by Fiona Roarke
She sat up straighter. “Really? You’d go with me? You can take off time then?”
“Sure. I’m the boss. I can take off time whenever I want to. And I want to. Plus, I typically take a few days off about that time of year anyway.” He gave her that certain special grin she loved. The one that said, I’d walk across fire for you. She believed it.
She leapt up, hugged him tight around the neck, wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him with excessive amounts of gratitude. He tightened his grip on her, too.
“Wow. Such a great reaction for such a simple thing.”
“Maybe simple to you, but I’m grateful. Thank you so much,” she broke the kiss long enough to say, then planted her lips back on his until he started walking her toward the bed. He tasted like barbeque pizza and bad boy. She’d teased him about her first impression of him as being a bad boy, even though he told her he’d never held that particular title. The closest he’d ever come was Regular Joe.
As far as Samantha was concerned, JD kissed like a bad boy and that was enough to sidetrack them both for an hour’s worth of wicked, wild and sexy fun before she remembered she’d never pushed the accept button.
Naked and satisfied, twice, she rolled JD onto his back and straddled him. “You made me forget to sign up for that week at the resort in Barefoot Bay. One kiss from you is all it takes. Bad boy or not, you’re dangerous, you know.”
His brows furrowed for a moment then softened. “Well, you kissed me first. Dangerous bad boy or not, you have to know by now what that does to me.”
She grinned. “I do know. I’ve known from the beginning.” She sobered a little. It was quite a bit of money for something rather frivolous. “You know, we don’t have to go there. I appreciate your offer, but now that I’ve been sidetracked by wanton pleasure—twice, I might add—I realize that it’s really a lot of money.”
JD sat up and kissed her gently. “I say let’s go there anyway. It’ll be our little secret. We won’t tell anyone where we’re going or even that we’re going to leave town. We’ll simply pack up and leave for paradise one day and everyone can wonder what we’re up to. Not even Robin will know our plans, okay?”
She laughed. “Okay. Deal.”
They slid out of bed, leaving her sheets tangled, and together signed up for a luxurious vacation package including nine days in paradise and, more importantly, eight nights. Each of them put up half the funds. It was non-refundable, of course, and the resort promised to send a reminder notification to each of their e-mail addresses and cell phones a few days prior to their trip.
She hugged him again in gratitude for granting her fondest vacation wish. That, of course, led back to bed and another wild bout of incredible sex because they couldn’t seem to get enough of each other.
Samantha woke in the middle of the night to see lights flickering on the kitchen wall. She lifted her head from her pillow.
JD was spooned behind her like he was afraid she might get away while they slept. She moved slowly and carefully to the edge of the bed, easing from beneath his arm. Shockingly, he didn’t rouse when she peeled away this time. After the third time they’d made love, he had crashed, hard. She smiled and kissed his cheek. He didn’t move except to breathe.
Once she walked around the partition separating her bedroom from the rest of the apartment, she realized the flickering light came from the television, faithfully showing the spy movie marathon they’d never gotten around to watching.
She clicked it off and padded back to bed, slipping between the sheets and into JD’s warmth.
He settled her against him in his sleep, pressed a light kiss to her shoulder and spooned close again, throwing one leg over both of hers in the ultimate act of possessiveness.
Samantha snuggled against him, knowing that even though they had known each other for less than a month, she loved him. He was perfect, and definitely qualified as her certain someone special. She couldn’t wait to visit their secret paradise spot and vacation with her love.
Chapter Eight
Six weeks later
JD glanced at his watch, noting the date as an unconscious smile slid into place. It had been two months since he’d met Samantha at Robin’s wedding. They’d never spent more than twenty-four hours apart without seeing each other, and he quite frankly didn’t ever want to go a day and not see her beautiful face.
They didn’t live together, with the exception of the weekends, taking turns staying at her loft or his mansion, as she referred to it.
He was certainly willing to allow her to move in with him, but the practically of it was not quite feasible due to the location of her job at Wakeman’s. Both primary routes between his place and the store were an hour one way through traffic.
Whenever he stayed at her loft, it was fairly close to his trucking company office, but quite far from his house and even she admitted to not having enough closet space to offer him much more than a place for a few changes of clothing.
He thought about finding something more centrally located for them, but given the traffic flow in Atlanta, moving downtown would be a lifestyle change he wasn’t certain she wanted to make. He didn’t want to make that change either, but he’d suck it up if she suggested it.
That fact among the inevitability of other life facets was likely why he was currently standing in a jewelry shop about to look at more engagement rings. This was the third jewelry shop he’d been to this past week, but so far he hadn’t found quite what he was looking for. He’d know the right ring when he found it.
The jeweler asked him for a price range, lifted his bushy gray eyebrows in surprise when JD named a sum and hurried off to bring a selection only housed in the safe hidden somewhere behind closed doors. The moment the man presented their finest rings, JD saw the one he wanted to give to Samantha. He pointed to it, purchased it along with the matching wedding rings, and tucked the box the trio set came with into his pocket, relieved he’d finally found exactly what he wanted.
