CHAPTER NINETEEN
It would be nearly half an hour more before William finally concluded his phone call and came back into the bedroom. But when he saw her laying there, he stood at the door momentarily. Maybe he should just leave her alone. But he knew she could be far more comfortable than that.
He placed his hands in his pockets and made his way toward the bed.
There was Joynetta, Joy, fast asleep. She was a smart, practical, sensible girl.
Mature for her age in some respects. Exactly her age in others.
But he liked that youthful exuberance about her too that he often found irritating in other young people.
But when he stood at the edge of the bed staring down at her, he felt an odd sense of more than just liking her.
Although he didn’t know her like that, he was already deeply concerned about her and about her wellbeing.
He felt connected to her in a way he’d never felt connected to hardly any woman before. Nor person for that matter.
Apparently sensing a presence in the room, Joy opened her eyes. When she saw William standing there staring at her, she quickly sat back up. “I’m sorry. I must have fallen asleep.”
“I’m the one that should be apologizing. One of my clients, a legendary Hollywood director, was just snatched out of his bed by order of the FBI. He was arrested.”
“Arrested? What for?”
William wasn’t going to give out any further information and Joy wasn’t going to ask for any. But he could tell something was bothering her. “You’re worried about something.”
When she just hunched her small shoulders, he placed his hand under her chin and lifted her face up to him. “What is it, Joynetta?”
She looked up at him. “I feel bad about what happened.”
“With my client? He’s rich. He’ll be fine.”
When Joy looked confused, William smiled. “I’m joking, sweetie,” he said.
When he said those words, Joy looked even more stressed. He called her sweetie. Nobody had ever called her sweetie before. She didn’t know what to make of such a whimsical term of endearment.
“Now you’re really worrying me. What’s bothering you? You look quite distressed. What is it that you feel so bad about?”
“I feel like you made that lady leave, that Felicity, because of me. I would never wanna come between you and your girlfriend.”
“First of all, she’s not my girlfriend,” William quickly pointed out. “And secondly, you didn’t come between us at all.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive. There’s nothing to come between.”
“But she said she planned on spending the night here.”
“Those were her plans. Not mine.”
Joy continued to look at him as if she expected him to say more. But she could tell he didn’t like that subject matter at all. He moved on. “I would have expected you to get more comfortable.”
“You mean my pajamas?”
“Yes.”
“I forgot to get something to sleep in. I got everything else, but I forgot that. And I know I didn’t ask permission, but I took a bath in your tub. I hope that’s okay.”
To her delight William didn’t castigate her for using his tub without permission. He smiled. “Of course it’s okay. You love to bathe, hun?”
“After five months in prison? Better believe it! But mostly I wanted to try out that deep tub.”
William laughed. “You’re a very industrious young lady. I like that. Now get up and take off those clothes,” he said as he went to the closet and pulled out one of his dress shirts that was on a hanger. “You’ll sleep in this.” He tossed his shirt onto the bed.
She stood up to undress, expecting him to leave, but he, instead, began helping her remove her blouse. It was a simple gesture that somehow felt so sensual to her that she found herself fighting to control her breathing.
But when she was down to her bra and was about to go into the bathroom for privacy to remove everything else, he was apparently even more sensual than she was.
Because he didn’t let her go. He, instead, gently pulled her back in front of him and reached behind her and began unbuttoning her bra strap.
They stared into each other’s eyes as he slowly unbuttoned her.
But when he was just about to remove her bra from off of her breasts, exposing her nakedness in his eyes for the first time, she stopped his hands.
And when her huge greenish-brown eyes looked up into his deep, blue eyes, a singular tear dropped out of her eye and slowly fell down her face.
She didn’t have to say a word because he knew exactly what she wanted to say. She couldn’t risk the job of a lifetime by doing something that might help him, but could ruin her and her chances at a good career forever. It wasn’t a chance she was willing to take.
But as they continued to stare at one another, and as those feelings of longing overwhelmed each of them, she gave in. And removed her hands.
William slowly removed her bra completely off of her body, revealing her sizeable breasts that made his penis squeeze. But when he unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans, and as he pulled down both her jeans and her panties, she could feel her heartbeat quickening. What was she doing allowing this?
But she didn’t stop him. She, instead, placed her hands on his shoulders as she stepped out of those pants and panties, and as his eyes became hooded and glazed staring at her.
His penis was throbbing as he stared. He wanted her in the worst way. He needed her in the worst way.
But when he looked from her body into her kind eyes, and he saw a young woman that could so very easily be manipulated by a slick bastard like him, he knew she didn’t need him at all.
And, if he were to be honest with himself, what was he going to do with a woman her age anyway?
His teaching days were over. And because she was a woman of character and substance, there was no way she would permit herself to become any man’s whore. Not even his.
And even if he was reading her completely wrong and she might just be open to becoming whatever he wanted her to be, he wasn’t going to let her.
But he knew he couldn’t continue to stare at that black bombshell of a body in front of him and be able to constrain himself. That was why he put his dress shirt onto her naked body, buttoned it up, and then pulled back the covers of the bed. Then he laid her in that bed.
Joy was so baffled that she looked at him as if she’d done something wrong. When, in William’s eyes, she’d done everything perfectly right. But Joy was concerned. He looked as if he wanted to eat her alive. Now he didn’t want her at all? She was confused.
He leaned down toward her sweet innocent puzzled face, with his hands on each side of her covered body. “I want every bit of you,” he said to her as if he could hear her thoughts. “But that tear you shed when your hands attempted to stop me said it all. It will not be a good idea.”
Even though she had wanted him almost as badly as he wanted her, a sense of great relief washed over her face, and she smiled. And fought back tears. “Thank you,” she said.
William smiled too and she could see for the first time those lines of age appearing on the sides of his beautiful eyes.
And those lines reminded her of the chasm that existed between their two worlds.
This man was rich and powerful and in his forties, while she was poor and powerless and turned twenty-five in jail.
What would he want with somebody like her?
What would he do with somebody like her?
He was almost old enough to be her father!
But William wasn’t thinking about any of that the way he usually did. He was so close to her sweet, soft lips that he wanted to kiss her. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to fuck her.
But none of it was a good idea. None. Of. It. So he just said goodnight, gave her a smile even though it wasn’t natural for him, and he left the room, turning off the light as he went.
Joy had wanted him too. She would have allowed it had he went all the way even though she knew it wouldn’t redound to her best interest at all.
But she could not have been more pleased the way it turned out.
She snuggled herself into that comfortable, warm bed in that beautiful bedroom, and closed her eyes.
But her eyes flew open again. What startled her wasn’t the fact that he didn’t go all the way with her.
That pleased her because she knew no other man, in as intimate a situation as they found themselves in, would have given her that grace.
But it was that very fact that he didn’t take advantage of her and go all the way with her that ingratiated him to her more.
Which meant she was still ripe for the taking.
Which meant she was nowhere near out of the woods of his affection yet.