I hit the mute button so he won’t hear them and wish like hell my life was less complicated.
JUDE
After making my youngest brother, Ram, take the jet back to New York to be sure Ariel got the hell out of town, I spent a very frustrating day at home, wondering what the hell Mercy is hiding.
She talked to me for about an hour last night before she fell asleep on the phone. I called her first thing this morning, and she rushed me to get off the phone and now I’m waiting in her office for her to come back in here so we can go to lunch.
But I have a real surprise for her. I brought lunch and we’re going to eat it in here. Then I’m going to take her right there on the sofa in her large office. I go over to it to test the squeakiness factor and find there’s a little squeak but it’s not loud enough to matter.
If it gets too loud then I can pick her up and hold her against the wall and finish her up. I think that would work. Of course, there is always this nicely tiled floor. I could toss down a fluffy white towel they have so many of here at the spa to cushion her knees as I take her from behind.
Yep, there are many possibilities. Even her office chair has sexual position potential. I sit in it and spin around then stop as her office door opens and she steps inside with a smile on her gorgeous face.
Wearing a nice white pantsuit, she looks every bit the professional she is. “Too bad about those slacks,” I say as she comes in, closing the door behind her.
She looks down and runs her hands over them. “What’s too bad about them?”
“They may get wrinkled,” I say as I get up and go to her, taking her in my arms and dropping my lips on hers.
Her arms wrap around me as she kisses me back and I can tell she did miss me. Easing the kiss, I let my lips leave hers, even though they did not want to. “Miss me at all, baby?”
A blush covers her cheeks as she looks at me. “More than I expected to.”
I give her a quick kiss then say, “Good. I missed you more than I wanted to.”
She tries to pull out of my arms but I hold her tight. “Where are you taking me for lunch?”
“You’re here,” I say as I use my head to gesture to the Chinese food I have a few containers of sitting on a small table. Then I kiss her again.
Her mouth moves in a way that tells me she’s more than willing to stay in for lunch. But then she pulls back and looks at me as she shakes her head. “Everyone will wonder what we’re doing in here.”
“Let them wonder,” I say with a laugh then pick her up and go to the sofa and sit down with her on my lap. “So I’ll let you make the decision. I make love to you before or after we eat?”
“We can’t do that in here,” she says as she shakes her head again.
I take her head in my hands to stop her. “Baby, you’ve got to stop shaking your head like that. I’m afraid you might get whiplash. Let me show you a better motion if you want to exercise those neck muscles of yours.” I move her head back and forth while I push my cheek out with my tongue, making her laugh.
“You’re silly!” She wraps her arms around me and kisses my cheek. “But we really can’t do that in here.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I tell her as I gesture to all the areas I’ve picked out. “The sofa is an excellent place to start. It has a little squeak so once we get too wild for that, I’m going to pick you up and either we can go to the floor, doggy style or the wall, fucking hot style. It’s your call today. Wednesday, I get to pick.”
She laughs as if I’m joking. Then her face gets a little pale. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
With a nod, I say, “As a heart attack. You only give me an hour and a half every other day, I want to fully utilize that time.” I start unbuttoning her nicely pressed, white, button-down and she smiles then pulls my T-shirt off over my head and runs her hands all over my chest as she makes a little purring sound.
“I guess this is what you were talking about when you said you wanted to take me anytime you wanted?” she asks as I take her bra off.
“It is.” I get up so we can get undressed more quickly and carefully put our clothes over one of the other chairs in the office. “I think for our next little date, we’ll go to this very upscale restaurant and I’ll take you in the ladies’ room.”
Her cheeks go red as she shakes her head and giggles. “You’re crazy.”
“You have no idea how crazy I can be,” I tell her as I scoop up her now naked body and take her to the wall. I’m going to get rowdy a lot faster than I had planned as she’s got me hot and ready to go with the mere sight of her tender flesh.
Moving her a bit too fast, I knock air out of her as I press her back against the wall. “Oh!”
“Sorry, I’m getting too amped up.” I press my aching cock into her and we both moan as quietly as we can. “Baby, how I missed you.”
Her hand runs over my cheek. “I missed you too, but you forgot to put on a condom.”
“Shit!” I pull back out and go grab one of the five I put into my jeans pocket then put it on.
“How many of those things did you bring?” she asks as she picks up my jeans and pulls the remaining four out and tosses them on her desk.
“That many,” I say as I finish putting it on and take her right back to the wall where I lift her up and she wraps her long legs around me as I slide myself back into her and we moan again.
“Five is a lot for an hour and a half,” she says with a grin.
“You can keep what we have left over in your desk drawer in case one day I forget to bring any.”
She nods as her lips part and she leans in for a kiss. Our tongues move around the others as her hands move over my back. She seems to enjoy my muscles and that fact alone makes me happy I work out.
Pumping into her as I squeeze her ass, I find her getting more and more slick then she’s moaning and her insides are squeezing me. That’s one!
I move her to the sofa and lay her down then get on top of her as she holds her arms open and spreads those luscious legs for me too. One hard thrust I make and the sofa squeaks.
