Passions in the North Country (Siren Publishing Classic) (18 page)

She hung up and looked at him with glowing eyes. “We got a shot at a fall and winter tour stop!” she exclaimed.

“What?” he asked, unable to understand her words.

“Four days a week,” Jenny said, nodding excitedly. “Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Rooms for twenty all four days.” She lifted her eyebrows. “After the summer peak! Autumn colors. Skiing and snowmobiling in the winter.”

“Wow,” Devon said, flabbergasted by her proficiency. “You are good.”

“So are you,” she suddenly said, the animal coming back into her eyes.

Jenny spontaneously rose on her tiptoes and kissed him on the mouth. He was surprised and was just about to start kissing her back when she pulled away. He looked blankly at her. She just smiled, then walked out of her room, looking back at him from the top of the steps. “Please lock the door when you leave, dear.”

He could still smell her aroma deep in the pit of his stomach. As he clutched the knob to close the door, he saw the small stool on which there had always rested a lamp. Jenny had moved the lamp next to the bed to facilitate her reading at night. Now, in its place, was a lacy, see-through black bra and transparent white panties. He could tell by the way they were crumpled that they had been worn. She had removed them and carelessly discarded them there. Devon’s cock sprung to full attention at the mere sight of them. He could almost feel heat and smell sex scent on them. Then he noticed writing and a tiny pink ribbon on the panties. Feeling guilty at violating Jenny’s privacy, but unable to resist it, he unfolded the panties with the tips of his index fingers and thumbs. The pink ribbon was at the top of the front. Below it was a picture of a hot-eyed cat, and below the cat, the words, “Man
eating pussy.”

Devon’s eyes flashed. Feeling conflicted, like an alcoholic unable to resist a drink, he lifted the panties and smelled them where the material had been pressed against her hot, wet sex. They were noticeably wet and had a strong, intoxicating scent.

“Um,” Devon moaned, his eyes rolling back in his head. His cock was like granite. Devon licked his lips and muttered, “Jenny, I want to fuck you so bad I can taste it.” He then laid down the lacy, skimpy panties and left the room, his mind in a fog, the scent of her hot sex lingering in his nostrils. He sniffed it, breathed it into his mouth, curling the aroma over his taste buds. Never had he smelled anything like it. “Delicious,” he mumbled, his eyes half-closed. “You are the sexiest woman I’ve ever met.”

As Devon locked the downstairs door to Maria’s room, Jenny walked up to him. “What took you so long?” she asked. “I thought you were right behind me.”

He was flustered, but had to think quickly. “I just paused to look around your room,” he said. “For many years no one has lived there, and I was just thinking of how nice it was to see signs of life.”

“What a nice thing to say,” she replied with a bright smile. She laughed and slightly tapped his arm. “And all this time I thought you were up to no good.”

He laughed as if that was the craziest thing he had ever heard.

“You know, Mr. North, when I first met you, you were a downright ogre, but there are glimpses, brief, mind you, where I think you may someday be civilized.”

“Civilized maybe, domesticated never,” he answered challengingly.

“That would be fine by me,” Jenny said. “I want a man, not a pack mule. What kind of woman do you want, Mr. North?”

He looked at her with a sincere expression, as though all the games were over. “A woman like you,” he said.

Jenny pulled back, startled. “Two compliments in one day! Should I call a doctor, Mr. North, or is there a chance the ice around your heart is starting to melt?”

He laughed at her but did not respond.

“You know what I really like about you?” she asked, slipping off her sunglasses.

“You like something about me?” he said, touching his heart. “Yes, Ms. Lamb, please do call a doctor.”

“I like a lot of things about you,” she said with the casual air of a diva. “You know how to change tires, you’re nice to Miriam, and, most of all, you’re not possessive.”

“I’m not,” he said seriously, shaking his head. “If I was involved with a woman and she wanted to walk away at any time, I would never stop her. I would never force myself on anyone, no matter how much I loved her. But not all men are like that, are they, Jenny?”

She did not respond.

“Sometimes women have it so bad they literally have to run away.”

“My biggest turnoff is jealousy,” she said. “Any sense of ownership makes me feel imprisoned.”

“You don’t want to be domesticated either.”

