"Matt, are you there?"
He heard annoyance in Delilah's voice but his mind had gone elsewhere.
"I need to talk to you about Elizabeth."
He felt irritation prick the back of his neck. He turned onto PCH and saw that the beaches were still packed with people though many were walking back to their cars. The traffic proved to be just as slow as it usually was this time of day, this time of year.
"Elizabeth and I aren't together anymore," he said, "We broke it off."
Delilah's voice cranked up a notch.
"She wants to talk to you about that."
He sighed, trying to look ahead of them to see if the cars had started to move but a large throng of people carrying ice coolers and surfboards had crossed the highway.
"Tell her when she gets back that I'm not interested in rehashing our history," he said, "I've just gotten back from a month away and am very busy."
He sighed wondering what Delilah would have to say to that but he had been very busy, conducting business meetings, climbing mountains and thinking what it'd be like to slide in between the sheets again with C.J..
"If you're going to be like this, why don't you tell her yourself?"
He sighed again, looking at his watch and then looking at the traffic jam.
"Then again, you might want to rethink that," Delilah said, "when you hear her news."
He felt that in the pit of his stomach.
"What news?"
Delilah sighed dramatically as was her custom.
"I should let you tell you hereself," she said, "but it'll change your life forever…"
His stomach tightened and his body tensed. He counted back to the last time he had slept with her, three and a half months ago. Just enough time for her to know if she had gotten pregnant. No, it couldn't be that, it had to be some other news that she had to tell him. The light turned green and he started moving again.
It had been the night two days before the wedding, when they had hit the sheets after eating dinner out with the rest of the bridal party. They had argued just after they left the table when Elizabeth had complained again about C.J. being his best man, or his best woman or whatever it would be called if a woman subbed in to support the groom, her best friend and business partner at his wedding.
Elizabeth had never accepted the fact that his best friend had been a woman, always second guessing every single moment during work and play he spent with C.J.. She had accused him of sleeping with her any time he was five minutes late meeting her or returning home when they'd been living together.
That night she had try to stir those same insecurities up again and they had argued, but then they had both calmed down and she had returned into his bed to make up. Sometimes he thought she believed that to be the best kind of loving.
"Matt are you still there?"
"Yes…but why can't she tell me over the phone?"
She paused.
"Because she needs to do that in person," Delilah said, "How about lunch at the Tea Room tomorrow at 12:30?"
He mentally ran through his calendar.
"That might work," he said, "Okay I'll be there."
"That's my good boy Matt," Delilah said, "You won't regret it."
After he clicked off his phone, he wondered what Elizabeth had to tell him that needed them to meet face to face. What was this news that would change his life or had she just been playing with him again?
What if she had gotten pregnant? Oh god, where would that leave them, he'd be tied to her forever but then again, the incredulous idea that he'd have a child, someone who came from his familial lines, it just overpowered him. But then again, they'd always been careful, using contraception. Matt never left that up to chance, because his idea of family and adding onto his own was years away. He just didn't have the interest or time into dedicating his entire days and night, his life to someone who would be so dependent on him. Children in the future, yes but not right now.
The traffic started to move more quickly and he decided not to jump to conclusions about the news that Elizabeth had to tell him.
Not when the woman he couldn't wait to be with remained only minutes away. Waiting for him to slide her clothes right off of her and take her places right on the spot.
C.J. had gotten herself another tall glass of milk because though she hated the stuff, she wanted her baby to have healthy bones. She had to change a lot of things in her life now that she had gotten pregnant. Eating more fruits and vegetables she didn't mind, giving up sushi no problem there but she would miss her nightly glass of wine.
Two glasses if the day had been especially arduous and those beers she shot back with Matt when they sat back and watched football.
The stars were beginning to twinkle and she wished the L.A. skies revealed more of them like she had grown up with living outside of the city. She and Matt used to sit beneath a sky so crammed with stars, it shimmered more than twinkled. They had brought some iced tea and then later beer with them as they talked for hours about where they wanted to go in life.
She wasn't into doing that right now if he ever showed up. No, what would be better is if he picked her up right off of her feet and took her to the bedroom, lowering her gently into her four postered palace.
Damn, the milk just wasn't going to do it for her but alcohol was out so she thought she might go fix herself a virgin…something. She hit the cabinet to look for ingredients even maraschino cherries.
Then she heard her cell phone…somewhere. She reached for it and saw that it was Elise.
"Hi…what's up?"
"I heard Matt's jet hit the tarmac today and he's back in town."
"Yeah well, he's got his ex, Elizabeth already out looking for him."
"Shut up! Really?"
"Yes really," C.J. said, "and I think she wants him back. That's at least what her best friend Delilah said."
Elise snorted.
"Don't pay any attention to that witch," she said, "What is Matt going to do?"
C.J. just rolled her eyes.
"I don't know…Delilah implied that they were hitting the pool table hot and heavy."
"Men are such fools," Elise said, "You would have thought he'd learn."
C.J. bit her lip.
"Elise, are you free tomorrow," she said, "Maybe we could meet for lunch."
Her friend caught the edge in her voice
"Sure…it'll have to be after the noon hour because I've got a staff meeting but why don't we hit some quiet spot and we can talk…that's what this is about isn't it?"
"How'd you know?"
"Because I know you," Elise said, "We've been friends for years."
"Thanks…I do have something I want to tell you," C.J. said, "to tell someone. I got blindsided by some news and I don't know what to do."
Elise sighed.
"Sounds serious…sure I'll meet you," she said, "There's this new funky place called the Tea Room at about one?"
"I can handle that," Elise said, "and whatever you have to tell me, it's going to be okay."
C.J. sure hoped so but her friend's words did reassure her. She knew she had to break the news to Matt about her pregnancy but she thought she'd do it better if she ran it through a close friend first. The one who hadn't gotten her pregnant.
