Chapter 13

Jason

“Let me take you home. There’s no reason to get an Uber,” I said after Anna had finished yelling at me. “It’s the least you can let me do.” As the words left my mouth, I instantly wished they hadn’t.

Anna’s face changed from mildly agitated with me to full blown angry. “It’s the least I can do for you? Really? Because I owe you somehow?”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“How exactly did you mean it? That you’ve done so much for me and for my father that I owe you? I should be nice to you because you gave me a job or because you bought my father’s company? Maybe I should be nice to you because you’re breaking my father’s company up and can’t even explain to me why it’s a good idea? No, the least I can do is to get in this Uber when it comes and forget I ever had feelings for you.”

“Feelings?” I said in a little bit of shock.

“Oh, shut up,” Anna groaned and pushed me. “You know what I meant.”

“No, what did you mean?” I really wasn’t trying to be an asshole or draw any correlation between her trying to explain what she had said and me trying to explain what was going on with her father’s company. I was just shocked to hear her say she had feelings for me. Anna was tough. She was hard on the outside and not vulnerable like many women I knew. She put on this mask when she interacted with people, and I’d only recently been privileged to see her let that mask down. But having feelings was a big deal, especially because I’d felt some feelings toward her as well.

Her Uber pulled up, and Anna opened the car door and was about to get in when I held onto the door handle.

“Let me take you home, please,” I said softly.

Anna looked at me and then at the Uber driver. She contemplated what to do for only about five seconds before she waved the man off and pushed the door shut. “Fine,” she said softly. “I’m tired of arguing with you.”

“Thank you.”

We waited in the valet line for my car without saying a single word. Anna stayed busy looking at her phone, and I tried to think of a better way of explaining what was going on with her father’s company. Sure, at first it sounded like we were just after the money, and breaking up his company would bring us the most money. But it was much more complex than that, and Anna would have to understand the full complex situation in order to see the positive side of breaking her father’s company into smaller elements.

When my car came around, I held the door open for Anna and then drove her back toward her apartment. My mind raced as I tried to think of some way of explaining what I had to say to her. It was like a business deal—if I couldn’t explain it right, then Anna wouldn’t agree with me. Then, I saw a sign for the strip mall that was near Anna’s apartment. It had a lingerie store, tennis shoe store, and a ton of other specialty stores. This was exactly what I needed to explain to Anna. I turned into the parking lot and parked next to the name brand tennis shoe store.

“Are we going shopping?” Anna finally asked as she looked up from her phone.

“Yes, come with me,” I said and hopped out of the car full of excitement. “Okay, if you needed to get a new pair of tennis shoes, which one of these stores would you go to?”

Anna looked around for a minute. She took her time and even walked a little away from the car to make sure she could see all of the stores and what their signs said. She furrowed her brow at me, rolled her eyes, and then pointed to the tennis shoe store. “Obviously,” she said, totally not amused with my game.

“Okay, hang with me for a minute. Now, if you wanted to buy some new kitchen pans, which store would you go to?”

“That kitchen place, of course. What is this all about Jason? This is really weird.”

“How about new sexy lingerie?”

Anna rolled her eyes and pointed to the bra and panty store. I couldn’t help giving her a little nudge in that direction as if we should go over there and pick something out, but her death stare made me back away.

“No,” she said firmly.

“Okay, how about you have a friend with a baby, and you need to get them some baby clothes?”

“That one,” Anna said and pointed to the baby clothing store.

“And sunglasses?”

“That one,” she pointed to the sunglass store as she was getting more and more annoyed with me. “Jason, what does this have to do with anything?”

“This is what I want to do with your father’s company. See, this place is so easy to tell which businesses provide which service. You don’t have to wonder if something is available. You can simply look at the sign and know what goes on in there. Your father’s company has some pretty amazing proprietary equipment and techniques that are being wasted away because they only do a few jobs per year. The engineering department of your father’s company could easily be its own firm, making millions of dollars a year.”

“So, you want to set the divisions up as individual businesses?”

