Mid Life Love (8 page)

“Okay. I’ll be
right back.”

He walked over
to the bar, and once he was out of earshot, Sandra slapped my shoulder. “That’s
your
boss
? Your description didn’t do him justice at all! Screw the age
thing, Claire, he’s sexy as hell.”

“Is he single?”
Helen eyed him.

“He’s
taken
.”
Sandra wagged her finger. “Claire’s dating him.”

I’m not dating
him!

“Well, about
time! Welcome to Cougar-town!” Helen laughed and took a long swig of her drink.

On any other
night, I would’ve replied to her silly little remark, but it was my birthday
and I didn’t feel like letting her get to me. Besides, I wasn’t a real
“cougar,” she was. She hardly ever dated anyone her own age. The oldest
boyfriend she’d ever had was twelve years younger than her—when she was thirty
five.

“Screw you,
Helen.” Sandra rolled her eyes. “You better not say anything ridiculous when he
gets back over here.”

Helen made a
“scouts honor” symbol with her fingers, and as if on cue, Jonathan walked back
over to the table with a tray of exotic drinks.

“Cheers to the
birthday girl?” He smiled.

We all nodded
and tossed back a shot.

He slid into the
chair next to me and placed his hand on my thigh.

I immediately
felt myself getting hot, so I brushed his hand away and crossed my legs.

Why did I let
Sandra talk me into going commando tonight?

“So
Jonathan
...”
Helen purred. “What exactly do you do for a living?”

She knows the
answer to this already...Why is she asking him that?

Jonathan put his
hand back on my thigh. “I’m the CEO of Statham Industries. And yourself?”

“Interesting!
I’m a lawyer at my own law firm, Donovan and Fitz. It’s actually one mile away
from
your
company. How did you become the CEO at such a young age?”

“I started the
company when I was still in college. It was just a side thing at first—charging
people twenty or thirty bucks here or there to install all types of systems on
their phones or laptops, but then I realized that I could build phones and
computers from scratch; that I could do a much better job than some of the
bigger computer companies. So, my professor helped me to write up a business
plan and I showed off the best products I’d developed. Then I got a few
investors and professors on board with the condition that I would be the CEO
and the company’s namesake. I made a profit the very first year and the rest is
history.”

Wow...

“Very
impressive.” Helen nodded. “It must be a pretty hectic life. What do you do in
your free time, and why aren’t you married already? I’m sure someone like you
has
lots
of beautiful options to choose from.”

What the hell is
she doing?!

I was glaring at
her, silently begging her to stop making him uncomfortable, but he didn’t look
the slightest bit bothered by her insane questioning. He looked calm and in
control.

He began
strumming my thigh with his fingertips. “I work out, travel, and collect yachts
in my spare time.”

Did he just say
“yachts”? As in plural?

“And the reason
you’re not married yet is because? Are you too rich to be tied down? Having too
much fun sleeping with a different woman every night?”

God, please
strike her down now...

Sandra was giving
Helen the most evil side-glare in history. It looked like she was about to claw
her eyes out.

“No...” He smiled.
“That’s definitely not it. I guess I haven’t found the right woman yet.”

“Okay, I’m going
to the bar to get a stronger drink.” Sandra shook her head.

“I’ll get it for
you.” Jonathan released my thigh and stood up. “A stronger version of what you
had before?”

Sandra nodded.

“Helen, you
too?”

“Yes.” She
batted her eyes.

“Claire?” He
smiled his dreamy smile and I lost my words.

I shook my head
and he walked away.

“Helen! What the
hell do you think you’re doing?” Sandra fumed. “I told you not to—”

“Calm down, calm
down.” Helen snorted. “I was just having fun. He’s
clearly
into Claire.
He’s been eye fucking her all night.”

“Helen!” I shook
my head.

“Don’t
Helen
me! It’s the truth. He’s eye fucking you right now, from all the way over
there. And you’ve been doing it too so get over yourself. You two should just
get it over with. The private bathrooms here are really nice. Hint, hint.”