He’d considered bringing Robin with him this time, but figured she might not be able to keep his secret. She’d already taken full credit for bringing them together. As it was, she squealed in delight whenever he brought a truckload of goods to Wakeman’s and she could provide her office for the two of them to share a quick kiss, like he and Samantha were clandestine lovers hiding from her chaperone. She’d be humming the wedding march to Samantha every time she walked by if she knew about JD’s secret purchase.
Besides, JD wanted Samantha to be the first to see the ring he’d selected especially for her.
JD left the jewelry shop and headed in the direction of his parked car. The hair on the back of his neck abruptly rose up. It was an eerie sensation, like he was being watched. The very expensive ring set felt heavy in his pocket. Was someone following him? When he stopped to look over one shoulder, he saw nothing. No one was looking at him.
Several people dodged him, since he was standing stock still on the sidewalk, and sent quick, questioning looks his way, but he didn’t notice anyone paying particular attention to him. He was probably imagining things. Oddly enough, he thought he’d seen Trey Wakeman a couple of times when he was out and about the past few weeks and again today.
Right before he stepped into the jewelry store, JD could have sworn he saw Trey riding by in a vehicle with another guy driving.
Samantha hadn’t mentioned her boss’s son bothering again after the minor fiasco at her apartment the night they’d met. The phone call he’d made the next morning, where Trey offered him six figures to walk away, had been the last time they’d ever spoken.
She did mention on occasion that Trey was generally useless and an annoying lump of laziness on his best day at the office, but he hadn’t crossed any lines with her. Perhaps Trey knew JD would kick his ass.
Even so, JD had almost skipped the jeweler, taking it as a bad omen when he’d seen Trey or his doppelganger driving by in a nice vehicle. He’d soon shaken it off and done exactly what he wanted. T
hat rich prick loser wasn’t ever going to dictate his life in any possible way. Besides, JD wasn’t completely certain he’d seen him.
He was headed to Wakeman’s to pick Samantha up. It was their regular official Friday night date. They were going to Stone Mountain to watch the sunset. She’d always wanted to go, but told him she’d never had anyone special to take her there. JD wanted to be her only special guy from now on, so he planned to propose to her tonight at sunset.
Lucky he’d just found the perfect ring to do it with.
When he arrived at Wakeman’s, instead of Samantha, Robin greeted him in the lobby.
Surprised, he asked, “What’s up? Aren’t you already off work?”
“Yes. But Samantha got called into a surprise meeting with Mr. Wakeman.”
“Trey Wakeman?” JD attributed the foolish question to his mind playing tricks on him after thinking he’d seen the idiot repeatedly the past couple of weeks.
Robin frowned. “No. Mr. Wakeman, our boss.”
“What’s going on?” JD hoped everything was okay with Samantha’s job. He knew she loved working here.
“I don’t know. She didn’t, either, but she sent me to get you. An employee must escort guests inside. I’m supposed to bring you to wait in her office because she didn’t know how long she’d be. She didn’t want you waiting down here endlessly.”
JD followed Robin to Samantha’s office, where she introduced Samantha’s assistant, Alisha. “I hate to leave you to your own devices, but I’ve got a hot date with my new hubby. So behave until she gets back.”
He rolled his eyes, pretending it was a chore to behave, then said, “I’ll be fine. Go and have fun with Derek.” If everything goes as planned, maybe I’ll be a new hubby soon, too.
Robin left and Alisha showed him into Samantha’s office. He declined a beverage and she went back to her desk, telling him to let her know if he needed anything.
JD strolled around Samantha’s workspace, looking at the pictures she had on her walls. They were mostly ones where she was getting an award and shaking someone’s hand, but one was a graduation photo. She looked the same now as when she’d been in college, amazing. Then he noticed the small framed photo on her desk. It was of the two of them together at Robin’s wedding.
He’d totally forgotten about that picture. The photographer had come around to the tables, snapping pictures of guests as they ate dinner. He and Samantha, in the eye-catching jade dress, had leaned in close together for the shot. They looked happy and like they were already a couple. Maybe they’d put that picture in their wedding photos as the beginning shot of their perfect life about to start. He smiled at the thought.
Samantha breezed in, her face flushed as if she’d raced here. “Hey. Sorry not to greet you downstairs like we planned.”
“No problem. Robin fetched me up here, and left me to explore your office.” He moved away from her desk, took her in his arms and kissed her smiling lips. “Nice space. You must be important.”
She shrugged and the smile she gave him didn’t quite reach her eyes. “What’s wrong, honey?”
“Well, I have some rather unexpected news. I haven’t even processed it quite yet.”
“Okay. What’s up?”
“Mr. Wakeman, my boss, called me to his office for a surprise meeting.”
“I heard.” She looked more and more like she’d just lost her best friend. He hoped she hadn’t gotten laid off or let go. “What did he want?”
Samantha sat down on the small sofa along the wall and JD joined her, taking her hands in his, ready to support her and make her feel better about whatever bad news she was about to impart.
“He wanted to talk to me about a promotion. I may have mentioned the one I wanted to get.”
JD released the breath he hadn’t realized he held. “You mentioned wanting the promotion to director, didn’t you?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “I did want that director job very much.”
