Inferno Anthology (41 page)

“I’ll book you a suite here so you can each have your own bedroom. I’ll tell the manager to book you both a day at the spa so you can relax and get pampered together.”

I raised my head to look at him. “That’s very sweet, but I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“You didn’t ask, I offered, and I want to do it. Plus, I have my own secret agenda. It keeps you closer to me and butters up your mom for me.”

I laughed. “I can’t imagine any woman would need any buttering for them to not fall head over heels for you.”

Jack rolled on top of me playfully. “Is that so?”

“You’re a mother’s dream, tall, dark and handsome, good manners, straight teeth and wealthy.”

“What about her daughter’s dream. How am I doing there?”

“Fulfilling them all.” I lifted my head to kiss him softly.

T
he next week flew by and I was surprised that I was actually looking forward to my mom’s visit. Lyle had complained, but gave me Saturday night off, and the thought of staying at the Heston Grand and having all day spa treatments with my mom was exciting. At first my mother balked at the idea of staying at a hotel, but then I filled her in on Jack and his hotels and she warmed to the idea quickly. She sounded excited to visit and I realized that I had missed her and was excited to see her too.

Jack had insisted on Mateo picking up my mom Saturday morning and had arranged what sounded like an amazing day. Brunch in Café Dumo, the hotel’s five star restaurant, followed by massages, manicures and pedicures, and wash and blow outs at the Luxor Spa. He had booked us into the Presidential Suite, one floor below his penthouse, which occupied the entire top floor.

Jack gave me the key to the suite Saturday morning and told me that he had work to do all day and would meet us at our room at seven, before dinner. I took the elevator down one floor and found the entire floor had suites named after presidents. Each single door had a carved sign with a president’s name and a silhouette of the president’s profile. Following the signs for the presidential suite, I passed Ford, Lincoln, Washington and Kennedy. As I passed the Kennedy suite, I remembered that Jack had said that he kept a “sex suite” and wondered if one of them was his secret love shack. Perhaps the Kennedy suite? After all, his name was Jack and he was known as the womanizing president. I hated the thought of Jack’s suite seeping into my brain to darken the day after all that Jack had done to make the day perfect for my mom and I.

I arrived at the double door presidential suite and slipped in the key to open it. The smell of fresh flowers hit me immediately as I entered. The suite was beautiful and enormous. Floor to ceiling windows overlooking Manhattan, glistening white marble floors and three huge bouquets of all white roses sat in sparkling crystal vases spread across the grand living room. To the right was a working fireplace, with a huge wooden carved mirror hanging above the mantle. To the left was a dining room, a small kitchen, and a long hallway, which I assumed led to the bedrooms.

I had expected the suite to be nice, but it was beyond anything that I could have imagined. It hadn’t dawned on me that the suite was truly a presidential suite and had likely housed actual presidents in the past. I walked to the dining room table where a card was perched on one of the vases that housed at least two dozen roses. I opened the card, recognizing Jack’s handwriting immediately.
Syd, Hope you enjoy the suite. The thought of you being so close, yet not in our bed, is going to kill me tonight. Jack.

Holy. Shit.
Our bed.
Did he even realize that he’d written it? My heart swelled at the thought that Jack thought of his bed as our bed. I was falling deeper and deeper for the incredible man and all of the little thoughtful things that he did for me. He made me feel taken care of on so many levels, physically, emotionally and definitely sexually. As I looked around the suite, feeling engulfed by Jack. I realized that what he needed to hear from me was true. I belonged to him.

By the end of the day I felt like a princess. I knew the spa was exclusive and expected good service, but Jack had made sure that my every need was taken care of. I was positive that the staff had to have been advised of who I was because they couldn’t possibly be that attentive to every customer every day in the same way as they were to my mom and I. We sipped champagne and wore plush robes that were embroidered with our initials and were truly treated like royalty. The young girl that did my manicure was sweet, but chatty. She told me that the spa had brought in one of the top celebrity stylists for our blowouts and that Mr. Heston had selected our masseuses personally. I was impressed, but not surprised, at the lengths to which Jack had gone. I was starting to realize that one of the reasons that he was so successful was that he didn’t do anything halfway.

I hadn’t even realized that the suite had a doorbell until it rang promptly at 7pm. Of course I was running late and Jack was right on time. I opened the door and flung my arms around his neck, giving him a big kiss and hug. Jack smiled down at me. “What was that for?”

“It was for being the best boyfriend ever. We had the best day. Thank you, baby.” I reached up on my tippy toes and kissed him again gently on the lips.

“Well, I really hope that you are, Jack, with the kind of welcome you just got.” I heard my mom speak from behind me and blushed at the thought of what she had just watched me do. I must have looked like a schoolgirl running up to the boy that she had a crush on.

Jack smiled his insanely perfect smile, extending his hand with one arm and keeping the other wrapped tightly around my waist. “You must be Mrs. St. Claire. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Good God, I decided right there and then that my children were going to the same boarding school that Jack had attended, just so they could come out with his incredibly alluring manners.

