I Know What You Read (14 page)

“Why?”

“Jade, if I’d went to all that trouble to be with you—I’ll be blunt again—you’d be in pain this morning.”

She turned to look out the window so he couldn’t see her expression.

The conversation stopped.  She guessed he was thinking about everything she’d said; she was silent because she was afraid he might continue with the topic about being sore.

They pulled under the ancient oaks in the shell-covered parking lot; Julian turned off the engine.

She looked across the expansive, lush carpet of green grass, beyond the perfectly manicured grounds to the sparkling, dark Hillsborough river.  “This place is a real stunner.”

“It certainly is; come on.”

“It looks like a castle,” she said with a little too much awe and wonder in her voice. 

“You like that, don’t you?” he chuckled.

She gave a small impish giggle, “Honestly?  Yes, I do.  No wonder so many people get married here.  Look at that architecture; stone work, minarets, copper covered domes, stained glass windows—it’s breath-taking.”

“Getting your Cinderella on?” he teased.

“More like jumping in with both feet,” she answered, squeezing his arm.  That’s when she realized something was missing.  “Julian, you left your camera in the car!”

“It’s okay—I’ll go back for it,” he said as they ascended the wide, tabby stone steps to the veranda.  He stopped her before they reached the front doors.  “This lady is pretty eccentric.  Hiram said we go straight to room eighteen.  Wait here for a minute while I grab my camera bag.”

She sat down on one of the dark wicker rockers on the porch and watched him leave.  She garnered several curious glances as guests passed her.  She had out her notepad and was writing her first impressions about the grounds, the river, and the buildings.  She was used to the stares; her press ID, briefcase, and habitual note-taking usually drew in the curious, but evidently this place was so discrete and elegant that no one felt the need to be nosey.

“Ready?”

She looked up to find Julian standing there with his arm extended; she had been lost in her thoughts.  Suddenly, she was grateful to have this assignment today.  Her horrid morning vanished in the 72 degree, oak-sifted, river scented breeze.

She smiled and took his arm.  The interior was no less impressive than the exterior.  Marble, polished wood, brass, and crystal were in abundant supply.

“Room eighteen?” Julian asked softly.  The young blond at the desk smiled and pointed down the hallway to their right.  When they reached the door marked with an eighteen, it was slightly ajar.

“Jade,” Julian whispered.

Her hand was already poised to push the door open when she looked at him.  She had the strangest sensation as he put his cheek to her cheek.

“I wish I’d been the one with you last night,” he breathed in her ear.  “I think you’re very special.”  He kissed her cheek and pushed the door open.

She knew she needed to walk through the door, but she felt locked in place after his confession.  When she finally gathered her wits back and shook off his somewhat paralyzing effect, she turned to find one of the most elegant spaces she’d ever seen. 

No wonder she lives here!

The large room contained a fireplace, a king-sized four-poster bed draped in rich, dark silks and velvets, baroque nightstands with vases of roses, and on the other side of the room was a settee and wing chairs in an intimate arrangement facing the French doors that appeared to lead to a deck overlooking the river. 

She could see a tall figure seated in one of the chairs facing away.

“Ms. Jadowski?” Jade called out fairly loudly because she remembered that her interviewee was in her nineties, but there was no response.

“Ms. Jadowski?” she asked again as she crossed the room.  Something was wrong.  She stepped around the chair and it wasn’t a woman at all.

There sat Ethan.  He had a book in his hand.  He stood up and smiled, handing the blue and white novel to her.  “Since I know what you read, I thought you might like to have your own copy.”

The word surreal came to mind, but it couldn’t possibly describe her moment.  She reached for the book and stared at the cover.  It was the paranormal story that she had been reading.

“I told you you’d find out today, but I never expected to have Julian call me this morning and cuss me out over what happened last night.  I couldn’t figure out what went wrong between last night and this morning, but I knew I had to see you.  It took a lot of convincing for him to agree to bring you and at least let me apologize.”

“But, I…” There were no words in her head at the moment.

“It’s okay.  He called me a few minutes ago and told me about James showing up in your office.”

“But you’re… You two are…” she said turning to stare at Julian.

