MISTAKEN - The Complete First Season (7 page)

I
thought
about his words on the taxi ride back to the hotel. I was sure there were people out there who thought I was a pampered brat, too. Maybe I was. Maybe I had been but wasn't anymore. I wasn't sure if I even knew who I was at all anymore.

I looked at the outline of Brandon's face against the passing lights of the city. His chin rested on his hand and he looked out the window as we rode.

He looked over at me and smiled. He reached out his hand and I took it in mine. There was something so safe about him, so right. I was sorry at that moment that we'd begun our relationship the way we had. I wasn't sure if I would be able to overcome it.

He smiled at me. "What are you thinking about?"

I shook my head and looked out my window.

He took his hand from mine and he reached into his pocket. He pressed a small silver coin into my hand. "A yen for your thoughts."

I closed my hand around the coin and smiled. "I was thinking." I turned to him and looked up at him through my lashes. "I was thinking that I was sorry we started out the way we did."

"Oh." He frowned. "Well, we can't undo it, you know?"

"I know." I turned back to the window and watched the lights whiz by.

"I'm not sorry about that night, Jen. I'm not sorry about it at all."

"Oh." I gulped. Of course he wasn't sorry about it. It was what he did—his thing. He was the one who told me he'd done it a hundred times before.

He grabbed my elbow and turned me toward him. "Because I wouldn't be here with you now." He smiled. "You really think you would have gone out to Osaka with me tonight if we hadn't had that night together?"

I shook my head. "No." He did have a point there. A hundred women before me or not.

"No," he repeated. "And we wouldn't be here together now. And I want more of these nights. I want to see you eat mouthfuls of lemon fro-yo and see you buy your green tea Kit-Kats and your Hello Kitty art supplies. And I want to see what you'll do next time we go to the 100 Yen store and I buy neon
green
condoms. Because next time, they'll be for you."

I tried to choke back a small laugh. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "Don't be. I don't want you to feel pressured by me. Just because we started out this—whatever this is—having an amazing night together, doesn't mean we have to do it again until you're ready. Okay?"

I nodded. He was the most amazing man I had ever met. I didn't deserve him, not after what I had done to Daniel. Not after what I had driven him to do to himself.

He slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me into his side. I rested my head against his shoulder and he kissed the top of my head. "Tell me something about yourself."

My brow furrowed. "What do you want to know?"

I felt him shrug. "Tell me something no one else knows."

Right, where was I supposed to start? My real last name? "I don't know."

"What's your darkest secret?" Sure. Maybe he'd like to hear about how I drove my fiancée to commit suicide a year ago.

I burrowed my head deeper into his shoulder. I couldn't handle my own darkest secrets. How in the hell could he? "Music school. I was going to run away and go to music school."

"The piano.” He kissed the top of my head again. “You're amazing. Why didn't you go?"

I shook my head. "I did what my family wanted me to do."

He nodded. "Are you sorry you did?"

"Sometimes. But, I guess if I hadn't gone to business school, I wouldn't have come to San Francisco for my job and I wouldn’t be here now."

He squeezed my waist. "And you wouldn't have met me."

I smiled and squeezed my eyes shut. "And I wouldn't have met you."

"So are you admitting it?"

My brow furrowed above my closed eyelids. "Admitting what?"

"That there are forces at work that are greater than both of us that want us to be together."

I lifted my fingertips to rub at my temple. "I admit nothing."

He squeezed my waist again and breathed into my hair. "You will." He kissed the top of my head.

We arrived back at the hotel a few minutes later. It seemed much quieter than it had earlier in the day, but I was sure it was because it was getting close to midnight.

We walked through the glass doors and he turned to me. "Wait here. I'm going to check something." He walked to the desk and spoke to the man at the counter. I watched them nodding and the man typed into the computer. Brandon returned to where I was standing a few minutes later. "They have another room available."

I lowered my gaze and felt my eyebrows furrow together. “You don't want me in your room.” It was more of a statement than a question.

His own brow furrowed. “Of course I do. I just don't want you to feel pressured with me. I'll stay in another room if you want me to.” He kissed my cheek. "And if you do, you can change your mind tomorrow night or the night after or the night after that. You just say the word." He raised an eyebrow and looked into my eyes. "Okay?"

I nodded. "Wait. How come you can get two rooms here, but I can't even get one?" My fists balled up at my sides.

