Mid Life Love (21 page)

“Who said
anything about sex? Is that always on your mind?”

“Is it always on
yours?”

“
Of course
.”
He laughed. “Come on, we need to get out of these clothes.”

He helped me up
and walked me along the beach, to one of the small wooden villas. He entered a
code on a small keypad and the door glided open.

He waited for me
to walk inside and motioned for me to sit on a white loveseat.

I looked all around,
in genuine awe of the place. It was fitted with a beautiful brick fireplace, a
state of the art kitchen, and I could see a large bedroom across the hall.

“Is this your
vacation rental?”

“A
rental
?”
He opened a closet. “No, I own this. I own all of them.”

“Why do you need
so many?”

“I had them
built last year. One of the members on my board asked me to invest in a similar
project in Florida. After seeing how profitable it was, I decided to open my
own here. They’ll be available for people to rent in a few months. Would you
like one for yourself?”

“Oh, no...I
probably couldn’t afford—”

“You wouldn’t
have to pay for it.” He handed me a stack of towels and a small white box. “You
should know better than that by now.”

I opened the box
and saw silk panties, a pair of gray sweats, a pink T-shirt, and matching flip
flops. “You’re always prepared aren’t you? How many sets of these do you—”

“I bought
everything in that box just for
you
,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I’d
planned on bringing you here after our first date at Michel Mina’s, but I
believe you
stood me up
.”

“You’re still
not over that?”

“I’m getting
there. You can go change in the bedroom. Would you like a sandwich?”

“Yes...Thank you.”
I walked over to the bedroom and closed the door.

This is
beautiful...

The room was set
up like a dream suite: The satin canopy that hung from the ceiling was swaying
back and forth in the wind. The elegant bed was covered in a sea blue duvet
that complemented all the white furniture.

I ran my hands
across the sheets and knew that their thread count was in the thousands. I drew
the drapes completely open and gasped at the breathtaking view; I could see the
ocean waves lapping up over the shore, the seagulls circling around the dock
above.

Sighing, I
pulled the drapes closed and peeled out of my wet clothes. I bent over to pick
up the stack of towels and froze—Jonathan had walked into the room.

He wasn’t
wearing anything but a towel around his waist, and I was pretty sure he
couldn’t see me from where he was standing.

He stepped
further into the room. “I forgot to ask what type of sandwich you—” His eyes
met mine.

He didn’t finish
his sentence. He didn’t look like he even remembered that he was talking. He
was standing there staring at my naked body, making me blush red all over.

He walked over
and picked up my towels. “Face the window.”

I froze. I
couldn’t function—couldn’t even
breathe
, when he looked at me like that.

He kissed my
lips and smiled. He pulled my hair on top of my head and tucked it into a
towel, planting light kisses all over my face. He took another towel and slowly
brushed it over my shoulders, my breasts, and my stomach. “So beautiful...”

I gasped as he
bent down in front of me and rubbed it between my legs, as he kissed the inside
of my thighs and groaned.

He stood back up
and looked into my eyes, sighing. “What type of sandwich do you want?”

“Turkey...”

“With cheese?”

I nodded.

“Don’t take too
long getting dressed.” He kissed my forehead and left the room.

I collapsed onto
the bed and shook my head in disbelief. I knew I’d be in serious trouble if I
didn’t walk away from him right now. If I left this room and didn’t ask him to
take me home right away, I wouldn’t be able to rein in my feelings for another
minute.

He was getting
to me and I couldn’t deny it anymore. I thought about him all the time. My
heart did flips whenever I saw him at work, and I looked forward to hearing his
sexy voice over the phone at night.

This is not how
this was supposed to go...

I sat up and
reached for the clothes he’d bought me. I slipped into them and smiled once I
saw that they fit me perfectly. I kicked on the flip flops and headed back out
into the kitchen, rehearsing a short speech in my head:

Jonathan...I need
you to take me home. We can talk about why on the way, but I don’t think—

He looked up and
smiled once I stepped into the room, making me lose my train of thought.

Screw it...I’ll
just take the trouble...

