“Canoes, kayaks…that sort of thing.”
“Hmm, and that’s a lucrative business?” She took off her coat and just the sight of her in that Chanel suit made my heart race. I took a step closer to her and said,
“I really, really don’t want to talk about business right now.” She smiled and we stepped towards each other at the same time. Our lips collided and she made a sound, just a tiny hint of a moan but it went straight to my loins. Her warm and willing mouth opened against mine and once again remembering how close I came to not being able to do this again, I kissed her like I’d never kissed her before. My hands ran down her sides and across the curve of her hips. The soft fabric felt good her body underneath felt better. Her body was warm and my body was reacting instantaneously.
I slid my hand up to the side of her neck and let my finger trace the line of her jaw softly as I pulled back and looked into her beautiful blue eyes. I felt suddenly overwhelmed and I said,
“Thank you for giving me another chance.” My voice was calm and controlled, but my insides were a mess. She had made a quivering mess of me and I loved it.
She smiled and said, “Thank you for sharing so much of you with me.”
I cupped her face in my hands and said, “I want to show it all to you.”
She laughed, “Did you mean that in an exhibitionist sense of the word?”
I cracked up and said, “Baby if you want to take it that way I’m ready for that too.”
I pulled her back up against me and she gripped around my neck fiercely, bringing her lips back up to mine. We walked backwards to the bedroom as our lips wrangled and my body burned for her. When we got to the bedroom, I pushed her down on the bed and as I did I heard a growl escape from my throat that I didn’t even know was there. I buried my face in her neck and I nipped at the skin below her ear. She squealed and wiggled underneath me. That only encouraged me to do it more.
My lips came down on hers hard and I drove my tongue between her lips. I was desperate to taste her, to have her essence in my mouth. When we broke the kiss, her cheeks were flushed and her breaths were coming in deep gulps and gasps. Her eyes were shining and the whole picture made me want to devour her, to take her over and over again. She arched her body up against mine and I dipped my head down to graze her neck with my teeth. She moaned and I had to have her right then. I started pulling at the buttons of the expensive designer suit she was wearing and that was when she stopped me.
“Don’t tear it,” she said. I laughed and said,
“I’ll buy you a new one.”
“I don’t want a new one,” she said, “This one already has a piece of our history in it.” Sexually frustrated I growled again, but I got off of her long enough to let her unbutton the blouse and skirt fold them neatly. Once she was in her bra and panties…it was on. I threw her back down on the bed, stripped off my own clothes and took what I wanted so desperately. Judging from her gasps and moans, I like to believe that I also gave her what she needed.
ROBYN
I never experienced the kind of passion that Aaron and I shared the night he took me out to dinner and the opera. It was a night that I would remember and cherish forever. We had crossed some kind of threshold and I was certain now that the only way for us to move would be forward. The true test, I thought, was going to be what things were like the following Monday when we both returned back to work. I needn’t have worried however, because when I walked into my office I was first greeted by the heady fragrance of fresh flowers, and then the sight of the largest, most beautiful bouquet of flowers in a designer vase sitting on my desk. I stood there gaping at them when I suddenly felt someone at my back, looking over my shoulder. I turned to see not just one, but two of my co-workers gaping as well. I think one of the girls was actually salivating.
“Who are they from Robyn?” one of the girls asked.
“Yes, you’ve been holding out on us,” the other one said.
I started to say something, I’m really not even sure what, when I looked one direction and saw Gary coming up the hall and then the other, to see Aaron getting off the elevator. He made direct eye-contact with me and grinned. My two curious co-workers looked like they were considering making their escape but Aaron slipped up on them too quickly. They both quickly muttered a,
“Hello Mr. Winters.”
“Hello Ladies,” Aaron said. Gary stopped and looked into the office and said,
“Wow!”
“Thanks!” Aaron said. They all looked surprised and Gary of course was the one to say,
“You sent them….to Robyn?”
Aaron put his arm around me and said, “Yep, do you like them?”
I looked at him with tears in my eyes and said, “I love them.” I loved him. It was too soon to tell him that, but I did. My heart was so full that it felt like it would bust.
~
CHAPTER NINE
~
ROBYN
Weeks went by and things only got better and better for Aaron and me. I adjusted to his hectic schedule and he seemed to be adjusting to my “unconventional” ways of doing things. We made the best of the time that we did have to spend together, taking turns deciding what we would do and many times just choosing to stay in and cook together and watch movies or listen to music deep into the night.
One Saturday afternoon it was Aaron’s turn to decide where he wanted to go. I had assumed that because there was a lot of fresh snow on the ground from the night before that he’d either choose an indoor activity, or choose to stay at home. Instead, he said,
“The time is coming when I have to make a final decision about what to do about the Hamilton’s offer.” Aaron had finished the story of Mr. Hamilton and his children and how upset the elderly man was the day after we went to the opera. I had to admit to him that although I’d never met the old man, I was feeling sad for him. It would have to feel to him like his own children were selling him out. Aaron had stood firm that night on his side of it. He didn’t agree with what the family was doing to each other, but he was only doing what he did best…taking care of business.
I let it go after that. It really wasn’t my place to interfere in his business. So far I’d helped him learn how to celebrate Christmas, I’d helped him get to know Jeffrey better and I hope I’d brought other pleasant experiences into his life. I made a vow to myself that unless he asked my opinion or unless it involved my job directly I wasn’t going to get involved.
