Fire and Water was meant to be a stand alone story, but that never seems to work with my muse, or tempermental enforcers who demand that I not leave the population hating them for being a spineless wimp. Thus, this story.
Part I
Sonny Corinthos was an unforgiving taskmaster. He demanded perfection from his employees, strict adherence to his guidelines - for business and personal lives - and had an obsession for the most minute detail. But he was also a brilliant businessman, which was why Jason Morgan had been so excited when he was hired to an entry-level position in the company. Here was the perfect opportunity to learn at the feet of a brilliant, self-made man.
It all seemed to be going well in the beginning. He had plans, dreams of owning a small business, being with Elizabeth as she worked on her art and became a success. Then...then he let the lifestyle, the praise and tutelage of Sonny go to his head.
He rose quickly in the company, started having relaxed lunches with the boss, who seemed less like a boss and more like a friend as he gave suggestions less about business and more about life. When Jason thanked him, but was slow to incorporate those changes in his personal dealings, the fast track slowed to a crawl at work. So he figured that the way to get what he wanted - investment capital and contacts - was to play Sonny's game. But he could never get completely ahead, and his boss still held all the cards.
He became lost in his life. He broke up with Elizabeth because Sonny had suggested she didn't really fit the image he needed to present at business and social functions. Now he could see that Sonny's dislike of Elizabeth stemmed as much from her friendship with Carly as the older man's inability to understand her sculptures and artistic vision.
That night at the Grille, Jason began to realize just how much he had given up for a corrupted dream. Elizabeth had her first art showing, a success from the reviews he'd read, and he hadn't gone because he'd been a meek, little mouse. He'd been sitting in Sonny's office when his boss opened the invitation. The Puerto Rican laughed, called Amanda Barrington a foolish old woman willing to take any poor stray under her wing, then crumpled the embossed invitation and threw it in the trash. He declared he wouldn't be caught dead at such a low brow event, and Jason understood the unspoken command perfectly.
So he stayed home, and spent the evening wondering how the showing was going. Courtney had come over, gushing over the flowers Lily had picked out for the upcoming wedding. Then she had complained about the dreadful time she was having finding the right shoes and how she was thinking of flying back to Milan to see if that cute little boutique on the corner next to her favorite coffee house might have something she could wear. He wondered where the bright, articulate woman he'd first met had disappeared to and what exactly it was about weddings that turned women into a flock of magpies.
And suddenly fear gripped him when he wondered if she was simultaneously taking notes for their own wedding that Sonny had begun to joke about. He knew what the society columns said about him and Courtney. Vice-President dating the boss's sister. Sonny Conrinthos called him a brilliant man, and a great friend. In fact, he'd called him the brother he'd never had. How soon until both Corinthos siblings expected him to propose? Just how far had he sunk, letting others dictate his life like they had?
That was when he'd met John. Two businessmen sitting in a hotel bar to avoid the loneliness of their rooms. They talked as all men do in those situations, of anything but their jobs that had brought them there. Through everything, Jason realized he had a great deal in common with John, certainly was more relaxed around him than Sonny and couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed like he had that night.
When they parted ways he was genuinely disappointed that circumstances would be such that their paths would never cross again. It was the nature of business, and this was one time that Jason cared. So when John walked into Sonny's office nearly a month later trailing behind his boss Lorenzo Alcazar, Jason had been stunned. The surprise in John's eyes before the tall man masked it was enough to convince him their first meeting had been purely chance.
It really was too bad they were working for rival companies. Alcazar's business wasn't nearly as big as Sonny's, but it was cutting into their customer base. Sonny was worried it would derail the merger to be finalized on his marriage to Lily, and so he was pushing up the wedding date. Courtney was spending more time with her soon to be sister-in-law, which really wasn't bothering Jason at all. It gave him more time to himself without Sonny's constant meddling which had led to more run-ins with John.
Most of all, it gave him time to come here and observe her.
"Beautiful," a voice murmured beside him and he started. Lorenzo Alcazar stood beside him, looking at one of Elizabeth's sculptures and smiling appreciatively. "The use of materials, the contrasting lines...you can just feel the power and passion."
