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“I can’t afford your professional services, Jocelyn. Even you told me that,” he reminded his wife. Their relationship had begun when he’d hired her firm to help reorganize his company. She never let him forget the fact that she had been responsible for turning around his sagging sales.
“Well then, maybe next time we plan a vacation, you can afford me and I’ll take care of this,” she said, mocking him gently for the harrowing disarray.
He looked up at her steely eyed and rigidly cold. “You know there are prices to pay, my darling, for your condescending attitude, big ones. When you least expect it.”
Jocelyn grinned as she moved away from him, restoring her skirt to its decent place. “That’s what I was hoping,” she replied, the rosy blush on her cheeks making her face look gloriously sexy. She walked to the door with a decided sway to her bottom.
“You swish that sassy ass of yours in front of my eyes one more time, you’ll be paying the prices soon,” he remarked.
Swish her ass? Was that all it took? With the thought of the promised consequences in mind, as she left the office, Jocelyn hips moved as provocatively as she knew how, though she wasn’t so sure that her husband even saw it, with the way his attention was drawn back to the work in front of him.
Chapter Three
“Alex, how about California, you and me? A far different vacation than we planned, but why should we spoil our whole week?”
“Reggie can’t go either?” Alex asked, hearing Jocelyn’s proposal take her off guard. “I was just unpacking.”
“Would Will mind?”
“Mind? He isn’t even here. But what’s Reg doing?”
“Staying home, or actually staying at the office. I’m beginning to think he’s glued to the chair. By the looks of things, if I want to see him at all next week, I’ll have to move into the building, maybe pack picnic dinners and bring a cot to sleep on.”
Alex was silent for a while, thinking. Changing plans was never easy for her, though this was likely the very thing Will would want her doing while he was gone.
“We could get pampered,” she finally said. “The spa is supposed to have all sorts of soothing body treatments. The way I was treated this morning, I think my body could use a little soothing.”
“So, we’re going,” Jocelyn said adamantly, making the decision for both of them. “Now all I have to do is tell Reggie.”
“You haven’t told him?”
“No, I got the inspiration on the way home from his office. I figured I’d check with you first.”
“How about cook him a terrific dinner?”
“Naw. That won’t work. You and I have to leave at eight, Reg won’t be home till midnight. I’ll just have tell him over the phone.”
That took more guts than Alex would ever have with Reginald Harold. But then Jocelyn, being his wife, got away with things no other woman would dare try with him.
“So, I’ll re-pack my suitcase,” Alex cheerfully replied. “Call me only if he says no.”
“He won’t say no,” Jocelyn replied confidently. “Just meet me at the airport.
***
Jocelyn and Alexandra were on the plane sitting side by side as the flight took off at eight o’clock that evening. Both of them had smiles on their faces, almost as if they were escaping something, though neither could tell what that something was.
“So what did you tell him?” Alex asked the happy redhead once she settled into her first class seat.
“That I wasn’t going to spoil my week off. I’d never have any peace if the office knew I was home. Thankfully, he appreciates that sort of thing. Some emergency’s got him all riled up, so I don’t suppose I’d see much of him anyway if I stayed home.”
It was odd for Alex to imagine Reggie married, even though Jocelyn was the perfect woman for him. She was so different from the women that used to appeal to him. Jocelyn Killian could be a first class bitch. Alex had seen her brusque style working efficiently in a business setting, though she was always lighthearted and charming when Reggie was around. Then she would move like a fragrant flower, sumptuous and mysterious like Reggie himself, always with the trace of a smile on her lips as if she was delightfully amused by her relatio
nship with the often cold-hearted dominant. She must have discovered that Reggie isn’t as cold-hearted as everyone thinks. She would never be the kind of woman to want anything less than an affectionate lover. And Jocelyn did draw unusual bursts of affection from the man that, on occasion, were even visible in public.
He was a different Reggie with Jocelyn, a man whose company Alex could enjoy when his inherent chill was brushed aside for a gracious sense of style and good humor. Alex had seen glimpses of that man in the past, and was glad that now his bouts of amicability were more frequent. Time and Jocelyn appeared to have mellowed him. That alone was a pleasant thought, much better than the memory of her last excruciating chastisement at his hands.
Jocelyn sat with her head leaning back, eyes closed, her last conversation with Reggie running through her head. Oddly, his objection to her going on the trip had nothing to do with her leaving him. He seemed to understand the need to get out of town.
