Chapter 13
13
Everything in his life conspired to make Brian late for the next entrepreneurship class. The deliveries of new seedlings were late, the plant installation at the new bank went wrong, and on top of that Peachtree Cove actually had a traffic jam when a truck carrying watermelons through town overturned on the main road and backed everything up.
A part of him wanted to call it a day, skip the class, and go home and chill. A bigger, more eager part of him couldn’t wait to see Tracey. He hadn’t talked to her since she’d sent the text saying her answer was yes. He’d thought she was going to say no after Cyril texted him to say he’d seen her at the bar with Craig. But seeing her answer had made him want to jump up and do a two-step. Instead, he’d played it cool. Texted back Cool. Let’s talk. To which she’d responded I’ll see you in class. Talk then.
He’d been on pins and needles waiting for the day of the next class to arrive. He hadn’t felt this excited about seeing a woman in years. Not since before he’d gotten married. He didn’t think too hard about how the feelings he’d had back then had ultimately led him to propose. He had no plans to ever get married again, neither did Tracey. This wasn’t turning into something serious and he knew that, but he still anticipated spending time with Tracey.
The parking lot was full when he finally made it to class. “What the hell?” he mumbled to himself. “Is everyone in town here tonight?”
He found a parking space at the back of the lot, jumped out of his truck and hurried inside. He checked his watch and nodded. He wasn’t that late. Just about five minutes.
He rushed down the hall. People filled each classroom. That explained the full parking lot. He entered his classroom and stopped short. His eyes scanned the crowd, which looked bigger than last time. He spotted Tracey sitting in the same spot she’d had the week before. He smiled and relaxed just seeing her. His gaze landed on the spot next to her, his spot, and he scowled.
What the hell?
His spot was taken. Carolyn sat to Tracey’s left. That wasn’t what made him scowl. Craig sat to Tracey’s right. Why was Craig there? He didn’t own a business. And what was he doing next to Tracey? Were they still a thing? She hadn’t said anything about them being exclusive. Was she planning to see both of them? The idea made him want to walk in and push Craig out of his seat. He’d had his share of nonexclusive relationships. Since his divorce he hadn’t had a problem with that because it was less likely for things to get serious or expectations for forever to fall on him. The sudden strike of jealousy at the idea of having to share Tracey with anyone else surprised him.
“Oh, Brian, there’s a seat up front.” Mikayla waved him to the front of the classroom.
Everyone turned his way. Tracey gave him her normal look. Neither excited to see him nor indifferent. Craig, on the other hand, smirked as he watched Brian at the door.
Damn watermelons tying up the roads, Brian thought before nodding and making his way to the front.
Once he was settled, Mikayla resumed talking. “I was just getting started. We’re going to go over everyone’s ideas from last week before focusing on setting goals for everyone’s business. As we work on updating our business plans, these goals will be your road map moving forward.”
There were a few questions from some of the people in the class that Mikayla answered easily before she started on the subject for the next session. She’d asked her business partner to remote in and talk about developing a business plan and identifying short- and long-term goals.
The information was useful and interesting, but Brian couldn’t focus. He wanted to look back at Tracey. He was happy every time someone behind him asked a question so he could use it as an excuse to turn around. Each time Tracey didn’t make eye contact. He didn’t think she was avoiding looking at him, more like she was engrossed in the subject. She was always taking lots of notes or asked her own questions. Had she changed her mind?
Brian thought he’d get a chance to talk with her during the break, but even then he didn’t get the chance. During the first break, Tracey and a few other people in class went over to Mikayla to ask questions. Tracey went to the bathroom on the second break, and Carolyn caught him up in a conversation about his business plan. When Tracey came back into the room, Craig quickly moved to be by her side. By the end of the class, Brian could barely concentrate. He watched the clock incessantly and tapped his shoe as he waited for the session to end. He was going to talk to Tracey before leaving there if it was the last thing he did.
“Alright, that’s it for tonight,” Mikayla finally said. “We’ll pick up next week. If anyone has questions in the meantime, feel free to email me. I’ll try to get back to you all as soon as I can.”
Brian jumped up, ready to get out. He turned toward Tracey, but Mikayla called his name. Mentally pushing aside his frustration, he faced forward again.
“What’s up?”