I burst into
laughter. I should’ve known Helen was only toying with him. She too often took
pleasure in testing the threshold of people’s nerves. 

Jonathan walked
back over and set down more drinks. “Golden Paradise for you Sandra.” He slid
it across the table. “Triple chocolate cloud for you, Helen. And for you,” he
said as he reached for my hand, “would you like to dance with me?”

“Sure.” I slid
out of my chair and clasped his hand.

He led me down two
sets of stone carved steps, to the front of the stage where an orchestra was
beginning to play.

He placed my
hands around his neck and wrapped his arms around my waist, swaying me to a
song I’d never heard before. We were so close to one another that I was
breathing in his scent—a heavenly spicy smell that enveloped me and made me
never want to let go of him.

“How was your
day today, Claire?”

“Good. Yours?”

“Awful.” He
pulled me even closer. “Until now.”

I really should
have worn panties...

“You know, I could’ve
sworn that my car didn’t have customized leather seats and tinted windows when
I gave it to you the other day.”

“It didn’t?” He
smiled.

“No...Thank you
very much though. And I appreciate the table upgrade too.”

“You’re very
welcome.”

The lights on the
dance floor suddenly went black, and small twinkling lights began to shimmer
from above.

“Ladies and
gentlemen, it’s officially midnight!” the maestro spoke. “For those of you who
are new to Havana, the next ten minutes on the dance floor will be spent
underneath the stars!”

The lights
transformed from black to dark purple, to mystic blue and then back to black as
the orchestra began to play a mid-tempo version of Nora Jones’ “The Nearness of
You.”

“You look
amazing tonight.” Jonathan rubbed the small of my back.

I could only nod
my head in thanks; that one brush of his fingertips had nearly melted me into
the floor.

We continued
dancing in silence, and I noticed that the lights were dimming darker and
darker; the twinkling stars that were once so bright were flickering fainter
and fainter.

As he held me
close, I couldn’t help but feel a bit insecure. I knew Helen had only been
joking earlier, but she had a point: Someone like Jonathan could definitely
have any woman he wanted—a busty blond Swedish supermodel, a sexy high profile
actress,
anyone
. Anyone more established—and probably much younger, than
me.

“Do you normally
wear dresses like this when you go out?” He tugged at the back of my dress.

“Why?”

“I’m just
wondering.”

“Wondering why
someone my age would wear something so revealing? Is that what you thought when
you first saw me tonight? You don’t have to beat around the bush.” I rolled my
eyes.

He sighed. “Are
you really
that
hung up on your age?”

Unfortunately
yes...

“No.” I looked
up at him. “I just find it a bit odd that you aren’t. I’m not sure what to make
of it yet, and the fact that you just asked me about my dress makes me think—”

“Do you want to
know what I was thinking when I first saw you tonight, Claire?”

“Yes...”

“You want an
honest answer or a politically correct one?”

“Honest.”

“Okay.” He
released me from his arms and stepped away.

Before I could
wonder where he’d gone, I felt my back pressed against his chest and his hands
wrapped around my hips.

“When I first
saw you tonight,” he lowered his voice and whispered in my ear, “I wanted to
drag you out of here, drive you home, and fuck you in every room of my house
for the rest of the weekend.”

I gasped.

“The only reason
I asked about your dress is because it looks good on you—very
very
good
on you, and if we were to date I would hope to see more like it.” He hugged me
tighter. “So, can you please stop reminding me about the age thing? I honestly
wouldn’t give a damn if you were
sixty
.”

I nodded and
tried to turn back around to face him, but he wouldn’t release me.

He started
caressing my thighs. “Can you promise me you’ll drop the age thing?”

“Yes...”

“Good. Because
it doesn’t matter to me.” He swayed me to the music and began planting kisses
along my bare shoulders.

Every kiss sent
a tremor down my spine, a new fluttering butterfly against my stomach.

“Are you still
free tomorrow?” he whispered.

I didn’t answer
him. It’d been so long since someone affected me like this and I didn’t want
his barrage of kisses to stop.

