First Time: Ian's Story (First Time (Ian) Book 1) (31 page)

“
I can’t believe we just did
that on the roof,” she mumbled against my neck.

I opened my eyes. “We’re on the roof?”

She gave me a little push. “By the way, that
feels really good. Can we do that all the time?”

“
If you don’t mind using an
alternate method of birth control.” I wanted to have kids with her.
I just didn’t want to have them next summer.

“
Okay. I’ll look into it.
And as soon as I have something, we’re doing it this way every
time.”

“
Can we change the venue to
somewhere warmer next time?”

She lifted her head from my shoulder, her
hand fumbling between us. I sucked in a breath as she cupped me.
“See? They didn’t freeze off.”

I gave her ass a little slap, and she
squealed. She sat up, and we hurriedly cleaned off with my shirt.
Now that we weren’t lost in a haze of sensory poetry, the
temperature was far more evident than before. We retrieved our
clothes and hurried to the elevator, wrapping up together in the
duvet as we rode down.

As we reached the third floor, Penny asked,
“Do we still have any of that ice cream from the other night?”

“
I think so.”

She grinned and hit the button for the
lowest level.

In comparison to the roof, the apartment was
like a tropical paradise. We went to the kitchen in the all
together; the refrigerator was seeing a lot of nudity these
days.

“
Why is everything salted
caramel, all of a sudden? I just got used to everything being
blueberry pomegranate acai,” I complained as I retrieved the ice
cream. A gentleman always opens the freezer to spare a topless lady
the unpleasantness of the chore.

“
Brace yourself, peppermint
is coming,” she warned. “Every October, like clockwork, pumpkin
comes in. The day after Thanksgiving, everything is mint. Which is
just about the most disgusting flavor I can think of.”

“
I rather like mint,
myself,” I said, peeling back the lid of the carton.

“
Oh, well, true love totally
called off.” She grabbed two spoons from the drawer and leaned over
the edge of the counter, so we each stood on one side.

“
Don’t you want to go sit
down?” I nodded toward the dining table.

She shook her head. “Uh, no. I really don’t
feel like leaving a slime spot on your chairs.”

“
It is not slime.” I hated
that so many women were ashamed of their bodies and their natural
functions. “It’s proof that you just had an incredible time, and
I’d like to think I had a little something to do with
that.”

“
Oh, you had a lot to do
with that.” She snagged the carton from my hand and took the first
bite, moaning in appreciation. “You were so sexy today.”

“
I thought I looked like an
undertaker.” I dueled with her spoon to get to the ice
cream.

“
It wasn’t that. It was
seeing you at church, how much you really believe in all of it.
That was sexy.”

And baffling. “Why is that sexy?”

“
I don’t know.” She shrugged
and dug into another spoonful of ice cream. “Having faith in
something makes you vulnerable. Vulnerability in a man is
hot.”

While I appreciated being considered hot,
the first part of her statement bothered me. “Why does believing in
something make a person vulnerable?”

“
Because if you believe in
something, you can be let down. Like, okay, look at me and Brad. I
thought we were really going to be together forever. I
believed
that would
happen. And when it ended, I was destroyed. I made myself
vulnerable to that hurt through my faith that everything would turn
out all right.”

“
But you just told me, not a
full two hours ago, that you believe we’ll turn out all right,” I
reminded her.

“
Yeah, but we’ve had signs.
The fortune cookies. They never lie.” She made a face. “I suppose
believing in superstitions is also a form of faith. Maybe I really
am setting myself up for disappointment down the road.”

“
Never. Not with me.” I
pulled the carton toward me and took a bite of ice cream, myself. I
swallowed and said, “All humans are vulnerable, emotionally. We
pretend we have control over it, but we truly don’t.”

She laughed. “Well, let me believe,
okay?”

Silence settled between us comfortably as we
stood naked in my kitchen, and in the moment, it wasn’t difficult
to believe along with her.