He turned to face Jason, slipping his hands into his pockets as his smile grew. "Good evening, Mister Morgan."
"Mister Alcazar," he returned.
"Lorenzo, please," he said, circling the statue - and Jason - slowly. "Do you mind if I call you Jason?"
"Suit yourself," he shrugged, keeping his tone and visage neutral. This was their competitor, and he didn't think this was a coincidental meeting.
"John told me about your meeting in Dallas after we settled our company here and met Mister Corinthos. He told me you were quite an interesting man. Working for Corinthos means you're very smart as well. Quite an impressive background you have," he smiled, then turned back to the sculpture.
Jason wasn't fazed that Lorenzo just admitted he'd investigated him. He and Sonny had done the same, and he'd been much more impressed by Lorenzo and John's backgrounds than his boss's. He felt Sonny was underestimating them, and overestimating himself.
"You know, you would be a valuable asset to our company, if you ever thought about expanding your horizons."
A job offer. He really wasn't surprised. Standard Operating Procedure for companies like theirs. What surprised Jason was just how tempting it really was. Lorenzo was more of a maverick, played by his own rules, and his corporate philosophy was much more relaxed than the chaffing, rigid structure Sonny imposed. But Sonny had given Jason his first break and he would always be loyal to the other man because of it.
"Sorry, not interested."
"But I think you are," Lorenzo smiled as he laughed. "You're just too afraid to go after what you truly want. The corporate structure Corinthos dictates is strangling you; I could see it in our first meeting. And the sacrifices you've made in your personal life haven't made you happy, have they?"
Jason narrowed his eyes and stared at Alcazar. What did he know about Jason's personal life? Against his will he glanced at Elizabeth's art. Did Lorenzo know about their shared history?
"Of course he's happy," a cool, detached voice said from behind him. High heels clicked over the polished marble floor and Carly Benson came up to the two men. "Because Jason Morgan lives to please Sonny Corinthos. How's your boyfriend, Jase?"
"Funny, Caroline," he said through clenched teeth. He hated Jase, she hated Caroline, seemed like a fair exchange. "What are you doing here?"
"Coming to see my boyfriend," she smiled as Lorenzo wrapped an arm around her waist. She gave him a kiss on his cheek, then smoothed her hand over his silk tie. "Did you pick out a piece?"
"This one," he gestured to the statue in front of the trio.
"Happiness Crushed," she murmured. "The start of her dark period. You sure you want that in your office building? Some of your customers might find it disturbing. I think you should put it in the foyer at home."
"No, I like it," he said shaking his head. "It's powerful. It evokes emotion. I'll go cut Alison a check."
"I'll come with you," she said, not sparing Jason a second glance. "Elizabeth is talking with Amanda."
"Think over my offer, Jason," Lorenzo said, holding out his hand. "It will always be open."
"Thank you," he said, touched by the offer, but shaking his head. "I'm afraid my answer will still be the same."
The couple walked away and he wondered how it was that Sonny hadn't commented on his ex-girlfriend dating his business rival. Perhaps the press of wedding plans and the cut back in social functions had kept him from finding out. Or maybe Lorenzo Alcazar just didn't care to run in the same social circles Sonny placed such importance on.
With a dejected sigh, he turned. He couldn't look at the sculpture anymore. It was the one Elizabeth had been working on the day he went to her warehouse studio and treated her like a wad of gum he needed to scrape off his shoe. Happiness Crushed. Apropos considering how she'd apparently taken a sledgehammer to the top and beat it down into a bent and twisted form. A quick scan of the other pieces around it revealed Despair, Loneliness and Dying Dreams.
"You really should reconsider his offer."
"Hello, John," he said, his shoulders slumping as he slipped his hands into his pockets. "I should have figured you'd be nearby."
"She was really depressed there for a while wasn't she?" the other man asked like he didn't already know the answer. "Come on, let's go over by the paintings. They're not as dark as these pieces."
"You the back-up guy?" Jason asked as they walked. "Think you can say just the right thing and I'll come to work for him?"
