Taking Chances (3 page)

Tasting the food he sighed “you know you really do know how to cook this is great.” taking another spoonful he smiled at her.

“Thanks. My aunt Emma was a chef she studied at Le Cordon Bleu and traveled the world learning new techniques and styles of cooking.  She taught me how to handle myself in the kitchen.   Can you imagine traveling the world like that?  Well anyway you can thank Aunt Emma and incase I forget one of her recipes I left a copy of each of her cookbooks in your kitchen.” She took a bite of the bread and looked at him smiling at how handsome he was.   

He was six foot 4 with dark brown hair that was always mussed and sapphire blue eyes.   She normally didn’t find the business man thing attractive, however he really did make her just want to sit and stare at him.

Tyler reached for his beer and looked at her catching her eyes with his.  “Dean told me a bit about your aunt and how you came to live with her” he noticed her freeze and get a bit of a haunted look in her eyes.  “Now don’t be mad at him he just wanted to make sure I treated you right or that I was my normal hard assed self with you, he and Sara really like you.”

Giving him a nervous smile Jenna added “I really like them too.  Since they told you how I came to live with Aunt Emma than I’m sure you can guess I was a bit of a wreck.  Dean and Sara lived next door.  Sara would see me sitting at the café up the street with my aunt.  One day she walked by with her mom and stopped to talk to me while her mom talked to Emma, Sara started talking to me, she made me feel comfortable, and from then on we were inseparable.   For a long time the only place I would go besides school and home was their house.  Dean was and is like an older brother to me too.”

“I can see that.” Tyler sipped his beer as he thought about what he was going to say next. Taking a deep breathe he added

 “When I told Dean I was interest in getting to know has nothing to do with you being my housekeeper and more to do with you being the most intriguing and beautiful woman I have ever me, he made damn sure I knew that if I hurt you I would pay.”  He looked at her to see her reaction.

Coughing as she tried to swallow the mouthful of stew she had just taken, Jenna looked at Tyler as if he had sprouted a second nose.  “You’re interested in me? Like interested in me? Even after you heard that I have hermit tendencies?”  She watched as he flashed her one of his dazzling smile and couldn’t believe what she just heard.  She wasn’t a complete shut in.  She has had a relationship of two in her 26 years.  However once guys get a peek of her anxiety and fears they take off.  Yet here he is Tyler Johnson, sexy, funny, wealthy and able to have any woman he wants; stating his desire to get to know her to be with her.

“Is that so hard to believe?  I mean you have to know how attractive you are and how nice you are.”   He reached out and took her hand rubbing his thumb over her palm.  He looked her up and down once then met her hypnotic eyes.  

“The minute I saw you dancing around my bedroom I was intrigued.  Then you looked at me with your absolutely amazing eyes and I fell a bit.  The minute I started to get to know you a more I was lost.  You were all I thought about and I will know you Jenna, believe me I get what I want.” Smirking he pulled her hand up and kissed it.

She forced herself to finish some of the meal.   One of the downfalls of her anxiety is the racing mind.  She over thought, she fretted about every little thing and right now her mind was going a mile a minute and she felt the tell-tale thump of her heart, yet the panic attack never came for the same reasons that getting involved with Tyler was scary it was also oddly comforting.  Her mind was at war with itself.  This handsome successful man wanted to be with her.  

Should she say yes she wanted to be with him despite their differences and the fact that she had nothing in common with almost anything in his life, should she say no, she wasn’t looking for a relationship now and go back to her safe life alone with nobody to possibly hurt her?  She had to stop listening to the little voice in her head that always told of impending doom and start listening to the voice, which oddly enough sounded a lot like Sara, and told her that sometimes taking a chance wasn’t bad.

Tyler finished his meal and took her hand, “Come on let’s go sit and talk a bit.  Tell me about yourself Jenna, what you do for fun.  He led her to the couch in the living room that looked out over the city.  “Just chill for a minute I'm going to go change out of this suit.”

When he came back, he was wearing a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt his feet were bare and for some reason she found that so hot.  It added a level of familiarity or something she thought.  He sat next to her on the couch and put his arm behind her on the back of the couch.  His fingers played with her hair as he watched her.  

“Why are you so surprised I want you Jenna?”  Putting his fingers under her chin he made her look at him then put his arm back on the back of the couch.

“I don’t know I guess it’s just…it’s just that well I don’t look like a girl you would be seen with.  I picture you wi
th someone like, well, I don’t know I’ve never met anyone like the woman you should be with. I picture you with someone who is
sophisticated and smart and can hold her own when she talks to people.  She doesn’t have pink hair and tattoos and live like a hermit.  Probably the most importantly reason is, I’m your housekeeper, true it isn’t out of necessity that I do that but what would your friends or family think if you showed up somewhere with me?”   Licking her lips as she watched him as he put his now empty beer on the table.

“Now you are starting to sound like my mother. I’ve been with someone like that before and, they bore me.
I look at you and I see someone who is different and unapologetic about it.  I see someone who won’t yes me to death just to make me happy.”

 Twirling one of her pink highlights around his finger he adds.  “You look like someone who is dying to take some chances has some fun do new things and I want to be the man who helps you.”  Leaning in his lips hovered over hers.  “Tell me you don’t want this and ill back off, tell me you aren’t looking for someone who can keep you safe and at the same time show you how to get out more and have fun, tell me I’m wrong about everything and we can go back to normal.”

Smiling shyly at him Jenna closed the small space between them and placed a light kiss on his cheek.   “I think you should go find someone who doesn’t keep all this excess baggage of neurosis they carry with them everywhere.  I mean you travel the world both for work and for fun.  There are pictures of you in some of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen and I’m to scared go see my favorite band in concert in a few months because it means I not only have to leave my house and be in a big crowd, but I have to leave New York!  I haven’t done that since I was 18 and Aunt Emma took me to Philly to the art museum for my birthday.”  