* * * *

Tuesday
afternoon, I got a call I had been dreading.

“
Ian!” Carrie’s voice
enthused over the line. “Carrie Glynn. Is this a bad
time?”

Yes. No time was a good time to discuss the
resort project, because I hadn’t made up my mind, yet, and I was
painfully aware that the clock was ticking. “Not at all. What can I
do for you?”

“
Well, I know this is short
notice, but I’m in New York, and I have time to meet this evening.
Are you free?” she asked.

“
Yeah, I’m free.” I
grimaced. I wasn’t
exactly
free. I’d told Penny I would be calling her, with
the possibility of grabbing some dinner. But we hadn’t made a firm
commitment, and she would understand that plans sometimes changed
for work. She was one of the hardest working people I
knew.

“
Great. Would you like to
have dinner, keep it light and informal?” she asked
cautiously.

“
This is a job interview,
isn’t it?” I asked, half a smile creeping across my
face.

“
If you wanted to brainstorm
some ideas, I wouldn’t be opposed.” She laughed. “Eight o’clock all
right?”

“
Sure. Just send my
secretary the information.” Or, more aptly, have her secretary send
me the information. Carrie was a bigger fish than I was.

“
Sure thing. I’m looking
forward to seeing you and catching up,” she said.

After we hung up, I called Penny. It went to
voicemail, as it frequently did during her workday. “Hey, Doll. I
won’t be able to get together tonight. I’ve got a work dinner to go
to. I’ll give you a call after, if it’s not too late. I love
you.”

Between work and dinner, I had no time to go
home and change. Penny had called me back, but I’d been in a
meeting, and when I tried to get her from the cab, she wasn’t
answering. All I wanted was to hear her voice, just for one second.
Not being able to reach her was agony.

Maybe this is a sign, you
idiot.
If I couldn’t stand to speak to her
for one
day
, how
would I survive being separated from her for eighteen
months?

But how could I turn down a project with a
great potential payday for the firm? I made good money, but the
people who worked under me depended on the company. It would be
irresponsible to throw away the chance to secure their futures,
too.

Calm
down
, a more rational part of my brain
interrupted.
You don’t have the job,
yet.

The restaurant Carrie and I had worked out
was a sushi restaurant in Midtown, upscale casual, the perfect
place to muddy the waters between friendly business meal and formal
business meeting. When I arrived, she was seated at the bar. She
stood and gave a wave.

“
Ian Pratchett. You look
exactly as I remember,” she lied through her teeth.

She, on the other hand, looked better than I
remembered. Her blond hair was styled in careful waves, and her
face was smooth and tight, like she’d never been in the sun a day
since the 80’s. Which was a ridiculous assumption, considering her
golden tan. She’d obviously had some work done, but the results
were excellent.

“
You’re a rotten liar,
Carrie. But you look amazing. Spain agrees with you.”

“
Thank you.” She didn’t try
to demure. She was just as confident as I remembered.

Carrie had reserved a table, so the hostess
seated us, right away. She didn’t waste any time launching into
small talk. “So, how’s Gena?”

“
I hope she’s very well,” I
answered honestly. “But I wouldn’t know. She and I divorced earlier
this year.”

“
Oh no.” Carrie’s face
crumpled in embarrassment. “I had no idea. Burt didn’t
mention—”

“
It’s fine.” I waved a hand
and picked up a menu. “It was for the better. We grew apart in
terms of our goals for the future. But I have a fantastic
girlfriend now, and we’re very happy.”

“
That’s wonderful.” Carrie
picked up her menu. “If she has a brother, send him to see
me.”

Carrie had separated from her husband,
Chris, five years ago. I wasn’t sure if they were officially
divorced or what the situation was, but I didn’t want to pry.

“
And how are your kids?
They’re not kids anymore, are they?” I glanced over the menu,
though I usually ordered the same thing at sushi restaurants, no
matter where I ate: tuna sashimi and a dragon roll.

