Relentless (5 page)

He could already smell coffee brewing and eggs cooking as he pulled on his white shirt, leaving it unbuttoned as he padded down the stairs and made his way to Michaela’s kitchen. He stopped in the doorway noting how adorable she looked standing by the stove as she made their omelets with her curly hair still wildly tussled from the previous evenings activities and her bare feet peeking out of the bottom of her terry robe. He smiled when he saw how the robe dragged on the ground because it was too long for her petite frame, one size-fits-all never did work for her.

“Mmmm, smells good,” he said as he walked over to the cupboard, grabbed a mug from the shelf and poured himself a cup of coffee. “I hope this is strong, I could use the extra caffeine after last night.” He came up behind her as she flipped the omelet over. Leaning over her shoulder his breath brushed her ear as he spoke. “Are they almost ready? I’m starving!” He felt her immediate reaction to his touch. The little faker, he thought, she was extremely aware of him now if she hadn’t been before. Thoughts of taking her on the kitchen counter danced through his mind, but didn’t act on the impulse. She may want him, but for some inexplicable reason she was trying to push him away and he needed to find out why. He had a suspicion that it had something to do with Noah and knowing how the betrayal of that relationship had affected her. He was willing to be patient, to a point.

Michaela was all too aware of him as he casually pressed himself against her, but she refused to let it bother her. After all, it wasn’t his fault that his slightest touch sent shivers down her spine.

Attempting to sound as casual as possible, she turned her head to meet his eyes and said, “Ready when you are. Can you grab me a couple of plates from the cupboard?” This was the weirdest ‘morning after’ she had ever experienced. Not that she had had that many, but still the whole thing was strange. She had wanted to pretend like nothing had happened, but Jordan was acting like they did this every day. It felt too comfortable, too nice, too romantic. She watched Jordan with suspicion as he retrieved a couple of plates from the cupboard and handed them to her.

“Thanks,” she said while she filled each of their plates with an omelet and toast. They sat at her cozy little kitchen table in silence. Jordan was devouring his food while Michaela intently mutilated her omelet pushing it around the plate with her fork. She was busily reminding herself that this entire awkward situation was her fault when Jordan interrupted her thoughts.

Clearing his throat, he began, “Michaela, there is something we have to discuss.”

Her eyes widened in surprise, she was sure she resembled a deer-caught-in-the headlights. Shaking her head in denial, she insisted, “No there isn’t, I think we pretty much covered everything upstairs. I know you think we should be in an immediate relationship but I’m not convinced.”

Jordan sighed heavily. “Michaela, I know you think you covered everything, but there was something we missed.”

“And what exactly was that?” she asked, annoyance evident in her voice. She really didn’t have any patience for another one of his exhausting interrogations today, she thought as she took a big swallow of her steaming coffee.

“Birth-control,” he said.

She choked, actually choked on her coffee, spraying it over Jordan’s white tuxedo shirt. “Sorry.” She managed to gasp as she grabbed a napkin attempting to blot up the coffee from his shirt.

Grabbing her hand he said, “Forget about the coffee. It’s no big deal. The shirt was dirty anyway. We have to talk about the condoms.”

“Why? We used them. We’re responsible adults,” she reminded him quickly, noting he hadn’t let go of her hand. In fact, he was rubbing his thumb on the inside of her palm in what she supposed was intended to provide calming reassurance. She wasn’t feeling calm at all.

Angling his head to one side his blue eyes were apologetic as he gave a slight grimace. “Well, yes we did, but I noticed this morning that the condoms we used had expired over a year ago.”

Fear shot through, that absolute terror that only a woman can understand. Pulling her hand free, she yelped, “They what?!” Panic seeped through her every pore overtaking her, drowning her. For moments she couldn’t even formulate a rational thought while she tried to comprehend what he was saying. This couldn’t be happening!

“They expired. I don’t think we need to be upset, and I am sure everything is fine. It’s just something I thought you should know, just in case.”

Just in case, the words dangled between them, their meaning so clear, so horrifying. What he meant was, of course, just in case you’re pregnant. She felt slightly ill. Looking at him hopefully, she asked. “You don’t think there’s much of a chance of that do you? I mean really, what are the odds?”