He handed me a
plate and walked me outside, to a small wooden swing that was standing on the
porch. He waited for me to sit down first and placed his arm around my
shoulder.

Our special
silence slowly crept in on us and we ate our food without saying a word. We
simply looked out at the ocean, at the calm waves that were frothing and
foaming against the coast.

As soon as I set
my empty plate on the ground, he pulled me into his lap and held me close.

I lay back in
his arms and smiled as he kissed me—repeatedly.

C
laire

I tossed and
turned in my bed, wishing I could somehow will myself to sleep, but it wasn’t
working. All I could think about was
him
—him touching me, him kissing
me, him
getting to me
.

After he dropped
me off at home yesterday, I promised myself that I would spend my Sunday
alone
so I could further analyze the situation between him and me. I needed
to write down my expectations, best and worst case scenarios, and weigh all the
pros and cons of whatever the hell this was.

I even told
Sandra and Helen to come over so we could discuss it over chilled wine and
cheese—so they could distract me from calling or texting him.

All of a sudden,
my “get ready to run” alarm started ringing. I knocked my phone off the
nightstand to get it to shut up. There was no way I was running this morning.

My phone hit the
floor with a thud, but the alarm kept blaring on and on.

“
Ugh
!” I
rolled off the bed and onto the floor, feeling around for it in the dark.

Once I finally
had it in my hand, I looked to hit “dismiss” but I saw that it was a phone
call. It was Jonathan.

“Hello?” I
answered.

“What are you
doing?”

“At five in the
morning?” I groaned. “Take an easy guess.”

“Are you on your
way outside to let me take you away for the day?”

“What! No. I’m
going back to bed. I went out with you
yesterday
. We don’t need to—”

“Can I
please
take you out for the day?”

“No. You
should’ve mentioned this earlier. I have—”

“I’m not the
‘keep asking’ type, Claire. You have twenty minutes.” He hung up.

What?!

I lay on the
floor, confused—processing what the hell was going on. I had plans for
today—concrete, definite, no-Jonathan-allowed plans. I couldn’t let him keep
doing these spontaneous things to me. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go.
Then again, I wasn’t even sure what “this” was.

“Ten minutes.”
Jonathan.

I sighed. I
didn’t want to know what he would do if I didn’t meet him outside. I rushed to
the bathroom and brushed my teeth.

I slipped into a
pair of loose fitting khakis and a slimming red shirt, pulling a thin gray
sweater over it. I went down to the kitchen and left a note on the fridge for
Ashley and Caroline:

“I hope you both
enjoy your off day today, but please make sure all the dishes are done by this
evening. I left thirty dollars for lunch and dinner on my dresser. If your
grandmother comes by for her mixer, it’s in my trunk. Love you! See you later,
Mom.”

I grabbed a box
of breakfast cookies and made my way outside, rolling my eyes once I saw
Jonathan step out of the town car.

He held the
backdoor open and smiled as I approached. “Good morning, Claire.” 

I didn’t
respond. I slipped inside the car and slid over to the other side.

“Are you
ignoring
me?” He cocked his head to the side.

I crossed my
arms and leaned against the door. I was too tired to engage in a conversation
with him. I couldn’t believe his nerve—to think he could demand to go out with
me at any hour of the day, to show up where I was and simply
assume
that
I was willing and ready to follow him wherever he wanted to go. 

“Mr. Statham?”
His driver’s voice came over the intercom. “Are we set to go sir?”

“Yes, Greg.
Thank you.” He slid close to me and whispered, “Talk to me. Are you upset?”

“
Yes
...”

“What’s wrong?”
He slid his fingertips across my cheek.

“You should’ve
told me about this yesterday...You could’ve at least
asked
. What if I had
important plans?”

“You
don’t
.”

“That’s not the
point.”

“Then what is?”

“What the hell
are we doing, Jonathan? What the fuck is this? I need to know
right now
.
Where are you honestly expecting this to go?”

He sighed and
reached over the seats ahead of us, grabbing a pillow and a blanket. He placed
the pillow in his lap and pulled me down onto it. He draped the blanket over my
body and shook his head.

