by Jerilee Kaye
She shrieked and laughed.
She found him looking at her with his devilish eyes. He was half-smiling.
“Didn’t it ever occur to you that I could just be holding on to the last string of whatever control and chivalry I have in my body?” he asked her wickedly.
She shook her head. “Come on. Let’s go to sleep.”
He shook his head. “You had that chance a minute ago, miss. You didn’t take it.”
She laughed. “Please, Justin…”
She watched helplessly as his face descended towards hers and he took her lips in one head-spinning kiss.
Then he nuzzled her neck. She moaned in pleasure. She wrapped his arms around him and caressed his hair. He kissed her lips again. She kissed him back.
They made love slowly. He caressed her. He kissed every inch of her skin. He made her feel adored… like she’s the most beautiful woman in the world.
She realized that Justin made her feel appreciated whereas Troy compelled her to feel like she wasn’t good enough. Her parents kept telling her that she will never be good as her sister. But Justin…he wanted her to believe that she’s perfect just as she is.
Afterwards, they cuddled, locked in each other’s embrace.
“You okay?” he asked gently.
She nodded. “Hmm…tired. Aren’t you hungry?”
He looked down at her. “Are you?”
“Suddenly…I feel a bit hungry.” She smiled.
“Dinner wasn’t good enough?” he asked her, smiling.
She giggled. “It was. But the…” She trailed off. She was going to say sex but not quite sure how to say it.
“Lovemaking was better?” He suggested smugly.
She jabbed him gently on the ribs.
“How smug!” She laughed.
She stood up and quickly got dressed.
Justin followed her to the kitchen where she raided his fridge and he sat at the counter.
“Hmm…you have microwaveable pasta?”
He smiled sheepishly. “What did you expect? Living life in the fast lane. Everything has to be on the go.”
She raised a brow, sort of like scolding him silently.
He held his hands up. “All right. Maybe sometime you can cook for me. Can you cook?”
She raised a brow at him. “All right, mister! What do you want? Thai? Chinese? Japanese? Mexican?”
He laughed. “Whoa! Never challenge Miss Miller on her cooking skills.”
She decided to fry some patties.
“Beer? Soda?” she asked.
“Let’s have beer,” he answered.
“You have beer,” she said. “I’ll have a soda.”
“Not a beer person, huh?”
She shrugged. “Not a drinking person.”
“Come on. Time for change, remember?” He dared her, his eyes filled with challenge.
“All right. I’m with Justin Adams.”
“We both learn something from each other.” He grinned.
They went to the balcony to eat and drink.
“How old is this sister of yours?” he asked.
“Twenty-eight. Three years my senior.”
“So, what is she? Miss thing?”
She shrugged. “At least that’s what my mom and my boyfriend thought. They kept telling me that my writing was just a lame excuse to make a living.”
He looked over at her apartment. “I’d say it’s a hell lot more than that for you to afford that apartment of yours. Have they been there?”
She shook her head. “They don’t even know my address.”
“Well, I’d say don’t think too much about that. We’re not so different, you know. My father thinks I will live on the streets and won’t be able to sustain the lifestyle I grew up in unless I work for him. But I think I’m doing fairly well. I have money and time in my hands. I can sustain my vices.”
“Vices?” She echoed, suddenly alarmed.
He shrugged. “Cars. Gadgets.”
She felt relieved. He must have noticed because he took her hand in his and laughed.
“No, ma’am. Don’t do drugs, no gambling, no white slavery or dealing with terrorist acts, not even prostitution or encouragement of such.”
Then he kissed her hand gently.
After they were done eating, Adrienne insisted she wash the dishes, while Justin cleared the bottles in the balcony.
“So, are you serious about the stocks thing?” he inquired.
She nodded. “I will give it a try.”
He smiled. “That’s great. You’re learning to risk more now.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Yes. And it started the day Gypsys opened. That damned place should be shut down! I should have written a nasty review.”
He laughed. “Don’t blame the place. It was in you. You have a free spirit dying to get out. You sound like you’ve never had fun in your life.”
“Well, you didn’t have the parents I have.”
“Yours can’t be stricter than mine. But still, it didn’t stop me from doing what I wanted in life.”
“At least they spoiled you a little.”
He shrugged. “Maybe. But that didn’t stop me from having sense, either.”
“Yeah…among other things. You were known to be a snob. And you…” She stopped.
“What?” He essentially urged her to continue.
“And you were known to play around…with women…” She hesitated, putting the last plate in his dish dryer.
He was quiet for a while.
She thought she must have hurt his feelings. She felt guilty.
Finally, he took a deep breath. “If you thought that was true about me…how come you’re here?” He asked quietly.
That ticked something inside her. That was the same question she had been asking herself. If she knew who Justin Adams was, then why did she stay here? Why had she come to him in the first place?
Suddenly, she felt mad. At herself more than anybody. “You know what?” she snapped. “You’re right! Why am I here?”
She turned on her heel and hastily headed for the door.