“And you’ve worked hard to get it.”
She nodded again. “It’s true. I have.”
“So what’s wrong? You look like they took your birthday away. Did they give the director job to someone else?”
She pushed out a long sigh. “Yes. They did. I didn’t get the promotion I wanted.”
“I’m so sorry, honey.”
Her back straightened. Apparently there was more. “Instead, I’ve been offered a different promotion…Mr. Wakeman wants me to be Vice-President of Operations.”
JD whooped. “Wow. VP of Operations. Congratulations, honey! That’s quite a—”
“At the Miami store,” she added quietly. The misery filling her expression took his breath away.
Whatever else he’d been about to say dried up in his mouth. “The Miami store?”
“Yes. The Atlanta store is the flagship, really, but the Miami store, while only in business for three years now, is almost equal in retail sales.”
“I see.” JD’s brain started circling with questions he didn’t want to know the answers to. An unpleasant feeling lodged hard and fast in his belly. “You’d have to move to South Florida to be the new VP at the Miami store, is that right?”
She nodded, looking only slightly more dejected than he felt. Her face brightened as if she had something else to say. Something she considered uplifting, but he knew it wasn’t.
JD pulled away and stood up before she could speak. She also stood up. He turned away, unable to look at her. He knew what she was about to say and he didn’t want to hear it, didn’t want to have to respond, knew exactly what this meant for them and their non-existent future.
Samantha started speaking quickly in a low, earnest tone. “I know this isn’t what you expected, it isn’t what I expected either, but I truly think we could make a long-distance relationship work. And I’d only be in Florida for—”
“No.” He spun around to face her as flashes of his long-distance relationship with Caleigh blinded him with a sense of misery and desolation at the loss of any kind of future with Samantha. Not if she went to Miami. And he loved Samantha far more than he ever had Caleigh. He couldn’t do it again. He wouldn’t.
“No?”
“No.” He practically barked the word. Shaking his head, he pushed out a deep breath, purposefully not looking at her.
“Why not?” she asked, looking very taken aback by his immediate and unrelenting refusal.
He’d never discussed Caleigh with Samantha. Not because he wouldn’t, but because his relationship with her hadn’t ever come up. Just like long-distance relationships and how and why he abhorred them had also never come up before. If the topic had come up, he would have been very clear about his feelings on the matter. Samantha would already know how he felt. Now he was left to explain when he didn’t want to. How did he put into words the humiliation of the last long-distance relationship he’d ended abruptly when the woman he’d been with had betrayed him?
“Because,” he grappled for the right words, knowing his anger over Caleigh and what she’d done shouldn’t automatically transfer to Samantha. But all the hurt he’d experienced came back in a painful rush as if he experienced it all over again. “Because…just no. That’s all. They don’t work, and the hard truth is that a long-distance relationship is a huge deal breaker for me. I’m sorry.”
She started to move toward him, but he backed up a step. This was how it had started with Caleigh. He’d been dubious about continuing with her at first, too, but she’d convinced him to try it anyway with the same shine of tears filling her eyes that Samantha’s gaze held. He would not make the same mistake again.
“So you’re telling me to refuse the promotion? You want me to give it up, or else there is no us?” Her eyes narrowed. He noticed the shine of unshed tears remained, probably in anger this time, but it didn’t sway him. Not this time. Not ever again.
“No. You should take the promotion if you want it and you’ve certainly earned it. I’m telling you that I will not be involved in a lon
g-distance relationship.”
“Can’t we talk about this?” A silent tear landed on her cheek. “Try it out before abandoning the chance.”
JD softened for a millisecond, wanting to wipe away her sadness, brush away her tears and give her the chance she deserved. But suddenly a new, terrible vision crowded his brain, insidiously tapping into his worst fear.
Instead of the memory of Caleigh naked in bed with some strange guy, JD saw in vivid detail Samantha naked with Trey. He shook his head, trying to banish the vision. It was foolish. It wasn’t real. She didn’t like Trey in that way, right? He knew it, and yet he couldn’t strike the image from his mind no matter how hard he tried. There was a good reason he didn’t ever want to do long-distance again. How could he?
“No,” he said adamantly. “We can’t.”
“If I don’t accept this opportunity right now, it won’t be offered again.”
“Probably true.” He didn’t look at her, focusing his attention out her window into the late afternoon sky. His anger would not be put on a shelf. He wanted her to turn this job down or else this was over. The ring in his pocket felt like it carried the weight of sudden regret. If she turned down this opportunity, she’d hate him forever, and he’d hate himself for depriving her.
He looked in her direction. “You should take the job, Samantha.”
Her expression shifted, and she gave him a once-over glance as if considering her options—the job she’d worked the last five years to earn or the guy she’d been with the last couple of months. After a long pause, he could practically feel her resolve hardening along with the features on her face. She’d made up her mind.
Samantha sniffed, pushed out a long breath, and said, “I guess this is it then.” He chanced a look in her direction. Her gaze rested on the floor. She didn’t look up, didn’t notice his misery.
“So you’re taking the job?” he asked, knowing he was giving her an unreasonable ultimatum, but unable to stop himself.
