One Night: A BWWM Interracial Romance (13 page)

“It’s a shame though,” her mother conceded. “You’d think if he wrote something like this, he would have at least tried it. I mean, vodka poured down her thigh and…well, I won’t get too graphic here. I guess you’ll just have to read it, honey.”

Natalie’s mouth flew open. She didn’t need to read it; she had experienced it. Switch out vodka for a thousand dollar bottle of whiskey and it was an exact reenactment of her night with Jake. Vivid memories of his tongue sliding down her thigh to her….
Oh god!
 

What the hell had he written in this book?

“All I can say is, next time you see him, make sure and insist he does the same things to you that Nick does to Naomi!” her mother chuckled.
   

There were moments when Natalie appreciated her parent’s slightly libertine views on life.
 
This was not one of those moments.
 
She groaned into the phone as she sank down onto the couch. She had no intention of enlightening her mother either about Jake’s having acted out each scene from this book of his, or that he was anything more than a friend.
 

“Mom, I should probably go. Pooh Bear is having a fit with this cat,” she said, making up an excuse to get off the phone before the conversation became anymore embarrassing.
 

“Okay, honey,” her mom said. “Tell Pooh Bear to behave himself!”
 

“Yeah, mom,” Natalie said. “Love you.
 
Enjoy New York!”
 

With that she ended the call.
 

Natalie tried desperately to remember everything that occurred that night with Jake.
 
Obviously there was the whiskey.
 

Natalie’s cringed at the memory of it, wondering exactly how he’d worded it in this book of his. She thought about the things she had screamed out. Dear god, what had her parents read?

Why in the world had she let her dad take that book? She should have wrestled it out of his hands.
 

Natalie thought of all the people she knew who would possibly read the book when it finally came out.
 

Okay, so it was too late with her parents.
 
They had read everything.
 
No biggie. Fortunately, they were open minded. A little too open minded, but that was neither here nor there.
 
None of her friends read Jake Steele novels.
 

Maybe she was safe?
 

JAKE

“Hello, Jake?” the female voice on the other end of the line asked. “This is Terri Dodson from Wright Publishing?”

“Oh, yeah,” he answered. “Hi.”

“Hello,” she said brightly. “I’m just calling to introduce myself and see if we can get together to discuss the details of the book tour.”

“Well, I haven’t agreed to anything yet,” he said warily.

“Oh, yes!” she said quickly, “I’m just supposed to give you information, just in case you decided to do the tour.”

“Hmm,” he said, noncommittally.
 

“It really is quite a bit to go over,” she continued, “Perhaps it would be best over dinner?”
 

Jake became a bit confused. “Dinner?”

“Well, it’s just that, it might be best over a meal or something,” she explained, not very convincingly. “Covered by Wright Publishing of course!” she added.
 

“Um, well, I suppose so,” he agreed.

“Great!” she said in that perky voice again. “Are you free tonight?
 
At 9 o’clock?”
 

“That’s a bit late for a work dinner, isn’t it?” he said.

“Oh,” she said.
 
Jake could hear an undertone of disappointment. “We can meet earlier if you like.”
 

“Why don’t we make it 7 instead,” he said. “That way you don’t have to spend your night working and you can get home,” he chuckled.
 

After a pause, she gave a little laugh in response. “Okay,” a little less perky this time. “I’ll text you the details after I get a reservation.”
 

“Sure thing,” he said in response.
 

That night Jake found himself sitting in a cozy little booth across from an attractive and very attentive blonde.
 
Terri Dodson looked to be in her late 20s and was conventionally pretty with extraordinarily bright blue eyes in an oval face. Her hair hung down to her mid-back and every so often she would tuck a strand behind her ear as she looked at him. The only flaw was a slight overbite, which actually make her kind of cute as it turned out. She was dressed professionally, but there was a hint of…sexiness to it. The white blouse was a little too sheer.
 
The pencil skirt a little too snug.
 
The heels a bit too high.
 

He looked around the restaurant for the umpteenth time wondering how in the world anyone would think of a place like this to hash out business details. It was a fancy place, complete with white tablecloths and wait staff in formal wear. The booth he and Terri occupied was a rich, red velvet and was just barely big enough for both of them, especially with his long body.
 
The lighting was low, which made it nearly impossible to read any of the paperwork that she had brought with her.
 

She had ordered an entire bottle of wine, despite his protests that he didn’t want Wright Publishing going all out on his account. “Nonsense,” she had said, pouring him a glass “We need to butter you up so you’ll agree to this tour.”
 

He had an idea that the wine—and the restaurant—were both her idea. He looked her over, reevaluating her.
 
As far as prospects went, she wasn’t a bad one. It had certainly been a while for him, he mused as he took a sip of wine. In fact, he was surprised to find out that the last person he had actually slept with was Natalie.
 

Jesus, what was wrong with him?
 

He looked at Terri again, wondering how she would compare. Would this one inspire any new characters?

He shook his head, snapping out of it.
 
Okay, so he was in a dry spell.
 
But tonight was about business.
 

“So what exactly would I be agreeing to here…
if
I say yes?” he asked.

That gave her all the encouragement she needed to scooch in closer to him, pulling out a piece of paper from the leather bag she had brought with her. Now she was close enough for him to smell the fragrance emanating from her. It was some kind of flowery scent, probably from lotion or something.
 

He felt her knee touch his, and he instinctively slid further away on the couch. They both reacted to that with confusion.
 
Her from disappointment and him from…he couldn’t say why.
 

Maybe he just needed more wine.
 

He sipped as she went down the list of cities they would be flying into. Boston. Chicago. Houston. Seattle. Pretty much all the major metropolises.
 
