Chapter 18

I was late for breakfast the next morning, in hopes that Mark had already left for

work. Brenda and Glen were drinking coffee and Vince, Melissa, and Mark

were nowhere in sight.

"Aren't you dressed up today?" Brenda commented as I entered wearing a dressy pants suit.

"Where are you off to in those clothes?" Glenn asked.

"I'm going to get a job." I said with my head held high.

Brenda choked on her toast and Glenn had to hit her on the back.

"A job?" Brenda asked. "Doing what?"

"It depends on what I can find."

"When are you going to tell Mark about this?" Brenda asked.

"She already has." Mark told them entering through the door-way. "Let's

go, Jaime."

I sat in my chair trembling. All my resolutions had vanished. After yesterday, all the fight was gone. I didn't have the heart for it anymore.

"She hasn't had breakfast." Glenn said.

"She'll learn to get to breakfast on time then." Mark said, and there was something about the way he was looking at his younger brother. Something mean.

"Just an observation." Glenn laughed.

"I said, let's go." Mark demanded. "I hate being late."

I got up and followed him out into the hall.

"Where are we going?" I asked, nervously.

He opened the door for me. "To work, of course."

"But, I don't have a job yet."

"Yes, you do."

"What as?" I asked.

"My secretary." He replied.

I followed him out to his dark car in a daze, only speaking as we drove off.

"Did I hear you right?" I asked. "Your secretary?"

"You did." He said.

"But Mark, I can't work for you."

"Why not?"

"I can't type fast enough." I replied trying to find any reason. Having to be near him all day would cause more agony than anything.

"You're about average, little one. You'll do. You said you wanted a

job."

"Where was Melissa this morning?" I asked quietly. "You two were out

late last night."

"So we were." He replied with a grin. I could have kicked him if he wasn't driving us to work.

"It's none of my business, of course."

He only smiled, keeping his attention on the road.

An hour later I followed Mark into his office. My eye was caught by a painting

of a man and woman watching a sunset.

"Like it?" He asked.

"It's Saccachum isn't it? I recognize that spot." I said, remembering how beautiful it was there.

"You should. We shared a bottle of champagne under that sunset. I nearly had to carry you back to the house."

I could help but laugh, remembering my eighteenth birthday. Mark's company and the sound of the surf. We'd talked a lot, and drank champagne, while Glen and Brenda went off on their own.

"It was the best birthday party I ever had. I don't think we had a cross word the whole trip to Guatemala." I said with a smile.

"Would you like to go again?" He asked, looking at me.

I turned and looked at him. He was standing in front of his desk, his legs slightly

apart, his hands on his hips.

"Now?" I asked confused.

"Next week. I've got some business in Cuba. I thought we might stay there for a few days and I could go on to Cuba from there."

"Why Cuba?" I asked. He'd never done business there before that I remembered.

"You guys don't have to come on that part of the trip." He said. The smile on my face quickly disappeared.

"You guys?"

"Melissa and Vince, too" he admitted. "A last-ditch effort to get his cooperation."

"And hers?" I asked angrily.

"I thought you knew by now why she came along." He said to me, a different look in his eyes. More like questioning than anger.

"Yes, I know."

"Do you? I wonder."

"Is anyone else coming? Glen?"

"Glen?" he said harshly. His face turned mad. "What's going on between you two, Jaime Dawn?"

"Nothing. We just enjoy each others company, that's all."

"By all means, we'll take Glen. You'll have to have someone to play with!"

"I'm not a child, Mark."

"You're both children."

"You didn't treat me like one yesterday." I spat back with my hands on my hips.

A slow, faint smile touched his mouth. "You didn't act like one."

"Glen. You'd burn him alive. You're too passionate for him. For Jeff and Hunter, too."

"Mark!" I yelled as my face turned red with embarrassment.

"Well, it's true. I barely slept last night. I could feel your hands touching me...your body like silk, twisting against mine.. You may be green, little girl, but you've got good instincts. When you finally stop running from passion, you'll be one hell of a woman."

"I'm not running..." I whispered before I realized what I was saying.

I stood there watching him hungry as I remembered the touch of his hands against my bare skin and the violence of his emotion. I wanted to touch him. To hold him. To feel his mouth against mine. To feel his body like it had been then...He read the longing accurately. His eyes darkened as he rose and came around the desk toward me. There was no pretense between us now; only a thread of shared hunger that was intense and demanding.

"You'd damned well better mean what I read in your eyes," he growled as he reached me, his big hands shooting out to catch me by the waist and pull me close.

I gloried in the feel of his big, muscular body against the length of mine. I lifted my face to his and my heart began to beat faster as my eyes met his. His head started to bend and I couldn't help but tremble.

His mouth was hungry, and it hurt though I still like it. I reached up, clinging to him, while his lips parted mine.

"Mark," I moaned.

His big hand moved up from my waist to cover my breast, through my shirt.

"You're in my blood like slow poison, Jaime." His fingers contracted, and he watched my flushed face. "I look at you, and all I can think is how you feel under my hands. Do you remember how it felt between us yesterday?" he whispered. "Your breasts crushed against me and not a stitch of fabric to stop us from feeling each other's skin..."

"Oh don't. It's not fair." I said, remembering he'd soon be married to someone else.

"Why isn't it? Tell me you didn't want what I did to you in the gazebo. Tell me you weren't aching every bit as much if not more than me."

I couldn't, because I had wanted him. As much as I did now. More than he could ever know. More than I was sure he'd ever wanted or needed anyone in his life. I needed him like I need air to breathe.

"I'd like to take to Guatemala alone, do you know that? Just the two of us, Jaime, and I'd lay you down in the sand and taste every soft, sweet inch of your body with my lips."

"I...I wouldn't..." I began to protest.

"Like hell you wouldn't," he whispered.

His hands slid down to grasp my hips, digging in and pulling me closer to him.

"Want me, Jaime? God knows I want you almost beyond bearing. It was a mistake for me to touch you the way I did. Now all I can think about is how much more of you I want. Kiss me. Kiss me..."

I did, because at that moment it was all I wanted from life. It seemed like a long time later when he finally raised his head to let his eyes blaze down into mine.

With a suddenness that was almost painful, the door swung open and Melissa's high-pitched voice shattered the emotion binding us.