“I want to talk to you about presenting at one of our classes,” she said.
He blinked, shocked by the request. “Me? Why?”
“Because your business is doing well. You’ve been well-established for a long time. I was surprised you joined the class.”
Brian shrugged. “It’s never too late to learn new things. I want to find a way to expand on what I’ve been doing. You’ve done great things, so I couldn’t turn down an opportunity to learn how you made your business grow.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that.”
“I really don’t know what I can contribute.” Compared to what Mikayla had achieved, his success was minimal.
“When we talk about budgeting, invoicing and payroll, I’d like you to talk about your process. I think it’ll be good to hear from someone local who’s done it. You won’t have to teach or anything, but I’d like to call on you to describe your process. It may seem routine to you, but those are the basics that every small business needs to understand. I may even critique how you do things. If you’re okay with that?”
He nodded, surprised and overwhelmed that she wanted to use him as an example. “That’s cool with me. If you can help me find a way to make that easier, then you won’t get a complaint out of me.”
She grinned and held out her hand. “Great. I’ll email you later in the week to talk about it more.”
He shook her hand. “Sounds good.”
He turned back to the classroom. Several classmates were still there, but Tracey was nowhere to be found. His shoulders deflated.
Swearing under his breath, Brian rushed out of the class. He had his cell phone in his hand and was preparing to call Tracey when he spotted her standing by the exit door. Craig was nowhere in sight. She saw him coming her way and lifted her chin in acknowledgment.
“I thought you were gone,” Brian said.
“I was waiting on you.”
Those were the best words he’d heard all day. She hadn’t disappeared with Craig. The level of relief and excitement he felt scared him. So he played it cool. “What for?”
She raised a brow. The look she gave made him feel like she saw straight through him. “What for? What do you think what for? To talk about what we agreed on.”
“I wasn’t sure if you still wanted to do that. You ignored me half the night.”
Tracey scoffed and shook her head. “Hold up. How did I ignore you?”
“You wouldn’t even look at me.”
“I did look at you. What did you want me to do, jump up and down and cheer?” The corner of her mouth lifted in a half smile.
He hadn’t expected her to do all that, but the image of Tracey cheering for his arrival had a certain appeal. “You could have at least looked a little bit happy to see me.”
She rolled her eyes, but the smile remained on her full lips. Damn, she was sexy. “Goodness, your ego is bigger than I thought.”
“My ego? Come on, Tracey, you know I was happy to see you.”
She cocked her head to the side, her eyes doubtful. “Were you?”
“Yeah. You couldn’t tell? I spent half the class trying to catch your eye. Or were you too busy paying attention to Craig?”
“Are you jealous because he sat beside me?” she asked, a teasing tone in her voice.
Brian nodded. “Yes. I was.”
The teasing left her expression. Her lips parted, and her eyes widened. “Seriously?”
He shifted closer and lowered his voice. “Tracey, what part of the fact that I’m interested in you don’t you get? I didn’t offer this up just for fun.”
“I didn’t say you did.” Her voice was defensive, but the doubt remained in her eyes. He’d work hard to remove any doubt from her mind.
“Good. Because everything I said I meant.”
She stared at him for a few seconds. He wondered what she had expected from him. He didn’t like that she underestimated his interest. He’d always thought his interest in her was plain to see. Bernard had noticed and never liked him. Even his mom had noticed.
Tracey’s shoulders straightened, and she lifted her chin. “Let’s go back to your place.”
Brian blinked several times. “Now?” She couldn’t be serious? He had no arguments against it, but he’d thought they’d ease into this.
She shifted her weight. For a split second something flashed in her eyes before she gave him a confident grin. “No time like the present.”
She didn’t have to ask him twice. “Let’s go.”
***
Tracey parked behind Brian’s SUV in his driveway. She took a deep breath, but it did nothing to stop the fluttering in her stomach. Her palms sweated, and her heart vibrated like a hummingbird’s wings. She hadn’t felt this nervous in years—decades maybe. She was about to sleep with Brian. She hadn’t slept with anyone but her ex-husband for the past eleven years. They’d gotten married young, and she’d only slept with one other person before Bernard. In the last few years of her marriage, he’d only shown a passing interest in making love to her. She’d convinced herself she was ready to jump into a sex-only relationship, but old insecurities and years of bad sex made her wonder if she was out of her depth.
