Here at Last (13 page)

“
You’re sweet
,” I laugh
ed
as
I
carried the roses into the kitchen and trim
med
the stems before putting them into a large crystal vase. “Really, JT, you didn’t have to bring flowers.
T
hey
’re
very beautiful,” I said
, glanc
ing back to
look at him
.

He walked up behind me and
put his hands gently on
my arms
. “Not nearly as beautiful as you
are
.”

Feeling him so close,
I was qui
e
t
for a moment. I remembered
how guarded he’d been in California
and how little he’d shared of himself
.
This certainly wasn’t the man that I remembered.

I turned to face him, and we stood quite close. He smiled
before glancing
at his watch. “We ha
ve dinner reservations at
six-thirty
.”

“
Yes.
” I took a deep breath and reminded
myself
to be careful
.

Sensing
my caution
,
he
gracefully
took a step back. “Ready?”

I nodded. “Ready.”

W
ith that, we
walked out into the cold and into
the comfort of
his
sister’s
Mercedes
ML320 Bluetec
.





JT and I had a lovely evening.
I learned that we had both
changed
since we’d last seen one another
.
After I left San Diego, h
e told me that he realized it had been a mistake to let me go. He'd always hoped that someone like me would
enter
his life,
but he
hadn’t been
ready for me at the time
.
I told him that it
had been
too
soon
after I’d
broken up with
David
to have
gotten involved in
another relationship.
Besides,
he
had been my boss in San Diego, and we
both knew that we
never could have dated
for that reason alone
.

As it turned out,
JT
had
tried
meeting
a few people after I
’d
left but ha
d
n't found anyone.
Then, h
e
’d
start
ed
seeing a counselor. He
had spent a
fair amount
of time reflecting on his relationships
, and there were many patterns that he could see
in
himself that he
had been
actively
working
to change. He
ha
d spent the last
year
trying
to become a better person
,
someone
who
was ready for a real life
-long
relationship
again
.
In essence, it sounded as though he had gone through
a
self-assessment
and
self-improvement
process
just as I had
in preparing
myself
to enter
a deeply loving
and committed
relationship
with someone.

JT
told me how happy he was
to have
run into
me
in Chicago. H
e had heard that I was working
t
here but had been so wrapped up with his sister that he just
ha
dn't know
n
if he
would have
a chance to
get together
.
In retrospect, the coincidence of our having been in
the same
tapas bar at the same time
had
made him feel as though
destiny had intervened on his behalf
, and he didn’t want to lose another opportunity to
spend time with me
now that working together was no longer an issue
.





By the time we
finished dinner and
arrived at the
holiday
party
,
it felt as
though
JT and I were
on
new ground with one another. He was very attentive, getting my drinks
and
stay
ing
by my side
the entire evening.
He was a wonderful date, warmer and more
personal
than I ha
d ever
known
him
to be
.

I introduced him to nearly everyone
that
I knew
in the
Hastings Chicago
office
. H
e was the perfect gentleman
and certainly knew how to make a terrific impression
.
I caught Margaret staring several times, and there
were
occasional
looks
in our direction followed by private conversations
b
etween
Margaret
,
Peter
, and a few others
.
We
ll aware of his reputation, JT
just laughed it off, and we had a gr
and
time together.

When we were getting ready to leave, he held my coat for me
, and
I slipped my arms in
to the sleeves
before turning
around to face him.
I managed the buttons
while he
wrapped my scarf around my neck
twice
before tucking it in
to the top of my coat
. It felt very tender and protective. “I'm really glad we did this tonight," he said, looking into my eyes.

“Me, too,” I told him. “
Thank you for everything
."

He smiled and wrapped his arm
across my back
as
we walked out into the cold and
made our way to
the car.
It had been a
lovely evening,
and
we were both tired.
On the
way
back to
my place, he turned the radio on low
, and w
e listened to
Billie Holiday’s “The Very Thought of You.”

I glanced over at JT.
Although his
eyes were focused on the road,
his lips wore
a small smile
,
and he
looked happy. I turned
to gaze
ou
t my window an
d watched a light snow begin
to fall. Lit by the street
lamps
, it seemed magical.

"
It’s
a
beautiful
night
,” he said
quietly
.

“It
really
is
,
”
I
agreed
.

W
hen w
e arrived at my
apartment
, he
found
a rare
parking
space in
front of the building
and
turned off the car.

When he
walked me
to the door
, I asked,
“
Would
you
like
to come
up
?"

“Sophia,” h
e hesitated and
reached for my hands
.
“
I
regretted
it when
you
left
San Diego
,
and
I
didn’t know if I’d ever see you again
.
I don't want to blow it
with you
."

“I understand," I
smiled
,
"
b
ut it's cold outside. If you want to come
up
for a few minutes, I can make us some
hot
chocolate
."

He
squeezed my hands and
smiled. "That sounds nice."

We rode the elevator up
to the eleventh floor and
stepped
into the
warmth
of my apartment
before taking
off our coats and h
angi
ng them in the closet.
While I poured some almond milk into a pan and added chocolate and a bit of
peppermint
extract,
JT
turned on the
Bose radio
and found the station that
we’d listened to
in the car.
Benny Goodman’s
“
Moonglow
” was
playing, and it created a
restful and
romantic
setting for the end of what had been a
lovely
evening
.

As the cocoa was warming on the stove,
JT
walked into the kitchen and pulled
two
large
red
and white ceramic
mugs
out
of the dishwasher.
A few minutes later,
I
turned off the stove
and ladled the
steaming
cocoa into the
m
before
setting them
down on a pair of coasters
in the dining room.
Too hot to drink right away, we left the
cocoa
to cool
and had just sat down when
Etta James’s “At Last” began to play
.
JT
smiled and
stood, leading
me by the hand into the center of the
living
room where
I turned to face him
. H
e wrapped his arm
s
around
my waist
, and w
e
began to dance
.

At last, my love has come along. My lonely days are over, and life is like a song.

With my arms around his neck, I rested my head against his shoulder and relaxed.

“You’re a nice dancer,” I murmured.

He rested his head against mine, and we continued to sway in one another’s arms as the
sultry
song played.

I found a dream that I
could speak to, a
dream that I can call my own. I found a thrill to press my cheek to, a thrill that I’ve never known.

As the song finished,
I looked at
JT, and
he
kiss
ed
me
gently
.
Ella Fitzgerald’s
sexy and beautiful
“
Love Is Here to Stay
” started playing, and
I
inhaled his scent as
we kissed again.
There was a
hint of
aftershave
,
but
it was
mostly him
, and
I felt lightheaded. I ran my right hand
down his neck and
over
his
heart
, feeling his
chest
underneath.
With h
is arms wrapped around me,
our kiss deepened,
and
h
e s
lid his hands
down and
settled them over my bottom
, pulling me closer
.
When I felt him
hard up against my
inner
thigh
,
I moved one hand down
ward
and along the front of his trousers
.
I
t took him by surprise
, and he moaned softly
.