Sitting back Jenna looked right at him.  “A relationship with me is a lot of work.”

“In case you haven’t noticed from those same pictures you mentioned I love a challenge I love having fun and I love life. 
I am not going to lie to you Jenna I love to go skiing and sky diving and I absolutely love diving in the Caribbean and Mediterranean but I am not asking you to do those things with me, and I would never force you to do so.
Let me show you how it is to live life like that, Jenna, we can start slow but come on. Be my partner in crime let me show you how to have fun without being scared.”  Tyler ran his knuckle across her soft cheek and he looked into her eyes.  

 “I want to be with you Jenna Flynn.  I’m not going to sit here and tell you I’m madly in love with you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I’m not going to tell you that I don’t want those things either, who knows where we will end up.  But I am going to tell you that I want to be with you I want to make you happy, there is something about you that make me want to show you the world and things you have never seen.  I want to touch you and be with you.” Leaning in to her he gives her a kiss, a soft, passionate kiss his lips touching her soft lips, his tongue tasting her lips and coaxing them open.

“Let’s see where we can take this Jenna.  Don’t over think it lets just have some fun and see what happens.”  Smiling at her, he runs his hand down the side of her face cupping her cheek.

Sighing and shivering from his soft touch Jenna looking at him, her brain is racing, a million voices telling her a million different things, her mind being bombarded with what ifs and what will people think and how will it work out.  As always the voices are all hers.  She reaches out and pulls him to her and places a soft kiss on his lips.  She pulls back and looks at him giving him a nervous smile.

She smiles at him and replies with one word “Yes.”

Tyler stands up and reaches out to take her hand.  Wrapping his strong arms around her he looks in her hypnotizing eyes and says “Come on, I’ll take you home and we will go out tomorrow.  How about dinner I hear your Aunt left you a café and the menu is all her creations.  If she’s the one who taught you to cook then I definitely can’t wait to taste her recipes.”

“That sounds great.  It’s a few blocks from my house.  I’ll meet you there tomorrow at 6.  Now give me a ride home before I lose my confidence and nerve.”  She laughs and he grabs her coat helping her into it then grabbing his keys.

Chapter four

The following morning Jenna ran next door to the home Sara bought from her parents when they moved upstate.  Knocking wildly she was desperate to talk to her friend about what happened last night.

“Oh my god what is going on Jenna?  Are you ok?   Its sounds like you’re trying to break the door down.”  Smiling at her friend Sara stood aside as Jenna entered.

Jenna stopped in her tracks when she saw Dalton, he was Sara’s on again off again boyfriend. She gave the man a frigid smile. He was on his way out and told Sara he would call her. Once he was gone Jenna turned to her and put her hands on her hips.

“
Sara Winchester.
I thought you decided the last time you two were together that it was over.
You know I will go ahead with anything you want but I hate the way he hurts you.
” Jenna was just frustrated. She hated the way Dalton continuously broke her best
friend’s heart.

“Not now Jen. I’m not in the mood he called last night and said all the right things the way he always does and you know the rest. So what’s up with you that you came over here knocking like the hounds of hell are on your heals?” Sara walked deeper into her home with her friend following her.

“Tyler kissed me last night.  He sat me down and let his intentions to be with me known and he kissed me.”  Looking at her friends now shocked face Jenna waited to hear her reply.

“Well I can’t say that I’m completely surprised.”  Sitting down on the couch waiting for Jenna to sit beside her Sara went on.  “He’s a good man Jen.  But he does live on a whole other level from the rest of us.  I mean if you and I have a hard day we would go have a drink or just relax and talk about it, maybe even go to the gym.  Tyler has a bad day and goes kayaking or climbs an actual rock climbing; I mean last month he talked Dean into going zip lining with him because he was bored.”

“I know.  I’ve seen the pictures in his office at the penthouse.  It scares me to death; I mean what if I’m just the next challenge for him?  But on the other hand, I really need to get out of my shell.  Wasn’t that want Aunt Emma was always telling me?”  Jenna stood up and went into the kitchen and grabbed a cup of coffee, sipping it and pacing the room.

“Well I can’t tell you want to do Jen but I can tell you that Tyler is a good man.  He’s kind and generous and the last thing he wants is to hurt anyone.  I’ve known him for a long time and his family is a bit snobby at first but they aren’t bad once you get to know them.”

 Watching her friend pace Sara knew better than to try and calm her down.  Jenna needed to work things out on her own.  Most of the time when Jenna talked to her it was just to say things out loud and work them out on her own.

“I can see that he is a good guy but he lives life hard and fast.  MY GOD what I wouldn’t give to be strong enough to do just a tenth of the things he does.”  Finishing her coffee and setting the mug down.  “I want to be able to live without fear, without my mind racing in a hundred different directions.  I want to be able to just live life.  To this point the most exciting thing I’ve ever done is sell my paintings.”
Jenna walked over to the window and looked out sighing.

“Jen you need to take the chance I think.  What’s the worst that could happen; you wind up having some fun and trying something new?  On the other side if it works out then you have a sexy man who wants you and wants to show you the world.  It doesn’t sound like it’s a situation you where you can lose anything.”  

Sitting back Sara looked at her smiling.   “You should tell him about your art.  He is a huge fan, he just told Dean he wants to commission you to do the art for the remodel of the penthouses of the down town hotel.”

“We are going to the Café tonight.  If it goes well maybe I’ll take him upstairs to my studio.”  Sitting back down next to her friend she smiles.  “He really is hot isn’t he? Sara?”  The two women giggle.

“So what are you wearing tonight Jen?”  Sara asked pushing her hair back out of her face.