CHAPTER SIXTEEN
JAYEKNEWHEwas in trouble the moment Velvet opened the door. In all the years they’d been together, they’d never gone jogging together, so he hadn’t known what to expect. He wasn’t prepared to see her fully awake, dressed, all smiles and ready to go. It was, after all, five in the morning. And if he recalled, she was not a morning person...unless it was to wake up to make love.
Before, whenever he would leave bed to go jogging, she wouldn’t even stir. But then it could have been that he’d pretty much worn her out the night before. Last night had been different. He had slept in his own bed and she in hers.
They had agreed to meet earlier than his usual routine, since she needed to be at work at seven thirty. He had no problem with that since he made his own hours at the bank and any appointments weren’t until after ten o’clock. He had figured, although she had agreed to the time, that today would be a challenge for her. Evidently, it hadn’t been.
“Good morning, Velvet.”
“Good morning, Jaye.”
His gaze roamed over her, and he thought she looked good in her jogging suit. Curvy in all the right places. Sexy as hell. But then, he thought she looked good in anything she put on her body. And he noted she had a good pair of running shoes on her feet. They appeared new. “You look nice.”
“Thanks, and so do you,” she said, coming to stand out on her porch as if testing the temperature. Then as if satisfied she’d dressed appropriately, she closed the door behind her.
“Thanks.” He also thought she smelled good. Who did that to go jogging, knowing they would eventually get all sweaty?
“I hope you remember that I’m not a jogger and give me some slack, Jaye.”
He grinned at her as they headed down the steps. “You’ll do fine, but I promise to let you set the pace.”
“Thanks, but I don’t want to slow you down.”
“You won’t. There’s a path I usually jog that goes the full diameter of the blueberry field. I usually cover it at least four to five times each morning, but today we’ll run it only once so you can get used to it. In no time at all, you’ll be doing four or five easily.”
“Please don’t hold your breath for that to happen.”
He threw his head back and laughed as they headed toward the back of the house. “Before we start, we should do a few warm-up exercises.”
“Okay.”
Of course, she would be familiar with doing those since she taught gymnastics. He’d been surprised to hear that because, in the three years they were together, he hadn’t known her to ever frequent a gym. “When did you get into gymnastics, Velvet?” he asked as they began doing stretches.
She peered over at him. “I’ve always been into gymnastics, Jaye.”
He couldn’t help the dumbfounded expression that appeared on his face. “I never knew that.”
“Well, I have been. Since a child. I almost made the Olympic tryouts but a tendon strain did me in.” She smiled. “How do you think I was capable of doing all those crazy positions in the bedroom?”
He honestly hadn’t thought about it—all he’d known was that she could and that had been good enough for him. No questions asked. Now he wished he had.
“I’d never thought about how you did it, Velvet,” he said.
“Well, now you know.”
He wondered what else he didn’t know about her because he’d deliberately kept her on her back between the sheets most of the time. They did several other kinds of stretches for ten minutes or so and then he noticed something. “Where’s your water bottle?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t know I needed to bring one.”
“You do. But that’s no problem, I got mine and we can share.”
She didn’t say anything, but he was aware she knew that meant drinking from the same bottle. They’d done so in the past without thinking about it, and he was glad to see she didn’t have a problem doing so now.
“Okay, Velvet, let’s go.”
VELVETNEVERHADa reason to walk the blueberry field, so she’d been surprised by how large it was. And just to think that Jaye ran around it five times? Amazing. She would be lucky if she completed one lap. She was huffing and puffing already.
The field was beautiful with some of the blueberry bushes growing as high as eight feet tall. This was Reid Lacroix’s land and on the other side of it, beyond several acres of thick woods, was where Vashti’s inn, Shelby by the Sea, was located. She wondered if the place was full of occupants this week. Why should she care if it was or wasn’t?
Mainly because thinking about anything was better than concentrating on the man running by her side. The man whose body made sweat a total turn-on. The temperature had dropped a little overnight and the morning air was still rather cool and, like her, he was dressed for the weather. He looked good in sweats, and they emphasized what a great body he had. Nothing had changed about him when it came to staying in shape.
It was obvious he’d adjusted his pace for her and more than once she suggested he run on ahead. She hadn’t promised to catch up because there was no way she could. But he never took her up on her offer to leave her side. He stayed right with her. If she slowed her pace, then he slowed his as well.
“How do you like teaching at the junior school you’re at now?”
She glanced at him as they continued jogging. “It’s great. The other teachers are all nice and of course I love my kids, but...”
“But what?”
Velvet didn’t say anything because when they’d been together before, Jaye had this thing about not discussing work—only if there was good news to share. He didn’t like discussing anything about work that he thought of as unpleasant. That’s why one would imagine he’d always had good days at work since he never discussed the bad ones. The few times she’d tried to tell him about her unpleasant days, he would cut their conversation short or deliberately change the subject. After a while, she’d known to only share good news with him about her work, just like he did with her.
She would tell him how well her students were doing, especially when they received any national mathematics achievement awards. However, she would never tell him about any problems she encountered. She wondered what he would do if she told him now. Would he change the subject or cut the conversation short like he was known to do? There was only one way to find out.
“I have this slight problem at work.” She waited, fully prepared for him to do what he’d normally do.
“You want to tell me about it?”
She almost missed a step. Looking over at him, she saw he was watching her, waiting for her response. “There’s this great student who’s letting his grades slip because he honestly doesn’t think math is important. He plans to become a professional baseball player one day and believes that as long as he has the basic math, he’ll be able to count the millions of dollars he intends to make.”
