Negotiation Tactics (8 page)

The attraction had only grown from there. When Jack had married Kelly and they’d all started hanging out outside the office together, he had gotten his first glimpse of Jennie laughing. She always tipped her head back and laughed with such abandon. He found himself trying to make her laugh over and over again.

Sitting on the boat with his hands on Jennie’s bare skin, Chad knew he would regret the closeness later when reality came racing back to him. But, he couldn’t stop himself. He’d let himself pretend, for the next few hours, that Jennie was his. That they had a life together, a future together. That this scenario wasn’t some masquerade to get information for Jack’s friend.

Yeah. It would suck when he came falling back to earth, but for right now, he would let himself fly high on the fantasy of Jennie.

Chapter Thirteen

That evening, they were drinking beers out on the patio, sharing the double chaise lounge. The sexual tension that always whirled around them was present, but they were both getting better at living with it, or so it seemed to Jennie. She suspected it wouldn’t ever go away but they were building more of a friendship than they ever had on other assignments. And, they were definitely getting good at forgetting that they were supposed to have a professional, working relationship.

Chad opened a new beer and handed the icy cold bottle to Jennie.

“Truth or dare?” Jennie asked Chad. They’d been playing for a while now, each of them repeatedly choosing ‘truths’ and skipping the ‘dares.’ It was as if they’d both forgotten that they worked together. That Chad was her boss. That they shouldn’t interact like this.

“Truth,” Chad answered.

“Most unusual place you’ve ever had sex.”

Chad shook his head at her but answered anyway. “Top of a mountain. We were hiking and we got to the top of a very isolated peak. We were hidden on one side by a boulder but anyone on the mountain peak across from us would have seen what was going on.”

Jennie didn’t say anything in response. She was too busy picturing sex on top of a mountain with Chad. Would it be fast and dirty or would he take his time despite the fact that anyone could spot them at any time?

“Truth or dare?” Chad asked.

“Truth.”

“What’s your biggest fear?” Chad asked.

Jennie opened her mouth to answer, but Chad quickly amended his question.

“Besides fish,” he said with a grin.

Forgetting my husband? Falling in love again? Losing my entire life, my reason for being – again?

“Pass,” Jennie said, invoking her one pass they’d negotiated for at the start of their game.

Jennie continued before Chad had a chance to comment. “Truth or dare, Chad?”

“Truth,” Chad said, raising his beer bottle to his lips again. Jennie’s eyes fell to Chad’s mouth involuntarily, before she ripped them away.

“What’s your biggest fear?” Jennie asked.

Chad turned to face her, answering without hesitation. “That I’ll turn out like my father.”

Chad’s father had left Chad’s mother when he was in his early twenties after twenty-five years of what everyone thought was a perfect marriage. He didn’t cheat on her, didn’t leave because he fell in love with someone else. He simply left one day and didn’t even bother to seek anything in the divorce. Kelly had told Jennie once that the last anyone heard of him, he was living on a beach in New Zealand or something.

Jennie started laughing, drawing a look from Chad that might have scared any other woman. Or, at least sobered them enough to stop laughing. For Jennie, it only made her laugh harder.

“I tell you my greatest fear and you’re laughing at me?” Chad seemed truly offended as Jennie shook her head at him, trying to catch her breath so she could explain.

“I’m laughing because it’s not even remotely possible.” Jennie wiped at tears under her eyes. “It’s so far from possible it’s…well, it’s just laughable. There isn’t anything in you that would let you walk away from your family like that, Chad. I don’t know what happened to your dad, but it’s not in you to do that. When you love, when you commit, you’ll do it forever, Chad.”

Jennie turned to face the ocean as Chad seemed to process what she said. After several minutes, he resumed the game.

“Truth or dare, Jen?”

“Truth,” Jennie said. When Chad didn’t respond right away, she turned to look at him through her lashes and found him watching her.

“Truth,” she said again.

“Why did you back off that time we kissed? Was it because of your husband?” Chad’s voice was quiet now. His question made Jennie freeze, her beer halfway to her mouth. She knew exactly what he was asking about. She’d kissed him once. And, for a minute, she’d forgotten about Kyle. For one glorious, wonderful, breathtaking minute. One gut-wrenching, tortuous, heartbreaking minute she’d forgotten the man she loved.

