Never Understand Part One ( Johnthen Trent Adult Romance 1) (7 page)

Relax, Jana,
I repeat to myself.
Ignore him. Josh is an asshole. He is an asshole.
I take a drink of champagne and turn away from him, only to see Josh’s back disappearing into the crowd in the other direction.
Shit, shit, shit!
Josh just pinched my butt and then walked off – that’s why I smelled a waft of his aftershave as he walked behind me. I’ve just pinched some other guy’s butt. Definitely not Josh Lake’s.

Everything happens in slow-mo. I turn back in that over-controlled way that only the inebriated can master, and find myself face to face with Andrea Davison. Confusion. It certainly wasn’t her butt that I just pinched.

‘Jana,’ she says, kind of knowingly. ‘This is Johnthen Trent. Johnthen tells me you two may have met,’ says Andrea.

Lawyer Woman looks at me. A look that unmistakably says,
I’m getting high just on this guy’s pheromones, and you’ve just pinched his exquisitely toned, silk-suited ass.
She assumes I am a nerveless, wanton partygirl - but clearly admires me for it. If only she knew the rest of the story.

Johnthen is looking down at me, his eyes are laughing and an eyebrow is arched. As well it might be. I feel as though I have to explain myself. Josh I can handle, but this guy… I’m weak at the knees. My mouth gapes. Goldfish time.

Lawyer Woman puts the icing on the cake. ‘Jana was just telling us about Chomsky’s theory of Linguistics, Johnthen. She knows all about it, don’t you Jana?’

Four of them look expectantly at me. Answer that one, Jana Kidd.

Chapter 8: Battery Park, New York City, Tuesday 9 May

‘I’ve always been fascinated by Chomsky, too. Amazing to think he wrote his first research paper in Linguistics in 1957, and he’s still a professor.’

No, that’s not me talking. Mr Deep and Gorgeous has had an uncharacteristic spasm of gallantry and helped me out there. Does he know what he’s talking about? Do I care?

His voice pours over me, all relaxed authority and knowing smile, every inch the super-successful music company boss. He could be telling me Chomsky had just landed from Venus and it would make no difference. His voice is not only smooth and rich – it kind of resonates, quivering my stomach and I swear in between my legs as well. His gold, searching eyes are on me again, unusual and fascinating and I can’t help looking into them. I’m suddenly aware it’s hot in here. There’s a rivulet of sweat that trickles down my spine into the curve and cleft of my tailbone, pooling above my bottom. He’s talking Chomsky, but for some reason this man makes me acutely aware of my body, and I’ll swear he’s just cranked up the thermostat. He’s tall and in that suit and with that face and those lips and the fingers – he is sex on legs.

I move uneasily from side to side on my shoes. I’m a little drunk, my shoes are burning, my feet like hell and it’s so
hot
. My body is telling me this guy could be so good for me, but my conscious mind is telling me the opposite. I tell myself again - he’s a hunter, a predator, and he’s found me - again. How many women are there to choose from in here? There must be two hundred women in here, yet he’s zeroed in on me. What is it? Am I some kind of little challenge for him? I suddenly catch myself looking at him and twirling my hair for a second. I stop, but he spotted it for sure.

The Lawyer Woman is letting her eyes drift up and down his long, fit body in a way that is even more wanton than I feel. Only then do I notice her wedding ring. Are married women allowed to do this kind of thing?

I remember myself and speak to Andrea. I need to thank her and tell her how fabulous it all is.

‘Andrea, congratulations! This is a great party. So many cool people, designers and artists and all. You must be so proud. Great party. And I can’t believe you got someone to fund all this champagne. I guess these Wall Street guys are swimming in money.’

‘Um, yeah, the champagne was a late addition,’ says Andrea, smiling and peeking an eye up at Johnthen. Looking kind of grateful and guilty. Which is odd since she’s master of getting people to do things for her. Does that mean he’s donated..? She is clearly embarrassed. Because she’s accepted so much money? It must have been a lot of money.

Johnthen isn’t embarrassed. ‘Least I could do, Andrea,’ he says, but still with his eyes on me as he spoke to her. ‘Your work is so original, and important, and you got all these people together. I did what little I could to help.’

Andrea
is
embarrassed, it’s clear as day. ‘I am uncomfortable, I guess,’ she says. ‘You didn’t ask for anything in return, Johnthen, and I don’t like that. It’s a lot of money. The Wall Street guys always make sure to get their money’s worth.’

