“I am relaxed. I’ve been in all morning chilling and I guess faking playing catch up with work,” he laughed.
The elevator reached the top level just as he had finished his statement. They exited as Loren made one last comment before she entered Duron’s condo.
“I found some great ideas already for your living room and the bedroom on the lower level for your mother. I haven’t actually seen the rooms yet, of course, but I had some ideas based on new catalogs I received that had decorating ideas that I thought you would enjoy. I know you wanted to keep the living room along the lines of what you have in your condo and your mother’s room was easy.”
Mike tried to pay attention, but he found it hard to focus around her.
“Sounds like you’ve been busy,” he said, not wanting to get caught not paying attention.
“I sure have. I also went to a furniture gallery showing a few months back and I remembered they had new man cave setups I think you’d like. Wait until you see the seating I’m thinking of for your theater room. I think you’ll love it. I know you wanted red and black seating in that room and a company I have dealt with in the past just released a new line of theater room seating so you’ll be one of the first to get this if you like it.”
“Loren, I think you know me better than I know myself when it comes to my taste, so if you say I’ll like it, I’m sure I’ll love it. I look forward to seeing it.”
Neither of them made a move to turn and enter the condos. They stood staring at each other.
“Well if you like, when I’m done here at Duron’s, I can stop over to show you what I have so far. Of course, I don’t want to keep you from meeting up with your friends on time, so if you want me to, I can just email you some links of items to check out.”
Mike thought about her suggestion. In the back of his mind, he could hear the mechanical voice of the robot from an old television series call Lost in Space, where it would say, “danger Will Robinson, danger.” He had seen some old reruns of the old television show and the message was relevant to this current situation. He need not invite Loren into his condo the way she was looking in those jeans and with the way he had been unable to get her off of his mind. He opened his mouth to tell her to go ahead and email him the links, but that’s not what came out.
“Sure, stop on over, I’ll be here. I’m sure it won’t take us long to look at the links. I’ll have plenty of time to meet my buddies. That’s not until later this evening anyway. Just buzz when you’re done. Do you need me to come over when the delivery guy gets here so that you’re not by yourself?”
Loren really liked how Mike always looked out for her.
“No I’m good. He’s the husband of one my brother’s co-workers at the hospital. I’ll buzz when I’m done. If I’m taking too long, just go ahead with your plans and I’ll just email everything I have so far to you to take a look at. They are, after all, just ideas at the moment. I need to see the inside of the house to get a definitive idea on what will work in your space.”
“That’s fine. I’ll see you in a bit then.”
“Okay,” Loren replied as she turned, used her key and entered her brother’s condo.
At the same time Mike entered his condo and shut the door.
Loren released the breath she was holding. She had no idea what she was thinking when she mentioned stopping at his condo later. Before the evening they had dined, worked and danced together, it would not have been a big deal to stop in on him if she had run into him in the elevator. Now it seems things have changed between the two of them and Loren didn’t know how to get things back to normal. Everything seemed extra intense with Mike. Loren knew she couldn’t back out now. The words flew out of her mouth before her mind could catch up to her intention. She had to get herself together and stop the childish behavior, acting like an awestruck teenager and get to the business he was paying her to do. This was, for goodness sake, Mike, someone she had known since she was a braces wearing, tomboy. She could conduct business and tame her wild ideas of hot, passionate and somewhat kinky sex with Mike and remain professional. At least that’s what she hoped.
Mike checked the time again. Loren had called a half hour ago to say she was wrapping up with the guy from the art gallery and the workmen he brought with him to hang all of Duron’s art around his condo. Since he’d left her in the hall, he’d showered and changed into jeans and a pullover shirt so that when they were finished looking over all of the information she had gathered so far on ideas for his house, he could head out to meet his friends. He thought when she called she was on her way over then. He was about to call her to be sure everything was okay when his door buzzed. He went to let her in.
“Sorry I’m late,” Loren said as she entered his condo and headed for his sitting area to open her laptop.
“No problem. I was just about to call you to be sure you were okay. You called a half hour ago and said you were on your way over and it’s only a few steps away.”
“I know. As soon as I hung up from you and the guys left, Duron called to see how the art looked and we got to talking.”
Mike joined Loren in his sitting area.
“Let’s see what you have.”
Loren opened up several links to show Mike what she had come up with so far.
He was very impressed with her choices for his mother’s room, the living room and his theater room so far. He knew he made the right choice when he decided to ask her to help him out.
“Very nice Loren. I like everything and my mom will be very excited about her room. She won’t be with me all the time, but because we have a lot of family on the west coast, I’m thinking she’ll come visit me more there than she has here and I want to be sure she’s comfortable and that we both have lots of privacy, hence my reason for putting her room on the lower level. Besides there are less steps for her to go up and down than if she were on the top level of the house.”
Loren logged off and closed her laptop.
“I’m glad you like my ideas. You make it easy because you aren’t hard to work with. I have had some clients that make me want to quit and give back the retainer they paid me to acquire my services. Then I remember that as a business woman, I have to learn to deal with all types of people and not just those who are tolerable.”
