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  “Oh, how terrible. She was alone on her romantic getaway. Her husband sounds awful.” Jeannette shook her head.

  “Yeah, so I thought maybe we could hang out a little bit and have some fun. She seemed like she could use a friend, and I was on my own, so we spent some time together.” He carefully left out the racier parts of the trip.

  “Hmm. Have you been seeing her this whole last month?” Jeannette asked cautiously.

  “No, after Catalina, I left her alone. I liked her, but I didn’t want to complicate her life.” He took a drink of his beer.

  Jeannette breathed a sigh of relief. She took a swig from her bottle, and then looked up suddenly.

  “Wait. You didn’t call her or anything? Women hate that, Jason. You should know better considering you have two sisters. Honestly. What were you thinking?” She reprimanded him just like she did when he was in high school.

  “But Mom, she didn’t contact me either. I thought it was the right thing to do, give her space. Anyway, right after I got back my pilots at started coming down with the flu, so I was flying constantly.”

  “Excuses, Jason.” She was not going to let him off the hook.

  “Well, as it turns out, Rich Mulcahey hired her ad agency to handle the Callahan-Bradford merger, and she is the executive on the account. We are now working together. So, we’ve reconnected.”

  He smiled to himself. They had reconnected, all right. Multiple times a day.

  “That has to be divine intervention.” Jeannette sighed. She was a total romantic. “Was she upset with you? When did you see each other again?”

  “Last Thursday was the first meeting. We caught up afterward, and she told me that she had been leaving me alone because she thought I deserved to find someone who was not in the middle of getting a divorce. I didn’t call her because I thought she needed space. We were both wrong.” He was surprisingly relieved to have told someone about Judy.

  “Listen Jason, that’s all well and good, but if you care about her, you need to treat her well. Have you taken her on a real date? Women like to be wooed, even if they are in the middle of a divorce. The more successful they are in their careers, the more they want to be treated like princesses.” Jeannette explained.

  “Yes, Mom, I made dinner for her Friday night, and Saturday we took the Skyhawk out.”

  “Oh my, you brought out the big guns for her,” Jeannette smiled.

  She knew what it meant if he’d had her up in the Skyhawk. The Skyhawk was the first great love of his life. Looked like Judy might be the second.

  “Did she enjoy it?”

  He smiled back at his mom, thinking about Judy’s comment that he’d have to marry her because no one could top that date. “Yeah, Mom, she did.”

  “Oh dear. I guess I better start thinking about an extra place setting for Thanksgiving.”

  “Mom! That’s six months away. Don’t be ridiculous, we just had a couple of dates.” His mom was exhausting.

  “Jason, by the look on your face, I think Judy is going to be around awhile.” Jeannette stood up. “Now, I’m going to get dinner started. Miranda and Linda are going to stop over to see you tonight, too, so we’ll have a full house.”

  Christ. If his mom was good at getting information from him, his sisters had perfected it. It might be a long night.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  THE WEEKEND PASSED IN a flash for Judy, and before she knew it Monday arrived and Jason departed for Portland and his work week. The days passed quickly though, and they began to settle into what could become a routine with their respective schedules. She spent the weekends with Jason at his house, and then stayed at her own place during the week while he was flying.

  The night before the next big client meeting with Bradford Aviation, Dani and Judy were again trying to put together a decent, professional outfit, though with very different objectives this time. Tomorrow was the big pitch. Judy needed Bradford to sign off on the campaign tomorrow so that they could get it rolling. Rich needed to fall in love with the campaign and its price tag, which meant he needed to put his faith in Judy and Mark.

  “Let’s see if I have this straight,” Dani said, lounging on Judy’s bed, peering over her overfilled glass of wine. “For this meeting, you don’t necessarily want to have Jason thinking about sex, but instead you want to woo the CEO into loving the campaign. Hmmm.”

  “Yes,” Judy replied. “I need Rich to agree to part with a lot of money and be so in love with the campaign that the money doesn’t matter. And the accounting guy. I need him to be really impressed.”

