Chapter 14

He didn't hear from her that night or the next. It was Thursday and he was miserable at work.

He answered the phone hoping for her sexy voice.

"Hey, it's Jim."

Not even close.

"How's it going man?" Luke responded.

"Been better. Wanted to talk to you about this Inferis Grafix deal."

"Whoa, can't talk about that Jimmy. That's Jessie's baby," Luke stated.

"No, that's old news man. The joint venture was released to the press this morning. I was doing some research on our mutual fund portfolios that contain Inferis stock and I came across something I want you to see. I emailed it to you. Call me after you see it, if you want to."

With that cryptic comment Jim hung up.

Lucas opened the email. The colour attachment was a clip from a current news story. The smiling president and CEO of Inferis was dressed in a tuxedo, with a much younger blonde woman standing next to him clenched in his possessive grip.

What was so important about that?

Maybe it was the practice of watching from afar. Maybe it was the colour or her eyes, even in profile and half closed. Or was it the familiar line from her chin to her breast that drew his eyes to the people in the background. Or the lustrous rich colour of her hair. So rich, the colour of spring. Luring him to press his face to it, to plant his lips against it. And the white dress, a beautiful silk sheath that clung to her, that made her body glow in sharp relief. Her waist so tiny, her breast just hinted at with the neckline. And her lips pressed to his. His face handsome like a movie star. Perfect, with a perfect nose, and perfect lips that drank from hers.

Jessica had an arm on the man's tuxedoed shoulder. The same way she put her arm on Luke's shoulder. Her eyes sparkling, half shut, that same sexy look that she gave him only a couple nights ago. Her lips pressed against the other man's lips. Sharing a kiss that probably shook his handsome world, the way her kisses always shook Lucas to his core. Her hair soft around her shoulders, arranged in beautiful disarray. Artistically crafted like her hair on his pillow in the mornings.

The next photo was worse. As she looked up to him. Eyes bright like solar flares, her lips curved, probably moist, smiling like she was happier than ever. Her nipples were probably hard against her dress. She was smiling at him like he was perfect. Like there was no place she would rather be than in San Francisco. No place, certainly not a tiny apartment with a loser that stalks her from a building across the way.

The caption under the smiling CEO and his trophy wife was "Inferis and Grafix seal the deal"

And the perfect man was smiling back at her. His teeth straight and gleaming. His smile full of mystery and seductive promise. Smiling because he knew he was the luckiest man in the world.