“Easy and maybe a little slower,” she says.
Making deeper strokes with less thrusting, I find her loving what I’m doing as her mouth goes to my neck and she kisses, bites, and sucks it. My body is on fire for her. I have no idea how this happened so fast but it did.
Now to see if this little reminder of how good I can make her feel will get her to let me come over tonight!
MERCY
My back is against the door as Jude gives me a goodbye kiss. He’s made lunch a lot more interesting than it usually is. I’m more relaxed than I bet anyone else in this spa is and that’s saying something!
“How about I pop by later on tonight. I’ll come after nine,” he says as he runs his hands over my face, holding it tight in his strong hands. “I’ll be quiet so I don’t wake those shitty neighbors of yours that have you whispering to me on the phone at night.”
He has no idea how much I wish I could let him come over. “Don’t ruin this great lunch, Jude.”
A frown moves over his gorgeous face and I wish like hell I could get him to understand why it’s such an impossibility. Just last night, Carter woke up, screaming for his mother.
I ran into his bedroom and he mistook me for her and called me, Mom. It broke my heart and I ended up crying too once I had settled him down. Little meltdowns happen all too often at our house. I can’t have him seeing all that.
I can’t have his presence making the kids think he’s the new the daddy come to take their daddy’s place. It’s not right. They’d never understand if things ended up not working out for us.
Jude’s great but the fact is he is spoiled. I have no idea if he has tendencies to get bored with women and move on to the next. I would kind of assume he does have that tendency. He is thirty and single as they come after all.
It would break my heart and that’s bad enough. But it would break the kids’ hearts too if I let th
em get to know him and let him stay at the house the way he’s nearly begging me to.
His little kisses pepper my face. “Okay, I won’t bug you. But if you get home this evening and you change your mind. Even if it’s the middle of the night. Call me and I’ll be there.”
I laugh and lean my head on his chest. “Okay, but that won’t happen so don’t hold your breath. Come on, I’ll walk you out.”
He holds me still and gives me one more kiss. “Okay, walk me out, Miss Noland.”
He laces our fingers together as I open the door. The first person I see is a small young woman named, Amanda. Her cheeks go red instantly and she mutters that she’s sorry.
I pull Jude along with me to the restroom across the hall to check my hair and make-up as she shouldn’t have thought anything that bad to make her blush. And in the mirror, I see where he’s sucked a purple spot on my neck.
He smiles sheepishly. “Did I do that?” he rubs his thumb over it.
I roll my eyes. “This is so not professional, Jude! What am I going to do?”
He pulls my hair out of the high ponytail I put it in and uses his fingers to push it around until it covers my neck. “There you go, not a problem at all.”
“Except now everyone is going to think you and I got all wild in my office and that’s going to start gossip about me and I can’t have that. Oh, this was a mistake.”
He isn’t having any of that kind of talk I can tell by the way his hands grip my shoulders and he turns me around to look at him. “Sex is natural Mercy.”
“Not at work, it isn’t,” I counter.
“I wouldn’t know about that,” he says. “I’ve never had a job. And that just made me think of a great idea. Hire me to work here. I can be a personal trainer or something like that. I’m qualified.”
Moving my hands to my hips, I use my best boss voice to let him know that will not be happening. “You don’t want me to be your boss, Jude.”
“I wouldn’t call you that. Mostly because I am the boss in this relationship. By the way, did you see my social media sites? I made it official. I changed my status to being in a serious relationship with you.” He kisses my cheek and plays with a lock of my hair.
“Why would you even do that?” I ask as I have no idea why people do that at all. “That’s personal information. That’s between me and you, Jude. Not the whole world.”
“You like to keep your business way too private, Mercy. Let everyone know. Hell, most women in your unique position as my girlfriend would be shouting it from the rooftops. You’re almost hiding it.”
And I can see the brat coming out in him as he lets me go and crosses his arms over his chest. “Give me a position here and tell everyone that I’m your boyfriend.”
I walk away from him and open the bathroom door. “This is not the place or the time to start your demands, Jude. Come on, I have work to do.”
He follows me out because he really has no other choice. He quickly catches up to me and grabs my hand, lacing our fingers together again and pulling me close to his side. As we go into the lobby, I see Dave give Jude the thumbs up.
Looking at Jude, I notice they have a little bromance going on as he makes that little call me sign to Dave. So I have to ask, “What’s that about?”
“He wants me to make an exercise regimen out for him and a nutrition plan. Some people like me and want my help,” he says as we walk out the glass doors under the covered entrance.
He gives the valet a hundred-dollar bill and a wink. I watch Bob run to get his car and it floors me that he didn’t even have to guess which one was his. “Getting to know my employees, are you?”
“I am. You got a great bunch of guys working here. You know both of those guys thought it would be such a smart idea to have a person here who can help people get physically fit. Possibly adding years onto their lives.” He puts his arm around me and gives me a squeeze. “I can send you my resume. There is not a ton of work history on it. Well, there’s none, actually. You know what there is, though?”
I shake my head. “What is there?”