"No," John O'Brien shook his head. "I understand you've got a lot of loyalty to Sonny. You barely graduated high school because you had to work to support you and your mom when she got sick and your father wasn't around. You took a few night courses, but you don't have a college degree. And you rose through the ranks to Sonny Corinthos's right hand man, all because he saw something in you and nurtured it."
"Yeah," he nodded.
"So I know that even though he makes you miserable by his overbearing nature, you're going to stay there because he believed in you when everyone else told you you were barely qualified to wash the company car." John turned and looked him dead in the eye. "I admire that, I really do. I think you're a fool, especially for breaking Elizabeth's heart because you couldn't stand up to Sonny, but I admire your loyalty."
"John, Carly said you were back here," Elizabeth's sweet voice carried into the gallery room. She came to a stop in the doorway. "Oh, Jason. She...didn't say you were here."
"Jason and I were just catching up," John told her. "You ready?"
"I guess," she shrugged, tucking her hair behind her ear.
She was so beautiful, still took his breath away, but he was worried that she was looking even thinner than she had that night at Jake's. He wanted to know where they were going, wondered if John and Elizabeth were dating and then called himself a hypocrite for being jealous considering how well documented it was that he'd been out on the town with Courtney. She wouldn't meet his eye, and he didn't blame her. He'd walked all over her, left her without a second word that night at Jake's when it was more than clear he was affected by being near her, why would she give him the time of day?
"See ya, Jason," John smiled.
"See ya later," he said to the empty room and turned to leave the gallery, completely disgusted with himself.
A month later Jason stood in his boss's office and tried not to fidget. He was not a person who showed nerves, and yet he certainly was tonight.
"Nervous?"
He looked at the olive-skinned man across from him and his jaw shifted to the side. Slipping his hands into his pockets he shrugged. "Not really. Change can be a little...unsettling."
"Don't worry, you'll fit in just fine, Jason," Lorenzo tried to put him at ease. "You already know John, you met Reynaldo at the beginning of the week. You're going to be great."
He wish he'd felt as confident. Ever since the day Elizabeth walked out of the gallery and barely looked at him, he'd felt increasingly unsettled - out of place in his own life. When he looked in the mirror that night it was like having new eyes. The hundred dollar businessman's haircut, the Armani suit and perfectly knotted tie, who was he? Elizabeth was right. He had changed, and he didn't like who he'd become.
With those fresh eyes, he'd viewed his job. Sonny claimed to trust him, but it was all about the other man having control over him. When he'd made a suggestion that his boss didn't like, yet he'd pushed for it because he knew it was fiscally sound Sonny had turned vicious, undercutting him with his peers. And when Jason said he was going to Elizabeth's next showing, the man he thought was a friend had shown his true colors and set out to ruin him in the company and the community.
That was when he'd quit and joined Lorenzo's company. He'd joined Johnny and Reynaldo in some training and on a business trip where he'd been tested by being responsible for signing the client. Lorenzo was professional, but more relaxed than Sonny and Jason felt much more at home in the organization. Maybe the change in appearance also helped.
He'd cut his hair in short spikes again, moved out of the over-priced, over-decorated apartment, and traded his Corvette for a Harley. In fact, he'd been able to find his original Harley that he'd given up when Sonny had strongly recommended it. The memories of his rides with Elizabeth washed over him every time he rode it, and he felt better for having that slight connection to her again.
"It's not the job," he finally allowed.
"Ah, then it must be Elizabeth," Lorenzo smiled as he leaned back in his black leather chair. "You're nervous because she'll be there tonight."
"A bit," he admitted. "I...I screwed up with her and I just want to apologize at least."
Lorenzo nodded as he stood and grabbed his coat. "Well, you're admitting you were wrong. Women like that. Maybe she'll be willing to hear you out. Come on; let's go before we make them mad by being late."
In the end it wouldn't have mattered. For over an hour he'd been wandering around Amanda Barrington's home while Elizabeth and Carly circulated and shined. Mrs. Barrington's granddaughter, Alison, had loved Carly's idea for an upscale nightclub and had convinced her grandmother to be Carly's investor. When she said that Lorenzo had offered to loan her the start-up money Mrs. Barrington said that blooming love and business should be separate and gave Carly such good terms that the younger woman soon agreed. She and Elizabeth were meeting other members of the community in a less formal setting, and Lorenzo played the perfect supporting role, letting Carly have her moment.
