Only One (Ward Sisters Book 2) (8 page)

They lay side by side, out of breath for a minute or two. This had been amazing. But could it ever be more? She wasn't sure if there was that intangible thing she'd always thought should be present when you were head over heels or could get to that point easily. Granted, there was sexual chemistry in spades, but it wasn't as if she thought she might die if she never had him again. She'd be disappointed, yes. But heartbroken? At the moment? No.

Afraid of being last on board the train, Jenna spoke first. She guessed he was probably thinking the same thing as her, but he was too polite to say it.

“I'm thinking we should probably stick with being friends.”

Rob laughed, sounding a little disappointed. “That bad?”

“No! Not at all. I'd like to do it again. It's not that you're not great in bed. You are
phenomenal
, actually. But it feels like this would never be more than sex. And I need more than that.”

“Yeah, me too. I don't do booty calls. That's not my thing.”

She agreed but, oddly, was a little bummed that he'd shared her thought process.

“Me either. Friends?” Jenna suggested.

He kissed her sweetly. “Absolutely. You're pretty amazing yourself. It's been a while since I had sex that great.”

“Oh? Rachel not much to write home about in bed?”

“That's not a comment on her lack of bedroom skills, though she was more into it at the beginning. It was a comment on how enjoyable
you
are.”

She grinned at him. He'd liked it as much as she had. That made his assessment of a possible future sting less.

“Thanks. It's really too bad you're just not my type.”
Yeah, that's it. Right?

Rob laughed harder. “Not your type? And you slept with me anyway?”

“I didn't say you're not hot. You're so hot you're on fire. I wanted you almost as soon as I saw you. But you're just not my usual type of sexy. I like subtle sexiness. You're more in-your-face delicious. Seriously, I don't know that I'll ever be able to forget this. It's not every day you get to have a movie star bang you until you're senseless.”

“Planning to talk to the tabloids, are you?” he asked flatly.

“Oh, stop. I'm teasing. I didn't sleep with you because you're an actor. I could do that any time. My dad represents enough of them and I've met my share. I slept with you because you're hot and almost as smart as I am. It's an intoxicating combination.”

And if you asked, I'd probably try to give this a go even without the sparks because I like you that much
.

“You don't have a self-esteem problem, do you?” he joked.

She thought
, Not anymore. Thanks for erasing awful Chad from my brain.
Then said,
“Nope. Not usually. When I meet the man who makes me nervous and unsure of myself, then I'll know I've met the love of my life.”

“I hear you. When you meet the person who makes you want to be more than you are, then you're on the right track.”

“Rachel wasn't that girl, was she?”

“No. I didn't see it before. After we broke up, my best friend, Liam, told me that she blackmailed him in college when he caught her cheating on me. Turns out, she's a class A manipulator. I was too blinded by her appearance of perfection to see it.”

“You'll find her someday. The One.”

He gave her a smile that didn't meet his eyes. “Too bad you're not
my
type. You're exactly the girl I
should
want to be with.”

“Well, maybe it's best if we keep this hot sex between us, then. Better that people think we weren't attracted to each other than to have them wonder why it is that we're not together.”

Rob nodded. She bet the last thing he needed was more rumors and speculation. Unlike the rest of the world, a celebrity's life could never be straightforward. Which was precisely why Jenna had suggested they should just be friends; she didn't want to become tabloid fodder if it didn't work out between them. If she was confident it could last, she'd be willing to endure the crap that would come with being this man's partner. He seemed more than worth all that.

But she didn't feel sure about where this would go, and he confirmed her suspicion, that they be better friends. Of course, that didn't mean they couldn't go a few more rounds today. Her nipples tightened at the thought.

“Want to go again, while we're still here?” she asked, biting her lip. God, did she hope he'd say yes.

Rob grinned, his pupils dilated again, his member ready for round two. Hopefully the next of many this afternoon.

“You read my mind,” he said, kissing her senseless again.

**********

Mankato, Minnesota, four and a half years ago...

A week after Jenna met Rob, word spread around the office that Chad would make a temporary move to Portland, Oregon to expand the company. Pat told her later he'd all but demanded that Chad accelerate the expansion agenda and be the one to make the move. Though he wasn't a threatening man by nature – Pat was too mellow for that – he could be domineering.

Chad listened.

Jenna stayed until a month before Chad was set to return. Six months before that, she'd begun the search for a new position. She'd stayed friends with Rob and they usually talked at least once each week. When she was close to deals with a few companies, she called her friend and told him about the offers, hoping to get his opinion.

Rob said, “You should come work for me instead.”

“Oh yeah? Can you pay better than Facebook? Because they made me a generous offer.”

“I bet I can,” Rob replied.

“Tell me what you think I'm worth and if it's better than their offer, I'll come work for you.
If
you're serious.”

“I'm completely serious. I need someone like you. If I'm going to have an online presence, I want it to be a secure one and I don't know anyone more talented in cybersecurity than you. We've talked about the search algorithm programming you've been perfecting. I told you I thought it would be a huge asset to the publicity team if we could do daily sweeps for my name and nip things in the bud. Amy's an ace publicist and manager, but she's no computer expert. I need a real guard dog as my first line of defense. You're my best girlfriend. I trust you. Besides, I know what you're really worth. They don't.”

He gave her a number that exceeded Facebook's salary.

“What about bennies?”

