“Okay, and what about dinner? Do you want to stay in or go out?”
“Let’s stay in.” I walked up to him and slipped my hand down the front of his sweats. I grabbed him and squeezed. He gasped. “Maybe we can go past first base?”
“I think I can arrange that,” he said.
The doorbell rang. Jamie quickly darted off to my bedroom. I swung the door open to a smiling Beth.
“Let’s shop till we drop.”
“You’re being sarcastic?”
“Yeah, I hate shopping. Jamie practically begged on his knees for me to go with you.”
“You mean he asked you?” She shook her head up and down dramatically. “Jamie, you’re in trouble!” I shouted.
“Have fun, ladies!” he yelled back. I grabbed my new purse off the table.
“I need to go by the bank first; I haven’t gotten my cards back. Do you mind?”
Before Beth could answer, Jamie shouted again from the other room, “I put a credit card in your purse.”
“Hold on one sec,” I said to Beth.
I stalked off to my bathroom and found Jamie standing completely naked in front of my sink, brushing his teeth.
I marched up to him. “You!” He spit toothpaste into the sink and turned toward me, exposing himself. He grinned arrogantly.
“Yes, dear, what is it? Have I upset you?”
“I have my own money . . . and you have toothpaste on your lip.”
He grabbed both my wrists, held my arms down, and bent so that we were face-to-face. “Can you get it for me?” I squirmed and tried to break my arms away, but he held them firmly.
I leaned in and sucked all the toothpaste off his lip, then I bit him. He pulled away and released my hands. “Ouch, feisty little thing.”
“That’s what you get. Hey, seriously though, I don’t want to buy gifts for you with your money.”
“It’s our money. You’re gonna marry me, right?” He smirked.
“Jamie, I said I thought we needed some time to get to know each other.”
“Okay, let’s get to know each other tonight.” He pressed his body to mine. I felt him hard against me. I got lost in his kiss and then I heard Beth whistling “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” in the other room.
“I have to go.”
“I’ll miss you, beautiful,” he said near my ear, his voice so smooth and masculine it sent shivers down my spine.
I spent the whole day shopping with Beth. After hours of debate, I finally decided to buy myself lingerie to wear for Jamie. I figured it was the best I could do for a billionaire who had everything he wanted. I got back to the apartment in the afternoon and went straight into my bedroom for a nap. Jamie made sure to strip me down and tuck me in first.
I woke about an hour later, threw on one of his T-shirts, and headed for the kitchen for a glass of water. He was sitting at my square table, shirtless, but he had his black baseball cap on backward. There were computer parts and tools all over the table and floor. He was typing frantically on my laptop. There was something childlike about the way he sat poised and eager as he typed. Jamie was in such a deep concentration that he didn’t even notice that I had walked into the room. For a few seconds I stood there and took in a sight I never thought I’d see: Jamie sitting at a computer. He avoided technology as much as possible, and although I knew he had it in him, I didn’t know if I would ever witness it, and truthfully I couldn’t picture it. He was a far cry from the pale, skinny computer geek he once was. Sitting on the very front edge of the chair, he had his legs spread wide and he was tapping his right bare heel on the ground. The backward baseball hat seemed like a teenage boy’s thinking cap. I looked around and noticed in the corner of the living room a small Christmas tree with one string of blinking colorful lights—nothing extravagant, just a little festive touch. I thought of Jamie putting the tree up by himself. He was a lot like me, used to doing things on his own.
When I cleared my throat, he practically jumped out of his seat. “Sorry I startled you.”
“It’s fine,” he said as he stood up and walked toward me.
“What are you doing with all that stuff?”
“Don’t worry, I backed up your work.”
“I’m not worried, I’m just wondering what you’re doing.”
He clapped his hands together once and smiled from ear to ear. “Well, I got kind of excited. I fixed both laptops to run your writing program, but I also wrote some code for a new program that will automatically back up whatever you have written to an online server. That way you won’t have to rely on the hardware as much. Don’t worry, it’s a totally secure server; I have a knack for that sort of thing.”
“You wrote code?” I said the last word like I was a kindergartener sounding it out.
He tapped his index finger to his temple. “It’s like riding a bike.”
“I hardly think so, and I thought you didn’t like doing that kind of stuff anymore.”
“I wanted to do this for you.” He pulled me to his chest. “I won’t lie, I kind of enjoyed it.”
“Well, thank you.” I leaned up on my toes to kiss him. “I never thought writing code could be so sexy.”
“Before I get distracted by you, you got a phone call while you were out. A man named Paul Sullivan. He was asking if you knew the whereabouts of Ann Corbin.”
When I heard her name, I gasped, my hand flying up to my heart. I was stunned into silence.
“That’s your mother, I assume?”
“Yes,” I said, struggling to breathe.
“Come here, baby.” He tightened his grip on me. “What is it?”
“I just haven’t heard her name spoken in so long. Did he leave a number?”
“He left his number. Do you want me to call him for you?”
“No, I want to talk to him. Most people who knew my mother were at her funeral.” I glanced at the clock. It was seven p.m. “I’ll call him tomorrow.”
After I collected myself, I begged Jamie to let me make dinner. He agreed to be my ass-grabbing sous chef while I prepared homemade lasagna. He grated the cheese and continually accosted me until I finally kicked him out. He went back to the table and finished what he had been doing with my computer. Every once in a while I’d catch him stealing glances at me. He’d smile serenely like he was imagining the rest of his life. Jamie was completely happy and content in my dinky, eight-hundred-square-foot apartment. His only complaint was that it wasn’t energy-efficient. Within the short time he had been there, he’d changed all of the lightbulbs and faucets and was working on a way to install solar panels on the roof.
We sat on the living room floor and ate our dinner on the coffee table and then moved to the couch, where we fell asleep while watching the entire second season of Breaking Bad on Netflix. I woke up several hours later. Jamie was still upright, but his head was resting on the back of the couch. He was sound asleep. My head was in his lap with his hands tangled in my hair. I didn’t want to move but I knew he would be uncomfortable like that all night. I sat up slowly, leaned in, and trailed light kisses up his neck. He stirred.
“Hi, baby,” I whispered. “Let’s go to bed.”
“Mmm. Let’s stay here for a bit,” he said as he pulled me to straddle him.
He lifted my shirt over my head, and with complete ease unclasped my bra and tossed it aside. His mouth was at my breast in an instant. He kissed me gently and took care to hold me close to him, with one hand bracing the back of my neck. I moaned and let my head fall back, giving myself to him as his mouth moved achingly slowly up my body. He kissed and sucked and tugged at my earlobe and then sat back and took a deep breath. I unbuckled his jeans and lifted myself up enough for him to shimmy out of them. I could tell he was being cautious. I reached for the waistband of my black lace panties but he stopped my hands.