Moving on With Brock: A Passionate Second Chance Romance (2 page)

“When did you have the alarm put in?” Brock asked. 

“I had it put in right after I moved in. I never even went back to the other house. It wasn’t possible. So when I moved in here, I had it set up." She sighed. "I needed to feel safe.” 

“I was just going to say that it was a wise decision on your part, especially after what you went through.” 

Portia smiled and they started down the steps toward Brock’s car. 

He opened the door and she sank into the buttery leather seats and waited for him to get to the other side and the driver's seat. 

PORTIA and Brock had actually been acquaintances since high school. He was the brother of a former classmate. She met him again right after Gideon died. She had just been released from the hospital and she went to the cemetery to visit her late husband's grave a day later—foolishly alone. But the sun and the emotional turmoil upon seeing his grave had been too much. She'd fainted. 

Brock was there when she came to. He ran to her after seeing her fall while he was laying flowers on the grave of his grandmother who also had recently passed away.

Since then, they seem to be bumping everywhere and they would talk for a while, giving each other updates about their lives in summaries, then going each other's ways. But just recently, the bank where she's working as a manager just became one of Brock's clients. Brock was an excellent computer programmer and he and his team were working on their data base to make it more secure and give them ease of digital navigation when working with their customers.  

Their small chats since then has become longer. She realized that she'd felt very comfortable with him from the start. He was a handsome guy, really, she also realized after seeing many of her female colleagues giving him more than an eyeful or trying to engage him in a conversation. He was friendly, polite and a gentleman, and it flattered her that he would only talk about anything unrelated to his work with her. Only with her.

Well, they were friends, anyway, right?

And then, in the middle of talking about this new crock pot that slowly cooks his food while he's out, he asked her to have dinner with him. Maybe it was the crock pot entree or that she definitely liked him when she learned he loved cooking, but she said yes. And so far, she has not regretted it yet. In fact, she felt more comfortable than she would have thought was possible once they got behind his invitation for a date. There was no nervousness and their conversation flowed with relative ease. 

Like tonight, the restaurant he had chosen was a quaint and cozy one located on the water. Their specialty was steak and lobster along with other fresh seafood prepared in various ways. She loved the candlelit tables and the soothing music of a violinist that strolled between tables as people eat. 

Brock was a very entertaining man. His sense of humor had her in stitches for a large part of the evening. Portia couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed so much. She started to watch him as he talked animatedly about his various experiences. Finally, he seemed to wind down a bit and sipped his wine. 

“I’m sorry, Portia. I’ve been talking your ear off all evening. It’s your turn to tell me some things about you.” 

“Oh no, please don’t apologize. I’m having the best time! I haven’t laughed so much in a long time. My stories can’t possibly be as entertaining as yours.” 

“Oh now, come on! You’ve got to share some things with me! I want to know all about you!” 

So Brock started to ask Portia questions about herself that he hasn't really asked before. Soon she found herself telling him all about growing up with artist parents. She shared experiences from her time at college and then right up to when she met and fell in love with Gideon. Normally, it was painful for her to talk about Gideon, but in talking with Brock, she found that her memories and stories about him were fun and nice to remember. She wasn’t sad when talking about him now, even when it was anecdotes about the two of them together. 

They ate, talked, and drank some fabulous wine. The time literally flew by, and finally they noticed that they were the only customers left in the place. It was amazing that the servers weren’t trying to throw them out. 

LAUGHING, they got up and made their way to the door. Brock paid the bill and left a very generous tip to make up for them staying so long. The ride home seemed too short and Portia really didn’t want the evening to be over with yet.  

“Would you like to come in for some coffee?” she asked Brock when they pulled up to her house. 

“I would love it, if you’re sure you’re not too tired,” he replied. 

“No, not at all. Actually, I haven’t had this much fun in a very long time,” she told him. 

They held eye contact for a several long seconds. 

“Neither have I,” Brock said. 

Once inside the house, Portia reset her alarm and led the way into her kitchen. She started the coffee and set down some mugs for them. They continued to talk while the coffee was brewing. Portia became aware, gradually, of a growing attraction between the two of them. She knew that this wasn’t something that she ever expected to feel again after Gideon, yet she wasn’t put off by these feelings. 

Oddly enough, she also wasn’t feeling any guilt about being attracted to this remarkable man. 

When she had poured their coffee, she suggested that they go sit on the sofa where they could be more comfortable. Her open concept home allowed her kitchen, dining area and sitting area to be all in one room. The kitchen was separated a bit by a large bar with stools, but you could see everything from one end of the space to the other. There were more windows in this area but she pushed a button and draperies immediately covered them all. 

Brock and Portia sat facing each other on the sofa and continued to talk. Portia had forgotten what it was like to just talk and get to know someone. At some point, their hands had clasped together and neither one of them drew back. Finally, they both stopped talking and stared at each other. Brock leaned his head forward and rested it against Portia’s forehead. 

“You know,” he said quietly. “If I stay any longer, I’m going to kiss you.” 

“Yes, I know,” Portia answered. 

“So, do you want me to leave now?” he asked. 

“No. I want you to stay,” Portia whispered. 

Still looking at her, he put a finger under her chin and tilted her face upward. 

Then, he leaned down and placed his mouth gently on hers. The gentleness quickly caught fire and became very passionate, the kind that totally made her feel that her bone has melted, but neither of them drew back nor tried to tone it down at all. 

Portia realized on some level that this was what had been missing from her life. The feeling of being alive was what she had shoved away after everything that had happened. She didn’t want to feel it because she felt that after what happened to Gideon and their child, she didn;t deserve to survive. Making penance for being alive mattered to her for so long... 