Elizabeth, however, was talking to everyone but him. When Jason had tried to speak to her earlier, she ignored him and spoke to Edward Quartermaine about crepes for ten minutes until Jason gave up and walked away. She despised him, not that he blamed her, and was making it obvious that she wasn't going to give him the time of day.
"Here you are. I had a feeling I'd find you hiding out here."
He turned and reminded himself to breathe when he saw her behind him. Her eggplant colored dress made her ivory skin glow in the moonlight. "Hello, Elizabeth."
"You cut your hair," she smiled at him.
Feeling like a teenager he shrugged. "Yeah. All that gel, plastered to my head, that's not me."
She said nothing, just arched a perfectly sculpted brow. She appraised his appearance and asked, "So, this is the new you?"
"I'm trying to find my way," he said. Meeting her gaze he decided this might be the only time he had to speak to her, so he forged ahead. "Look, I know you think I sold out to work for Sonny, and...you were right. I'd become someone I didn't recognize, giving up the things I wanted because he didn't like them."
She tucked a stray curl behind her ear, then folded her arms protectively across her chest. He commanded himself not to linger on her cleavage that threatened the limits of decency. He wasn't going to ogle her and risk her wrath. As if knowing what was going through his mind she smirked, then it slipped away. "I see you're making changes. Are you happy?"
"I'm getting better," he shrugged. He didn't think she wanted to know he would only truly be happy when she was by his side again. He was going to have to work hard to gain her friendship again; he knew it would take a miracle to get her love back.
"What would make it perfect?" she pressed, and he swallowed hard at the note her voice had dropped to.
"Perfection is impossible," he shook his head, hoping to deflect her question.
"Humor me," she chuckled throatily. This was just like her. She kept asking a question, pressing a point until she got him to bare everything to her. "What's the one thing you'd like most?"
Looking over her shoulder back at the house he swallowed and hoped his eyes wouldn't betray him when he met her gaze. "You...as my friend again."
"Friend?" she murmured, tipping her head to the side. "I don't think we were ever just friends, Jason."
Her eyes sparkled something unknown and he slipped his hands into his pockets, his hands tensing into his thighs. "It's all I have a right to now."
"Why don't you let me the judge of that."
"So if I asked you to take a ride with me, what would you say?" She was teasing him, he knew it, yet he couldn't stop himself from asking.
"In your Corvette?" she asked, then shook her head. "No thanks."
"On my bike. On our bike," he corrected.
Her eyes widened ever so slightly, and her voice showed her surprise. "You bought your bike back?"
He wanted to tell her it was because he couldn't stand the thought of someone else riding it, someone who surely wouldn't understand the importance of it or the memories it held, but instead he just shrugged again. "I was figuring out where I wanted to be."
"And where's that?"
"Would you believe I'm living at Jake's now?" he chuckled. "Looking for an apartment that's more me. Getting back to my roots."
"Well, whadya know," she said, her voice light and awe-filled. "Welcome back, Jason Morgan."
"Thanks," he said on a light laugh. "It's been a while."
"Yes, it has," she agreed. Looking over her shoulder as sounds of the party drifted out she glanced back at him and almost sounded sorry when she said, "I should get back inside. Why...why don't you stop by tonight if you still feel like taking a ride."
"I-I'd like that," he smiled.
"Me too," she admitted honestly. "I'll see you later then."
"See you later."
She turned and headed back across the terrace. When she reached the door she turned slightly and gave him a Mona Lisa smile. Her smell still lingered around him - jasmine on a warm summer night - and he was lightheaded from the whole moment. But he felt better than he had in months, and he knew that he'd definitely made the right decision. He'd come back to who he was and was finding a place to belong.
Part II
Jason hated airports. Their bland decorations, too many people, too many dive gift shops and stale restaurants. After a while they all blurred into one, and he just didn't care where he was. All he wanted was to be home. It wasn't that he'd even done a lot of traveling these last six months, but he hated every time he had to leave Elizabeth.
