She pulled her hand away as fast as if she had touched a hot stove. She looked up into Jason’s eyes, shocked, as he calmly stated. “Well I think that takes care of the notion that I’m ‘unaffected’.”
“Oh well, um....ok,” Katie stammered, trying to come up with an exit strategy that would still leave her with (even a tiny bit of) dignity. She drew herself up as regally as she could manage, and then, in the closest thing that she could muster to an aloof tone of voice, said, “I see that now. So let me just say that I am sorry for my behavior. I am not quite sure what came over me, as I don’t seem to be acting much like myself today.”
She sat for a moment in silence. She expected Jason to respond, but he didn't, he just kept watching her. Maybe he realized she had more to say. In a small voice, trying to make it sound like an aside even though she realized as she said it that it was the true heart of the matter, she added, “I can’t even, and don’t want to, imagine what you must think of me.”
She heard Jason take a deep breath – in through his nose and out through his mouth. If Katie wasn’t mistaken Jason was...irritated. That was weird, she thought – Jason never lets anything get under his skin.
As she slowly turned in her seat to face him, her suspicions were confirmed. Yep! That was definitely the face of one PERTURBED Mr. Jason Sloan. He clearly had something on his mind that he was dying to say, so Katie decided to just be silent and let him get it out.
He took a deep breath and launched in, “You're really something, you know that? So let ME ‘just say’ that you never...NEVER...have to apologize for that kind of ‘behavior’ with me, past or present.”
He looked forward, out the front windshield of his truck, and slammed his palm against the steering wheel. He then visibly re-centered himself, took another deep breath, and continued, “Look. I'm sure you feel a little off balance and out of your comfort zone. That must be scary. But, you've got to know something – THAT'S the Katie that I've always loved. Not the cool, calm, and collected version most of the world sees. That's for them. With me, you can be yourself. I know you, Katie, better than most. I know you inside and out. I know you warts and all. I’ve seen you at your best, at your worst, and everywhere in between and I love it all. Every bit. So don't apologize to me for losing your cool, or acting a little unhinged. That's what's special between us, the fact that you can, and you do. Your immediate regret about it cheapens it, honestly. It's not a bad thing. It's special, and I wish you saw that.
“Kit Kat, we have a past that has included good times and bad. But I have been, I am, and I always will be here for you. That's a given. You can take that to the bank. To speak your language, you can consider it a legally binding agreement.
“And, lastly, no matter what you think – even though you know I love to give you a hard time – you never have to be embarrassed around me Kit Kat. Ever.”
Katie was speechless. She tried to respond, but when she opened her mouth to speak, words would not come out. Hell, SOUNDS wouldn't even come out!
Jason continued his speech as he started up the truck, “Now, Kit Kat, as much as I would love to continue this conversation – and, believe me, I have a lot more to say – the girls are waiting at Salvatore's for you and I don’t want you to be late. So you need to get to the luncheon, you have some have fun, and we'll talk more soon.”
“Jas,” Katie cleared her throat and made every attempt to choose her words carefully, “I just want to make it clear that this...” she waved her hands back and forth between them as she swallowed hard, “can never hap...”
“NO!” Jason interrupted, raising his voice to Katie for the first time she could remember...pretty much ever, “You are not going to do that. You are not going to make ridiculous statements like that. We are going to deal with this, whatever this...” he waved his hand back and forth between them, mirroring her gesture, “...is. You and I are going to deal with it this weekend, like the mature adults that both of us are and at least one of us is acting like, and that is happening whether you want it to or not. And just so we’re clear, that’s not a request, it’s a statement.”
Jason reached across her lap and opened the passenger side door “You're close enough to walk. Now, go have a nice lunch, and I'll talk to you later.”
Katie was overwhelmed. She had never expected things to play out like this. And Katie Lawson ALWAYS thought of EVERY possible outcome before entering into any given situation.