However, now her body felt as if it were on fire and blazing even hotter the longer the kiss lasted. She has never felt as alive as this for a very long time.

Their kiss turned into something quite primal soon enough. There seemed to be no awareness of anything except the heated sensations that produced in them. So lost was she in the kiss that Portia only came back to herself when she felt Brock’s hand covering her breast and teasing her nipple with his thumb. The feelings that evoked in her jolted her back to what she was actually doing.

With a shaky breath, she drew back from him. It was impossible to speak at first, and besides, she wouldn’t have known what to say. 

In the end, it was Brock who broke the awkward and erotically charged silence. 

“I apologize, Portia. You obviously aren’t ready and I shouldn’t have just assumed something.” 

“Oh no, please don’t apologize," she said after a relieved laugh. "It’s just that I haven’t been with a man since Gideon and you’ve apparently awakened some feelings that I thought were long buried." She sighed to calm herself. "I’m not upset or angry or regretful. I just don’t know what to do with all of this. Not to mention that I so don’t act like this with men that I barely know. I’m probably a bit embarrassed about that, at least.” Portia ended her little speech with a rueful laugh again.

“You have nothing to be embarrassed about,” Brock assured her. “And as much as it pains me to do this, I’m going to make a decision here for both us. I need to leave because if I stay, I’m going to want to do more than just kiss you. So if I go, there’s no pressure." He stood up. "I’m going to call you tomorrow and, if you’re still interested, I want us to go out again. We’ll get to know each other and see where it leads. How does that sound?”

“It sounds like you’re the most understanding man in the world,” Portia said, smiling as she stood up, too. “Just so you know, I would have probably gone through with it but it wouldn’t have been for the right reasons just now.” 

“I understand. And I’m going to take that as something to look forward to.” 

They both walked to the front door. He put his finger under her chin once more then he gave her a very gentle, yet rather lengthy, kiss. Just at the point where things could have become too much once more, he broke the kiss and stepped back. 

“Don’t forget to lock up and reset your alarm,” he said. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” 

She nodded. "Yes."

PORTIA woke up the following morning with a smile on her face. 

She couldn’t remember having felt truly happy in so long that this was a different experience for her. In spite of the way things were around her just now, she was still happy to be alive. That was something new for her because she had spent so much of the last two years wanting to die. 

Now that Brock had come into her life, she knew that she was finally ready to move on. That was true no matter what happened or didn’t happen between the two of them. He had opened a door for her to sunny days in her life. For that, she was very grateful.

Just as she was stretching and trying to talk herself into getting up, her phone rang. Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was just past 9AM. She reached for the phone and answered it. 

“Good morning, Beautiful,” a sexy deep voice greeted her. “Did you sleep well?”

Smiling broadly, Portia leaned back against her pillows. 

“Yes, I did sleep rather well,” she replied. “You see, there was this amazingly handsome man that took me out for a great dinner and even greater conversation. So I was quite happy when I went to bed.”

“I’m so glad to hear that,” he laughed. “I, on the other hand, was awake for most of the night. There was this woman that I spent the evening with last night that I simply couldn’t stop thinking about.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry that happened to you. Is there anything I can do to help with that?” 

“I’ll have to ponder that question and let you know. But I think that if you agree to have dinner with me again, possibly tonight, that it will go a
looong
way to helping me relax.” 

she was grinning now from ear-to-ear. “Well, then I couldn’t possibly say no to something like that, especially when I can help my fellow man.” 

They hung up after agreeing that Brock would pick her around 7:30PM that evening for dinner. Portia set her feet on the floor and headed to the kitchen. 

She put on coffee and fixed some scrambled eggs. 

Pouring some apple juice, she sat down at the bar to eat her eggs. 

BY the time Portia was finished eating, the coffee was ready. She made a cup and carried it out to her office. Her email hadn’t been checked since yesterday morning when she had discovered that horrible email. She was more than a little hesitant to look at her account today but she knew that she must do so because she had a business to run. 

Typing in her login details, she waited for the account to open so that she could see her email. The list came into view. As she had expected, she found several business emails and the usual amount of spam. Once she had deleted the spam, she turned her attention to the business emails. 

Buried in among those, she spotted what she had been half expecting to see. And her heart gave a rather wild thud. 

The email address was different than the first one she had seen but it was still not anyone she was familiar with. With much trepidation, she opened the email. 

This time the photos were of Gideon in his casket and of her in the hospital bed hooked up to various tubes and machines while she was still comatose. 

It took a while before she could recover from them. With trembling hands, she printed out the photos and then forwarded the email to Brock with a note from her. She was hoping he would know what to do, since he confessed to being quite a good hacker in his teenage days. She wanted to see if he would be able to trace the email address in some way.

Suddenly, her cell phone rang and she could see that it was Brock. He had received her email and was calling.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a very worried voice.

"I-I'm fine, Brock. Okay, not really as fine. But I'm holding up."

He sighed deeply. "Okay... do you have any other detail that you can tell me about these threatening emails that you caven't included in your email? I need to know everything, sweetheart. Can you do that?"

"Yes. But I don;t know much." She told him everything that has happened since her birthday party. After that, he promised he was going to see about getting the address traced as much as he could. He was also appalled at the pictures. 

"Are you sure you're going to be alright. Because if you're not, we'll think of something."

"I'm fine. I feel secure in the house. What just bothered me is how anyone can hate me so much... and that I don't even know who it is or what I'd done to deserve that hatred."