“Not exactly,” Julian began.

“We discovered,” Ethan took over the explanation, “in high school that if we told everyone we were gay then women would let us into their inner circle.” 

“So many of the girls we thought were perfect,” Julian explained, “turned out to be completely different when a ‘guy’ wasn’t around.” 

“Both of us liked you,” Ethan said, flawlessly picking up when Julian paused, “and you passed every test—but neither one of us could decide how to tell you.  When I came into work and put Noah’s pic on your desk, I noticed your monitor was off but your computer was on.  As soon as I discovered what you’d been doing, I decided to give you something to read and I’d watch you—the rest is history.”

“You printed out all those stories?” she asked. “The envelopes and notes were from you?”

“Yeah, it was me.  I left a couple stories by the printer in our apartment.  Julian saw them, but he didn’t think anything about it until we were having dinner and you started to say someone was leaving you ‘dirty blank.’ When you didn’t finish it, he filled in the blank—and he knew what I was up to.  Are you disappointed?”

“Last night was you?  Why didn’t you just stay?”

He looked around the room with a big smile on his face.  “I’ll be honest, Jade.  I won’t be able to treat you to this kind of luxury all the time, but I’d already booked the room—it would have been a shame to blow the end of my plan.  But everything is out in the open now, so I’ll ask again: are you disappointed?”

She set her things on the chair and stepped up very close to Ethan.  She felt him warmly cup her shoulders with his hands, but other than that, he didn’t move.  She stared into his expectant blue eyes, and then briefly allowed her vision to drop to his full, sculpted lips.  “Absolutely…” she began, watching his countenance fall, “…not.”

It was very different knowing who she was about to kiss.  He had been her friend; a friend she’d always found attractive and sexy, but unattainable.  Yet, stranger still, she already knew his abilities—well, most of them—in a bedroom.  When his lips met hers, and her eyes closed, there was no doubt that the one kissing her
was
her mystery man unveiled.  Although the kiss was brief—respecting their company in the room—it was pure enchantment and electricity.

He pulled her tightly against his side as he turned to Julian, “Thank you for trusting me enough to bring her here.”

Julian laughed, reaching out for Ethan’s hand.  “You almost missed out,” he said as they shook hands.  “When she called me and was so upset, I came this close,” he said showing a miniscule space between his thumb and index finger, “to telling her everything.”

Ethan had a curious smile on his face, “Why didn’t you?”

“You’re still my best friend, but not everything is out in the open.”

Ethan wore a strange expression, “What are you talking about?”

“I
am
gay.”

Ethan rolled his eyes, “You don’t have to keep this up.  She won’t—”

“Ethan,” he said, silencing him.

“Yeah.”

“Do you remember when I told you that in order for anyone to believe us we’d have to be more convincing?”

Ethan’s entire expression changed, “Don’t say it.”

“Jade,” Julian began, “would you have a problem if I said he and I had kissed?”

She glanced from one to the other, “If you want honesty, I used to fantasize about both of you—together.”

“You’ve slept with women,” Ethan interjected.

“Okay, you’re right, I have.  What you don’t know is that I’ve slept with guys, too.  Can we get back to the kiss?”

“No.”

“What kiss?” Jade asked.  “I’ve seen you guys give each other a little kiss before,” she added.

“True, but one night when we were hanging out, I said that if anyone was going to believe us then we had to try it at least once.  I was actually referring to sex because Ethan makes me crazy horny—but he thought I just meant we had to practice with at least one really good French kiss.”

All was silent as the two friends stared at each other.

Jade decided to be brave, “So you kissed.”  She turned to Ethan, “Did you like it?”

He shook his head side-to-side slowly, “It was all wrong—like I Frenched my brother, or worse, like I’d kissed my mother.  I told him that was the last time we’d do that, and if we ever had to give a little PDA there wouldn’t be any tongue.”

She turned to Julian, “But you liked it.”

“Loved it.  I was so afraid that he would look down and see the hard-on in my jeans.  Thankfully—I guess—he’s never been interested in looking down at my crotch.”

