Betting On Love (13 page)
Authors: Cheris Hodges
Jade approached the duo, but neither of them noticed her walking toward them.
“This was the perfect location,” Stephen raged at the woman, who, Jade assumed, was his Realtor. “I don't understand how you didn't know that someone else was interested in it.”
“The new buyer came out of nowhere,” the woman said. “They purchased the land and the restaurant for a price higher than you could afford.”
Stephen glared at her and shook his head. “You should've been on the job.”
Jade cleared her throat, alerting Stephen that she was there. He turned around and locked eyes with her.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Just came to check out my investment,” Jade said, with a sly smile on her face.
“Investment?” he quizzed.
“Yes, this will be my restaurant and land. If I were a nastier person, I'd have you arrested for trespassing,” Jade snarled.
Stephen narrowed his eyes into little slits that reminded Jade of a snake. “How could you do this to me? You know how much time and money I have invested in this Charlotte expansion.”
“I only know and care about the fifty thousand dollars you stole from me,” Jade snapped.
Stephen waved his hand dismissively. “Are you still on that? You invested in my restaurant on your own. You weren't under duress when you gave me that money.”
“No,” Jade said, stepping closer to Stephen and pointing her finger in his face. “I invested in your restaurant because I thought we were going to be married. I was trying to support you and be there for you.”
“Did I ever give you a ring?” he returned.
Jade glared at him. “You bastard.”
“So, I'm going to have to scout some new locations, but I will open up a Chez Marcel in Charlotte, and whatever little restaurant you plan to open here will fail. You don't know the first thing about running a restaurant.”
“And neither do you!” Jade exclaimed. She fought the urge to slap him. “Get off my future property.”
Stephen shook his head. “Your mistake, babe. When it all blows up in your face, call me and I may bail you out.”
Jade clenched her jaw. “Hell will freeze over first. No one needs you, Stephen. Well, maybe your overinflated fiancée, but I don't.”
Stephen and the Realtor headed to his car, and Jade stood in front of the restaurant. She closed her eyes and envisioned a crowd of people waiting to get in.
I'd better go give James this check,
she thought as she turned and headed for her car.
she thought as she turned and headed for her car.
CHAPTER 14
James tried to focus on his work. But every five minutes he was looking at the clock to see if it was two o'clock yet. He wanted to hear what Jade had to say, but more importantly, he couldn't wait to see her again. Even though he was pissed with her, he couldn't deny that he still had it bad for Jade. He couldn't deny how sexy she had looked in her business suit or how the gray pencil skirt had held her curvy hips the way he wanted to hold her against him.
Shaking his head, he turned back to his computer and the e-mail he'd been writing for the last fifteen minutes. He looked at his watch; it was about two seconds closer to two o'clock than it had been when he looked the last time.
Amber tapped on his cracked door. “James, Jade is here to see you,” she said.
“Send her in,” James said, then wiped his sweaty palms on his slacks. Seconds later Jade walked in the door, and his breathing went shallow.
“Here's the payment for the property,” she declared without saying hello.
James took the check from her hand and nodded for her to sit down. “We need to talk,” he said.
“I thought you had your say already, James,” Jade said as she sat in the chair across from his desk.
“Maybe I came across too harsh. That wasn't my intent. It's just I was surprised to see you and your crew in my conference room this morning. Then, when I found out that Stephen was trying to purchase the same property, it ...”
“Caused you to act like an asshole instead of a businessman,” Jade pointed out, finishing his sentence for him.
“If that's what you think. But what I realized is that what you and your friends do with your money is your business.”
Jade nodded. “And I guess whatever you do with your assistant is your business,” she said.
James smirked. “Are you seriously on that again? First of all, Amber is fresh out of college and way too young for me. Secondly, she's my employee, and I have too much respect for my company to try and do something with her, and finally, there's too much work to be done here for me to be distracting my assistant.” He rose to his feet.
“I saw you kiss her,” Jade said, standing up and facing him.
“That was just your imagination,” James said, stepping closer to her. “Or maybe you wanted a reason to be pissed off at me.”
