Room 1208 (11 page)

She sagged against him, completely drained,
watching as he brought his fingers to his mouth and sucked, his eyes never
leaving hers until he’d tasted every last drop of her juices. He kissed her
again, sharing her taste with her. Then he kissed her cheeks, her eyelashes,
her forehead. He wrapped his arms tightly around her. His heart pounded heavily
against her breasts.

“Maggie,” he said softly. “Maggie. I love you.”

She curled her hands around his neck, kissed his
throat, his cheek, his ear. “I love you, too, Jason,” she whispered. “But…”

He froze. “But what?

“Can you please say that to me again in another
hour? I’ve heard that proclamations made during or immediately after sex aren’t
always to be trusted.”

His chest shook with laughter. He swatted her
butt. “You little minx.”

She matched her breathing to his as they sat
entwined. A smile curved her mouth when, after another minute or two, he
grasped the nape of her neck and brought his mouth to her ear. “I love you,
Maggie mine,” he said with sweet ferocity. “Don’t ever doubt it.”

All in all, Rob was to
tell her later, she and Jason had been gone for a
full hour
. It had
taken them a while to get cleaned up in his executive bathroom, each of them
surrendering to fits of helpless laughter as they helped each other put on a
neat and tidy appearance that would give no clue as to the hanky panky that had
gone on behind Jason’s locked office door.

Maggie was all blushed out for the moment, thank
God. She managed to project a demure, professional calm as Jason held the
conference door open for her before following her into the room. He guided her
to the chair at his right before taking the seat at the head of the table.

“Well,” Rob said heartily as he returned to his
seat. “Have all of your questions been answered?”

“Yes. I’m very satisfied with the conversation I
had with Maggie.”

Under the table, Jason’s shoe-clad foot slid
alongside hers.

“Excellent,” Rob replied. He gave Maggie a look.
She gave a slight shrug. She still didn’t know if Jason was going to buy their
campaign or not. Honestly, it was the last thing on her mind.

“Would you play the television spot one more
time,” Jason directed.

Kayla jumped up from her seat and hit the play
button on the DVD player. Maggie watched as the commercial unfolded. A handsome
man sits alone in a secluded lounge, a bottle of Jagz vodka at his elbow, a
half-full glass in his hand. A beautiful woman walks towards him. She pretends
to drop something. She picks it up and places it on his table. Zoom in on a
note, an invitation to her room, a key. Room 1208. In the next shot, he’s
knocking on her hotel room door. She opens it. A sultry look is exchanged. She
draws him inside. The door closes. Final shot, a close-up of a bottle of Jagz
vodka on a nightstand next to a man’s watch and a woman’s silk stocking. Fade
out.

Everyone was quiet after the commercial ended.
Jason leaned back in his chair, elbows resting on the arms, his hands pressed
together under his chin. He surveyed the room, his gaze settling on Tim. “I
like it,” he said.

There was an audible breath of relief throughout
the room. Mike pumped his fist in the air. Kayla put her hand over Rob’s, a
brief squeeze before releasing it. Only Tim appeared unmoved. “But?” he asked,
looking Jason straight in the eye.

The room fell silent again.

“But it needs to be more,” Jason stated.

“More?” This from Rob.

“I like the overall storyline,” Jason said. “But
I want more.”

Looking at his cool, calm demeanor no one would
ever guess that he was rubbing his foot against Maggie’s under the table. He
looked at everyone but her as he went on. “I want to take things further,
create different episodes that continue the story of these two strangers. I
want people to look forward to the next installment. What’s going to happen
next?”

Tim nodded his head. “I like it. We can take the
storyline in several directions, though. Did you have a particular outcome in
mind?”

Jason seemed to ponder this for a few moments.
“End the first episode with the man standing outside the woman’s hotel room
door, poised to knock. Episode two finds her alone in the hotel room, but it’s
clear they’ve spent the night together. He’s left a note on her pillow. She
reads it and smiles. End episode two. Episode three sees them meeting again at
another hotel, maybe in an airport bar. Is it planned? Or is it just
coincidence? And so on.”

“I like this,” Rob said. “It will be kind of like
a soap opera. We’ll make each commercial enticing enough that viewers will be
on the edge of their seats. This can translate really well in the print ads,
too. What do you think, Maggie?”

“Sure. I—
we
can definitely make this
work.” She nodded at Kayla, including her in the process. For the first time
since they’d met, Kayla gave Maggie a genuine smile.

Jason swiveled his chair around to face Maggie,
pulling her attention back to him. “I know how I’d like the first series of commercials
to end, Maggie.” His eyes glowed with tenderness, belying the smooth CEO
exterior he presented to the others. “Picture this. The man and the woman are
in another lounge, someplace elegant, a jazz club, perhaps. Plush velvet booth,
soft music playing in the background. They’re drinking Jagz vodka, of course.”

Maggie’s mouth twitched. “Of course.”

Tenderness deepened into a look of love so
profound it made her breathless.

“Then,” Jason said, his gaze unwavering. “He
pushes a small box across the table. It’s a jewelry box. She looks at the box,
then up at him. Is this what she thinks it is? She blushes. She opens the box.
It’s an engagement ring. He takes it out of the box and slips it on her finger.
She looks at him with her heart in her eyes, nodding her acceptance.” He
swallowed. His voice turned raspy. “What do you think, Maggie?”

Her heart lurched. She couldn’t speak.

“Maybe we can do more episodes after that,
continue their story,” Jason went on, sounding like he’d just run a long race.
His eyes never left hers. She felt like they were the only two people in the
room. “We’ll show their wedding day, their country home in Connecticut, the
birth of their first child, maybe their first fight?” His features took on a
radiant glow. “I like that idea. They have a fight and they make up in a hotel
room. Room twelve oh eight. It will always circle back to that room for these
two. They’ll never forget that moment they first met, never forget the passion
of that first night, a passion that will only become deeper and stronger as
they grow old together. What do you think, Maggie? Yes or no?”

Love shining from her eyes, Maggie nodded her head
and smiled.

Sophia Renny loves Romance, Chocolate, and Pinot Noir.
When she’s not writing about strong yet vulnerable men and the women who love
them she can be found enjoying the great outdoors of northwest Montana.

Feel free to drop a kind word to Sophia at
[email protected]
, follow her on
Twitter @SophiaRenny, or check out her website:
www.sophiarenny.com