She clicked off her phone and worked on finishing her drink because even without alcohol, she really needed it.
But she needed Matt even more.
Matt pulled up at the store on the corner two blocks away from C.J.'s house. He decided to pick up a bottle of wine and some flowers. He paid for them and headed back to his car to drive to her house.
Pulling up, he parked and got out to walk up to the front porch, to the door next to the swing.
She answered the door and stood before him dressed in grubby blue jeans and a tee-shirt stained with grass. Her hair back in a pony tail off of her face, but her smile lit up her face when she saw him.
"Hi there stranger…"
His heart skipped a beat.
"May I come inside?"
She smiled more widely.
"Most definitely but I'd like to do that somewhere in private."
Oh, he remembered he had to be on his toes with her. He followed her inside and she put one hand on a hip looking at him.
"Damn you're a sight for sore eyes," he told her.
She arched a brow.
"Dressed like this…I've been out gardening…"
He took a step closer towards her and she felt her palms dampen because she didn't know what she wanted to do first. She did know she wanted to kiss him.
Maybe he read her mind because he placed his hands on her hips and drew her slowly towards him, before he caressed her with his mouth; her lips tingled when they felt the exquisite pressure against them. She put her hands against his sturdy chest as she savored his style of kissing.
She'd waited a month for him to return, to experience just this moment that now unfolded between them. His arms stroked her back, her tee-shirt didn't shield her skin from the sensations he elicited from his touch.
Suddenly she broke the kiss, leaving both of them breathing pretty heavily. He looked at her, his brows quizzical.
"What…"
She smiled to reassure him.
"I was going to hit the shower, to wash all this grime off," she said, "would you like to join me?"
He smiled in that easy going way of his proving that she hadn't needed to ask. She casually reached behind her head to remove the tie from her hair setting it loose in curls around her face, and down to the middle of her back. He could run his fingers through those silken strands, and he would when he made love to her but first the shower…
She removed her shirt, leaving her dressed in a peach silk bra which hinted at the softness of her breasts and then she folded her arms at him.
"Hey, I'm feeling a little underdressed here," she said, "Can you help me with that?"
He reached for his own top to unbutton it down to the last one, while she watched him.
Yes, he most definitely could help her with that…and a few other things…
They lay together, still without clothing in her bed. He had his arms wrapped around her and she felt the tickle of his stubble on his jaw line as he kissed her again. They had nearly collapsed in the shower but had somehow made it to the bedroom though she felt the arousal building up because being wrapped in the warmth of his body, she couldn't help it.
"I missed you so much," he said, "It got to the point where the only summit I wanted to climb was you."
She shot him a critical look.
"That's a bit of a line…"
He smiled, kissing her shoulder.
"No really…it reminds me of when…"
He stopped and this time she kissed him teasingly to get him to continue.
"What?"
"When you first came to work for me," he said, "I sat during that interview I put you through thinking about stripping you naked and showing you some things."
Her brows arched.
"Really?"
"Yeah really…"
"Then why didn't you?"
He blinked his eyes at her.
"Because you were there for a professional interview, not for some romancing," he said.
She shrugged in his arms.
"Well, what if I had wanted it," she said, "what if I had thoughts of my own?"
He narrowed his eyes.
"Oh comparison shopping with a boyfriend?"
She just smiled.
"Oh come on, you were dating three women at the time you interviewed me."
"True…but if I had known how hot you were, I'd have never let you leave my office until I had known every inch of you."
She sighed.
"Yeah well, our lives turned out differently and look where it brought us?"
He couldn't argue with that, not with them lying so close and he felt like drifting to sleep next to her.
"What is it with you men and falling asleep?"
She laid another one of her kisses on his mouth and dared him to return it with her eyes.
So he did and naturally, didn't regret it.
C.J. sighed as she felt herself drifting off to sleep with Matt's arms around her. He had nodded off like a typical man. She still hadn't told him about the baby but she really felt like she needed to run it through a neutral party first, like Elise. That's what she would do when she met her tomorrow…no wait today for lunch. She had thought Matt might slip out of bed and head back to his own home several blocks away but he had remained with her.
She curled against him as she relaxed but her mind still wandered. It had been a hectic day what with finding out she'd failed a bunch of tests and then had Delilah show up unannounced at her house. She had no intention of helping her friend, Elizabeth get back together with the man now in her bed. If Matt wanted Elizabeth, that'd have to be something for him to decide himself and she'd stay out of it.
God, she flashed back to the bachelorette party and did Matt even know his bride to be had tried to grab the stripper and dirty dance with him? Luckily it had been Delilah who had steered the bride away from her goal.
But C.J. had been totally disgusted with her conduct, thinking why would anyone act that way close to getting married.
She sighed feeling the former groom stir next to her. He tightened his arms and drew her closer to him in sleep. Instinctually wanting her in his embrace, never to let go. She knew he had loved Elizabeth on some level even if she hadn't figured out which one exactly. If he wanted her back...what would she do about that? She wasn't going to run begging to him to not get back together with her but she didn't want to wait until she had gone into labor with their baby to give him the news either.
The kind of etiquette of what to do in a situation like this was probably best learned by watching a reality television show but she did know that she wished he'd want her instead. Still he was a guy and often they proved to be mysteries when it was picking which woman they did want to marry and raise kids with for the rest of their natural lives.
Maybe she'd bring this part of it up during her lunch with Elise just after she dropped the news about her being pregnant. Elise had her own issues with pregnancy after her own surrogate experience but C.J. knew she'd come up with some good insights.
She snuggled closer to Matt, with that decided, to get a little sleep before they both decided where they'd go from there.
What a perfect way to start a day.