“Oh, I don’t mind being domesticated,” Jenny said, “but it has to be because I want the domestic life. I don’t like feeling forced.”

“Me either,” he said casually. “There’s no shame in that.”

“What’s your biggest turnoff?” she asked, feeling incredibly close to Devon.

“Deception,” he said flatly.

“I wouldn’t cheat on my husband,” Jenny said. “You could take that to the bank.”

“Not even in your fantasies?”

She was surprised by the question. “Would you? Would you fantasize about women other than your wife?”

“Sure, I would. I’m not dead. And I wouldn’t expect, or even want, my wife to be. I’d have fun with it.”

“How much fun?” she asked, eying him.

“In a hypothetical way?” Devon suggested.

“Yes, in a hypothetical way. What would you let your wife think?”

“She could think whatever she wants,” Devon said, “because those are her thoughts and in the end she answers to herself. But, in a hypothetical way, if you were my wife, for instance, and you were a hot woman, just for the sake of argument, and if you wanted to fantasize about being with the Captain while I was with Maria, I would, as they say, have no problem with that. To me it would be fun and playful, and to me sex should be fun and playful. It’s a time when a man and a woman can totally forget the world and express themselves to each other, openly and without inhibition. That is, to me, true romance, because it requires true trust.”

“Interesting concepts, Mr. North.”

“Not only concepts,” he said, “but practices.”

She had to put him to the ultimate test. “If we were in Europe on vacation and went to a nude beach, what would you think if I took off my bathing suit and walked naked in front of other men?”

“Would you like to do that?”

“Sometimes,” she said, her eyes glittering.

“Then I’d like it,” he said. “They look, but I get to touch.”

“Yes, that’s how it would be,” she said, her heart pounding.

“And if you were married to me,” Devon said playfully, “and I walked au naturel on a nude beach in front of fifty women, you would not be jealous?”

“No,” she said. “It would make me horny.” The second she said it, she regretted it. It was like a Freudian slip, a thought that snuck out of her mind and jumped out her mouth. She blushed a deep crimson. “I have to go. Bye.” She walked away with her head down, a frantic look on her face. “What am I doing?” she grumbled under her breath. “What’s gotten into me? He must think I’m some kind of cheap
ass bitch.”

“Ms. Lamb,” Devon said.

She didn’t turn around because she was being impolite, but because Jenny Ashbury literally did not recognize the name. It didn’t register.

“Ms. Lamb!” Devon called a little louder.

The light came on. She stopped and faced him, feeling mortified. “Yes?”

“Thank you,” he said with a strange look on his face.

“For what?” she asked, almost in an unfriendly way.

“For coming into my life,” he said.

The world stood still. She had felt embarrassed, but he had not deserted ship. On the contrary, he was liking what she brought. She could see it in his eyes, the fascination, the attraction, the excitement. Everywhere life was going on, melting one day into the next, people scurrying about in all directions, not a thought for Devon or Jenny, but here he was, bigger than life, handsome, sexy, interesting, and this man, this incredible man, was totally focused on her. She had entered his life, first as a moon in orbit around his planet, but now it was much more, much, much more.

“I like you just the way you are,” Devon said.

She smiled, surprised and exhilarated. “I like you, too, Devon.”

He smiled, nodded, then went back to work. Jenny got into her car, stole a glance at Devon, now rounding the other side of the hotel, then noticed him glancing at her. Like him she quickly turned away, a surge of awkwardness washing over her. They were at the crucial stage. Either cross the line and let the fires burn, or play it safe and keep their distance. Neither of them was sure what they wanted to do, but neither wanted it to end, that’s for sure.

She drove to Martin Brothers, an all-purpose business at the end of a commercial street. She talked to the owner for half an hour. After she was finished, she went to the garden center, negotiated with the clerk in a good-natured manner, then drove back to the hotel and went to her room, glad not to have seen Devon in the process.

* * * *

Things were very quiet over the next few days with Jenny and Devon treating each other in an almost formal way. They did not exchange a single word. On a Thursday morning, as was his routine of late, Devon drove to the city to pick up some wholesale supplies.

