Willow (13 page)

The room was large and full of second hand furniture that her parents had given her. The big screen television hung over the mantle, but had not been on all that much. She usually had things to do when she got home and if she made it as far as this room before going up to bed, she just read a book or something. The dogs had claimed the area in front of the gas fireplace when she’d first brought them here and that’s where they went now. Jared sat on the couch and patted the seat next to him.

All sorts of alarms went off in her head. If she sat next to him, he’d touch her. If he touched her again like he had in the kitchen, she would be begging him to stay. Walking around the couch, she sat in the double wide recliner and sat back. She didn’t like it when he laughed.

“
Afraid, Willow? You don’t strike me a woman who would be afraid of a man.”

“
I’m not afraid of you. I just like this chair. It’s comfy. I thought you wanted to see the house.”

She had actually never sat in this chair, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. When he stood, she swallowed hard. She could see his cock outlined against his jeans and he looked very hard.

When he stood next to the chair, she found herself sitting up straighter. If she were to tilt her head just a little, she could take him into her mouth and taste him again. Yesterday just had not been enough. Clearing her throat, she looked over to the dogs, who were sleeping.

“
Willow, stand up please.” Her heart began pounding and she could feel her body ready for him. She didn’t look, but knew he was holding out his hand.

“
You should go, Robert. I don’t think this—”

“
I would very much like it if you called me Jared when we’re not at work. I like hearing my name pass over your lips. Especially when you shout it while you climax. Please come here.”

Standing up, she was only a few inches from him. But she could feel his warmth, smell his cologne. He smelled like the outdoors and male. Willow wanted to bury her nose in his neck and take his scent into her body. Steal it way and be able to pull it out when she needed to and think about his touch, his kisses, his taste.

He pulled her into his arms and she went willingly. She pressed to him as he aligned their bodies and moaned when his lips brushed over hers before kissing her deeply. She loved the way he could kiss her and make her lose all reason. Even the barest of touches could make her sway with need. When he put his hands on her ribs, she reached up and wrapped hers around his shoulders then around his neck. Even as the kiss deepened more, he didn’t move his hands, didn’t touch her more. Just when she thought she’d expire from need, a buzzing sounded. Jared pulled away from her and then took a step back. Willow dropped her hands when he dropped his.

He pulled out his cell phone and pressed a few buttons then put it away. “I have to go. My time is up.”

“
Now? You have to go right now?” her body was screaming at her. Her mind was mired in lust. He couldn’t leave her like this.

“
Yes. My time is up. I only had four hours and that’s over.” He turned away from her and went to the door while she simply stood there. “I’m sorry about the kitchen. I’d help you clean it up, but…” He disappeared into the kitchen and a few minutes later, she heard the door to the outside open then close. When his car started, she sat down hard on the chair. He left.

He had left her.

~Chapter 13~

Jared pulled over when he was about a mile from her house. He put the engine in park, leaned back against the head rest, and took several deep breaths. It didn’t help. He could smell her on his clothes, on his skin, and she was making him hurt, ache without her even being here. Leaning his head on the steering wheel, he had to chuckle. It was that or cry.

He was beginning to see the flaw in his plan. In getting her worked up to the point where she begged him to stay, he was also worked up. He was wound so tight right now that if she were to brush her finger over his cock, he’d come. Looking down at himself, he wondered how long a man could go without exploding from not coming. He hoped that he wouldn’t have to find out. He was hurting enough now.

Putting his car back into gear, he thought about the evening. She had wanted him, and had he stayed for one minute longer, he was sure he would have begged her if he could. But he wanted her to make the decision. She needed to ask him to stay. He’d hoped that he could get her to the bedroom before he’d left her, but the room where he’d kissed her was so her.

He felt badly about the mess he’d left her and he didn’t doubt she’d clean it up before going to do whatever it was she kept telling him about. He opened the window on his car to let the cold rush over him. When he got home he was going to need a cold shower quick. Maybe several of them.

~o0o~

Willow put the last glass in the dishwasher and closed it up. Looking around the kitchen, she could see that everything was just the way it had been. Hanging up the towel on the rack, she went to the dining room again and turned off the lights. It was the first time the room had been used since she finished it and the furniture had been delivered two weeks ago.

Moving with the dogs on her heels, she took them to the mud room and told them to go to bed. They were good dogs and she loved them dearly and they obeyed her at once. She thought about Jared’s reaction to their names and smiled. It was pretty much the same one she’d had. Closing their door to their room/laundry room, she made her way to the front of the house and set the alarm. Going up the stairs, she went first to the spare bedroom to check to see if she had what was needed. Satisfied, she closed and locked the door behind her and went to her office.

It was nearly an hour later when her phone rang, startling her out of a daydream of Jared and not working. She snatched it up, hoping it was Jared, but knew it was impossible because he didn’t have the number. But she smiled at her mom’s greeting.

“
I’m going to murder your father. I have never been so—shush up. I’m talking to my daughter.”

Willow knew that in a few seconds her father would pick up the extension in their home and tell her his side of the story about whatever had made her mom mad. It was a little longer than she thought before he did it.

“
I can’t believe you hid the phones, Mandy. That was just childish. Hello, darling daughter, how’s my favorite little girl?”

Willow grinned. That explained the delay somewhat. But she still didn’t know what had prompted the call at midnight.

“
I’m your only daughter, Dad, and I’m fine. What did you do to Mom to tick her off?”

He snorted. “Why do you assume that I made her mad? Maybe she made me mad. Did you think of that?”

