Private Property: a Contemporary Romance Novella (12 page)

“Did I hurt you?”  He whispered, still running his fingers through her hair.

“No.”

“I’m sorry, Tabitha.  I don’t know what came over me.  You’re so small…
” 
He trailed off, his hand stilling at her crown.

She opened her eyes and captured his gaze.  “I’m not so terribly small
to be breakable
, now, am I?”  Her tone was harsher than she’d hoped, coming out more as a challenge.

He smiled, rocking his hips and proving that the ni
ght was still young.  “No, frail you a
re not.”  She laid her head back down, feeling him slowly move within her.  “But you seem so dainty beneath my hands.”  As though to prove his point, he laid one of his massive paws across her back.  “Christ, my hand takes up a good two-thirds of your back.”

“It makes me feel secure.”  She nuzzled further into him.

He chuckled and pressed a kiss to her forehead.  “Pixie.”

“Giant.”

He jerked his hips, piercing into her with his revived
enthusiasm
.  Tabitha gasped and pulled back to look at him.  There was a mischievous glint to his eyes and he arched an eyebrow, rocking his hips into her again.

“I thought you’d had enough.”  She said, swatting playfully at his chest.

His expression changed, growing serious.  “I don’t think I could get enough of you, Tabitha.

She called Kristen at the first possible moment, sneaking o
ut of Jared’s oh-so-comfortable kind-sized bed before he
woke, and begged her to come up.

“I have meetings all day, Tabby.  Can’t this wait?”  Kristen’s
groggy
voice rasped out.  She was a prominent
public relations agent
in
the sports industry and usually didn’t have a lot of time to spare
during
work hours.

“No!  Can’t you call in sick or something?  Oh, God, Kris.  I need to talk with you in person.”  Tabitha paced the back lawn, chewing at her long nails.  She’d spit out three already.

Kristen blew into the phone.  “Okay, honey. 
Just calm down.
  I was going to put my car in the shop to get some work done anyway.  I’ll tell my
assistant I’ve got car trouble and rent a car…I can
be there in about 3 hours.  What time is it anyway?”

“I have no idea.”

“Jesus!  Tab!  It’s barely 6 am.”  She cleared her throat and jostled the phone a bit.  “All right.  I’m up.  Maybe we can go do breakfast before you have to begin working.”

“I don’t have to work today.  Jared’s here and he asked me last night to take the day off.  With pay.”

“Oh-
kay
.”  Kristen drawled.  “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Tabitha busied herself cleaning up the living room.  Basically, she removed any remnants of the night
before
, praying that when he woke he wouldn’t remember
anything.  When
the house was picked up, she silently moved down the hall to take a quick bath.

With her cast
wrapped in plastic and
slung out to the side away from the water, she let the steam relax her high-strung nerves.  She soaked a washcloth in the hot water and placed it over her puffy eyes.  From what she gathered, she’d only managed about three hours of sleep before being jolted awake at the reality of the situation she’d managed to land herself into.

The door squeaked open and she slipped the cloth from her eyes.  Jared stood with his back to her, relieving himself in the toilet.  It didn’t look as though he even knew she was in the tub b
ehind him.  She held her breath;
afraid that if she made any sudden movements it would startle him and that could lead to quite a mess considering his current preoccupation.

Once finished, he stretched, releasing a huge yawn and scratching his sides.  Then, he moved to the sink and began to run water.  He splashed his face and brushed his teeth, coming up to inspect his handiwork in the mirror.  She saw the moment his eyes lit on her.  They widened perceptively and he let out with a rather shocking expletive, whirling around to face her.

“Hi.”  She responded timidly.

“Good morning.”  He ran a hand through his
mussed
hair.  “You scared the hell out of me.  Why didn’t you say something when I barged in on you?”

“I wasn’t aware until you were already peeing.”  Her whole body had turned red under his scrutiny.  It was one thing to be seen while the excuse of alcohol could be used, it was quite another to be bare to an audience in early morning’s light.

“How are you feeling?”

“Alright.  My arm’s throbbing a bit today.”

He immediately went on alert, coming over to her and checking her fingers and shoulder joint.  “I don’t feel anything out of place.  Do you need a pain pill?”

“No.  I’ll be fine.”  She felt awkward, insecure, whereas he was the pillar of normalcy.

“I’ll make some breakfast.”  He moved to the door.

“Actually,” She began, focus
ing
on
the ripples her
free
hand made along the water’s surface.  “Kristen’s coming up.  She should be here in about an hour.”

He studied her for a long moment.  “Alright then.  I’ll cook for one.”  And with that he left.

She took her time getting dressed, to delay another confrontation with him.  She needed time to sort things out in her head and she couldn’t do it around
him
.  Just the sight of him this morning had brought all kinds of sensuous flashbacks to her mind.  She didn’t need to delve into any analyzing about it just yet.  She would have plenty of time to do that with Kristen.

Tabitha managed to time it just right and
finished getting ready
as a knock sounded at the door.

“Be right there, Kris.”  She hollered, knowing that
since Jared was up
, the front door would be open.  “Come on in.”

She met her friend at the entryway, ushering her out before she could greet Jared.  “We’
ll be back in a few hours
.”  She called
out to him
from the doorway before practically running to Kristen’s car.

Once safely inside and backing down the drive, Kristen turned a fierce look on her.  “Just what the hell is going on?”  She did
a
once-o
ver on her passenger before a knowing
light hit her eyes.  “You slept with him, didn’t you?”

