Strictly Business (16 page)

She asked about his family and found his heart. He loved his
parents, genuinely and unreservedly. He also loved Cody, although he thought it
was time for him to settle down a little bit. Quit the rodeo life and come back
to the ranch. Cody had always planned to build a house on Morgenstern land when
he retired. Jake mentioned that maybe Jess would help Cody with his house when
the time came. Jess nodded, knowing she would be back in Austin. And, unless
Cody had the kind of money and pull Jake had, there was no way her boss was
sending her back to Wyoming. As she listened to him talk, telling her memories
of his childhood, she let her mind wander. She realized that she really liked
Wyoming. She liked the small town bar, the neighborly feel, everyone was so friendly.
She liked Evanston. It was big city convenience, small town charm. And she
loved the mountains, the views. As she thought about that, she got an idea. As
the idea took root, she realized it had been silently brewing for quite awhile.
As dinner wound down, it began to float around, pushing its way to the front.
It held more and more appeal.

When they got in the truck to head home, it was after eight,
but it was still light outside. They were going to drive into the sunset. She
knew this time alone would be the perfect chance to talk, but she really didn’t
want to ruin this day. It had been a rough morning, but an amazingly great
afternoon. She decided to let it go a little longer, wondering just how long
she could avoid the confrontation.

They listened to music, amicably arguing over which station.
Jess preferred hard eighties and nineties rock, the hair band era. Jake, of
course, preferred country. They both liked classical, although it wasn’t what
either was in the mood for. They settled on new country, which had a little
more rock to it. By the time they got home, the sun had set, most everyone was
in bed, the house was quiet. She checked her watch, it was almost ten o’clock.

When they got into the house, Jake found that he wasn’t
quite ready to let her go. When she turned to face him, he knew she was going
to say good night, so he said the first thing that came to mind to keep her
with him a little longer. “Let’s watch a movie.”

She looked down at her watch again. “Don’t you need to get
up in like five hours or something? I’ll just go to bed. We can watch a movie
another time. Thanks though, for today. I know you’re busy, but we needed to
get that stuff done. We need to go again, maybe early next week if you can
spare the time, to finish at least the tile choices for the bathrooms. I’m
leaving in about seven weeks, for a week or so, but I can…”

“Wait, you’re leaving? You were supposed to stay until the
house was done. You can’t leave!”

“I
can
leave, but if you would quit yelling at me, I
would tell you that I’m coming back! My sister’s having a baby, I’m going home
for the birth, whether you approve or not.”

Jake took a deep breath as the panic started to subside. He
knew he would wonder later why he’d panicked, but for right now it was enough
to know that she wasn’t leaving for good.

He thought about dragging her off to his room. Wanted to
have her in his bed. He needed to hold her, to have her in his arms. But he
knew that if he did, it wouldn’t just be holding. He wouldn’t be able to stop himself
from thrusting inside her. And they needed to take it a little slower. Today
was proof enough of that.

Forcing himself to calm down, to control his flaring temper,
he took her hand and dragged her up to her bedroom door.

“Since we live in the same house, I can’t exactly drop you
off at your front door. This will have to do.”

“I really had a good time today, Jake. Honestly. But,
there’s a lot we need to talk…”

“I know. We’ll talk tomorrow. It’s late and it’s been a good
day. Let’s not spoil it. Let me just kiss you goodnight and go to bed.”
Where
I’ll dream of burying my aching cock inside your wet heat.
Thinking of her
in his bed reminded him of the one night she’d been there. And what she’d left
behind. “Wait here just a minute.” He backpedaled and headed to his room.

He smiled when he saw that she had actually waited for him.
He held her red bra up in front of her. She groaned, covering her eyes with her
hands.

He chuckled softly. “You left this in my room. I figured you
might want it back since it matched the panties. So, tell me… do they always
match? I’ve been dying to know. And is red the normal color, or was that just
because of the night out?”

When she swiftly lifted her shirt, not off, just high enough
to show her bra and beautiful breasts, Jake was shocked. He sucked in a breath,
taking in her deep purple lace bra, the nipples already pressed against it. He
looked up to see her smile, slow and sexy, spread across her face.

