was ready and then I dashed around, tossing items into a rolling suitcase and feeling deliciously spontaneous.
“Ready?” he asked when I opened the door.
I jumped into his arms with a heated kiss. “Ready.” I would have been glad to head for the bedroom before traveling anywhere, but Jason wouldn’t be deterred from his plans. He broke contact and seized my bag from the floor.
“Let’s get moving. It’s a two-hour drive.”
“What is?”
“Sedona.”
The picturesque town full of towering red rocks and spiritualists was a favorite destination for both locals and out-of-state tourists. I wasn’t a big believer in things like healing rocks and auras, but I couldn’t deny the calming energy that hovered over the place and crept beneath my skin the instant we crossed into the Sedona city limits.
“Do you think there are really vortexes everywhere here?” I asked, peering through the windshield at a particularly majestic red rock formation just barely visible beneath the darkening sky. I snapped a photo with my phone. “Places where energy rises from the earth?”
“Don’t know.” Jason shrugged. “I’ve never been a student of New Age stuff.”
“They say if you come across one you’ll feel a wave of inner peace.”
Jason gave me a sidelong glance. “If you want, I can offer you some inner peace in a few minutes, Audrey.”
“I think your version is probably different.”
“I think you’re right.”
Jason had booked a room in a resort outside the busy downtown mecca, nestled against the peaceful Oak Creek. Night had fallen, but as I stood on the balcony overlooking the wilderness, it was easy to imagine the beauty just beyond my reach.
I smiled when Jason came up behind me, kissing my neck. “I’m glad you talked me into this,” I said.
“I’m glad you agreed,” Jason said, gently turning me around for a more complete kiss.
I leaned into him, stretching up and pressing my body against his, reveling in the familiar arousal that surged every time we got close. We hadn’t eaten dinner, yet another more urgent hunger claimed priority. Jason deftly unzipped my skirt and slipped his hands into my panties. I loosened his belt and began tugging on his pants, desperate to uncover the hard bulge within, my eagerness to feel him inside of me reaching a crescendo.
“Want you,” I whispered, then moaned as his fingers pushed their way in, teasing me almost to the brink.
Jason laid me down on the bed before hastily stripping his clothes off. I admired the defined expanse of his smooth chest, the muscles coiling in his shoulders as he settled his body on top of me. I gripped his waist with my knees, anticipating the powerful thrust that I ached for, but he took his time, slowly unbuttoning my blouse, unhooking my bra with care, rolling his tongue over each nipple and then covering my right breast with his hot mouth.
“Jason,” I panted, clutching his shoulders, bucking underneath him, ready to beg for satisfaction. “Please.”
Only then did he pull his mouth away and cup my narrow hips in his strong hands to deliver the hard push we both needed. But, for a moment, he hovered there. “Audrey.”
I looked up at him, getting lost in the dark eyes that could be playful and passionate all at once. This time they were neither. Jason looked at me with almost solemn reverence. We lingered in that peace for a moment and then, without warning, Jason drove himself in deep again and again. I welcomed every battering thrust and came with so much force a tiny scream ripped from my throat. Jason waited until I had my fill and then he convulsed with a string of curses and finished with a sigh into my neck.
“Every time,” I whispered with wonder, stroking his sweaty back. “It’s so good every time.”
He kissed my forehead. “Always will be.”
Eventually we did get hungry enough for a more practical meal. Jason ordered the most expensive room service items on the menu and we ate on the quiet balcony while listening to the music of the night.
Sleep came only after a few more energetic rounds of sex, and once I drifted off into unconsciousness in the shelter of Jason’s arms, I did not awaken until sunlight flooded the room.
“Let’s get out there,” Jason suggested while I was still rubbing my eyes and yawning. “Look at that view. Maybe we’ll run into one of those inner-peace-vortex things.”
“I’ll go anywhere with you if you just get me some coffee first,” I promised, still yawning.
Once I was fed, showered, and properly caffeinated, I became more eager to leave the room. Jason wanted to go hiking and enjoy a picnic lunch on the trail. I was a little dubious because I hadn’t been hiking in years, but to my relief he at least didn’t have any grand ideas about scaling the towering red rocks. The picturesque trail in the woods had almost a fairy-tale quality with its babbling brooks and canopy of wispy vegetation. Here and there it was possible to get a glimpse of the stunning rock formations that loomed everywhere. We shared sandwiches and bottled water while perched atop a pair of large flat rocks overlooking a creek. I didn’t know if the vortexes were real or if they really soothed the soul. People supposedly traveled to Sedona from all over the world in search of the opportunity to find out. But I did know inner peace was the most elusive human condition, and as I sat beside the creek in the company of the man I was crazy about, I thought this was about as close as I’d ever come to feeling it.
In a remarkable departure of habit, I didn’t check my phone for hours that afternoon. I told myself there probably wasn’t a signal this far into the woods anyway. That might have been true. Or if I had checked it sooner, I might have seen a message that would have crushed my delicate balance of harmony.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The sun was beginning to drop over the horizon by the time Jason and I returned to our room at the resort.