“Not exactly. That would be really expensive and not cost-effective. What we want to do is find other companies that can purchase these divisions and offer them the best possible future. We can work to ensure employees keep their jobs, or ones that would like to retire can do that. We want to find these companies, get some bids, and then come to your father and Marcus with a full package deal.”

“People would keep their jobs?”

“For the most part. That is our hope anyways, but it will depend on each individual contract. That’s one of the reasons I need your help. We need your help. This is a scary proposition, and yes, it is going to dissolve the company name as it is. But the divisions will stay intact within new, stronger companies which will allow them to thrive.”

“This is really complex, but I think I understand. I don’t know that you’ll be able to get my father or Marcus to understand this, though. They are going to be upset. And what’s going to happen to them?”

“Okay, so our middle management is already gone. The top-level managers will go with their divisions, and for Marcus and your father, they will have to decide if they just want to retire or if they want to pick one of the divisions and follow them.”

“Retire?” Anna said as she thought about what I was saying. “I think my father wants to retire. But he’s so worried about his employees and the company. I don’t know.”

“Here’s what I’m asking of you, Anna. Come back to work. Help me figure out the specifics of this deal. Help me ensure that your father will be really happy, and Marcus too. Be there to help this happen the right way.”

Anna was silent for the rest of the drive to her apartment. Even after we pulled into her parking lot, she still didn’t say anything. I pulled into a spot, and we sat there in silence for what seemed like forever. I could do the work that was needed to get Edward on board with this idea, but I knew that if Anna was with me, it was going to go ten times smoother. She could learn all the details and be able to explain things to her father when he got agitated with me. Plus, I really did not like the feeling of having Anna mad at me.

“Let me walk you upstairs,” I said as I got out of the car and opened her door.

She didn’t object to the offer, and we climbed up the cement stairs to her apartment. After having a fight with a beautiful woman like Anna, there was a natural endorphin that built up inside of a man—a slow burning desire to let off some steam and make up after so much intensity. When we got to the top of the stairs, I felt that build up and awkwardly stood with my hips facing away from Anna while she unlocked her door.

“Do you want to come in for a minute?” she offered.

“Yes.”

“I’m glad you were able to explain what is going on to me. I appreciate you doing that. I’m sorry I got so angry with you.”

“You’re sorry? Oh, Anna, no. I’m sorry. I was a little blindsided by Kevin and this plan too, but I should have explained that it was a possibility. I’m sorry.”

“Sit down, let me make us some coffee,” Anna suggested.

I took the opportunity to sit down and hoped that I could calm my throbbing member before Anna noticed. Although we had made up from our fight, and my body was primed and ready for some makeup sex, I knew that wasn’t reasonable with Anna’s situation.

We were quiet for a few minutes as Anna made the coffee and I watched her. Even in jeans and a T-shirt, she was glowing and beautiful. Her long blonde hair had varying colors of highlights in it, and I could see the shadow of her body as the kitchen light shined on her thin cotton T-shirt. The more I watched her, the more I throbbed with a desire that wasn’t going away.

When Anna brought me the cup of coffee, I did my best to cross my legs and try to hide what was going on, but as she sat down next to me, her eyes wondered to that area. A huge smile crossed her face as she looked at me questioningly. “Really?”

“What? I’m a guy. I can’t help it.”

“What part of our argument got you so damn excited?” she teased.

“It was the part where you let me walk you upstairs. The first time I dropped you off, you wouldn’t let me near your apartment.”

“Well, I figured since you bombarded me already, there was no harm in letting you in for a minute. But if I had known it would excite you so much, I would have left you in the car,” she said with a laugh.

It was nice to see her sense of humor back, and there was a huge weight off my shoulders as I noticed the tension between us had nearly disappeared. This was the Anna I liked being around—the woman who smiled and teased me and tortured me with her amazing good looks.

“Well, thank you for trusting me. After I saw you over at your father’s house, I really was afraid you’d told him what you overheard. By the way, what did you overhear and how? I thought our conference room was pretty airtight.”