“A shit-ton of college. There is a lot of that. And guess what else there is?” he asks me as he continues to squeeze my shoulders in an attempt to show me just how strong he really is as if I didn’t already know.
“What else is there, Tarzan,” I ask him as I push at him to release his death-grip on me which he doesn't do.
“There are many, many recommendations from my professors. I tell you what, you have that meeting with the owners on Tuesday’s, right? Well, I’ll get you that resume before that meeting and maybe you could ask them what they think of the idea. You know, Dave let me know there’s an entire room that’s not being used at all. When I told him I could furnish it with exercise equipment he about crapped his pants. I’ll make sure to add a whole business plan about what all I can do for this spa to help the owners make a decision.”
“Jude, this will not work. You can’t just come to work here. That will make things very hard,” I say as the valet comes back with his car.
With a kiss to my cheek, he lets me out of his grip and gives me a smile. “What’s it going to make hard, baby? You keeping secrets from me?” He gives Bob a high five as Bob gets out of his car then he adds, “Your serious boyfriend.”
Lord, what’s he trying to do to me?
JUDE
With my plan in action, I find Mercy calling me just as she gets off work just like I thought she would when she got my resume and noticed that I sent a copy to the owners as well. “Hey, baby,” I answer my cell.
“Why did you send a copy of your resume and business plan to the owners?”
“I was a little afraid you wouldn’t give it to them. I am an initiative taker, Mercy. I told you when I want something I get it. And I want to be around you more than your schedule will allow. So I made a plan to make that happen. You could make it a hell of a lot easier and just let me come over some and you can come to my place some until we see if this is a thing we really want to pursue and move all the way in together.”
“Jesus, Jude! You’re spoiled completely rotten!” she shouts over the phone.
“I am not!” I say defiantly. “I just know how to get what I want. That’s not spoiled. It’s innovative.”
“Use all the words you want to describe your behavior. The bottom line is I’m giving you all I have to give and you still want more,” she says, sounding exasperated which pisses me off.
“You’re being closed off for no fucking reason, Mercy. There is absolutely nothing that you’re hiding that I can’t cope with.”
“Maybe it’s me who can’t cope with it. Did you ever stop to think about that? Maybe you aren’t the only person on the planet, Jude. Maybe, just maybe, there are other people and their feelings to consider before dropping a person into lives that might not be able to handle it if things between us don’t work out. It’s been a total of three days since you and I got together. Three fucking days, Jude!”
“Who are these people that our relationship will affect?” I ask as now I think she might have some kids somewhere.
“Never mind,” she says with a huff.
“No, I will not, never mind. Do you have kids you don’t want me around? Or you think I’ll dump you because you have some bratty-ass kids? Cause I won’t end this because of some kids who can learn how to act right,” I let her know.
“I do not have kids. And you are by far more bratty than any kids I’ve ever known in my life.”
“Well, that’s pretty rude, Mercy,” I say as I pull away from the liquor store where I bought some wine and cheeses to take tomorrow when I make a surprise visit at her meeting with the owners who sent back an email asking me to join them. But since she’s being so mean, I’m not going to tell her that.
“If you don’t have kids then what the fuck do you have?” I ask as I look for her car pulling out of the spa parking garage. “Where are you, Mercy? I want to give you one last kiss before you head home to your mys
tery cave or what the fuck ever you live in that has you ashamed to let me come over.”
“I see you, Jude,” she says. “And I’m not stopping. I have to hurry. I have important things to take care of. There’s absolutely no time for any goodbye kisses.”
“I don’t see that little red car. Where are you?” I ask again as I look all around.
She laughs and it makes me crazy as she says, “I see you looking around. You won’t find me, Jude. Now go on about your business and let me go on about mine.”
“Damn it, girl! Where are you? Why do you have to be so damn stubborn?” I look around and can’t see anything even close to resembling her car.
“I’m on the highway now. You missed me,” she says with a laugh. “I suppose I’ll hear from you around nine. Or are you too pissed at me to call me now?”
“I am pissed at you,” I say as I pull away from the parking lot and head toward my place. “Hey, my little sister is calling me. Let me call you right back.”
“Wait,” she says. It’s too late, I’ve already switched calls.
“Hey, little sister, what’s up?” I ask.
“I’m at the gas station filling up my car and a woman who looks like the one you took to Mom and Dad’s party is filling up a tall and very masculine four-wheel-drive pick-up truck, bro,” she tells me.
“What’s she wearing?” I ask to be sure she has the right lady.
“All white. Like a pantsuit thing. I’m going to go say hi and see what’s up. Your lady friend may have herself another man, big brother.” She hangs up without telling me where the hell she’s at so I can go there too.
So I call back but she doesn’t answer. And now my heart’s pounding. If Mercy’s with another man it just might kill me. Or it might him.
MERCY
“Hey, Mercy,” I hear a feminine voice call out to me as I put gas in my brother-in-law’s truck.
I knew it was a great idea to take a car Jude doesn’t know about to work today. I had a feeling he’d try to follow me home. I look around and see a girl I recognize from somewhere.
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