Remembrance: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series Book 4) (28 page)

JC: 
Do u have plans on Tues?

She couldn’t believe it but she was going to ask him out for his birthday. 

LD:
I have a dinner mtng on the night of my bday.  Not sure how late it will go.  I’m available on Wed though. Why? R u asking me out on a date?

She smiled drolly.

JC: 
I guess.  My options r kind of slim at the moment.  Btw, I’ll be going out with Eric tomorrow for dinner.  As part of our agreement, I’m making you aware.  I’ll be sure not to have sex w/ him, and think of u when we’re making out.

She waited for his text, but instead the phone rang.  She rolled her eyes, but felt giddy at the appearance of his jealous and possessive side.  At least she imagined that’s what it was.

“Yes, Mr. Daniels,” she said dryly.

“What did he do?”

She smiled.  “You weren’t the only one to send me flowers this morning, and on his card he asked me out to dinner tomorrow night.”

“
Cabròn
,” he muttered angrily.  “He’s not a contender, Janie,” he said firmly.

“I’m just having dinner with him.”

There was silence.  “Why would you go from one player to the next?”

She huffed out a sigh.  “Am I not allowed to have a little fun?  It’s nice when a guy shows interest, Luke.”

“He’s a douchebag.”

“If he’s such a douchebag, why is he a part of
GSoul
?” she asked, exasperated.

“Because his father designs exquisite watches,” he muttered. 

“Well, until you find me that man, I’m going out with him.  Stop worrying.”

“And just because you’re going to
have dinner with him doesn’t mean you should make out with him.”

She smiled.  “I understand.”

He muttered something under his breath.  “Where are you going out to dinner?”

She laughed lightly.  “Telling you where I’m going isn’t part of the agreement and I haven’t even confirmed plans with him yet.  I’m talking to him in the morning.”

There was more silence.

“Luke?”

“Yeah, I’m here.”

She paused, not knowing how to proceed.  She felt deflated.  She didn’t want to piss him off, just push him a little.  “Do you wan
t to go out for your birthday on Wednesday?”  She didn’t know why, but she was terrified at what his response would be.

She heard him sigh, then he said, “Sure.”

“Well don’t sound too excited about it,” she grumbled.

“I’ll call you on Wednesday morning and we can talk details.”

He sounded annoyed, like he wanted to get off the phone.

“Why are you pissed at me?  You agreed to these rules.  It’s just a date and I’ve already told you it’s not going anywhere.”

“Then why go out with him?  Isn’t the point of you going out with a guy to find the right one?  If you know he’s not the right one, why bother?”

“Because, like I said,” she blew out in frustration, “it’s just nice to go out with a man who finds me attractive.  It’s dinner and stimulating conversation.”

“Uh, huh.”

“Why are you acting this way?”

“What way is that?”

“Jealous, Luke.”

“Is that how I’m acting?”

“Yeah.”

More silence.

“I gotta get going.  You have a good time tomorrow night.”

She sighed.  “Luke.”  She didn’t want them to fight about this.  She was doing this all wrong.

“I’ll talk to you Wednesday.  Good night.”  Then he disconnected.

She sat there on her bed feeling like she wanted to cry.  This was so stupid.  She flopped back down onto her pillow and watched Lizzie and Mr. Darcy until she fell asleep.

……

Janie woke to bright winter sunlight filtering through her curtains.  Although the intense light made her groan, it made her look forward to the day.  Well, she actually looked forward to Wednesday most of all.  And now that it was Monday, she was one day closer to her date with Luke.  As her mind wandered to the possibilities for that evening, her eyes saw the blinking light on her phone.

She rubbed the sleep from her sight and grabbed it, the light indicating another ‘Luke Daniels’ alert which had come in overnight.  Looking at the screen, she blinked at the image in front of her, then blinked again.

When she realized what she was looking at, a gasp escaped her mouth and she clapped her hand over it, staring at the picture before her.  It was a shot of her and Luke from the holiday party, kissing on the sofa under the mistletoe.  Not one they’d posed for.  No, this one was definitely one that was taken with both of them unaware.

And it was
hot
.  Their hands were buried in each other’s hair and their mouths devoured each other as if they were starved.  The caption read: 
All I want for Christmas is…some hot Luke Daniels!
  The short ‘article’ mentioned Janie by name as the chef from the holiday party event and made mention that she was the same woman he’d taken to lunch two weeks before. 

Next to the picture of her and Luke was another shot, this time with Luke and Vanessa at the party.  The two of them stood with drinks in their hands, laughing and smiling.  The caption mentioned that Luke had been seeing model Vanessa Monroe, and that it appeared she would have to work a little harder to be on the ‘Nice’ list if Santa was going to give her back her man.

She wondered how Luke would respond to this.  She was thoroughly confused at the emotions bombarding her, ranging from being totally embarrassed to secretly thrilled. 

Geez, what if their families saw this?  Her mother would have a cow!

The picture had been posted at 11 the night before, after she’d been fast asleep.  She should call Luke.  Looking at the time, she realized it was still early, only 6:30 in the morning.  Seeing another message on her phone, she looked to see who it was from.  Coincidentally it was from Luke and had come in shortly after the picture had been posted.

LD: 
Call me when u get up tom.  I’ll be up early.

She couldn’t make out his tone.  She dialed his number and waited while the phone rang.

“Good morning,” he said with his sexy gravelly voice.  She couldn’t help but smile and snuggled down into her pillow.

“You told me to call when I was up.  Is it too early?”

“No, I was awake.  Working out.”

“So, I think I know why you wanted me to call,” she began.

