Mid Life Love (26 page)

My breathing was
out of control; my body was still quivering, struggling to come down from an
extreme high.

“Claire?” I
heard him say my name as he untied my legs, but I didn’t respond. I was too
dazed, shocked. I could barely feel the kisses he was now placing against my
stomach, against my chest.

As he moved on
top of me, tremors were still making their way through my body. I tried to calm
down, but I felt him sliding into me—filling me, and I gasped.

“Look at me,” he
whispered, waiting for me to oblige.

I held my head
up, looking into his eyes, and he pressed his lips against my cheek. “You’re
mine...You’ll always be mine...”

He slowly pulled
out of me, pushing his way back in, and for the first time there was nothing
between us; we were skin to skin and I could feel a dramatic difference. I felt
closer to him, more complete. 

He took his time
making love to me, holding my hands above my head as he pushed me into another
mind-blowing climax. 

Once my body
stopped convulsing, he slipped his arms around me and kissed my lips. “Are you
okay?” he asked.

I nodded because
that’s all I could do.

When I finally
regained some strength, I pressed myself closer to him and stared into his eyes.

I wasn’t sure
how long we lay entwined together, or how long he held me tight and kissed me
over and over again—telling me how beautiful I was. 

Every second
seemed to blur together, but at some point I felt him getting out of the bed. 

My heart started
to race. “Where are you going?” I cleared my throat, wincing when I felt how
dry it was from screaming.

“To get some
more ice.” He smiled. “We’re going to do that again...And then I’m going to
punish you for talking.”

C
laire

Stop looking at
him...Stop looking at him...

I tried to keep
my eyes focused on the interns that were standing at the front of the room.
They were talking about why they deserved to have my two IPO ball tickets, but
I couldn’t help but stare at Jonathan.

He was sitting
directly across from me and he wasn’t making it any easier for me to focus. He
flashed a lusty smile every few seconds, playfully licked his lips, or gave me
a look that said he wanted to take me across the conference table right after this
meeting was over.

I’d spent all
day yesterday lying in bed staring at the ceiling, replaying every single
second of Friday night—wishing it hadn’t come to an end. It was the most
amazing sex I’d ever had and I still couldn’t believe how perfect it had been.

“Miss Gracen?”
Mr. Barnes cleared his throat. “Which team do you think did the best? Who do
you pick?”

I looked over at
the four interns who stood in the corner with their eyes shut, hoping to be
selected. They’d all done an incredible job and both teams technically deserved
to go.

“I pick both.” I
smiled.

“What? You only
have two tickets to—”

“One team can
have my tickets to the IPO ball and the other team can have my tickets to the
one day retreat in Napa Valley this weekend.”

Everyone in the
room let out a collective gasp; Jonathan’s eyes widened.

“You’re giving
up a private flight and a winery day?” Mr. Barnes sounded shocked. “
Seriously
?”

I nodded. I’d
been thrilled when the board sent all the directors an email about rewarding us
for our hard work. They’d announced that they were giving us a first class
flight to one of the best wineries in the country, but I knew I wouldn’t accept
it as soon as they sent us the tickets.

“I am...This will
make the rest of the interns work even harder, don’t you think? I may still
meet you guys there though. It
is
only a one hour drive away and I do
love
wine.” I laughed and the rest of the directors laughed with me.

“Wow, that’s
very generous of you.” He smiled. “Thank you interns for all your hard work and
we’ll email you about which team gets what tickets later today.”

We gave them one
last round of applause as they left the room. As soon as the door shut, we all
stood up and stretched while Mr. Barnes prepared the projector screen for our
weekly “come together” session.

“That was very
nice of you...”
Jonathan texted me.

“Thank you.”

“I designed that
reward just for you. Why did you give it up?”

“I was trying to
be nice.”

“A little too
nice...”

I looked up so I
could give him a dramatic eye roll, but he wasn’t in front of me anymore. He
was sitting right beside me. 

“Jonathan,” I
whispered. “You can’t...Please don’t—”

“Please don’t
what
?
I can’t sit next to you during the film?”

“No...”

“Why not?”

I narrowed my
eyes at him and he smiled.

“Am I allowed to
touch you in public yet?” He reached for the pen I was holding and pressed his
fingers against my hand as he slowly drew it away.

“Stop it.”

“Stop what?” He
purposely dropped the pen in my lap.

I jumped up from
the table and cleared my throat. “I’m going to get some coffee from downstairs
before we start. Does anyone else want anything?”

