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Three
Drew watched Jenna’s recorded online speeches for well over an hour. First the Wexler Prize presentation, then the Women in STEM speech that he found online, then a TED talk she’d done a couple of years ago, then a recent podcast on a popular science show.
He listened to the podcast as he drove home. He liked her clear alto voice. The direct, lucid way that she described her techniques. Her intense enthusiasm and drive. He had friends in the service who’d lost limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan. The implications of her work for them were exciting.
He couldn’t wait to get home and watch the video, along with the audio. To see the conviction shining out of her eyes. Her complete, passionate investment in what she was doing.
It was sexy to watch.
He set up the tablet in his bedroom while he was changing for dinner and listened to the TED talk again. He liked the way her voice made him feel. Strange, that he hadn’t taken much note of her when they first met. But he’d been a different person back then.
Oddly enough, he’d stopped constantly reliving that fiasco at Arnold Sobel’s party since meeting with Jenna. Up until that moment, he’d been seeing it over and over, smelling that foul, drugged perfume that had been sprayed into his face. Remembering the moment he woke up naked in that unfamiliar bed, head throbbing, stomach churning. The bodies of strangers pressed up to him.
He’d been violently sick to his stomach. His head had felt like a mallet slammed into it with each heartbeat. He’d felt humiliated, helpless. And so damn stupid for letting that happen to him.
He hadn’t told anyone about the drugged perfume or the blackout. The words stopped in his mouth before they could come out. Humiliation, maybe. Or macho embarrassment. Who knew, but he just couldn’t talk about it. Not to anyone.
Meeting Jenna had made that shame evaporate like steam. The surprise kiss in the elevator forced him to drape his coat over his erection. He’d kissed her again at the car just to see if his first reaction was a fluke.
It was not. He’d kept that coat right where it was.
Her kisses were burned into his memory. The feeling of her slim body, molding against him, pliant and trusting. The fine, flower petal texture of her skin. The softness of her lips. Her perfume was a warm, teasing hint of honey, oranges. He’d strained for more of it.
One final detail. He pulled the case that held his mother’s jewelry out of his wall safe. He’d tried to give it to Ava years ago, but she’d burst into tears and run out of the room. So he’d just put the jewelry box away and never mentioned it to her again.
He pulled out the small black velvet box that held Mom’s engagement ring. The kiss in front of the gossip rag photographers had committed them to this charade, so the hell with it. He was all in.
With more time to think, he might have gone out and bought a new ring, but Malcolm would recognize Mom’s ring, maybe Hendrick, too. Certainly Hendrick’s wife would. Bev had been friends with his mother since before he was born. Nothing got past that woman.
Besides, it felt right. Jenna was the kind of woman to whom a guy would give his mother’s engagement ring. Mom would have liked Jenna.
He put his coat on and stuck the ring in his pocket and headed for the car. Thinking about Mom and her ring had triggered an uncomfortable line of thought.
Namely, that Mom would not have approved of him using Jenna like this. Taking advantage of her hard-won assets for his own agenda.
Using her to clean up his mess, essentially.
That uneasy thought tugged on his mind. He tried to rationalize it in every way he could. He had not gotten into this trouble because of his own depraved behavior. He’d been trying to help a friend. The only thing he was guilty of was being stupid, and not jumping clear before the trap closed. His conscience was clear.
Besides, Jenna had her own fish to fry. This situation was in both of their best interests. No one had been fooled. No one was being coerced. It was completely mutual.
The accident that killed his parents was eighteen long years ago, and yet he could still see so clearly that look Mom gave him when he was less than truthful, or when she’d caught him taking a lazy shortcut. Her tight mouth. The frown between her eyes.
In spite of Mom’s disapproving look in his mind’s eye, the closer he got to Jenna’s place in Greenwood, the more buzzed he felt. He was actually looking forward to this. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d felt that way.
Drew parked on the steep slope in front of an attractive three-story house. Jenna’s apartment was on the top floor. An external staircase led him up to a comfortable wraparound deck furnished with a swing and wicker furniture. He buzzed her doorbell.
It opened after a moment, and Jenna smiled up at him. “Right on time, I see,” she said. “I like that in a man. Come on in.”
He couldn’t think of anything to say for a moment. Sensory overload shorted him out. Her figure-hugging, textured, forest green dress looked amazing. It accentuated her high, full breasts, nipped-in waist and luscious round bottom, and the color was great for her flame-bright hair, which was twisted into an updo like a fiery halo.
Cat-eye glasses again. Amber-tinted tortoiseshell, with glittery stones in their pointy tips, which matched her drop earrings, but her huge smile outshone it all. Ruby-red lipstick. Beautiful white teeth. A gray cat leaped over his feet and darted out the door.
“You look great,” he offered. “I like the glitter on your glasses. Hey, your cat just ran outside. Is that a problem?”
She beckoned him in. “Not at all. He has his own cat door. Plus, he wants dinner, so he’ll be back soon. My rhinestone-studded specs only come out for the special occasions, by the way. If the paparazzi show up, I’ll blind them with my bling.”
“Perfect.” He pulled the ring box out. “Speaking of bling, I brought this, if you feel comfortable wearing it. Since you really went for it this afternoon in the lobby.”