I groaned. “Are
you going to answer my questions?”

“No.” He fluffed
the pillow and planted a kiss on my forehead. “It’s going to take us a while to
get there and you seem tired. Go to sleep.”

––––––––

I
looked out
over the balcony and sighed as sheets of rain fell over the distant city. I was
sailing on Jonathan’s newest yacht—an all-black luxury liner with six levels,
and I’d spent most of the morning letting him give me a tour.

“Why do you
always cut your sentences off like that?” He handed me a cup of hot coffee.
“Are you scared I’m going to use your stories against you or something?”

“No, I’m
sorry...What was I saying?”

“You always
thought you and your ex-husband would—”

“Right...I always
thought we would be together
forever
, you know?” I shook my head. “I
gave him every part of me when we were married, and when it was over I didn’t
have any pieces left for myself...And the one person who should’ve had her
shoulder ready and waiting for my tears was lying in bed with him...”

“Did she say
anything to you after the grocery store incident?”

“No.” My heart
ached. “We never spoke again after that...And whenever my daughters come back
from seeing their dad they know better than to give me a full recap.”

“Hmmm. Do you
still have feelings for your ex-husband?”

“What do you
mean?”

“Do you still
think about him or wish that you could’ve gotten back together if the
circumstances were different?”

“I think
there’ll always be a part of me that’ll love the ‘
old him’
and miss the
magic I thought we had but....a part of him always belonged to Amanda so...I’m
sorry for bringing this depressing stuff up I just—”

“Don’t be.” He
kissed my cheek. “I’m glad you did. Did you ever talk to anyone else about it?”

“I went to
therapy sessions at Sandra’s practice...I had to force myself to go for the first
few months, but after a while I started seeing how beneficial it was...”

He sighed. “If
me and my mom could get through a complete hour of therapy without pissing each
other off maybe it would be beneficial for us too...”

“Do you still
talk to your foster parents?”

“I haven’t said
one word to them since I ran away.”

What?
“They never came
looking for you?”

“Of course they
did...The state police showed up to my dorm once I started taking classes, but I
was eighteen so they couldn’t force me to go back.”

“They didn’t ask
you for any money once you became a billionaire?”

“They didn’t
need to.” He paused. “I’d always dreamed of getting them back for treating me
so terribly, but I realized it was easier to forgive them and forget they ever
existed. I took care of all their debts and gave them enough money so they
won’t have to work for the rest of their lives.”

“That was very
sweet of you. You didn’t have to do that...”

“They tried
getting in contact with me to say thank you, but I never called them back.
Probably never will. I told Corey to tell them the message was received.”

“Your foster
parents are his
real
parents?”

He nodded. “He’s
still mad at them for how they treated me, but he can’t write them off like I
can.”

“And your foster
sister? What happened to her?”

“Jessica? She’s
my executive assistant.” He smiled. “When Hayley finishes grad school, Jessica
will become a trust advisor and Hayley will be my new EA.”

“Must be
nice...You plan on ever forgiving your own parents?”

He took a deep
breath and balled his fists. He looked off into the distance and then he looked
over at me. “Not for a very long time...Would you if you were me?”

“I don’t know.”
I shrugged. “I guess I can’t imagine Ashley and Caroline not wanting me to be a
part of their lives when they got older.”

“That’s because
you always wanted to be a part of theirs...” He clenched his jaw and I knew that
the conversation was over.

He was clearly
still hurting from his past with his parents and I wasn’t sure if he would ever
get over it; just like I wasn’t sure if I would completely get over Ryan.

We both sat
underneath the ship’s awning and looked out into the rainy horizon, drifting
into different memories, different places.

“What was your
first impression of me?” I asked, trying to break the silence.

He turned to
face me and smiled. “
Jesus she’s sexy
.”

“You’re lying!”

“It’s true. What
was yours?”

“He’s sexy, but
he’s wearing a hoodie so he’s probably way too young for me.” I laughed and he
rolled his eyes.

“Glad we’ve
cleared that up.”

“Have we?”

