A Huge Mistake

by Laney Kay

He let his breath out slowly and separated them, rolling his chair back so he could stand up, which left her sitting eye level with what looked to be a very uncomfortable bulge in the front of his jeans. He held out his hand to help her up. She took his hand, and as she stood up, she looked down pointedly at his crotch. “Ouch.” She leaned toward him, laughing. “Is that the flash drive in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”

  He laughed, unembarrassed, as he followed her gaze. “Ouch is right. Lady, you have no idea.” He put his hands in his front pockets with the thumbs out so they framed his crotch nicely and smirked at her. “But come on Lola, a flash drive? This looks more like an oversized hard drive, don’t you think?”

  Lola rolled her eyes at his comment, trying not to laugh. She dropped his hand and walked over to the panel to let them out of the room. “Hey buddy, I’m not the one who wanted to stop, so that problem is all on you.”

  As they walked down the hall, Jake grabbed her hand and pulled her to a stop. “Just to be clear, I didn’t want to stop. I just thought maybe it was a good idea if we took our time getting to know each other first, that’s all. If I didn’t care about that, you’d already be under me by now, heels to Jesus, as my grandmother would say.”

  That made her burst into laughter. “Heels to Jesus? That’s hilarious!” She stopped in the middle of the hall, bent over because she was laughing so hard. “That’s now my new favorite phrase for sex.”

  Jake was enjoying her hilarity. “What’s your old favorite?”

  She tried to look serious but was still snickering. “Well, I don’t have just one, but when we were kids, my brother and Mike used to try to find the funniest or nastiest terms possible and then they’d tell them to me. Like ‘hide the sausage’ or ‘knockin’ boots,’ ‘giving a hot beef injection,’ ‘bury the bone,’ or Mike’s personal favorite, ‘going to the boneyard,’ which in retrospect makes perfect sense. In fact, I think that may be the name of a local gay bar.”

  Jake laughed. “Riding the pony express. Talking on the bone phone.”

  “That’s a blow job.”

  “Still counts as sex, President Clinton.”

  Lola grinned at that. “How about ‘launching the meat missile’ or ‘makin’ bacon’ or ‘riding the boloney pony’?”

  Laughing, Jake held up his hands in surrender and then gave a ridiculous, deep bow. “You win. Your knowledge of euphemisms for sex is both extensive and impressive, Ms. Lola. Maybe we’ll have to try a few of them out for ourselves.”

  She sniffed haughtily and grabbed her phone and her keys. “We’ll see. You may have missed your window of opportunity. Now you’ll have to feed me, instead, and no, I’m not in the mood for a ‘hot beef injection’.”

  He put his hand on her back and guided her toward the elevator. “What’re you in the mood for?”

  They stepped in the elevator and she turned and looked at him with an innocent smile as she leaned toward him until they almost touched. “Me? You should know, Jake, I’m very particular with what I put in my mouth, but the good news is that I’m pretty much always hungry.” She batted his eyes at him, and then winked when she saw the dumbfounded expression on his face.

  Jake just stared at her. Lawd have mercy, she was something else.

  When the elevator opened, they stepped out and Lola stopped dead in her tracks. Her jaw dropped. “Holy shit, Jake, is that your car?”

  He grinned. “Yep. It was my uncle’s and my dad and I restored it ourselves over the last couple of years. Beautiful, isn’t she?”

  She slowly circled around the shiny car and stared at it in awe. “It’s amazing. 1968 GTO convertible, in Meridian turquoise with the matching interior and the white top.” She looked ecstatic. “Does it have the standard V8 with 350 horses?” He nodded and she peeked inside at the pristine interior. “Jake, y’all did a great job on the restoration.

  He dangled the keys in front of her. “Thanks. You want to drive?”

  “Seriously?” She looked like a kid at Christmas and held out her hand. He dropped the keys into her palm and she opened the door and slid behind the wheel. He couldn’t take his eyes off her as she caressed every surface she could touch. He couldn’t wait to find out what those hands felt like on him.

  Jake opened the glove compartment and grabbed a couple of pairs of sunglasses and handed her one. She put the glasses on, started the car and revved the engine a little. The throaty roar filled the whole garage, and Lola moaned her appreciation as she put it into gear. The metal security gate opened as soon as they pulled up, and Lola pulled out onto her street.