“The office next to the conference room can hear everything that’s going on in there. I went in there and listened to you guys. Basically, I just heard that you were breaking the company up.”

“The vent in there? Is that how you can hear?”

“Yep.”

“Wow, I bet Becky has been loving attending all our boring conference room meetings.” I laughed. “I can’t believe she never told anyone.”

“Yeah, well she probably didn’t want her air vent blocked off and her office turned into a sauna.” Anna laughed as she touched my hand and threw her head back with the momentum of her own joke.

As Anna pulled her hand away from mine, the room felt like it stood still, and we both looked at each other. Silence fell over us, and for a brief moment in time, we were just sitting there quietly looking at each other. Then something took over me—a deep desire that wouldn’t be pushed to the side any longer.

I grabbed Anna’s arm and pulled her toward me slowly. She had just enough time to set her coffee cup down on the table before I had pulled her all the way next to me on the couch.

“Anna,” I said softly.

“Jason,” she said back to me.

“I need you to know I was genuine in our interactions. I wasn’t using you to get to your father. I wasn’t using you at all. Your father asked for me to hire you because he said you wanted to go to a business school. I was trying to be helpful and kind to him. That is why I hired you. Not for some sort of scam.”

“I’m sorry I shouldn’t have said that. I know it wasn’t your idea to hire me. I begged my father to get you to. It was my idea.”

My hand slid up and down her arm as we looked into each other’s eyes. There was so much going on at that moment. So much trust, lust, and intrigue that I could hardly sit still. I wanted more of her, all of her. Yet, I didn’t know how I should handle things between us. I wasn’t going to be that kind of guy who brought Anna to bed just to say I’d had a virgin. That was childish and not at all in Anna’s best interest. When and if Anna and I slept together, it was going to be because there was a connection so strong that neither of us could deny it. Only then would it be worth it for me to be her first. And as much as I wanted her at that moment, it wasn’t the right time, and I knew it. “I should get going,” I said as I started to get up from the couch.

“Stay,” she replied. “Just for a little bit.”

“Okay,” I said easily to her request. She certainly didn’t have to ask me twice.

Her hand stayed wrapped around my wrist as she tugged on me to stay with her. My heart throbbed at the idea of what could come. What a rollercoaster the last few days had been, and I was so relieved that we were getting along again. “I like this,” I said almost under my breath. “I mean, this between us when we are getting along.”

“Yeah, I like it too.”

“I really do have a lot that has to get done at work. Will you be in today or tomorrow?” I asked.

“I’ll come in tomorrow. I think I’ve settled into the idea of not working today.” She laughed. “I really don’t like working all that much. I mean I like coming in and seeing you, but I could do without all the rest of it.”

“I can’t take it,” I blurted out as I leaned in and kissed Anna.

She kissed me back and climbed right onto my lap as she straddled me in the position I’d become accustomed to having her. My hands instantly grabbed onto her hips as I held onto her and let my tongue play with hers.

“Stay,” she said as her breath got heavy, and she started to pull off her T-shirt. “Stay all day with me.”

I’m not sure if I actually replied to her or not, but in my mind, I said, ‘Okay.’ How could I refuse her? I helped her pull her T-shirt off and let my hands slide up and down her body as we continued to kiss. We moved our lips together slowly and then more feverishly as we played with the moment and teased each other.

I reached around and let my fingers play with the clasp of her bra for a little bit. I didn’t unhook it yet but instead took my time playing with the fabric to see if she was alright with me taking things to the next step. She didn’t flinch at all as my fingers grabbed the hooks, and I slowly unlatched them to release the fabric that was covering her breasts.

As she slid her arms out of the white lace bra, I swallowed hard at the sight of her perky tits. They were amazing; perfectly round and erect with excitement. My lips were drawn to them and I pulled one of her nipples into my mouth.

The sweet taste of her body was more than I could take. Any thought of waiting to take Anna to bed was gone at that moment. If she was ready, I was ready to have her. As I sucked on her nipple, Anna let out a delightful moan, and her fingers grabbed my hair.