He ran his hand down her side, stopping at the waist band of
her jeans. “Do the panties match?” He hooked his fingers into the waist,
sliding them around until he reached the snap. He fully expected her to stop
him.

She didn’t. He unsnapped her jeans, sliding the zipper down
until he could see the front of her matching lace panties.

Then he groaned. “They always match?” She nodded. “Are they
always lace?” She nodded again. He groaned louder this time. “God! Better than
my dreams.” He slid his fingers down, into the top edge of her panties. Two
fingers dipped down into her curls.

At her deep inhalation, Jake watched desire fire in her
eyes. Slowly, he leaned in until his mouth was less than a hair’s breadth from
hers. He waited a heartbeat before finally touching his lips to hers.

The kiss started soft and slow, Jake hadn’t planned on it
going any further than that. And then she whimpered, pressing her body closer
to his. The desire he’d been denying since that first kiss—hell, since she’d
walked into his office—rose to the surface, drowning out his good intentions.
He ran his hands up, sliding his thumbs along the bottom of her breasts,
deepening the kiss, plunging his tongue into her mouth. She rolled her hips
toward him, no idea how close he was to taking her right there in the hall. He
ripped his mouth off hers, stepping back and pulling in deep breaths.

She fell back against her closed door, her little whimper
tearing at his tenuous control.

“Tomorrow. We’ll take the horses out, pack a picnic, and
we’ll talk.”

“Okay,” she answered. “We’ll talk.”

“Go in your room Jess, before I change my mind.” He was bent
over, hands on his thighs, still trying to calm his breathing.

She slipped into her room, closing the door softly behind
her. As a precaution, Jake called out "Lock it," before heading down
to his room.

* * * * *

The next morning, Jess wandered into the kitchen and aimed
straight for the coffee. She managed a nod at Marsha. For some reason this made
Marsha laugh, loudly, as she wandered out of the kitchen muttering something
about “stupid kids not knowing love if it bit ’em in the butt.” Jess shook her
head and made a plate of food, then refilled her coffee. She needed a lot of
coffee today. She had slept a little, but even her sleep was plagued with
dreams again. Sexy, erotic, amazing dreams. They were nice, but not particularly
restful. And she woke still on the razor’s edge of desire.

She headed outside about ten with the picnic lunch she’d
packed from leftovers. She found Jake in the stables, already saddling horses.
He looked fit to be tied. Maybe this wasn’t a good time to talk. She wouldn’t
mind rescheduling herself. She wasn’t feeling particularly chatty. More
inclined to jump him than talk about it. She sighed.

He turned when he heard the sigh. He looked her over from
head to toe, smiled a wicked grin and asked, “How’d you sleep?”

She looked up, glared at him, then slid into ice mode.
“Fine, thank you. And you?”

He laughed like she’d just told the best joke ever. He
walked over, swung her into a hug and landed a quick kiss on her forehead. “I
didn’t sleep at all. And neither did you. Let’s go. I saddled Lady for you.” He
swung up into his saddle and headed out without waiting to see if Jess
followed.

Jess put their lunch into the saddle bags and hopped into
the saddle. She smiled. His moods were definitely a roller coaster, but it
might be worth the ride.

They rode hard for almost an hour following different trails
all around the ranch, and ended up in a gorgeous shady area by a stream. If her
sense of direction was holding true, they were a little north of the new home site,
but on the same stream.

He led the horses down to the water while she laid out the
blanket and set out their lunch. They sat down and ate leftover chicken, potato
salad and biscuits, all in a relaxed, companionable silence, unlike the angry
nervousness of the morning before. When they were both done, they packed up the
lunch and lay back on the blanket, enjoying the heat of the day.

Finally Jake spoke up, diving in without preamble. “So, I
was married before.”

“Yeah, Cody mentioned it, although no details. Can you tell
me what happened?”