  It was a pretty day, sunny and in the sixties, but it was still a little cool, especially with the top down. Jake turned on the heater and twisted to face her. “So, what’re you in the mood for?”

  Lola smiled at him. “How about a burger? We could go to George’s in Virginia Highlands.”

  “Sounds good to me. I’m never in this area anymore unless I’m visiting my folks, so I hardly ever get to eat there. I grew up right by Piedmont Park off Myrtle. We lived in a big old house my mom inherited from her parents, but it had been divided into a triplex, so the five of us lived in the one three bedroom apartment, and we rented the other two out.” He pulled a ball cap out of the back seat and slid it on and handed another to Lola. They were stopped for a light, so Lola quickly pulled it on without looking at it and pulled her ponytail through the back hole. He smiled at the picture she made in his big sunglasses and hat. Apparently, she hadn’t noticed it was a Bama hat, and he grinned to himself, imagining her reaction when she realized. “Steve and I shared a room from the time we were born to when we went to college.”

  She laughed. “I grew up in Sandy Springs and went to Riverside High.”

  Jake laughed. “I spent a lot of time in your neck of the woods. I spent my junior year stalking a Riverside High cheerleader all over Sandy Springs.”

  “Pervert.” She rolled her eyes.

  She pulled into a parking spot that had magically opened right in front of George’s and they parked and went inside. When they slid into the booth, Lola suddenly realized that she was starving. A waitress came by and Lola ordered a loaded burger with a side of onion rings and a basket of tots and a Corona light. Jake smiled at her order and also got a burger and onion rings and a Sweetwater IPA. “You going to share those tots?”

  She grabbed the menu again. “I’ll share, but then we’d better get something else, because I’m pretty hungry. How about some nachos?”

  Jake started laughing. “No way you can eat all that.” He looked at her skeptically when she shot him a challenging glare. “Seriously? You don’t look like you can put away that much food.”

  The waitress came by with their beers, and Lola took a big swig and pointed it at him. “Hey, buddy, don’t let the scrawniness fool you. I’m going to tell you up front I can pretty much eat my own body weight in food. Consider this a fair warning: I’m extremely expensive to feed.”

  Jake grinned. He loved a woman who could eat. In his experience, people who were passionate about things like food and fun were generally passionate in everything, and he couldn’t wait to find out if that was true with Lola. “Good thing I’ve got a job. I take it you’re a good cook, then?”

  She laughed ruefully. “No, actually, I’m a terrible cook. If it wasn’t for delivery and my best friend, Daisy, I’d probably starve to death. Daisy is an amazing cook, and she loves to feed people, so every Sunday she cooks for herself, her husband, and for me, and she packs it up in little containers that I just have to reheat. I also go over a couple of nights a week to eat and hang out with them, so it works out great.” The nachos came and Lola pounced on them immediately. “Unfortunately, with the game and all, this week is all screwed up schedule-wise, so Daisy didn’t have time to cook until today. I’ll drop by tomorrow after work for dinner and to pick up my Daisy dinners for the week.” She stuffed a couple of nachos in her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “What about you, Jake? You a good cook
?”

  He took a long swig of beer to chase his nachos. “I’m okay. I make a great breakfast, I have about five dinner recipes I can make pretty well, and I’m awesome with a grill and smoker.” He smiled at her. “You’ll have to come to my place and I’ll cook us some ribs.”

  She closed her eyes. “Mmmm, I love ribs. Really, I love any kind of meat, but pork is my favorite.”

  “Not ‘hot beef’ or ‘sausage’ or ‘boloney’?” He teased.

  Lola’s mouth was full of nachos, and she choked, laughing, and took a swig of beer to chase it down. “Not unless it’s being injected, hidden, or I’m going to ride it.” She winked at him and smiled. “What part of town do you live in?”

  “I have a place on the south side of Lake Lanier, in Cumming. My office is in Roswell, so the commute’s not bad, and I usually go in before the traffic heats up.” He finished his beer and asked the waitress for a couple of waters. “I also have a great setup so I can work at home a couple of days a week, so it’s not bad at all.”

