Playing With Fire (Sweet Redemption) (7 page)

Her body betrayed her, screaming in protest at the interruption of his hands on her skin. She almost arched her back to him so that her breasts touched his body, and to encourage him to continue.

There was no more fighting it—she couldn’t control the way her flesh responded to the touch of his hands. She couldn’t control the way her heart leapt when he looked at her, couldn’t control the way she felt when they were together anywhere, and how she hoped their partnership would never end.

She started tearing open Eric’s shirt. She wanted him to be a part of her desperately.

She gasped a little when she saw his chest—hard, smooth and tanned. He was muscled like a god. She ran her hand over it and felt him shudder.

“You’re not making this easy,” he said.

She had no idea what he was talking about and didn’t care.

She saw his eyes before he came for her lips again, and knew there was no turning back.

Then all of a sudden he stopped kissing her and grabbed her hands, holding them together.

His eyes were closed and remained so for a few seconds as he silently breathed in and out deeply.

When he opened his eyes, they were still dark blue with desire yet his words said:

“Just wanted to remind you who’s really in charge.”

He smirked a little as he let her hands go and re-buttoned his shirt, but it failed to have the confidence of the previous ones she’d seen on his face.

Once composed, he thanked her for the coffee, then left.

Janet watched him close the door to her apartment in utter disbelief, her mouth hanging open.

She was slightly offended, but his weak smirk and assertion tempered the offense.

She wasn’t sure he had the upper hand anymore, and she got the feeling he wasn’t either.

CHAPTER SIX: RESENTMENT

Janet got madder and madder as she thought about what Eric had done, and this time, as she deliberately avoided him at work, he let her. He didn’t call her or stop by with any questions, didn’t leave any messages for her anywhere.

She also had no problem coming up with excuses not to see or talk to him, did not need to pretend she was angry with him and didn’t want to interact with him—he had humiliated her, and all she could do was hold it against him.

She couldn’t risk looking into those blue eyes and seeing laughter in them at her expense, the smug satisfaction of his power over her dancing in them.

What kind of game was he playing?

When her desk phone rang, she stared at it with narrowed eyes thinking it better not be him before she checked the screen.

She was relieved to see the receptionist’s extension.

“Your dad on line eight,” she said when Janet picked up, and Janet thanked her and took a breath before picking up the line.

“Hi dad! What’s going on?”

“Hey hon, same as usual. Making some new connections, and things are looking good for some of our new ventures. Look, I just called ‘cause I know someone’s got a birthday coming up, and I don’t know what you’re planning this year for it, but I know you usually use at least one of your vacation weeks for a birthday week and guess what—I got you two tickets to Fiji! Five-star hotel, all expenses paid, all that good stuff.”

“Oh my god dad, that’s awesome! Thanks for doing that!”

“You’re welcome baby. Brenda knows all the details and will handle the rest of the arrangements—just confirm the dates and who you think you might take with her. By the way,
is
there someone in particular you think you’d take with you?”

Janet thought about it for a moment. There was only one person who made sense.

“Probably Liz if she’s planning to take a vacation week soon.”

Her father made a sound as if thinking about something out loud.

“Interesting,” he said.

“What’s so interesting? You know Liz and I are tight.”

“But have you guys ever left the country on a trip before?”

“Well sorry dad, clearly you have someone else in mind for me?”

“No, no. Just wondering. Thought you might have someone special you’d want to take along by now.”

“Dad, seriously? David and I just broke up like five weeks ago.”

“I know, I just...look, it was a just-in-case situation anyway. I just hope you and Liz have fun and get a chance to drop your worries for a while. I love you pumpkin.”

“Love you too dad,” Janet grumbled before they both disconnected the call.

She sighed in frustration.

Who was she fooling? There was no way Jason would let Liz leave the country without him—he barely let her go shopping without scrutiny. That left no one since she was certainly not asking Eric—they were still just coworkers after all.

Which meant she had to take her dad’s
awesome
gift and go to some
awesome
place all by her
awesome
self like some loser.