“But you’ve slept with women!” Ethan continued to argue.  “And I know you were freaking crazy about Jade—you flat told me!”

“Okay, okay, so maybe I’m actually bi, but I lean harder toward men.  Jade was—well, she’s Jade—she’s perfect and I guess I’ll always see her that way.”

“How,” Ethan asked in pure amazement, “could you have possibly hidden from
me
that you’re gay?”

Julian laughed out loud and then grinned, “Damn, Ethan, it was easy!  You had to act gay three-quarters of the day.  Me?  I only had to act straight the other quarter!”

“I just thought you were a good actor,” Ethan confessed.  “But if you were telling the truth about liking Jade then that means you had the perfect opportunity this morning to rat me out and step in.  Why didn’t you?”

“I was tempted—and I was mad at you for upsetting her—but I honestly couldn’t believe that you managed to fuck up
that
badly; I knew something was wrong.  Once we got in the car and she started talking, I knew you aced last night.”

Ethan’s eyebrows rose in curiosity.

“She said,” Julian whispered as if it was a secret, “that it was the best sex of her life.”

“Nah,” Ethan said with a huge smile, “as soon as you leave,
this
will be the best sex of her life.”

She suddenly felt as if warm butter had melted and run into her panties.  Oh yes, she couldn’t wait to experience ‘unmasked’ sex with him.

Julian leaned in and kissed Jade’s cheek, “Enjoy the palace, Cinderella—I hope it’s a happily-ever-after from here on.”

She couldn’t help but to tear-up.  All she could do was nod and smile.

He looked at Ethan, “You’re still my best friend, if you’re interested, that is.”

It was a moment of unspoken communication between her and Ethan.  It was as if she could read him asking if it was okay to let go for a minute.  She slipped out from under his arm as he moved to embrace Julian. 

Now it was Julian who was teary-eyed.  He released Ethan, and walked out.

“I guess we both had surprises today,” Ethan admitted after the door closed.

“Are you okay?” she asked, sensing that he seemed a little torn.

“Like he said, we’re still best friends, and as much as I love that guy, he doesn’t do it for me—you do.  For the longest time I had to wear Speedos and loose pants to work because all I had to do was see you or think about you and—
boom
—I’d be rock hard.  I couldn’t think of any other way to conceal it and saying the alphabet backwards and doing mental calculus didn’t help!” he chuckled.

“You realize this is going to be a little tough to explain at work,” she laughed.

“We’re creative people, beautiful; we’ll figure something out.  But right now…” he allowed his words to drift off as his fingers moved down to the buttons on her shirt.  His face buried into the side of her neck as his hands continued to work. 

His nibbles and caresses were sending fiery shots of need through her body as she began to moan under his exquisite control.

“…I want to experience what we didn’t do last night,” he whispered.  He had her shirt open now, his hands slipping inside and around the back to unclasp her bra.  “I want to know what you feel like on my cock.”

His words and her thoughts blended into the most decadent desire she’d ever had for a man.  She felt as if he could simply speak the word and she would come for him.

He pushed the shirt down her arms part way, tangling her hands behind her.

“No,” she said in a frantic rush, “I want to feel you!”

He continued to hold her arms behind her as his hot-lipped kisses dropped to her collarbone and then to the base of her throat.  “Don’t make me get out the cuffs,” he teased.

That was nearly enough to make her cream her panties, “Ethan, make love to me,” she implored.

He raised his vision briefly to lock their eyes on each other.

My God, that man had some incredible eyes!

“Say it dirty.”

“No.  Dirty was last night.  I want to know how you feel about me.”

A low growl rumbled out of him as he picked her up without effort, still keeping her arms behind her and taking her to the bed.

She struggled and pulled her hands free as he tried to make her recline.  She immediately slipped her hands under his shirt and grasped his muscled sides. 

“Obey,” he responded, pulling her hands away from his body and taking them above her head.

Just one word out of him was like ecstasy in her veins.  She was whimpering; her skirt covered groin thrusting upward to feel his hardness.  “I have to know, Ethan.  I…aaah,” she cried out as his wet and warm mouth sucked in as much of her right nipple and breast as he could.  “
Please,
” she pled.