He ran after her and grabbed her by the arm. She struggled to get away from his grip but he didn’t let her go.
“Damn it, Justin! Let me go!”
He wrapped his arms around her waist.
He didn’t say a word. He just hugged her. Tightly. She took deep breaths and bit her lip to prevent herself from saying anything that would further ruin the night for both of them.
“Honey, help me out here,” he whispered in her ear, very gently, it made her want to cry.
She didn’t answer.
“I’m sorry,” he said. He tilted her face so he could look into her eyes. “I just…think it’s unfair. You have been looking at me based on my reputation from day one. For a moment, I believed that you could see me another way. You could see the man beneath the Justin Adams coat.”
She stared at him. She could see that he was struggling with his words.
“Why does it matter what I think about you?” she asked him squarely.
His expression softened and he smiled sheepishly. “It just does.”
She took a deep breath and managed to calm her emotions down. “I have to go.”
He shook his head. “Let’s please not leave it like this.” He seemed to be pleading.
Then she realized that he was right. And anyway, it shouldn’t matter if Justin acted like the asshole his reputation said he was. She promised to keep her heart intact.
And she realized it was unfair to think of him that way, because he gave her a chance to see underneath the Justin Adams nametag.
He was actually a great guy. He did have a soul. What she said was unfair. She didn’t look to this thing to actually end in happily ever after. It never would. This was simply the breather she needed.
Justin Adams gave her a chance to live her life the way she should live it. He inspired in her the courage to try things she had never tried before. This thing they shared
—the temporary insanity…the mutual but short-term passion…provided her with more good than bad, anyway. And she was being unfair thinking that he was an ass, when she was the one playing games here.
She felt sorry now. She felt guilty. She reached up and touched his cheek gently.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I was out of line. I don’t care what your reputation says. I mean…it doesn’t matter to me. I’m the one who’s cheating on my friends and my boyfriend here. I’m sorry.”
He smiled. “It’s not about the cheating, Adrienne. I know you feel guilty about it. But look at it this way. For once, you’re thinking about what you want. You’re teaching yourself how to live…and at the same time, you’re actually teaching me to do the same.”
She smiled at him. “Yeah…I know. I guess we should leave it for what it is.”
He nodded. He kissed her passionately. She responded with the same passion.
He bent down and carried her in his arms.
“Hey…I said I had to go.”
He grinned. “Oh no. You were set out to spend the night here two hours ago, miss. You’re going to do just that.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“You’re impossible!”
He laughed as he set her down on his bed.
“I’m gonna need to brush my teeth,” she said.
He laughed and pulled her up on her feet and led her to the bathroom, where he took out a brand new electric toothbrush and handed it to her.
“You’re not giving me any other choice, are you?”
He shook his head. “Nope.”
She laughed and put toothpaste on her new toothbrush.
After brushing their teeth, they both went to bed and slept in each other’s arms.
6. Ferveur
The intensity of feeling or expression; intense heat. Passion.
When she woke up, she was lying flat on her back and Justin still slept soundly beside her with his arm around her. She looked at the clock on the bedside table. Eleven o’clock.
“Shit!” She quickly stood up.
Justin woke up and sat up on the bed.
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s eleven o’clock! I needed to be at work at nine!”
He smiled. “So what? When was the last time you took a day off?”
She stared at him. “I don’t know. A year ago.”
He shrugged. “You’re too much of a workaholic. One day of rest wouldn’t hurt.”
“Justin…I can’t…”
He grinned. He pulled her hand and made her sit back on the bed beside him.
“Miss Workaholic!” he teased. “I think you’re in dire need of a vacation. Learn to lighten up a bit. You’re doing well with everything you do. You’re smarter than that sister of yours. You can’t prove yourself to be book-wise all the time. You know what I believe in? The person who lived more out of life is the more successful one. Chill okay?”
Hearing Justin say those words made Adrienne realize that she never gave herself much of a break because she was always chasing after her sister’s accomplishments. And every single day counted.
Maybe Justin made a good point. She has to learn to let things go. Some things at least. She doesn’t have to be uptight all the time.
She sighed. “Okay.” She smiled at him and then she leaned forward to give him a kiss on the lips.
He smiled at her.
“What about you? Don’t you have to go work today?” she asked. She didn’t even know if he really worked at all.
“Done,” he replied. “I woke up about nine in the morning and I did some trading.”
“Really? That easy? Did you make money?”
He nodded. “I got lucky today. A hundred thousand bucks.”
Her eyes widened. “Hundred thousand? How is that possible?”
He shrugged. “I worked hard for it to happen. It took a great deal of investment and patience. It was risky and I needed to wait a whole year for the right time. And today, things turned my way. You must be my lucky charm.”
“My God! My one thousand dollars sound like a…tip or something.”
He laughed. “I’ve been trading since I was twenty, honey. And besides, I’m not asking you to start on one thousand to make money. It’s just for trying to learn how it works without having to invest a lot.”
“You were awake at nine and you didn’t wake me up? You know it’s Monday!”
