Worth the Wait (Crimson Romance) (7 page)

Jared was glad she didn’t say anything about his brush off. “I can handle that. Call me when you land.”

“Will do. Bye, lova.” She’d been calling him lova since their affair broke off years ago. She waved as she went out the door.

Jared hurried and changed, feeling much more relaxed and himself in basketball shorts and a cutoff t-shirt. He searched out Barry and thanked him for another job well done before going to his gym, Red Fitness.

When he’d first moved back to Columbia the local franchise was the first thing he’d overseen before plowing full steam on his production facility. Before Cassandra, his health food products were just a side hustle while he concentrated on building a name for himself as a personal trainer and fitness expert. He’d only been selling them to celebrities and a few health food stores, but she’d pushed to get them into Wal-Mart and Target. Once the big boxes placed his products, he’d quickly decided it would be smarter, and cheaper, to open a production facility in the south.

At Red Fitness he went straight to the general manager’s office. The gym was busy for a Wednesday afternoon. He looked at his watch and saw it was lunchtime, which explained the crowd. He met briefly with the general manager before starting a circuit around the gym.

Halfway through, he noticed a middle-aged man struggling with the equipment. Jared stopped his workout and went over to assist. Someone struggling with a workout today was the same person who gave up working out tomorrow. After five minutes he’d introduced himself, learned the man was trying to lose the weight he’d put on after getting married a year ago, and hadn’t worked out regularly since college. There was always an underlying reason why people either gained, or tried to lose, weight. Learning that reason was the key to ensuring his clients stuck to their goals.

Jared spent the rest of the hour working with him. During the course of the workout he’d discovered that the guy’s wife had lost interest, something Jared wasn’t surprised about. He hadn’t come across a faithfully married woman in years. When they finished he offered the guy six weeks of free personal training. Despite his belief in the stupidity of marriage, the guy wanted his wife’s attention again and Jared would help him try.

After he showered his phone rang. It was his friend Devin.

“What’s going on, man?”

Devin groaned. “Nothing but a long day with no end in sight.”

Jared laughed. “Why complain, doctor? Busy days mean more money.”

“Easy for you to say. You don’t have to see half the black population in this town.” Devin was the only black doctor in Helena, a town on the outskirts of Kershaw County. It was where Devin had grown up, and he’d gone back to practice medicine after graduating from med school. Jared admired his friend for his dedication to his hometown, because he would avoid moving back home like the plague.

Jared waved bye to his general manager and headed for the front of the gym. “You chose to practice in Mayberry, so don’t hate on the popularity.”

Devin laughed. “Never that. Look, I only have a minute before my next patient, so I’ll get to the point. I just found out about a basketball tournament in Columbia this weekend. One of my patients is trying to put together a team and I thought you, Malcolm, and I could play.”

Jared rubbed his jaw. “I’m not sure about a team that one of your patients is putting together. Can the brotha even play?”

“He’s not sick.”

“Then why is he seeing you?”

Devin chuckled. “For reasons I can’t say, but know this, I wouldn’t be playing with him if I didn’t think he could win. He played for Carolina back in the day. He’s good.”

Jared scoffed. “Now I know he’s sorry.” He was a strong Georgia Tech fan, having received his undergraduate degree from that very school.

“Blow that crap out your ass another day. You in?”

He would have usually jumped at the opportunity to play in a basketball tournament, but he didn’t want to cancel his weekend with Tasha. He was looking forward to it too much.

“It sounds like fun, but I have plans this weekend. I’ll have to catch y’all later.”

“Okay, I get it. What’s her name? Never mind, because I’ll never even meet her. Just cancel and tell her you’ll catch her after the tournament.”

Jared smiled. “I can’t cancel on this lady, Devin. It’s going to be a special weekend I don’t want to miss.” He looked at his watch again. “In fact, I’m on my way to take her flowers now.”

There was a silence on the other end of the phone and Jared called Devin’s name to be sure the call wasn’t dropped.

“Yeah, I’m still here,” Devin answered. “I just thought you said you were taking a woman flowers.”

Jared frowned. “It’s not like I’ve never given a woman flowers.”