“Yeah.  I got a call from Javier last night.  He doesn’t tell me about everything on the internet, but he knew I’d want to see this.  There’s a picture out there of us from the party.  You’ve seen it?”

“You mean the one where we’re playing tonsil hockey under the mistletoe?” she laughed nervously.

“That would be the one.” 

She joked, “I guess all I want for Christmas is some hot Luke Daniels, huh?” she said, quoting the caption.  And wasn’t that the truth.

“I’ve got Javier looking in to who may have taken and leaked it.”

“I’m sorry,” she felt compelled to say.

“About what?” he asked in surprise.  “It’s not your fault one of my own employees or clients took a picture of us during a private moment.  It’s in everyone’s contract and understood that anyone attending the party needs to go through Javier if they take a picture of me and want to post it.  Obviously this person didn’t do that.  I knew about the one with Vanessa already.”

The way he’d said it made her feel like he was embarrassed by the picture of them kissing.  There was silence. 

“You there?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah.  I just meant I’m sorry if it embarrassed you,” she said, waiting for his response.

“Embarrassed me?” he asked, humor in his voice.  “Embarrassment was the last thing I felt when I saw that picture, Janie,” he murmured.

“What did you feel?” she asked quietly, feeling warmth flood through her body at his tone.

“It wasn’t embarrassment,” he said dryly.

“What then?” she pushed.

He cleared his throat.  “It was a good picture, even though I didn’t okay it.”

“You’re not answering my question.”

“I know.”

Silence.

She growled in frustration.  “Fine, whatever.  I’ll let you go.”

“Hey.”

“What.”  She was feeling weepy and annoyed.

“Be careful tonight.  Go to a public place.”

She shook her head and rolled her eyes.  “Don’t worry, Dad.”

“Text me when you get home, okay?”

Why don’t you fuckin’ do something about it if you don’t want me to date anyone, Luke?!

She sighed.  “Of course.  After all, I aim to make you feel better.”

“It
will
make me feel better.”

“I’ll text you later then.”

“Okay.”

Neither of them was hanging up.  Finally, sounding more in control, Luke said, “Later.”

“Later,” she mumbled, then they both hung up.

Janie fell back onto her pillow and stared at the ceiling.  The man drove her nuts.  She cuddled into the blankets and sighed, thinking about the day to come.

A few hours after her talk with Luke, Janie got her phone call from Eric Weston.  When her phone rang late in the morning that Monday, she didn’t recognize the number, so answered with, “
The Local Yokel
, may I help you?”

“Hello, local yokel,” the man’s voice purred, dripping with sex. 

“Well, hello,” she chuckled with humor, still not knowing who it was.  “Are you calling for a caterer?”

“Actually, I’m looking for a certain edible item I can wrap my mouth around.  It’s red, wild and curvy, and I wan
t to sink my teeth into it.  Any chance you have something like that on the menu?”

She cleared her throat, now recognizing his voice.  The man definitely knew how to get a woman’s attention.  She played along.  “It depends.  Can you be a little more specific?”

“Ooh, good question.  Let me think.  It’s very sweet.  Juicy.”

She nearly snorted at that last descriptor.  “We do have a wild strawberry dessert.  Is that something you’d be interested in?”  If Luke hadn’t told her he was a player already, she would’ve figured it out on her own in no time flat.

“Mmm, sounds delicious,” he said, rolling the syllables on his tongue.  “I’d love to taste it.  Why don’t I swing by your kitchen and do a taste test.  Say, tonight at 7?”

“Mr. Weston, I’m afraid the kitchen’s actually closed for the next two weeks.”

“That’s a shame.  And how did you know it was me?”

“Just a lucky guess,” she said dryly.

“I was hoping to get a taste of that dessert.  Perhaps it could be brought to my place.  Do you deliver?”

She chuckled and shook her head.  The man was a player with a capital P. 
The Music Man
show tune about “Trouble” floated through her head and she almost started humming it. Somehow that gave her the courage to be blatantly flirty but completely honest with him, knowing full well she’d never let this thing with him go past one date.

Miguel Gastaldi was a nice guy who she could see as a potential suitor.  Eric?  No.  Luke was right.  She didn’t need to jump from one player to the next.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Weston.  We’re not delivering that dessert either,” she said pointedly.  “But perhaps if we found a venue somewhere between our two locations to have dinner, that would be doable.”

“That could definitely work,” he said with relish.  “And depending on how we do at dinner, we could find a different location to try out that dessert.”

She shook her head with humor.  “You just don’t stop, do you?”

“Nope.  Not when I see something I like.  I’ll set something up then pick you up at seven.”

“Why don’t I meet you there?”

There was a pause.  “He’s beaten me to it, hasn’t he?” Eric said, sounding serious for the first time.

“Excuse me?”

“Daniels.  I heard about a photo online.  One of my employees mentioned it.  He’s trying to stake his claim, isn’t he?”

“Stake his claim?” she chuckled.  “What am I, a piece of property with no say in the matter?”

Luke’s comments about Eric looking at her as a piece of meat skittered into her memory.

“Not at all.  I just know the man is persistent and I wanna know I at least have a shot.”

She smiled at his comment.  “A shot at what, exactly?”

“We’re both adults, Janie.  I think you know where I’d like this to lead.  It’s not like I’m hiding my intentions.”

“No, you’ve made them very clear.”  Janie was beginning to feel like maybe she shouldn’t go out with him if he was expecting she’d sleep with him that night.  Even if she didn’t have the agreement with Luke, she wouldn’t be sleeping with him after one date.  That just wasn’t her way.  “I should be honest with you.  I won’t be sleeping with you, Eric.”