“Oh! Can you get
me a caramel macchiato?” “I’ll take a regular coffee with extra foam!” “I’ll
have a mocha latte!”

I ripped a sheet
of paper out of my notebook and held it out for people to write down their
orders.

“I’ll help you
get the coffee,
Miss Gracen
.” Jonathan stood up and smiled at me.

Shit...Why didn’t
I think about that?

I watched the
paper stop at every single director, wondering if someone else would volunteer
to help me bring it back, but by the time the paper made it full circle, no one
had offered.

“You don’t have
to rush to get back.” Mr. Barnes handed me the paper. “It’s apparently going to
take twenty to thirty minutes for our satellite advisor to join us on the video
chat today. He’s having difficulties with his login.”

“Right.” I
walked out of the room and rushed towards the elevators. “I don’t need your
help, Mr. Statham. I’ll just get a coffee cart and roll it back.”

He rolled his
eyes and hit the down button.

“It’s too early
for us to do anything...” I looked up at him, pleading. “It’s way too risky and
you know it...”

The elevator
doors sprang open and he pushed me inside. I thought he was going to hit the
stop button and kiss me anyway, but he pressed the button for the lobby and
looked over at me.

“I’m not trying
to sleep with you right now, Claire,” he said. “I just want to be around you.
That’s it.”

“Okay...”

The elevator
reached the lobby and we both grabbed a coffee cart as soon as we stepped off.

I tore the list
in half and handed it to him. “It was nice of you to install a free Starbucks
here...Everyone loves it.”

“I’d hoped so.
One of my employees thought the old coffee we served tasted like shit.”

“It did.”

He laughed. “Why
did you really give up your winery ticket? Wine is one of your favorite
things...”

It’s my number
one favorite thing...
“I honestly just wanted to be nice...The interns have
been working late hours too and they haven’t been getting paid extra so...” I
handed my coffee list to the barista. “I didn’t know you planned that trip with
me in mind.”

“Well, now that
you’re not going we can do something else together.”

“Like what?”

“I’ll think of
something...” He handed his list to the other barista and helped me load napkins
and pastries onto the cart. His phone started to ring and he stepped away.
“I’ll be right back.”

The barista set
more coffees on the counter and I loaded them onto our carts.

“Claire? Is that
you?” Mr. Henderson stepped in front of me. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been well
and yourself? I haven’t seen you around in a while. Have you been sick?”

“No, I got a
promotion.” He smiled. “I work in Operations now. I’m glad I ran into you
though. Are you still going out with
someone else
?”

“Yes.”

He dramatically
frowned and then he laughed. “Lucky guy. You know, if you ever—”

“
Mr.
Henderson
.” Jonathan came back and reached out for a handshake. “How are
things in the Operations Department so far?”

“They’re
amazing. Thank you so much for the personal recommendation. I’d been applying
for a position there for years.”

“It’s not a
problem.” Jonathan smiled at him. “I like to make sure hardworking people are
exactly where they
belong
.” He shot me a disapproving glance.

“Well, thank you
again, Mr. Statham. I’ll see you around, Claire. Call me whenever the lucky guy
messes up, okay?” Mr. Henderson winked at me and walked away.

Jonathan rolled
his eyes and helped me placed the finished coffees onto the carts.

“You gave him a
promotion to keep him away from me didn’t you?” I couldn’t believe him.

“What are you
talking about?” He started pushing his cart towards the elevator.

“Tell me the
truth.”

“Tell you that I
put in a word for him to get the job he
wanted
?”

I shook my head
and stepped onto the elevator. “No. Tell me that you did it because he—”

“
Yes
.” He
pushed me against the wall as soon as the doors closed. “I made him senior
advisor and moved the entire operations department to the building across the
street so he wouldn’t cross paths with you, just in case you forget who you’re
dating again. And
yes
, I’ll do it to anyone else who comes onto you. As
of matter of fact, now that I’ve seen him getting coffee
over here
, I’m
going to have a Starbucks installed in the building across the street, so
there’s no need for him to come over here again. Satisfied?”

I blinked.

“I thought so.”

The elevator
doors opened and he pushed his cart towards the conference room, stopping once
he was outside the door. 

“Tell them I
have another meeting to go to this afternoon.” He brushed his lips against my
cheek. “I’ll see you tonight.”

