Chapter6
Nicole drove home feeling both on top of the world and underneath it simultaneously. She knew she never should have let her emotions and desire sweep her away as she had that night, but by the same token, she had just shared another of the hottest nights of her whole life with the most beautiful lover she had ever been with. The high and the low were sharply contrasted and very confusing for her.
With her morals and her logic all in a twist, she walked into the house and sat down to dinner with Jeffrey. He had made a tropical stir fry for them with shrimp, lobster chunks, crab chunks, and a colorful and delicious blend of fruits and vegetables. He served it with crisp white wine and promised her chocolate for dessert.
As they sat down, he got a good look at her and leaned back in his chair, looking at her more intently. “What’s going on? What happened today?” he asked, knowing that it was something.
She sighed and poked her chopsticks at her food, biting at her lower lip.
“Spill it,” he said, leaning closer to her.
She raised her eyes to meet his and set her chopsticks down on the side of her plate. “There was something that happened today…” she began hesitantly, “that probably shouldn’t have.”
He lifted one brow curiously. “Probably shouldn’t have? And what was that?”
Clearing her throat, Nicole picked up her wine glass and almost spoke into it as she brought it to her lips. “I had sex with Dane in my office tonight.” She touched her wine glass to her lips and drank in a healthy swallow of it as she diverted her gaze to the window and the magnificent view beyond it.
Jeffrey’s jaw fell open. “You did what?” he asked dumbfounded.
She furrowed her brows and sighed, looking down at her plate as she set her wine glass down on the table. “Well, it’s been really tense between the two of us and awkward, and we had this… sort of impromptu meeting today. I went in to see Ed except Ed wasn’t there, and Dane was in his office, so I was going to leave, and he insisted that I stay and show him what I went there to show Ed. So, I did.
I showed him the work that I’ve been doing, but we were alone in there, and it was… so… tense and there was a lot of sexual frustration, and attraction, and desire, and heat, and I couldn’t handle it, so I left. Then, he came into my office after Tia left for the day and told me he wanted to apologize for it being so awkward between us, but the next thing I know we’re kissing and then… then I was getting dressed again.”
He sighed and closed his eyes, taking a moment to find his patience. She eyed him nervously and poked at the seafood tropical fruit and vegetable dinner he cooked, taking a big bite of it. “This is amazing, by the way. I love this. This is so good. We’ll have to make it again. You can show me how you did it.”
“Nicole,” he said evenly, opening his eyes and looking over at her. “You can’t complain about having a hard time with him at the office and then follow it by having sex with him again, especially right in your own office! You’re breaking all the rules!”
“You are a born rule breaker. It’s one of your trademarks,” she shot back weakly.
“I don’t break that rule. I never have sex or even intimate situations with anyone I do business with!” He sighed and picked up his glass of wine as he shook his head. “Honey, you need to take another stab at this. You absolutely cannot, under any circumstance, let anything like that happen with him again. You and I both forbid it.” He looked at her seriously.
“How am I going to get out of it? It’s crazy between us!” she grumbled, taking another bite and enjoying it tremendously.
Jeffrey took a good long drink of his wine and set the glass down. “You’re going to have to get serious about this. You cannot risk losing this incredible job over an affair with one of your bosses! Love and sex in the workplace rarely works out. It’s much too big a gamble. You’re headed straight for trouble, and you know it.”
She did know it, and as she took another bite of her dinner, she began to feel the pangs of regret taking hold of her.
“So, what am I going to do now that I’ve made it ten times worse?” she asked dejectedly, looking over at her best friend.
He took his own bite and swallowed it before answering her. “You tell him that it’s never going to happen again.”
“I told him that.” She felt that she had done at least one thing right, although as she had already told him that, she didn’t feel confident that it would necessarily work, because it certainly didn’t work the first time.
Jeffrey nodded. “Good. That’s not all. You’ve got to figure out some ways to stop it, and I mean now. You start dating other men. You fix it so that you’re never alone around Dane, so that there’s always someone else with you two, and you focus on the third person. Find something about him, some little thing that he does or says, some behavioral characteristic that you don’t like, and when you are around him, focus on it, and let it drive you crazy and annoy the hell out of you. That will keep your mind on the negative aspects of him.”