Jenny made a phone call. Half an hour later a truck with two workmen pulled into the driveway and Jenny gave them specific instructions. They followed her directions exactly, and when they were finished she thanked them for a job well done. She went back to her room and around noon, when Devon was due to return, she watched out her window and waited for him.

He was right on time, but, unlike usual, he stopped on the street and stared openmouthed at a large, beautifully painted sign erected on the front lawn.
The North Country Inn
.

With the fresh paint and the old, faded sign replaced by the new one, the inn took on a whole new character. The building was the same, but it seemed to have been injected with a new, positive spirit. People stopped out front and pointed, nodding with approval at Devon as he sat there trying to conceal his shock. Devon drove into the yard, parked his truck, then stormed up the stairs and banged on Jenny’s door from the Captain’s room.

“Come in,” Jenny said sweetly, arranging flowers in an antique vase.

He entered and stared stone faced at her.

“Excuse me, Mr. North,” Jenny said with a grimace, “are you feeling unwell?”

“Where did that sign come from?” he blurted out angrily.

“Do you like it?”

“It obviously does a lot for the inn,” he admitted, his eyes flashing, “but I expressly told you I need to be frugal with my money. I’m up to my ears in renovations and yet you bought that sign without consulting me. I can’t believe you, Ms. Lamb. Either you don’t care what I think, or you don’t understand what integrity means. If you make a promise, you keep it.” He looked positively pained. “I thought you respected me.”

“I do respect you,” she said, surprised by his reaction.

“No, you don’t!” he said with conviction. “We had an agreement, Ms. Lamb. We did.” His jaw was firmly set. “We agreed that I would have to confirm the purchase of that sign before you went ahead. Do you deny that?”

She smirked and assumed a pouting look. “I have no wish to deny it.”

Devon sighed loudly and rubbed his forehead. “We had an agreement,” he said, “and you broke it. That sign came from Martin Brothers. They have a similar one at Eagle’s Head Golf Course and they paid fifteen hundred for the whole setup. This sign has the same post system and, if anything, it’s even bigger. Unless there was a huge sale, I’m looking at one gigantic bill, young lady.”

“But you do like it?”

“I love it,” he conceded. “I’m not stupid. I can see that the hotel has been transformed—”

“Inn,” Jenny corrected.

“Yes, inn,” he said, perplexed. “Hotel or inn, the bills are the same.”

“Miriam loves it,” Jenny said with the flighty tone of a butterfly’s flapping wings. “I took her a picture. She’s so happy, Devon! She loves the new name, the new look—everything. I’ve even decided to name all the rooms, you know, like the Captain’s Room, and Maria’s Room. The room where Miriam and her husband stayed will be Miriam’s Room. We’ll call the big room that looks over the river the Riverview Room, and the one in line with the bridge, the Newbridge Room.”

Her voice was becoming like a drone and he was starting to tune her out. “How much did it cost?” he asked slowly, looking hard at her.

“Twenty-two hundred,” she said tentatively.

Devon leaned back against the wall and sighed like a man at the point of death. “Twenty-two hundred dollars? No! Please, no!”

“Yes,” she said, nodding her head and looking strangely at him.

His face turned red. “I’m upset about this and I have something to say,” he stated, rubbing his hands.

Jenny loved the way he reacted to anger. He looked like a little boy, pouting, who has just had his marbles stolen. He doesn’t scream or throw rocks, he gives the thieves a lecture about respecting other people’s property, then walks away with his head held high, knowing he was in the right.

“You’ve done a lot for this business,” Devon continued, “and I’m thankful. But I will not put up with someone working against me and not respecting my wishes. I’m sorry, Ms. Lamb, but I’ll have to ask you to leave. You’re fired.”

“Fired?” she snapped. “You don’t even pay me!”

He gritted his teeth. “You promised to consult me and yet you go out and buy an expensive sign without so much as a single word. Do you think I’m made of money? Is that what you think? Well, if you do, you’re wrong. Twenty-two hundred dollars is a fortune to me right now. Do you understand that? And do you remember our conversation on that point, or do you not?”

“Don’t patronize me,” Jenny said, quite forcefully.

Devon looked offended. “I’m not patronizing you. Do-you-remember-our-agreement?” he asked slowly, carefully pronouncing every word. “Hmm? The one where you had to clear a purchase before spending
my
money?”