Tabitha put her face into her hands, covering up the shame and tears.  “Yes!  I don’t know what I was thinking.”

They both looked up to witness the object of their discussion standing on the porch, watching them leave as he shoveled a plate of food in his mouth.  He was clad only in a pair of jeans, the top button of which had been left unfastened.

“I know what you were
thinking.  Jesus, that man is seriously
hot!”

“Oh God, Kristen.  What have I done?”  Tabitha became hysterical.  “I’ve slept with my boss, my doctor, that’s what I’ve done.  I’ve whored
myself out to a man that’s giving me a place to live and a job
. 
Omigod
, I’ve become a
call girl
!”

“Just calm down, hon.”
Kristen patted Tabitha’s
leg as she steered onto the freeway.  “Let’s find a place to sit and grab a bite to eat and you can tell me all about it.”  She cast a sheepish look at her friend.  “And I do mean,
all
about it.”






The small mom and pop restaurant was packed, but they managed to find a booth in the back, near the restrooms.  This was a perfect location since Tabitha was afraid she would burst out in tears at any minute.

“So, what’s the big deal?”  Kristen asked after Tabitha had spilled out her story.  She had been forced to dole
out
every detail for Kristen’s warped mind, reliving every delicious moment of their sordid affair.

Tabitha pulled her hair up off her now heated neck.

“What’s that?”  Kristen said, scrutinizing the side of her neck.  She leaned over across the table and pressed her pointer finger into Tabitha’s skin.

“
Ow
!”  Tabitha jerked back, rubbing the affected area.

“Ha-ha!”  Kristen burst out.  “You have a hickey!  That sophisticated, sultry man left a love-bite on your neck!”

Tabitha struck from the booth and made a dash for the bathroom.  The mirror revealed exactly what Kristen had been laughing at.  A
small, dark
almost purple spot marring her white skin, close to the base of her neck.  She paled and ran a shaking hand over the mark.  She drew a paper towel under some cold water and held it to the spot.

Sidling back into t
he booth, she looked at Kristen
who was smirking, barely holding
her laughter
back.

“That doesn’t work, you know.”  She pointed a fork at the towel Tabitha had pressed
against the mark.  “It’s an old
wives tale.  Or maybe a young teenager’s.”  She laughed again.  “Tabitha, tell me…what exactly is so bad about what happened last night?”

Tabitha thought.  She’d slept with her boss, a man that admitted to having a girlfriend.  A man she owed a lot of money to.  A man letting her stay at his house until the cast came off her arm.  She’d slept with a man way out of her league, someone she didn’t have a damn thing in common with.  Now, she’d risked her safe haven, her good-paying job, and a possible friendship in pursuit of carnal pleasures.  Not a damn thing was wrong with what happened.  She threw her friend a look of
dismay
and refused to state the obvious.

“So you slept with him once.  Big deal.”  Kristen shoveled sausage into her mouth.

“Actually, three times.”

She choked.  “Three times?  In one night?”  She cleared her throat.  “That’s impressive.  But, still, it was only one night.”  She eyed Tabitha.  “It was only last night, right?”

T
abitha nodded.  “But, even so,
it shouldn’t
have happened.  Now what am I
go
nna
do?  I can’t pretend that it didn’t happen; hell, my emotions are already wrapped up in the guy.  I think I had started falling for him long before last night.”

“So, what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.”

The girls entered the house still discussing options for recourse.  Jared sat reading
a large tome
in the front room, still clad in nothing but jeans, the only adornment being the glasses perched neatly on the bridge of his nose.  He glanced up and smiled, placing the
book
on the coffee table in front of him.

Kristen surmised from the book title.  “A little light reading, Jared?”

He smiled.  “Something
like
that.  How are you, Kristen?”  Tabitha was grateful he hadn’t looked at her yet.

“Good.  Just taking a little time off to check on Tabby.”  She
rubbed
Tabitha on the back then moved to take a seat in one of the chairs flanking the sofa.

Jared’s
eyes found Tabitha, making her feel awkward
,
as if in a spotlight.  “I hope she told
you
everything is fine.”  He didn’t look at Kristen while he spoke, continuing to hold Tabitha in his gaze.

“Yeah.  Her arm feels much better.  And her disposition is rather chipper today.”  Tabitha could have
dropped
her friend on the spot.  In
stead, she resorted to throwing a nasty look her way.

“Well, I’m glad to hear it.  Anyone need a drink?”  Jared stood and made his way into the kitchen.

“Got any beer?”  Kristen asked, stifling a giggle.  Yep, Tabitha was going to jail for murder.  She shot out a
chopping
hand gesture to stifle
Kristen’s
mocking comments.

“I think there’s one left.”  He called.

“Actually, Jared, I’ve
got to get
going
.  I have some clients to see, but thanks.”

Tabitha walked Kristen to the door.  “I can’t believe you’re doing this to me.”  She hissed.

“I can’t believe you’re making such a big deal out of it.”  Kristen rolled her eyes.  “I think you should just talk to him.  Find out what’s going on.”  She hugged her tightly.  “Then you can feel free to make any decision you want.”

They said
goodbye and Tabitha stepped back in to the now foreboding house.

“So, where’d you go for breakfast?”  Jared asked, coming back into the room with two large glasses of orange juice.  He handed one to her, stopping just short of colliding with her.