“If you think we
haven’t, I can think of a few ways to make you say we have...” He pulled me close
and kissed me. “I’ve been meaning to ask you this: Do you know how to dance?”

“We danced
together at my birthday party before so I guess—”

“I don’t
remember us really
dancing
at your birthday party...”

I rolled my
eyes. “No...I just know how to sway to the music. I never took the time to
learn.”

“Let’s work on
that.” He reached for my hands and pulled me up. “You said you liked the dance
floor on the top deck earlier, right? I think that’s the perfect place for a Sunday
lesson.”

“The dance floor
is
outside
and it’s
raining
...”

“How observant.”
He laughed and walked me upstairs, into a room full of audio equipment. He
flicked a few switches and the screens that were on the wall became blue.

“Good morning,
Mr. Statham.” A gray haired man walked into the room and tipped his hat. “How
are you today?”

“I’m great, Sam.
Have I introduced you to Claire before?”

“No sir.”

He placed his
hand on the small of my back and pushed me forward. “Claire, this is my captain
Sam. He directs all of my yachts. Sam, this is—” He paused. “This is my
girlfriend, Claire.”

Did he just say
“girlfriend”? Is he out of his mind?!

“Pleasure to
meet you, Miss.” Sam reached out and shook my hand. “The co-captain is now at
the wheel sir. I’ll be retiring to my cabin for the rest of the day.”

“Thank you,
Sam.”

I waited for Sam
to leave the room and narrowed my eyes at Jonathan. “We have
titles
now?”

“Of course not,”
he said. “I just thought
girlfriend
sounded better than ‘woman I like
very much and love to fuck.’ But if you prefer that...” He hit another switch and
the outdoor dance floor lit up. “I think we should start with the waltz. That
should be easy enough.”

He grabbed my
hand and led me outside. The rain was still drizzling, and a light fog was
creeping onto the deck.

I heard the
sound of strings and piano keys floating out of the speakers, felt Jonathan
spinning me around to face him. 

“So,” he said as
he looked into my eyes, “we should see if you have any rhythm first.”

He pulled me
into his arms and moved me to the beat, but I couldn’t keep up. For every step
he took forward, I stepped back—for every movement to the right, I awkwardly
moved to the left. 

“And you clearly
don’t
...” He laughed.

I let go of him
and crossed my arms. I’d never been good at dancing; my mom had given up on me
becoming her ballet protégé once I turned five. She even joked about how Ashley
and Caroline must have gotten their dancing skills from Ryan.

“It’s okay.” He
pulled me back and held my hands out in front of me. “Just let me lead and
we’ll take things slow. Everyone has to start somewhere...Step right...Then left...”

He started
adding more instructions—double-step, twist out, step back—and before I knew it
we were waltzing across the wet floor.

I tried not to
look into his eyes, to act like I was too focused on following his commands,
but he made it so easy that I couldn’t help but gaze at him.

“At least you’re
a fast learner.” He smiled. “Step to your right.”

“I guess I’ll
take that as a compliment... I assume you have a laundry room somewhere on the
ship?”

“Why would I
need one of those?”

“To dry my
clothes after this?” I laughed as he spun me out and drew me back to his chest.

“I haven’t
completely furnished the ship yet, but I’ll keep that in mind for our future.”

Our future?

“So, you
honestly think you and I—”

“Are you
analyzing
us? What did I tell you about that?”

I murmured
“fine” and looked off to my side. The city was now a mere blip in the distance
and we were sailing towards the open sea—towards heavier fog and harsher rain.
As more fog crept aboard the ship, I noticed that the original song had ended
and another song—a much slower one with harp strings, was beginning to play.

I took one too
many left steps and tripped over my own foot, nearly falling to the floor
before Jonathan swooped down and caught me.

“I guess you
don’t have a sense of direction either.” He smirked and pulled me up. “You’re
off to a good start though.” He pushed me against the railing and lowered his
head to mine, keeping my body trapped within his arms.

I shut my eyes
as he slid his tongue against my lips and softly forced them apart. I moaned
and threaded my fingers through his wet hair, kissing him back like my life
depended on it.