“No?”
“No,” she said. “I couldn’t live that life any longer. After that woman tried to kill me ... I knew at that point that I couldn’t go on with you. But ... well ... just because I had to leave, that doesn’t mean I stopped loving you, or that I don’t miss you, or that you weren’t one of the best things that ever happened to me.”
“We were just incompatible,” Jake said. “I’ve made my peace with that and moved on.”
“Yeah,” she said softly. “I hear your song on the radio. Hit the Highway. That’s about our breakup, isn’t it?”
He nodded. “It is,” he confirmed. “I write from the heart.”
“It gave me some insight into your soul,” she said. “I like it. Whenever it comes on the radio, I stop what I’m doing and listen to it ... appreciate it. It’s deep. It’s powerful to know you’re singing about me.”
“Yeah,” Jake said. “Like I said, it’s from the heart.”
“But now your girlfriend is gone for God knows how long.”
He looked up at her. “She is,” he agreed. “But she’ll be back at some point.”
“It must be hard,” she said.
He shrugged. “Nothing I can’t handle,” he assured her, starting to feel decidedly uncomfortable now.
“I’m sure it’s not,” she said. “But ... well ... I just wanted to remind you that there was one part of our relationship in which we were very compatible.” She gave a come-hither look. “I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.”
“Yes,” he said tonelessly. “I know what you’re talking about.”
“Maybe ... you know ... we can get together and explore that part of the relationship again,” she suggested. “Maybe tonight? Over at my place?”
Jesus Christ, Jake thought, feeling a mix of powerful emotions go churning through him, I forgot how forward she can be. She was raised by a man, after all. “Uh ... as flattered as I am by the offer...”
“I’m not trying to steal you away from Laura, Jake,” she cut in. “I don’t want to resume our relationship on the level we had before. I just want to feel your cock inside of me again, to feel your mouth between my legs again, to feel your hands squeezing my naked tits while you put your tongue in my mouth. Nobody will know about it.”
Goddamn, she’s good, he thought as he felt a surge of blood go rushing into his penis, making it swell against the crotch of his pants. Temptation reared up inside of him, a powerful urge he was all too familiar with. I could be sinking into her hot body in two hours. She could be squirting her juices all over my face in even less time.
He took a deep breath and surreptitiously adjusted himself in his pants the tiniest bit. He then looked at her and shook his head. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I would know about it and I don’t think I would have much respect for myself if I allowed myself to do it.”
“It wouldn’t mean anything, Jake,” she assured him. “Just physical release for both of us. Remember, I’m not like most women.”
“You’re certainly not,” he agreed. “And you wouldn’t believe how tempted I am right now, but ... I’ve grown up a little bit these past few years. I’m sorry. I’m going to have to say no.”
She nodded sadly. “Well, all right then,” she said. “No hard feelings?”
“None from me,” he said. “How about you?”
She smiled. “I would think you would know me better than that,” she said. “Come on. Let’s get these things filed and get ourselves home.”
“Right,” he said, bending back to his work.
She tried one more time just before they climbed into the planes. After embracing Celia and Greg warmly and telling them goodbye, she walked over to Jake, who had just finished visually checking his fuel level as part of his preflight.
“Don’t be too much of a stranger,” she told him, holding out her arms for a hug.
He hugged her, feeling her push her body alluringly against his, feeling her breasts on his chest again, feeling her fingers scratching at his back in a way she knew he liked. She then kissed him softly on the mouth—a kiss that appeared chaste and sisterly to anyone looking on, but that was actually full of passion and lust. The tip of her tongue shot out for the briefest instant and licked at his upper lip. Once again, blood went flowing into his manhood.
“The offer’s still good,” she told him. “Not just for tonight, but for any night.”
“I understand,” Jake told her, his voice not quite steady.
“You have my number,” she said, releasing him. “Don’t hesitate to call.”
“I think I’m going to have to hesitate,” he said.
She gave him another smile, unoffended by his words. A moment later, she was helping the two camera guys into her plane. She did not look back at him again.
He was unusually silent as he flew Greg and Celia back to Santa Monica. Celia, who had won the battle over the shotgun seat, even commented on it.
“A lot on my mind today,” he told her.
“Was it weird seeing Helen after all this time?” she asked him.
He shrugged. “Nothing I can’t handle,” he told her.
He landed on schedule and parked in his hangar. Celia and Greg got into Celia’s car and drove off toward their Los Angeles home. Jake got in his own car and drove to his home. Once there he went immediately upstairs and locked himself in his room. He glanced at the phone for the longest time and then opened the drawer in the bedside stand. Inside this drawer was a bottle of lube and a couple of pornographic magazines.
He took out the lube. He would need that. He left the magazines where they were. He would not be needing them for this session. Not with Helen’s feel and smell still fresh in his mind.
One week later, Pauline, Jake, the Nerdlys and Celia were sitting in the conference room at KVA Studios for the weekly meeting. The subject of the meeting was the rhythm section. They only had Ben and Ted for another three and a half weeks and they needed to secure new musicians to replace them and get those new musicians up to speed if they were going to hit the studio in time.
“Greg got off okay?” Jake asked Celia.
“He left for the airport at seven o’clock,” she confirmed. “By now, he’s probably somewhere over Canada.”
“I can’t imagine being separated for so long,” Sharon said. Since their marriage, she and Bill had not been apart for more than twenty-four hours at any point.
“I’ve gone through this before,” Celia said with a sour smile. “Principal photography in Alaska is going to take about three months, assuming no delays. They’re going to go back up there in February to shoot some winter rescue scenes as well. I’ll get by.”
“Maybe you can go up and visit him before we hit the studio,” suggested Jake.
“Perhaps,” she said with a shrug. “Cold weather has never really been my friend though.”
“Anyway,” Pauline said, eager to dispense with the preliminaries. “Jake says he might have a solution to the problem of our rhythm section.”
“You do?” asked Sharon.
“I do,” he said. “Something so simple, I’m surprised it took me so long to think of it.”
“What is it?” asked Celia.
“Why don’t we see if we can get Coop and Charlie to be our rhythm section for the studio?” he asked.
“Coop and Charlie?” Celia asked, astonished. “Can we do that?”
“What do you mean?” Jake asked. “Of course we can.”
“But that’ll be four of the five members of Intemperance playing together once you count Nerdly on the synthesizers,” she said. “The only thing missing would be Matt Tisdale on guitar. How would the public feel about something like that?”
“I think it would be a good selling and marketing point,” Jake said. “And we can emphasize that they are just our supporting band and we’re using them because we need them. We are not trying to reproduce Intemperance here and we should make that very clear.”