“I’ll try.” She offered half-heartedly. She couldn’t think of anything about him that annoyed her, but then again, she reassured herself, she didn’t really know him that well. She looked over at Jeffrey then and smiled at him. “Thank you for helping me through this, it means a great deal.”
He smiled back at her. “Of course, darling, that’s what I’m here for.”
Nicole eyed him thoughtfully then. “Have you talked with Pono again since the party or seen him?”
Jeffrey’s whole face changed from serious to giddily happy, and his cheeks blushed pink. “Yes, we really hit it off that night, and we went to lunch the day after the party, and we’ve talked on the phone a couple of times a day each day since then. We’re going out to dinner tomorrow night, and then we’ll go dancing at a club.” He beamed blissfully. “We’re really hitting it off. I didn’t expect it at all.”
She grinned and him and squealed just a little. “Oh! I’m so happy for you! You deserve it, you’re the best and you deserve every happiness that you can get!”
Jeffrey laughed and held up his glass of wine to her. “To beginnings, rough and sweet, and to the road ahead, may it be good for us both.”
She agreed with him. “Cheers!”
Their conversation turned to many other things, and she kept Dane from her thoughts until she went to bed that night, and he came rushing back in to her mind again. She thought about what had happened between them again that day, and what had happened between them the night that they met.
It wasn’t dating, and it wasn’t love. It wasn’t that cute giddy feeling that Jeffrey had over Pono, in their puppy love. It was sex. Powerful, intense, overwhelming sex. There was no romance. There was no crush turned sweetly to love. It was physical, and that was all there was to it. She reassured herself. It was all physical.
She told herself that she had absolute control over physical attraction and physical reaction. Emotion was much harder to control. If lust was all she had for him, then she should be able to reign it in and control it.
Nicole decided that all she had to do was focus more on her work and totally let go of her romantic drama with Dane. It could happen, and she was fully in control of making it happen, no matter what. It was with those thoughts of pure determination on her mind that she finally fell asleep, promising herself that it was all done and over, and that she was going to succeed in her job and that her affair with her boss was done. She had said it was done when she walked out of her office and left him behind, and she meant it. It was finished, and they were going to move on.
When she woke up, she smiled, feeling confident that she was going to succeed in her endeavor, and also feeling glad because it was Saturday, and she didn’t need to be back at the office until Monday morning.
As she and Jeffrey sat down to breakfast, she told him about a hike to a waterfall that Tia had told her about in one of their conversations at the office.
“It’s just up behind the city, she told me. In fact, there’s a paved road that goes through a neighborhood and leads right up to the trail head for the hike to the falls. It’s that close. I thought we might do that today, and then you could get a workout before your dinner date tonight. What do you say?” she asked hopefully.
He was thrilled. “That sounds great! I haven’t gotten enough exercise since I’ve been here. A hike would do me some good! Speaking of, I do need to go out and find a gym, and I was thinking I’d buy some used car while I’m here or see if I can rent one from a local so that I’ll have a way around. It’s a hike down the hill to the bus stop.”
She agreed and told him it was probably a good idea. When breakfast was done, they cleaned up and dressed for their hike, taking an extra layer in case it rained.
A short while later, they had parked the car and were walking into what looked like a proper rainforest, with towering trees, massive walls of flowering vines, and thick vegetation all around them. There was no sign of civilization anywhere from where they were, and they loved it.
Following the trail, they walked through a small bamboo forest and up the side of the mountain over the trail and up over stairs that had been formed in the hard clay of the ground. They met other hikers coming down and going up, and it felt almost as if everyone that they met was a friend, even in passing.
Half an hour later, they walked around great stones and under towering trees, following the roar of rushing water, and the tall waterfall came into view, dropping far down the side of the mountain and crashing into the crystal-clear pool at its base. There were signs that read “no swimming” but that didn’t deter some of the visitors to the pool. They dipped into the cold waters at the risk of their own safety, mostly just to say that they had done it.
After a short rest and a lot of photographs made, they hiked back down the mountain, and Jeffrey drove them along the road that led up the windward side of the island until they reached a farmer’s stand, and he pulled over there.
