Relentless (11 page)

“I’m leaning towards running into Joyce.”

Trixie nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I’m going to have to agree with you on that one.”

“Well at least the shopping was good,” Michaela said in a dry tone. “Why don’t we grab some lunch?”

After arriving home from shopping and lunch with Trixie, Michaela tossed her bags on the bed and pulled out a long cream colored turtleneck sweater and some brown leggings. She needed to get ready for dinner at her parents, but tonight she was only concerned with comfort. It was only going to be family except for Jordan, of course. She had just finished touching up her make-up when she heard the door downstairs open.

She went to the top of the stairs, “Jordan is that you?”

“Were you expecting someone else?” he asked as he jogged quickly up the stairs.

He was looking sexy and relaxed in his jeans and a navy V-neck pullover. The sweater emphasized his muscular chest and arms. She almost sighed in appreciation, but stopped herself. Really she thought, the man’s ego was big enough already.

“It’s just a little disconcerting when someone just walks through your front door. Funny, I don’t remember giving you a key,” she said as she crossed her arms over her chest eying him suspiciously.

He had the grace to look slightly guilty. “I might have helped myself to your spare.” He pulled her into his arms and gave her a gentle kiss on the mouth. “Am I forgiven?”

She shook her head, her unruly curls bouncing as she whispered, “Never.”

“That’s harsh. How can I make it up to you?” His voice was husky as he leaned slightly closer.

“Hmm, let me see.” She pondered his question before answering, “I guess you could give it back to me.”

He tightened his hold around her slightly. “I don’t think that’s going to work, too inconvenient. What if I need to let the cat out?”

“I don’t have a cat as well you know,” she pointed out enjoying their teasing game.

“Now you’re just getting picky. Okay, why don’t I just give you my spare key and we’ll call it even?”

“Why would I want your key? I’ve never even been to your place. It must be some pigsty.” She was immediately distracted from the key argument when she looked down and noticed he was carrying a shopping bag from Wal-Mart. “What’s that?”

He held up the bag. “It’s just some toiletries. You know, shampoo, conditioner, razor, shaving cream, tooth brush.” He gave a slight shrug. “Basic stuff.”

With raised brows she asked, “Planning on spending a lot of time here?”

He reached up to tug on one of her chestnut curls. “You betcha.”

She shook her head in amusement. “You’re out of control. Did you bring your own toothpaste too?”

“That would be silly, you have tooth paste,” he answered patiently as if he was talking to a child.

“Why is that silly? I have shampoo and conditioner and you brought that.”

“Please, you’re stuff smells like strawberries. I can’t go to work smelling like strawberries, can I?”

“Okay, point taken. Let’s get back to you being out of control. You seem like you’re moving in.” She tried to keep her tone fairly neutral because actually she wasn’t sure how she felt.

He answered slowly, his voice soft, “If I were moving in, I’d have a suitcase. Do you want me to move in? Although I was kind of hoping we’d live at my town house. It’s got more room.” He leaned down and nipped at her lip.

She laughed. “Stop you lunatic! I know what you’re trying to do and I won’t be distracted. Okay, you win. You can keep your toiletries here, but let’s wait a bit before we talk about merging residences, all right?

He bent his head again and gave her a slow sensuous kiss. “For now.” He reluctantly let her go. “I guess I should go put this stuff away before you change your mind. Are you ready to go to your parents?”

“I’m ready when you are,” she answered following him into the bedroom. “You just can’t put that stuff anywhere.

He glanced back at her. “I’m not going to put it anywhere, I’m going to put it in the bathroom,” he said as he continued into her ensuite. He began unloading the items onto the bathroom counter before asking, “Are you going to give me a drawer?”

“A drawer? Things are moving kind of fast here. I never even gave Noah a drawer!” she protested as she began to feel a bit panicky.

Jordan gave her an irritated look and with a deliberate voice he asked, “I’m not Noah, am I?”

She shook her head saying in a quiet voice, “No you’re not.” She walked to the vanity and began taking out the contents of one of the drawers. “Here you can have the middle one.”

He emptied the remaining contents of his bag into the drawer carefully organizing everything. Making himself at home, he turned toward the shower he put the shampoo and conditioner in the stall. Jordan pulled her into his arms once again and gave her a soft kiss. “Thank you, baby. Was that so terrible?”