“Let’s eat downstairs at the restaurant tonight,” I suggested, kicking off my sneakers.
He boxed me in against the wall and immediately ran his lips along my neck. “Personally I’d rather stay in again.”
I giggled as his hands began roaming. “I’d like to eat my dinner wearing clothes tonight. Now let me shower.”
“Let me join you.”
“Then we’ll never get out of here. Stay,” I warned, slipping out of his grip.
Jason looked displeased, but he remained where he was while I dragged my bag into the bathroom with me.
After standing under the steamy shower spray for a few minutes, I began to regret keeping Jason away. But then my belly grumbled and I reasoned we’d have plenty of time after dinner to revisit the shower at a more leisurely pace. I toweled off and dried my hair quickly before slipping into a plain black cocktail dress that would suit nearly every occasion. The mirror was still steamed over, so I decided to grab my makeup bag and use the mirror in the room. Besides, Jason might be growing irritated over waiting so long for the shower.
I knew something was wrong as soon as I opened the door. Jason was sitting on the bed staring at his phone with a somber expression. He looked up and pasted a smile on his face when I entered the room.
“Hey there, gorgeous. You save some hot water for me?”
I threw my makeup bag on the bed. “What is it?”
Jason raked his hand through his hair and looked away. “You should check your phone.”
“Tell me why.”
He exhaled heavily before stating the bad news. “The county put a temporary halt on the project. They�
�re saying they never received the right paperwork for the finalized architectural changes.”
“What?” I shrieked, my heart pounding as I snatched his phone away so I could read the flurry of emails that had been exchanged this afternoon between Lester & Brown, the county, and the architectural firm Lukas worked for.
“I don’t understand,” I said, reading as fast as I could. “I don’t understand at all. That paperwork was submitted over a month ago. They responded with an approval.”
“Conditional approval,” Jason corrected me gently.
As I skimmed through the email details, I understood what he meant. A finalized hard copy of the revised blueprints needed to be delivered to the county’s downtown Phoenix office within thirty days of the conditional approval. I’d been handling all that communication regarding the architectural changes Lukas had designed, so that task fell to me. Somehow I’d overlooked that detail at the time I’d received that conditional approval. Jason had been copied on the communication, but following up was my responsibility. This was one hundred percent my fault.
The blood roared in my head as I scrolled through the rest of the messages. I heard myself speaking as if from far away. “So as of this afternoon all work on the courthouse project has been frozen. Oh my god, Jason. Oh my god.” I dropped his phone and pitched forward with my head in my hands.
“Audrey, honey. Breathe.” Jason’s arm wrapped firmly around me. I might have fallen to the floor without it. “It will be all right.”
Obstacles and constant challenges came with the territory when managing large-scale construction projects. I was used to that. Usually I could face them head-on with determination. But never had I personally fucked up in such a major way. It was galling to think I must have been so distracted in the throes of my exciting new love life that I hadn’t thoroughly read the county’s instructions.
Vaguely I heard Jason talking through my fog of panic.
“It’s Saturday,” he said. “There was only minimal work happening there today anyway. And tomorrow there’s no labor on-site. We’ll get this all sorted out on Monday morning.”
I lifted my head. “We need to go back tonight, Jason. This can’t wait until Monday.”
He shook his head. “The county office is closed and will be closed tomorrow. Even if we left right now, by the time we get back to the valley it’ll be almost ten. And like I said, it’s Saturday night. Nobody will be available. We might as well stay here. We can call The Man to assure him that we’re handling the situation and cc everyone on the chain, explaining the same thing.” He gave me a comforting squeeze. “We’ll handle it together.”
I looked at him. “It’s not your fault, Jason. It’s mine. I’ll let everyone know that.”
He scowled. “We’re partners in this, Audrey. I’m just as responsible for anything that goes wrong as you are.” He tipped my chin up, and his eyes seemed to peer straight into my soul. “Didn’t I tell you that I’ve got your back?”
I stood up and twisted my hands together as I paced. I felt nauseated and stupid and every ounce the fuckup my own father was convinced still lurked within me.
Worst of all, for the first time in years, I really, really felt tempted to take a drink.
My eyes landed on the small refrigerator tucked beneath the television. There had to be something containing alcohol in there. As the thought crossed my mind, a sudden ache blossomed deep within in a place I’d taken care to bury. It was the repulsively familiar desire to satisfy a destructive craving. And, like a volcano, it had only been dormant, not dead.
I smoothed my hands on my dress, more shaken over the thoughts that were racing through my head than over the courthouse debacle.
Taking my phone from atop the dresser where I’d left it, I said, “I’m going to call Marty.”
“Put him on speaker,” Jason ordered, coming to my side.
I paused. “He might wonder why we’re hanging out together on a Saturday night.”
Jason shrugged. “Then let him wonder.”
The Man didn’t wonder at all why Jason and I were huddled together in the same place or why we’d been unavailable all afternoon. He just wanted to hear that the problem would be solved with no significant delay.