They got out and bought fresh fruit from the farmer, butter avocadoes, apple bananas, and coconuts just cut from the tree that morning. The farmer hacked the tops off of the coconuts with a machete with a few brief whisks of his blade, and then popped a couple of brightly colored straws into the little holes at the top for them.
They sipped the coconut milk until it was gone, and then gave their coconuts back to the farmer and he hacked them clean open and scooped out the insides for them, sending them each on their way with a baggie of fresh coconut.
Jeffrey and Nicole shared a look of pure amazement as they got back into the convertible. “We’re in paradise. We are living in paradise,” Jeffrey marveled. “We can roll out of bed into the sea anytime, there are palm trees dancing overhead, we can drink from coconuts and hike up to misty waterfalls. There are rainbows on the side of the mountain every single day, sometimes several a day. We’re in the land of never-ending rainbows. I don’t see a reason to ever leave.” He laughed brightly, and she nodded in complete agreement as she slid her sunglasses on and they took to the little highway again.
He drove them around the winding road that led up north, and they pulled off at a quiet corner on the north shore where sea turtles were basking in the sand. They were massive creatures, as big as a coffee table or bigger, all at peace and content with everything. As they watched the turtles from the shore and snapped some photographs, Nicole suddenly shot her finger out and pointed out in the water, not far from them. “Dolphins! There are dolphins there! See them? It’s a whole pod!”
They both watched as the pod of dolphins jumped and played and swam around, heading southward along the coast of the island, until the graceful and playful sea creatures were out of sight.
Nicole shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, now I’ve seen everything. I couldn’t love this place more.”
Jeffrey shook his head. “You haven’t seen everything.” He grinned at her.
She frowned slightly. “What? What have I missed?”
“I was talking to Auntie next door, and she told me that under the lighthouse just down the road, there’s another hike that goes down to a spot where whales like to hang out and play.” He eyed her with interest.
“Whales?” she asked excitedly.
He nodded. “I was thinking we’d go see if we can find some tomorrow.”
“Yes!” She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. “I am so glad that you’re here!”
“Me too!” He laughed, and they stayed a little longer before getting back to the car and heading home.
She went shopping that afternoon as Jeffrey readied himself for his date, and when she went home that night, she arrived just before Pono did. It was surreal to her to see Pono dressed to go out, standing at their front door. He had been so wild the first time she had seen him at the sex party, but then she realized that he must be feeling the same way, seeing her standing there in shorts and a pretty blouse. They looked normal to each other.
After quick hugs and light kisses on the cheek, she said goodbye to them both and told them to have a great time. Then, she spent the rest of her night decorating the house with some of the things that she’d bought, and nestling down into her sanctuary, loving the wonder of her new life, and promising herself that there would be no more trouble, no more drama, no more romance or sex with her boss, and it would be smooth sailing from then on out, because she was going to make it that way.
The rest of her weekend was spent doing more shopping and exploring more of the island. By the time Monday rolled around, she was completely refreshed and ready for the week ahead. She wore a short-sleeved blouse and a slim pencil skirt in to work, and was looking forward to seeing Sam for lunch and picking up some mochi ice cream. She was determined that it was going to be a great day, and in an effort to give it a head start, she walked in with fresh muffins from a bakery near the office that she had seen.
Nicole went straight to Tia’s desk and set the bag of muffins down. “Here you go!” She grinned brightly. “Breakfast delivered. I’m going to make myself a latte. Would you like one too?”
It was then that she saw the frown on Tia’s face as her assistant looked up at her from behind her desk.
Nicole frowned in answer to it. “What’s wrong?”
“You have a guest. He was going to wait in your office, but I told him that he had to wait out here.” She could not have looked less pleased about their guest.
Nicole hadn’t been expecting anyone, and she couldn’t for a moment think of anyone who might be there that would irritate Tia so much, but among some of the other coffee talk that Tia and Nicole had shared, Nicole had mentioned her recent breakup, and when she turned, and her eyes landed on Paul sitting in a chair, waiting for her, she fully understood Tia’s irritation.
Paul stood up slowly and smiled at her. “Hey, baby. It’s really good to see you. I’ve missed you. Boy, you look great. Hawaii looks amazing on you.”
