‘It was so false. A bunch of suits all gathered round computers watching electronic money grow. I wanted a real job that I could get my hands into. And I hated the lifestyle. But it was a means to an end. I made the money I needed to get the property I wanted and be able to buy the company I wanted.’
‘Juice.’
‘It’s a good little company.’ He sounded a tad defensive.
She smiled. It wasn’t that little and she sensed Jared had ambitions to take it further—this rebranding was just the beginning. He talked a little more about his time trading. She sensed he was making an effort as much as she. But the cynical gleam was still there. It wouldn’t take much to bring the big bad wolf back.
‘Are you having the dessert?’ he eventually asked.
She shook her head. ‘I need to get going.’
‘I’ll give you a ride.’
‘I can get a taxi,’ she said coolly.
‘I’ll give you a ride,’ he repeated.
She could feel him bending her to his will, wanted to fight against it but knew he wanted her to just so he could win. She sighed. Hadn’t she said they were grown-ups? And purely professionals working together? ‘That would be lovely, thank you.’
She didn’t speak in the car other than to give directions.
He glanced her way more than once. ‘Tired?’
‘I have a lot to think about.’
She slipped out of the car as soon as he’d pulled over where she told him to. Said she’d have everything prepared for when he got back. Waved goodbye and walked away. Fast.
She did have a lot to think about—a lot of work. But it wasn’t ad campaigns or marketing slogans that looped round her brain all through the wee small hours. It was a frame-by-frame replay of that one night. Over and over. When her world had come crashing down.
It had been one of the hottest nights of the summer and she was on holiday. She loved the holidays. It meant Jared was there almost every day—working for her grandfather—as a filing clerk in at the bank, in the office at home, in the fields on the farm. She’d sit at the window and watch.
She knew the deal. She had girlfriends, she lived on a farm for goodness’ sake so she knew the facts of life. But the fact was she was turning sweet sixteen and she’d never been kissed. Being Amanda she wanted more than that and there was only one man she wanted it from.
For over two years she’d had a crush on Jared. Tall, enigmatic, sexy-as-hell Jared who never even looked at her. The odd occasion he had it was as if he looked right through her. Well, she’d hatched a plan—one that wouldn’t fail.
She’d got the lingerie from the department store while on a trip to the city one day. Had hidden it in her room for her special night. Where had she got the audacity?
Oh, yes, that was right, Grandfather’s brandy.
While she’d celebrated her sixteenth birthday with her friends on the nearest Saturday, on the actual night she had her own special present planned. Jared lived in a one-room cottage a couple of kilometres down the road. She put her raincoat on over the top of her negligee and ran. Fast on her feet—she’d been the sprints champion at school. He wasn’t home. She’d known he wouldn’t be. He’d been working late on something for Bill, Grandfather’s best mate.
She remembered hearing his step on the old wooden deck. And the nervous rush of excitement that had flooded her. He’d seen her immediately. Hard not to when she was perched up in the middle of his bed. The door had slammed behind him but the bang was nothing on the bark of his voice.
‘What are you doing?’
‘It’s my birthday.’
‘And?’ He didn’t take a step nearer. ‘Exactly what do you think you want from me?’
‘I want…’ She hadn’t imagined it would go like this. What on earth had she imagined? Talking hadn’t really come into the fantasy.
‘You want what?’ He sounded icier than she’d ever thought a person could. ‘Come on, you’re here now. Spit it out.’
‘I…’ She couldn’t do it.
He couldn’t even see the funny side. Surely he could have laughed about it. But he was angrier than she’d ever seen a person be.
‘I want you to get the hell out of my bed.’
Misery and humiliation were boiled up with defiance as she slowly stepped onto the cold wooden floor, trying to keep the slip from riding up her thighs as she moved. The wind was blowing the mercury even higher but she was freezing, wearing nothing but her black lace negligee that barely made it quarter of the way to her knees. He stood and stared, like a block of stone. Finally he moved, only to open the door and wait for her to pass through.