Lorenzo was at least kind enough to not send him out when Elizabeth had meetings with important backers. But after Johnny took his spot last month so that Jason could escort Elizabeth to an opening at a New York City gallery it was definitely his turn for a business trip. His boss had accompanied him on this trip because of the important nature of the deal, and he could see Lorenzo was disliking being away from home as much as he was.
It had been several months since Lorenzo had left Port Charles, not really unusual - or necessary - for an owner with well trusted executives. But the truth of the matter was Lorenzo hated leaving Carly's side. Especially since their engagement a month ago. Port Charles was abuzz over the club she'd opened. At first it seemed like her only clientele was going to be curious gawkers or people expecting an upstart such as herself to fail. Gradually, through the good food and drink, warm atmosphere, and innovative practices, people kept coming back - and telling their friends. Pretty soon the club seemed to be the place to be, and people were no longer looking down their noses at her as Sonny Corinthos's cast off, but as a woman who would definitely be going places and who would be a success. They had come to accept her because of her business, and smiled at her relationship with Lorenzo whose company was now giving stiff competition to Sonny's. The couple was clearly in love and happy, and Jason was glad for them.
He just wished he could say the same for him and Elizabeth. The friendship was definitely back between them. The playful teasing, the rides, the games of pool, the ability to talk about anything or nothing, it was all there again. He loved to watch her work on her art, or a design sketch for Carly's club. In some ways it just like before.
In other ways they were as farther apart than ever and he just wanted to yell in frustration.
Elizabeth seemed to be letting him only so close. They shared moments, but then she'd be reserved and protecting herself again. He had hurt her, he knew it, but he just wasn't sure what to do anymore.
Any other woman he would have walked away from, unwilling to jump through hoops. He knew that wasn't what she was doing, though, and that's what kept him by her side. She didn't forgive easily, tracing back to deep seated hurts with her parents' neglect. He could see it in her eyes that she wanted to let him back in, but she was fighting deep instincts. He would wait forever for her to get past them, and hold onto what he did have with her in the meantime.
"Mister Alcazar, Mister Morgan, welcome to Seattle," a driver said as he approached them. "Do you need to wait for luggage?"
"No," Lorenzo shook his head gesturing to their garment bag and suitcase combinations. "We're both ready."
As they handed their bags off to the driver and climbed into the limo, Jason hoped Lorenzo wouldn't want to stop and eat. He was tired and he just wanted to check into the hotel and get some sleep - after a call home. The driver sat down in the front and looked back at them. "Would you gentlemen like to go to the hotel or stop for dinner first?"
"The hotel please," Lorenzo said immediately and the man nodded before starting the car and raising the divider.
"You can say it," he said several minutes later.
Jason looked over at him. "What?"
"I know you're hungry, but you don't mind room service, do you?"
"No," he shook his head.
"I wanted to call Carly, and really didn't want to wait until after dinner," the other man laughed.
Jason smiled, then laughed too. "It's alright. I wanted to call Elizabeth before it gets too late."
"Things going better?" Lorenzo asked. Jason merely shrugged. The other man paused, then said, "I heard about the incident at Carly's club."
Jason shifted on the leather seat and looked out the window at the passing buildings. Ric Lansing, apparently smarting because Elizabeth had continually refused to go out with him after their disastrous one, and only, date had confronted them in drunken anger one night. He accused her of being a tease, always wearing short, skimpy little clothes and always saying no. If the bouncer hadn't stepped in when he did Jason probably would have been arrested for assault.
Elizabeth had been slightly stung by the words, but he refused to let her dwell on them. She had a right to wear whatever she wanted, and he loved whatever outfits she chose. But she had pulled back and put a physical distance between them. He was lucky if he got to hold her hand now, he certainly didn't have the rare and surprising occurrence to kiss her anymore.
"Yeah," was all he grunted in reply and Lorenzo thankfully didn't push.
They said little when they reached the hotel, sped through VIP check-in and headed into their rooms. He stripped off his suit, ordered room service, then stepped into the shower. Dressed in silk pajamas bottoms - the one part of Sonny Corinthos's tutelage he'd kept - he accepted his dinner, set it on the bed and reached for the phone.