She felt some embarrassment when she thought about what others might think if they could hear her thoughts. She knew what the others thought of her, and she knew she’d get no sympathy.

Poor little rich girl
, they’d probably say sarcastically.

Well, I guess I can catch up on some reading
, she thought.
And work on those other projects...

But again the thought of doing such a thing by herself made her incredibly sad. Who went on vacation in a strange, new country alone? No one. She’d never heard of it. Who enjoyed eating at five-star restaurants and taking sailing lessons or swimming with dolphins or whatever else one did on some exotic island all by themselves? No one—unless that person was on vacation with the intent of hooking up with locals—which she had no intention of doing. She preferred taking sand to the beach.

She sighed again. She wished she and Eric were on better terms, although even if they were by the time her vacation started, she knew it was still a bad idea to take him along; they weren’t ready for it.

She wasn’t ready for it.

If he could do to her what he did the other night, who knew what else he was capable of?

She suddenly started resenting her dad’s gift. It was so impersonal like so many gifts before. He was always throwing money at her—gift cards, Black Cards—anything that screamed: “I don’t know a thing about you, nor do I care to find out, but go buy yourself something nice” year after year.

Finding out she liked
Versace, Louboutin
and
Tiffany & Co.
for gift cards was easy—he probably found out where she liked to shop from the secretary or her other coworkers because
there’s no way he’d know otherwise.

She tried to remember the last time her father bought her a thoughtful gift and couldn’t.

Probably when she was a little girl.

The more specific gifts he had gotten her—like her sixteenth birthday Mercedes and her college Porsche, she had told him specifically what she wanted, not trusting him to pick up on just hints. He never knew enough about her to venture an educated guess.

Still, she was glad she no longer had to think about what to do for her birthday this year—she inevitable got stressed out planning for it.

For her twenty-fifth birthday, she had wanted to throw a party, creating a company gathering of it, but luckily, Liz had talked her out of it.

“That probably won’t go over well,” Liz said gently, and by the softness of her approach, Janet knew she was missing something.

“Imagine all of these guys feeling obligated to bring you something. What do you get a girl like you?”

“What do you mean a girl like me? I’m not much different from anyone here! My salary is to scale...”

Liz was shaking her head.

“Not everyone has a trust fund.”

“Are you kidding me? I don’t even know if I have a trust fund anymore...”

“That’s not the point Janet—you still have access. Your father has not cut you off and you know it. You tell him you need money to buy an island and he’ll probably wire the funds to you. You know what I mean? Come on Janet, what are you here for if not to be his heir? You are not our equal, and everyone knows it.”

“Well, I can tell them they don’t have to bring anything—I’ll have entertainment, great food...I’ll provide everything...”

Liz was still shaking her head.

“You don’t understand—not many people would feel right about that. People would still feel obligated to bring you something or feel guilty for not doing so. And they’ll resent you for putting them in that position.”

So instead of throwing herself a huge party for her quarter-of-a-century milestone, she sent herself on vacation. She was with David by then, so she and David spent a week in Hawaii. He had luckily been able to get the week off.

She had been keeping up the tradition since—China the next year and Europe the next.

And now her father had taken care of this year’s locale for her.

She had wanted to try something different this year but had made no alternate plans, had not come up with a single idea of what to do—especially since she and David were no longer together.

She simply hadn’t felt like celebrating this year, and was on the path to treating her birthday like any other day, deciding to save the vacation week for another time—perhaps sometime in December. But now she could use it like she was used to doing.

She made a conscious effort to keep things in perspective and remain grateful. Her father at least remembered her birthday after all.

***

“So what’s really going on?” Liz said, watching her intently, her brown eyes disconcertingly aware and tuned in as they settled in for lunch.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t play games with me girl. What’s up with you and the new guy?”

Janet thought for a moment.

“I’m really not sure Liz. Obviously, I like him a lot and I know he feels the same way. But he’s been playing some weird game with me, and I’m not quite sure what’s behind it.”

Liz looked at her in confusion, silently encouraging her to go on and explain herself.

