Chapter 15 #2
“I’m not jealous.” She huffs a fake laugh, but we both know the truth. Her cheeks tint as she pushes her glasses back on her nose, the cute movement now one of my favorite things about her.
“No? You sure came up quick. Thought you might be playing the role of bodyguard for a moment there? Maybe stamping your territory?” I’m teasing, and she knows it.
“Stop it!” She nudges me, and my grin widens. Too wide for the audience that filters around us. They don’t need to see my weakness, which she’s starting to become.
“I’m not complaining… I like you coming to my rescue.”
She looks back at me, surprised, and I squeeze my hand around her waist a little—as subtly as I can in a room full of businesspeople who are probably all watching us with interest. I wouldn’t know, since my eyes can’t leave Jessica for a second.
Another bell rings and staff start to cajole people into the room.
“Mr. York, we’re ready for you now.” A young man comes up to us, and I nod, knowing I need to go out back and get ready.
“There’s reserved seating. I’ll meet you after,” I tell Jessica as I turn, button my suit jacket, and walk out the back with the team, ready to do this keynote and get the fuck out of here.
I don’t want to miss another second of being around her, hearing her laugh, having her attention on me, feeling her body.
I’m officially going straight to hell.
My keynote lasted for an hour, and I fielded another hour of questions afterward.
It was one of my best presentations. Probably because I had Jessica's complete attention, and it had me raptured. I spotted her immediately, sitting in the front row. Her eyes didn’t leave me as I delivered my predictions for the season ahead.
Those around her furiously took notes, yet she watched me for the entire duration, never once looking away.
That kind of attention affects a man. Makes me feel seen.
Noticed. Important. Not by the crowd. But by her.
“That was amazing.” She grins from ear to ear as I step off the stage, and I can’t help my lips quirking upward.
“Sound quality okay?”
“Perfect.”
I bask in her approval.
“Okay, we should get out of here. We’ve already been here much longer than I anticipated.
” I again place my hand on the small of her back and start to walk her out.
This was meant to be a quick trip in and out of Lake Placid, but it takes us an entire hour to get out of the crowd, many people wanting to ask more questions of me, shaking my hand.
Jessica also networks whenever I’m stopped, meeting more people, getting a gauge for the industry.
It’s exhausting and frustrating when all I want to do is be with her, yet it’s part of the job and position I hold in the industry.
“So, no Jasper?” she says as we finally make our way down the quiet corridor toward the foyer, away from the scores of people.
“No.” I frown as I think. “The team from Jasper are always at these things. The fact that they aren’t here is somewhat unsettling.”
As we walk briskly to meet our driver and pilot at the front of the convention center, I glance out the large windows and stall.
Fuck. It’s snowing heavily, and it looks like it has been for a while.
Not completely unusual for November, yet the weather lately has been odd.
This thick blanket of snow on the ground, with snow still falling quickly, while unusual, I’m learning to always expect the unexpected and with a pilot who’s overly cautious at the best of times, I know it isn’t looking good for us to depart in the jet today.
“Sir.”
I look to my left, seeing my pilot and driver both standing there, and I already know what they’re going to tell me. “We can’t get out?” I guess, and my pilot shakes his head.
“No. It's coming down too thick and too fast. Even if we could get off the ground, visibility isn’t great. The weather is too unpredictable at the moment.”
I nod, knowing safety is of utmost importance.
“What?” Jessica nervously looks between us.
“We’re snowed in. At least for tonight."
“Snowed in?” Her eyes widen.
“We’ve managed to book the last room here, but everything else is at capacity,” the driver tells me, and I nod. I thought as much. The conference goes for a few days. My participation was only for the keynote today, so I wasn’t planning on staying and hadn’t booked anything for my team.
“What? Where will we stay?” Jessica looks panicked, and I rub her lower back slightly to soothe her. She turns toward me, leaning back into my hand just a little. Enough for me to notice.
“I’ve got a place on the lake where we can stay.” I’ve had the house here for years. It was part of my father’s portfolio and where Mom and I would come sometimes for short breaks. Although I haven’t spent time here in a while.
“We?” she asks, biting the inside of her lip.
I swallow. “Well, there’s a room booked here you can have, if you prefer?” I wait with bated breath for her answer. If she said she would prefer it, then I would accommodate her here and sort out something else for my pilot and driver. But I sure would rather have Jessica in my home than two men.
“No,” she rushes out. “I’m fine going with you. We have some work we need to get through anyway.” She smiles, looking at the men who look between us like they are missing something.
“I can take you, but we’ll need to go now.
The roads aren’t entirely blocked yet.” My driver leads the way to a truck parked out front and we jump in, starting the drive.
“I’ve already called ahead. The kitchen is stocked, fire’s on,” he adds, and I’m grateful for the staff I have, anticipating my needs before I tell them.
“It’s so beautiful here…”
I look across at Jessica, whose face is glued to the window, and I follow her gaze.
I’ve been here so many times, I take it for granted.
But I try to look at it through her eyes, the tall pines, the snow falling, the streets already covered in white.
Then I look back at her. I’ve never brought anyone here.
The few times I’ve been here since Mom and Dad passed have been a solo adventure.
To get away from the life that consumes me. To just breathe a little.
“It’s just as beautiful in the summer.”
Her head whips around to look at me. Her smile offers me warmth.
“Have you spent a lot of time here?”
“A little. More so as a kid. I don’t really have a lot of leisure time these days.”
“I’ve never been out of the city. It’s nice to see something different.” She looks back out the window, and my gaze remains on her.
“The air is nice and crisp up here. It’s quiet.”
“Does it give you the space you need?”
I nod. “It’s secluded. No neighbors, surrounded by forests. The closest neighbors are across the lake.”
“So no one would even know you’re here…” She looks at me in a way that has my dick twitching.
“No. No one.”
She nods contemplatively, then looks back out the window, and my stomach flutters at what this could mean.
I’m not sure how much more of this tiptoeing around each other we can do. But I’m almost at my breaking point.