Jade wanted to step away from him, and at the same time she wanted him to wrap his arms around her and kiss her as if the world was going to come to an end. For what seemed like an eternity, neither of them moved; it didn't even seem as if they took a breath. But in one swift movement, James lifted Jade into his arms and brought his lips down on top of hers. She hungrily sought out his tongue and wrapped her legs around his waist.
James brushed some of the papers on his desk to the floor, then laid Jade across the wooden desktop. She reached for the waistband of his slacks as he unbuttoned his shirt. The demi bra she wore barely contained her perky breasts, and when James slipped his hands underneath the lacy garment, she moaned with anticipation. His fingers brushed across her erect nipples as she stroked his erection.
“Is the door locked?” she asked.
James shrugged. He didn't care if the door was open or not, but he pulled away from her and locked it. “Happy?” he asked as he kicked out of his slacks.
Jade dropped her silky panties, along with her skirt, on the floor. “Why don't you come over here and make me happy?” she said, with a smirk on her face.
James crossed over to her and smiled as he took her into his arms. “Even though I was pissed with you, I wanted to do this the moment you walked into the building.”
He sat her on the edge of the desk and spread her legs apart. Then he planted his face between her thighs. With his tongue, he sought out her throbbing bud of sexuality. Jade struggled to keep her voice down as James lapped her womanly juices, which sprang from her like a summer's rain.
“Oh,” she moaned as his tongue danced across her most sensitive area.
Jade clamped her thighs together around James's ears as he deepened his kiss, sucking on her throbbing bud as if it were a piece of magical candy. She held on to his shoulders as her legs began to quake. Seconds passed like hours as James continued tasting her. When his tongue danced against her inner thigh and his finger probed her valley of desire, Jade melted into a pool of heated lust on his desk. James inched up her body, taking his time and tasting every bit of exposed flesh. Each kiss made her shiver with a wanton need to feel him inside her. Then, when she felt his manhood growing against her thighs, her juices began to flow like a river.
“I need you,” he breathed against her ear after covering his erection with a condom. “I need you, Jade.”
She lifted her leg, giving him all the clearance he needed to dive in. As their bodies melted together, they gave in to the passion and pleasure they felt. Jade was hot and wet, and James could barely contain himself as she pressed her hips into his and ground slowly against him. With her head thrown back, she tightened her thighs around him and called out his name as he reached her G-spot. James thrust into her, making Jade scream with delight. She tightened her muscles around his manhood, bringing him to climax just as she reached her own orgasm. Jade fell backward onto the desk, and James collapsed on top of her. Sweat covered their naked bodies, and for the moment it didn't matter that James's phone was ringing and Jade had papers stuck to her backside. In their minds, they were in the most perfect place on earth.
“Don't you think you should answer that?” Jade asked as the phone kept ringing.
“Why do you think voice mail was invented?”
She gently stroked his back and brushed her lips across his. “This is dangerous,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“I could get used to this, and since we're going to be doing business in Charlotte, you will be seeing a lot more of me.”
“And the dangerous part is what?”
Jade dropped her arms from around him and turned her head to the side. “You don't see this as being a problem? Have you ever known a long-distance âthing' to work out?”
James ran his forefinger down the center of her breasts. “Let's call it what it really is. A relationship. I hope that's the direction we're moving in. Otherwise, you're wasting my time. I don't want a bed partner, although we haven't done much in a bed, have we?”
She swatted him on the shoulder and smiled. “Butâ” she began, and James placed his finger to her lips to silence her.
“There are no buts. If you're ready to try something new, then here I am. But if you're still hung up on your ex and you have to go out of your way to get revenge, then this can be our good-bye.”
Jade pushed his hand away. “It's not about revenge, and I'm not hung up on Stephen,” she said.
“Really?”
Squirming underneath him, she wiggled out of his embrace and swung her legs over the side of the desk.
James, now standing, planted himself in front of her. “Tell me the truth,” he said. “You wanted this property because Stephen was going to buy it. I understand that you're angry, and you have every right to be. But, at what point does that anger become unhealthy?”