Janet finally admitted everything that had transpired over the past week including everything that had happened with David.

Liz whistled.

“Talk about an eventful week.”

“Tell me about it.”

“So why do you think he’s playing with you like this?”

“To be honest, I don’t even think he’s playing with me—I don’t think he’s like that. I just have the distinct impression there’s something he’s not telling me. He’s usually brutally honest, but he’s holding something back, and I can’t even begin to guess what.”

Liz looked thoughtful.

“Maybe he’s scared of falling in love with you too.”

Janet stumbled over her next few words.

“Who said I was...? I never...”

Liz’s hand motioned dismissively.

“Save it—I know that look. You’re just about gone girl, I’m sorry to break it to you. He’s not a bad one to fall for as far as I can see anyway—good-looking, gainfully employed, and it seems like he digs you too. I don’t know how many guys would go so far as to not only demand you change your locks for your own safety, but stubbornly wait while you have it done. And to take on the rest of your crazy ex’s challenges as they come—some guys would punk out or stay out of it, but not this guy. His instinct is to protect you, and that’s never a bad thing.”

Janet took in her words thirstily. Then as she found herself dangerously drifting to tender thoughts about Eric and she felt her heart come alive, she decided to change the subject.

“So...my next vacation week is coming up soon. You wouldn’t be able to come with me on a trip to Fiji would you?”

Liz gave her a look.

“Girl you know I can’t.”

Janet rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, I know. Jason.”

Janet paused a moment before continuing. She had wanted to broach the subject again for a while and figured now was as good a time as any.

She let out a breath and looked into her friend’s eyes.

“I’m scared for you Liz. Eric told me this story about how an old friend of his and his cousin were in relationships like yours. They both got murdered by their boyfriends. I don’t want anything like that to happen to you!”

“You sure he didn’t just make that shit up to make sure he got rid of the competition?” Liz said, leaning back.

“You can’t be serious Liz—you know as well as I do for a fact that tons of domestic abuse situations turn into...”

“I’m not being abused Janet. Jason doesn’t hit me.”

That’s not the only kind of abuse
, Janet wanted so say but she sighed instead.

This wasn’t going well. As long as Liz was defensive, there was no getting through to her. She’d have to come up with another plan, try again another day.

“I love you Liz—I don’t want to lose you to some paranoid, obsessive guy who’s nowhere even near your league.”

Liz seemed to soften again.

“Listen honey, I’ll be fine. You just look out for that smooth one slithering into your life. It’s all looking good so far, but that’s how it always starts. Make sure you figure out what he’s up to before you come trying to watch my house. Keep your eyes open. If your instincts are telling you he’s up to something, pay attention.”

Janet looked away.

They both quietly went back to their food.

***

When Janet got back to her office, she found her mind eager to get back to work and focus on her assignments.

The last thing she expected as four o’clock came around was for Eric to show up at her door having successfully expunged him from her brain for the past few hours.

He knocked lightly, then closed the door behind him as she looked up, startled.

“I heard through the grapevine you’re going on vacation pretty soon,” he said matter-of-factly.

“What’s it to you?” she wanted to say. Instead, she nodded, wondering who he could have heard it from.

“For how long?” he asked, and Janet pondered over the tones and undertones of his voice.

“A week,” she responded slowly.

Eric nodded.

“Mighty long time to take off without telling your partner what’s up.”

“I was going to tell you Eric, I just hadn’t gotten around to it.”

He said nothing—only nodded his head as if understanding, but it was clear he was anything but.

“Are you going anywhere in particular?”

Janet hesitated. Again, he was making her want to be honest and forthright. She had to bite down on answering truthfully—it was none of his business damn it!

“None of your business,” she managed to squeeze through her teeth.

Then his face transformed, and he suddenly looked unfamiliar.

His face tightened in a way she hadn’t seen, his complexion as if more blood was flowing nearer the surface of his skin. His eyes stormed.

“When are you leaving?”

Janet hadn’t yet picked the date, but now knew what to tell the secretary. Her birthday was on Monday after all.