Willow (7 page)

“
Tree, sir? I don’t understand. You came home in that cab alone an hour ago. No one else has come in since. Were you expecting someone?” Beard helped him to his feet—all six of them. He was thinking with that many feet, he should be able to stand straighter.

“
I think I should lie down. Here is good.” They were on the stairs then and Jared looked behind him to see how they’d gotten that far. Magic, he thought.

“
Very good, sir. If you’ll just stop—oof. Sir, you must refrain from stomping my feet. It is quite painful.” Jared staggered his way up to his bedroom, or really, Beard had half-dragged half-carried him up to his room.

When Jared hit the bed, his entire body felt like it had been twisted in a tight wad and then run over. He lurched up and stumbled to the bathroom and threw up. Throwing up sobered a person quickly, he discovered, but he felt like shit afterwards. Jared didn’t know how he got into his bed, but he was suddenly there and his legs were being tugged off. Looking down, he saw that Beard was pulling off his shoes. He was glad for that. He needed them.

“
Beard? I’m pretty sure I’m going to want you to shoot me in the morning. Why don’t you just do it now and save you the trouble?”

“
No, sir. I’m afraid that’s quite impossible. You’ve gone to a great deal of trouble to get in this state and I think you should suffer though it until the end.” The light went off as Beard continued. “Besides, sir, it would be a ghastly mess and I don’t want to have to explain to the lady of the house how you came to be dead on my watch.”

Jared was closing his eyes when he realized that Beard had made a joke. Raising his head, he looked toward the door. He hoped it was a joke anyway. Jared was out before his head hit the pillow the second time.

His head was broken. Jared had been trying to get up for over an hour and couldn’t get his head to work. Sometime after leaving the bar—or was it bars?—he’d done something to break his head. Rolling to his back only made it worst. Closing his eyes again, he sat up slowly and when the room stopped spinning, Jared staggered to the bathroom.

There was aspirin and a glass of orange juice sitting on the counter along with a bottle of beer and a glass. The note tied around the bottle of beer simply said, “hair of the dog.” Jared’s belly rebelled at the thought of putting any more alcohol in his system. But he did take six of the aspirin and drained the glass of juice. Turning on the shower, he waited for the water to get hot and looked at himself in the mirror.

He looked like shit, and that, he decided, was an understatement. His eyes were bloodshot and his nose was bright red. His lip was bleeding and a little puffy, but he didn’t have a clue what he’d done. His tongue felt like he had a hairy rug on it and when he opened his mouth to see if his teeth had individual sweaters on them, he discovered they were just teeth. He brushed his teeth four times before he felt like they were clean.

His chest ached and he remembered throwing up. Then he remembered Beard helping him up the stairs. Jared sat down on the toilet when everything from last night came into focus with perfect clarity. Everything.

Willow. This was all her fault. She’d led him on and now…well, he didn’t really need all that much leading. He stood up and shucked his clothes as he remembered touching her, kissing her. Christ, he wanted her.

Jared stepped into the shower and nearly killed himself trying to turn the water to warm. Someone had turned the taps all the way to cold. He didn’t want to think it was the man who’d left him the juice and hairy dog this morning. Adjusting the water, he scrubbed his skin and his thoughts once again drifted to Willow.

She had let him touch her when she had someone else in her life. He didn’t like to think about the fact that if she let Jared do the things he’d done to her, what would she let the man in the parking lot do to her? He wouldn’t have a woman he couldn’t trust in his life, not again. He’d had one too many over the years, women who wanted money and a good name to go with it. Jared wondered what she wanted.

Jared was dressing when he thought about her and Conley together. He had no doubt now that she was having an affair with Conley, a married man. That bothered him too because he knew from his file that Conley had three kids. What sort of woman had an affair with a married man with kids? Then on top of that, would two-time him with Jared. He made his way down the stairs to the kitchen.

Beard was there with one of the maids, Jared had no idea who, telling her about the linens in the front bedroom. She scurried away when she saw him. Jared watched the door swing back and forth after she’d gone until Beard cleared his throat.

“
Sir. How are you feeling this afternoon?” Jared looked up at the clock. It was just after three in the afternoon.

“
Fine. No, shitty. I’m really sorry about last night. I was a complete ass and I can’t tell you how stupid I feel.”

Beard nodded. Jared wasn’t sure if he was accepting the apology or agreeing with his assessment of him being an ass. He decided that maybe he didn’t want to know. Beard asked him if he was hungry.

The thought of food made his belly jump. “No, I don’t think I’ll ever eat again. Or drink. I think I’ve hit my limit for the rest of my life.”

Jared pulled a mug from the cabinet and poured himself some coffee. It was fresh and hot. Nothing like the tar they served at the site. He wondered if Willow would be working today and decided he’d drive by and see. He was still going to fire her in the morning, but did want to see if she was working. He told Beard not to make dinner for him, that he’d get something in town. He was pulling out of the gated drive twenty minutes later.

Before he knew it, he was in the lot and his truck was off. The same beat up pickup was sitting there and there were lights on inside the building and the site trailer. He got out of the truck and walked to the office. He didn’t really want to talk to her, but wanted to make sure she wasn’t in there with Conley.

~o0o~

Willow was working her way through the invoices when someone knocked. Since the door was never locked when she was there, she yelled for whoever it was to come in. Jared came in and slammed the door back on its hinges.

“
Do you have any idea what I could have done to you if I had wanted to? That fucking door should be locked when you’re here alone.” He made a big deal out of turning the tab. “Where’s Conley?”

She glanced up at him, but didn’t want to get into a fight with him so she answered his question. Fucking bastard, she so didn’t need this shit today.