“He humiliated me. And I know you might think I should get over it and let it go, but I poured a lot of sweat and tears into his restaurant. While he was out front socializing with the best Atlanta had to offer, I was trying to make sure he had money to pay the staff, the decorators, and I was the one who got all the publicity for that restaurant. I used my contacts from college to get people to give a damn. And to open the newspaper and see I'd been replaced! Not just in the relationship, but in the business, too. Well, James, that was the straw, and the camel's back was already cracking.”
“I told you that my sister-in-law is a contract attorney and she can help you,” he said. “But that has nothing to do with you and me. I want you, Jade, want you for more than just sex. There's something about you that's intriguing, that's special, and I want to uncover every bit of it. I want to know what makes you happy so I can stop you from ever being sad. I want to know what makes you who you are.” He stopped when he saw tears welling up in her eyes. “What's wrong?”
“This feels so right, but I haven't had the best of luck with relationships, and sometimes the men ...”
“You've never been with me. I can't promise that every day is going to be sunshine and roses, but most days will be. I don't want a bunch of women. I know all I need is one woman, who can be everything that I need, want, and desire.”
Jade sucked her bottom lip in and tried to quell the emotional storm brewing inside. When James spoke, she believed him. And she wanted to believe that he was the man for her, but she'd had these thoughts before. “James,” she whispered as he took her into his arms, “this is crazy.”
“Once you pay for that restaurant, we're no longer in business together. And we are never going into business together. Just let go and get what's coming to you, woman,” he said as he cupped her bottom.
“And just what would that be?” She felt his arousal against her legs and smiled because she was just as ready for round two.
Then there was a pounding knock on the door. “James, what in the hell are you doing in there?” Maurice yelled.
“Damn it. He would pick today to show up when he's actually supposed to,” James whispered.
“Your brother?” asked Jade.
James nodded as he and Jade began dressing. Once they were clothed and his office had some semblance of order, James opened the door.
Jade smiled weakly at Maurice as she headed out. “I'll see you later,” she said to James.
Maurice smirked and took a seat across from James's desk. “Well, well,” he said.
“Don't start, Mo,” James warned.
“I'm not starting anything. It looks like you just finished something up in here, though,” Maurice said.
“Why are you here?” James asked, clearly annoyed with his brother.
“Didn't you say we needed to discuss some business ?” Maurice asked. “I came to work, but it looks as if you were putting in work.” He laughed at his own joke; then he noticed the serious look on his brother's face and stopped laughing. “Look, you're single. Kenya and I have used her desk a time or two. Never in the middle of the day, though. Poor Amber was in the lobby, watering flowers, and those plants in the lobby are plastic.”
“Shut up.” James laughed despite himself. “Are you serious, though?”
Maurice nodded. “I always thought you and Amber would get together, since she is the only woman that you allow to be around you on a consistent basis.”
“I don't play where I work, all right?” James said.
“And don't let Jade hear you make those quips about Amber.”
“So this thing is serious? Come on, James. I know you're not that damned ...”
“Think about what you're getting ready to say, because you have no room to talk,” James said.
Maurice threw his hands up. “All right, but hear me out. You and this chick met in Vegas, right? She hopped into bed with you and didn't know you from Adam's alley cat. Do you really think that's the kind of woman that you need to be getting serious with?”
“Sort of like the kind of woman you were about to walk down the aisle with a couple of years ago?”
“That's why I can recognize a gold digger when I see one,” Maurice said. “There's something about that chick that isn't right.”
“Whatever, Mo,” James said.
“Come on. Why is she in Charlotte?”
“Because she just bought a restaurant,” James snapped. “It was a million-dollar investment, so she's not trying to get my money.”
“Women like that ...”
“Like what? Beautiful and sexy? What? They don't usually want me? They're just using me to get to your ass, right?”
Maurice rose to his feet and shook his head. “That's not what I'm saying, and you know that.”
“Did you listen to me when I told you about Lauryn?” James asked.
“No, but don't you think you should learn from my mistake?”
“I think you should mind your damned business,” James replied. “Jade isn't anything like Lauryn.”
“You don't know that,” Maurice said. “And you're not going to be sure until it's too late.”
James folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in his seat. “If you have some legitimate business here, then let's get to it.”
“Man, I forgot what I came here for. Just make sure that she's really worth it.” Maurice turned and headed out the door.
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