“
They’re great. Jackson just
graduated from Harvard; I’m actually flying down to Boston to meet
him in the morning. Angela is in New Zealand, working on a ranch.
It started out as backpacking, but now she wants to stay in the
shire.” Carrie sighed. “The best I’m hoping for is that she doesn’t
come back pregnant.”

Our waitress, a lovely young Asian-American
woman with short, highlighted red hair, took our orders. She tried
to hide a wince of pain when she picked up our menus, and Carrie
said, “Carpal tunnel?”

“
Yeah, I forgot my brace,”
the girl said sheepishly.

“
I had surgery for that.
Didn’t help.” Carrie sniffed. “Try acupuncture.”

“
Thanks. Well, I put in your
orders, and I’ll be right back with some hot tea and your
sake.”

“
You would get along with my
girlfriend,” I told Carrie. “She believes in a lot of new age
nonsense, too.”

Carrie shook her head. “I hate to tell you,
but our guests expect a full ‘new age nonsense’ spa in each of our
properties.”

There we were. Seamlessly shifting into the
business portion of the evening. God, she was good at what she
did.

“
Do they? Maybe it would
behoove me to visit one, then.” I’m sure Carrie could afford to
send a prospective contracted employee on a little working
vacation, somewhere Penny could tag along and we could sip drinks
in the sand.

Carrie nodded. “So, you’ve given thought to
my proposal, then.”

“
Thought, yes. I’ve looked
at some of your other properties, and I do think I can see some
opportunities to shake things up. But you have to remember, the
closest I’ve come to resort design was a conference center with an
attached hotel. My team isn’t used to working on guest
experiences.” Was I trying to talk her out of hiring me? I supposed
that would be the easiest route to making my decision, letting her
make it for me.

“
You worked on that
Catskills rehab when we were at Stafford,” she reminded
me.

“
I’d forgotten all about
that.” I hadn’t particularly enjoyed that project, but at the time
it had been experience I had truly needed. There were some young
guys and gals at the firm who would probably jump at this
opportunity. “But what size property are we looking at?”

“
Our budget is
three-point-four billion.”

If we’d been eating already, I would have
choked. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Carrie, we did a conference
center outside of Boston for sixty-three million—”

“
Ian.” She sat up a little
straighter. “I’m not a stupid person. I’ve been watching you for a
few years now. You and I both know that Burt Baker isn’t going to
take you guys anywhere. He’s happy where he is. I’m offering you
the opportunity to make major money. We’re talking eight figures.
This would take your firm to a level you were never going to attain
drawing up Midtown office buildings and out-of-town conference
centers.”

“
Exactly. We’re not on your
level, Carrie. I couldn’t, in good conscience…with the people I
have now…”

“
Hire new people. Do what
you need to do.”

The waitress returned to the table with our
tea, and Carrie waited until she’d left again to say, “I’ve worked
with you, Ian. And I’ve seen your recent work. I think you could do
this. I have consultants and designers you’d be working with, and
it’s a challenge. You do still like those, don’t you?”

Ah, she had me there. I’d been so bored and
frustrated at work lately, a drastic change might be what I needed.
And that kind of money… I could provide a wonderful life for Penny,
and for our children, should we have them.

“
I do like them,” I agreed.
“Why don’t you tell me what you’d specifically like to see your
property become.”

As we ate our meal, Carrie outlined her
issue with the current structure of her properties. They were
mostly comprised of several hotel towers surrounding luxurious
pools and lush outdoor spaces, predominately featuring sweeping
ocean vistas; the new property wasn’t in Nassau proper but on a
man-made island near it, allowing them three-hundred-and-sixty
degree views. But she wasn’t looking for the overdone aquatic theme
or the sterile sameness of her other resorts.

I had to admit, the project
made me curious, and not just because I wanted the money. It
would
be a challenge, and
a good reason to hire some new talent.