Conklin's Blueprints (26 page)

I closed my eyes and sighed in content and listened to his heartbeat.  Feeling safe and sated, I listened in the stillness and fell asleep utterly pleased and satisfied.

Chapter 15

Soft lips pressed against the nape of my neck followed by a gentle whisper, “It’s time to wake up baby.”  Tyler’s kisses trailed down to my shoulders as he caressed my back with his palm.

I grumbled and buried my head into the pillow.  I sensed his grin on my neck.  He brought his lips back to my ear, “I’m going to jump in the shower… would you like to join me?  Or would you rather sleep another ten minutes?”

I squeezed my pillow keeping my eyes shut.  Tyler let out a soft laugh and rolled out of bed.  I kept my eyes closed and sighed, listening to the shower water hitting the tile floor.  As tempting as a shower with Tyler was, I was still tired, and I didn’t feel like letting him see me completely naked for the first time while I walked like a zombie.  I stretched my limbs.  I ached in all of the right places from our escapades last night.  My face blushed when my mind traveled back to his mouth covering my breast.  I squirmed under the covers from the tingling feeling I felt as I recalled the memories.

The shower water turned off, and Tyler appeared from the bathroom door.  The soft light escaping the bathroom was easier to open my eyes to.  He had a towel wrapped around his waist and sat on the bed next to me.  He put his bare hand on my back.  It was chilly from the water and caused me to squeeze the pillow even tighter.  His hand brushed down to my lower back as the hushed words came out of his mouth.  “I saved you some hot water if you want to shower now, or you can shower at my place in Chicago, it’s up to you, but we have to get going in 30 minutes.”

I grumbled and slowly sat up with the pillow against my chest.  My eyes were heavy as I attempted to open them.  Tyler put his hand on my face and leaned in to give me a kiss.  I only pecked him back, aware that I hadn’t brushed my teeth yet.  I had slept so hard the entire four hours that were left after our intimate shenanigans.

Tyler moved his hand from my face down to my neck and rubbed my collarbone.  It felt so nice.

“Hmm,” was all I could manage to say.  When I opened my eyes to look at him, his expression was of amusement and awe.

“Where is my bag?”  I mumbled, rubbing my eyes. 

“It’s downstairs, I will get it for you.”  I nodded my head as he started to stand.  Once he was out of the room, I quickly hopped up and went into his large bathroom.  It was all brown and cream, brown tile with cream walls, and a large shower with a brown and cream marble swirl background with a built in shelf.   I turned the shower on and stepped into the warm water.

Shoot, I forgot my shower stuff!  Just as I opened my eyes again to try and figure out what I was going to do, I noticed Tyler had bought the shampoo and body wash I use.  Either Jamie had filled him in or he happened to notice the first time he spent the night.  I smirked as I squirted the shampoo into my hand.  I quickly washed, remembering we were on a time frame, and jumped out of the shower to look for a towel.  I froze when I saw two fluffy brown towels and a pair of jeans, a blue button up shirt, and matching light blue underwear set were on the counter.  I blushed.  I was mortified to think he rummaged through my things that Jamie packed, but the gesture made me smile.  I quickly dried off and threw on the clothes.  I was towel drying my hair when Tyler knocked on the bathroom door.

“You can come in,” I said, furiously trying to dry my hair.  He walked in dressed in an expensive gray suit with a light blue dress shirt and a silver tie.  I felt underdressed. 

He slid past me and leaned against the sink.  “Are we more awake now?”

I raked my hands through my hair, trying to tame it back into a pony tail.  “Maybe if it weren’t 4:30am.  Should I change?  I feel very under dressed,” I said staring at my tired eyes in the mirror. 

Tyler came behind me and put his hands on my hips.  “You look beautiful.  Come on, Cooper is waiting downstairs.”  I blinked at him in the mirror. 

“Cooper, as in your assistant?” I questioned.  He shook his head yes.  I still didn’t understand.

“Am I riding with you? Or driving separate?” 

“Cooper has an understanding and knows how to keep his mouth shut,” Tyler said matter of factly.  He took my hand and we left.

~

The airport was surprisingly quiet and we had no trouble getting on the plane.  Tyler had booked first-class seats, and there were only a few people sharing the first-class cabin with us.  Once we were in the air Tyler pulled out his iPad and pulled up a spreadsheet full of numbers.