  “Well, the way I see it, you are really working toward the same goal as before, only this time, Rich is the target instead of Jason.” Dani was thoughtful.

  “In business, blue is the color of negotiation. I’d go with the blue suit, blue blouse.” She drained her glass. “Tell me, how is Jason?”

  Judy knew Dani wanted to know every detail and had a million questions. But she was trying not to ask herself a million questions about Jason every day. Questions like, what the heck was she doing with him? Was this the real thing or just a fling to help her get through her divorce? What was their future going to be? She was trying to not rush her feelings or her need to have the answer to every question. Their relationship was new. And maybe a little complicated. She needed to give it time, live more in the moment and the rest would come. Dani, who knew her best, also tried to give her time, too.

  “He’s good. No, he’s great. He’s fantastic. He’s charming, sexy and gentle. He’s handsome, sweet and positive. He’s reserved and discreet, and wickedly good in bed,” she said in a rush. She stopped to catch her breath.

  “Judy, I can see waves of whatever you are feeling for Jason radiating off you from across the room and he’s not even here. If his feelings are half as powerful, you two are creating your own little love vacuum. How are you going to pull this off tomorrow and all the days after? There is no way your coworkers are going to be blind to what’s happening,” Dani poured another glass of wine.

  She sat down with a sigh. “I know. I don’t know how we are going to do this. Just one moment at a time, I guess. It’s all so new and wonderful, and we have to pretend like it doesn’t exist.”

  *

  After a fitful night, Judy again woke very early the meeting with Bradford Aviation. She gave herself the standard knock-their-socks-off blowout and watched as her hair fell in cascading waves. She couldn’t help but think that she was doing this for Jason, not Rich and the accounting guy. He was never far from her thoughts. She donned the navy pants and snug jacket with the blue shell as Dani suggested. Her lucky pumps to finish it off and she was ready for action.

  She expected to be the first in the office, but as she walked in she saw Mark coming toward her.

  “You ready for this?” He asked, looking a little nervous.

  “As I’ll ever be,” she responded.

  They spent the next couple of hours going over the presentation, and soon enough, Stephanie popped her head into the war room.

  “Okay folks, it’s time. Let’s do this.”

  Just as Judy and Mark finished setting up the presentation in the conference room, Stephanie’s assistant brought in Rich, Jason, and another man, Bill something, Bradford’s CFO.

  She knew she should be focus on Bill because he was the money man, but she couldn’t take her eyes off Jason. He, like Judy, was also in a navy-blue suit and wore a baby blue tie. It made his eyes a brilliant blue. He was breathtakingly handsome. And they sort of matched. She should feel awkward about that probably, but really, she liked it.

  “I guess you got the memo about wearing blue,” he said as he sat down.

  “Yes, of course. I had my people talk to your people” she smiled.

  “Well, I wish someone would have told me.” Rich swaggered in. “As usual, I stick out like a stripper in a church.” He chuckled looking at his bright orange tie.

  Stephanie rolled her eyes and Jason gave Judy a smile. The CF
O stared straight ahead. Yikes.

  “Okay, so why don’t we begin?” Judy said with a warm smile to the three clients and Stephanie. “The inaugural campaign for Bradford Aviation and Callahan Enterprises needs to establish the marriage of the small, family-run business with the larger company that can expand the offerings for both companies. It needs to highlight the joining of these two companies and how they complement one another in the most significant ways.”

  As Mark keyed up the storyboards with a partnership/marriage focus, Judy continued, “Bradford Aviation is an entity with endless options, but needing that one element to make it perfect: the down-to-earth values of Callahan Enterprises.”

  Mark switched the storyboard and cued up UB40’s version of “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”

  “With Callahan by its side,” Judy narrated, “Bradford is perfect. Callahan won’t let Bradford be swallowed up by things like the bottom line and profit margin. With these two companies joined in holy merger, service and kindness will always come first in taking care of people who trust you to get them to their destinations.”

