23

Chapter 23

I woke up entwined in Jason’s arms and noticed that he was watching me.

“Morning.” He smiled.

“Morning. What time is it?”

“Seven. Would you like to get breakfast together or have some delivered before you leave?”

“No thank you.” I slid out of his arms and sat up. “I have a bunch of errands to run so I’ll get a head start on those.”

“Of course. Are you going to Mr. Barnes’ Zen session tonight?”

“On a Saturday? Never. My mom claims that she has a surprise for me so we’re probably going to the opera together. That’s what all her surprises are, and I’m sure she’ll want to get there two hours early.”

“Why would she want to do that? They don’t open the theatre until an hour before the show.”

“Don’t ask. She’s the eccentric type.”

He smiled and tilted his head to the side. “Should I give up on getting you to willingly go out with me?”

“Probably.” I tried not to smile and headed for the bathroom.

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I managed to get out of the salon early, finish grocery shopping, balance my checkbook, sift through a few campaign documents, and stop by my daughters’ cheerleading car wash—all before six in the afternoon.

As soon as I was home, I searched through my closet for an outfit to wear tonight. My mom always suggested that I dress “for the Oscars” when we went to the opera, just in case the city newspaper decided to run our photo the next day.

I decided to wear my favorite black and silver evening dress. It was long, strapless and perfectly hugged my hips. There was also a fairly deep slit on the left side, a perfect complement to the open-toed shoes I planned to wear.

I carefully brushed on my makeup and ran my fingers through my curls. I secured the glittery diamond bracelet Jason had given to me for my birthday onto my wrist, and rushed out of my house.

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“Mom! Mom! I’m here!” I stepped inside her house and shouted up the steps. “We have to leave in the next twenty minutes if you want to—” I noticed a blond-haired man standing in the middle of the room. “Who are you?”

“Wow...” He looked me over. “I’m Michael Clarkson. I’m—”

“He’s your date for tonight!” My mom turned the corner. “Remember? Michael, you can wait in the living room. I need to talk to Olivia for a second.”

I didn’t bother waiting for him to step away. I grabbed her by the hand and dragged her into the kitchen. “Mom, what’s going on? I thought we were going to the opera. I never agreed to—”

“Surprise! See? I am capable of being spontaneous,” she said. “The girls told me how you’ve been working so many late hours over the past couple months, so I thought this would be a good way to get you out.”

Jesus...

“Mother, last time I checked, I was an adult. I don’t need you intervening in my life and I don’t need—”

“Yes, you do. You deserve to find someone else, someone who will treat you right. I liked Ryan a lot, but you can do much better. It’s never too late to find love again, and I don’t want you to end up alone...like me...”

I rolled my eyes at her not-so-subtle sympathy plea. “Who is he?”

“He’s my doctor—my gynecologist actually.”

“What!”

“Don’t worry. It’s not what you think. He’s not my direct doctor. He actually owns the practice, so for the most part he just analyzes the bacterial slides and—”

“Thank you. I’ve heard enough. You were at your doctor’s office and you told him you had a sad and depressed daughter who needed a new man in her life?”

“No, I didn’t tell him any of that. I just said you should get to know my daughter. She’s beautiful and charming. That’s all it took...He’s forty five, doesn’t have any kids, has a few investment properties on the East Coast, and he’s a doctor. Enough said. You should get to know him.”

“I can’t believe this...”

“Believe it!” She pulled me back into the living room. “Michael, Olivia, you two go and have a great night together,” she said, smiling at the two of us. “I’m sure you have a lot to talk about so...” She darted her eyes towards the front door.

“Have a good evening, Miss Donovan.” Michael gave her a hug and reached for my hand. “Are you ready?”

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I buckled myself into Michael’s Mercedes and noticed that his name was engraved on the dashboard’s wood paneling.

He revved up the car and smiled. “I think your mom calling you ‘beautiful’ may be the biggest understatement I’ve ever heard.”

I smiled and leaned back in the seat, stealing a glance of him whenever I had the chance. He was strikingly handsome—sexy actually. His honey colored hair was gleaming in the sunlight and his big brown eyes seemed to sparkle whenever he turned to look at me.

From the way his black suit fit his body, I could tell that he worked out, that he kept himself in excellent shape.

Yet, despite his good looks and radiating charm, I didn’t feel any sparks between us. Then again, I’d just met him.

We didn’t talk much on the ride over, except for commenting on whatever song was playing on the radio. The long stretches of silence were quite awkward—even more awkward whenever our eyes met and we both clumsily smiled and turned away.

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The waiter set two glasses of white wine on the table and walked away.

“So...” Michael looked at me. “What do you do for a living, Via?”

“I work at Ice Industries as a marketing director.”

“Do you like it?”

“No, but it pays the bills. I’m stuck there until I find something else. You’re a doctor, right?”

“I am.” He smiled. “I used to work at the children’s hospital downtown, but I decided to return to my original specialty and work for myself.”

“You don’t miss the kids?”

“Sometimes. I don’t miss the crying though.” He laughed and took a sip of his wine.

I picked up a knife and started to slice a piece of bread, but I underestimated its hardness and cut the top of my hand.

Ugh...“This is going to sound so cliché...” I sighed. “But do you happen to carry Band-Aids with you?”

Laughing, he pulled his wallet out of his pocket and thumbed through it. “You don’t mind Batman do you? I still carry the kid ones around; it’s an old habit.”

“No, that’s perfectly fine.”

“Here,” he said as he reached for my hand. “Let me see.”

As he was holding my hand and putting on the Band-Aid, I felt my skin tingling and my heart somersaulting in my chest. But it wasn’t because of Michael’s touch, or the soft kiss he was now placing on my wrist; I only felt those type of feelings when Jason was around, when I could sense him watching me.