Elizabeth wasn't at home. She wasn't at Jake's, the gallery, John's, Zander's or any other place he could think of. She wasn't answering her cell phone, and he knew she wasn't at Carly's since her friend would have kicked her out the moment Lorenzo called. He was ready to call John back and have him to look for her when the phone rang.
"Morgan."
"You're a very hard man to get a hold of Morgan." Her voice was teasing, yet sultry.
"Elizabeth," he breathed out in relief. "I've been trying to get a hold of you. Where've you been? Your cell was turned off."
"So was yours," she chided. "I had mine off because I was doing a few things."
He frowned when she remained silent. "Is everything alright?"
He could hear the smile in her voice. "Yeah. I just had to sort through some stuff. Buy a couple of items."
"Alright, Miss Mysterious, what's going on? Where are you?"
"I'm at your place. Hope you don't mind. I didn't want your plant to die while you were away."
He laughed, much like he had the day she'd shown up at his new apartment with it. She called it a housewarming gift, and claimed it was nearly indestructible. It hadn't died yet, and he was now actively working to keep it alive to prove to her he could. "I watered it just before I left, Elizabeth. It'll be fine for the couple of days I'll be gone."
"Well, what if I just wanted to be here to be closer to you?"
He shivered at the timbre of her voice and swallowed hard. "I... That's perfectly fine with me. You...you thinkin' of sleeping there tonight?"
"Would you mind?"
"N-no," he managed to say. The thought of her sleeping on his sheets, her smell clinging to his pillow like it used to, he wouldn't be bothered by that at all.
"Good," she all but purred and he clenched his fist in the sheets. "Because I already brought some of my things over."
He hoped those things included scented candles, bath oils and a silky little number like she used to bring in her overnight bag. He hoped the smell of her gardenia body wash lingered on his shower curtain for days to come. Closing his eyes he stifled a groan. He was setting himself up for days of torture by entertaining these thoughts. The smell of her, the taste of her lips which always carried faint traces of mint hot chocolate and the silky feel of her skin under his fingers haunted him, like an echo imprinted on his soul.
"I miss you, Elizabeth," he finally managed to say.
"I miss you too, Jason," she sighed. "When you come home, I've got a little surprise for you."
"Really?" he asked, unable to resist the siren's call of her voice. "Can you give me a hint?"
"Sure. Right now...at this moment...I'm in your bed."
"I like the sound of that."
"Then you'll like the sound of this. I've got nothing on but the radio. See you when you get home, Jason."
The dial tone echoed through his shocked brain and he gulped in deep breaths of air. The vixen. She was going to kill him.
The image of Elizabeth didn't kill him in the end, but it certainly plagued him. It popped up at the most inopportune moments; the boardroom, during lunch, on the way to meetings, when he should be concentrating on the prospective in front of him instead of wondering if his sheets smelled like her yet. But it was when the deal stalled and they had to stay longer then planned that he became really frustrated. Delays happened all the time when millions of dollars were on the line; it was irksome but he'd dealt with it before. The fact that he was being kept from Elizabeth was stretching his nerves taut.
It didn't help that he wasn't able to talk to her. They kept leaving messages and voice mail, but they hadn't been able to have an actual conversation since the first night. Hearing her voice on a machine just left him wanting more.
Which was why he was thrilled they were finally going home. Lorenzo had sent him out, hoping that a one on one meeting would seal the deal, and when he called to say the ink was now drying on the contract he'd nearly shouted in the store. As it was he'd earned some very strange looks from the sales lady helping him. He slipped the key card in the slot and flipped on the light. As he was pulling out his clothes and putting them in the suitcase he dialed Elizabeth's number.
"Hi! Sorry I missed your call. Leave a message and I'll get back to you."
"Elizabeth, it's Jason. We're leaving this afternoon. I'll call you when we land and hopefully we can get together."
He hung up, grabbed his things out of the bathroom and zipped his suitcase shut. Crossing the room when there was a knock on the door, he smiled when he saw Lorenzo and a bellboy in the hall.