She had prepared herself for several outcomes in facing Jason this weekend:
Scenario 1 - Jason would ignore her and she would suffer through several awkward situations that they would naturally be in as part of the wedding party.
Scenario 2 - Jason would be furious with her and have a few choice words to impart. She would apologize, he would accept (because that's the kind of guy he is), and they would get through the weekend and part on newly-reconciled terms.
Scenario 3 - Jason would appear to have forgotten all about what happened 10 years ago. He would say it was great to see her, and she would say the same. The customary small talk would ensue and Jason (being Jason) would slip in some sly comment that made oblique reference to the night oh-so-long ago. By doing so, he would let Katie know that, while he
did
remember, she was (for all intents and purposes) off the hook. She would return to San Francisco unscathed and with a huge weight lifted off her shoulders.
She could have lived with any of those three scenarios. Some would have been more pleasant than others, but they all had one thing in common – they fit within the narrow box that she had relegated Jason to in her mind.
This...did not. To say the least. Good Lord! Never in Katie’s wildest dreams did she prepare herself for:
Scenario 4 - Katie and Jason see each other again and there are more sparks than the Fourth of July. He almost immediately brings up the fact that they need to talk, and he confesses within hours of her arrival that he did not one but TWO incredibly “knight in shining armor-esque” feats during their childhood. He then proceeds to not only kiss her silly, but also to give her one of the most incredible orgasms of her life. Fully dressed. In broad daylight. In a parking lot.
Yeah, not the sort of thing that fits in a carefully-crafted box. This was definitely some OUTSIDE THE BOX material!
Dear Lord, what could possibly happen next?!
No! She stopped herself. She definitely could NOT let her mind go there. She needed to get away from Jason and process all of the events that had occurred in the past 4 hours. Then she needed to prepare herself, mentally and emotionally, for any future OUTSIDE THE BOX onslaughts that may come flying at her over the course of the rest of the weekend.
As she turned to say goodbye to Jason and exit his truck as gracefully as possible, she was stopped dead in her tracks by the look of pure and utter amusement in his eyes. That was the EXACT smug look that got her goat! For some reason, that little I-Know-Something-You-Don't-Know-And-It's-Real-Damn-Funny expression had always irritated her down to her bones. It could definitely take her from zero to furious in about 2.5 milliseconds.
“What?” she snapped.
“Kit Kat, I could practically hear the wheels turning in your head as you sat there trying to compartmentalize everything that’s happened between us this morning,” Jason said, his tone light and amused.
“Oh, good night nurse! What are you, a mind reader now? You don’t know me that well, Jas. I was actually just thinking about how underdressed I am going to be at the luncheon. There was not a
single
thought in my mind that had
anything
to do with us.” Katie lied, her tone haughty and self-satisfied even though her brain was screaming GOD DAMN HIM, HE'S RIGHT!
“Sure there wasn’t, Kit Kat, just keep telling yourself that and maybe one of us will believe you.”
Katie opened her mouth to respond, but Jason put a finger over her open lips to shush her and kept right on speaking.
“But, speaking of being underdressed...I got so um, let’s say distracted, that I almost forgot to tell you. While you were in CVS I made a call to my friend. Her name is Amber, and she’s the owner of Bella. She is holding a dress for you. I told her you were a size 4. You can go in through that back door,” Jason pointed to a door painted a deep red.
Katie's eyebrows raised in amazement. Every time she thought she could not get more pissed off at him, he went and revealed some over the top, knight in shining armor gesture that he had put together, and took all the wind out of her rage-sails.
“After you change, just head out through the front entrance, and Salvatore’s is right across the parking lot,” he grinned before adding, “Now get going, Kit Kat. We both know how anal you are about being on time.”
“Fine!” Katie huffed as she stepped out of the truck, but slowly turned as she realized she needed to at least TRY to handle this with a scrap of maturity. She grudgingly said, “And...thanks for the ride, and thinking of the dress, and…everything.”