“No, I’m sorry. This is all so new and you’re racing full speed ahead.”

“Don’t you want me to stay here tonight?” he asked realizing that he might need to give her more time even if it did frustrate the hell out of him.

She gave is question some thought before answering. “The stupid thing is that I do want you to stay.”

“Now that’s the right answer,” he said as he touched her cheek with his hand, slowly stroking it with his thumb. “Is your reluctance about us or is it about Noah?”

She gave an audible sigh before admitting. “Noah is just my most recent mistake. I seem to have made a lot of bad choices when it comes to men. I’ve caught every guy I’ve ever had a serious relationship with another woman. I guess I don’t trust myself to make a good choice.”

He held her in his arms and gently stroked her back in a soothing motion. “Wow, that’s some serious baggage. You’ve never told me about that before.”

“Well, it something I try not to dwell on. In my head I know those men were assholes, but I keep thinking what’s wrong with me that I keep picking them.”

“I’ll try not to feel insulted by that remark. No wonder you keep pushing me back. This is more than just about what happened with Noah. Don’t worry I’m going work on giving you the time you need. I just feel like I’ve been waiting for you for so long, I’m impatient to move forward.”

She pulled back slightly and looked up at him as she gave an unladylike snort. “So I’ve noticed.”

“So I’ll slow down and you’ll try to speed up at bit. Sound fair?” he asked his voice coaxing and gentle.

“Oh my God Jordan, are you trying to compromise instead of forcing what you want down my throat?” she asked in mock astonishment. “Aren’t you going to try to change my mind with sex?”

His mouth quirked in a slight smile as he answered her, “Normally, I would but we’re sort of pressed for time since we have to be at your parents in about twenty minutes.”

“And here I was expecting some hot sex.” Her tone was light and teasing.

He gave her a gentle swat on the bottom. “Maybe later, but dinner at your parents first.” He took her hand and led her out of the bathroom. “Are you all set to go?”

“Sure, let’s get going. My mom will have a fit if we’re late,” she said as she trotted down the stairs.

Jordan followed closely behind. They pulled on their coats and boots and were soon leaving the warm house to be met with the cold brisk winter air of Boston. There was a light snowfall making the street look almost picturesque. Michaela spotted Jordan’s BMW across the street.

She grabbed his hand before saying, “Be careful crossing the street, Trixie and I were almost run down today by a car.”

Jordan looked startled. “What do you mean you were almost run down?”

They both looked right and left and crossed to Jordan’s car. Once inside the car, Michaela quickly buckled her seat belt. She shivered due to the cold winter night, the car was freezing. She looked over at Jordan noticing the snowflakes in his tousled blonde hair. She reached over and brushed the flakes off, giggling as he batted her hand away.

“Enough,” he said, “you’re messing my hair.”

“Relax,” she said, “I’m just getting the snow out.” She leaned back relishing the warmth as the car seats heated up.

Jordan started the car before asking, “So what’s this about being almost hit by a car?”

She turned her head toward him as he pulled away from the curb. “Trixie and I met up to get pedicures and to do some shopping today. When we were crossing the street to get to the nail salon I heard this loud roar. I looked up and saw this car heading right toward us at full speed. I grabbed Trixie’s hand and managed to pull us both out of the way in time. Let me tell you, I was scared to death.”

Jordan glanced at her quickly, concern apparent on his features. “Were you j-walking?”

“No, that’s the thing we were in the crosswalk. The driver must have not seen the light change.”

“Did you get the license plate?”

She rolled her eyes. “No, I didn’t get the license plate. I was trying not to get killed and the car was going really fast.”

“Then what kind of car was it?”

“It was blue.”

He gave her a quick irritated look. “Blue? Are you kidding me? Can you tell me if it was a Ford, Mercedes, or a Toyota? Give me something to work with.”

She snapped back at him. “Look, the car went by really fast and I didn’t have time to catch the make or model.” She paused before adding in a sarcastic voice, “Sorry I was running for my life.”

He reached over and gave her thigh a reassuring squeeze. “I’m sorry. I’m just worried about you. I was hoping we could find the maniac and have him charged with reckless driving.”