‘Nonsense,’ he says, laughing gently. ‘I probably made ten or twenty thousand bucks while we’ve been chatting here. Don’t sweat it.’

But Andrea
is
sweating it. Johnthen Trent, singer, songwriter and producer has invited himself at the last minute, sponsored the party to the tune of twenty grand or whatever, and his presence alone has probably doubled the numbers. Just turning up would have been a big deal for Andrea. Why is he doing this?

Or is it just that Dark and Deep makes Andrea feel uncomfortable in the way he does to me? Very attractive, but intense, and worryingly unfathomable. Has he been hitting on her as well? The idea gives me a stab of jealousy. Why is he doing this, what does he want?

I have to deal with this guy. Head on. It sounds scary but I have to get things straight with him.

‘Johnthen,’ I say.

‘You used my name. Things are looking up,’ he jokes.

‘Johnthen, can you and I talk for a moment?’

I expect the triumphant but steely smile in his eyes for a second, like the seventeen year-old at the end of the video, knowing that he’d won all those women. He hasn’t triumphed over me, and I’m not going to let him get away with all this. I look again for the alpha-male smile of steely amusement, but there’s a softer look there. He says nothing, but his look has changed subtly and he places his fingers coolly on my lower back, and steers me away from Andrea and the others. My mind speculates wildly whether he’s actually going to listen to me for once, or whether he’s going to drag me up to the mezzanine and …

Why the hell did that thought pop into my head? What is it about him that I feel like a schoolgirl standing before the dark and mysterious new principal at school? That thought excites me. He guides me firmly away from the crowd and turns round on me. It’s just the two of us.

‘Come on then, out with it, Jana Kidd. You have something to say to me.’ His smile is all amusement.

‘It feels like you’re pursuing me,’ I say. ‘It even feels like you came here on purpose because you somehow knew I’d be here,’ I blurt, looking at my glass. The champagne is beginning to give me voice. ‘I know that can’t be true, but…’

When I look up at him, he’s laughing softly, and the look on his face is quite warm. Laughing at my worried, confused face nonetheless. ‘And I suppose you think I paid for all the champagne and the caviar and the sushi just to impress you?’ He laughs again, throwing his head back momentarily.

Here’s where I start laughing too… Laugh it off. Ha ha! Act cool and funny. Except I don’t. Champagne girl has taken over, and my irritation with him is splurging out. Let’s deal with it now.

‘Well, Andrea has no idea why you paid for it all,’ I pursue. ‘She’s just as freaked out as I am. It’s obvious.’

‘Probably more freaked out,’ he chuckles. ‘She was mortified, but she’d never guess the reason I did it,’ he says. ‘You however, Miss Nancy Drew, have seen through my cunning stratagem already.’ He laughs once more then looks intensely at me again with his golden green eyes. It’s a good thing there’s no wall or marble bar for him to trap me against, like there was in the restaurant. At least I got that right. No more intense, close up stuff where I know I’m just going to give in if it happens again. He carries on speaking, ‘Although it didn’t take much guesswork, given that I’ve made it more than clear how much I like you, Jana.’

Has he just said that? My jaw has dropped, and not at the sheer rudeness. ‘You mean you actually
did
pay for all this, just to… just to impress me?’

He has to be embarrassed, or more likely angry by now. But no. He chuckles in that dirty-sexy way, like he really does just want to get in my pants. ‘Of course I paid for it. I asked Massimo to tell me where you went outside work.’

‘You bribed him?’

‘Course not. I always tip heavily. He thought he was doing you a favour telling me all this.’ My jaw has dropped another inch. How dare he? And how dare Massimo?

‘And Andrea?’ I say, catching on. No wonder she was embarrassed. She wasn’t embarrassed about receiving the money. She was cringing about being part of the whole tacky scheme! ‘Oh my God! It’s even worse than I thought! You paid for all that food and champagne, and then you made Andrea
tell
me you paid for it?’ I shout. ‘Oh my God! Did you think that would impress me? No wonder Andrea wanted to shrivel up and die!’

‘You love it!’ he says. ‘You said I should try and behave like other guys, and be “nice”, make an effort and impress you. You said it would do me good to be patient and not just haul a woman off and fuck her. Not that that’s how I would want you to think of sex with Johnthen Trent, but that’s what you said.’ He is still wearing that warm smile, quite unashamed.

