healing-hearts (5 page)

She knew this and didn’t care. She just wanted a little time by herself to accept that she would not be able to adopt the twins.

~ML~

“Looking good there, mister.” The sultry voice came from the open doorway of his office.

“Raquel.” Jason didn’t look up from the promo boards he was reviewing for an up coming ad.

“May I come in?”

“By all means.” This time he did look her way, giving her a smile as she sashayed toward the empty chair across from his desk.

Damn she is fine—and she knows it
. It had been three months since the last time they’d been together. Something about a near death experience made a man horny as hell.
To bad I forgot to clear that one with the doctor,
Jason thought to himself. He didn’t want to risk injury to himself where the incision had been made on his upper thigh.

“Well, it’s nice to see that the heart attack didn’t slow you down any. I was worried for a second—thinking that I was going to lose my competition.”

Jason laughed, “Have no fear, Raquel. It’s going to take more than a little heart problem to stop me from going for and getting that vice-president position.”

Sitting down, Raquel crossed her legs, subtly brushing her stockings against each other. That abrasive scratching sound went out to men like a mating call. Jason looked down at her long limbs.

That was Raquel.

Her sex appeal was how she won over most of her clients. In a male dominated field, she frequently had them drooling and eating out of the palm of her hand.

“So, I see you’ve wasted no time in jumping right back into the thick of it.”

“Don’t tell my doctor, but I really never left the thick of it. Jeannie and I were in daily contact.”

“My lips are sealed.” Raquel graced him with one of her cat-eating the-canary smiles, then asked, “So, have you been totally released of all...restraints?”

Her voice purred. Just months ago that sound would have been enough to cause his blood to stir. Jason was no fool, knew what she was asking, but decided to play the ignorant rule.

“That’s a good question. I guess it would depend on what activity you were talking about.”

Raquel stood up and leaned over his desk toward him. “Jason, I’m in the mood for a little recreational after-hours activity.” Eyeing him and giving a slow lick of her lips, she said in a soft voice, “It’s been a long time for us and I want to know if you’re
up
to it...we can meet at my place tonight.”

Jason pondered the offer for a moment. It would take him minutes to pick up the phone and confirm with his doctor if he could have sex. It was a question he’d on his mind to ask, considering where they made the small incision for the angio...but he had continued to put it off. He could admit to himself that he was a little afraid of the answer. Strangely enough, Raquel wasn’t enough of an interest anymore for him to tempt fate.

“Raquel, as enticing of an offer as it is...” Jason paused and thought,
Am I really about to turn her down?
“I’m going to have to pass. I’ve got too much work that needs to be taken care of for this promotion party I’m trying to get in order.”

Raquel was shocked, but covered well. “Well, sweetie. I’ll take a rain check. There was another offer on the table, but I figured I’d check with you first and see if you were ready to get back in the saddle again.”

Ouch!

“Maybe next time.” He tried to sound encouraging.

“Definitely—but, you’ll have to do the asking then.” With a delectable smile, Raquel rose off the desk and left the same way she’d come, hips swaying from side to side as she sashayed away.

Jason exhaled forcefully and resumed working.

Looking around at the mound of papers on his desk that needed his review or his signature, Jason knew it was going to be hard for him to keep his doctors orders.

First things first.

“Jeannie, can you please call in my staff. I’d like to meet with them in about fifteen minutes.” Jason spoke into his intercom.

“Yes, sir. Again, welcome back.”

That brought a smile to Jason’s face. He liked his secretary. He and Jeannie had been a good match from the beginning. He had hired her two years ago when his last secretary had taken permanent maternity leave. Jeannie was happily married with no children and almost as much of a workhorse as he. Except she was an early bird and he was a night owl.

“Thanks, can you also bring me in the Scorpio file.”

“Coming right up, sir.” Her voice held a natural singsong rhythm.

Jason resumed sifting through the pile of paperwork on his desk.

Moments later, his door opened and the Scorpio file landed on his desk in front of him. He picked it up. “Thanks, Jeannie. Let me know when the team gets here.”

“No problem...anything else,
sir
?”

Jason looked up at the sound of the male voice. “Mr. Coleman, I apologize, I thought you were Jeannie.” Jason rose from his chair to shake his boss’s hand.

“No offense taken. I was on my way in, and told her I would bring it for her.”

Jeffrey Coleman was sixty-two and, by all accounts, still in the prime of his life. Jason didn’t think he would ever see the day when he would retire. One day they would walk into his office and he would have passed away silently at his desk, completing some project. At one point seven years ago, when he had first begun to work for Coleman and Weary, Mr. Coleman had been a micro-manager. Every decision and idea had to go through him first. Three years ago he’d had a heart attack, and since then he had changed his life around. He learned to delegate, which Jason was happy about, because it gave him and the other department heads a chance to run their own division with minimal input or interference from the president.

“Please, have a seat, sir.” Jason resumed his seat moments after the older, gray-templed man.

“So, how are you feeling?” Mr. Coleman asked as he unbuttoned his suit coat to get more comfortable.

A sign Jason knew meant this wasn’t a brief visit.

“I’m feeling better all the time. If it wasn’t for the slight tenderness I feel in my thigh, I could forget it even happened.”

“Take it from me, son...you don’t want to forget.” Mr. Coleman placed an idle hand on the center of his chest. “Eight years ago I sat where you are—two angioplasties and a number of collapsed stints later I had open heart surgery. I wish I’d learned the first time.”

