Chapter Thirty
Jane
“Yes, we would love the opportunity to work with you. We’re flattered you’re willing to give us a chance. I’m sure you’ll find out first-hand that we deliver on our promises,” Anthony says, giving me a silent high-five as he continues to close our latest account.
I turn back to my laptop with a smile. It looks like we’re about to add another name to our growing client list.
In moments like this one, with the man I love sitting behind me and the entire world stretching out in front of me outside the window, I’m almost sure I must be dreaming. It doesn’t seem possible that this is my life.
I can’t help but stare out the window above my desk over and over throughout the day. In fact, some of my best ideas crop up when I’m gazing at the wide, vast fields just beyond the little house that’s been our home for the last eight months.
Not just our home, either. Our office. The headquarters of the advertising world’s newest sensation—at least, that’s how we see it. Who needs a big, fancy office in the middle of Manhattan? It’s a virtual world nowadays. Besides, we can visit our clients in the city. We’re less than an hour away. Of course, those miles make all the difference in the world. I belong here, and once Anthony got used to it, he decided he did, too. His reaction the first time he caught an opossum going through our garbage still makes me giggle whenever I think about it, even though I do my best not to let him see. He could take a bourbon bottle to the head, but the sight of a little animal made him turn white as a ghost. I was fairly sure he might pass out.
The city never suited me. Sure, it was fun living there for a little while, but it didn’t take long for me to understand that I loved the idea of it much more than the reality. I’m a country girl at heart—always will be. Anthony finally acknowledged that most of his trouble came from being in the city. He decided it would do him good to live more simply. Besides, he did say he would follow me wherever I wanted to go. Once I had the money, the man, and the opportunity to make a change, it was a no-brainer.
Now, I love waking up in the morning and enjoying a cup of coffee on the front porch while the sun rises. There’s nothing like that beautiful peace before the world has woken up. I didn’t understand quite how much I missed it before I got back to it. And now I’m here on my own terms, not anyone else’s. We chose a new place rather than going back to PA, so we both are starting new. Neither of us are defined by who our parents were or are. We are ourselves, and only who we want to be.
And I love it. Nothing beats the joy of sitting back-to-back in our office, listening to him doing business. He knows his stuff. Once he no longer had to put up with his father, he discovered how truly good he is at advertising. He always jokes he must’ve learned by osmosis or something, but I know he’s only downplaying his talent and intelligence. Nobody ever gave him credit for that before. Now he can shine out of his dad’s shadow.
“That sounds fantastic. We’ll have a rough outline to you by the end of the week.” I swivel around in my chair in time to see the satisfied smile on his face, and my heart soars.
“So?” I ask.
“So, it looks like yet another of James Enterprises’ top clients is looking for new, more modern representation.” He leans back, grinning from ear to ear. “Nobody would believe it if we told them these people are coming to us, not the other way around.”
“Especially your father.”
“Especially him.” He shrugs. “He’s afraid of change. He won’t even let his employees work remotely.”
Meanwhile, we’ve just hired our first employee, a girl who lives halfway across the country. She’ll be managing our calendars along with other administrative tasks. It’ll free us up to do more of the creative work, which we both prefer. If we keep growing at the pace we’ve set—we already have six clients, three of whom were James Enterprises clients who jumped ship when they heard what we cooked up for Chambersmith—we’ll need to start building a creative team. We both wish we could’ve kept that account, but I already signed the campaign over. Maybe somewhere down the line, when they’re looking for a change, they’ll come back to us.
“A new client,” Anthony says. “I think this calls for a celebration.”
My pulse picks up speed, and I feel warm all over. “Oh? What do you have in mind?”
“I think you know what I have in mind.” His wicked grin is just about the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. When he stands and comes to me, all I can see is him.
He cups my face as he takes my lips, his tongue tangling with mine as it plunges into my mouth. I grab the waist of his jeans, and he bites down on my bottom lip, urging me onward. He’s half-hard as I wrap my fingers around him, and I begin to stroke him. His hands go to my shirt, pulling at the neck of my tank top until both of my breasts are exposed.
He pinches and tugs at my nipples until I moan into his mouth. He lifts me out of the chair, and I break the kiss to rid me of my pants. He curses when he sees that I’m not wearing panties. I like to do that once or twice a week, just to keep things interesting. Sort of like how he likes to take me in all sorts of different locations.
In the field under the stars.
Every single room in our house, including the pantry.
At the nearest town’s drive-in.
Today, it’s in my office chair.
He grabs my waist and lifts me, turning us both before sitting down. I rest on my knees, straddling his lap. His mouth latches on to my breasts as I sink down onto his hard shaft. We did away with condoms six months back, but I still marvel at the feel of skin against skin.
We move together faster, knowing this will be only the first of several times we’ll come together over the next few hours. I bury my fingers in his hair, holding his head to my chest. He’s rough with my nipples, but all it does is make me slam down on him hard enough to make stars spark in front of my eyes.
His hips jerk under me, and I yank his head back so that our eyes meet as we come together. I feel him pulse inside me, filling me, and I smile at the knowledge that someday, in the near future, I’ll put aside my birth control and this act of love will be the beginning of the family that the two of us have always wanted.
He’s looking at me with those dark, smoldering eyes of his, and I know we’re just getting started.
Later, in bed together and considerably sweatier than we were in our little home office, I lift my head from his chest to ask, “Will it always be this way?”
I know he knows what I’m asking. Will we always be this happy? Will I always feel a rush of bliss when he kisses me? Or when our eyes meet from across the dining room table, or when he does something as simple as taking my hand while we’re out for a walk? Will we always work so well together? Will we always work hard to make our dreams real?
His smile is warm, sure, loving. Everything I’ve ever wanted, from the sort of man I’ve always wanted. “I can’t imagine life any other way,” he promises. He kisses my cheek, then frowns. “What’s wrong?”
“I have a secret,” I say sheepishly. “It’s the last one, I promise.”
“Okay, what is it?”
“That night we...” My cheeks flush and this time it’s from embarrassment rather than arousal. “It was my first time.”
He still looks confused.
“I’m a virgin,” I blurt out, then immediately correct myself. “I was, I mean, before you.”
He smiles and kisses my forehead. “And I was a player before I met you. Good thing we met, or we’d both still be doomed.”
“So you’re not mad I didn’t tell you?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Why would I be mad? You just told me that I’m the only person who knows what it’s like to see you come, to know what it’s like to be inside you.”
A wave of relief washes over me, and I brush my lips across his. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” His eyes twinkle. “Now, what do you say we make sure that virginity’s really gone? I wouldn’t want to let you down.”
I smile up at him as he rolls me underneath him. “Not a chance of that.”