The Job Offer (16 page)

Looking at her face with the digital
light shining on it, he smiled.  He had dated several women over the years,
some of them he had a physical relationship with and some he did not.  There
were several who dated him because they wanted something from him, namely his
money.  Now, here he was with a woman who wanted nothing from him, and he was
hooked.

He reached out his hand and traced her
breast running his fingertips over her nipple until it hardened into a pebble.  Then
he twirled it in his fingers and tugged on it gently.  Anne began to stir.  Leaning
over, he took her breast into his mouth and moved his hand down until his
fingers found her already wet.  He pushed his finger inside of her, and she
moaned with pleasure.  Then he teased her until she began to push herself into
his hand.

Letting her go, he quickly reached over
to the nightstand and grabbed a foil packet.  Then he slipped on the condom and
positioned himself between Anne's thighs, the head of his penis pressed against
her opening waiting.  She opened her eyes and looked at him then said his name
breathlessly.  Watching her face, he pushed himself inside of her slowly
feeling her open a little bit at a time to hug him in her warmth.  Her eyes
remained open watching him.  When he was in a far as he could go, he held still
watching her face.  Then he pulled out slowly and pushed back in.  He watched
the different expressions of passion cross her face at the sensation of him
moving inside of her.

He pulled out again until he was almost
outside of her then pushed back in more forcefully.  She gasped and closed her
eyes enjoying his movement.  He waited for her to open her eyes again then
began repeating the movement, each time pushing in a little further with more
force.  Each time he waited until she was watching him before he began again.  She
began to pant and he watched her breasts rise and fall with each breath, her
nipples hard.  Moving his hands to her breasts, he pinched her nipples with
each thrust until she was crying out with pleasure.

He kept up with the torment of her body
until he could feel her inner muscles begin to quiver.  Then he pushed himself
in so far he felt the wall of her womb open to him.  Her body exploded in an
orgasm that went on and on, and he held still inside of her absorbing the
sensation of her body gripping his in this timeless dance of lovers.  When her
body quieted, he started again from the beginning giving them both pleasure until
she reached another orgasm.  This time, he let his control go when her body
began to contract around him, and he had the most power orgasm he had ever
experienced.  His vision went white for a second as he began to release his
seed into the condom.

He collapsed on top of her and she
wrapped her arms and legs around him holding him against her and inside of her.
 He wrapped his arms under her back then held her tight and pushed his face
into her neck.  They stayed that way holding each other with their bodies still
joined for several minutes until he was sure he was squishing her beneath him.  Finally,
he removed his arms and put them on the sides of her head so that he could lift
his weight off of her.  Raising his head, he looked at her face and was
surprised to see a trail of tears that ran from her eyes to her hairline.  He
kissed one of her eyes then the other and pulled himself out of her body.  Then
he rolled to his back.  She moved against him until her head rested on his
shoulder, and he held her against him until the sun came up.

By mutual agreement, everyone decided to
remain at the inn that morning.  After showering, Ann and Ben went downstairs
and had breakfast with Ben's family before splitting up to pursue their own
activities.  Ben had work he was trying to get a jump on before Monday when he
went to Asia for his business trip.  He explained to her the night before that
he needed to make an unexpected early trip to China to straighten out some
paperwork that could not be done by someone else or from a distance.  Since the
tailor was also coming around noon to deliver the tuxes for the wedding, and Lily
and Melissa were having final fittings for their dresses that morning, too, the
entire Carlson party was staying close to the inn.

Anne had business of her own to see to
so she was not unhappy by missing time with Ben.  They made plans to meet for
lunch at one and go for a bike ride to Orcas Village that afternoon.  When she
finished with her breakfast, Anne went in search of her mother and informed her
about the job offer and that an employment contract was being faxed to her at
the inn's number.  Her mother promised to call her when it came through.  While
she waited, she went onto the patio and read the mystery that she had picked up
at Boston's Logan Airport in a little store so that she would have something to
read on the flight.  She did not get much of a chance to read it while flying out
to Seattle but made a serious dent in the book yesterday.  Between reviewing
her notes for the interview and an overly talkative man in the seat next to her
on the flight, she only had half of the first chapter read by the time the
plane touched down at Sea-Tac.  Yesterday, she got all the way to chapter nine
before she decided on a swim.

A few minutes after nine, her mother
found her on the patio and handed her the fax that had just come through.  The
cover sheet bore the logo of Stanford Enterprises.  Not wanting to read the
contract outside, Anne carried it into a quiet meeting room and looked through
it.  The contract terms were more than fair.  Her starting salary was about
what she had been making at her old company, and the benefits were good.  She
would start out with two weeks paid vacation which she could start to use after
the first six months.  She reached the final page and saw that the contract was
already signed by Benjamin Stanford III, Ms. Tomlinson, and Dr. Rudolph.  There
was a spot for her to sign, and she used the pen she borrowed from the office
to sign her name "Dr. Jane A. Conner" on the paper.  Then she left
the room so that she could fax it back to Stanford Enterprises in the office.

Carrying the fax with her, she was in
the lobby passing in front of the gift shop when she was bumped from behind by
someone causing her to drop the contract on the floor.  She knelt down to pick
up the scattered papers and saw a woman's hand grab the cover sheet that showed
the company logo and listed her name as the recipient.  Anne looked at the
woman, saw that the other woman was Chelsea Riverton, and groaned.  Chelsea had
a smug look on her face that Anne would have loved to wipe off.  She probably
bumped into Anne on purpose, Anne thought.

"I'll take that, please."  Anne
took the cover sheet immediately out of Chelsea's hand and stood up.