“Well, I don’t want to go back into a hospital ever again, if I don’t have to.”

“Hear, hear.” Mr. Coleman took a slow breath before continuing. “Sometimes things will happen to us in our lives, completely out of our control, but it happens just the same. When it does happen, it makes us stop and look at what we have. It allows us to take stock of our lives.”

When he paused, Jason didn’t say anything. He was getting the impression that Mr. Coleman was leading up to something, but he just didn’t know what.

“Jason, I’m going to be frank with you.”

He looked directly at Jason, as if trying to weigh his words.

“You did a fine job in my absence assisting David Weary with the company. He was impressed and so was I with the great work you did and your work ethics.”

Jason could not help the smile that crossed his face. “Thank you, sir. I wanted to do a good job.”

“And you did. You know that David will be gone soon and I need to replace my vice-president.”

Jason nodded. No answer was needed. The information was common knowledge in the whole company.

“What you don’t know is that I’m leaning heavily in your direction.”

Jason’s heart leaped and he felt like jumping out of his chair and yelling,
Yes!

“Now, that doesn’t mean that I’ve made my decision. So, before you go buying business cards, I do have a very big concern.”

Jason’s heart didn’t even flutter; he held the confidence that whatever Mr. Coleman’s concern was he could put it to rest. “What’s your concern, sir?”

“Your life outside of the company.”

“Excuse me?”

“Jason, you have no life outside of this office. You spend all of your hours at the office and as much as I’m thrilled by your enthusiasm, it concerns me.”

Jason’s heart was making a slow descent from its high. “Sir, I’ve known I’ve wanted to do this all of my life. The position I’m in proves that it’s paid off. The fact that you’re leaning toward me is proof that I’m headed in the right direction.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more, Jason. When I started this company twenty-four years ago, I believed that you had to sacrifice everything in order to make it in business. I don’t see things the same way. It cost me a heart attack and David a stroke.” Mr. Coleman raised an eyebrow in his direction, “I don’t want this job to cost you your life.”

“So, what are you saying, sir?”

Leaning forward, the older man looked him in the eye.

“I need to see you lead a balanced life. One that allows you to unwind at the end of a day.”

Jason’s heart plummeted.

“How do you suppose that I go about making this happen?”

Mr. Coleman rose from his chair, stood to his full six-foot height, and re-buttoned his jacket—a sign the meeting was over.

“I can’t tell you that, Jason.” The older man walked toward the door and then halted. “You’re an advertising exec, I’m sure you’ll come up with something—if you truly want this job.”

Mr. Coleman opened the door and left the office as silently as he had come.

Damn.

Jason stood up from his desk and began to pace his office.

Now how in the world am I supposed to ‘get a life’?
Jason had no idea how he was going to be able to show that he had personal distractions in his life.

“I am consumed by my work. Hell, so is Raquel,” Jason said aloud to himself.

He took a deep breath. He had to calm down. He didn’t know if Mr. Coleman had given Raquel this same speech or if he was leaning so hard toward him he had given him a little advice to tip the scales completely in his favor.

Buzz.

Jason turned toward his desk to answer his intercom.

“Yes, Jeannie?”

“Mr. Richardson, all of the staff has arrived. May I send them in?”

“Send them in.”

He put his personal life on the back burner, where it was used to being, as his staff filed into his office. He arranged five vacant chairs in a half moon across from his desk, then he perched himself on the edge of it facing them.

His staff consisted of two graphic designers, Louis Bradford and Anthony Williams, one public relations person, Clarence Brown, and two marketing heads, Cassandra Hinton and Carlos Branch.

“Well, ladies and gentlemen, I hope you enjoyed your rest, because we have a lot of work to make up. We planned for Scorpio’s promotion party to be this summer. Where do we stand with that project?”

Louis spoke. “First, I’d like to say welcome back, sir. I think I speak for all of us when I say you were greatly missed.” After a brief pause, he went on to say, “We’re almost done with the graphics. We have a few more ideas we’d like to sketch out.”

“We should be able to have about five boards ready for your review by the end of this week,” Anthony added in.

Jason nodded his head. Turning around to his desk he picked up the Scorpio file. Opening it, he pulled out two sheets. He handed one to each of the graphics artists. “I jotted down a few ideas while I was away. If they work with what you all have already got designed, then great. If not, then bring me your designs and if I think one of them will work better, we’ll roll with them.”

While the two designers took a look at the papers, Jason turned toward the others in the room.

“How about the rest of you?”

“While you were away, Mr. Richardson, I tossed around and checked on some dates and events this summer that we could piggy back on, something that would draw a lot more attention than if we just threw the promotion party on our own,” Clarence said, enthusiastic.

Jason could tell by the gleam in Clarence’s eyes that he was bursting at the seams to share his idea. “What did you come up with?”

“The Neptune Festival this summer at the ocean front.”

“Based on Clarence’s idea, Carlos and I did some checking around,” Cassandra spoke up.

Carlos took over. “Mr. Richardson, Riverdale Heights’ ballroom was still available for that Saturday and they had enough rooms for the key people from our agency and Scorpio’s staff.”

Carlos and Cassandra began tripping over each other to give the details of the party.

“We thought it would work great in conjunction with the festival, given Scorpio’s line of merchandise,” Cassandra voiced.

“During the party, Scorpio can have some models wear their latest swimsuits and intimates, while attendants are carrying trays of products like the body lotions and oils,” Carlos finished up.