“
If Mom would have done something to make you mad, you would have called first, not her. She’s the injured party this time, not you. What did you do?”

“
It was an innocent mistake. All I did was—”

“
Innocent,” her mother shouted at them both. “Do you know how long I had that magazine? I was keeping that article for later and you threw it away.”

“
Darling, the date on the front said March of—” her dad started only to be cut off by her mom.

“
Don’t you dare darling me you pompous ass. I know darn good and well what the date was on it. I purchased it, didn’t I?”

Willow burst into tears. She hadn’t meant to, but it was just too much. The magazine incident was forgotten and both parents were totally focused on her. She didn’t want that, but she was glad they had stopped arguing. Willow started babbling before she could get control of herself.

“
He just left me. Not even another kiss. And the dogs liked him. How could they betray me…why would he not make love to me again? I was right there. I know I was a bit overdressed, but he didn’t have any trouble taking them off. Am I ugly?”

She started crying again and held the phone tightly to her ear. Her mom was comforting her and her dad was not saying much, but she knew he was there. It was a full five minutes before she could speak again without bursting out again. Her dad said he was going to hang up and let her talk to her mother.

“
Are you all right, darling? Why don’t you come home? Bring those two idiots with you and they can run in the fields. I won’t even care if the track mud in the house again.”

Willow laughed. She was sure that’s what her mom had wanted. The dogs were terrified of her mom and with good reason. She had smacked them both good on the butt about a month or so ago for coming into the house with muddy feet. Willow didn’t know how her mom expected them to wipe their feet, but she would bet her last buck the dogs would try before they disappointed her again.

“
I’m sorry. You probably got more than you bargained for in that. I’m going to be fine. I’m just tired. You know how it gets this close to the end of a project.”

Amanda James was an architect. M. James to those who she worked with and Mandy to her friends. She had inspired Willow to do what she did. Mandy’s buildings were world renowned and she had designed the last ten hotels her family had built. Not to mention several others that kings and queens lived in as well as two former presidents.

“
Yes. I heard that you told your dad you’d be finished in a little over two weeks. Are you still on schedule to finish early?” Willow smiled. Her mom was waiting on her to speak first of the mystery man. “I bet you’re proud of your crew. That will set well for your future jobs.”

“
Yes. The man who we’re building it for is a bit odd, but he knows what he wants. We did have a problem with the floors in the employee dining room, but he let me keep it that way.”

Mandy snorted. “You mean you convinced him to see it your way. Good girl. So, tell me about your next project. Are you staying with Stone Construction?”

Willow closed her eyes. “He didn’t hurt me, Mom, he just left me. I was hurt because I thought…well, it doesn’t matter what I thought. It’s over. Yes, it’s over, and I’m happy it is.”

“
What sort of relationship were you having with him besides sexual? I mean, you said he was at your house. There has to be more than just sex for you to have him to your house.”

Frowning, she shifted in her chair. “Why do you say that? I mean, I know I keep it private, but that doesn’t mean I’m not unknown. Some of the men know where I live.”

“
Sweetheart, just because one or two of them follow you home when you work late does not mean they know where you live. You haven’t had a single person there since you bought it other than construction workers and those few and far between. I doubt you’ve had the cable people out and the monstrosity of a television is still not hooked up.”

Willow thought of the television in her family room and frowned. No, it wasn’t hooked up, but she’d been busy. Of course Marta could have waited for them, but that wasn’t the point.

“
We aren’t really having a relationship so much as he wanted to fulfill a bargain we had stuck up and I wanted more. As for him coming here, I didn’t invite him, he just showed up with all this food. And he cooked it. No one has ever cooked for me…why am I telling you this? It’s over. He’s happy and I’m happy. End of story.”

Her mom was quiet for some time before she spoke. “Wills, this has nothing to do with the comment your brother made the other week, does it? I don’t think he meant for you to go out and find someone to sleep with.”

Willow was hurt by the comment, but then realized that her mother had only asked because she loved her, not because she thought Willow would do it. But had she? She didn’t think so. Not the way the two of them had come together.

“
No. He’s just…he works for me. It’s probably just as well that it’s not going anywhere. If we got caught, and you know I will, then it could mean both our jobs. I think him leaving was for the best.”

Then why did it hurt so much? After a few more minutes of going over plans she was working on for her house, Willow hung up. She went down the hall to her bedroom, stripped down to her panties, and climbed into bed. Her last thought before she drifted off was that she was glad he’d not gotten in her bed. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to get his scent out of it.

~o0o~

Mandy looked up when her husband of thirty-five years walked into the library. She was still a little mad at him, but their daughter was more important right now. She smiled when he took her hand into his and kissed the back of it.

“
Did that article mean that much to you or was it the signature on it that had you so upset?”

Mandy looked at him. “You know it was. She signed it for me the day the stupid thing came out. And even though she had been upset because the interviewer had made her sound like a silly girly girl, she read every word to me. Which she was not, she said. Why do you ask? Are you trying to make me pissed again?”

He stood up, picked up the cushion he’d been sitting on, and pulled out the very magazine they’d been fighting about. She took it from him and held it to her chest. With tears in her eyes, she looked at him. “Willow signed her name on this the day I brought it home. She said she had never signed her name with meaning before.” She lifted it from her and looked at the cover with her daughter’s face looking back at her. “She was thirteen and just graduated from high school and in her first year of college when they took this. She’d wanted to have her hair dyed and I wouldn’t let her. She wanted to look older.”