Belong to You (Cole 1)

Sienna and I sat, but the mood had changed. “Are you okay babe?” I asked Jack tentatively.

“Yep. Sorry about that. Why don’t we get out of here.”

Mateo was waiting when we walked outside. I was glad that Jack insisted on dropping Sienna at her building since it was late. Jack was polite, but quiet, and I could tell that whatever was discussed between him and young silver was still bothering him. But I decided not to push him on the subject and instead held his hand and sat quietly the rest of the way back to the hotel.

***

Monday afternoon I finally went back home. I was surprised to hear Michael’s voice on my answering machine. His voice was low and full of remorse. He blabbered on about wanting to find out how I was doing and something about finding my grandmother’s necklace. I pressed delete and didn’t bother to call him back. I didn’t want to be bitter about all those years I had spent with Michael, but the way it ended had left me feeling that I lived with a man that I never really knew, a man I really didn’t like.

As I got ready for work, I found myself thinking of Jack and what he was doing. He has said that he was going to work after dropping me at my apartment, but what did going to work entail for a man that was in his business? I had come home from Jack’s on a high, feeling good about our new relationship and less than two hours later, I was questioning his intentions after just one message from Michael. It took me seven years to take off the blinders and see who Michael really was, I was afraid of making the same mistake again.

Chapter 17

The next week flew by and Jack and I were almost inseparable. I spent most of my time at his apartment, when I wasn’t working. After our first week together, he had insisted that Mateo would pick me up after work, and I knew that arguing a cab was just as safe was a losing battle. Each night Mateo was waiting outside when I walked out and he whisked me directly to Jack’s hotel. We had started to settle in a routine where Jack would get up early to exercise and I would find him working in his home office when I crawled out of bed about 11. He always seemed to finish up whatever he was working on when I came into his office, and I wasn’t sure if it was sweet or he didn’t want me to look at what he was working on.

I was excited when Jack invited me to a business dinner, there was such a big part of him that I didn’t know and I thought that perhaps seeing him at work would quell that tiny little nagging feeling in the back of my head that kept me always searching for signs of a different man than who I was hopelessly starting to fall for.

I dressed for the dinner in a simple cream pencil skirt, rose colored silk blouse and nude sling backs. I decided to pull my normally loose falling blonde hair back into a slick ponytail for a more demure look. I must have achieved the look I was going for, because when Jack saw me, he told me he hard the urge to f**k me hard in between the stacks at the library.

***

Dinner turned out to be with an older gentleman who brought a woman that me initially thought was his daughter, which turned out to be his wife. The restaurant was packed with businessmen and a few women, most of which eyed Jack as he passed. I didn’t blame them; Jack was a sight in his navy sports jacket with light tan pants and a simple striped tie. Aside from being devast-atingly handsome, Jack carried himself with such confidence it exuded masculinity from him that made women swoon.

Jack and I maintained a physical connection throughout the meal. We either held hands, or he leaned his leg against mine or rested his arm around the back of my chair.

It made me wonder if he was aware of the women that looked his way, and it was his unspoken way of comforting me, or if he had caught the guy at the table closest to us looking my way, as I had earlier. Either way, I thought it was sweet and his touch on me just seemed so natural.

It turned out that our dinner guest owned a small chain of hotels in Illinois and Jack had been researching the properties as potential purchases. The Heston hotel chain had two properties in Chicago, but none in the outer cities, which apparently were good investments as the population was growing in the smaller, outlying cities.

Jack discussed what his engineers had found and while I thought it was all very interesting, I was mildly disappointed that the business dinner was hotel related. I was curious about the other side of Jack’s business and I secretly had hoped that the lunch would give me insight into that part of Jack’s life.

After dinner we headed back to Jack’s penthouse. Traffic was gnarled for a few blocks and, by the time we arrived, I only had twenty minutes to change or I would be late for work.

Jack and I changed together in his closet, where I had left my outfit for the night.

“Thank you for coming to dinner with me. I hope you weren’t bored too much?”

“No, it was nice, I was glad to come.” I thought for a minute, he had given me an opening and I needed to take it if I was ever going to satisfy my curiosity on the other side of his life. “Although I have to admit, I was a little disappointed it was hotel business. You never mention your other business.” I emphasized the word other, as if he wouldn’t have known what business I was talking about without my doing so.

Jack stood silent for a minute and then came up behind me as I was letting down my hair. “You want to know more about my other business?”

I felt my face flush and was glad that he was behind me. I don’t know why it embarrassed me to admit that I wanted to know more, but I did. “Yes, I do. You didn’t even want to tell me about that side of your life, so I think it has me curious.” Jack’s arms wrapped around my waist and his face nuzzled in my hair. “Okay then, I’ll bring you to my office with me one day if that will make me feel better.” I felt a flood of relief from a place I didn’t even know was stressed. I turned to face him. “You will?”

Jack kissed me, a sweet, tender kiss on the lips before answering. “Whatever you want is yours babe.”

I smiled and kissed him chastely back with excitement.

“Two conditions, babe.”

Damn it, I knew that was too easy. I looked up at him expectedly waiting for the other shoe to fall.

“One, you remember it is a business for me and not part of my personal life.” I could do that. “Okay. I can do that.

What’s the other condition?”

“You put your hair back in that ponytail and put back on that naughty librarian outfit when you get home tonight.” My insides melted a little bit, and it had nothing to do with him wanting me to play naughty librarian with him. Jack called me coming to his penthouse, coming home.