  They finished the nachos just in time for the burgers to arrive. Lola was no longer starving, so she slowed down and she and Jake just took their time. She marveled at how comfortable she felt with him, despite the fact that she found him so attractive. Usually, by now, she’d be tired of conversation and would be ready to either go home alone or take whatever faceless man she was with to a hotel, wear him out, and then go home alone. With Jake, it was totally different. Talking with Jake felt like hanging out with her best friends, except for the fact that she could barely keep her hands off him. Whenever he’d smile and those dimples would pop out, it was all she could do not to just reach across the table and grab whatever part of him she could reach with both hands.

  By the time they finished eating and talking, almost two hours had gone by, and Lola was finally full, although she did ask for a piece of chocolate cake to go, which made Jake smile. He paid the bill and they walked out to the car. Lola looked exhausted, so Jake said he’d drive. He opened her door for her, then got into the car and put up the top since it was now dark and chilly. They turned the car toward Lola’s house and were there in about ten minutes. She used her smart phone to open the garage gate since they weren’t in her car, and they drove inside and parked. Lola turned to tell him goodbye, but Jake shook his head. “No, I’ll walk you up.” He grabbed her cake and they went upstairs in companionable silence.

  When they stepped into her foyer, she finally caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror across from the elevator, saw the front of her ballcap, and came to a dead stop. “What the hell is that shit on my head?” She snatched off the hat, looked at it in disbelief, then turned around and starting bashing Jake with it. “Roll Tide? You jackass, you let me walk around in public with a hat that says ‘Roll Tide’ on it?”

  Jake was laughing so hard he couldn’t defend himself. He held up the bag of cake in front of him as a shield, trying to ward off the hardest blows. “Lola, stop, you’re going to make me drop your cake.” She stopped hitting him, grabbed her cake, threw his hat at his head, and then stalked off toward the kitchen. “That’s it, Jake. Take your stupid hat and go home.”

  Jake was still grinning and followed her through her condo, using a pleading tone. “Come on, Lola, don’t be pissed. I was just having a little fun.” She growled something at him under her breath, which made him start laughing again. “I’m sorry, Ms. Lola, did you say something?” He started to move closer to her. “I thought I heard you saying how handsome you think I am, despite the fact that I tricked you into wearing a Roll Tide hat?”

  She put her cake in the fridge and turned to face him, holding her hand out to keep him from coming too close and trying not to smile. “Uh, no. As a matter of fact, that’s exactly the opposite of what I was saying.”

  He put his hands in his back pockets and leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Look honey, no hands. I’m completely defenseless, so you won’t feel right if you punch me. Would it make you feel any better if I told you I was sorry?”

  The feel of his breath in her ear gave her goosebumps. She closed her eyes and smiled as he placed little soft kisses down her neck. “Nope. Doesn’t help me a bit. Sugar, you’d better remember this moment, because payback is a bitch.”

  She felt him smile against her neck as he came back up, nibbling, and gently sucking on her skin, and she gave a little purr. “Mmm, that does feel…”

  The rest of her words were cut off when Jake’s mouth covered hers and he took his hands out of his pockets to pull her against him. What started off as a sweet kiss rapidly became hotter and more demanding. His tongue swept into her mouth and she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself against his entire front. He groaned into her mouth and he ran his hands down over her hips and grabbed her butt to pull her hard against him. As they kissed, Lola could feel him getting harder and bigger against her stomach and as she grabbed his hips and rubbed herself against him, Jake felt like he was about two seconds away from embarrassing himself. He pulled back and they stared at each other, both breathing hard.

  She looked at him and invited, “You want to stay for a while?”

  Jake looked at her regretfully as he quickly kissed her and then pulled away and put his hands back in his pockets. “No, I think I need to go. If I don’t go now, I’m afraid I won’t leave, and I think I should.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Seriously? I’m a grown-ass woman, Jake, and I know what I want. You’re welcome to stay for a while, if you’d like.”

  “Oh, I’d like,” he said with a half smile. “But I’ve got a feeling that you’ve got something weird going on here, and I need to get started on that. I’m going to drop by the office on the way home and get one of my guys to get started on that flash drive, and then I’m heading up to my house. Tomorrow I’ll get started doing a little research on our weasel, Mitch.”