  At the end of the presentation, Mark cued up a short slide show of the two companies’ employees working together and smiling, set to a jazzy version of the Wedding March.

  Afterward, Judy was silent and remained standing. The room was quiet.

  She could tell Jason got it. He smiled looking at the materials that had been handed out. Rich seemed open to the idea but needed Mark to sell him because Rich was a sexist. He needed to feel like the guys figured this out, and the lighthearted take on the two companies “falling in love” was not a masculine, macho idea. But then, that was exactly why she and Mark went this route. She had thought about Ed-the-tech-guy’s wife who was a travel agent. Why do aviation companies never market to travel agents and executive assistants? These are the people making all the travel plans, and they happen to be almost always women.

  The CFO was utterly blank. It was impossible to know which way he was leaning.

  “Seems a little girly,” Rich said finally.

  “Exactly the point,” responded Mark, knowing that was his cue to play the man card. “Research shows that executive assistants, travel agents, personal assistants, and secretaries are overwhelmingly female. Also, they are the ones booking the travel plans. By marketing to men, the aviation industry is missing a whole facet of the market that is just waiting for someone to notice it.”

  “This campaign also plays to the merger, rather than the other, more typical aspects of an aviation campaign. We want the focus to be on the merger and how great it is, and there is no better analogy of a perfect union than marriage,” Judy followed up.

  “Not sure my third wife would agree, but I see the point,” Rich said with a chuckle. “Well, you sold me. I love it. If you can get Billy boy over here to pony up the cash, we are good to go.” Rich pointed to the CFO, who remained utterly expressionless.

  *

  They broke for lunch, and Stephanie, Mark, Rich, Jason, Bill the CFO and Judy went to one of the decent surf-and-turf spots. The afternoon would be devoted to the budgeting part of the campaign, so the pressure was off Judy and Mark.

  The restaurant seated them at a large round table for 6, and Judy found herself sitting between Jason and Rich. Jason was playing with fire wrangling a seat next to her, especially with Rich on the other side. On the other hand, though, she wanted to be close to him, too.

  This whole thing was beyond difficult. She needed to focus. She had managed to keep herself together during the morning because she was handling the bulk of the presentations. Her goal was to bring Rich into the fold, not flirt with Jason. She felt at ease in her work, but now, being seated so closely to Jason, she felt a current of attraction run through her blood. When they sat, Jason pulled out her chair for her and her body reacted like he’d suddenly removed his clothes. She was tempted to pour her glass of ice water over her head.

  Lunch conversation started with the campaign but quickly steered more toward sports and entertainment. It was obvious no one wanted to discuss work after having talked shop all morning long.

  “So y’all Seahawks fans?” Rich asked. “Bradford has a luxury suite at CenturyLink Field, and guess who has season tickets? That’s right, this guy!” He pointed to himself.

  Mark perked up. “Seriously? That’s awesome. What do we have to do to get your tickets??”

  “Well shoot, Mark, just name the game. I’ll get you in if you give me a ride to the field in your Tesla!” Rich cajoled.

  “Anyone else love the ‘Hawks? You all go to the games? What about you, Judy?” Rich leaned toward Judy.

  She looked up from her plate. “I haven’t been, no.”

  “What?? That’s practically traitorous in these parts!” Rich laughed at his joke.

  “The games usually sell out, and sometimes I’m working on Sundays.” She was nonchalant. She was a Bears fan anyway. “I watch the games when I can on TV though.”

  “Oh, honey, we’ll have to fix that. Maybe this year you can come to one of the games with me!” Rich exclaimed, and gave her knee a squeeze under the table.

  Judy went rigid with shock by the invitation and the wholly inappropriate touch. She knew Jason saw it because of the way he also went rigid and looked at her with fire in his eyes. He quickly recovered, making his expression impassive, and addressed the rest of the table.

  “There goes Rich again, charming the ladies with his generosity. Rich, hey, how come you never invite me to a Seahawks game?” He joked light-heartedly while everyone laughed.