He laughed. "I told you. The benefits of elite status." He tilted his head and looked down at me. "I want you to want this."

I nodded again and relaxed my angry fists. I did want this. I wanted him.

“Do you want me to take the room? Because it's no problem if you do.”

I chewed on my bottom lip and thought for a moment. I thought about coincidences and how much I already liked this man, what he did to me. I looked up at him and shook my head.

He tilted his head to the side. “Are you sure?”

I nodded and sucked in my lower lip. I'm sure it looked like I was trying to be chaste, but it was more from nerves than anything. I knew it was a bad idea. I had a meeting the next day, but I reminded myself that it was a late meeting. And I wanted him. I wanted him more than I wanted anything I had ever wanted. At that moment, my need for him was stronger than my need for anything else.

He smiled at me and waved to the desk clerk. He grabbed my hand and led me to the elevator. “It's okay if you change your mind once we're up there, okay?”

I nodded again and smiled to myself. I knew I wouldn't be changing my mind about anything.

W
e returned
to the little hotel room and Brandon's eyes locked with mine the moment we closed the door. He slipped his arms around my waist. “You're sure?”

My brain couldn't even form words. Being that close to him made the connection between my brain and mouth dissolve. All I could do was nod. I wanted him more than I could put into words, anyway. I ran my hands across his chest and tilted my head up toward him. All I could think about was having his lips on mine, his body against mine.

He took an impossibly long time to respond to me. He looked into my eyes with such desire that it almost knocked me over. I began to tremble, unsure of what I was nervous about. It wasn't as though he hadn't had me before, but it wasn't like this. There was no alcohol fueling the lust this time, only the electricity between us.

He brushed his bottom lip against my own, barely touching me. I sucked in a deep, uneven breath and he pulled me closer to him. He brought his lips to mine, and I crushed myself into him. There was no space left between us. I could feel every bit of him, so hard, so hot. He pressed his lips against mine even harder, running his tongue along the seam of my lips, demanding them to open for him. I could feel him against me and I could tell how much he wanted me, too.

His fingers tangled in my hair and he pulled me even more tightly against him. Our bodies fit together like a perfect jigsaw puzzle. His every curve matched perfectly with my own.

He pulled his lips from mine and took a jagged breath. I took another uneven breath of my own. He tilted his head and whispered into my ear. “I don't want you to regret this, Jen. I want you to be sure.”

My mouth found its ability to speak somehow. “Stop trying to talk me out of it. I am sure.” It came out as a breathless whisper. And I was sure.

He kissed the spot under my ear that he had found the first time we were together. I melted into him, unable to do anything else. A small moan escaped my lips and it seemed to urge him on. His kiss trailed down my neck to my collarbone, pulling my shirt to the side. He managed to find a new spot there that made me moan even louder.

His lips returned to my mouth, demanding it to open for him again. His hands moved from my waist to cup my ass and he lifted me up against him. The instinct to wrap my legs around him was too strong. I lifted my legs and pulled him into me as I wrapped them around his middle. I could feel how much he wanted me through his jeans and my core thrummed to life. I rocked my hips into him, trying to show him how much I wanted him, too.

He seemed to get the message. He pressed me to the wall with a hard, hot kiss then carried me over near the bed. He brushed his lips across mine again. He stood me up and had my jeans unbuttoned with a flick of his thumb. He pushed them down as far as his arms allowed, and I shimmied out of them the rest of the way, kicking them to the wall. His hands moved up across the skin of my thighs, leaving a trail of fire in their wake. He continued moving his hands up and they found their way under my shirt. The feeling of his hands moving up my sides to my bra-covered breasts brought back to my mind the memory of how my clothes had come to be kicked all over his apartment the first time we had met. I couldn't help but smile.

He grinned against my lips. “What?”

I suppressed my giggle. “Nothing.”

He gave my neck a quick peck before returning his lips to mine. He pulled away for a moment, keeping his lips impossibly close. He pulled back ever so slightly and rested his forehead against mine. “I'd better give you something to smile about, then.”

S
leep must have found
me at some point during the night because the alarm clock jarred me awake when it went off. I closed my eyes and smiled, allowing myself to enjoy the sated feeling one more time. I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time. Happiness. It was amazing and made me feel so full. This time, I had no regrets. This time, it hadn't been a mistake.

