The Job Offer (7 page)

"I remember Carla.  She was the
little blonde, right?  If I remember right, she liked to cook.  She was always
trying out some recipe on us."

"That’s her.  She owns a catering
company in Seattle now.  It’s called Anton’s Catering."  Anne thought she
might as well give Carla’s business a plug in case Ben, or his family, ever
needed a caterer.  You never knew.

"So why didn’t you come back last
summer if you’ve been coming back every year?"

"It just didn’t work out with my
schedule.  I wanted to try to fit it in, but time got away from me.  Before I
knew it, another year had passed."

"Where along the East Coast do you
live?  You did not tell me yesterday."

"Boston."  Anne told him this
while trying to use her best imitation of a Boston accent.  He laughed at her
attempt and tried it himself.  He did a better accent than she did.  For the
next half hour, they talked intermittently between companionable stretches of
silence.  Eventually, Ben sat up and looked around.  A group of kayakers were
coming ashore further north of them and dropping off their gear.  Ben looked at
his watch and told her the time.  It was later than she thought, and it was about
time to head back to the inn.  Together, they dressed and packed up their
towels before donning their life vests again.  The sun was coming out of the
southern sky now, so Anne pulled her sunglasses on to block the reflection from
the water and took off with Ben at her side.

It took a little under an hour to reach
the inn.  Once they made it back, they turned in their gear and walked back up
the path by way of Anne’s parents’ house.  Anne thanked him for his company
when he walked her to her door.  He grinned at her politeness and raised an
eyebrow, almost in a challenge.  She wanted to kiss him, wanted him to kiss
her.  A blush began to creep up her skin, and she called herself a coward when
she began to turn away to go inside.  She stopped when she felt his hand touch
her arm.  Then he dipped his head down and gave her a quick kiss that stole her
breath away.

She waited to see if he would kiss her
again.

He didn’t, and she felt disappointed because
she wanted more than a quick kiss.  But he did watch her closely, too closely,
and she felt another blush creep into her face.  He tapped the end of her nose
with his finger and told her that she had better put some more sunscreen on before
he chuckled and walked back up the path to the inn.  She did not know just how
to interpret that, but his little peck left her wanting much, much more.

Ben sat at his balcony table eating a
BLT and waited until he saw Anne leave for her fill-in job as tour guide before
going inside.  As he ate, he recounted the day’s events and felt his
temperature start to rise.  They had eaten a nice breakfast and ride over to
the island.  Anne had not changed much.  She still had that quirky sense of
humor that he always liked.  It might be tiring after a time if it was not for
her intelligence and tendency to veer off on one of her scientific tangents
which he always found fascinating.  He had learned a lot from her when she
would veer off when they were younger.  It helped that she would mix something
humorous in whatever she was talking about.

Suddenly, she came outside wearing a
pair of white Capri pants, a yellow button down short sleeve sheet, and her
customary white canvas sneakers.  She had her hair clipped behind her head to
control the mass.  If she didn’t, he could imagine the struggle it would be
later to untangle all of that hair after a boat ride.  She did not see him and
walked around to the little driveway where a white Toyota sat in the shade.  He
watched her drive away while he continued to admire her from his vantage point
on his balcony.  Thinking back over the morning again, he remembered how she
looked in that red bikini.  It was all he could do at the time to not to kiss
her then.  She was all rounded curves, long limbs, and smooth muscle.  The cold
water helped him hide his arousal.  The little kiss when they returned was just
a way to see how she would respond.  He had wanted to kiss her again, much more
deeply.  He was pleased by her sudden breathlessness and the desire he saw in
her eyes.

Now that he knew that she was ready for
more, he arranged to have dinner alone at the inn.  The rest of the family was
going into Eastsound to the steakhouse, but he called off claiming that he
needed to get some work done.  He was counting on Anne eating at the inn again
tonight with her parents, and he was sure that he could finagle an invitation
to join them.  Smiling at his plan, he went to work on the new sales reports.  Four
hours later he took a break and sat out on his balcony again, drinking some
complimentary water from the mini-fridge in his suite and looked out at the
water.