“I’d like to take you somewhere, and I’m hoping that by going there myself, I might gain some prospective on this deal with them.”
He didn’t tell me where we were going and although I was curious, I didn’t ask. We drove for a long time, passing into upstate New York finally ending at a place called Landis Arboretum. I was still confused about what it had to do with the Hamilton’s, but I was excited. I had always wanted to visit this place that they called a “living museum.” Aaron helped me out of the car and as we stood in front of the entrance for the huge 548 acre arboretum he said,
“So what do you think?”
“I’m thrilled, it looks beautiful even from out here,” I told him.
“It does,” he said. “Let’s go check it out.”
Aaron paid for our entrance and we were given a brochure and a map. There were over eight miles of walking trails inside and I was really happy I’d worn my comfortable boots. We started out strolling through and old-growth forest where the trees were covered in a thick blanket of pure white, the occasional leaf or gnarly bark peeked out from under their white caps and the only thing that disturbed the perfect white scene were the imprints of footsteps that crisscrossed each other along the path. It was cold, but not uncomfortably so and it was so peaceful underneath the umbrellas of snow-laden trees that it seemed even the sound had been blanketed by the winter storm.
We came to the perennial gardens and walked through one of the greenhouses that was filled with lush, fragrant flowers and dark, leafy green plants. It was nice to
warm up…defrost a little from being outside. Aaron seemed fascinated by the construction of the greenhouse and he was asking one of the attendants a lot of questions about it. When he came back over to where I was admiring the blossoms on some of the baby trees they were beginning to grow inside the greenhouse he said,
“Are you too cold?”
“I’m okay….you’re not ready to leave yet are you?”
“No, not yet. Come with me.” He took my hand and led me out of the greenhouse and down along one of the peaceful paths towards a little structure that stood on the edge of the wooded path. It looked like a little boat house. There was a bronze plaque on the outside that said, “Dedicated to Harvey Hamilton I, 1992.” I was surprised when Aaron opened the door and invited me in. Once inside, I saw that it was indeed a boathouse. The walls were lined with canoes and kayaks and paddles. The difference between this and any other boathouse that I’d ever seen was that these boats were encased in glass and they all looked handmade with intricate detail visible on the wood. Even the wooden paddles were carved with elaborate designs.
“What is this place?” I asked him.
“Years ago, there was no passage across the river during the winter when the water would rise. The only means of getting around would be by boat. There was a man who lived here who used a relatively small inheritance he received to finance making boats for all of those in the community who couldn’t afford to buy their own. There were people who couldn’t get to work or school because they lacked the transportation and the resources to pay for it. He did such fine work that everyone wanted one and he started taking special orders. The boats got so popular that he stopped working at his other job altogether and began a business just building the boats….”
“Hamilton’s grandfather?”
Aaron nodded, “Yeah. After you and I talked, I got curious. This man is seventy-eight years old and I wondered why he wouldn’t just give in and retire already. The company doesn’t make a lot of money anymore and that’s why his kids want out of it. It’s likely that if they don’t sell, it will go under in a few years. It could be turned around, but only with a lot of money poured into it. The old man is generous with his donations and his employees….too generous for his own good, according to the kids. But you can see in his eyes how much he loves that place. His father worked for his grandfather and expanded the business to several states in the U.S. Hamilton expanded it to Canada and Alaska and he re-started the tradition that his grandfather had begun…every year he gives away thousands of canoes and kayaks to people who live in regions where they need them for things like getting to work and getting to town.”
“Wow, that’s nice,” I said. “How did you find this place?”
“I remembered something that Hamilton said to me and did some simple research. The thing is, it’s something I wouldn’t have ever done before. I would have never thought about had it not been for you even questioning me on this. And it is nice what he does….and I’m trying to take that away from him.”
“So…are you thinking about not buying out his kids?”
“They’re set on selling. If I don’t buy it, they’ll find a company who will.”
“Oh….”
He came over to me and took my face in his hands and said, “All of a sudden, I want to be a better man.”
“You’re already an amazing man,” I told him. He looked at me then like we were the only two people in the world then and he said,
“I like you, Robyn. I really, really like you. It’s the closest thing to love that I’ve ever felt and it might be that….but you know how I am….I need to examine it a little closer. I’ve never cared what anyone thought of me on a personal level before. As long as I excelled in business and the business world respected me….that was all that mattered, until I met you. You walked into my life and you changed everything and for the first time I can step outside the business part of this deal and look at the humans behind it. I’m going to buy the kids out, but I’m going to let the old man keep operating it the way he always has until he dies. I don’t care if it makes money or not, at least he will know for sure that until he dies…. his company will be run by a Hamilton.”
“That is amazing and I’m so proud of you,” I told him. He smiled, looking pleased with both me and himself.
“It’s funny that those five words mean more to me than a multi-million dollar business deal.” With that, he tipped my face up and his down and he kissed me. It wasn’t a peck, or a kiss that was really even appropriate for public. His teeth grazed mine as he searched in my mouth for my tongue, sucking it back into his. It felt like he was claiming me as his and I wasn’t going to tell him right then that he already had me, because I had no desire for him to ever stop.
***
It was Valentine’s Day. Aaron had done something new this year for his employees and he’d put together a Valentine’s dinner dance for them. To be honest, Janice and her minions had pulled it together, but Aaron had suggested it and financed it. He was starting to do a much better job of getting into the spirit of the holidays, and getting in touch with his