"What are you doing with a fax from
Stanford Enterprises?"

"That's really none of your
business, Chelsea.  If you will excuse me, I have some things to attend
to."  Standing up, Anne took the fax, walked back to the office, and used
the fax machine.  She waited until it went through then called Ms Tomlinson to
confirm that the fax was received.

After she took care of her business, Anne
took the contract to her parents' house and put it in her briefcase that she
had sitting on the floor next to her dresser.  Then she smeared sunscreen on
her face, neck, and arms and went for a walk in order to get away from the inn
for a while.  She took off down the drive until she came to Ocean’s Drive then
turned left.  Following the path that led to Eastsound, she continued walking
enjoying the clear morning sunshine.  It was a comfortable temperature and a
nice breeze stirred the grasses of the watershed area she walked through on her
way into Eastsound.  As she walked she thought about her discussion with Ben
the night before.  She could already feel that her emotions were involved.

Their relationship was not just about
sex.  At least not to her, it wasn’t.  What she felt for him in the past seemed
like a child’s crush compared to what she felt now.  When the week ended, she
knew that she was going to be hurt, and she realized that she needed to think
about how she could protect her heart from further pain before Ben left on
Sunday.  The more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to be with him. 
But he made it clear last night that he would not want to take their relationship
further than this week.

As difficult as it would be, she would
not contact him once she moved to Seattle.  Since he did not want to see her
again, there was also no point in telling him that she was moving in the first
place, she thought.  With more than 3.5 million people in the Seattle metro
area, it was doubtful that they would ever run into one another.

The thought of never seeing Ben again
after Sunday made her walk faster to chase away her heavy feelings.  It dawned
on her suddenly that she had fallen in love with him, and the knowledge robbed
her of breath.  Her chest hurt, and she groaned.  How stupid could she get!  No
wonder her heart hurt at the idea of not seeing him again.  Her logical
scientist's brain was telling her it simply was not possible.  It was far too
close to love at first sight, something she simply did not believe in.  It did
not matter that she had been attracted to him years ago.  But she knew what she
felt, and if she and Ben had more time together, she knew that they could have
something special.

That stopped her.  She was not going to
ask for more from him.  He liked her.  Yes!  But he did not feel the same way
about her that she felt about him.  She was not going to turn into another
Chelsea.

She stopped walking and looked around
her.  She recognized the point.  She had walked almost six miles to the east
and could see the gates for Morgan State Park up ahead and Mount Constitution
in the distance.  The mountain was the highest point in the San Juan Islands,
and if she had more time, she would keep walking until she reached the
observation tower at the summit.  But that would take far too much time.  As it
was, she needed to head back to the inn.  She forgot her watch, but could tell
by where the sun was in the sky that it was already past noon.  She doubted
that she and Ben would have time to bike down to Orcas Village, but they could
take a short trip if they set out once she got back.

At least their families were not
expecting them that night.  Anne and Ben were planning on skipping dinner with
the families so that the rest of the afternoon and evening would be theirs.  With
only a few short days, she did not want to miss any more time with him.  The
clock was ticking.  They only had about seventy two hours before he left for
good, and she wanted to spend as much of those hours with him as she could
before they said goodbye.

It took her a few more hours to walk
back, and her feet hurt long before she limped up the drive to the inn.  Her
canvas shoes may work for everyday wear, but they were the wrong shoes for a
long walk, especially without socks.  She could already feel the blisters
forming on her heels and big toe.  She chastised herself for her mistake.  She
should have changed into walking shoes before she left, but she just did not
expect to walk for so long.  She also had left her cell phone in the suite, so
she could not even call for a ride.  Limping into her parents' house before
going to Ben's suite, she pulled off her shoes and reached for a few bandages.  Then
she grabbed a pair of socks and her walking shoes and put them on grimacing at
the pain.

After taking a bottle of water from her
parents' refrigerator, she slipped up the back way and let herself into Ben's
sitting room.  He wasn't in the suite, but she simply could not walk anymore to
go find him, and she did not have his cell number.  Her feet were throbbing, so
she dropped down on the couch and put her feet up.  She must have fallen asleep
because the next thing she knew Ben was sitting on the coffee table watching
her.  She opened her eyes and looked up at him, feeling suddenly overwhelmed by
the tender expression she saw in his eyes.

"Hi.  What time is it?"  She
sat up and pushed her hair back from her face.

"It's after three.  I was worried
about you.  We were supposed to meet in the dining room for lunch.  You never
showed.  Then when you did not come, I went looking for you.  I checked up here
twice, your parents' house once, and everywhere else I could think of.  I
wasn't sure if you had changed your mind about being with me anymore."  His
gaze was intent upon her face, and a worried line appeared between his
eyebrows.  "Did you change your mind?"

"No.  I went for a walk to clear my
head and lost track of the time.  I forgot my watch.  I'm sorry to have worried
you."  She was becoming confused by the look on his face.  Perhaps he
cared more than she thought.

"It's alright."  He leaned
forward and kissed her softly then leaned back again.  "Did you eat
anything?"

"No, and I'm pretty hungry."

"I'm sure you are.  I didn’t eat
anything either.  Come on, we will get something to eat in the dining
room."  He reached across to help her stand, but as soon as she stepped
down with her full weight on her feet, she grimaced in pain.  "What is it,
Anne?"  He helped her sit back down again.

"It’s nothing.  I didn't change my
shoes before I left for my walk, and now I've got a few blisters.  If you don't
mind, I think I'm going to forego biking this afternoon."  Ben helped her
put her feet on the table, and she leaned back against the couch and sighed.  "You'll
have to go without me."