Seducing the Old Flame (29 page)

“Yeah, well, I was stupid and more to the point, I was
selfish.
 
Now I know better.”

Jason put his empty box beside hers and stared at her.
 
“You’re really something else, Tabbycat.”

“Yes, I know.”
 
She winked
at him.
 
“Now, tell me about your day.”

He put his arm around her and hugged her close.
 
“Just in case I forget to tell you later,
this is really nice.”

She knew just what he meant.
 
She smiled.
 
“Yes, it is.”

“About my day, it wasn’t particularly a good one.
 
There’s a flu virus running through the
employees and we’ve been shorthanded every day for the past two weeks.
 
I’m having to bust my ass to try to stay on
schedule.
 
As much as I’d like to think I
could take off this weekend to spend time with you, it’s unlikely I’ll be able
to.”

“I’m sorry.”
 
And she was.

“Plus, there’s the Savannah Blue project.”
 
The words came out as a long sigh.

“The shopping complex you mentioned?”
 
Her heart rate picked up.

“Yeah, that’s the one.
 
Kelly Construction won the bid.”

“That’s great, Jason.”
 
Now was the time to tell him.
 
To
tell him about Bill Banks coming to Stewart and Steinman for funding.

“It is, only there may not be a Savannah Blue project.
 
They’ve lost their major funder, and it’s
looking as if the project is going to be shelved.
 
With the profits from that job, I planned to
build my dream house.”

The plans she’d seen at his office.
 
She’d known what they were.
 
“You’re planning to build on the land your
Granddad left you?”

“Yes, I’ve already had the building site perked and the electric
and water lines run.
 
I planned to start
construction early this spring.”

“If the Savannah Blue project dies you won’t be able to?”

“I could, but I won’t.”
 
He leaned back against the sofa and stared at her ceiling.
 
“I’ve been putting every cent back into Kelly
Construction for years.
 
Despite the
economy, the company is solvent, and doing well enough, but without this
contract, I’m not going to feel comfortable pulling that much cash and time
away from the business.”

“There will be other projects, though, right?”
 
Please say that this one project wasn’t so important.

“Sure there will, but the Savannah Blue shopping complex is
huge.
 
It and the surrounding businesses
that would influx alone would keep Kelly Construction busy for the next five
years. Maybe longer.”

“I see.”
 
And she did.

If the Savannah Blue project died, so did Jason’s dream home,
because he wouldn’t risk putting himself or his company into a financial bind.

“Enough talk about Kelly Construction,” he said.
 
“I want to hear about you, your day.”

“Nothing out of the ordinary.”
 
She’d just bought a pregnancy test and researched the Savannah Blue
shopping complex, hoping to find some saving grace that Bill Banks had missed
in his report.
 
She hadn’t.
 
“Until tonight.
 
And dinner with you is most
extraordinary.”
 
She smiled and hoped he
didn’t see right through her to the misery she felt over the project.

“Compliments will get you everywhere.”
 
He reached to hug her closer, but She-cat let
out a disturbed meow, and both Jason and Tabby laughed.

Tabby stroked the cat, then picked up she and Jason’s empty
take-out containers.
 
“I’ll just go toss
these.”

And try to convince herself that he wouldn’t care that the
Savannah Blue project’s future rested in her hands.

“I’m pregnant?”
 
Tabitha
stared at Dr. Rogers, trying to contain the excitement within her at having the
positive home pregnancy test confirmed.
 
She’d scheduled the appointment for early Friday morning so she wouldn’t
have to miss more than an hour of work.

“You most certainly are.”
 
The doctor beamed.
 
“Do you know
when you conceived?”

Tabitha told her the dates of the weekend she’d spent with Jason.

“Wonderful.
 
Continue with
your pre-natal vitamins and,” she handed Tabitha a paperback book on
expecting.
 
“Read this.
 
It’ll tell you everything you want to know
and more.”

Tabitha took the book and stared at the cover.
 
A very pregnant woman stared back.
 
In a matter of months that would be her.
 
She slid her hand over her belly, marveling
at the changes that had begun within her body.

She was going to have a baby.
 
Jason’s baby.

“Any questions?”

Just how she was going to tell Jason that she was nixing his
career dreams in the bud, but oh, by the way, she was pregnant.

“None,” she answered out loud.

“Great.
 
I’ll see you in
two months.”
 
Dr. Roger’s made marks on
Tabitha’s chart.
 
“Unless there’s a
problem, in which case you should contact me immediately.”

Dr. Rogers handed her the superbill.
 
“Congratulations, Tabitha.”

“Thanks.”

Tonight.
 
She’d tell Jason
tonight.
 
Somehow.

“Tabitha, there’s a call for you on line three,” the
receptionist buzzed Tabitha’s intercom system later that morning.
 
“A Mr. Bill Banks.
 
Do you want to take the call or shall I take
a message?”

Bill Banks?
 
What could he
possibly have to say to her?
 
That didn’t
involve the Savannah Blue shopping complex, that is.

This wasn’t going to be good.
 
Possibly not even ethical.

“I’ll take it.”
 
She
picked up the phone and pushed the appropriate button.
 