Ending in Los Angeles.
 

Jake sipped some more wine.
 

“I was told you are hesitant to do this,” Terry said, looking up at him with a smile. “But I’ve been on these tours before. It’s actually quite fun. You stay in nice hotels and meet all sorts of people, your
fans
! Think of it like a vacation.”

Jake laughed, inciting an excited smile from his table mate. “You’re the second person to put it to me like that.”
 

“Does that mean I’ve convinced you?” she said, leaning in oh so slightly.
 

“You’re doing a damn good job,” he said, taking another sip. “This wine is helping.”
 

Terry leaned over the table and grabbed the bottle. She took Jake’s glass and poured more into it.
 
She poured a drop into hers as well. Then lifted it up to his.
 

“Cheers!” she said in her perky voice.

“Cheers,” he said, going along and tapping her glass with his. “What exactly are we toasting to?”

“Well, to your book?” she suggested. “Or maybe to the possibilities this tour will bring,” she smiled ambiguously at him.

He thought of Los Angeles and smiled.
 
“Cheers,” he said quietly.
 

Terry brightened, thinking the smile was for her benefit.
 
Another inch disappeared between them.

“So can I go back and tell my bosses that I got you to come around?” she said enticingly.
 

“What the hell,” he said, taking a gulp from his glass. “Let’s do it!”
 

She laughed in response. Another inch closer.
 

“Let’s toast again,” she suggested, moving ever so slightly closer. “To the book tour,” she said, holding her glass up.

Jake brought his glass to hers and they both took a sip.
 

“You know, I really love the picture on your cover,” she said, leaning into him. “So many writers want to look professional or like some sort of bad ass, but yours…yours was just so personable.”

Her eyes were glowing up at him as she talked.
 
He could tell the wine was hitting her.
 
He could feel it starting to loosen him up as well.
 

“It makes you seem so approachable, like anyone could just come up and have a conversation with you, or whatever.”
 

By now she was only inches away from him.

“It doesn’t hurt that you’re very good looking,” she said, biting her lip flirtatiously. “I’m sure there will be a lot of women wanting to meet you on this tour.”
 

Jake just nodded, trying to decide if he liked where this conversation was going.

“Do you think I’m attractive?” she inquired.

His eyes shot open wide at that.
 
He furrowed his brow in confusion. Sure she was attractive but something inside of him thought maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea to head down this road. On the other hand, he didn’t want to hurt her feelings, and she was cute in a way.
 
Not necessarily his type, but cute all the same.

“Um, sure,” he said, taking a sip of wine. “You are an attractive woman.”
 

She beamed and before Jake knew it, she leaned all the way in, brought her hand up around to the back of his neck and kissed him square on the mouth.
 

He was so shocked he didn’t react at first. A small part of him gave in to it at first, enjoying the feel of lips on his. Then…it just felt all wrong. She didn’t taste or feel right.
 

He reached up to unclasp the hand that clung to his neck and gently pushed on her shoulder with his other hand. He heard a slight groan in frustration under his lips as she held on a moment longer
 
hoping to bring him around.
 
He pushed a bit firmer.

She came away and looked up at him searchingly. She saw the lack of passion in his face and frowned. The frown turned into panic as she realized what she had done.
 

“Oh my god,” she gasped. “I…I don’t know why I did that.
 
Please,
please
don’t tell Wright.”

Jake nodded and slid further away from her. “Don’t worry,” he said, “we can just pretend this didn’t happen, okay?”
 

She nodded gratefully, moving back over to her side of the booth dejectedly.

The last thing he wanted was any sort of complications like this in his life, and he certainly didn’t want to get the poor woman fired for one tiny bit of indiscretion. He looked at her again as she stared down at her hands. If he was any other man he would have happily taken advantage of the situation. She was cute and eager. Heck, even one year ago he would have. These days, he had only one woman on his mind.
 

Maybe visiting Los Angeles would be a good thing. Maybe he’d see Natalie again. Maybe he’d finally get her out of his system.
 

NATALIE

“Hey, there’s our muse!” her father yelled as she quickly got out of the car to open the trunk. She rolled her eyes, just imagining what the ride home would be like.
 

Right now she just wanted them loaded in the car. She was double parked right outside the baggage claim at LAX and wanted to move before the notoriously ornery L.A. drivers started ripping her a new one.
 
She quickly hugged them both and grabbed her mom’s suitcase, carefully avoiding eye contact with either of them.
 
In just 5 minutes they were loaded and seated and she found an opening to get out and head up to the 405 freeway.

“So…you brought the book back, right?” she said casually, looking at her dad out of the corner of her eye.

“Oh, darn honey,” he said shaping his fingers and looking back at his wife, “I knew we forgot something.
 
I think it’s sitting right on the nightstand of our hotel.
 
Some poor maid is probably getting all hot and bothered read—”

“Ha, ha,” Natalie said with overt sarcasm. “Where is it?”
 

“Stop teasing her, honey.” Her mother scolded. “I have it in my bag, Natalie.”

Natalie’s eyes shot up to her mother in the rear view mirror.
 

“So, how embarrassed should I be?” she asked, part of her didn’t want to know the answer.
 

“Natalie,” her mother said laughing a little. “Stop being silly. It’s a book, a
fictional
book. You should be pleased he thought enough of you to base a whole character on you! And after what appears to be just one-night?” she let the question hang.

Natalie chose not to enlighten her. Instead she thought about what her mother had just said. It had only been one-night…and now she was a “muse.”
 
A tiny part of her was pleased after all. Had the sex been that good? Maybe she shouldn’t be all that upset at Jake.