“You'd get everything the rest of the staff does: insurance, paid time off, investment opportunities.”

“On top of the salary?” That would be astonishing.

“Of course. And since you can basically do the job from anywhere, you can live wherever you want. If I can get in touch with you, I don't even need to know where you are at any given moment. You could be in Tahiti, and as long as you had reliable internet, you'd be all set.”

“Sold.”

“For real? You want to work for me?” He sounded shocked and also...excited.

“At that price, I'd be a fool to say no. Besides, I think you're pretty damn great. I'd love to work for you.”

She could hear the smile in his voice. “Then welcome to the team. We can talk logistics later. You plan to stay in Minnesota?”

“Nope. Definitely moving back to Cali. I own an apartment in L.A. and my lease here ends in a month.”

“Great. I'll be back there in three weeks. Let's get together then. Wrap up your work at CyTech and meet me in L.A. And while you're still in Minnesota, get together with Amy, Kelly and Raoul. They can get the paperwork started.”

“Will do, boss man.”

“I hope we can still be friends.”

“Of course. Don't expect me to sleep with you,” she joked.

“I didn't hire you because I thought you'd sleep with me.”

“I know, Rob. Not that it was awful. It wasn't.”

“No. It was anything but awful. I meant it. I can really use someone with your skills. Things have become insane since I started dating Lola.”

“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

“Ha-ha, very funny. We're only sleeping with each other.”

“And that equals a commitment?”

“Doesn't it?”

“Not to everyone.”

“Sorry. For what it's worth, Chad didn't deserve you.”

“No, he did not.”

“You dating anyone?”

“Nope. Been single since I dumped his sorry ass. Haven't even hooked up with anyone since you.”

“Yeah, don't tell my girlfriend that we had a thing once. She might not like you being my assistant.”

Jenna laughed. “Insecure, is she?”

“Hell, yes.”

“What do you see in her? No, wait. Let me guess. Big boobs? And I bet she's a total whore in the bedroom.”

“Not nice. And her boobs aren't any bigger than yours. She pursued me. What can I say? You didn't want me.”

“Not true. I wanted you. I knew better than to think it would last if we just got naked together regularly. I like us being friends. I love talking to you all the time. If we dated and it ended badly, I'd have lost you as a friend. This way, we know what it was like to get naked and we can still be friends after.”

“Okay. If that's how you want to spin it. We'll find you the right guy someday.”

“Yeah? Well, if you ever get tired of the tartlette, let me know. I might be in need of some high quality naked time.”

“I thought you didn't do friends with bennies?”

“Well, see, now it's not friends with bennies. It's doing the boss. And I've done that, right?”

“Jen...”

“Sorry. It still smarts.” She sniffed as a tear escaped.

“Hey, don't let that jerk get you down, okay? You're part of my team now. And we take care of our own.”

“Thanks,” she whispered.

“And who knows? Maybe someday I'll get tired of Lola and you'll be desperate enough to give me a shot again.” He tried to make it sound like a joke, but there was something underlying it all. As if he was struggling to pretend he didn't mean it.

“Rob...”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

“For what?”

“For being a good friend. And for the job opportunity. You won't regret hiring me.”

“Never. Hey, I have to go, but I'll talk to you again soon. We'll talk every day once you're officially my employee.”

“I can't wait.”

“Me either.”

**********

Malibu, California, four years ago...

Jenna hadn't been working for Rob long when a major publicity debacle occurred. It was immediately following the L.A. premiere of Lola Benedict's first blockbuster, an event which Rob attended with her. Hours after the movie premiere, when the two of them should have been partying, Jenna was testing new search programming, since Rob would be at a public event, but not one that was for him. She figured she'd be guaranteed to get hits with his name, but the searches wouldn't be flooded.

She was wrong. The searches were immediately swamped.

Star
magazine posted an interview with Lola about the breakup. Since Jenna knew Rob was unaware of a breakup
before
the event, she hadn't heard from Amy, and had even seen a few photos crop up earlier in the night of Rob and Lola on the red carpet, the only explanation was that Lola's team had planned the whole thing in advance. For what reason, she had no idea, but the story was probably at least partly false. When she called Rob straight away and he didn't answer, it worried her. He always answered her calls and usually on the first ring.

She grabbed her laptop and her purse, locked her apartment door and raced down to Rob's house in Malibu, the one he was renovating. Rob was staying there, despite it being a construction site, and she knew it was the place he'd go for refuge.

Jenna tried to call him several more times to no avail. When she finally pulled into the driveway, it was late but there were a few lights on, thank God. She knocked on the door and Rob's bodyguard, Alan, answered.

“Hi, Jenna. What brings you here so late?”

“Where is he?” she asked, frantic.

“Slow down. He's in his room.”

She ran down the hall and knocked on the closed door. He didn't respond right away, but the old door handles were easy to unlock, so she used her thumbnail.

“Rob?” she asked tentatively as she slowly pushed open the door. He wasn't in the sitting area. She wandered into the bedroom and there she found him, face down on his bed. He still wore the suit she'd seen in the pictures of Lola's premiere, still had shoes on his feet. She shook his shoulder. “Rob?” He mumbled and she rolled him onto his back.

“Hi, Jen,” he slurred. He was drunk.

“Honey, did you take your anxiety meds?”

“You mean these?” he asked, handing her a pill bottle from the night stand. There were still a lot in there.