He really did like it here.  For years
he considered either buying or building a vacation home on the island, but he was
always too busy to fit in more than a week or two every summer.  Now that
things were moving along well with the company, he reconsidered the idea.  As
he watched the water, he saw Anne’s rental car pull back into the driveway. 
She got out and walked around to the front door before disappearing inside. 
Not in a hurry, he sat at the table drinking his water and waited for her to
reappear again.

She came out of the house several minutes
later wearing a dark blue sundress that gathered under her breasts, and had a
fitted waist and flared skirt that ended a few inches above her knees.  The
dress showed off her figure to the hilt.  She was also wearing the silver
sandals that gave great definition to her legs.  Even from this distance he
could see that her toe nails were still painted the metallic blue color from yesterday
and that morning, and she still wore a thin silver toe ring.  Her hair was
loose around her bare shoulders, again, in a sexy fall that left him itching to
feel if it was as silky as it looked.  She was not carrying a purse, so she
must be dining in just as he thought she might do again that night.  Liking
what he saw, he quickly showered and changed for dinner into a white silk dress
shirt and black trousers.

When he entered the front lobby from the
elevator, he noticed a little ruckus at the front desk.  It sounded as if some
guests had decided to come up a day early, and their room was not ready yet.  Someone
else was demanding a room even though the person did not have a reservation at
all.  Knowing Jim and Jane, something would be done to get a room for the
reserved couple who showed up a day early, but he did not know what they would
do with the other guest.  Sure enough, he saw Jim leave the dining room and
head to the counter to handle the check-in and Jane leave to head back to the
employees-only area, probably to get help preparing a room.  This left Anne
sitting alone at their table by the picture window that faced the flower beds
and a small bay.

Going into the dining room, he crossed
over to the Petrovic's table and stood at her right shoulder, causing her to
give a little gasp in surprise as she looked up at him.  "Good evening,
Anne.  How are you tonight?"

"I-I'm fine, Ben.  What are you
doing here?  That came out rude, didn't it?  I mean, the rest of your party
went into Eastsound, so I'm surprised to see you here."  She looked at him
with confusion written on her face.  She had the slightest of tans coloring her
clear skin.  She wore some mascara tonight that made her blue eyes pop and a
rosy lip color.  Seeing her lips reminded him of his thoughts earlier in the
day, and he smiled in anticipation.

"I had some work to finish up.  So
I told them to go on without me, and I would eat in my suite.  But, I finished
up sooner than I had planned and decided to come down to the dining room to see
if a table was available," he told her innocently with a shoulder shrug
then pulled the empty chair out so that she would not have to crane her neck to
look up at him any longer.  A waitress came over and quickly took his drink
order.

"All the tables have been reserved
for the evening."  She looked around the room and saw that every table was
indeed full.  The lounge was also full.  Looking back at him, she smiled shyly.
 "We have an extra chair.  Would you like to join us?"

"Thank you, Anne.  I would like that
very much.  Your parents won't mind?"  He liked the look of uncertainty
that entered her eyes when she asked him to dinner.  Now that he was sitting close
to her, he could smell the perfume she was wearing.  She smelled like a
combination of citrus, which he guessed was from her shampoo, and an undefined floral
scent that he found very sexy.  He looked down for a second at her full lips
then back to her eyes which were so beautiful that he lost himself for a moment
in their aquamarine color.  Her eyes had always turned him on.  Finally, she
looked away from him toward the door to the lobby, and he could see a slight
blush creep up on her chest and neck.  Her breasts rose with her deep breath
causing her nipples to tent the blue fabric of her bodice.  She was definitely
aware of him, he thought with satisfaction.

