Page 113 of Fire and Ice

Maia's eyes widened in horror. Jack felt a wave of relief.

"Oh my God, ech!" Maia said as she dissolved into a rare fit of giggles. "No, he is like an older brother to me." And then remembering their previous conversation, "And not in the sense you were to Stephanie. Oh, wait until I tell Viktor. Wait, I probably shouldn't. Don't think he's gonna find it amusing," Maia said as if talking to herself. "Not that I didn't have a crush on him at some point in my life. Lots of women find him attractive, so I can understand why you thought that. He's a player though." Then she gave him an appraising look. "Well, you should know."

Jack grunted. The reason he did not like Viktor was because that man reminded him too much of himself.

They made their way to the second floor, where her bedroom was located. It had a huge walk-in closet with drawers fullof expensive garters, silk panties, bustiers, hose and bras.

Jack lifted one particularly intricate garter with a finger and raised an eyebrow.

"I get carried away with those. I love sexy underwear," Maia said.

"I do too," he said thickly. "Come here."

Jack didn't exactly wait for Maia to walk up to him and instead, while mindful of her injuries, reached out and pulled her towards him. He lowered his head to kiss her, tilting her chin up gently to receive his probing mouth. He slipped his tongue playfully through her lips and tasted the hints of the chocolate she had eaten right before they arrived. Jack groaned; if he didn't stop now he may lose all control and hurt her. Setting her from him, he murmured, "The things I want to do to you. Seriously, I think you get into all this trouble on purpose to torture me."

Maia smirked up at him and pulled his head back down to her, "Well, Jack, we can always treat this as extended foreplay." She licked the edge of his lips before pressing hers to him, running her tongue along the edge of his mouth, her other hand heading south to unzip his jeans. She reached into his boxer briefs and stroked his rapidly growing erection.

She pushed him against the drawer, driving the pace of their kissing. Jack grabbed her buttocks and pressed her closer to him, her hand wedged between them, her thumb rubbing the silky tip of his cock and driving him insane with desire. Suddenly, Maia whimpered and leaned into him almost with her full weight.

"Maia, are you all right?" Jack croaked worriedly, snapping out of his haze of lust.

"Um, dizzy. I guess I'm not in full seductress mode just yet," she murmured apologetically. "Sorry."

"Hey, it's okay," Jack said stroking her hair. "I enjoy fooling around. But we should take it easy, okay?"

Maia nodded and sat down on the hardwood floor of her closet while Jack went back to the bedroom to bring in the suitcases.

"Take your time," Jack got down on the floor beside her, pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead. He began stroking the side of her arm absentmindedly. "Just pick out the clothes you want and I'll pack them for you."

She looked up at him and smiled weakly. Jack felt his heart lurch. God, how he loved her and longed to tell her but he was afraid she would shutdown on him. Did she think he had not noticed her about-face on the Thanksgiving plans because she realized he was on the verge of admitting his feelings for her? It annoyed Jack at first, but he welcomed the respite as he was saved from blurting out his feelings like an inexperienced teenager. The challenge between Maia and himself was their perceptiveness in assessing motivations because they were both trained for that in their jobs. It was hard to hide emotions or intent.

He was 39-years old damn it. Maybe it was not required to say the words anymore. As the thought crossed his mind, he knew he was a hypocrite. He would like to hear Maia say the words, that she was in love with him and that he belonged to her. Jack kissed her forehead again. Because she certainly belonged to him and he was definitely in love with her.

***

Maia's recovery progressed rapidly over the next few days. She was confined to the bed and the couch upon arrival at Jack's penthouse apartment. He occupied an entire floor in one of the city's trendiest apartment building, but despite the amenities of a huge comfortable bed and home theatre in the living room, there was only so much Maia could take for 72 hours of convalescence. This was in addition to the three days she had already spent in the hospital. So she demanded to be let out of the apartment, to which Jack reluctantly agreed.

He couldn't stay with her during the day and started working late at nights since he couldn't ignore the responsibilities of his company any longer. He had to drive to his manufacturing plant outside of New Park a couple of times to meet with his design engineers and workers which added to his time at work. He said he wanted there to be no interruptions to their Thanksgiving weekend and wanted to make sure everything was taken care of before they left.

His assistant, Laurie Stone dropped by a couple of times to check on her to make sure she had everything she needed.

Maia snickered to herself.So this was what a mistress feets like.

The building had a doorman and a concierge whom she had gotten to know fairly well when she had started her morning walks around the neighborhood. It was Sunday, she had been at the penthouse for almost five days. Jack spent almost all of Saturday at work, coming home exhausted late the night before only to leave again very early this morning. She had not heard a peep from Derek either.

Maia was starting to feel neglected. Why insist on bringing her home with him when he was not going to be around anyway? As soon as that thought crossed her mind she felt embarrassed.When had she become so needy?Jack had put her ahead of his company for over two weeks and she was feeling neglected now? What was wrong with her? That concussion may have messed up her head more than she realized.

Shaking her head, she rounded a corner and ran into Mike Callahan. It looked like he had just come from the gym as he was wearing sweats, a hoody and had a big gym bag slung over his shoulder. His eyes widened when he saw her.

"Maia, oh my God," he walked over to her and gave her a tight hug. Luckily her ribs felt a lot better and she didn't even wince at the tight squeeze. "I heard what happened in Baltimore. Are you all right?"

"Pretty much," Maia replied. "I was a bit banged up but you know how hard-headed I can be."

Mike stroked the fading bruise on her cheek. "Yes, I know. Listen, do you wanna grab coffee? There's a bagel shop around the corner."

Maia didn't even think twice. Nearly going out of her mind with inactivity for almost a week, she welcomed some company. Even if it was from an ex-boyfriend. "Sure, why not?"

It was 4pm when Maia made it back to the apartment building. What had begun asjust coffee, turned into a walk in the park, which ended up with a late brunch. She had forgotten what a great conversationalist Mike Callahan was and how animated he could get when he talked about his crusade to clean up the streets of New Park. That was what attracted her to him. What he lacked in brawn, he made up in courage and sharp intellect.

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