“For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve never taken a woman flowers. You’ve already got a weekend lined up with this one, so why flowers? Are you getting serious?”

Jared laughed out loud. It drew the attention of a few people in the gym so he quickly exited and walked to his car. “Man, the day I get serious about a woman is the day you can call a psychiatrist to come and take me to the nut house. I’m just making it special for her.”

“Why? You’ve never cared before.”

Jared’s laugh died and he frowned. It wasn’t as if he’d been truly uncaring with the women he’d been with in the past he just made sure they understood he wasn’t looking for any commitments. Devin talked as if he was cold blooded. He had been pretty cold to Monica, but she’d crossed the line. But he liked Tasha, and respected her. He couldn’t treat her like any other chick off the street.

“Tasha’s cool. She’s not like the usual ladies I deal with, so she gets a bit more respect.”

Devin didn’t immediately respond, but Jared could picture his friend with his brow furled as the considered that. “This should be interesting to see pan out.”

“Excuse me?” Jared asked.

There was rustling on the other end of the line. “Nothing, man. Handle your business. Look, my next patient has arrived. It seems like it’ll just be me and Malcolm this weekend. Holla at me when you get time.”

“No problem. Good luck this weekend, all right?”

“Cool. Peace.” Devin hung up the phone.

Jared got into his car and sped out of the parking lot. He hadn’t considered taking Tasha flowers until he’d said it to Devin. He wanted to see her. He still planned to wait for the weekend, but nothing could prevent him from trying for a kiss or something. He smiled as the thought of her lips on his. Yeah, it wouldn’t hurt to go by her job and see her. Get her just as excited about their weekend as he was.

“Excuse me, I’m looking for Tasha Smith.”

Tasha froze in the middle of filing papers in her office. What was Jared doing here? It was too early for his mentoring session. That happened at six and it was barely three. Her excitement at seeing him was dampened by the thought that he’d changed his mind. She peeked around the corner as her high school intern, Latiffa, answered.

“Hello, Mr. Patterson. I mean Jared. Do you care if I call you Jared? I know you don’t care, because you’re cool like that. I heard you started out here at the Rec Commission, way back when. I mean … I don’t mean that you are old or anything. Just that you started in the nineties and that was like a while ago. My bad. I mean, you’re still fine as hell … how old are you, anyway?”

Jared chuckled. “Too old for you.”

Latiffa leaned over the counter. “I’m old enough.”

Tasha slammed her file cabinet closed and came out of her office. “That’s enough, Latiffa.” She glared at the young girl. “We didn’t give you this job to hit on every man that comes in the door.”

Latiffa lowered her eyes. “I know, but dang, Ms. Tasha. Look at him.”

Tasha rolled her eyes and finally looked at Jared. Damn, why did he have to look so good? He licked his lips before they spread into a sexy smile. There was a promise in his eyes that left her breathless. Tasha cleared her throat and broke eye contact. “Jared Patterson knows how he looks. He doesn’t need me, or you, telling him.”

Jared leaned on the desk and winked at Latiffa. “I don’t know, Tasha. I don’t think you’ve ever told me your thoughts on my looks. Maybe I should take off my shirt, flex a few muscles, and you can give me thumbs up or down.”

Latiffa’s eyes sparkled like Christmas lights. “Oh, will you!”

“No, he won’t.” Tasha glared at Jared. “Did you have a reason for being here?”

He stood and nodded. “Yeah, I came to see you.”

Her heart sped up. “Why?”

He glanced at Latiffa before answering. “I had a question about one of my mentees. Can we go in your office?”

She nodded. “Sure. Follow me.”

Jared came around the desk but stopped at her door. He tapped the door’s glass window, then glanced at her. “You know what? I haven’t seen the renovations to the gym. Why don’t you show me and we can talk on the way.”

Tasha frowned and put a hand on her hip. “Jared, I have some stuff to put together for the budget hearing next week. We can talk here and then I’ll get someone else to show you the gym.”

He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “I would prefer talking to you alone.” His eyes went back to her mouth before returning to her eyes. “I promised discretion, but if you don’t come with me I’m going to kiss you right here in the middle of the office.”