“Mr. Banks, what can I do for you today?”

“I’m hoping you’re going to tell me the Savannah Blue project is
a go,” the man’s nervous words grated in Tabitha’s ears.

“That’s not been decided yet.”

“But you know, don’t you?”

“Actually, I don’t as I’ve not discussed it with Ben or Harold since
you were here.”

The man sighed and Tabitha’s irritation with him lessoned, but
only a little.

“Yeah, I talked to Harold, and he pretty much told me the same
thing.”
 
She’d forgotten about Harold and
he being friends.
 
Maybe that would play
into Harold deciding to favor the project.

“Well, you know more than I do then.”
 
She doodled on her desk calendar, circling a
date a little more than seven months away.
 
She didn’t want to deal with Bill Banks today.

She glanced down at her flat stomach.
 
Jason’s baby grew there.

“Look, Mr. Banks, I appreciate your concern about the project,
but it really isn’t appropriate for you to call and discuss this with me.
 
I’d advise you to contact Harold directly in
the future.”

“I know.
 
I’m sorry.
 
I’ve sank a bundle into this project and just
can’t bear to see it dwindle away to nothing.”
 
He sighed and her irritation lessoned a little more.
 
Darn it, she didn’t want to like him or feel
sorry for him.
 
Emotions could not play a
role in business, not if one wanted to stay on top of the game.
 
“I just thought you might be sympathetic to
the cause, you know.”

“Why would that be?”

“Because of Jason Kelly.”

“What about Mr. Kelly?”

“I saw you two together.
 
The man is nuts about you and I got the impression the feeling was
mutual.
 
He stands to gain a lot from
this project.
 
Maybe you should consider
that while making your decision.”

“I’m sure I will.
 
Goodbye, Mr. Banks.”
 
Tabitha hung
up the phone, her irritation fully returned.

Chapter Fifteen

Tabitha glanced around her
condo.
 
Tonight she planned to invite Jason
to spend the night.
 
He’d already warned
her that he’d arrive late and have to leave early so he could go to work in the
morning.
 
She doubted he suspected she
planned to seduce him.

Seduce him?
 
Ha.
 
They’d gone almost two weeks without having
sex.
 
Two weeks of laughing and loving
each other without consummating their love.

They’d not argued once.
 
Oh, she knew their future held arguments.
 
What couple’s didn’t?
 
But they’d both matured and would work
through any problems life threw at them.

All day she’d mentally worked through the past, planned for the
future.
 
She’d made some break-through
discoveries about herself, about what really mattered.
 
When all was said and done, Jason and their
baby was what counted.
 
Everything else
took a backseat, including her job.

On Monday morning, she’d meet with Harold and Ben and ask to be
excluded on this project.
 
She’d hand
over all the research she’d done on the project and the area and expected
expansion in the area.
 
Whatever they
decided, she’d fully support, but she wasn’t going to play a role in the actual
decision.
 
Ben and Harold would
understand her reasons and respect her for being upfront about her involvement
with Kelly Construction.

And Jason, well, he’d understand why she couldn’t be involved in
this particular project.

Enough about the Savannah Blue project.
 
Tonight was about telling Jason he was going
to be a father.

She glimpsed around the living room one last time.
 
Candles flickered from several surfaces and a
gift-wrapped present for Jason rested on the coffee table.

He was picking up dinner and had only complained a little at her
insistence that they have Chinese again.
 
She glanced at her watch.
 
He
should be here any second.

Knock.
 
Knock.
 
Knock.

Perfect.
 
She smiled and
opened the door.

“Jason.”

He stood there, freshly showered, one hand full with a take-out
bag that smelled wonderful, another clutching a bouquet of red roses.

“Flowers?” she asked.
 
Had
he ever bought her flowers before?
 
Not
that she could recall.
 
And roses.
 
Red roses.

“They pale in comparison, but when I saw them, I knew they were
meant for you.”
 
He held them out.

“That is so sweet.”
 
Tabitha’s eyes watered.
 
“I can’t
believe you bought me flowers.”

“And more Chinese.”
 
He
shook the bag.
 
“What’s up with you and
Chinese?” he teased, pausing to kiss her cheek as he entered the condo.

His lips were cool against her cheek.
 
“Brr, you’re cold.”

“It’s really cooled down outside.”
 
He looked around the candlelit condo with the
lit gas-log fireplace in the far corner of the room.
 
“But nice and cozy in here.”

“Very cosy.”

His gaze met hers.
 
“Why
do I feel like I’ve walked into a room set for seduction?”

She shrugged, breathed in a deep lung full of roses.
 
“Thank you for my flowers.
 
They’re lovely.”

“So are you.”
 
He kissed
the tip of her nose.
 
“Come on, let’s
eat.
 
Lunch was a long time ago and I’m
starved.”

“You haven’t eaten in over eight hours?” she teased, walking
into the kitchen and finding a vase under her kitchen sink.
 
She arranged the roses in the vase, filled it
with water, and carried it back into her living room.
 
She set them on top of a curio cabinet filled
with Betty Boop paraphernalia.
 
“Poor
man.
 
We’d better feed you quick.”