Saving Me Page 6
“I’m very happy for you. A leben ahf dir!” Aaron toasted in Yiddish.
Tom raised his glass in appreciation for the blessing. “Is this kosher?”
Aaron let out a hearty laugh. “Do you care? Are you nervous?”
“Nope, I’m glad it’s almost over so Emily can focus. There’s a sculpture she’s been working on since before we left for Afghanistan, and she still hasn’t finished it.” Tom paused and took a puff off his cigar. “It’s promised to a hotel chain she has a contract with. The wedding plans have kept her busy, but she needs to concentrate and get back on track.”
“Well, it all begins tomorrow.”
Tom picked up his jacket and reached inside one of the pockets. He took out a small white envelope and handed it to Aaron.
“What’s this?”
“A present for the best man.” Aaron opened the envelope and knitted his brows as he read the card inside. Perplexed by the gift, he turned the card over. “Be careful what you ask for. You will get it.”
Before he could comment, they were interrupted.
“This is one dead bachelor party. Seriously, you two look like a couple of old men.”
“We are a couple of old men,” Tom and Aaron chorused.
“Shit! Where are the strippers? Where’s the loud music and nasty-ass tables to dance on?” Mike asked from the doorway.
Michael Brannan, the firm’s lead CAD designer and a reserve tech sergeant in their unit, hadn’t seen his thirtieth birthday yet. The young man had attached himself to the pair when he’d come to their unit. He was as wild as his ginger hair and just as temperamental. Seating himself on the loveseat opposite his bosses, he shook his head at the pair while they puffed and sipped. He released an exaggerated, loud sigh. “Should I learn how to extend my pinky for the wedding?”
“Extend this, motherfucker!” Aaron shot him the finger.
“Thank God! I was seriously getting worried about you two sitting here like Churchill and Roosevelt.” He pointed to the picture behind him. “I’m half expecting to see you two up there the next time I come.”
Aaron poured Mike a scotch on the rocks and the three of them bantered while they drank. After a couple of rounds, Mike decided he and the younger men needed to celebrate in earnest for Tom at one of the local strip bars. Aaron and Tom waved them off then left the club themselves by ten o’clock and went their separate ways. While he drove home, Aaron’s thoughts drifted to the present he’d received. A gift certificate for a dating service, 1Night Stand.
What the hell is he thinking? He knows my predicament and knows damn good and well I don’t do one-night stands…anymore.
The gift he’d received from Tom wouldn’t leave his thoughts, no matter how hard he tried to concentrate on something else. When he arrived home, he raced inside and searched his jacket while stalking through his house to the bedroom. He tossed his jacket on to his bed and stared at the card in his hand, recalling Tom’s statement, Be careful what you ask for. You will get it. Peering down the hall at his study, he considered what he’d do with the gift. Shaking his head, he threw the card onto the dresser. He didn’t have time for this shit! He had a wedding to attend tomorrow, a conference in Vegas next week, and a business to run when Tom left to go on his honeymoon for a couple of weeks. But he didn’t have to run the business alone, not anymore.
I have Natasha.
The business had doubled in size in the last three years. With the growth, the partners had found it increasingly difficult to do what they loved, create structures and oversee every detail of their project’s creation. Instead, they were embroiled in negotiations, meetings, conferences, and events to sell their services. He wanted to create, not haggle.
A little over a year before, a quandary had forced them to take action. Tom and Aaron’s RED HORSE reserve unit had been recalled to active duty service in Afghanistan, and they were both scheduled to deploy at the same time. They’d needed to hire someone to run the business before they left. A firm they partnered with in Dallas had mentioned their business manager needed to relocate to San Antonio to be closer to her aging mother.
Natasha Rodriguez had come highly recommended, so they’d decided to try her for a few months before their deployment. When she easily slid into the position, they left, comfortable the firm would be in good hands. She’d frequently communicated with them during their overseas duty, updating them on the status and financial health of the business. When they returned, she had grown the business even more, so they invited her to stay on.
In the months since then, Aaron had found himself not just appreciating Natasha’s business savvy but growing genuinely fond of her. He’d picked up on some of her personal quirks, the way she liked her coffee with cream but not sugar, how she would reapply her lipstick right after lunch, the way she tossed her hair back when she concentrated. Tasha was an efficient, intelligent, and wise woman. He’d come to rely on her business sense and eye for detail.
While they sat in meetings, he’d often catch himself studying small things about her. The way her eyes narrowed when she verbally closed a deal, communicating to her counterpart on the other side of the table that negotiations had ceased and talking had ended. How she wrapped her arms in her jacket in the refrigerator they called a conference room, her nipples beading. It bothered him his cock responded every time he watched her shiver or got close enough to smell her floral scent. If she had given any indication she’d been interested in him, he’d have found a way around the promise he’d made his Orthodox mother when his father passed away.
Their back briefs at the end of the workday, when they would talk about the business and where she felt it needed to be, were the highlight of his day. They didn’t talk about the company all the time, though. Every now and then, he’d get a glimpse into her personal life when she would mention taking time off to drive her mother to the doctor or a shopping expedition over the weekend. He’d gotten familiar with her large family through her. She’d become his anchor. He relied on her judgment; she freed him to pursue his passion, creating one-of-a-kind structures.
Picking up the card, he sauntered to his study and logged onto his home computer. It had taken him forty-five minutes to register his account and fill out his own profile. Now this? Staring at the ideal woman’s profile page, he contemplated Tom’s statement again. Needing to do something to get Tasha out of his head, he thought about what he wanted in a woman. Maybe these people can work miracles…. He leaned back in his chair and shook his head at such a foolish notion. His standards were so fucked up, not even his Jewish matchmaking mother could find him a mate. How in hell would this dating service find him a woman she’d approve of? Why did I make my mom that promise? Fuck it! This is my last try at this shit! He sat upright and typed.
Table of Contents
Decadent Publishing Recent Releases
Also by Bella Juarez
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Beautiful Nightmare by Bella Juarez