The realization that Chad could make her forget her husband both broke her heart and scared the hell out of her at the same time.

Jennie lowered her beer and kept her eyes on the ocean. “I didn’t know you knew about…about Kyle.”

Chad’s eyes were gentle but they bore into her the same as they always did. “Background check. I always run them when someone joins Sutton. I never said anything because it wasn’t really related to the job. And, you never talked about him so I figured you didn’t want anyone to know.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. I guess I never thought about that.”

And then she recited the facts about her and Kyle’s marriage and his death. She recited them as if they were nothing more than facts. Not as if they were the fundamental pieces of her life that had been torn apart, never to be put back together again.

Chad was quiet while she told her story, and for several minutes afterward, and she was glad. Most people gasped and told her how sorry they were. Which did nothing to help her. There was nothing that could fix her pain and Chad seemed to know this. After a minute, he took her hand and laced his fingers in hers, but still he didn’t speak.

“I pulled away the day we kissed because I…I don’t know. I just can’t even imagine being with anyone other than Kyle, you know?” Jennie asked. She didn’t expect an answer and he didn’t give one. Jennie knew that Chad
did
know. Somehow, he understood.

Jennie raised her bottle to her mouth and took a sip. “Truth or dare?” she asked.

A long drawn-out moment passed before Chad answered. “Truth.”

“What are you thinking right now?” Jennie asked.

Chad cleared his throat. “That you’re strong as hell. That I hate that there’s nothing I can say or do to take away your pain. That I want to go back to easier questions.”

Jennie laughed but there wasn’t much humor in it.

“Truth or dare?” Chad asked.

“Truth,” Jennie said.

***

They played on, well into the night, keeping the topics light and fun. As with everything between the two of them, it eventually snaked back around to sex and Chad threw back a question Jennie had asked him earlier.

“Kinkiest thing you’ve ever done.” Chad’s answer had made Jennie blush when she’d asked the question earlier in the night.

Jennie squirmed, not wanting to tell Chad. But, he’d know if she lied. He always did.

Jennie focused on the corner of the label on her beer bottle, peeling it away from the sweaty glass so she wouldn’t have to meet Chad’s eyes.

“When we were in college, Kyle bought me these panties that, um…” Jennie started. “They had, um, well, they were battery operated. And he had the remote control. We’d be studying and he could turn them on whenever he wanted and I couldn’t stop him. He’d get all turned on knowing he was teasing the crap out of me and, well, clearly I’d get all worked up. We’d see who could hold out the longest without jumping the other one.”

Jennie thought back and laughed. “I don’t think it was really fair, though.”

“Wh...” Chad cleared his throat. “Why not?”

“When he lost, it just meant he had to do the dishes. When I lost, I got a spanking.” Jennie was laughing but as soon as she said it she remembered how hot it had been when Kyle won.

Jennie looked up at Chad and realized she’d probably had way too much to drink. That wasn’t a story she should have told. He was looking down at her, eyes intense and heated and focused only on her. She swallowed.

Chad got up suddenly and put his beer on the table next to them. He walked in the house without saying a word. Jennie followed, laughing.

“Where are you going?”

He didn’t answer.

“Chad?” Jennie padded after him, a little wobbly on her feet after so many beers.

Chad walked in the bathroom but didn’t shut the door. He walked straight back to the shower, stepped in with his clothes on, head down, as he turned the water on full blast.

Jennie burst out laughing at the sight of him.

“Oh my God! Chad, what are you doing?”

Chad kept his back to her. “Taking a cold shower, Jen.”

“You’re crazy!”

Chad raised one hand to waive her off.

“Nite, Jen. Get some sleep.”

Chapter Fourteen

Chad woke with a headache. The cold shower had done little to erase the effects of Jennie’s vibrating panties confession. His dreams had been filled with images of Jennie moaning and squirming underneath his hands. He knew they’d played with fire last night and he’d paid the price for it all night long as he chased Jennie from dream to dream.