––––––––

I
brought a
glass of water to my lips and sighed. I was sitting in the private room of
Jardinière, an upscale restaurant in Hayes Valley. There were softly burning
candles set on my table and a large red rose bouquet that read,
“I’m very
sorry that you’re alone right now. I promise I’ll make it up to you—Jonathan.”

“Would you like
to have a glass of wine while you wait, Miss?” the waiter asked.

“No, thank you.
I’m fine.”

He gave me a
sympathetic smile and walked away.

I’d been sitting
alone for thirty minutes, wondering exactly “how late” Jonathan was going to
be.

He’d texted me
right after work, letting me know that his board meeting was going to be “a
long one,” and that Greg would pick me up for our date tonight.

I scrolled
through my phone again, hoping to see a text from him, but I felt his hand rub
against my bare back; felt him pressing a kiss against my shoulder.

“Good evening,
Claire.” 

“Hi...” My body
immediately came to life, reacting to his sexy voice and his gentle touch.

He kissed my
neck and whispered softly in my ear, “Are you wearing anything underneath
this?” He tugged at the low cut on the back of my dress.

I shook my head
and he let out an approving, “Hmmm,” before taking a seat across from me.

“How was your
meeting?” I asked.

“It was
unnecessarily long and dry as usual. I’ll be happy when this IPO is behind me.
I don’t think I can—” His eyes met mine and he sucked in a breath. He reached
over the table and clasped my hand. “What’s wrong with you?”

“What? What are
you talking about?”

“Glad to see to
you’ve arrived safely, Mr. Statham.” The waiter stepped over to our table.
“What wine will you two be having tonight?”

“Could you give
us a second please?” Jonathan kept his eyes on me as the waiter disappeared.
“Your eyes are red, and I’m pretty sure your mascara is supposed to be on your
eyelashes
,
not underneath your eyes. You’ve been crying?”

“No, I have
really bad allergies.” I reached into my purse for my compact mirror. “I swear,
this time of year always gets to me. There’s so much pollen in the—”

“Stop lying to
me, Claire.”

I sighed. “It’s
not that big of a deal. It was an angry cry.”

“About me being
late?”

“No...I—”

“Let’s go.” He
stood up and reached for my hand. “We can talk in the car.”

I leaned against
him as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and walked me out of the
restaurant.

Valet pulled his
car to the front as soon as we approached, and as usual, he helped me into my
seat and waited until I was comfortable before speeding away.

I didn’t know
where he was taking me and I honestly didn’t care. If we rode around aimlessly
for the rest of the night I would be happy with that.

We sped through
the city streets, past all the glimmering lights. When we came to a stop sign,
he looked over at me. “Do you plan on ever talking?”

“I wanted to
make sure I wouldn’t be punished if I did.”

He rolled his
eyes. “Good to know it’s not that serious.”

“It’s not.” I
shook my head. “My daughters are taking a flight to Anaheim later tonight...It’s
their baby stepbrother’s birthday, so their dad called at the last minute. He
said he wanted them to join him and his ho at Disneyland tomorrow.”

“You’re upset
because they’re going?”

“No, he’ll
always be their dad and he can see them whenever he wants...I’m upset because he
waited until the
very last minute
to mention it. We have an arrangement,
and I know he didn’t buy those plane tickets yesterday, you know?”

“I see. Well,
that’s understandable. Do I need to have you home early so you can drop them
off at the airport?”

“No. Their
grandmother always takes them to and from the airport...”

“Hmmm...” He
looked concerned.

“It’s not that
big of a deal. I’m not that upset, I promise. I just hate when he calls—hate
that he still
exists
...I’m sure hanging with you tonight will keep my mind
off—”

“What’s your
favorite movie?”

“
Anastasia
.
Why?”

“The
cartoon
?”

I nodded. “Yeah,
but—”

“And you laughed
at me about
Harry Potter
?” He rolled his eyes and made a sudden U-turn,
driving in the other direction. “Have you eaten anything since lunch?” 

I shook my head
and he pulled out his phone. “Greg? Miss Gracen and I would like to see a
movie...No, dinner will need to be delivered—no seafood...Yes, that would be
perfect actually...
Anastasia
...Yes, I’m aware that it’s animated...An hour
more than likely...Thank you.”

“You shut down
movie theaters too?” I looked at him as he put his phone away.

“Something like
that...” He pulled over at a small convenience store. “I’ll be right back. Do you
want anything out of here?”

I shook my head
and he kissed me before walking away. As I sat in the car alone, I wondered if
he was really capable of shutting down a theater just so he and I could watch a
film that was thirteen years old.