“
Home. Where you should be. Go away, I’m busy.” She screamed when her chair was jerked away from the desk and turned to him. “Are you fucking nuts? Get out of here.”

He loomed over her. Close, so close she could see each individual lash on his eyes. And his breath blew in soft puffs over her mouth. But it was his eyes that threw her. They were deeper, darker than they had been before.

Need, unfamiliar and powerful, coiled inside of her. But before she could do something stupid like pull him down to her mouth for a quick nibble—or a long one—he wrenched away from her and crossed to the other side of the desk.

Willow moved slowly back to the desk, not sure what would set him off again. Picking up the next invoice, she laid it back down because she didn’t want him to see how hard her hands were shaking.

“
You’ve driven me insane all weekend,” he said softly as he flopped down in the only other chair in the trailer. “I even got drunk so I could try and get you out of my mind.”

Willow wondered if there was a sign hanging on her somewhere that said, “rip out my heart, I don’t need it.” She tried to mask her hurt by looking down at the now blurry paper in front of her.

“
How did that work out for you?” She heard him chuckle, but didn’t look up from the computer. “The men in my life just use a punching bag.”

He didn’t say anything for a long time, so long that she looked back at him. She was uncomfortable under his scrutiny and nearly asked him to please go away again. But his next words sliced through her.

“
Just how many men are in your life, Willow? I mean, besides the man from the other day, Conley, and any number of men who work for you.” he sifted in the chair. “I mean, there are what…twenty-five men on this crew give or take?”

Willow stood up and walked to the door. She was leaving, she had to. And she didn’t care what he thought about it. She had just had enough. Then suddenly, she was pressed against the door, Jared’s breath, his body, on hers.

“
All of them. All the men that work for me now and in the past are men in my life.” her voice cracked, but she wanted him to leave her alone. “It’s really too bad I don’t have an opening right now or I’d slip you in.”

When he didn’t move, didn’t back away, she tried to push back and to make him move, but he simply held her there.

“
Let me go. I mean it. I want you to let me go.” She felt him back up and she took a deep breath, hoping that she would make it to her truck before the tears fell. But he turned her around so that her back was now pressed against the door and him against her.

“
I can’t. I wish that I could, but I simply can’t.” His cock pressed hard into her and she felt her body respond to him. “Let me have you, Willow. Even for this one night. Let me bury myself inside of you.”

Taking a deep breath, she turned in his embrace and pushed him back. He moved, but didn’t let her go. She looked up into his eyes and saw lust, passion, and need burning in them. She wondered fleetingly if her own eyes said the same thing.

Willow knew without a doubt that it was going to be a mistake, but she wanted him. There would be this one night, she promised herself, then it would be finished. She wasn’t worried about his noticing she was a virgin and if he did figure it out…well, then it would be too late anyway.

“
Tonight. Only tonight and then you stay away from me.” When he nodded, she thought of his accusations. “And no questions. Ever. We have sex then you and I are never again. I’ll meet you at the hotel on Broad Street.”

He stepped back from her. “Do you get a discount there, Willow?” Hurt and pain seared through her being, but she refused to show him.

“
Do you want this or not? Frankly, I could care less,” she snarled at him.

He hesitated just long enough that she thought he was going to tell her no. She wasn’t sure in that moment if she would be happy or not about it. But he nodded again.

“
Yes, damn you, I want you. I’ll meet you there. I need to get me some protection first.” he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and jerked her to him. This kiss was brutal, almost savage. When he pulled away, she was breathless and wanted him more now than she had before.

“
But this one night is mine, all mine, Willow. No other thought but me in that pretty little head of yours. You understand me?”

She nodded to him this time, not sure if opening her mouth would be safe. She didn’t know what sort of nonsense would spill from her lips. Turning, she left the trailer.

Walking to her truck, she had to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. Her knees were wobbly and she was sure there would be burn on her skin where he had touched her.

Stopping at the front desk at the cheap hotel on Broad, she had to stop the uncontrollable urge to laugh. Jared had asked her if she got a discount at this hotel when, in fact, she’d never paid for one in all her life. She’d never had too.

The James family, her father actually, owned several hotels, The James Suites, all over the world. She had never thought about the fact that they’d never paid. Since they owned them, it would be pointless. But they had been taught at a very young age to tip and to tip well. Willow’s family had been in the hotel business for four generations and she would be the fifth when she was ready. Her brother Alexander had already told their father that he had no interest in them.

Taking the key from the clerk, she made her way to room seventeen. She wasn’t sure how Jared would know where she was staying, but went inside and closed the door. She nearly turned and left again when she got a good look at the room.

The bed was a full and took up most of the space in the smallish room. It was covered with the most hideous comforter she’d ever seen. It was pink, purple, and green paisley print that looked as if it had been painted by a three-year-old. And not only did the print cover the bed, but the curtains as well. And if Willow wasn’t mistaken, she thought she could see it in the bathroom too.

The carpet was brown. There was no other way to describe it other than to say it was muddy brown, and even that she was sure wasn’t just a color, but actual mud. It had probably been shag at some point, but now it was just nappy.

There was an end table on either side of the bed with a lamp screwed to the top of both of them. A remote on a cable, also attached to the table, was lying there as well. The only other piece of furniture besides the television was a dresser. It was beat up and one of the pulls was missing. Going into the bathroom, she could see the “style,” if one could call it that, extended into here as well.

The shower curtain was the same paisley puke color as the one in the bedroom, but in here the decorator had really gone all out. A pink commode graced the center of the far wall and a green counter top had a coffee maker and an ice bucket with one plastic glass wrapped in plastic. These both sat on a bright yellow tray. The tub, a startling shade of purple, was directly across from the sink. It would have been funny if she wasn’t so depressed.