She stared at him, standing before her with his form fitting jeans and his button up shirt tucked into them. His close cut black hair was carefully combed in a small wave at the top of his head, and his face was clean shaven. His dark brown eyes were locked on her, and he gave her the winning smile that had convinced her to talk to him in the first place when she had met him the first time.
His squared jawline gave him the look of a movie star, but her heart was no longer swayed by his looks or his charm. All she felt in inside , standing there watching him watching her, was coolness and something akin to annoyance.
“Look, ah… I know you’re at work, but I wondered if we could talk for a few minutes.” He shrugged one shoulder and continued with his grin for her.
With a quiet sigh she nodded. “Sure. I have a few minutes. We should probably talk in my office.” She turned away from him just as he began to walk toward her lifting his arms up for a hug, but she was already at her office door, opening it and holding it as he came in behind her.
Looking over at Tia who was sitting silently at her desk with a dark expression on her face, Nicole said in a clear voice, “I’ll just be a few minutes, Tia. If I get any calls, go ahead and put them through please.”
Tia nodded and smiled. “I’ll do that!” she replied brightly.
Nicole closed the door and sighed, looking at Paul. She walked over to her desk and leaned her backside against it, crossing her arms over her chest. It had been such a great morning, right up until then.
With a frown, she looked at Paul and tilted her head a little to one side. “Why are you here, Paul?” she asked directly, skipping right past any kind of pleasantry with him.
He drew in a deep breath and walked closer to her, watching her eyes. “Look, I know we had a rough spot, but I’ve had some time to think, and I know what’s really going on in my head and in my heart now.” He smiled widely at her again and took another step toward her.
“And what is it that’s going on in your heart and in your head?” she asked with mild curiosity. She almost didn’t care, but then again, he did come all the way from San Francisco to say whatever it was that had dawned on him, so she felt that the least she could do was listen to him before he left her office.
Paul set his shoulders back and lifted his chin, puffing his chest out a little in the process. He was only three inches taller than Nicole, and it oftentimes made her feel like they were on a level playing field, because anytime she wore heels, depending on the shoe, she was as tall as he was or taller, and there was something about that which teased at her dominant personality.
“I realized that I love you, and that I don’t want to live without you. I’ve been really lonely since you left, and nothing is the same, and everything feels off. I had it so good with you, and I screwed up right when you needed me the most, and now I’m here to fix that. I love you, baby, and I want you back. It’s as simple as that.” He stepped toward her again and reached for her, but she turned her shoulder to him and he dropped his hand.
“What about everything you said in San Francisco? I haven’t been gone that long.” She narrowed her eyes at him somewhat.
He nodded and pushed his hands back down into his jeans pockets. “Yeah, well, I thought about that too. I know I said work was a priority for me, as it obviously is for you, but I thought about what you pointed out, and I realized that you were right about that too. I could work from anywhere. I could work from Hawaii. You were right. I concede that. So, here I am.” His brown eyes were hopeful.
Nicole felt bitterness bubbling up in her. She had done her best to try to convince him that he could work from Hawaii, and nothing that she had said had been enough to change his mind, yet there he stood before her, ready for another go at their relationship because even though nothing she had said had convinced him, the fact that he had realized it made it possible for him. He figured out on his own that he could work from Hawaii, but when she had told him that, he had blown it off and denied it.
“I was thinking, you know, I just got a hotel room for now, but I was thinking that I could move in with you. You know, you said they were giving you a house, and I figured I would come out here with you and I could move in with you and work from Hawaii.” He looked as pleased as could be with his idea, as if he was fixing everything like new again.
She shook her head and dropped her arms to her sides. “Paul, I appreciate the fact that you walked onto an airplane and flew all this way out here to talk with me about this, but I just don’t think that it’s a good idea for us to-”
He cut her off. In one swift movement, he stepped forward and reached for her, closing his hands around her arms and pulling her up against him, planting his mouth on hers and kissing her. She was so stunned by it that she didn’t move for a long moment, and when she did, it was to bring her hands up to his chest in an attempt to push him away.
It was at that moment that Dane walked into her office and stopped short in the doorway, staring at the scene before him of Paul kissing Nicole, who was locked in his arms with her hands on his chest.
Paul was startled by the intrusion; he lifted his mouth from Nicole’s, and she took the opportunity to push him away from her in frustration.