Jordan gave her a reassuring smile. “I think it’s probably fine, lot of things last past their expiry date, take yogurt for example. I’m always eating yogurt after it has expired.”

Michaela eyes narrowed. Giving him an irritated look she said, “I don’t think this is comparable to yogurt! Jordan, do you realize I could be…”

Placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder Jordan interrupted her, “Yes, of course I do, that’s why I brought it up. I was just trying to lighten the mood by making you laugh a bit. I guess I missed my mark.”

“Yes I guess you did,” Michaela muttered, shifting awkwardly in her chair, looking for something to say to change the subject.

“Don’t get mad at me. It’s not my fault your condoms were so old they’d expired. I guess it’s been awhile, huh?” he asked. “I would judge from the expiry date that you haven’t seen any action since Noah.”

Michaela narrowed her eyes in anger and self-disgust. On top of everything else, now he thought she had been desperate for sex. “I don’t think my love life is any of your business.” Even to her own ears the statement sounded ridiculous as she stared at the scratches she had left on his chest the night before.

Jordan’s blue eyes widened in surprise at her response. “I hate to burst your bubble, but as of last night it became my business.” Jordan’s easy going charm disappeared as the anger became evident in his tone. “Don’t be embarrassed, I haven’t been with anyone since Joyce. I’ve only wanted you.”

Michaela raised a hand to brush her curly hair out of her face, her chin jutted forward a little in defiance. “I think you’re making too many assumptions based on one night. Maybe you shouldn’t count on an encore.”

Jordan was becoming a bit annoyed as well. “It’s going to be repeated all right. Do you want me to take you on the kitchen table to prove it to you?

She shook her head, her voice a little breathless at the images his words provoked. “No, I don’t think demonstrations are necessary.”

“That’s too bad, I was kind of looking forward to doing you on the table, but I guess I will save that for later. Look, I don’t care about the stupid expiry date on the condoms.”

She really couldn’t argue that point and arguing about the status of their relationship wasn’t going to accomplish anything either. “I’m sorry Jordan, you’re right. We’re both going to have to stay calm and handle this maturely if we’re going to remain friends.”

Jordan pulled both her hands together, wrapping his hands around them, his blue eyes intense with meaning. “Michaela, I swear to God, if you say we’re friends one more time I am going to paddle that gorgeous ass of yours. This wasn’t a one-night-stand. If there are repercussions from last night we’re in this together. Don’t even think about shutting me out.”

She gave him a half-hearted smile. “I promise not to shut you out if anything unplanned happens,” she paused before adding, her brown eyes slightly stormy, “but I don’t think you have to explain to me about repercussions. I’m the one that would have to deal with it.”

Jordan’s growing impatience was evident as his voice increased in volume. “That’s where you’re wrong. I said that if anything happens we’d deal with it, and let me make this clear we’d deal with it as parents.”

Taking a deep, slow breath at the word ‘parent,’ Michaela conceded his point. “Okay agreed. Although, I’m sure we’re probably getting upset over nothing. I was a little shocked when you told me about the condoms, but now that I have had time to think about it I’m sure there is hardly any risk at all.” It had been an emotional morning and she was just over reacting to the minute possibility. Did she really believe that or was she just trying to convince herself?

At that moment the kitchen door opened and her mother, looking elegant with her perfectly styled blond hair and her designer suit, walked into the room. She halted immediately when she noted the intimate setting of Michaela and Jordan sharing breakfast, which might have appeared completely innocent had it not been for the couple’s attire; Michaela dressed only in a terry robe while Jordan was obviously wearing clothes from the evening before. At that moment, Michaela knew with complete certainty that the morning was about to get decidedly worse. She had the incredible urge to shout ‘It’s not what you think!’ but how could she? Things were exactly as they appeared; there was no denying the evidence. She really, really hoped her Mother didn’t notice the scratches on Jordan’s chest readily exposed by his open shirt.

After recovering from the momentary shock, Vivien Prentice’s face broke into broad smile. “Jordan, how nice to see you,” she said as she leaned over, and gave him a kiss on his cheek. “It’s been way too long.”