“Claire?” He
kissed the back of my neck and slid a hand underneath my dress.

He must’ve
realized I wasn’t wearing any panties, because his hand stilled right where the
lace band should’ve been. He kissed my neck again and slowly slid his fingers
down lower.

I could feel the
dampness between my thighs and I heard him fail to stifle a groan.

I’m never going
commando around him again...

“Answer me,
Claire...” He pushed one finger inside of me and torturously moved it in and
out. 

Say yes...You are
still free tomorrow...

He pushed two
fingers inside of me, holding my body completely still with his other arm. He
kept his punishing rhythm at a steady pace, kissing my bare shoulders and
whispering my name—waiting for an answer.

“This is our
last midnight song ladies and gentlemen,” the maestro said as the horns began
to play. “After this, we will be switching back to our in house DJ and turning
on the lights.”

Jonathan slowly
pulled his fingers out of me.

I thought we
were going to dance to the final midnight song, but he began using his thumb to
massage my clit. Then he pushed his two skilled fingers in and out of me again.

Oh my god...

His pressure was
perfect. His rhythm was relentless. I was sure I was going to explode in any
second if he didn’t stop.

“Mr. Stath—”

“
Jonathan
.”
He kissed my shoulder.

“I...I...” My breath
caught in my throat. “Stop...”

“Not until you
answer my question.” He slipped his other hand underneath my dress and once
again stalled when he realized I wasn’t wearing a bra. He cupped each of my
breasts, softly pinching my nipples, pushing me further to the edge.

I said yes...

“The song is
going to go off any second, Claire, but I’ll hold you right here—just like
this, with the lights
on
until you answer me.” He was rubbing my clit
even harder—faster, and I felt intense tremors building inside of me.

“Yes.” I bit my
lip to prevent myself from crying out. I didn’t want any of the other people
around us to know what was going on. 

“Thirty seconds
until we speed things up again!” The maestro’s voice was muffled.

“Yes
what
?”
He continued his rhythm, continued caressing my breasts, and I couldn’t hold
back anymore.

I exploded in
waves around him—shuddering and convulsing, biting down on my lip so hard it
was probably bleeding. My knees nearly gave out, and it took every bit of
energy I had to not collapse into his arms.

“Yes...I’m...free to
go out tomorrow.”

“Good.” He
withdrew his fingers and spun me around. He pulled the bottom of my dress down
and grabbed my hand, leading me past the stage.

He led me into a
private restroom and locked the door.

Helen was
right—they were nice, too nice. There was a wall length antique mirror that
covered the entire left wall, a rustic chandelier with glimmering emeralds, and
a sofa and chaise covered in plush red velvet.

If Jonathan had
been any other man, I would’ve immediately started berating him for what he did
to me on the dance floor. I would’ve said it was rude and offensive and that I
would never speak to him again. But he wasn’t any other guy and I couldn’t deny
that I loved every second of it; I was still entranced.

He took a white
cloth from over the sink and ran warm water over it for several seconds. He
pulled me over into a corner and slid my dress up past my hips. 

“Spread your
legs,” he whispered.

I slid my legs
apart and looked into his eyes as he gently wiped the inside of my thighs. He
moved his way up in a slow sensuous motion that nearly sent me over the edge
again.

I tried coming
down from the intense high I was feeling, but the look he was giving me was
preventing that from happening. He grabbed another cloth—a dry cloth, and
caressed me with it until I was completely dry.

We kept looking
into each other’s eyes and I thought he was going to say something—or kiss me,
but he simply smiled and reached for my hand.

“Are you ready
to rejoin your friends now?”

I nodded.

He gave my hand
a slight squeeze and walked me back upstairs to our table. As soon as we
arrived, he offered to take another drink order for Helen and Sandra.

“So?” Sandra
smiled. “Is your boss a good dancer?”

“He’s very
good...” I picked up my mojito and chugged it.

She raised her
eyebrow but she didn’t say anything further. She and Helen filled me in on two
men they’d met during the midnight dance, but I was only halfway listening.