  Judy couldn’t help being touched - he had come to her rescue gallantly in what was a terribly awkward moment.

  “Well,” said Rich, taking the bait, “you don’t look so good in a skirt!”

  If Stephanie rolled her eyes one more time she was going to give herself a permanent twitch. Judy understood, though. Rich was over the top. He made Judy feel like she was prostituting herself to get him to accept this campaign. She wished she could tell Rich to shut it and that she’s not available and anyway, she’s dating the controlling interest in Callahan Enterprises.

  But, no. This was a business lunch, and she and Jason were not supposed to be anything but professionals who happened to be working together.

  She was having some trouble keeping herself from imagining her client naked, though. And from remembering her client running his tongue down the length of her body. And feathering kisses all over her. She wanted to touch him and feel the hardness of his muscles underneath that suit. And then she wanted to remove it, piece by piece.

  Whew. She needed to splash some cold water on her face.

  “Excuse me, folks. I’ll be right back,” Judy smiled as she stood up.

  Jason and Rich both stood as she exited the table.

  Stephanie followed. “Can you believe that guy? He is unbelievable. I swear he went to anti-harassment training and decided it was a how-to course. Jesus.”

  Stephanie touched up her hair and checked her make up.

  “I know, he’s really something.” Judy said. “He put his hand on my knee, and my first instinct was to punch him in the baby-maker.”

  “I knew something happened.” Stephanie responded. “Jason had fire in his eyes. I don’t think he cares for Rich’s behavior much.”

  “Yeah, I picked up on that, too.” Judy said, trying to sound casual. This conversation strayed into dangerous waters.

  “I also think Jason likes you,” Stephanie looked sideways at Judy.

  “What? Why would you say that?” Judy tried to sound shocked. Shit.

  “He couldn’t take his eyes off you this morning. I think he was actually listening to your presentation. I also think he wasn’t sitting next to you by chance, I think he was going to make that happen. He’s smokin’ hot. You’d have to be crazy or dead to not notice. Just be careful. You know the rules about the clients.” Stephanie rummaged in her purse for something.

  “Of course. I’m in the middle of a
divorce, anyway.”

  “I know, I know. I just don’t want all this to go down in flames because of a jump in the sack. No matter how badly you probably need it.” Stephanie smiled.

  “Wait, what? You think I need to get laid? What are you saying?”

  God, if she only knew. Although it had been about 4 days since she’d spent the night with Jason. She missed him for sure.

  “No, it’s not that. It’s just that the divorce can make you feel insecure, and another man paying attention to you and giving you some love can help resolve that. I’m just saying let’s not have Jason be that man. Mixing business with pleasure is usually a terrible idea. See ya back at the table from hell. I’m going to see if I can talk the CFO into tequila shooters.” Stephanie exited the bathroom, leaving Judy to her thoughts.

  She knew Stephanie was right. For a moment, she questioned whether her feelings for Jason were so intense because she needed a confidence boost after Greg rejecting her. But that didn’t feel right. Her feelings toward Jason were separate from Greg. It didn’t matter—either way, she knew that nothing could keep her away from Jason. They’ll just have to get through it.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  JASON WANTED TO PUNCH something. Preferably Rich’s face. He caught Rich’s surreptitious groping of Judy’s knee and he instantly felt the urge to level Rich right there at the table.

  God, but the man was an asshole. He represented everything that was wrong with the male gender, in Jason’s opinion. Jason had seen Rich make inappropriate advances on women before, but usually they accepted his affections, or at least pretended to in the beginning. Judy, however, froze the second Rich touched her, obviously not wanting his attention. Yet Rich just plowed on, as if nothing happened.

  It didn’t matter if the women accepted Rich’s attention or not—it was still wrong. Rich was always inserting himself into situations with women, running over everyone else to get to the prize. That’s how he treated women; like prizes to be won and possessions to be owned. And then when he tired of them, he put them on the shelf, never to be played with again.