I feverishly moved to the other nipple to play with it as well. My hand was running up and down her back and feeling every move and breath from her body. Her hips rolled forward and back in perfect timing with my mouth as I sucked on her, and soon we had a rhythm going. Her hips moved faster, so I pulled harder on her nipple. When her hips slowed, I let my tension release a little from her body.

When I felt her fingers slide to the button at the top of my pants, I could hardly contain my excitement. She gingerly unzipped me and pulled me out as she let her hand stroke up and down. I didn’t release her delightful nipple, but I had a horrible time concentrating as her fingers continued to tease me.

When Anna started to climb off me, she pulled away so I couldn’t play with her nipples any longer, but then she got on her knees in front of me. I’d never wanted anything more than I wanted her lips around my throbbing member at that moment.

“Well, it looks like you made up,” Anna’s roommate Patrick said as he flung the door of the apartment open.

Anna quickly grabbed her T-shirt and threw it on while I zipped myself back up. We both laughed at the perfect timing her friend had, and I couldn’t help feeling like a teenager who had just been caught by his parents.

“Patrick, I thought you were working?” Anna said.

“We got off early,” he said without seeming at all put off by what he had just seen.

Patrick went straight to the kitchen, grabbed some lunch meat and bread and started to make a sandwich on the counter facing us. He looked up at us only briefly as he and Anna continued their conversation.

“That’s nice,” Anna said as she giggled and looked over at me.

“Are you two having sex now?” Patrick asked nonchalantly. “I could head back out. Maybe give you a little privacy.”

“No, no, no,” Anna replied.

“Oh, okay.”

Anna rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders at me as we sat there awkwardly talking with Patrick. The moment had certainly passed, though, and I didn’t suspect the two of us would be sneaking off to her room while Patrick was there. I sat with her for nearly twenty minutes as she and Patrick talked about random things other than the fact that her mouth had almost been around my throbbing dick. That was all I could think about as I zoned out of their conversation. Only a few more seconds and I would have felt the soft touch of her tongue as she wrapped her lips around me and moved up and down my shaft. Oh, how cruel the world was sometimes, I laughed to myself.

“What?” Anna asked as she noticed I was smiling.

“Nothing, I was just laughing about the timing of things.”

“Like how I almost had you in my mouth?” she whispered in my ear. Shit, even her whispers made me hard.

“You are naughty,” I joked.

“You know I am,” she teased. “Okay, I’ll be at work tomorrow,” Anna said loudly so Patrick could hear her.

“Sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow then,” I replied and started to get up from the couch.

“Thanks for a great date.”

“Oh, that was a horrible date.” I laughed. “But if it counts as our first date, that just means I have a lot of room to improve.”

“See you tomorrow.”

I gave her a peck on the cheek before heading back down to my car. There was a huge sense of relief as I climbed in and made my way to the office. I hadn’t told Kevin where I was since dropping Clyde off, and I saw at least a half-dozen text messages from him when I glanced at my phone in the parking lot. Instead of bothering to read them, I just drove to work. It was going to be much easier to explain things to him when I was there in person.

I put the windows down and turned the music up as I sped down the freeway toward my office. Life was good at that moment—carefree and fun with everything falling into place. I couldn’t wait to get the new deals put into place and get Edward and Marcus on board. When we got everything settled, it would be such a relief, but even with all the work we had ahead of us, I was still more relaxed than I’d been for months.

Anna was to blame. It was her smiling face and constant upbeat attitude that intrigued me and drew me to her. She wasn’t like any woman I’d ever dated. Even with what she thought was an absolutely horrible thing I was doing to her father, Anna still gave me the opportunity to explain and actually listened to me when I told her my side of things. She was angry; she did yell a little, but she didn’t stop believing that I wouldn’t purposely hurt her father. That meant a lot to me.

As I sped into the parking lot of our building, I saw Kevin on the phone and standing at the window. When he saw me pull in, he hung up and disappeared from the window, and I suspected he’d be waiting for me the second I got out of the elevator. He’d probably been worried sick about what was going on with Anna and Edward and how it would affect our company.