Mid Life Love: At Last (Mid Life Love #2)(52)

“Make me...” I gave him my best seductive look.

He smiled and pulled me close. “Once I commit to doing something—whatever that something may be, I never back down from it. You can keep trying to tempt me—you’re very good by the way, but I made a promise and I never break my promises...Now, say it back.”

“I love you too.”

He kissed me one last time and I watched him leave through my side door. He looked over his shoulder every few seconds and smiled at me, so I waited until he was no longer in my sight.

I immediately rushed over to my suitcase and searched for my vibrator so I could end this frustration myself. I pulled the flap open where I knew I’d placed it, but it wasn’t there. Instead, there was a folded napkin with a note: “No cheating, Future Wife. You’ll get it back AFTER the wedding :-)”

I cursed under my breath and headed for the kitchen, where Bobbie Jo, Kim, and Helen were all staring at me with looks of horror on their faces.

“You brought someone home with you from the club last night? And don’t you dare lie because we all heard voices this morning.” Helen practically lost it. “That’s not like you at all, Claire! What the hell were you thinking?!”

“What? You think I cheated on Jonathan?”

“It doesn’t matter what we think.” Bobbie Jo stood up and paced the floor. “It’s okay. We can definitely fix this...I know we told you to let go, but you weren’t supposed to completely let go...You’re marrying Jonathan-f*cking-Statham! You don’t need to experience any other man, ever!”

Helen shook her head in disagreement at that last line, but she kept the look of worry on her face.

“No more clubbing this week.” Kim clasped her hands together. “We’ll still drink tons, but we’ll stick to the lame ass activities we were doing before. We’ll even take you shopping for a whole new wardrobe today...Jonathan will never find out about this. Your secret is safe with us...”

Chapter 12

Claire

I sat in the middle of Starbucks, sporting a brand new tan and a light grey dress the girls had picked out for me on the last day of the trip. It was short with a deep V-neckline and it hugged all my curves perfectly.

It was the type of dress that Jonathan would love, at least I hoped he would when he saw me later tonight for our date.

He’d told me he wanted to take me somewhere special as soon as he picked me up from the airstrip the other day. He’d left little reminder notes in my closet, in my purse, even in my car: “Tonight will be the best date you and I have ever had.” “No...I’m not shutting down the Golden Gate Bridge again...but I can if you want me to.” “I’m looking forward to seeing you later. You are always the best part of my day.”

“Miss Gracen?” My high profile client cleared her throat, snapping me out of my trance. “Is that all? Do I need to sign anything else?”

“I’m sorry. I’ll have my secretary forward you a copy of the contract tomorrow morning. Do you have any other questions for me, Lisa? I mean, Miss Kane?”

“Not at all.” She stood up. “Thanks for treating me to coffee today. This was... different.”

I laughed and watched her walk out of the store.

Thanks to my employees—who had failed to shut off the air conditioning the entire week I was gone, my store’s ventilation system had crashed and I’d had to reschedule all of today’s appointments outside of the office.

I looked through my planner to make sure I didn’t have any more meetings for the day, and suddenly heard my phone ringing. Ashley.

“Hello, Ashley.”

“This is Caroline.” She scoffed.

“You’re using Ashley’s phone, Caroline. How am I supposed to know it’s you?” I could practically see her shrugging her shoulders and rolling her eyes.

“Ashley and I would like to know why we weren’t invited to your bachelorette party. We are in the wedding, your maids of honor at that.”

“Because you can’t take off a week from school and my friends didn’t think it was appropriate for you two to come. And after going there, I’m completely sure they made the right choice.”

“Right...Anyway, I’m just calling to let you know that we got your email. We love it and we think Jonathan will love it too.”

“You didn’t tell him anything did you?”

“No...” She sighed. “Although we are finding it a bit strange that we hear from him more than we hear from you these days.”

“What? That’s not true!”

“It is true. He calls or texts us every day.”

“And he sends us care packages every Monday!” Ashley yelled in the background.

“I’m sorry...” I realized that they were right. Lately I’d only been checking in on them once or twice a week, but I thought that was what they wanted. “I’ll do better. I promise. I’ll start calling you more often.”

“No, no, no.” Caroline clucked her teeth. “Just send us some care packages. Actually, now that we’re on the subject of care packages... Jonathan gives us three hundred dollars a week in his boxes, in addition to a bunch of other nice gifts. Now, we both know you don’t make as much as he does, but we know you make enough to give us two hundred a week without breaking a sweat. So, we’re thinking—”