  Lola couldn’t believe he’d just leave. “Blah, blah, blah. Just remember, sugar, all work and no play makes Jake a dull boy.” She smiled sweetly and looked pointedly at the front of his jeans. “And an uncomfortable boy. You know I can help you with that situation, right?” She rolled her eyes when he didn’t come closer. “For God’s sake, Jake, lighten up. I’m just talking a little recreational sex, you big baby, I’m not asking you to marry me.”

  This woman was going to be the death of him. He stepped closer until his lips were right by hers. “Ms. Lola, there’s no doubt in my mind that you could totally take care of my situation. And I can’t think of anything on Earth I’d like more than a little recreational sex with you. But you know what, Lola? You’re not only gorgeous, but you’re funny and I really like you, and for the first time in a very long time I actually want to get to know someone instead of just jumping into something purely recreational.” He pecked a quick kiss on her lips. “So I’m going home.” She looked pouty and aggravated at that, and he tried not to smile. “Can I take you to dinner tomorrow night? We can talk about your case.”

  Lola was still irritated that he was going to leave her all riled up. “Fine, whatever. Just text me tomorrow to let me know when you want to meet. I’m in court in the morning, but I’m totally free in the afternoon, so no problem, we’ll figure something out.”

  He winked at her and headed toward the elevator door. “Night, Lola. Sweet dreams. I’ll be thinking about you.” He hit the button and when the door opened, he walked inside.

  “Night, Jake. Sweet dreams to you, too.” She smiled sweetly, and as the door started to close, she called out. “Oh, and by the way, I’ll be thinking of you, too. Especially when I give myself a couple of epic orgasms, to take the edge off. Too bad you won’t be there to join me.” She blew him a kiss. “Have a good night.”

  He groaned, and she laughed as the door closed. That’ll give him something to think about. Damn, he was a lot of fun. She was actually excited about seeing him tomorrow. She went into her bathroom, ran herself a hot bath, and settled in with her e-reader to read for a while.

&
nbsp; 4

  Jake was at work the next morning by seven. He had stopped by the evening before on the way home and dropped off the flash drive to Jerry Jeff Jenkins, the manager and most senior member of his “nerd herd,” as his computer geeks affectionately referred to themselves.

  Jerry Jeff was one of the first people Jake hired when he started his own business. Jake had actually met Jerry Jeff when he was still an agent with the FBI and he was sent to arrest Jerry Jeff at his middle school graduation ceremony. Jerry Jeff had overheard his parents discussing his uncle’s being denied VA benefits after he was injured in Afghanistan, so he hacked into the VA’s computer system and moved his uncle to the top of the waiting list. When the hack was discovered, the head of the local VA insisted that Jerry Jeff be prosecuted, but instead, Jake helped him cut through some red tape so his uncle could finally receive the help he needed. Jake explained to Jerry Jeff that he couldn’t go around hacking into government computer systems, and then told him to stay in school, get great grades, and come work with him in the FBI when he graduated. They stayed in touch, and by the time Jerry Jeff finished grad school, Jake had just started his own business, and he hired Jerry Jeff immediately.

  It had been one of the best decisions he’d ever made. Jerry Jeff was brilliant, completely loyal, and tireless. He had a top secret security clearance and Jake never had to worry about any leaks or disclosures on any projects that were supervised by Jerry Jeff. Not only had he designed a computer security system that, so far at least, had never been hacked or penetrated, despite Jake offering a ten thousand dollar reward to any other member of the nerd herd who could do it, but he also had a terrible temper if you messed with him, and few people wanted to screw with Jerry Jeff Jenkins.

  Jerry Jeff wasn’t your stereotypical, skinny computer geek. He was actually a redneck from south Georgia who spent his free time fishing, hunting, and competing in the heavyweight division in local amateur mixed martial arts competitions. He was almost six and a half feet tall, about two hundred sixty pounds, and most of the time he looked like he’d spent the last several years as a roadie with some Lynyrd Skynyrd cover band, with his hugely muscled body, straggly beard, ball cap, faded t-shirts, cowboy boots, and old jeans.