It didn’t help that they’d had too much to drink either. It had started with margaritas at dinner and ended with beers at the villa. Way too many beers. And too much talking. Chad would’ve liked to focus on Jennie’s story about her very special little panties this morning, but his head was stuck on the fact that she was nowhere near over her husband. He had suspected as much, but knowing it for sure seemed to cut deeper somehow. There were no words for how Chad felt about that.

Maybe his mom was right. Maybe he did do this to himself on purpose.

Well, if he did, he was damn good at it. What better woman to pick, if he subconsciously didn’t want things to work out, than a woman who was not only off limits because of their work roles, but who was also in love with her dead husband? How do you compete with a ghost? A perfect ghost who was her soul mate in every way even when they were growing up?

Shoot me now.

Chad heard a groan come from the bedroom and knew Jennie was struggling as much as he was this morning. Chad sat up slowly and swung his legs down to the floor. Sleeping on the couch was killing his back and his neck. He stretched out and stood to try and work out the kinks, then reached for the phone.

Jennie came out just as he hung up.

“Hey. I ordered room service. Thought we’d stay in and try to recover this morning.”

She smiled at him but her eyes were tired and sad this morning. He had a feeling she could’ve done without the recap of her life with Kyle last night.

“Thanks. I don’t know if I can eat. I haven’t had that much to drink in years,” Jennie said, rubbing her stomach.

She got quiet for a minute and studied her feet. “Can I ask you for a favor, Chad?”

“Anything. You know that.” Chad didn’t like how vulnerable she looked.

“Only Kelly knows about...about what I told you last night. Can you, um, not tell anyone else?”

“Of course, Jennie. I promise.” Chad paused, then grinned at her. “I won’t tell anyone about your vibrating panties.”

“Gah! You...you...” Jennie threw a flip flop at him and stomped off to the shower. But at least she was laughing. That’s all Chad could hope for now.

Chapter Fifteen

They were almost at the end of their two weeks. Just four more nights. Kelly had called the day before and, so far, her doctor wasn’t predicting delivery any time soon. Even though Jack had said he had a jet standing by for them, Jennie still worried about Kelly delivering the baby before they got home.

She and Chad were closer than ever, which was nice in some ways, but it did make resisting the pull of their sexual attraction a lot harder. They’d only held hands or danced a bit in public to keep up the pretense of being a happily married couple. But, even that little bit of closeness had Jennie tense and uneasy. Her body cried out for Chad with everything in it and she felt more than physical attraction at this point, but her heart also hurt with every pull.

And Jennie was honestly utterly exhausted from trying to fight it. She sat on the edge of the bed while Chad showered. And she did something she hadn’t done in a long time. She talked to Kyle. Not out loud. Only in her head. She needed him to know.

Please, Kyle. Please forgive me for this. I just want one night to forget. One night to not feel like I’ve been torn in half. To not remember. Just one night.

Jennie took a deep breath and looked at the door to the bathroom and stood. She pulled off her robe and let it drop to the floor.

She pushed open the door and stepped into the steamy room. She knew Chad heard her. His back tensed right away and his hands stilled. He lowered his head and waited.

Jennie slipped into the shower in front of him. She turned as she stepped in so she could see his face. He watched her so warily, holding his hands still. Not touching her or reaching for her.

Jennie placed her palms flat on his chest and felt the sharp inhale of his breath. She looked up at him, thankful for the water that streamed over them. She didn’t want him to see her tears.

“Make me forget, Chad. For one night. Please? Make me forget.”

Chad looked down at her, eyes blazing with heat, but also sadness. She didn’t want him to be sad for her and she didn’t want to make him sad. But, she couldn’t walk away anymore.

***

As Chad looked down at Jennie, he knew he should walk away. Say no and leave it alone. But he couldn’t do that. He’d lost all his strength where she was concerned and he didn’t want to walk away.

He wanted her so badly, all he could think about was what she would taste like. What she would feel like, her soft body against his. The way she would feel when she wrapped her legs around him. The way he could make her feel, make her squirm and cry out for him. His mind had been scrambled since they got on the plane for Florida and he didn’t want to try to fight this anymore. If he only got this one night, then so be it. He’d take one night if that’s all she could give him.