Brian turned back to face her car. He raised a brow and gave her a look that asked if everything was okay. She couldn’t let him know she was nervous and slightly embarrassed about not knowing how to navigate this situation. He’d give her that pity look and then say they needed to wait. Or, worse, the part of him that was attracted to her would come to its senses and move on. Tracey never let anyone see her vulnerabilities. She wasn’t about to start now.
Smiling with a self-assuredness she most definitely didn’t feel, she opened the door and got out of the car.
“Everything alright?” Brian asked.
She nodded and forced herself to sound relaxed, chill, a woman ready to handle a friends-with-benefits situation. She was only nervous because it was Brian. She didn’t want to make a fool out of herself in front of him again.
“I’m great. I was just checking my messages to make sure everything is good back at the inn.”
He nodded, and the concern left his gaze. He tilted his head toward the house. “Come on.”
She followed him into his place. Brian stayed in a nice one-story house in an established subdivision. The inside was decorated in simple furniture with a few framed pictures of sports icons such as Michael Jordan scoring a basket when he played for the Chicago Bulls or Muhammad Ali standing over an opponent he’d just knocked out.
“You like sports?” she asked.
He looked at the framed photos and grinned. “I like winners. People who achieved great things and didn’t worry about what the world thought of them.”
“That’s interesting.”
He took a few steps toward her, his eyes sexy as they looked over her curves. “Interesting, huh?”
Her heart jumped into her throat. She couldn’t talk. He was looking at her like a man ready to make love to a woman. That woman being her. Did that mean it was time to start? No chitchat, just dive right in?
“Are you ready to get started?” she blurted out. She tended to just say what was on her mind when she was nervous.
Brian blinked then chuckled. “How about we ease into things a bit? Talk about the rules of this.”
She nodded, relieved and a little let down that he wasn’t going to follow up his look and make love to her right there in his living room. Though, she’d never made love in a living room before. Would he want to have sex with her on the floor like in movies? She glanced down. When was the last time he’d vacuumed the carpet? What if he wanted to have sex on the couch? Her gaze darted to the black leather sofa. Would it be comfortable? Would he want her on top? She hoped her knees were up for that. Maybe she should have stretched first.
“Do you want something to drink?” His question broke into her rambling thoughts.
Tracey nodded quickly. “Yes. That would be good.” That’s exactly what she needed. Something to calm her damn nerves.
She followed him into the kitchen, where he pulled out a bottle of rum from a cabinet above his fridge. “I can mix up a rum punch. Or do you want something lighter?”
“Rum punch is perfect.”
She watched as he quickly pulled out orange, pineapple and lime juice. She sat at the kitchen table while he mixed everything together.
“What kind of rules were you thinking?” she asked when he came over holding two glasses.
He handed her one glass and then sat next to her. “First rule is that we don’t sleep with anyone else.”
She stopped in the middle of taking a sip and quickly swallowed. “You want us to be exclusive?”
“I do. I’m not one to sleep around with multiple people at the same time.”
Tracey narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure? I’ve heard that you be out there in them streets.” She sipped the punch. It was sweet, and she could barely taste the rum. In other words, it was perfect.
“I’ve dated and I haven’t been in a long-term relationship, but I’m not trying to get caught up in any drama either. One person at a time, and I’m also very clear if it’s just a hookup or something else. Are you okay with us being exclusive?”
With the way her stomach was in knots, and feeling like an impersonator of a woman confident in her sexuality, she didn’t want to even think about bringing another man into the mix. “I’m good with that.” She took another sip then held up a finger. “But if we’re not sleeping with other people, I don’t think we need to have too much sex.”
He shifted and leaned forward. “What do you mean by that?”
“I don’t know how this will work out, but we both know that we don’t want emotions to get involved. How about we only have sex twice a week?”
Tracey had never been in a situation like this, but she’d watched enough movies and read enough books to know that sex-only relationships could get very messy when feelings got involved. If they treated their hookups like an appointment that would keep it impersonal, Brian would be her twice-a-week fix, nothing more, nothing less.
“Twice a week?”
“Do you need it more than that?” Maybe her rules were severely cutting back what he was used to.