“It has been a while Vivien. How’ve you been doing?” Jordan asked her mother, acting like nothing was out of the ordinary, as if he always sat around in Michaela’s kitchen half-dressed.

“I’ve been doing quite well, thank you. So what’s new with you two?” she asked pointedly. Jordan shot Michaela a questioning look, obviously not knowing how to respond to that loaded question.

If she had the ability to disappear right now she would have, she thought as she unconsciously slouched. Michaela decided she would handle it the way she had been handling everything else this morning, ignore it. “Nothing’s new really, Mom. You remember I had my office Christmas party last night and Jordan was kind enough to be my escort. The evening turned out to be quite late, so Jordan stayed over. We had a lovely time.”

Her mother though small in stature like herself at times could be quite intimidating; this was one of those times. She eyed them both with skepticism. “Yes, it appears you did have quite a time. That’s nice.”

Michaela knew that look and tone. It meant that her mother wasn’t buying the story at all. “Do you want some coffee, Mom?”

“Sure. I’d love some coffee.” She grabbed a mug from the cupboard and poured herself a cup. “Although little late in the day for me to have a cup,” she said as glanced pointedly at the clock. “It’s after one in case you haven’t noticed. I just came by to see if you wanted to do some shopping, but I can see the two of you are busy. So tell me about your night,” she said with a devilish grin. “I want to hear all the details…. the party that is. You can leave out all the good stuff about what happened after the party.”

Michaela rolled her eyes. “Mom! I can’t believe you just said that!”

Vivien ignored her daughter and turned to Jordan. “So are you two an item now instead of pretending you’re just friends?”

Jordan answered without hesitation enjoying Vivien’s pointed questions and Michaela’s obvious discomfort. “Yes, I’d pretty much say we have given up on the friendship angle.”

Vivien glanced at her daughter across the table and then looked squarely at Jordan. “Well it’s about time. I was wondering what was taking you so long to make your move. You know Michaela is not getting any younger and her biological clock is ticking.”

“Oh My God Mom!” Neither Jordan nor her mom paid any attention to her outburst.

Jordan gave an apologetic sigh. “I know, sorry about that, but she had to recover from the whole Noah thing and I didn’t want to be the rebound guy.”

Vivien gave him a broad smile, “Well, it looks like it’s working for you.”

Michaela gave an exasperated huff. “Hello you two, I can hear you! Could you stop talking about me like I’m not even here?” she paused before adding, “And bedsides Mom, I haven’t decided if Jordan and I are together now.”

Her mother rolled her eyes, “You’ve got be kidding me! What’s going through that head of yours?”

“Vivien,” Jordan said, “I have been saying that all morning. Honestly her morning after stupidity is wearing me out.”

Michaela gave Jordan a dirty look before saying, “We haven’t even gone on a date yet.”

“You want to date?” he asked. “Fine I’ll take you to dinner tonight. Problem solved, we can move forward now.”

Vivien gave Jordan another beaming smile. “Well done!” Looking over at her daughter she said, “I almost forgot to tell you, we’re having a little celebration dinner for your brother Donovan and Alaina tomorrow. Alaina just accepted a position as an attorney for the FBI in Boston. So it looks like she and Donovan are now based out of the same office.”

Michaela was surprised at the news. “Oh that’s great, how does Donovan like working with his wife?”

Vivien shrugged. “Well, I guess he likes it since he encouraged her to apply.”

Jordan looked at Michaela with raised his brows as he asked, “Your brother is with the FBI? You never told me your brother is with the FBI.”

“I try not to bring it up since for some reason people always get kind of freaked out. It’s like they think he is going to run a background check on them or bug their house or something,” she explained. Then she added, “He and his wife have just relocated from San Diego to Boston.”

Vivien decided to interject. “You of course Jordan are invited as well. I hope you’re available.”

Jordan gave Vivien a wink since she was obviously on his side. “Wouldn’t miss it Vivien. We’ll be there.”

Vivien checked her cell and rose from the table. “Oh, look at the time. I’m going to let you two get back to whatever it was you were doing.” She paused briefly before saying, “Do you have a cat Jordan?”

Jordan looked slightly confused. “No, why?