PART 3
Chapter Twenty-One
Justin – Friday
As I drove over to the boutique hotel where I’d put Annie up for the weekend, I found my mind wandering back to where it had been all week long: on Garrett’s increasingly erratic behavior.
As expected, he hadn't turned up to work the day following our massive argument. But much to my surprise, he was just there the next day, acting as if nothing had happened. It was so strange. He hadn't brought anything up again, so I’d taken his lead and done the same, but it was obvious that something wasn’t quite right.
The way he’d been with Annie was not good at all, and that made me mad. Much as his behavior had pissed me off over and over again, I wasn’t ever rude to any of his many “friends,” just in case. It was unlikely that he would marry one of the random chicks from his group sex sessions, but I couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t, and I didn’t ever see the point in starting things off on the wrong foot.
Then there was the whole mess with my family…the facts that I was trying my hardest not to even think about. It was a constant struggle not to fall apart, so all I could do for now was keep it firmly planted in the back of my mind.
It wasn’t until I actually parked my car in the parking lot that I stopped thinking about Garrett, and I started wondering what I was playing at with Annie, instead.
After we overstepped the boundaries of a business relationship and we slept together, she’d made it perfectly clear that she thought it was a mistake…yet I couldn’t seem to help myself. When I spotted that dress in the store, I could just picture her in it and purchased it without even thinking.
This was all so complex. Not only was I about to possibly go into business with her, but my company wanted to virtually screw her over. Combining that with feelings just wasn’t great, but that didn’t seem to stop me.
“Oh God,” I muttered to myself, shaking my head. “No point in worrying about all of that now.”
I was going out with Annie, whether I liked it or not, there wasn’t any going back on that now. Plus, I didn’t even want to back out. I liked her too much for that, even if it wasn’t exactly appropriate. In fact, the closer I got to the hotel door, the more my excitement level grew.
And then when I finally saw her there, standing in the dress I had brought for her, looking like a supermodel straight from a catwalk, my heart leapt up into my chest. Annie was stunning, just as beautiful all dressed up as she was completely natural, and in my experience, that was so hard to find.
“Wow,” I gasped out, unable to contain my feelings inside. “You look incredible.”
“That’s all thanks to the dress,” she replied, far too modestly. “This dress is amazing. It could make anyone look incredible.” I didn’t fully agree with that statement; I felt like her good looks had more to do with her than the dress, but I didn’t want to be too forward, so I simply nodded. “You really do have good taste.”
“Why, thank you,” I teased. “Wait until you see where I have a table reserved for us.” At first, I’d considered going to one of my regulars, the Parisian restaurant across town. But as I thought about it through Annie’s eyes, I imagined her seeing it as the pretentious place it was, so I decided against it. I didn’t want her to think I was a pompous ass, even if that was a little bit the case. I wanted Annie to see deeper into me, to see that there was more to me than just that. “You like sushi, right?”
“I do,” she smiled, agreeing with me, which was great. The Japanese place was just around the corner, easily within walking distance, which meant we could both have a drink. Maybe not quite as much as last time, as we didn’t want to end up doing anything silly, but just enough to help us relax. “That sounds lovely.”
As we walked, she linked her arm through mine, bringing her body very close to me, and it became damn near impossible to control myself. All I wanted to do was wrap my arms around her, push her up against the nearest wall, and kiss her hard. I wanted to devour her, to claim her, to make her fall for me…
But I couldn’t. She had instructed no funny business on out last meeting, and I still needed to honor that agreement. Because of that, I wouldn’t even mention the moment we had sex.
By the time we were sitting on the floor around the very traditional Japanese cuisine table – Annie careful in her dress – I felt a shift in the atmosphere. There was no denying that this had become far too date-like to ignore, and now it seemed that Annie was going to go along freely with that theme by trying to get to know me and my life a whole lot better, discussing everything except the business.
“So, Garrett…he’s a character, right?”
“I know,” I chuckled, shaking my head. “Sorry he was so douchey with you earlier. He’s just going through a rough patch at the moment.”
“Has he always been that way?”
Oh God, the difficult conversation area. I didn’t want to discuss it, I wasn’t really prepared to ruin such a lovely evening with such depressing talk, but I got the distinct impression that Annie would be more offended if I didn’t tell her anything. “He’s been that way ever since Mom…died. We were quite young at the time.” I wouldn’t say killed herself, not yet. I hadn't come close to accepting that yet.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she replied carefully, placing one of her hands over mine. “That must have been hard. I lost my dad last year and that hurt, so I can’t even imagine how much of a struggle that would be.”