He shook his head. “I mean, would I like it more? Yes. But I’m cool with twice a week.”
She relaxed and took another sip of her drink. That was one potential problem solved. “Good. How about…Tuesday and Thursday? That way we keep our weekends open.”
He considered for a second before agreeing. “Cool with me. But we can see each other outside of those days.”
“For what?”
“We still work with each other. I’d like to keep our business arrangement going.”
“That makes sense. We just can’t talk about our arrangement at work.”
The rumors linking her to Brian were already out there, but she didn’t want to feed into that by openly discussing their arrangement in front of other people.
“I wouldn’t do that anyway. What’s between us is between us.”
“I like that. I don’t want anyone else in my business.”
“Neither do I.”
He put his glass aside and stood. The hummingbird in Tracey’s chest started up again. Now that they’d established the rules, they were getting started. She put the glass to her mouth and quickly downed the rest of the drink. She slammed it back down and popped out of her seat.
“You ready now?”
He chuckled then reached for her hand. “Anxious?”
She shook her head. “Me? No. Not at all. I’m just ready to get this started.”
He pulled her closer. “Then, let’s not wait any longer.”
His head lowered, and Tracey squeezed her eyes shut. When his lips met hers she tried to relax and enjoy the kiss. Now they would have sex. But her mind refused to shut down. Were they going to do it in the kitchen? Would he put her on the counter or the table? In theory, that would be extremely sexy, but when was the last time he’d wiped down the counters? Did he always have sex outside of the bedroom? She couldn’t ask. What if he thought she wasn’t exciting enough? Bernard hadn’t thought she was exciting. Maybe she really didn’t know what she was doing.
Brian lifted his head and frowned down at her. “You good?”
She nodded stiffly. “Yeah. Why do you ask?”
His hands rested on her hips. “You seem a little distracted.”
Damn, she was already messing this up. What was wrong with her? She needed to get out of her head. “No, just…getting in the mood. Warming up the oven.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his. “Kiss me some more.”
His lips lifted in a sexy grin. “Gladly.”
His mouth covered hers, and this time she forced thoughts from her head. She focused on the moment. His lips were soft and smooth. He tasted just as good as the rum punch he’d made. Her body relaxed, and she was losing herself in the kiss when he pressed forward and her hip bumped the table.
He really was going to put her on the table! Could the table hold her? What if he thought she was too heavy when he lifted her? What if he saw her naked and thought her body wasn’t sexy anymore? What underwear had she put on? She hadn’t prepared for this at all.
Brian broke the kiss. “You sure you’re okay? You keep tensing up.”
Double damn. She was really messing this up. Maybe Bernard was right. She pushed that aside. “I’m fine. Really. Are we doing it in here?”
He looked at her for a few seconds before shaking his head. “How about we move to the bedroom? Relax and take our time.”
“Yes, the bedroom will be good.”
He took her hand and led her to the bedroom. On the way she gave herself a pep talk. She was sexy. She was confident. She was not boring!
Once inside she moved to pull up her shirt. Brian stopped her with a hand on hers. “Hold up. Let’s lie down. Let me rub your back and shoulders for a little bit. Help you relax.”
“I’m relaxed.”
He ran his hands up her arms and gently massaged her shoulders. Brian took a step closer, his eyes never leaving hers. “Let me take care of you, Tracey.”
The words knocked all the random thoughts out of her head and hit on something much deeper. When had anyone ever taken care of her? She’d come over with the promise of sex and expected him to be solely interested in that. Instead, he was focused on taking care of her instead of rushing to sleep with her. The gesture warmed her insides. That and the rum seeping through her system.
The tension eased out of her shoulders, and she nodded slowly. She leaned in to the effects of the rum and the good feeling of knowing Brian didn’t want to rush. He wanted her to be comfortable. “Okay.”
They lay on the bed, her back to his front. Brian rubbed on her shoulders, her arms and her back. She sighed and relaxed even more. Her body sank into the mattress. It was so soft. She wondered if it was a pillow top or maybe one of those foam mattresses. The sheets smelled like Brian. Her eyes closed and she breathed in the smell of him. His big body was warm and comforting behind her. His lips drifted across her shoulder, and Tracey smiled, and she relaxed into the gentle caress of his hands on her body.