‘You arrogant jerk. So how would
you
describe “sex with Johnthen Trent” as you put it? You think you’re really so wonderful?’

‘You’ll have to find out for yourself,’ he says with a savage glint in his eye, and with what I can only describe as complete self-assurance. He doesn’t look like a guy who gets too many complaints about his performance. Then he says, ‘And if you carry on looking at me like that while you play with your hair, Jana, I won’t be responsible for my actions.’

I catch myself, but before I can think further, he carries on. ‘But seriously, I have made an effort. And I have tried to impress you, like all those other guys who’ve been trying to get your attention. I’ll bet you never even noticed half of the guys who are trying to impress you in here. That’s the point. It’s not all that impressive. See? I did what you asked, and where did it get me? You hold me in complete contempt for the effort I’ve made.’

‘The effort you made? Was that trying to fuck me against the bar at my place of work. Or openly stalking me, and using Andrea to track me down here?’

‘How can I stalk you “openly”? OK, yesterday at the restaurant wasn’t my best move,’ he concedes. ‘I guess I couldn’t stop myself. I’ll be honest, there’s something about you that gets to me, Jana. And to be honest, I thought I saw something in your eyes that liked me too.’ I almost laugh out loud when he says that. It sounds so cheesy, but it’s probably true. Then he says, ‘We won’t always have to do it in there. I’m a very creative person.’

Creative?!
Now he’s just playing with me.

‘As if there’d be a second time! I’m just another number for you,’ I shout. ‘You’re no relation to Tiger Woods are you? How many women so far this month? What is it? Tuesday the ninth? You must be in double figures by now.’

This is totally unfair. I have no evidence he’s a womanizer, but I guess I just want him to tell me that he isn’t. Instead he shakes his head and smiles. ‘I suppose I have had a few girlfriends over the years,’ he says, with a tone I can’t read. Is he being ironic or evasive or what? ‘Besides, does that mean if I promise to fuck you twice, that’s all OK? In that case, I think we have the makings of a deal, Jana Kidd. Or maybe that was too easy for you. You should try and bid me up to three.’

That’s this evening spoken for,
I’m thinking.
What about the morning?
‘Not happening, Trent,’ I say. I never said I wasn’t tempted, did I? ‘Look, it’s so hot in here, and I think my friend Phoeb’s up in the Mezzanine chilling out. I’ll catch you later.’

‘No, Jana. It’ll be me catching you.’

‘I’m not gonna jump off the balcony or anything,’ I quip over my shoulder, ‘And if I did I’d probably flatten you. There’s more to me than your usual skinny nymphets.’ I turn my back, leaving Dark and Mysterious looking on. Am I completely insane?

I clutch my champagne for dear life and start to make my way up the stairs. I realize my shoes are still killing me – John had just taken my mind off it - and what with the champagne as well, it’s pretty much an Oscar-winning performance for me to walk away with any kind of poise or grace and start to slowly climb the stairs. I listen for his steps, and he hasn’t moved away. I can feel his hot eyes are flicking over my back. I can’t help but think of his words yesterday: “You with your outrageously fantastic ass and that wonderful cascading hair,” and my head swims another flood of adrenalin. Then there was the
creative
thing. But I’m doing OK. I even shake my hair a little in provocation, looking in his eyes and then demurely at my feet again, just because he said it gets to him. And I’m sure as hell NOT going to take off my favourite fuck-me heels so that Dark and mysterious Johnthen Trent can smirk at me all the way up these stairs.

You could say I have it all figured out.

Except halfway up, I am aware of his steps coming up behind me, striding coolly across the floor and then coming up the stairs, deceptively catlike and graceful for a big, powerful man.
Don’t look round!
He’ll think I’m leading him up here deliberately.
Maybe I am!

But I can’t go fast enough to escape him. I’m cornered again like I was at that bar. At least I don’t think he’ll actually try to fuck me on the staircase though. He’s right up behind me.

Shockingly, with one smooth movement, he picks me up, cradling me like a three year-old. He’s carrying me up the stairs like I’m nothing, which I can tell you, is very far from the case. A gasp escapes me. I have an urge to fight back. I have my little evening purse on a chain and think of hitting him with it. Pathetic. I kind of wriggle a bit instead.