Page 28 of Home to Me (The Andrades 2)
Rena collapsed on top of him.
Nick removed her panties, tossed them onto the floor, disposed of his condom, then took her in his arms. Rena wondered if there was a medical term for how relaxed she felt. She vaguely felt Nick pull one of the bedsheets over them.
In the blissful aftermath, her eyes began to close, but one final thing stood in her way. She whispered, “The vibrator is still on. I can hear it.”
Nick chuckled and kissed her shoulder. “The remote is in my coat pocket. I’d have to get up to turn it off.”
Rena snuggled closer to him and gave a moan of protest. “I’d offer to do it, but I can’t move.”
Nick chuckled again. “No swimming?”
Rena shook her head and laughed tiredly. “Maybe after a nap.”
Pulling her even closer, Nick murmured, “If I only get one day a week, I can think of better ways to spend our time than swimming.”
Rena was so relaxed that she couldn’t protest, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to.
Skinning-dipping was probably overrated anyway.
Chapter Thirteen
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Rena asked the young woman at the sub shop on the Cogent building’s first floor.
The woman repeated herself in a rush. “Did you want the dressing on the side? I put it on the salad. I can make another but it will take a minute.”
Rena smiled and held out her hand. “I’ll take it. It’s all good.”
And it had been for nearly five weeks. Rena couldn’t remember a time when she had been happier. She and Nick had fallen into a routine of speaking casually all week at work, then running off together somewhere amazing each Saturday.
Her cheeks warmed as she remembered some of the locations. By private jet, he’d flown her to Bermuda, where they’d made love in crystal caves illuminated by warm artificial lights. Nothing was off limits to a man with enough money. Although Rena wasn’t as well off as he was, she was financially comfortable. Comfortable enough to fly him up to Niagara Falls, where she’d chartered a private boat on which they’d made love to the roar of the water crashing down around them. Great sex, exotic locations— more than that, Saturdays had become a day when Rena felt free to be herself.
She had joked that they were partners in crime, and Nick had responded that it was better than that—they were partners in pleasure. And pleasure was something her life was presently so full of, it spilled over into the weekdays that led up to her next rendezvous with Nick.
He seemed just as happy with their arrangement. Everyone mentioned how much he had changed since he’d started working at Cogent. They said he’d grown into the confident businessman Gio had always said he could be.
Rena liked to think she had something to do with that, although he didn’t need her help now nearly as much as he had in the beginning. If she explained a process to him once, she could bet not only that he had understood it, but that he would come back with an improved version of it soon afterward. She felt as good about how they worked together as she did about how they played together.
“Ma’am? Ma’am?” the woman behind the counter pulled Rena back to the present.
“Yes?”
“You already paid. Did you need anything else?”
Rena realized she was standing at the register, salad in hand, a huge smile on her face, as a line of impatient customers grew behind her. “Oh, sorry. No, I have everything I need.”
And more, Rena thought and sighed with satisfaction as she turned away from the counter.
“Rena.”
Rena turned to find Julia, Gio’s fiancée, standing close beside her.
“Are you on your lunch break?”
Shaking her head to clear it, Rena said, “Yes, for a few more minutes. How are you? I haven’t seen you around much.” Before she stepped out of line, Rena asked, “Are you getting something?”
Julia smiled at the grumbling crowd behind them. “No, I’m having lunch with Gio in a little bit.” They walked together to a small corner table and sat down. “I’m working like crazy now that my designs are selling. After Claire Danes wore one of my pieces to the Emmys, I couldn’t fill the orders fast enough.”
Rena went to take a sip of water, then realized she hadn’t opened her bottle of water yet. As she fumbled with it, she said, “That’s so incredible. Can you believe how much your life has changed in such a short time?”
“It really has,” Julia said in a happy rush. “Even my parents are happier. Not that Gio wouldn’t help my family if they needed it, but Dad was relieved when he made enough money from the sale of his company that he could afford full-time care for my mother. Now he can keep her at home.”