“Forgiven, for now, but you need to watch your interrogation techniques.” She suddenly remembered that she wanted to ask him about Joyce. “I almost forgot to mention, I ran into Joyce today while I was shopping with Trixie.”

“Did you talk to her?” he asked in a neutral tone.

“Unfortunately, I did. She said she wanted to put the whole Noah thing behind us and asked me to forgive her so we could be friends again. I told her I’d put it behind me, but there was no way I was going to be her friend.”

“I guess that must have been awkward for you,” he said as he continued to focus on his driving.

“Well here’s the thing, she told me that she’d spoken to you and that you had forgiven her. Is that true?” Michaela asked wanting to know if Joyce had been lying.

Jordan glanced over at her and gave her a half smile. “Yes, it’s true. She came to my office shortly after the whole cheating debacle to tell me she was sorry and I told her we could just forget about it.”

Michaela felt shocked and a little pissed by his response. “Are you kidding me? Why would you do that?”

“Michaela you have to understand, I’m glad Joyce slept with Noah. If she hadn’t you might still be with him instead of sitting next to me. The whole time we were double dating I kept thinking what I could do to make you see that Noah was an asshole, but Joyce took care of that for me. So really, it’s hard for me to stay mad at her.”

“So you weren’t bothered by Joyce’s actions at all?” she asked a little surprised by his attitude.

“No, I was glad because you were free for me. I would’ve broken up with Joyce a lot sooner. There was just no chemistry, but then I met you through Joyce. I knew if I stopped seeing Joyce then I wouldn’t have the opportunity to see you. I was between a rock and hard place. Obviously I couldn’t go on that way. I was about to break up with Joyce and approach you since I was pretty sure you weren’t happy, but Joyce solved all my problems.”

“Wow that puts everything into a different perspective. I have to admit that I was extremely attracted to you and things weren’t going well with Noah. There just wasn’t enough passion, but to find my fiancé in bed with someone I thought was my friend was awful.”

He reached over and grabbed her hand. “I know I was there, and I hated to see you so hurt, but selfishly I was glad. I wanted you and I was going to have you.” His voice was intense as he squeezed her hand harder letting her feel his repressed passion.

She felt reassured by his touch. “Just curious, what would you have done if I hadn’t broken up with Noah? Would you have just walked away?”

He shook his head. “Not on your life. I had a plan, but luckily for me I wasn’t forced to go ahead with it.”

“And what exactly was your plan?” she asked, curiosity getting the best of her as she noticed that they were pulling into her Mom’s driveway. They had reached her parents home in Plymouth, a suburb of Boston, which is about 45 minutes outside of the city. Her parents had a beautiful turn of the century colonial that had an amazing view of Plymouth Harbor and the Atlantic.

He put the car in park and turned to her. “How about I tell you later? It’s a rather long and involved story.”

“Hmmm this sounds interesting. I really have to know now.”

“Later, I promise,” he said as he reached for the car handle door. “Okay, so this is the big family dinner.”

“Yeah, I should warn you, my brother is a little over protective.”

“You mean your brother, the FBI agent who carries a gun?”

She nodded with a slight apologetic look on her face. “Yep that would be him.”

“But your parents like me, right?” he asked hopefully.

She gave him an encouraging smile. “Yes, they think you’re great. What are you so worried about? I’ve brought you to family barbecues before.”

“Well this is the first time we’ve gone as a couple,” he explained as he got out of the car and went around to Michaela’s side to open the door for her. He held out his hand and she grasped it letting him lead her to the front door.

“Relax,” she said trying to reassure him. She was about to turn the doorknob when his voice interrupted her.

“Aren’t you going to ring the bell?” he asked sounding slightly anxious.

“Jordan, I grew up in this house, I don’t ring the bell,” she told him, but she was amused that he seemed a little bit nervous about his first family dinner. She finished turning the knob and said loudly, “Hi Mom, Dad, we’re here.”

Her Mom came down the hall to greet them with a broad smile. Holding out her arms, she gave Michaela a hug. “So glad you made it, honey.” She let go of Michaela and proceeded to give Jordan a welcoming hug. “And I’m so glad you’re here as well Jordan.” Her smile was broad, Vivien was unmistakably pleased. She grabbed both their arms and pulled them toward the family room.