“You’ve never felt what it’s like without one?”
He shook his head. “Never worked out that way. It can’t really be that different, can it?”
A mischievous smile crossed Anna’s face. It was so sexy. She scooted closer, until their thighs were touching. She kissed him, sending vibrations through this entire body, especially the parts they’d just been discussing. She took his hand, twined her fingers with his. “I’ve heard that it’s very different.”
“Very?” he asked between kisses. His body was ready to discern this for himself.
She climbed on top of him, straddling his hips. “Why don’t we test the theory?”
Seven
Jacob finished off his third cup of coffee. Two was his limit, but he hadn’t slept at all. It was difficult with a woman in his bed. It was partly sexual distraction, but there was another side to it. Something wouldn’t allow him to relax enough to give in to real sleep.
He placed his mug in the sink and strode down the hall to the foyer, where Anna was waiting. “I’ll be ready to go in a minute. I need to take care of something in the garage.”
“Okay.” Anna nodded, smiling thinly. Things were definitely awkward between them now that it was the morning after. How could they not be strained? They’d crossed a line that might’ve been better left uncrossed, however much they’d both wanted to do it.
He hurried out the door and around back to the garage. He’d deliberated about waiting and making his phone call after they returned to Manhattan, but he had to do it now. He couldn’t sit in the car with her for five hours feeling even worse about his secret. He needed absolute privacy, and he wasn’t about to kick Anna out of the house. That meant the garage.
He had to take steps to clear his conscience. Could he go through with a LangTel takeover at this point? Even if he and Anna never ended up taking this any further? The answer was a surprising, but decided “no.” The guy with the killer instinct for business rarely changed his mind and he never undid his own work, but he was sure. He couldn’t hurt Anna. Not after what they’d shared. Even if this weekend had to be the logical end, it wouldn’t erase their most intimate moments, and he didn’t want to forget them anyway. He wanted to keep them in his head for as long as possible.
He entered the garage and closed the door behind him. He wasted no time pulling out his cell to call Andre, his closest ally in the War Chest. He had to end the campaign against LangTel, even if it might be a tall order. His fellow investors were astute, shrewd, and skeptical to a fault. They would want to know why he was backing off, and he couldn’t tell them the real reason. He couldn’t tell them that he’d seduced a woman who’d gone and seduced him right back.
“Jacob. What’s up?” Andre answered. “Not like you to call me on a Sunday.”
“I know. I wanted to talk to you about the LangTel deal. I’m out.” He held his breath, not offering any reasons. With his investment record, he could sometimes get away with only a mention that he was making a move and others would follow suit. The why wasn’t always necessary.
“You’re what? Are you insane? Why would you do that?”
Crap. So he would have to offer an explanation. The cult of personality would only get him so far today. “I don’t think the upside is there like we thought it was. And it’s such a huge undertaking. We could be knee-deep in this for a year. Or longer. Do we really want that? Do you want that much money tied up like that?”
“With that kind of payday? Yes. Don’t forget, you aren’t the only person Adam Langford has pissed off over the years. A few guys are eager to knock him down a peg or two.”
Everything that had seemed so perfect a few months ago was now quite the opposite. “Isn’t the notion of revenge a little outdated? Don’t you have better things to do?”
“You seemed pretty damn motivated by revenge that night in Madrid when we first talked about this.”
Jacob was skating very thin ice right now. Andre was absolutely right. Jacob had pushed them all. Hell, he’d not only rallied the troops, he’d riled them up. “I can’t spend my life worrying about Langford. I’d rather wash my hands of it. And him.” That much was the absolute truth, however much he was unsure of his feelings for Anna.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Andre said. “You want out. I’m still in. I can’t imagine the other members bailing.”