“I will be there with the blueprints in hand when the county offices open on Monday morning,” I promised.
“We’ll take care of it,” Jason added. “There will be no delay.”
The Man sighed and told us we needed to draft an email to that effect so that everyone could breathe a little easier tonight.
After we ended the call, Jason showered while I wrote out an apologetic email ending with the assurance that everything would be resolved on Monday. Then I listened to make sure Jason was still in the shower and gritted my teeth while I did an unpleasant thing. I texted a message to Lukas Lund asking him for a favor.
Jason emerged from the bathroom with his pants undone. If I’d been a little less frazzled, I would have appreciated the way his wet hair dripped onto his muscled shoulders. I would have crept up to him and planted a kiss on the smooth skin just below the hollow of his throat.
“You shaved,” I noticed.
He put a hand to his face and smiled at me in the mirror. “Beard was getting itchy.”
“Are we still going to dinner?” I asked. I didn’t really feel like eating.
“Sure,” Jason said as he pulled a clean blue shirt on. “Everyone deserves dinner, Audrey.”
He winked at me and I managed a small smile, remembering when he’d said those same words to me once before, the night we ended up at my apartment.
I could feel Jason’s eyes on me as I carried my makeup bag to the mirror and quickly applied the basics.
When we were leaving the room, my phone buzzed with a new message. It was Lukas saying he’d be glad to help in any way he could in the wake of this misunderstanding. Jason was watching me as I read the message.
“Just my brother,” I told him, and tossed the phone into my purse. Jason and Lukas had never really resolved their issues after their public brawl. I felt guilty over the lie, but to get this situation resolved quickly and painlessly, I needed Lukas’s cooperation. I couldn’t let anything get in the way of that.
With the restaurant fairly crowded, the hostess asked if we minded being seated beside the bar. I actually did mind, given my upset, but not enough to languish in the lobby until another table became available.
Jason, sensing I was hopelessly preoccupied, did a lot of the talking at dinner. He was trying to make me laugh, regaling me with stories about the kind of trouble he and Dominic used to find in their late teens and early twenties. I got the feeling he was leaving a lot of gaps in his wild tales.
“Sounds like you guys were quite the party animals,” I commented, eyeing a bottle of wine that was being carried past.
When my gaze returned to Jason, he had a funny look on his face and I wondered if he had noticed, if he could tell that I had imagined grabbing that wine bottle and guzzling until I had to stop for breath. Then I decided I was being paranoid. Jason Roma possessed a wide range of talents but he couldn’t read minds. And anyway, just because the thought flashed through my mind didn’t mean I’d actually do it. I was in control. I was fine. One piece of bad news wouldn’t change that. I’d had bad news before.
Our food arrived and even though it smelled delicious, I mostly picked at it, pushing pieces of chicken marsala across the plate.
“You want to try mine instead?” Jason asked, pushing his plate over.
I shook my head. “No, thank you.”
Jason got to his feet. “Need to go to the men’s room, so feel free to change your mind in my absence.” He smiled and tossed his napkin on the table.
I took a bite of my chicken after he left. I stared at the people cluttering up the space around the bar. They were mostly young and beautiful and full of laughter. Envy pricked at me as I observed the casual way they held their drinks. Like most adults, they were just indulgin
g in fun, fully capable of stopping anytime they needed to. They probably weren’t bound to their bad habits. Or maybe they were. Sometimes you couldn’t tell.
With a sigh I took a sip of water and then looked up in time to notice Jason was returning. Abruptly his head whipped around in the direction of the bar as if someone had shouted his name. A second later I saw who it was. She couldn’t have been a day over twenty-five. Her honey-colored hair reached halfway down her back, and the tight red dress she wore showed off every impressive feminine curve. She was approaching my boyfriend with her arms out and a wide smile parting her full lips. As she trapped Jason in an embrace, he glanced back at me with an apologetic look.
The girl’s eyes dimmed when Jason edged out of her hug. They dimmed further as he spoke to her. She took a step back and her perfect features clouded as she touched his arm in farewell and then returned to the collection of people gathered around the bar.
“Did you find a friend on the way back from the bathroom?” I asked a little sarcastically.
He shrugged. “Gabby just came over to say hello.”
“It appeared she intended to do more than that.”
Jason gave me a puzzled look. “So what? I told her I was here with my girlfriend, Audrey. That was the end of it.”
I sighed. “I didn’t mean to sound jealous.”
He grinned. “It’s okay, it’s kind of cute.”
I looked toward the bar again and noticed that Gabby had been staring at us. She quickly snapped her head in the opposite direction when she saw me watching.
“How long did you guys date?” I asked Jason.
His eyes shifted. “I didn’t say we dated.”
“Okay, how long did you guys know each other?”
He shifted in his seat and stirred gravy into his mashed potatoes with a fork. “Not long. Met her at a mutual friend’s Christmas party last year.”
“That wasn’t too long ago.”