“Yeah. It was pretty simple actually. I wanted to be
married. I always had, kind of. Wanted marriage, kids, the whole nine. My
parents were happily married, so I knew what I wanted from watching them. When
I met Karen, I thought it was love. In retrospect, I’m not sure I’ve ever
really been in love. It was almost too easy to let her go. I think I was more
disillusioned than heartbroken. But I was pissed either way. I really thought
she loved me. It turned out that what I thought was love, was. Just not for me.
She loved my money. And she wanted me to leave the ranch and take her away from
here. Small town life was not for her. When I said no, told her I was never
leaving the ranch, she started having affairs. Lots of them. There are at least
four that I know of, although she told me there were more. She might have just
been trying to hurt me, I'll never know for sure.”

“Jake, I’m so sorry.” Jess really had no idea what to say to
him. There were no words for something like that. She didn't have a lot of
experience with the kind of real love he was talking about his parents having,
but she also had no experience with the kind of heartbreak he'd been through.

“It’s okay, it was over four years ago. Anyway, the worst
was when Cody came to me and told me she’d come on to him. I didn’t believe
him. I thought he was just trying to ruin my marriage. We fought...brutally.
But something in the way he kept insisting it was true made a dent. I asked her
about it the next day. Things blew up. She admitted it was true, all of it. I
told her I wanted a divorce. She told me she wanted money.” He shrugged, like
that explained everything.

“So, you paid her off?”

“Yeah, I paid her off. It was easier than having to deal
with lawyers and courts. I gave her one million dollars to go away and never
come back. She took it. It took less than two months for the divorce to be
finalized. I had her served in California. It could have been worse. Cody
forgave me for not believing him without me even having to ask. My parents
retired and I took over the ranch. And now, four years later, here we are.”

“Jake, I’m sorry. I really am. It’s not enough, but…” She
looked over, placing her hand over his where it rested next to his leg. He
wrapped his fingers around hers and squeezed.

“I just need you to understand. The flip out over Mike?” She
nodded. “Yeah, that was a little bit of a flashback. I didn’t even know I could
get that angry. I’ve never been the jealous type.”

“That wasn’t what you think. It was because he ignored the
eyes.”

“What?”

“That day, I decided not to put in my contacts. In fact, I
threw them away. And when I got to the house site, everyone stared at me.
Instead of asking about it, or saying anything, Mike just said ‘Hey’, and led
me into the kitchen. After awhile, everyone else followed his lead and didn’t
ask any questions. The hug was just because he’d understood. That’s what you
saw, not what you thought it was.”

Jake looked chagrined. “When I saw your eyes, it made it
worse. The only time I’d ever seen you without your contacts was when we
were…when we…did…were, uh, intimate. Seeing you with him, like that, I kind of
lost it. It didn’t look romantic, even then, but it was too much. He’s in love
with you. You know that right?”

“Mike? He’s not in love with me. Not really. He might think
he is, or wish he could be. But he’s not. We tried dating back in college. Up
until you, he got further than anyone ever has. But, there was nothing there.
The proof is that we could stay friends after. If you love someone, you can’t
be friends after. At least, I couldn’t.”

“I’ll apologize for being so angry, and for not asking what
was going on. But, I can’t apologize for the jealousy. I find I’m very
possessive of you. I won’t share.”

He was silent, waiting for her response. She could see the
tension in his shoulders as they tried to climb up his neck. She smiled. “Good,
because I don’t share either.”

He lifted her hands to his lips, kissing the knuckles, then
rubbing his thumbs over them. “So, how’d you manage to stay a virgin this long?
Are the guys you know all idiots?”

She laughed. “No, not all of them. I was busy. I had
graduated high school early and had my Masters by the time I was twenty-two,
and I was interning with Brundel and Schein. Then, the guys there, well, they
don’t like me much. Plus, most of them are married and the younger ones were
always in competition with me for jobs. I did go on a few dates, but there came
a point where, well… I had waited so long anyway. It just felt like I should
make sure I really wanted someone before I took that step. And I never have.”
The “until you” was silent, but understood.

* * * * *

“You know we’re going to make love. You won’t be a virgin
much longer.”