“By ‘everything’ I am assuming you mean the mind-blowing orgasm,” She heard Jason say just as he pulled the door shut and roared off, giving her no chance to have the last word.
“Oh. Dear. Lord!” she exclaimed to the empty parking lot, and closed her eyes as she wondered how she would ever survive until Sunday.
Katie hurried across the empty parking lot and opened the back door, stepping through what appeared to be a very upscale boutique. She seemed to be in what she assumed was the employee break room, but it was much nicer than any employee lounge she had ever seen. There was a plush red Italian leather couch and a flat screen
TV. A massage table sat in the left hand corner of the room and there was a state of the art stainless steel refrigerator to her right.
Katie stood for a moment, taking in her surroundings and wondering what to do next, when she heard the sound of beads brushing against each other. She looked up as the most beautiful, exotic woman Katie had ever seen in her life walked through the black bead-curtained
doorway, creating the illusion that she was magically taking form from the onyx baubles right before Katie's eyes.
The woman stood about 5’6” tall and had long, thick, shiny black hair and gorgeous hazel cat-shaped eyes. Her flawless olive skin gave her the air of Middle Eastern royalty. Katie thought that she looked like nothing so much as an Arabian princess brought to life.
The woman was wearing a pair of fitted white linen slacks and a tailored black halter top with intricate beading along the neckline. The ensemble was finished with elegant black sling back flats. She looked like she just walked off the pages of Vogue.
Katie tried to be subtle as she glanced down at her own (distinctly underwhelming) ensemble and attempted not to feel like a peasant in the presence of nobility.
“Katie,” the woman said warmly, and her smile revealed a row of the straightest, whitest teeth that Katie had ever seen outside of a movie screen.
Yeah, like I needed one more thing to make me feel like I was sent here to clean her toilets, Katie through wryly.
“Hi, um yes, I’m Katie,” she mumbled uncomfortably, slouching her shoulders unconsciously because she suddenly felt so frumpy and dowdy, “You must be Amber.”
“Yes I am. Wow,” Amber enthused, looking Katie up and down, “It is so nice to finally meet you.”
Oh, God, PLEASE don't look me up and down, Katie pleaded inside her head, feeling supremely uncomfortable under the stunning woman's gaze. Katie couldn't be sure if Amber was
really
happy to meet her, or if this was like in middle school when the popular girls would tell you that you had the ‘cutest skirt’ and then as soon as you walked away, they would laugh behind your back and joke that you must have bought it at UglyMart.
Either way...she felt on display and it wasn't a pleasant feeling. In fact...wait, no...please no panic attack.
Katie pulled it together enough to manage to say (and not mumble), “Um, it's nice to meet you too.”
There was a semi-long, semi-awkward pause. Katie waited. Hey, she had said the last thing, right? It was Amber's turn! That's how conversations worked!
When it became apparent that wasn't going to happen, Katie cautiously continued, “Jason said you were holding a dress for me?”
“Oh, yes! Of course,” Amber shook her head back and forth, her dark locks swaying as though she was in a shampoo commercial. “Sorry, I don’t know where my manners are! I think I might be in a little bit of shock. It’s just I have been hearing about you for years now...even seen a few pictures...but here you are in the flesh. It's surreal.”
This didn't make Katie feel less like a bug under the microscope at ALL.
Amber stared wonderingly for a few more seconds, but then stepped back through the doorway, pushing the beads to the side and gesturing for Katie to follow her. She said, “I certainly am holding a dress for you, and I know you are in a time crunch, so let’s get you in it!”
Still in shock that this complete stranger seemed to know who she was when Katie didn’t know her from Adam, she mindlessly followed Amber down a short hall painted a muted shade of red. As they reached the dark wood door to the dressing room, Amber abruptly turned to her. As she opened the fitting room door, she said, “You should find everything that you need in there, but if you need a different size or you'd like to try different accessories, just let me know. I'll be in the front closing up.”