“How is she?” Rena asked, reaching across the table to lay her hand on her friend’s. Julia was not only beautiful, she was the most giving woman Rena had ever met.
“She’ll never be better—Alzheimer’s can’t reverse course—but she’s getting the best medical care money can buy, and my dad can spend more time with her now. That’s important to both of them. She’s less afraid when he’s with her. And Gio is amazing with her. He introduces himself to her every time he meets her and he does it in a way that makes her smile.”
Rena squeezed Julia’s hand. “If there is anything I can ever do.”
Julia smiled and returned the squeeze. “I know. And I hope you know it’s the same for me. I’m here for you. You can tell me anything. Even if it’s something you think you can’t tell anyone.”
Rena withdrew her hand and asked, “Did Maddy say something to you?”
Julia looked away. “No.”
“Look at me, Julia. Did she?”
Julia reluctantly met Rena’s eyes. “I don’t want to cause any trouble between the two of you. I just want you to know I support you in whatever you do—even if you’re doing something you think is wrong. Not that I think it’s wrong. Actually, I don’t really know enough about what you’re doing to know if it’s right or wrong, but—oh, hell, are you dating Nick?”
“Yes,” Rena said, then added, “and no.”
Julia rolled her eyes and leaned forward. “Well, that’s as clear as mud. Are you or aren’t you?”
Rena ducked in toward Julia. “You have to promise you won’t say a word to Maddy. Telling her is like taking out an ad in a newspaper. I’m not saying anything unless you swear it’ll stay between the two of us.”
“You can trust me,” Julia said with confidence.
Once Rena started talking about Nick, she couldn’t stop. She told Julia about how long she’d known Nick and his brothers, and how important it was that nothing ruined the bond he and Gio were building by working together. She explained how she’d always had something of a crush on him, and how shocked she’d been the first time he’d kissed her. It wasn’t until she started to explain their arrangement that Julia broke her silence.
“Wait, so you only see him on Saturdays?”
“Well, I see him at work all week, but we make sure we act like nothing is going on.”
“What about Sundays?”
“No, never.”
“Is that your choice or his?”
“It was my idea. He agreed to it.”
“I don’t get it.”
“You asked me if I was dating Nick and I’m trying to explain it to you. Dating is two people building toward a relationship. We’re not doing that. We’re like friends . . . but . . .”
“With benefits?” Julia asked, her eyebrows rising.
“Yes,” Rena said. “Corny, but accurate, I guess. Friends with benefits. Friends with very secret, no-one-can-know-about-them benefits.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
Rena smiled. “Oh, my God, it’s incredible. I’ve never been better.”
“Oh,” Julia said as if she were still mulling over the idea. “If you’re happy and Nick is happy, then I guess it’s a good thing.”
“A very good thing,” Rena said. “But no one can know about us. Gio wouldn’t un
derstand, and my brother would lose his mind if he found out.”
Julia pursed her lips in thought. “Normally I would say I could bring Gio around to the idea, but he has a lot on his mind this week. That was the other thing I wanted to ask you. Is something going on at Cogent I should know about? Gio’s not himself and he won’t tell me why. He says it’s business related and leaves it at that. Did something happen?”
“Not that I know of.” Rena sat up straight in her chair. “I have been distracted, though. You don’t think he knows about Nick and me, do you?”
“No, he would have told me that. I guess I was hoping you’d heard something else. Nick hasn’t said anything?”
“No. Nothing.” Suddenly, Rena remembered something. “Gio did get upset with me on Friday when I couldn’t tell him who had delivered a certain envelope. He was furious. I haven’t seen him that angry in a long time. I offered to look into it, but he told me he’d handle it himself. Then I just forgot about it. Now that you mention it, he’s been in a bad mood all week. I should have asked him more about it but I didn’t. Sorry.”