Brandon had already gone to work on whatever it was he was doing before meeting with his business associate. I refused to allow myself to feel jealous. Pink condoms or not, I knew he had chosen me. He left a note on the desk asking me to join him in the restaurant downstairs for breakfast.

I showered and dried my hair. I was thankful that morning that my locks cooperated and slid into a loose bun at the nape of my neck. I applied my makeup with as much care as I could then pulled out my power suit from the closet. It was a steel gray Armani jacket and skirt that my mother had purchased for me when I graduated from business school. It was by far the nicest outfit that I owned.

I slipped on a white silk button-up blouse and pulled my jacket on over it. I admired how it was all tailored to my body. I pulled on the rest of my clothes and slipped on my kitten heels. No stilettos to kill myself this time. I looked about as good as I ever had in my life and I knew it. I felt the confidence in my pores, and last night hadn't made me feel less confident at all. If anything, it had made me feel more confident, better about everything. I never thought it would happen, but I thought at that moment that I might be able to move on from my past. Melissa would be proud.

My body hummed with excitement, not just because of my meeting but because of how amazing I felt. Brandon had done that to me. Goosebumps ran down my arms when I thought about what we had just done a few hours before. I had to put it on the shelf for now. I would eat breakfast with him and put him out of my head for the rest of the day. Until that night, anyway.

I knew I was going to kill it that day. I knew I would make Baxter & Bishop proud and it would make my dad proud, too. Today was the beginning of my business career. If it went well, I'd have a lot of doors opened to me and I knew I was ready for it. My presentation rocked and there was no way Tomojii would be able to do anything but sign over every bit of their marketing business to me.

I gave myself my final pep talk in the mirror and headed for the elevator. The hairs on my arms stood on end and I tingled with excitement.

Eating breakfast with Brandon would get my mind off the presentation for a few minutes. I was sure he'd have words of encouragement for me to settle the queasy nervousness in my stomach, too. If not encouragement, he would be able to take my mind off of business in any number of other ways.

I grabbed my purse and slid my laptop into my briefcase. I made sure the thumb drive with my power point presentation was in my pocket and headed for the elevator with my bags. I stepped out into the lobby and was almost blinded by the sunlight coming through the glass windows. I could smell bacon coming from the restaurant near the lobby and I heard my stomach rumble to life. I realized then that I hadn't eaten in almost a full day, except for the bite of curry and the few bites of ice cream. I was definitely going to be eating something to quiet the grumbling before heading out to my meeting.

I saw Brandon across the lobby talking to a tall, dark-haired man who had his back turned to me. They both wore tailored black suits that had been custom fitted to their bodies. Brandon's physique was impressive—I could see that even through his suit. I noticed the curve of his chest muscles under his jacket and I felt the heat rise in my face as I remembered feeling his body pressed against mine last night. It didn't matter how my presentation went that day—I would still have him again that night. I wanted to run my fingers through his dark curls and to feel him against my body. I couldn’t get enough of him—he was like a drug
.

I was hungry. Hungry for breakfast, but even more hungry for him. I began walking across the lobby and was halfway to him when he looked up and saw me. His wicked grin told me he wanted me, too. His gaze bore into me and I saw only him. I gave him my own version of a wicked grin and crossed the lobby to the two men.

"Jenna?"

It seemed like it happened in slow motion. That voice. I knew that voice. I turned to look at the tall man standing next to Brandon. It felt like it took years to turn to that voice, but I wanted time to stand still so I wouldn’t have to do it. I couldn't stop myself from turning to him, even though I had no desire to see who that voice belonged to. I couldn't stop myself from looking at him.

I heard a crash and my brain registered somewhere that my briefcase had hit the floor. My legs went weak, threatening to buckle beneath me and I could hear my heart thrashing in my ears.

I looked up at him then. His dark eyes locked with mine and my throat closed. I couldn't breathe. My lungs were two fireballs in my chest and I couldn't force air into them even though I tried—I was sure I was gasping for air because I couldn't get a single breath in through my tight throat. It felt like there was a chain around my neck and it was growing tighter and tighter. My death was the only thing was going to stop it. And I wanted to die at that moment. I wanted nothing more than for death to come and find me, swallow me whole so I would never have to think about this moment ever again.

It wasn't possible, but this time it was no hallucination.

It was Daniel.

M
ISTAKEN 2
is available now
.

MISTAKEN: The Complete First Season
Box Set is also available.