Eternally Yours - Brenda Jackson [44]
“I’m not afraid of anything, Madaris.”
“Then we’ll talk. We either talk tonight on the phone, or I’ll fly up this weekend and we’ll talk in person.”
“Don’t do that, Clayton,” she said shakily. She wasn’t ready to see him again. He had a way of making her come utterly unglued.
There was a pause. “Okay then, I’ll call you tonight at eight. Goodbye, Syneda.”
Syneda hung up the phone without saying goodbye.
Clayton called at exactly eight o’clock. He didn’t waste time on pleasantries. He had preplanned his strategy and went straight to the heart of the problem.
“Okay, Syneda, you talk and I’ll listen since there seems to be something bothering you about the idea of us continuing to see each other.”
Syneda sighed. Something bothering her was an understatement. “All right, Clayton, since you insist upon forcing the issue, I think you’ve forgotten there was to be only one weekend for us. All we shared was satisfying a case of lust and a little bit of curiosity. We’ve gotten both out of our system.”
“Can you honestly say we did?”
“Yes, you’re out of my system,” she lied.
“Well, you’re not out of mine.”
“Too bad, Madaris. You don’t get a second try.”
A grin appeared on Clayton’s face. She was following just where he had wanted to lead her. “Does that mean we go back to being just friends?”
“Yes.”
“Then there’s no reason for me not to come visit you in two weeks, as nothing more than a friend. I’ll even check into a hotel if you want me to.”
Syneda heard the challenge in his voice. It was something she could not ignore. Her first instinct was to tell him in unladylike words just where he could go, but she thought better of it. In this situation, the age-old saying “actions speak louder than words” would have to be proven. It was obvious he did not believe they could go back to being just friends without anything sexual between them.
Syneda balled her hands into fists. She would jump to the challenge to contradict his beliefs and show him that he was out of her system. She only hoped that in two weeks he really and truly was.
“Okay, Clayton, I’ll see you in two weeks. And it won’t be necessary for you to check into a hotel. My sofa converts into a bed, and I have plenty of room here at my place.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m positive. Just as long as you remember my position.”
Unfortunately he was remembering her position, and the one that stuck out uppermost in his mind was the one of her Sunday morning lying flat on her back, pinned beneath the heated weight of his aroused body.
“Yes, Syneda, I’ll remember your position,” he said in a deep husky voice. At the present time, I can’t seem to think of anything else.
“I wasn’t aware you’d be working late tonight, Braxter.”
Braxter Montgomery looked up from the papers he’d been reading. “I really hadn’t planned to stay this late, Senator, but I’m picking up my date from work. I decided to stick around here and go over the guest list Jacob Madaris faxed today.”
Senator Lansing smiled. “Ahh, yes. It’s almost that time, isn’t it? I thought it was pretty nice of Jake to give me a kickoff party for my reelection campaign.”
“Yes, it was.” Braxter knew that Jacob Madaris was a personal friend of the senator, and a loyal, longtime supporter. He owned a large cattle ranch called Whispering Pines.
Whispering Pines was located several hundred miles from Houston. In addition to the cattle business, Madaris also owned stock in many business investments, including being a major investor in his nephew’s oil exploration company. Last year, Madaris Oil Exploration made national headlines when they had located a rich oil basin near Eagle Pass, Texas for Remington Oil Company.
“How’s the list coming?”
Braxter smiled. “It’s growing by leaps and bounds. There’s quite a number of impressive names on it. People are coming from as far away as Hollywood and Miami.”
The senator laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me. Everybody knows Jake Madaris seldom throws parties. But when he does, it’s a good one, and most people don’t want to be left out.”
Braxter glanced down at the list.