I left it at that, not wanting to get into the complexities of it all. Suggesting that Garrett starting acting like an idiot because he lost his mom was much easier than anything else. “Yeah, well, I lost my dad a while back, too, so it really is just me and Garrett. Maybe that’s why I put up with far too much.”
“Wow, you have a lot on your plate.” She looked sympathetically at me, as if I had a hard life, which coming from a single mother who ran her own successful business was something else.
“Well, I don’t know about that,” I smiled, doing my best to break the ice. “But I do think we should stop talking about families – it’s much too nice a night for that. Except Rae, maybe.” That little girl had the ability to melt my heart.
“Oh, well I could talk about my little girl all night long…”
***
The change of conversation did us good. It allowed us to laugh and have fun, whilst getting to know other aspects of one another’s lives. We talked about our childhoods, our young and naïve hopes and dreams, with an intense chemistry floating between us the entire time.
There was no denying it, not anymore: we had something – something intense, something powerful, something almost overwhelming. It was just a shame that nothing could really be done about it, not while we were in the middle of this business limbo.
Speaking of which…
“Look,” I eventually sighed as I walked her back to her hotel room. It might have been the drink talking, but I couldn’t hold it back any longer. “I have to be honest with you.”
“Okay?” she replied, turning to face me with anxiety in her eyes. “Go on?”
“The business deal my company has proposed for you, it isn’t a good one.”
I didn’t want to get involved with Boffees if I couldn’t help Annie and Rae. That was why I’d suggested the investment, and the fact that it hadn't gone to plan meant I didn’t want to get involved anymore. I didn’t really want anyone else to have a stake in Boffees, either, but I didn’t want it to be me who wrecked her dream.
“I think my company will end up taking too much from you, and they will have the power to change things too. Boffees is you. I don’t want the magic of the place to be lost.” I glanced away awkwardly, wishing that things could be different and that I could actually be bringing her dreams to life. “I just don’t want you to go into this without fully understanding all of that.”
She grabbed my chin with her fingers and brought my eyes back up to hers. “I know,” she replied softly. “I’ve known for a while. I read the contract thoroughly, so I understand it all.”
“And, you’re still going to sign it?” I asked her, totally stunned. She couldn’t be that desperate to expand, could she?
“No, I’m not.”
“So, why did you come all the way to Portland?”
“For the free vacation,” she teased with a smirk playing on her lips. “Obviously.” I tried my best to grin back, but I couldn’t quite manage it. Not when I didn’t totally understand what was going on. “I came to see you, silly.”
“Me?” Logically, I knew what she was saying, but I’d spent so long trying to resist that side of us that it felt too strange to fully comprehend it now. She wants me? She wants me as something other than a business partner? What the hell am I supposed to do with that information?
“Yes, you.” She tugged on my jacket, pulling me closer, and before I could even think about what we were doing, she was kissing me like there was no tomorrow.
My chest exploded with strong feelings, like nothing I’d ever experienced before. I felt free, happy, excited. This time there wasn’t anything taboo about us kissing; she didn’t want my investment, so we could simply feel everything inside of us.
“Come on, let’s go to my room.”
As I followed her up the stairs to her room, my heart thundering in my chest, I felt an anticipation like no other. Annie might be the one, the one I finally allowed myself to fall for, and for the first time in my life, that concept wasn’t totally horrifying. I actually wanted it.
It hardly mattered that my parents had a screwed up relationship; it didn’t have to affect me that Garrett would sleep with anyone and everyone that looked his way. I didn’t have to be like any of them.
Annie interlinked her fingers through mine as we walked through the door, a gesture that felt so right that I never wanted to let go. However, as she moved away and snaked her arms around my neck to bring me in for yet another kiss, I found that I didn’t mind. As long as she was touching me in one way or another, I felt good. She felt good.
This ending to the evening wasn’t what I had been expecting – it was so much better than anything else. With Annie’s lips against mine, I felt glad that I’d told her the truth, even if she did know already. She deserved my honesty, and a much better investment deal than Harry was willing to give her.
I would help her do better, even if I couldn’t give her what she wanted, I would help her to achieve her dream one way or another.
That way, I could have the best of both worlds. I could help improve her and Rae’s lives, whilst kissing her at the same time. That way, nothing would stand in our way…