I leaned my head back in the seat feeling groggy.

“You can lie down on my lap if you want.”  Tyler pushed the flight attendant button and the stewardess came running.  She played with her hair when she talked to Tyler.  I huffed under my breath.

“Can we get a pillow and a blanket please?”  he asked in his charming voice.  She hurried back to her quarters and came rushing back with a pillow and blanket. 

Tyler pulled up the armrest and put the pillow on his lap, angling his body inviting me to get comfortable.  I bit my lip and put my head on the pillow while he covered me with the small blanket.  There wasn’t a whole lot of room since there were only two seats in the row, so completely lying down wasn’t going to happen.  Once I managed to get semi-comfortable, Tyler pulled the hair tie from my hair and started to run his fingers through it while he looked at his iPad.  It felt like I had just started to doze when we had to return to our upright positions.

I reluctantly sat up and fastened my seat belt while Tyler put his iPad away.  I felt Tyler touch my arm.  “Did you sleep at all?  You seemed very relaxed,” he said, drawing a circle on my forearm.

I nodded my head then gave him a flirty stare.  “I wouldn’t be so tired if someone hadn’t kept me up so late with their shenanigans.”

If I didn’t know any better I would have said he was blushing.  “Hey, you started it the second time,” he said tapping my nose with his index finger.  Now it was my turn to blush.

A black SUV was outside in the pick-up area at O’Hare.  The driver came out and helped Tyler put our carry-on bags in the back.

“Can you please take us to the Elysian Condos?”  Tyler asked politely as we slid into the back of the SUV.  The traffic was heavy as the driver weaved through the lanes of the big city.  When we arrived at Tyler’s condo my eyes widened.  The building was huge.  Chicago was ten times the size of Grand Rapids, and I began to realize exactly what Tyler was about. 

We ascended up the elevator in silence.  I was used to money, but I had a feeling Tyler was used to more.  My stomach dropped when we finally arrived at Tyler’s floor and entered his condo.  The ceilings were tall and the floors were covered in dark hardwood.  All of the walls were white and an array of windows aligned the outer wall.  The other walls were covered in art.  The kitchen was very modern with sleek black cabinets and stainless steel appliances and a small breakfast room with a dining table.  The living room was very spacious and had a large red couch and two modern swivel chairs.  The wall in front of the furniture was covered with built in cabinets and expensive electronics filled the shelves.  Tyler set my bag down and watched me soak in his environment.

“You can do whatever you want while I’m working.  There are tons of movies, books.  I have an e-reader somewhere.  You can use my office, it’s down the hall, if you’d like.”

We stood in silence for a moment.  Did I really just follow this man here?  What was I going to do all day?  I felt silly.

Tyler started walking down the hall and nodded for me to follow him.  He took me into his bedroom which matched the rest of the house.  White walls with one wall covered in windows.  He had a porch.   A gas fireplace was on the wall in front of the bed and had a built in unit that I assumed held a TV over the top. A big red curtain was pulled back from tall ceilings on the side of the windows.  The curtain matched the sleigh bed that was covered in a red down comforter with coordinating black throw pillows.  There was a large fish tank built into the wall where the bathroom was, and you could see through to the bathtub on the other side.

I crossed my arms, hugging my chest feeling small in this extremely ostentatious penthouse apartment.  Tyler looked nervous when he set my bag down in his room.  “Is everything okay?”  he said tentatively. 

“Your place is just… big,” I said trying not to sound intimidated.

He looked at me skeptically.  “Yeah… It was a graduation present from my parents.  Will you be okay here while I’m gone?”

I flashed him a smile to reassure him I would be fine.  “Of course, I will probably just catch up on sleep.  Is there a gym?”

The skepticism left his face.  “There’s one on the main floor.  I will leave the access card for you.  I should be back before 5:00pm.  I will text you if I’m going to be later than that.  Help yourself to whatever is here.  You will probably have to order food, though, I’m sure the fridge is pretty empty.”

Tyler crept over to me and took my hand in his.  He gently caressed my palm and gazed into my eyes.  He lifted my hand to his lips and said, “I’m sorry I have meetings.  We can go out, or stay in, whatever you want to do when I get back.”  His eyes had a hint of fire to them that made me take in a sharp breath.  I nodded my head while drowning in his eyes.