Jaye shook his head. “I’d think he’d want to understand other aspects of math that include investing. As a sports agent, Mercury would share with me the number of young professional athletes who end up broke before they hit thirty. But I’m sure you’re going to do whatever you can to help bring his grades up, right?”
“I’m going to try. My biggest obstacle is his dad. He feels his son should get special treatment because of his potential as an athlete.”
He looked at her, frowning. “That’s not how it works.”
“I know that, but evidently when his father was in high school here in Catalina Cove, he was a great baseball player, destined for the pros. He wasn’t a great student, and the teachers gave him extra credit and passed him, anyway.”
“And now he wants you to do for his son what those teachers did for him?”
“Obviously.”
“Unfortunately, I see that kind of stuff all the time in my profession. You wouldn’t believe how many people assume we should give their son or daughter a loan for a car, although their credit is bad, because some bank did the same for them.”
She nodded. “How do you handle those type of customers?”
“I stick to my guns and let them know I’m a banker who goes by the rules. I bend them when I see a need to do so and not because they feel that I should. In your case, the bottom line is that you can’t give the kid a grade he doesn’t deserve. Have you talked to your principal about it?”
“Yes, but there’s no help there. The principal used to be the father’s coach when he was in senior high school, the one who boosted him for the pros. They see the son as a future pro baseball star who will achieve what his father did not.”
“Why didn’t the father make it in the pros?”
“He got signed up by the Dodgers, but he was released after a wrist injury.”
“That’s too bad, but you’re doing the right thing in sticking to your guns. The father shouldn’t expect special treatment. I don’t give a damn if the kid has a golden arm. He should do the work. And if you ask me, the principal isn’t doing his job if he doesn’t have your back on this.”
Velvet thought basically the same thing. “I agree.”
They slowed and then came to a stop when they had finished the first lap and were back where they’d started. “This is where we part ways,” he said.
His words surprised her. “It is?”
“Yes, I have four more laps to run, and you need to shower and get ready for work.”
Yes, she did. She was surprised that he hadn’t suggested they shower together. The Jaye Colfax she knew would have jumped at the chance. Not only would he have insisted on showering with her, but he would also have made love to her before she got dressed for work. “Okay. Thanks for inviting me to jog with you today and listening to my problem.”
He pushed a strand of hair back off her face. “Don’t thank me, Velvet. One of the things I realized after you left was that during the time we were together, we failed to communicate. It was all about the physical with us.”
She frowned up at him. “That’s the way you wanted things.”
“Yes, that’s the way I wanted things and I’ve come to regret it.”
She was surprised he’d admitted that. She was about to ask when he’d reached that conclusion when he asked, “What are your plans for the weekend?”
She wondered why he was asking and hoped it wasn’t because he intended to intrude in any way. “Tomorrow is Sierra’s goddaughter, Teryn’s birthday and there’s a big sleepover at Sierra’s place with ten of her friends. I’m spending the night to help Sierra with everything,”
“Ten little girls? That sounds like fun,” he said, grinning.
Velvet couldn’t help but grin back. “Yes, it will be. Sierra’s sister, Dani, is flying in to help as well.”
“Well, have a good day, Velvet, and enjoy your weekend.” He leaned in and brushed a kiss across her lips, and then added, “And about that problem we discussed. Like I said, don’t worry about it. You’re doing your job and that’s what matters.”
And then he took off jogging again. This time without her.
JAYESTOODAThis kitchen window to watch Velvet leave for work. He had pushed himself to jog those four additional laps so he could be here, standing in this same spot as usual. He would have to say that he’d enjoyed jogging with her this morning and, more than once, he’d had to catch himself when his body reacted to seeing her run beside him.
There had been a gracefulness in her stride, and whenever he looked over at her, an electric charge would hit his heart. And then if she smiled, too, he’d have to fight to keep himself from tripping over himself while jogging.
Bottom line was that she looked amazing. It didn’t matter if she was in running attire, or what she was wearing to work today, as he watched her get into her car—a pair of black slacks, a brown button-up shirt and a beige, brown and black colored tweed jacket. She looked both classy and sexy.
When she drove off, he moved away from the window, pleased with how their first jog had gone. Jaye was about to pour a cup of coffee when his cell phone rang. It was his brother Franklin. Clicking on, he said, “What’s up, Franklin?”
“I was thinking.”
Jaye rolled his eyes. Whenever his youngest brother got to thinking that usually meant trouble of the female kind. However, when it came to business, Franklin was an ace, always on top of his game. He successfully managed the construction company they’d inherited from their paternal grandfather, as well as being a pinch hitter when needed with the family’s banks. You could say Franklin was a jack-of-all-trades. Sometimes, Jaye wondered how he managed it all, and so efficaciously. But Franklin’s personal life was another matter. His younger brother was more of a womanizer than Jaye had ever been.
“And what were you thinking, Franklin?”
“About putting in a bid for that housing project that Reid Lacroix is developing in Catalina Cove.”
There was no reason to ask Franklin how he’d heard about the development. His brother made it his business to keep his finger on the pulse of any major construction projects.
“I think that will be great, Franklin.” He was glad his brother wasn’t calling him with women issues. Jaye couldn’t have helped him there since he was trying to undo his own major screw-up.
He talked to Franklin a few minutes more. “I wish you luck with that Lacroix bid.”
“Thanks.”
Jaye ended the call, not sure if Catalina Cove was ready for the likes of Franklin Delano Colfax.