He smiled. “I knew you didn’t sleep until late last night. So I decided not to wake you up.”
“All right. Then you better treat me for lunch or something.”
“Done. Anywhere you want, honey. We can go to Paris for lunch if you want!”
She laughed. “No. I wouldn’t want to go that far. And besides one lunch in Paris wouldn’t be enough for me. I gotta stay there for at least a week!”
He smiled. “Okay. Where do you want to go then?”
She shrugged. “Can we just have it here? Or in my apartment? Delivery perhaps?”
He stared at her for a moment, as if he was trying to read her thoughts. Then he nodded. “All right. Can’t be seen with Justin Adams on the streets,” he muttered quietly.
She felt guilty. She hugged him. “Can’t be seen anywhere on the streets if I will call in sick, anyway.”
“Indeed, Miss Miller. You got me there. What do you want then?”
“Chinese?”
He nodded. “Okay. Let’s eat in the terrace. Myla, my housekeeper will be here in thirty minutes.”
“Who, what?” she asked.
“My maid,” he replied.
“You have a maid?”
He nodded. “Comes here Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.”
Somehow, she panicked at the thought of someone else seeing her with him. Even though she trusted Justin, she didn’t want to take the risk. She could be Justin’s flavor for a week (or two), but when he walked away, she wanted to be as unscathed as possible.
“Tell you what, let’s just go to my apartment. I need to check my mobile and my answering machine anyway. Jill would be screaming in it already since I didn’t tell her where I was.”
He raised a brow. “See? You don’t even want to my housekeeper to see you with me.”
She groaned. “Justin! Are we really going to argue about this? You made me miss Jada for a day so we can have a fight?”
He shook his head. “All right, all right. You win. You go back to your place. I’ll order from here and be there in fifteen minutes.”
Back in her apartment, she headed straight for the answering machine. Twenty messages.
“Hi Yen, it’s Troy. I’m sorry, baby. It’s just that you know my brother just got married last year. And Lisa is a top-notch lawyer.”
“She’s ten years older than your brother,” Adrienne muttered.
“I know you have a game plan. Let’s talk things over. When I have time, I will come to New York so I can see you. I love you.”
Each day that passed, she realized more that her relationship with Troy seemed hopeless. She had come to a comfortable place where she knew she couldn’t care less if Troy dropped her… if she didn’t do it first.
Sure, her mother would berate her for breaking up with him. But she’s been disappointing that woman forever. No matter what she did, her mother would never see her in a different light.
For the first time in her life, Adrienne wanted to do what she thought would make herself live a complete life in spite of being a failure in her mother’s eyes. At least she didn’t have to be a failure in her own eyes.
There was another message on the answering machine.
“Hey Yen…it’s Jill…lunch tomorrow with Yuan? He’ll pick us up.”
Adrienne panicked.
The next messages came from Yuan and Jill all asking her where the hell she was.
She dialed Jill’s number.
“Damn it, where are you?” Jill demanded.
“I’m home. I overslept and I’m not feeling quite wel
l,” Adrienne replied.
“My God, sweetie? Are you all right?” She asked, switching moods from anger to concern.
Adrienne nodded.
“Hello?”
“Sorry, I’m actually nodding,” she said. She felt guilty for lying to her friends. Jill sounded so concerned. They knew that she didn’t usually feel sick… or she was never too sick to not go to work.
“Want us to come down there?” Jill asked. At the same time, Justin entered her apartment, without so much as a knock.
“No! Don’t. I’ll be fine. I just need to rest,” she lied.
“Honey… are you sure you’re okay?” Jill asked.
“Yep. I’ll be fine.”
“All right. I’ll tell HR now. I’ll call you after work, okay?”
“Sure. Bye.”
Justin was looking at her, with a raised eyebrow.
“My friends. They wanted to come down here and check on me. I said no.”
He smiled. “Good idea. I think I’m going to head out the window if they knock on your door.”
She giggled. “You can actually do that, I think.”
He nodded. “I checked that the morning they called saying they had gone to the elevator already. That would be the last resort if you want to keep this little secret of ours.”
She went to him. She wasn’t quite sure if he meant it’s okay to keep this a secret.
She gave him a hug. He hugged her back.
“I’m starving,” she whispered.
He chuckled. “Food will be delivered in fifteen minutes, don’t worry.”
And true to his word, it was. Justin ordered spicy beef, noodles and dim sum.
After lunch, she cleared the table and joined Justin in the balcony.
“You know, you are a bit ironic,” he stated.
“Why is that?”
He shrugged. “You seem to be so prim and proper most of the time. And yet, you smoke.”
“Like you said…most of the time.” She smiled. “I didn’t start smoking until last year. I had a worse relationship with my mother. And that time, Troy acted like a jerk because he wasn’t doing too well in one of his subjects. And I also had too many deadlines. I needed a breather to think clearly and get something done.”
“And the habit just proved to be useful that time,” he suggested.
She nodded. “And then it proved to be addicting as well.”