Her eyes widened and she took a quick step back. With just a few words, her annoyance melted into a delightful tingling. Humor reflected in his eyes. He was teasing her again. Her anger returned full force. She squared her shoulders and scowled. “Fine. Let’s go.” She brushed passed him, knocking him with her shoulder in order to push him out of the way.

As she hurried out of the office and down the hall toward the gym, she fought the urge to slap the smug smile from his face the moment they were alone. How dare he come to her job, in the middle of the day, and look at her as if he wanted to devour her. She’d picked him for his discretion, but apparently, he didn’t care about showing the entire world they would be sleeping together.

It didn’t help that he came here looking like he’d just tumbled out of bed. Did the man own anything other than basketball shorts and t-shirts? Just the sight of his well-formed biceps was enough to get her blood boiling.

“Why are you here?” she asked without turning to look at him.

When she didn’t get an answer, she stopped and spun around. The hall was empty. She was about to call out his name when he came around the corner, grabbed her arm, and pulled her down the corridor they’d just passed.

“This isn’t the way to the gym. What are you doing?”

He didn’t say anything, just looked to see if they were being followed. She tried to dig in her heels and stop him, but it was no use. He just tugged on her arm and pulled her along as if she weighed nothing. He turned suddenly to the right and pulled her into an empty classroom. It was the room they used for the evening aerobics class.

Jared looked at the door and cursed. “I forgot every damn room in this building has a window.”

Tasha tried to pull her hand free. “Why does it matter if we have windows on the doors?”

He pulled her to the left of the door and pressed her against the wall. As soon as she felt the heat from his body her protest died on her lips. It was as if the air had been sucked from the room. She knew he was only pursuing her as a favor, but when he looked at her as if she were the most desirable woman in the world common sense left.

Jared ran the back of his hand along the side of her face before using his thumb to trace her lower lip. Without thinking, she poked her tongue out to wet her lips. His eyes grew dark with desire and he brought his other hand up to run his fingers in her hair. It was in its usual ponytail and he made quick work of removing the clip holding it back. Tasha sighed with relief when the pressure from the clip was removed. He ran his fingers along her scalp, massaging with strong sure strokes. Tasha closed her eyes and let her head fall back.

When his lips touched hers, she didn’t fight it. He kissed her softly before running his tongue along her lower lip. Without hesitation, she opened her mouth and granted him access. Passion erupted as he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her as if he couldn’t get enough. He slowed down and pulled back, but she grabbed him by the waist and pulled him closer. His hands went back into her hair and he angled her head to kiss her again.

His desire pressed thickly against her belly. If they kept doing what they were doing, she’d be willing to drop her shorts and let him make short work of her virginity right here. But that wasn’t what she wanted. He’d swept in and taken control. He was overwhelming her senses and she was being taken for a ride. Control, she had to reestablish control.

She abruptly broke off the kiss and turned her face to the side. Undeterred, Jared kissed her jaw, ear, and neck. His sensual assault was going full swing and she was about to be a causality of a war she didn’t know how to fight.

“Jared, we’ve got to stop,” she said between gasps.

“I know,” he replied, but didn’t stop kissing and sucking on her neck.

She reached up to place her hands on his chest to push him away, but he brought his lips back to her ear and traced his tongue around the sensitive edge. With a moan, she turned to kiss him again.

She was floating in a haze of desire and once again she was about to forget all of the reasons why she needed to stay in control. Why not let him take the lead? That was why she picked him, wasn’t it? Why not lose herself in the experience of being with Jared Patterson?
Because once you’re lost in him, you’ll never find yourself. Or a husband.

Tasha broke the kiss and pushed him away. When he groaned and reached for her she darted out of his reach and tried to catch her breath. He rested his head on the wall briefly before turning it to look at her from the corner of his eye. When he bit his lower lip and let his eyes travel the length of her body she thought she’d burst into flames.

“Stop it. You can’t just show up here and kiss me senseless. This isn’t what I asked for,” she said.

He didn’t lift his head from the wall. “You chose me for a reason.”