"Here comes my mother, now."  Ben
looked over at Anne's mother who was crossing the room to their table.  Seeing
the disappointed look on her face, Ben guessed that the inn's early arrivals
would take up more of hers and Jim’s time than originally thought.  He silently
thanked the unexpected guests for creating an opportunity for him to have time
alone with Anne.

"Hi, Sweetheart.  Hello, Ben,"
she greeted them when she finally reached their table.  "This is going to
take longer than I thought.  Would it be ok if we pushed dinner back an hour?  Ben,
since you're here, maybe you could keep company with Anne so that she doesn't
have to sit alone at the table?"

"It won’t be a problem with me as
long as it is ok with Anne?"  Ben could not believe his luck.  He looked
at Anne with raised eyebrows and a hopeful look on his face.  When she gave her
assent with a warm smile, he smiled back at her.  Both of them missed the look
her mother gave them at seeing their expressions.

"Then again, Ben.  Maybe it would
be best if the two of you just went ahead and ate without Jim and me.  There is
no sense in waiting for us since this will take a while, and Anne must be
hungry after her tour this afternoon.  Jim and I will eat later."

"Are you sure, Mom?" Anne
looked back at her mother, her lips slightly pursed.

"Sure, I'm sure.  You two have a
nice dinner tonight, and we will try again tomorrow evening."  Then she
patted her daughter's shoulder and walked away again leaving the two of them
alone at the table.  Ben could not have planned the intimate dinner alone with
Anne better if he had tried.  He looked over at Anne who was now reading the
menu with great interest.  A little smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.  The
waitress came back quickly with a tall glass of beer from the tap and set it on
the table in front of him.  Anne looked up when the waitress arrived and watched
him as he took his first sip.

"I don't know about you, Ben, but I
am pretty hungry," Anne exclaimed as she leaned back in her chair.  Her aquamarine
blue eyes twinkled and she shook her head in humor.  "That was some very
clever maneuvering to get a dinner invitation, Mr. Carlson.  Did you arrange
the diversion, as well?"

Surprised at being found out so soon, he
started laughing which set her softly laughing, too.  The sound of her laughter
and the look on her face reached into his gut and grabbed hold.  "I wish I
could say that I arranged that, but alas my pretty, my plan was only to get a
dinner invitation."  He twirled the end of an imaginary mustache, a move
that started her laughing even louder.  "Just how many of those have you
had, already? I'm not that funny."  He indicated the glass of Chardonnay
in front of her.

"This one is my first, and no, you
are not that funny.  But the situation is, and I could really use a good laugh
after the tour.  So, thank you, Ben, for coming to my rescue, such as it
is."

"You are welcome.  A toast..."
 He raised his glass and waited for her to raise her glass, too.  "...to
making the most of a beautiful evening with a beautiful woman.  Later, I plan
on taking her down to the water and having my evil way with her," he said
in his most charming way.

"You think so, do you?"  Her grin
was slightly shy.  Her blush was back, and he found himself becoming enchanted
with her once again.

"A man can always hope."  He touched
his glass to hers and swallowed some beer, never looking away from her face the
whole time.  She shook her head again with a slight smile on her face and
sipped her wine.  Then the waitress came back again to take their order, and
they concentrated on the menu selections.

The next hour and a half passed as a
fun, relaxing time, and Ben found himself enjoying her company immensely.  He
found out that she was single that morning, an important piece of information
to his way of thinking, but learned that evening that she was once engaged.  She
did not elaborate about why she and her ex-fiancé broke up, and he did not
ask.  They also talked about the tour ride that afternoon which, he found out, was
not much fun because of a surly female passenger who complained throughout the
tour about everything from the chairs to the water spray and wind that messed
up her hair.

They reminisced further about their
times on the island and discovered that they liked to do many of the same
things in addition to kayaking and biking.  He did not tell her that he owned a
company because he did not want the knowledge to influence her one way or
another about a relationship with him.  He skirted that topic of what he did when
she asked by just saying that he was in the manufacturing business.  He found
out that Anne was on summer break from teaching and also worked as a business
consultant.