“Who is this?” Dane demanded, taking a few steps toward Paul as he looked from one of them to the other, shock and deep emotion flashing over his face.
Paul smiled at him and held his hand out, as if he was meeting a new friend. “Hey, I’m Paul. I’m her boyfriend.”
Dane stood there in utter shock, staring at them both.
Nicole felt a rush of anger wash through her, as well as defense of her position in front of Dane. For some strange reason, it was vital to her that he know the truth right away. She didn’t like the idea of him being confused about Paul at all.
“He’s my ex-boyfriend,” she corrected Paul with a sour look.
Paul shrugged and waved his hands in the air dismissively. “Yeah, but I’m here to get you back, baby. So, it will be the way that it was before. You’re going to be mine again.” He tugged at the waist on his jeans as he sniffed in a show of confidence before the bigger man in front of him.
Nicole looked up at Dane and felt her heart leap in her chest. His face had a tortured expression on it, and he would not meet her gaze. Instead, he reached his hand out to her, giving her a stack of papers.
“These are the plans you left in Ed’s office. He had a look at them, and he loves them. We want you to go forward with your plan and expand into the south pacific.” He spoke in an even tone, and his eyes still would not meet hers, though she did see him give Paul a cold, hard look. He turned and left then, walking out of her office and closing the door sharply behind him.
Paul frowned and turned around to look at Nicole. “Who was that?” he demanded in annoyance.
She gave him a sharp look as well. “That was one of my bosses and one of the billionaire owners of this company.” She spoke with a serious and reprimanding tone. It was lost on Paul.
“Well, what’s his problem? I just met the guy, and already he has a chip on his shoulder?” Paul was overtly discontented.
Nicole walked around behind her desk and set the stack of papers on her desktop. “He’s probably mad because you were kissing me here, and I’m at work and on company time. Besides, you forced it on me, and it doesn’t matter how he feels about that; it matters how I feel about that. I’m not happy about it, Paul. We broke up. You can’t just grab me and kiss me like that now. I’m not yours.”
He stepped to the front of her desk and planted his hands down on it, looking at her imploringly. “Yeah, but I’m here to fix that! When you left San Francisco, we were broken up, that’s true, but that wasn’t that long ago, and I know you still love me, and I’m here to make it right. I’m gonna fix what was broken, and I’m gonna win you back and you’ll be my girl, just like you were.”
She began to shake her head, but he held up his hand to her. “No, listen to me. Let me move in with you. Let’s work this thing out, okay? We got a real shot at making it, baby!”
Nicole shook her head again anyway. “You can’t move in with me. Jeffrey is living with me, and I’m starting a new life here. I’ve already begun building it.”
“You can’t be that far into building it; you just got here!” he pressed further. “Come on, baby, give me a chance here!”
She sighed and stood up, walking toward her door. “Paul, you’re not moving in with me, and yes, I have started a new life, and it doesn’t matter that I just did it, it still counts whether it’s one week or one month or even one year. It’s a new life.”
“No, no honey, you can’t just give up on us like that! Now, come on! At least come out to dinner with me! Let me try. Give me a chance. I love you, baby! I came all the way from California for this, for you! Come on. Give me a chance. You know I’m good for you, baby. Come on.” He pleaded with her and she knew that he wasn’t going to give up. She wanted him out of her office and the best way to do that just then was to give in to his request. Then, he would be happy, and he would leave.
“Fine. I’ll have dinner with you, but that’s all. We’ll talk about everything then, okay? But for now, I have work to do, and you have to leave.” She reached for the door and held it open, and he grinned at her.
“That’s good enough! That’s all I need is one shot, and baby you are going to be back in my arms and happier than you’ve ever been.” He paused in front of her, raising an eyebrow. “Can I get another kiss before I go?”
She furrowed her brow and pushed his shoulder, edging him out. “No. No kisses. Now out!”
“Okay fine, but you’re having dinner with me, and there’s going to be a lot more than just kissing then!” He winked at her, and she closed the door, leaning her back on it for a moment as she closed her eyes and breathed out in frustration.
“Men are the worst,” she moaned as she opened her eyes again and walked back over to her desk to return to her work.