Mom shook Jack’s hand and I could swear she blushed a little bit as she said, “Call me Renee, please.”

“Renee.” Jack nodded and released her hand.

“Go get ready, honey, you are always late. I won’t tell Jack too many stories about your childhood if you hurry.” Mom laughed, but I knew she wasn’t kidding.

I gave her a silent ‘I’ll kill you if you do’ face as I walked by and then rushed to finish getting ready. I heard Jack and mom laughing a few times in the other room and, although I was afraid of what horrible childhood stories she was sharing, the sound of them laughing together warmed my heart.

Jack stood as I entered the room. The only time the man didn’t have perfect manners was in the bedroom. In the bedroom he was domineering and commanding, such a stark contrast in some ways to the please-and-thank-you gentleman that stood before me. Although, if I really thought about it, both bedroom and gentlemanly Jack had one thing in common: they took care of me.

Dinner was incredible, even though mom shared too many embarrassing childhood stories. She told Jack about my penchant for streaking when I was four, and about the time that I took off all my clothes and rode my bicycle down the entire block naked. Apparently, I had only made it about a dozen houses before the old lady next door called to report that she was upset at my lewd behavior. I knew from Jack’s face during that particular story that I’d be hearing more about my little naked endeavors later.

Mom didn’t grill Jack as bad as I thought she would, but she seemed satisfied at the answers she got to the questions she did ask. The glass of wine with dinner, coupled with the massage earlier in the day and how well things were going, allowed me to relax. But my relaxation didn’t last long. Every muscle jumped back into a tight ball of stress the minute I saw Jack’s father walk into the restaurant. I silently said a prayer that he wouldn’t see us, but God wasn’t listening.

Jack’s back was to the door, so he had no warning until he was standing beside our table. “Sydney, how nice to see you.” I watched as Jack’s face changed, his smiling eyes shuttered, and his jaw tensed as he turned with a face of steel. “Son, it wasn’t enough to take out one pretty girl this evening, you had to bring her sister too?”

Shit. I had to do something. If Jack had to say more than two words to his father I knew it wasn’t going to end pretty. I jumped in headfirst, “This is my mom, Renee, Mr. Heston.” My mom turned to face Jack’s dad and I watched her take him in. He was an older, more polished-looking version of Jack. Jack was sexy with chiseled features, but there was still something about him that was rough and rugged. His dad, on the other hand, screamed old money and polish and didn’t look like he’d ever had a fistfight in his life. But he was still a very handsome older man, a fact clearly not lost on my mother.

“Didn’t I tell you to call me Jack, Sydney? The way you two have been inseparable lately, you might be calling me Dad one day.” His father winked at me with his comment.

Jack’s father held out his hand to my mother and I thought Jack was going to explode when he brought my mother’s hand to his mouth and gently kissed the top of her hand. Luckily my aim was good, and my foot met Jack’s shin under the table just as he was pushing his chair back to get up. He looked at me and I sent him warning eyes, begging him to stay put. I was shocked that he listened.

My mother blushed a bit “Nice to meet you, Mr. Heston.”

“You too, my dear. I can see where Syd gets her beauty from.”

Shit, Shit, Shit. From the look on Jack’s face, I knew he was about to blow and I had to do something quick. I stood awkwardly. “It was nice to see you Mr. Heston, umm Jack, you’ll have to excuse me. I was just going to go the ladies room before you walked over. Mom, why don’t you join me?”

Mom looked disappointed to be dragged away from the debonair Jack Heston Sr., but she stood to go nonetheless. “It was nice meeting you, Mr. Heston.” My mom shook his hand again and I nodded, knowing a physical touch from his father to me could send Jack right over the edge.

“Be right back, Jack.” I smiled and widened my eyes to Jack, another attempt at a warning.

I took as long as I could in the bathroom, trying to wait out whatever storm had to come to pass in the restaurant. My mom didn’t seem to notice anything unusual about Jack’s dad’s visit to our table, or, if she did, she didn’t say anything. Either way, I was grateful not to have to explain anything to her. I reapplied my lipstick, stalling for time, and then took a deep breath as we made our way back to our table. I was relieved to find Jack’s father gone and didn’t dare look around the restaurant for him, for fear finding him would cause him to reappear. Jack was sitting at the table and I noticed he had an empty small cut crystal glass in front of him that hadn’t been there earlier. As we sat, I realized that he had ordered a drink and downed it while we were in the restroom.

“I ordered us dessert to be delivered to my suite. Renee said she wanted to see my floor.” His voice was harder than it had been earlier, but I knew he was trying for me.

I mouthed ‘thank you’ to him and he responded with a small smile and nod of the head.

Jack kept his hand at the small of my back and didn’t look back as we walked out of the restaurant. I saw his dad out of the corner of my eye, sitting at a table with a woman who looked at least twenty years his junior.