She reached for her laptop to put it back in her shoulder bag when she noticed Mike staring at her. She tried to look away, but she couldn’t. He looked so damned good sitting there relaxed, leaned back in his chair, with both arms across the back. Loren didn’t know what to make of the scene, but the silence was killing her.
“I like the additions I see you’ve made to your condo. Tyrone is the only one I hear who has not made one single upgrade to the original design.”
“Thanks. Yeah, Ty hasn’t changed or added anything since you decorated when he moved in. He liked it like it was. He’s very low maintenance when it comes to his condo. He invests all of his time in cars. If he’s not at work, he’s working on adding to his car collection or riding around with the motorcycle club he belongs to. To him, a condo is just a place to eat and sleep.”
Not knowing what else to say, she thought it best she leave. Besides, she remembered Mike had plans for the evening.
“Well I’m going to go. I don’t want to keep you from meeting up with your friends and I’m expecting my niece and nephew tomorrow evening after church so that my brother and his wife can have a date night. I’m stopping at the market tonight to get all of the junk food they like to eat.”
Loren stood to leave and Mike took the opportunity to do what he’d wanted to do the night they’d had dinner at the supper club and asked her not to leave.
“Loren, if you don’t have to leave right now, I want you to stay a while.”
It didn’t escape her when his voice dropped an octave and the relaxed look he had was now tensed with a look of want. His voice was husky and sexy and it made her quiver when he said her name with a hint of a seductive undertone. She looked over at him before replying, taking in just how damn sexy he was. She couldn’t stop the reaction her body was having just being in his presence again. She didn’t make a move, but she didn’t settle back down either.
“Loren? Did you hear me?”
“Yes I did, and sure, I’d love to stay a little longer.”
“Good. Can I get you anything to drink? I have water, some juices and a few coolers if you’d like one of those.”
“I’ll take whatever kind of juice you have.”
As he got up to grab a juice from his kitchen, she placed her belongings back on the table and followed him. She tried not to stare, but couldn’t help herself as she watched him move about. He was quite a delectable specimen to behold.
No one spoke as he handed her the juice and all was quiet. Silence hung in the air and since he’d asked her to stick around, she hoped he would explain why. Now it seemed neither of them had anything to say. It wasn’t the silence that disturbed her as much as the sexual tension in the room. She knew that Mike had to sense it as well. She nervously drank her juice while wondering what to do next.
Mike watched Loren as she drank her juice, afraid to say anything, not sure of what would come out of his mouth. He’d gotten up the nerve to ask her to stay and now what? he thought. He wanted her so bad that if he opened his mouth to say a word, he would spill every thought that was floating around about him and her being naked and sweaty.
Loren couldn’t take the silence and the not knowing anymore. She sat her glass down and looked up at him, into those eyes of his that held so much promise and into his handsome face that she wanted to caress with her hands. To keep from doing so, she placed her hands in the back pocket of her jeans and inquired.
“Mike, what’s this? What are we doing here?”
She watched as her questions perplexed him, catching him off guard. He had to know that one of them had to say something. She waited for him to get his thoughts together. His stance looked tranquil, but the expression on his face was one of confusion. He was struggling, that much was obvious.
Mike knew this was it, he either does or the opportunity dies.
“I don’t know Loren. I’m trying not to do anything here. I’m trying really hard, but I think I’m losing the battle. I have a problem and I’m not quite sure how to handle it. The problem is you, which is not a bad thing, depending on how you look at it.”
Mike looked at her and it was obvious he wasn’t choosing the right words. She looked worried. Now he really needed to fix things.
“Can I be honest here?” he asked.
“Yes, I wish you would.”
Mike took a deep breath and not holding anything back, he put it all out for her to hear.
“Okay, here it goes. I’m very attracted to you and I have been for a very long time. I can’t stop thinking about you and I don’t know if that’s weird or not for you considering our connection is through my closeness with your brother and your family and we all seem to be one big happy family, but my thoughts about you have nothing to do with family. All I can tell you is that my thoughts when I think of you are not of a sisterly way. I’ve tried for a long time to ignore these feelings I have for you, but they aren’t going away. I play several scenarios over and over in my head about how this could work and every single one of them ends with your brother kicking my ass.”
Unbeknownst to him, she knew exactly what he was feeling because she was feeling the same way and had been feeling that way for much longer than he had been, she was sure. After he spoke, she considered what would happen if she was as honest with him as he was with her. Since they were laying everything out, she couldn’t let him be the only one out on the limb.
“Mike, what if I told you I have feelings for you as well, that are not brotherly in nature?”
He didn’t immediately respond, though he was happy to hear her admission. He thought of a response, but none would solve the problem of the predicament they were in. He still wanted her to know that he understood.