"Take your bag, sir?"
"Sure," he said as he passed it off. Lorenzo followed as he went back in his room and grabbed a bag off the bed.
"Ah, went shopping."
Taking the square velvet box out of the bag, he weighed it in his hand, then slipped it into the inside pocket of his coat. He didn't want Elizabeth inadvertently finding it in his suitcase. He grinned at Lorenzo who was watching him. "Picked something up for Elizabeth. Not sure when I'll give it to her, but got it just the same."
"Things like that...you'll know when it's right."
"Yeah, I suppose. Now let's go home."
"I wholeheartedly agree," he smiled.
Mercifully there were no delays at the airport and time didn't drag on as they sat there in anticipation. Jason was surprised that he even managed to fall asleep for a bit. When Lorenzo shook him awake he realized that the week of little sleep because of trying to reach Elizabeth had caught up with him.
After they landed and had exited the plane, Jason was completely focused on finding Elizabeth. He didn't care if she was asleep or working on a sculpture, she had tormented him with an image he was unable to shake. He didn't care if he only got to hold her hand, he had to see her tonight. As he was fishing his cell phone out of his pocket he heard familiar laughter.
"In a rush, Jase?"
He paused and looked up to see Carly, her arm wound in Lorenzo's and her brown eyes twinkling with laughter. "Boy how times have changed. You were ready to rush out of here without even saying a word to your boss. It's nice to see you've got your priorities right."
Laughing along with her teasing he shrugged good-naturedly. "Do you know where I can find her?"
She casually brushed an errant strand of hair off her forehead, her engagement ring reflecting in the lights. "She gave me a message for you. Said to come straight home."
"Thanks, Carly."
"Jason," she called him back as he turned to leave. "I'm sorry about all the grief I gave you. She smiles again, and it's because of you. So...you take care of her, okay?"
"I intend to," he promised her. "I'm happy you found someone who accepts and loves you for who you are instead of trying to mold you into something else. Sonny was a fool, you just realized it before me. See you, Carly, Lorenzo."
"Hey, Jason, take the next two days off," his boss told him. "And good luck."
Her merely nodded and hurried off as Carly started asking Lorenzo what he meant. A driver was waiting to take him home and by the time he arrived he'd stripped off his tie, crammed it into his pocket, and was now fighting off a case of nerves that were making his hands damp. When he unlocked the door, he paused and softly called out, "Elizabeth?"
The smell of dinner wafted out of his kitchen, but through the softly lit apartment he could see she wasn't at the stove. Soft sounds drifted from the bedroom and he dropped his suitcase while kicking the door closed. "Elizabeth, you here?"
"Right behind you," she purred as she seemed to melt out of the shadows. Her slender fingers covered his eyes and he could hear the smile in her voice. "Welcome home, Jason."
"What are you doing?" he laughed.
"Just letting you know how happy I am to have you back," she said simply as she walked in front of him. He gulped as his eyes fell on her, dressed in a short silk robe. Unlike that night so long ago at her apartment, it was loose and displayed a generous amount of cleavage. "I missed you."
"I missed you too," he managed to reply just before she rose on her toes and kissed him. His fingers clenched in the slick fabric of her robe and all too soon she pulled back leaving him weak and longing for more. "I hate leaving you."
"I know," she said, her fingernails raking through the hair above his neck. "I hate it when you go...but think of how wonderful your homecomings will be."
"That only works if I know you'll be in the home I'm returning to." He stopped her as she tried to slip his coat off, and reached into the pocket. Her eyes fell on the velvet box as it rested in his palm. "Maybe you'll think this is too soon, but I want to know that you'll always be there. As my friend...as my wife."
An enigmatic smile lit her face and she held out her hand, her fingers cupped gently. "Come with me."
He didn't move and she reached out, clasping her hand in his. "Come with me," she repeated.
"Dinner will keep. I have something waiting in your room." She tugged his hand and this time he followed. Slow, sensual notes floated to his ears and she stopped in the doorway. "Care to dance with me?"
He smiled, nodded, and soon they were moving across the room in harmony. With nothing on but the radio.
You may Email Me comments if you like, or use the form below:
