BLAST FROM THE PAST
The next evening, after work, Juliet found herself sitting in a bar at a restaurant, alone, without Beth. She wasn't in the mood for anything formal, she wasn't in the mood to cook or nuke anything, and she certainly wasn't in the mood to be tempted to call in company. She didn't want company. She didn't even want to entertain the thought of searching for Eric's number in her contacts, as tempting as she fought to convince herself it wasn't. So she chose public solitude. At least she wasn't entirely alone, she determined.
Her nerves had been completely torn to shreds since her impromptu meeting with Eric. She wanted to feel bad for barging in on him the way she did, but she knew herself, and she knew that if she'd called and set up the meeting properly, she would have lost her nerve and her edge and would have likely groveled at his feet like a sniveling peasant. She wouldn't dare give him that power.
Except that, in essence, she had. She didn't have a choice. He was holding this contract over her head and she wanted so badly for him to sign it that she had willingly--temporarily--surrendered her power to get what she wanted. Now her entire relocation lay solely in his hands. She wasn't sure how she felt about that.
Juliet was exhausted--that much she knew. A quick dinner and a quick drink on the way home seemed to be what the doctor ordered before she planned to go home and curl up in the bed as early as possible and not wake up until her alarm went off tomorrow morning.
She'd just ordered her dinner and she sat, sipping her wine, contemplating some kind of hobby to get into, when she heard her own name behind her. "Juliet Carson? Is that you?"
The deep, rich voice was laden with nothing but sex. Turning her head as the tall drink of water sat in the barstool next to her, her eyes widened with shock as the smiling green eyes glittered at her and the bright, white teeth shone behind his caramel, Hawaiian skin.
Juliet's jaw dropped and she blinked at him before she smiled in disbelief. "Jason? Oh my god, I can't believe it's you!"
She stood from her stool to hug him, not having seen him in so many years. Besides Manuel, Jason Kamealoha was the only male friend Juliet had ever had. He was the only other man on the planet she ever respected until...well, until Terrell. And...and Eric. That made four men she respected now. Wow, that was a record. Maybe at thirty-three, Juliet was finally starting to change.
No. She wasn't. She respected these men, she didn't have romantic relationships with them. That was the difference.
At twenty years old, when Juliet had found her way to New York and began working as a cocktail waitress in the same bar she met Beth in, Jason was a bartender and the three of them often worked the same shift. Jason raked in the tips like a con man, sweet-talking the women and luring their money into his jar with winks and smiles and he was every bit as gorgeous now as he was then. And bigger. Good God, he had grown so much bigger. At six feet and four inches, she could almost see the muscle rippling through the casual, gray hoodie he wore. His dark hair was much shorter than it used to be and he wore a goatee, looking much more mature than the man she used to know in his early twenties.
"Wow," he said, continuing to smile as she pulled away from him. "Look at you. Just as stunning as ever."
"Look at you," she replied, looking him over as she sat back down on her barstool. "Just as...well, you just got bigger."
"I did," he agreed. "I spend some time in the gym."
"It shows."
Turning to the bartender, he ordered a beer and he ordered Juliet a second round of "whatever she's having" and he winked at her. "If it were me back there, I'd have had those drinks out before I finished the order."
"You were the master," she grinned, turning up her existing wine glass.
Nodding, he looked her over again and then he shook his head. "Man. Juliet Carson. The only woman I could never have. It's been way too damn long."
"You're the one who disappeared."
"Are you saying if I hadn't disappeared...?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Jason, I--I just wasn't in a good place back then for anything like that. You were my friend and I cared about you, I just...I couldn't be more, you know that."
"What about now? Married? Boyfriend? Girlfriend...?"
She shook her head solemnly. "No. Not much has changed. Nothing's really changed at all."
"Really. After all this time..."
"I'm just...you know, not the woman you bring home to your mother."
"Right..."
Juliet felt bad about having lost touch with Jason. After a year or so in the bar together, she and Beth had moved in together and started discussing their dreams of running their own company and Jason had been their biggest cheerleader. Once plans actually started getting off the ground and Juliet was getting more and more into private interior design, she was at the bar less and less. She remembered coming in for a shift one day and learning that Jason had quit and she'd been gutted. At that point, he'd been the only man she'd ever truly trusted. He was a great friend. He held her when life stressed her out and New York overwhelmed her, he talked her off the ledge during the times she wanted to give up designing entirely--and then there was the time he jumped clear over the bar to take out a customer who got handsy with Beth. Jason would have made a fantastic boyfriend had Juliet not been so fresh a widow and had he not felt so much like the brother she never had.
"So," she said, changing the subject that she was afraid they were getting at. "You left us--Beth and I, both. What gives? You never called, you never came back..."
Jason smiled. "You still talk to Beth?"
"Are you kidding, we're practically sisters! And business partners, we have our own company. A successful one, at that."
His grin widened. "No shit? So you did it, huh? You made it happen. I always knew you would."
"We couldn't have done it without your support, Jason. Really."
"Well, I don't know about all that..."
"Where did you end up? You fell off the face of the planet."
"My, um, my mom got sick," he said, clearing his throat. He paused to tip the bartender who served their drinks. Then he turned to Beth. "You eating?"
"I already ordered."
Quickly, he put in a dinner order with the bartender and then turned his attention back to Juliet. She didn't give him a chance to speak. "What about your mother?"
"Breast cancer," he said simply, swallowing hard. "I got the call the day I quit the bar, I just--Jules, I've never packed up my life and hit the road so fast in my life. Headed straight for Michigan and I just...didn't look back."
"Jason," she breathed, her heart breaking in a million pieces. "Why didn't you say anything? Beth and I would have--"
"I know," he said solemnly. "We thought we were going to lose her. God, I was so scared." Then a triumphant smile took over his face. "But. She fought it and they were able to take care of it and she's been cancer-free for several years now."
Juliet nearly cried with relief. "Oh, that's fantastic news! I'm so glad to hear that. So, then, you came back to New York. How long have you been back?"
"Six months or so. I, uh, met a woman back home. She turned out to be...not who I thought she was, for lack of a better term. I try to not to get in the habit of speaking ill of her. Anyway, we ended up having a son together so I stayed in Michigan indefinitely. Until things went haywire one day and she just...signed over her rights. It was crazy as hell. She's crazy, her family's crazy...so I packed him up and moved him back to New York with me. I knew I could give him a better life here."
"So...you're a single father? I never would have guessed..."
Jason smiled as he fished his phone out of his pocket. Pressing a button or two on it, he turned it around and showed it to her. His lock screen was a picture of a beautiful little boy with green eyes just like his father's, a mass of brown, curly hair, and lightly-tanned skin. He proudly showed off two missing teeth. He was a beautiful child and Juliet couldn't wipe the smile off of her face. "He's just precious," she said. "He's the spitting image of you."
"That's Noah. For the past seven years, he's been my entire world."
"So what are you doing back in New York?"
"Selling real estate," he said as he put his phone back in his pocket. "If I want to make money, I come to New York. This way I can pay for Noah's education, put aside a college fund...and when he turns sixteen I don't have to worry about buying him a car."
The two of them laughed and she looked at him and studied his face intently for a moment, taking in what he'd just said. The coincidence was too uncanny to ignore. "You sell real estate?"
"You'd have never thought it, huh? There's more to me than muscle and a pretty face, sweets." He winked at her and turned up his beer.
"Commercial or residential?" She asked, ignoring his subtleties.
"I sell whatever I can sell. I don't discriminate. The firm I work for does commercial, but I'm hoping to have my own firm very soon. Hey, maybe I can come to you for pointers on how to get started."
"Yeah. Absolutely," she said nonchalantly. "So...can I pick your brain for a minute? I mean, I know we should be catching up after all this time, but you mentioned commercial real estate and I just...needed your opinion. Maybe your advice..."
"Of course," he said enthusiastically. "Ask away."
"I'm trying to relocate my office. I'm renting space right now, but I'm ready to own a building. I have one picked out, in Greenwich. I have everything ready to go, I have the finances, I have the contractors--" Juliet paused momentarily at the reminder of Eric that caused her heart to skip a beat. "Um, I have everything I want--need, I mean--except the building. I've been working with the sellers through the realtor and I feel like..I don't know, I just feel like we can't seem to reach an agreement. I've even offered way more money than the building is even worth, but the seller just...keeps being weird. I really want this building, but I'm at my wits end. This has been going on for way too long now and I don't know what else to do."
Jason concentrated hard on her, taking in every word she had to say. The understanding on his face, alone, was enough comfort for her. His entire presence was comforting. She'd been on such a man-hating spree for all these years that she had begun to forget that there were men out there that really weren't bad people. They were rare and they came very far and few between--but they were there. This was the part where she supposed she was supposed to have a spellbinding revelation of the positive side of the male species, but she grimaced on the inside, knowing she would never see men that way. It didn't matter how adorable Eric Reynolds was. It didn't matter that his touch was home and his smile was magic and the mere sound of his voice soothed the depths of hell that was her soul. None of that mattered. Because in the end, Eric was just another man. And he'd already proven that, almost instantly.
But she missed him so much...
"Who are you dealing with?" Jason asked, startling her out of the trance she had found herself lost in.
Embarrassed, she felt her cheeks turn red with heat as their food arrived. They took a moment to season and cut and adjust their entrees, taking their first bites and concentrating on their food before Juliet finally answered him. "Parker Realty."
Jason nearly choked on his food. Coughing and wiping his mouth, he shot at her, almost accusingly, "Who's your agent?"
"Michael Wayne."
Suddenly, he threw his head back and laughed a hearty laugh. "Holy shit. That guy's a joke. Jesus Christ, no wonder it's taking you so long to get anything done."
Instantly, Juliet was annoyed and she scowled her displeasure at him. "What the hell are you talking about? I've been working with him forever--"
"I work for that company. I've been with them for a few short months, but I've been there long enough to know who's who. And Michael Wayne--complete fuckhead."
Juliet gaped at him. This world was growing smaller and smaller by the second, it seemed. "Well, I'm not switching. It's the best real estate firm in New York."
"Of course they are," he scoffed after he swallowed a bite. "Because I work for them."
She narrowed her eyes at him and sneered, "They were the best before you came along."
"Trust me, sweetheart, they're much better off now. Anyway, let me take over for you. I'll bet you...a drink, that I can take that seller down off their high horse. Mike's probably just blowing smoke up your ass for a better commission, anyway. He's kinda known for that."
Her heart raced with anticipation all of a sudden. She knew Jason. Even after all this time, oddly, she still trusted him. Could he really do it? Could he sell her the building, once and for all? "Can--can I even do that? I mean, switch agents like that?"
"It's your money, you can do whatever you want." Then he raised his eyebrows at her and smiled devilishly. "Just tell him you found someone better."
This was all too good to be true. All of it. Every single bit of it. The right contractor, the right realtor, the right location...Juliet nearly trembled with excitement. This was finally coming together!
"But I don't--I don't want to weigh you down or overwhelm you or--"
"Nonsense," he smiled. "I'll always have time for you."
"But that's time away from your son--"
"I said don't worry about it. Noah's in school during the day, anyway, so it's okay."
"Where is he now?"
"Shit, that reminds me," he hissed. Then he looked at her and lowered his head and his voice at her. "Father of the Year, right here, I'll tell you." Then he flagged the bartender down and placed two more orders. "I came here to pick up food to take home--he loves the chicken tenders here. I didn't mean to be here so long--"
"You ordered two plates," she blurted.
He stared at her blankly. "What?"
"You said he loves the chicken tenders. But you ordered two plates."
"Oh! Yeah, one for the housekeeper." He placed his hand by his face in a loud whisper. "We don't call her a 'nanny' in our house. Apparently seven-year-olds are too old for nannies. Who knew?"
She giggled at his cute anecdote. "So. Nanny, huh? Is she hot? You know, the proverbial live-in, seduces the hot father..."
"She's sixty-four," he deadpanned. "And she lives across town." Then his face softened and he grinned boyishly. "You think I'm hot?"
"Well, I'm not going to deny it, you've always been hot. I mean, honest is honest."
"I'll never have a chance with you, will I?"
She shook her head regretfully. "I'm sorry. I just...don't think about you that way."
"Shame. You don't know what you're missing."
"I seem to hear that a lot lately," she murmured under her breath.
"Pardon?"
She shook her head quickly. "Oh, it's nothing, I--nothing."
"So what have you been doing all this time, anyway? Wearing the pants at work, running New York City, and what else?"
"Nothing."
"Don't be such a woman," he retorted.
"I'm serious. Work is...it's really all I do. I do some volunteer work in my downtime, but that's it. I'm single, I have no kids--I don't even have pets. I don't hold a candle to what you've been up to."
His green eyes filled full of sympathy as he looked her over and sipped on the last half of his second beer. "That just sounds really lonely..."
"Well, it isn't," she corrected him quickly. "I have friends, I keep busy. I'm not--I'm not lonely, I'm perfectly happy."
"You're a liar."
"Stop looking at me," she pouted.
"I'm not going to try to get it out of you tonight because if you wanted to tell me, you would have already. But this conversation isn't over." He stood up and he took out his wallet, tossing his credit card on the bar. Then pulled his phone from his pocket once more. "Give me your number so I can call you."
Out of character for her--or out of character if it were anyone but Jason, that was--Juliet didn't question him and she did exactly as he said. Then her eyes lit up with excitement. "Ooh, I'll give you Beth's number, too. If you call her, she'll die!"
"Fuck yeah, I'll call her," he smiled, typing the second number into his phone. His takeout arrived on the bar top as he shoved his phone back in his pocket. "You know, this is great. I can't believe this night turned out the way it did. It's so good to have run into you. I've missed the hell out of you girls, did you know that?"
Juliet smiled up at him as she stood and reached for her purse. "Your showing up has really made my night. You just--you just don't know. It feels like you never left. And--and I think I really needed this."
"You mean you needed me?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. I just--I'm really unsure about a lot of things right now, I guess I just needed something stable. Something solid."
"A friend."
"Exactly."
"I'm here for you. I'm not going anywhere." He leaned over and brushed a quick peck across her cheek and grabbed his takeout off the bar. "But right now I have a starving kid I gotta get home to. And his homework better be done or this dinner will be his last."
Juliet giggled and shook her head, still unable to grasp the fact that Jason Kamealoha was a father. "Take it easy on him."
"Always."
"Oh, and I'll, uh...I'll get right on dumping Mike for you...right after I research your credentials."
His shoulders slumped and he scowled at her. "You gotta be fucking kidding me. Jules. It's me. I don't half ass anything, you know that. I'm gonna treat you right. I always did, remember?"
"Yeah," she said in defeat. "You're right."
"Just take the plunge and trust me. I won't let you down. Oh, dinner's on me tonight, it's already taken care of. I gotta get going."
"Jason!" She objected.
"I'm not listening. I'm leaving."
He turned to leave and she grinned, calling after him, "Call Beth!"
"On it!" He called back, raising his takeout bag in acknowledgement.
With that, her old friend disappeared out of the small restaurant's door.
Juliet sunk back into her bar stool to take it all in for a moment. A blast from her past--a good blast--had totally and unexpectedly swooped in and instilled a hope and an energy in her that she'd needed for awhile. This was happening. Things were coming together, her life was in order. She had everything she needed to get this job done. She would finally own her own office building. Business would expand and Carson Innovations would be every business owner's and home owner's dream, all over New York City and beyond. Juliet smiled into the restaurant air. She could design the world. And it would be all because of Jason Kamealoha.
No. It would be because of Eric Reynolds. She knew this. She was going to tear down the building Jason would help her acquire. But Eric? Eric would be personally responsible for building her dream from the ground up. As if he hadn't been already.
****************
The next day, Juliet sat at her desk, feeling on top of the world. She'd slept the best she'd slept since...well, since spending the night with Eric. Jason had been a breath of fresh air. A burst of energy, a bout of confidence. He was the one who'd helped her learn to brave the hustle and bustle of the city and even taught her a thing or two about real life. Like Beth, he had known nothing about Juliet's real past and part of her wanted to tell him, but with Eric and Beth already in the know, that was two people too many. She preferred to continue to go through life pretending her past had never happened. It was just easier that way.
Thinking of Jason, Juliet was just about to pick up the phone to call Michael Wayne and set up a meeting time to do him the favor of dumping him to his face so that she could transfer the information to Jason, when the text alert went off on her cell phone. Picking it up and checking it, her heart raced.
"Testing testing," Eric texted her. Below his message was a website link.
She stared at the message for a moment. She knew that she would have to give in and communicate with him eventually since she was about to start a business relationship with him. She just wished there was a way where communication simply didn't have to happen.
Finally, she texted him back. "What's that?"
"Oh, good, you unblocked me."
"I'm not opening that link."
"Come on, live a little."
Juliet bit her lip to fight the smile that wanted to creep across her face. She could just imagine his voice and his facial expression if he'd said that out loud. Why was he so damn adorable?
"What is it?"
"Just open it."
"I don't want spam or viruses or pictures of your dick or any other tasteless things to imbed themselves in my phone."
"Pictures of my dick? Is that an option? I'll do it, I have no problem with that."
Her jaw grew slack at her phone screen, not from shock, but from memory. She was turned on instantly at the thought, of the heights of sexual euphoria he had taken her to, at the way his lips felt on her skin, the way he felt sliding himself inside her...
"You're disgusting," she texted, a desperate attempt to discard the memories.
"You're the one wanting dick pics. I didn't ask you to show me your tits."
"Good."
"But if I did..."
"No."
"It was worth a shot. Anyway, open the link. You'll like it. You can call me when you finish fangirling over it."
"I'm sure I won't."
"I'll be waiting by the phone."
Half an hour later, after being unsatisfied with the way it looked on her phone and sending the link to her email so that she could view it on her computer, Juliet sat back, eyes wide with pleasant surprise. He had done it. He'd actually done it. Reynolds Construction was officially on the web. And their site was spectacular, arguably better than her own. It was amazing, it was...proof. He'd kept his word on something he hadn't even promised her. She'd mentioned their lack of a website in passing, but she never remembered actually saying it to his face. In fact, she'd only actually said to his father. Was this...this wasn't for her, this was for his father. To prove himself to him. And that was okay. She was just pleased with the fact that they had a website at all. Not because they had a page that was dedicated to "meeting the staff." Or the fact that they had a photo gallery of their work. Not because his beautiful face and physique could be found in multiple places on the site. Not because, at the click of a button, she could see him anytime she wanted without actually having to be in his presence. She'd never encountered something so safe and so dangerous at the same time in her life.
Yes, she had. She'd met Eric Reynolds in the flesh.
Staring at her office phone with disdain, she picked up the receiver and dialed Reynolds Construction's number.
"Reynolds Construction, this is Hilary, building dreams one structure at a time! How may I direct your call?"
Juliet curled her nose up into the air. "Really? That's your company's greeting?"
Obviously, she had caught the girl off guard. "I, um, that's...I'm new, that's just what I was told to say..."
"Right...um, Eric Reynolds, please."
"May I tell him who's calling?"
Her nostrils flared. "Juliet Carson," she replied flatly.
"Oh, Miss Carson!" Hilary exclaimed. "He's been expecting your call!"
"I'm sure," Juliet deadpanned through her teeth.
"One moment, please."
As the hold tone sounded in her ear, Juliet nearly fell out of her chair and had the urge to vomit all at the same time. She heard her favorite band singing her favorite song from her favorite album, a song that hadn't even been released to the public. What in the hell did he think he was doing?
"Miss Carson," his voice sounded like smooth silk in her ear. "You kept me in suspense, I was starting to worry."
"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" She spat into the receiver.
And then his entire demeanor changed. "You didn't like it?"
"The website? I love it. It's brilliant, it's spectacular, it's better than mine. I want your web designer's number. What I mean is everything else. Your--your receptionist's phone greeting and your--your fucking hold music--"
"It's a great song," he replied, his confident tone returning. "Inspirational lyrics, easy on the ears..."
"And easily whispered in the ear during sex!" She hissed, immediately regretting her words.
"That, too," he agreed. "But you called about the website--"
"I called to find out what our dinner plans were. Our business dinner plans. To get the contract done. I found a new realtor who won't drag his feet--"
"Tomorrow night, eight o'clock, Hair Of The Dog."
"Anywhere but there."
"Problem?"
Problem? Of course it was a fucking problem. It was no place for a business dinner. It was casual, it was trendy...it was the restaurant they'd first laid eyes on each other in. How dare he?
He was holding her contract hostage.
Sighing in defeat and rubbing her forehead with newfound exhaustion, she breathed, "No. No problem at all."
"Wonderful! It's a date."
"It's a business dinner," she corrected.
"Right."
At that moment, Beth burst breathlessly through Juliet's office door, startling Juliet, but filling her with the relief of the distraction. "Jules!" She squealed, obviously not caring whether Juliet was busy or not. "Guess who just called me?!"
In an instant, Juliet's heart was overjoyed. "I have to go," she said into the receiver. "Something important just came up. I'll see you tomorrow night."
"Juliet, wait--" he said.
But it was too late. She was already hanging up the phone and Beth was already making herself comfortable in a chair across from Juliet's desk.
Juliet grinned at her best friend. "Tell me all about it."
The next evening, after work, Juliet found herself sitting in a bar at a restaurant, alone, without Beth. She wasn't in the mood for anything formal, she wasn't in the mood to cook or nuke anything, and she certainly wasn't in the mood to be tempted to call in company. She didn't want company. She didn't even want to entertain the thought of searching for Eric's number in her contacts, as tempting as she fought to convince herself it wasn't. So she chose public solitude. At least she wasn't entirely alone, she determined.
Her nerves had been completely torn to shreds since her impromptu meeting with Eric. She wanted to feel bad for barging in on him the way she did, but she knew herself, and she knew that if she'd called and set up the meeting properly, she would have lost her nerve and her edge and would have likely groveled at his feet like a sniveling peasant. She wouldn't dare give him that power.
Except that, in essence, she had. She didn't have a choice. He was holding this contract over her head and she wanted so badly for him to sign it that she had willingly--temporarily--surrendered her power to get what she wanted. Now her entire relocation lay solely in his hands. She wasn't sure how she felt about that.
Juliet was exhausted--that much she knew. A quick dinner and a quick drink on the way home seemed to be what the doctor ordered before she planned to go home and curl up in the bed as early as possible and not wake up until her alarm went off tomorrow morning.
She'd just ordered her dinner and she sat, sipping her wine, contemplating some kind of hobby to get into, when she heard her own name behind her. "Juliet Carson? Is that you?"
The deep, rich voice was laden with nothing but sex. Turning her head as the tall drink of water sat in the barstool next to her, her eyes widened with shock as the smiling green eyes glittered at her and the bright, white teeth shone behind his caramel, Hawaiian skin.
Juliet's jaw dropped and she blinked at him before she smiled in disbelief. "Jason? Oh my god, I can't believe it's you!"
She stood from her stool to hug him, not having seen him in so many years. Besides Manuel, Jason Kamealoha was the only male friend Juliet had ever had. He was the only other man on the planet she ever respected until...well, until Terrell. And...and Eric. That made four men she respected now. Wow, that was a record. Maybe at thirty-three, Juliet was finally starting to change.
No. She wasn't. She respected these men, she didn't have romantic relationships with them. That was the difference.
At twenty years old, when Juliet had found her way to New York and began working as a cocktail waitress in the same bar she met Beth in, Jason was a bartender and the three of them often worked the same shift. Jason raked in the tips like a con man, sweet-talking the women and luring their money into his jar with winks and smiles and he was every bit as gorgeous now as he was then. And bigger. Good God, he had grown so much bigger. At six feet and four inches, she could almost see the muscle rippling through the casual, gray hoodie he wore. His dark hair was much shorter than it used to be and he wore a goatee, looking much more mature than the man she used to know in his early twenties.
"Wow," he said, continuing to smile as she pulled away from him. "Look at you. Just as stunning as ever."
"Look at you," she replied, looking him over as she sat back down on her barstool. "Just as...well, you just got bigger."
"I did," he agreed. "I spend some time in the gym."
"It shows."
Turning to the bartender, he ordered a beer and he ordered Juliet a second round of "whatever she's having" and he winked at her. "If it were me back there, I'd have had those drinks out before I finished the order."
"You were the master," she grinned, turning up her existing wine glass.
Nodding, he looked her over again and then he shook his head. "Man. Juliet Carson. The only woman I could never have. It's been way too damn long."
"You're the one who disappeared."
"Are you saying if I hadn't disappeared...?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Jason, I--I just wasn't in a good place back then for anything like that. You were my friend and I cared about you, I just...I couldn't be more, you know that."
"What about now? Married? Boyfriend? Girlfriend...?"
She shook her head solemnly. "No. Not much has changed. Nothing's really changed at all."
"Really. After all this time..."
"I'm just...you know, not the woman you bring home to your mother."
"Right..."
Juliet felt bad about having lost touch with Jason. After a year or so in the bar together, she and Beth had moved in together and started discussing their dreams of running their own company and Jason had been their biggest cheerleader. Once plans actually started getting off the ground and Juliet was getting more and more into private interior design, she was at the bar less and less. She remembered coming in for a shift one day and learning that Jason had quit and she'd been gutted. At that point, he'd been the only man she'd ever truly trusted. He was a great friend. He held her when life stressed her out and New York overwhelmed her, he talked her off the ledge during the times she wanted to give up designing entirely--and then there was the time he jumped clear over the bar to take out a customer who got handsy with Beth. Jason would have made a fantastic boyfriend had Juliet not been so fresh a widow and had he not felt so much like the brother she never had.
"So," she said, changing the subject that she was afraid they were getting at. "You left us--Beth and I, both. What gives? You never called, you never came back..."
Jason smiled. "You still talk to Beth?"
"Are you kidding, we're practically sisters! And business partners, we have our own company. A successful one, at that."
His grin widened. "No shit? So you did it, huh? You made it happen. I always knew you would."
"We couldn't have done it without your support, Jason. Really."
"Well, I don't know about all that..."
"Where did you end up? You fell off the face of the planet."
"My, um, my mom got sick," he said, clearing his throat. He paused to tip the bartender who served their drinks. Then he turned to Beth. "You eating?"
"I already ordered."
Quickly, he put in a dinner order with the bartender and then turned his attention back to Juliet. She didn't give him a chance to speak. "What about your mother?"
"Breast cancer," he said simply, swallowing hard. "I got the call the day I quit the bar, I just--Jules, I've never packed up my life and hit the road so fast in my life. Headed straight for Michigan and I just...didn't look back."
"Jason," she breathed, her heart breaking in a million pieces. "Why didn't you say anything? Beth and I would have--"
"I know," he said solemnly. "We thought we were going to lose her. God, I was so scared." Then a triumphant smile took over his face. "But. She fought it and they were able to take care of it and she's been cancer-free for several years now."
Juliet nearly cried with relief. "Oh, that's fantastic news! I'm so glad to hear that. So, then, you came back to New York. How long have you been back?"
"Six months or so. I, uh, met a woman back home. She turned out to be...not who I thought she was, for lack of a better term. I try to not to get in the habit of speaking ill of her. Anyway, we ended up having a son together so I stayed in Michigan indefinitely. Until things went haywire one day and she just...signed over her rights. It was crazy as hell. She's crazy, her family's crazy...so I packed him up and moved him back to New York with me. I knew I could give him a better life here."
"So...you're a single father? I never would have guessed..."
Jason smiled as he fished his phone out of his pocket. Pressing a button or two on it, he turned it around and showed it to her. His lock screen was a picture of a beautiful little boy with green eyes just like his father's, a mass of brown, curly hair, and lightly-tanned skin. He proudly showed off two missing teeth. He was a beautiful child and Juliet couldn't wipe the smile off of her face. "He's just precious," she said. "He's the spitting image of you."
"That's Noah. For the past seven years, he's been my entire world."
"So what are you doing back in New York?"
"Selling real estate," he said as he put his phone back in his pocket. "If I want to make money, I come to New York. This way I can pay for Noah's education, put aside a college fund...and when he turns sixteen I don't have to worry about buying him a car."
The two of them laughed and she looked at him and studied his face intently for a moment, taking in what he'd just said. The coincidence was too uncanny to ignore. "You sell real estate?"
"You'd have never thought it, huh? There's more to me than muscle and a pretty face, sweets." He winked at her and turned up his beer.
"Commercial or residential?" She asked, ignoring his subtleties.
"I sell whatever I can sell. I don't discriminate. The firm I work for does commercial, but I'm hoping to have my own firm very soon. Hey, maybe I can come to you for pointers on how to get started."
"Yeah. Absolutely," she said nonchalantly. "So...can I pick your brain for a minute? I mean, I know we should be catching up after all this time, but you mentioned commercial real estate and I just...needed your opinion. Maybe your advice..."
"Of course," he said enthusiastically. "Ask away."
"I'm trying to relocate my office. I'm renting space right now, but I'm ready to own a building. I have one picked out, in Greenwich. I have everything ready to go, I have the finances, I have the contractors--" Juliet paused momentarily at the reminder of Eric that caused her heart to skip a beat. "Um, I have everything I want--need, I mean--except the building. I've been working with the sellers through the realtor and I feel like..I don't know, I just feel like we can't seem to reach an agreement. I've even offered way more money than the building is even worth, but the seller just...keeps being weird. I really want this building, but I'm at my wits end. This has been going on for way too long now and I don't know what else to do."
Jason concentrated hard on her, taking in every word she had to say. The understanding on his face, alone, was enough comfort for her. His entire presence was comforting. She'd been on such a man-hating spree for all these years that she had begun to forget that there were men out there that really weren't bad people. They were rare and they came very far and few between--but they were there. This was the part where she supposed she was supposed to have a spellbinding revelation of the positive side of the male species, but she grimaced on the inside, knowing she would never see men that way. It didn't matter how adorable Eric Reynolds was. It didn't matter that his touch was home and his smile was magic and the mere sound of his voice soothed the depths of hell that was her soul. None of that mattered. Because in the end, Eric was just another man. And he'd already proven that, almost instantly.
But she missed him so much...
"Who are you dealing with?" Jason asked, startling her out of the trance she had found herself lost in.
Embarrassed, she felt her cheeks turn red with heat as their food arrived. They took a moment to season and cut and adjust their entrees, taking their first bites and concentrating on their food before Juliet finally answered him. "Parker Realty."
Jason nearly choked on his food. Coughing and wiping his mouth, he shot at her, almost accusingly, "Who's your agent?"
"Michael Wayne."
Suddenly, he threw his head back and laughed a hearty laugh. "Holy shit. That guy's a joke. Jesus Christ, no wonder it's taking you so long to get anything done."
Instantly, Juliet was annoyed and she scowled her displeasure at him. "What the hell are you talking about? I've been working with him forever--"
"I work for that company. I've been with them for a few short months, but I've been there long enough to know who's who. And Michael Wayne--complete fuckhead."
Juliet gaped at him. This world was growing smaller and smaller by the second, it seemed. "Well, I'm not switching. It's the best real estate firm in New York."
"Of course they are," he scoffed after he swallowed a bite. "Because I work for them."
She narrowed her eyes at him and sneered, "They were the best before you came along."
"Trust me, sweetheart, they're much better off now. Anyway, let me take over for you. I'll bet you...a drink, that I can take that seller down off their high horse. Mike's probably just blowing smoke up your ass for a better commission, anyway. He's kinda known for that."
Her heart raced with anticipation all of a sudden. She knew Jason. Even after all this time, oddly, she still trusted him. Could he really do it? Could he sell her the building, once and for all? "Can--can I even do that? I mean, switch agents like that?"
"It's your money, you can do whatever you want." Then he raised his eyebrows at her and smiled devilishly. "Just tell him you found someone better."
This was all too good to be true. All of it. Every single bit of it. The right contractor, the right realtor, the right location...Juliet nearly trembled with excitement. This was finally coming together!
"But I don't--I don't want to weigh you down or overwhelm you or--"
"Nonsense," he smiled. "I'll always have time for you."
"But that's time away from your son--"
"I said don't worry about it. Noah's in school during the day, anyway, so it's okay."
"Where is he now?"
"Shit, that reminds me," he hissed. Then he looked at her and lowered his head and his voice at her. "Father of the Year, right here, I'll tell you." Then he flagged the bartender down and placed two more orders. "I came here to pick up food to take home--he loves the chicken tenders here. I didn't mean to be here so long--"
"You ordered two plates," she blurted.
He stared at her blankly. "What?"
"You said he loves the chicken tenders. But you ordered two plates."
"Oh! Yeah, one for the housekeeper." He placed his hand by his face in a loud whisper. "We don't call her a 'nanny' in our house. Apparently seven-year-olds are too old for nannies. Who knew?"
She giggled at his cute anecdote. "So. Nanny, huh? Is she hot? You know, the proverbial live-in, seduces the hot father..."
"She's sixty-four," he deadpanned. "And she lives across town." Then his face softened and he grinned boyishly. "You think I'm hot?"
"Well, I'm not going to deny it, you've always been hot. I mean, honest is honest."
"I'll never have a chance with you, will I?"
She shook her head regretfully. "I'm sorry. I just...don't think about you that way."
"Shame. You don't know what you're missing."
"I seem to hear that a lot lately," she murmured under her breath.
"Pardon?"
She shook her head quickly. "Oh, it's nothing, I--nothing."
"So what have you been doing all this time, anyway? Wearing the pants at work, running New York City, and what else?"
"Nothing."
"Don't be such a woman," he retorted.
"I'm serious. Work is...it's really all I do. I do some volunteer work in my downtime, but that's it. I'm single, I have no kids--I don't even have pets. I don't hold a candle to what you've been up to."
His green eyes filled full of sympathy as he looked her over and sipped on the last half of his second beer. "That just sounds really lonely..."
"Well, it isn't," she corrected him quickly. "I have friends, I keep busy. I'm not--I'm not lonely, I'm perfectly happy."
"You're a liar."
"Stop looking at me," she pouted.
"I'm not going to try to get it out of you tonight because if you wanted to tell me, you would have already. But this conversation isn't over." He stood up and he took out his wallet, tossing his credit card on the bar. Then pulled his phone from his pocket once more. "Give me your number so I can call you."
Out of character for her--or out of character if it were anyone but Jason, that was--Juliet didn't question him and she did exactly as he said. Then her eyes lit up with excitement. "Ooh, I'll give you Beth's number, too. If you call her, she'll die!"
"Fuck yeah, I'll call her," he smiled, typing the second number into his phone. His takeout arrived on the bar top as he shoved his phone back in his pocket. "You know, this is great. I can't believe this night turned out the way it did. It's so good to have run into you. I've missed the hell out of you girls, did you know that?"
Juliet smiled up at him as she stood and reached for her purse. "Your showing up has really made my night. You just--you just don't know. It feels like you never left. And--and I think I really needed this."
"You mean you needed me?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. I just--I'm really unsure about a lot of things right now, I guess I just needed something stable. Something solid."
"A friend."
"Exactly."
"I'm here for you. I'm not going anywhere." He leaned over and brushed a quick peck across her cheek and grabbed his takeout off the bar. "But right now I have a starving kid I gotta get home to. And his homework better be done or this dinner will be his last."
Juliet giggled and shook her head, still unable to grasp the fact that Jason Kamealoha was a father. "Take it easy on him."
"Always."
"Oh, and I'll, uh...I'll get right on dumping Mike for you...right after I research your credentials."
His shoulders slumped and he scowled at her. "You gotta be fucking kidding me. Jules. It's me. I don't half ass anything, you know that. I'm gonna treat you right. I always did, remember?"
"Yeah," she said in defeat. "You're right."
"Just take the plunge and trust me. I won't let you down. Oh, dinner's on me tonight, it's already taken care of. I gotta get going."
"Jason!" She objected.
"I'm not listening. I'm leaving."
He turned to leave and she grinned, calling after him, "Call Beth!"
"On it!" He called back, raising his takeout bag in acknowledgement.
With that, her old friend disappeared out of the small restaurant's door.
Juliet sunk back into her bar stool to take it all in for a moment. A blast from her past--a good blast--had totally and unexpectedly swooped in and instilled a hope and an energy in her that she'd needed for awhile. This was happening. Things were coming together, her life was in order. She had everything she needed to get this job done. She would finally own her own office building. Business would expand and Carson Innovations would be every business owner's and home owner's dream, all over New York City and beyond. Juliet smiled into the restaurant air. She could design the world. And it would be all because of Jason Kamealoha.
No. It would be because of Eric Reynolds. She knew this. She was going to tear down the building Jason would help her acquire. But Eric? Eric would be personally responsible for building her dream from the ground up. As if he hadn't been already.
****************
The next day, Juliet sat at her desk, feeling on top of the world. She'd slept the best she'd slept since...well, since spending the night with Eric. Jason had been a breath of fresh air. A burst of energy, a bout of confidence. He was the one who'd helped her learn to brave the hustle and bustle of the city and even taught her a thing or two about real life. Like Beth, he had known nothing about Juliet's real past and part of her wanted to tell him, but with Eric and Beth already in the know, that was two people too many. She preferred to continue to go through life pretending her past had never happened. It was just easier that way.
Thinking of Jason, Juliet was just about to pick up the phone to call Michael Wayne and set up a meeting time to do him the favor of dumping him to his face so that she could transfer the information to Jason, when the text alert went off on her cell phone. Picking it up and checking it, her heart raced.
"Testing testing," Eric texted her. Below his message was a website link.
She stared at the message for a moment. She knew that she would have to give in and communicate with him eventually since she was about to start a business relationship with him. She just wished there was a way where communication simply didn't have to happen.
Finally, she texted him back. "What's that?"
"Oh, good, you unblocked me."
"I'm not opening that link."
"Come on, live a little."
Juliet bit her lip to fight the smile that wanted to creep across her face. She could just imagine his voice and his facial expression if he'd said that out loud. Why was he so damn adorable?
"What is it?"
"Just open it."
"I don't want spam or viruses or pictures of your dick or any other tasteless things to imbed themselves in my phone."
"Pictures of my dick? Is that an option? I'll do it, I have no problem with that."
Her jaw grew slack at her phone screen, not from shock, but from memory. She was turned on instantly at the thought, of the heights of sexual euphoria he had taken her to, at the way his lips felt on her skin, the way he felt sliding himself inside her...
"You're disgusting," she texted, a desperate attempt to discard the memories.
"You're the one wanting dick pics. I didn't ask you to show me your tits."
"Good."
"But if I did..."
"No."
"It was worth a shot. Anyway, open the link. You'll like it. You can call me when you finish fangirling over it."
"I'm sure I won't."
"I'll be waiting by the phone."
Half an hour later, after being unsatisfied with the way it looked on her phone and sending the link to her email so that she could view it on her computer, Juliet sat back, eyes wide with pleasant surprise. He had done it. He'd actually done it. Reynolds Construction was officially on the web. And their site was spectacular, arguably better than her own. It was amazing, it was...proof. He'd kept his word on something he hadn't even promised her. She'd mentioned their lack of a website in passing, but she never remembered actually saying it to his face. In fact, she'd only actually said to his father. Was this...this wasn't for her, this was for his father. To prove himself to him. And that was okay. She was just pleased with the fact that they had a website at all. Not because they had a page that was dedicated to "meeting the staff." Or the fact that they had a photo gallery of their work. Not because his beautiful face and physique could be found in multiple places on the site. Not because, at the click of a button, she could see him anytime she wanted without actually having to be in his presence. She'd never encountered something so safe and so dangerous at the same time in her life.
Yes, she had. She'd met Eric Reynolds in the flesh.
Staring at her office phone with disdain, she picked up the receiver and dialed Reynolds Construction's number.
"Reynolds Construction, this is Hilary, building dreams one structure at a time! How may I direct your call?"
Juliet curled her nose up into the air. "Really? That's your company's greeting?"
Obviously, she had caught the girl off guard. "I, um, that's...I'm new, that's just what I was told to say..."
"Right...um, Eric Reynolds, please."
"May I tell him who's calling?"
Her nostrils flared. "Juliet Carson," she replied flatly.
"Oh, Miss Carson!" Hilary exclaimed. "He's been expecting your call!"
"I'm sure," Juliet deadpanned through her teeth.
"One moment, please."
As the hold tone sounded in her ear, Juliet nearly fell out of her chair and had the urge to vomit all at the same time. She heard her favorite band singing her favorite song from her favorite album, a song that hadn't even been released to the public. What in the hell did he think he was doing?
"Miss Carson," his voice sounded like smooth silk in her ear. "You kept me in suspense, I was starting to worry."
"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" She spat into the receiver.
And then his entire demeanor changed. "You didn't like it?"
"The website? I love it. It's brilliant, it's spectacular, it's better than mine. I want your web designer's number. What I mean is everything else. Your--your receptionist's phone greeting and your--your fucking hold music--"
"It's a great song," he replied, his confident tone returning. "Inspirational lyrics, easy on the ears..."
"And easily whispered in the ear during sex!" She hissed, immediately regretting her words.
"That, too," he agreed. "But you called about the website--"
"I called to find out what our dinner plans were. Our business dinner plans. To get the contract done. I found a new realtor who won't drag his feet--"
"Tomorrow night, eight o'clock, Hair Of The Dog."
"Anywhere but there."
"Problem?"
Problem? Of course it was a fucking problem. It was no place for a business dinner. It was casual, it was trendy...it was the restaurant they'd first laid eyes on each other in. How dare he?
He was holding her contract hostage.
Sighing in defeat and rubbing her forehead with newfound exhaustion, she breathed, "No. No problem at all."
"Wonderful! It's a date."
"It's a business dinner," she corrected.
"Right."
At that moment, Beth burst breathlessly through Juliet's office door, startling Juliet, but filling her with the relief of the distraction. "Jules!" She squealed, obviously not caring whether Juliet was busy or not. "Guess who just called me?!"
In an instant, Juliet's heart was overjoyed. "I have to go," she said into the receiver. "Something important just came up. I'll see you tomorrow night."
"Juliet, wait--" he said.
But it was too late. She was already hanging up the phone and Beth was already making herself comfortable in a chair across from Juliet's desk.
Juliet grinned at her best friend. "Tell me all about it."