“I would say that we’re in serious trouble here. Don’t think that I’m shooting down anything that either one of us are feeling here, but this goes way beyond just you and me. Duron is my best friend and my business partner. I love your family as if they were my very own, you know that and I’m not sure they would be receptive to knowing about anything going on as far as the feelings I have for you or the feelings you have for me. I think they expect me to be that older brother figure and nothing more. I know for a fact that Duron would kill me if I ever took action on my feelings for you. It’s dangerous territory Loren, yet here we are.”
She understood completely what he was saying. She was having the same struggles when it came to what her family would think of any type of connection between them besides friendship.
“Okay Mike, can I be even more honest here?”
Mike merely shook his head yes in response.
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the night we danced. It somehow felt different. It felt sexual and erotic and I wanted to leave because I was feeling out of control. I needed to put some space between us. Then in the car, I really wanted you to kiss me, but somehow I was glad when you didn’t, not because I didn’t want the kiss, but because I wasn’t sure what it would lead to or what I was ready for.”
“When did you become this beautiful woman standing in front of me? One day you are this young girl and then I look up and you’re this gorgeous woman.”
“Mike, with all of the women you run through, I hardly think that you have enough time to focus on me, but it’s very flattering of you to say so.”
“It’s not flattery Loren, it’s the truth. Yes, I do date a lot of women, but it’s all non-committal and that’s mutually agreed upon. That also doesn’t mean I don’t think of you because I do. I think that you are beautiful and any other man with eyes can see that.”
Loren nibbled on her lip, nervously hearing the compliment. She’d often been told that by men, but for some reason, it sounded different coming from Mike and she not only believed him, but she liked hearing him say it.
“I make you nervous Loren? If so, that’s not my intent when I compliment you.”
“No, you don’t make me nervous.”
He knew she was lying.
“Loren, you are nibbling on your lips. You do that when you’re nervous.”
He smiled and she smiled back, liking that he knew her so well.
“Okay, well maybe just a little. It’s not you that makes me nervous Mike, it’s being around you that makes me nervous. I like you, but I wouldn’t want anything to come in between not only your friendship, but the successful business partnership you have with Duron.”
He understood what Loren was saying and he was glad that she could relate to how he was feeling.
“So what do you suggest we do here Loren? I don’t think this vibe that’s developing between us is going to go away. Jase mentioned it to me that night at the restaurant.”
Mike’s comment about Jase shocked her.
“Jason mentioned what that night?” she asked, shocked.
He couldn’t back out now with giving her all of the details.
“He mentioned that he could see something was happening between us and his advice was that I stop it now before all hell broke loose if I acted on what he thought he saw. He’s right you know. Knowing my reputation with the ladies, Duron would kick my ass if he knew I had thoughts about his sister, like what he and I have shared over the years about women. You know how he is when it comes to you. He’s got shields up and no one passes go or collects two hundred dollars that he doesn’t approve of and we both know, it doesn’t matter how close friends we are, he knows my lifestyle and nowhere will he see his sister fitting into that.”
Loren smiled at his mentioned of the object of the Monopoly game. She looked over at him standing, waiting for her direction. He needed her to take the lead here and walk away because though he obviously wanted her, he didn’t want this to become a sour spot and ruin friendships because he couldn’t control his libido.
“What do you want to do Mike?”
Mike hesitated before deciding if he should be totally honest with her. He wanted her in the worse way and her being here with him now, knowing how he felt about her and him knowing she felt the same way was more than he could bare. She was looking sexy and desirable and it was taking everything in him to not reach for her, remove every stitch of clothing that kept him from her luscious body and take her right in his kitchen. That’s what he really wanted to do, but the head that was thinking logically knew that he should grab Loren’s things, hand them to her and walk her to her car as he headed out for a night with the fellas. His other head though, wanted to be buried deep in her lithe body and stay there for the rest of the night. He wish he had time to carefully think of his response but he didn’t. She was staring at him, waiting for him to add clarity to the situation. She spoke up before he had a chance to.
“Mike, I’m going to make this very easy for us both and leave. I care about you and the last thing I want is for you to have to grapple with any feelings you have for me and your loyalty to my brother. I have the same struggle and the same loyalty and you know how I feel about Duron. I agree that he would not take kindly to anything happening between us knowing what he knows about your private life with women.”
When Mike didn’t make a move to respond or react in any way, Loren took a deep breath and moved to get by him to grab her things from the other room and head to her car. When she reached where Mike stood in the doorway, she was about to pass him when he grabbed her lightly around the waist to stop her and leaned down to whisper in her ear.
“I don’t want you to go. You asked me what I wanted. Well, what I want is to take you in my room, slowly remove every stitch of clothing you have on and make love to you for the rest of the night. It’s all I’ve been able to think about since I held you in my arms and danced with you. My mind is so foggy with thoughts of you right now that I really don’t care what your brother would think. He could beat me to a pulp, but at least it would be after I’ve had the chance to hold you in my arms, skin to skin as you scream out my name when you come apart from the pleasure I believe we both would experience, beyond anything either of us has experienced before. That’s how right I feel I am about the connection between us. You asked me what I want? That’s what I want Loren. I want you, right now. Can I have you?”