Tyler leaned in and gave me a lingering kiss.  Before I knew it my tongue took over and demanded access to his mouth.  It took Tyler a millisecond to realize what I wanted.   He let go of my hand and pulled me against his body, his palms pressing against my lower back.  I moved my hands to his face, careful not to put them in his hair.  Although he had the messy look, I didn’t want to damage the product that held it in place.

He pulled his lips off of mine and put our foreheads together.  Letting out a long breath to calm himself he said, “You are making it very hard for me to leave,” with a trace of annoyance.  I couldn’t contain the smile from spreading across my face.  I pulled my head back and gave him a chaste kiss.

“I’m sorry,” I said looking up at him through my lashes.

He puckered his lips into a hard line, as though he was trying to stop himself from smiling. 

“I don’t feel you are being sincere.”

I shrugged my shoulders trying to look innocent.  He let his smile break through after seeing my reaction.

“As much as I would like to crawl into that bed with you right now, I unfortunately have to go,”  he said moving his hands from my back to my face.  “Enjoy a lazy Saturday.  I will see you tonight.”  He kissed my cheek, probably because he was afraid what might happen if our lips locked again.  I followed him to the door as he pulled out his access key to the gym and handed it to me before he left.

I sighed and turned around to take in the over the top apartment condo.  Was this what I really wanted?  To get involved with someone who had more money than sense?  Yes, I grew up with this lifestyle, but I wasn’t sure it was the lifestyle I wanted to have for my future family.  No doubt my mother would approve and would call me crazy if I ever walked away. 

He doesn’t want that kind of relationship, remember?

I slumped my shoulders.  That’s right, he wanted our relationship to be quiet, and wedding bells and a family clearly wasn’t something we could keep on the low down. 

So what are you doing with him?

“I don’t know,” I said out loud, answering my own question.

Feeling sad, I walked through the spacious rooms to get to the master bedroom.  I pulled the curtains over the large windows and crawled into the large sleigh bed.  The curtains made it very dark and peaceful.  The moment my head hit the pillow all doubt and weariness went away and I crashed.

By the time I opened my eyes it was 1:00pm.  I felt beyond well rested and jumped out of bed.  I pulled open the curtains and allowed the bright light to burn through the extravagant windows.  I stretched as I looked out over the city and noticed I could see the big lake.  I decided to go down to the gym.  I sure hope Jamie knew me well enough to pack something to work out in.  I unzipped my suitcase and opened it up on the bed.  A note was inside from Jamie.

Hey Beautiful,

I like this guy, and he seems to be worthy of another chance.  Have a pleasurable weekend.

-Jay Rae

I smiled at her note.  She was the best friend I would ever have.  I shook my head when I saw the little things she had packed.  I pulled out the low-cut, short purple dress and examined it.  I wasn’t so sure I could pull it off, but I could give it a try.  Maybe I could wear it to dinner?  I put the dress on the bed and rummaged through the rest of the bag.  Of course she had thrown in some sexy overly priced lingerie.  The bra was strapless and deep purple with rhinestones along the bust.  There was a matching thong to go with it.  I rolled my eyes.  I hated thongs and Jamie always gave me crap about not wearing them enough.  Although I was going to need to with how tight the purple dress was.  I kept searching my suitcase, hoping to find some soft cotton.  I sighed with relief when I finally found what I was looking for, a pair of running shorts and a T-shirt.  She even threw in a sports bra.  Jamie knew me so well; she even packed my sneakers.  I quickly got dressed and searched for a hair tie in my makeup bag then headed to the front door while throwing up my hair.  I grabbed the access key and made my way down to the gym.

The gym was just as I expected it to be, high-class equipment and dead as a doornail.  I wouldn’t have to worry about waiting for a machine, but then again it was a Saturday afternoon.  The vast room was surrounded by mirrors and had every type of machine you could ever want.  There was a clear fridge with complimentary water and a table with protein bars.  Realizing I hadn’t eaten anything, I took a bar and quickly ate it.  The last thing I needed was to pass out.  Once I was done, I grabbed a bottle and headed for a treadmill.