I looked up and saw him standing at a table five spaces over. He was dressed in a black tuxedo and all the other people at his table were dressed in light blue suits with “sPhone launch” etched across the back.

Our eyes met and I felt that electrical spark I’d never felt with anyone else, that passionate jolt that took a hold of me and wouldn’t let go.

He raised his eyebrow as he sat down at his table, looking back and forth between me and Michael.

“Olivia?” Michael rubbed my hand and forced me to turn away. “Olivia?”

“I’m so sorry. What were you saying?”

“I’m all done with your Band-Aid.” He released my hand. “What do you like to do when you’re not working?”

Have sex with Jason Ice... “I like to watch movies, run, and—”

“You run? How often?”

“A least five times a week in the morning. Four, if it’s a really hectic week.”

“I run too. Maybe we could go on a run sometime together?”

“That’d be—” I felt my phone vibrating. “Great. We should definitely do that. I apologize in advance for pulling out my phone. It’s probably my mother.”

“Probably. She texted me three minutes ago.” He laughed.

“Really? About what?”

“She just asked how our night was going.”

“What you’d say?”

“Amazing.” His deep brown eyes lit up as he smiled—making him look even more gorgeous, but I felt no attraction to him whatsoever.

“I wasn’t aware that your “mom” was a “man”...You two look nothing alike.” Jason.

I tried not to laugh. “What do you like to do when you’re not working, Michael?”

“I like to go rock climbing, visit car shows, and remodel old homes in the—”

“I love remodeling.”

He cocked his head to the side. “You’re joking with me, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m serious. I get a huge adrenaline rush whenever I’m in a hardware store or near a construction site. I can’t really explain it, but if I could ever do that for a living...”

“I’m part of a home improvement group that does projects every other Saturday. Would you be interested in joining?”

“Extremely.” My phone was vibrating again. “I would love that.”

“Is he a long lost friend?” Jason.

“None of your business.” I texted back.

Our waitress appeared and set down our dinner—a beautiful array of exotic shellfish and pasta. I wasn’t the biggest fan of seafood, but the scallops and oysters looked too delicious to pass up.

“Ask him if he likes your bracelet.” Jason.

I tossed my phone into my purse and picked up a fork.

“I like your bracelet.” Michael looked at my wrist. “Is it a Harry Winston? My colleague’s wife has a similar one...It’s a lot smaller though.”

It couldn’t be a Harry Winston...

“Um, I’m not sure what it is. It was a gift from a friend. It came in a blank black box...”

“Pretty generous friend.” He raised his eyebrow. “Are you enjoying the food?”

“Yes, it’s really good.” I swallowed a forkful of shrimp.

“My friend is the manager here. We can come back any time you like, even if they’re booked for the night.”

“Sounds great.” I put my fork down. “Would you please excuse me for one second?”

“Of course.”

Like the gentleman that he was, he walked over and helped me out of my chair.

“I’ll be right back, Michael.”

I made my way into the women’s restroom and locked myself into a stall. I pulled out my phone and logged into the Harry Winston website, scrolling down their gallery of bracelet images. Then I spotted the one that was just like mine...It was at the bottom of the page, near the bracelets that said “By appointment only.”

I clicked on the picture and read through the details: “an open lattice bracelet set in platinum with three hundred and forty small round diamonds.”

I wasn’t going to click on the picture to reveal the price, but I had to know: One hundred thousand dollars.

I gasped, holding my jeweled arm in front of my face—trying to comprehend why Jason would give me something so extravagant.

We barely knew each other when he gave this to me...

I unlocked the stall’s door, ready to walk out, but Jason stepped inside and slammed it shut.

“Are you on a date right now?” he said through clenched teeth.

“Clearly.”

“Is it going well?”

“It’d be going a whole lot better if you weren’t holding me hostage in the bathroom...”

“I thought you said you didn’t do the dating thing.” His eyes hardened.

“I guess I changed my mind. Is that a crime, Jason? Are you going to report me to someone?”

He narrowed his eyes and stepped right in front of me, breathing slow and steady breaths—making my heart race uncontrollably.

“Let me get this straight.” His eyes were blazing. “I’m good enough for you to fuck, but I’m not good enough for you to go out with me? Not even once?”

“Glad to see you finally saw the light!” I tried to move past him, but he slammed both of his hands against the wall, on both sides of my head.

“I’m just one of your little sex toys?” He hissed.

“Yes, except unfortunately you talk back and I can’t turn you off. Can you please get out of my way?”

“No.” He looked like he wanted to rip me to pieces, like he wanted to slap me into another world.

“Jason, please stop being childish. You and I have meaningless sex. That’s it. There’s nothing more to it. I’m sorry if you’ve started to like me, but I don’t like you—at least not in that way. I don’t think about you at night, you don’t cross my mind throughout the day, and I just use you for some much needed stress relief, so if you could just—”

He pushed me against the wall and forced his lips on top of mine, kissing me so hard I could barely breathe. He slid his hand underneath the slit of my dress—running his hands across my thighs. Then he twisted my panties and ripped them off.

“Jason—”

“Shut up.” He lifted my leg and hooked it around his waist. “Put your arms around my neck.”

“Jas—”

“I’m not going to ask you again.”

I placed my arms around his neck and heard him unzipping his pants.

“You don’t think about me when you’re alone in bed at night?” He looked into my eyes.

“No, I—” I suddenly felt his dick slamming into me, knocking my body against the wall. I tried to unhook my leg from around him, but he cupped my ass and held me steady.

“I never cross your mind during the day?” he whispered harshly.

“Never.”