Redemption (Iris Series) Read online

  “I’m glad you didn’t,” she said, shoveling more Pad Thai into her mouth.

  He choked a little. “Why’s that?”

  She smiled around her food. “I hadn’t yet perfected my new approach. I was still working on it, and I may have offended you with my wicked flirting.”

  He rolled his eyes.

  She looked at her watch. It was approaching 1pm. Where had the time gone? She wanted to unpack the rest of her boxes before she left for work at 3:30, and she still needed to take a shower.

  He noticed her looking at the time. “I’ll clean up and put the feet on the sofa and chair, and you start getting ready for work.”

  “That’s okay. I have a little time and I want to unpack the last couple of boxes before I jump in the shower. I feel unsettled when it’s not all unpacked. This week has been so busy with work, I haven’t taken the time to finish it. Now that the furniture’s here, I want it to look nice.”

  “What time do you have to leave?”

  “3:30.”

  “I can drive you if you don’t want to take the subway.”

  “In the big manly truck?” she smirked.

  “Actually, I have a car.”

  “You do?! You didn’t say anything. I’m surprised you wanted to take the subway rather than drive to your friend’s place.”

  He shrugged. “Sometimes the subway is easier than dealing with traffic.”

  “What kind of car is it?” she asked, while shoveling in another bite of food.

  “Jaguar,” he said.

  She raised an eyebrow. “Well, well. That must’ve been a purchase during your rich Wall Street days.”

  He gave her a look and said, “I bought it when I was still in Boston. Then when I moved here, I decided I wanted to keep it. It gets dusted off and used every once in a while, and since the apartment complex had a garage, I figured why not.”

  “You must like that car, given what parking costs are.”

  “I can swing it. And I do like that car,” he said giving her a lopsided smile.

  “Well, far be it from me to stand in the way of you dusting off the car to take me to work. If you want to drive it, I’ll take the ride.” Any ride you wanna give me, champ.

  “Good.” He brushed off his hands and took his leftovers into the kitchen.

  So domestic, she thought, as she watched the gorgeous ass in faded jeans make its way into the kitchen. She sighed. She needed to redirect her thoughts if she was going to make it to Day 41 chaste.

  She cleaned up as well, and he began doing the light assembling of the sofa and chair while she tackled more boxes. The final boxes contained cooking and writing books, along with more saris that she hung around the windows as dressings. Other than that, she was pretty much unpacked.

  She was standing on a chair draping one of the saris over the curtain rods Ryann had left, when Jon walked over.

  “Do you need some help with that?” he asked, looking up at her.

  “Nope. I’m good.” She stretched up on her toes and hooked the sari around the end of the rod, fluffed the fabric then she looked it over. She loved the effect, and was so excited to have her own windows to dress in her own living room. All that was left was to unpack the house warming gift from Ryann which was a whole set of pots and pans, and then the small purchases she bought from IKEA for the kitchen.

  She couldn’t wait to make use of that kitchen.

  Especially when she planned on breaking it in by making Jonathan the best meal he’d ever had. She needed to ask him what he liked.

  “It looks good,” he said. “Your boudoir is coming together nicely,” he said as he helped her down off of the chair.

  “Hardy har har.” She rubbed her hands together. “Alright, JBG. Get out of here so I can get ready. I’ll see you at 3:30.”

  “You got it. See you in a couple of hours.”

  Chapter 7

  After he left, she cleaned up the apartment and when she was done, the place actually looked like a home.

  Now, a couple of hours later, not only did her living quarters look good, but she finally felt clean, taking special care in the shower to scrub and shave until she was soft and smooth as a baby’s bottom.

  Probably the most exciting thing that had happened since Jon had left was the text from Janie, which led to a 15 minute conversation with her and the paper she now had folded in her satchel. She couldn’t wait to tell Jon about it. She’d already called Ryann who screamed into the phone, and then screamed some more when Ayanna gave her the update on Jonathan and her Day 27 epiphany from the subway ride.

  “I knew he would apologize,” she’d gushed. “I’m so thrilled that you actually have a guy friend. This is so great, Yan,” she’d sighed. “You’re getting your shit together and it’s awesome. And,” she’d said, “I can’t believe he took you to IKEA,” she’d said with a smile in her voice.

  “Don’t get any crazy thoughts, Ry. I need to get through my 40 days then we’ll talk,” she’d smirked and shook her head.

  Ryann had chuckled, but it was obvious she was trying to play matchmaker.

  So, now Ayanna stood in her living room with her ‘before work’ outfit on, which consisted of her hair in a ponytail, a tank top, skinny jeans, and sandals. Her restaurant uniform and work shoes were in her satchel, and she was ready to go when Jon knocked on the door at 3:28.

  When she opened it, her immediate thought was Yum. He had cleaned up nicely, dressed in light blue flat front shorts, a black short sleeved golf shirt and scuffed up slip-ons. She had to control her reaction so she didn’t start licking her lips.

  “Hey!” she beamed.

  He stepped back and made a show of looking at the number on her door, making sure he was at the right place.

  She rolled her eyes.

  “I’ve never seen anyone so happy to go to work,” he said dryly.

  “That’s because starting tomorrow, I won’t be going to work there anymore,” she said, her grin splitting her face in two as she was barely able to contain herself.

  He frowned. “What’s going on?”

  “Come on, I’ll tell you on the way,” she said as she pushed him out the door.

  She happily looped her arm in his and headed to the elevator.

  “So, don’t leave me in suspense.”

  She began, “You know that I’m meeting with Janie tomorrow, right?”

  “Yeah?” He walked them into the elevator and pressed the button for the garage.

  “She called about an hour ago and we’d already tossed around the idea of doing something together…so she tells me her right hand man who had been her assistant chef with her catering business got a call that his mom had a stroke and he needs to move back home to help her.”

  “That’s too bad. But I think I see where this is going,” he said raising his eyebrow with a smile touching on his lips.

  She nodded excitedly. “So she asked if I would take his position! Isn’t that fuckin’ awesome?!” she squealed, and hugged his arm.

  He couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re so adorable right now,” he finished with a chuckle.

  “She was so happy to ask me and it felt so good to be wanted. I know we’re going to do great things together. We both have the same philosophy, have pretty much the same training. You should’ve heard us on the phone. We were like teenagers,” she giggled.

  “That is fuckin’ awesome,” he smiled down at her. “I’m happy for you, babe,” he laughed happily, squeezing her arm back.

  She blinked at the endearment and tried to ignore the zing she felt go through her.

  The elevator reached the garage and they stepped out.

  “You’ll be able to swing it financially?”

  “Yeah. She actually offered the same as what I’m making now, and then tomorrow we’ll hash out the rest of the details.”

  “So, you’re handing in your resignation tonight at the restaurant?” he asked as he led them to his car.

  “Yup. No more taking the
subway at one in the morning.”

  He slowed his walking and looked at her, then began walking again taking her arm and leading her to the silver Jaguar parked in the back.

  “I guess when you’re in the restaurant business you have to work crazy hours. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought about you getting home so late. You shouldn’t be taking the subway that late at night. It’s not safe.”

  He took out his key fob and unlocked the doors.

  “It was only a couple of days a week. Swanky car,” she cooed.

  He opened the door for her and she slid onto the smooth leather seats. She was still running her hand over the seat when he slid in next to her.

  He nailed her with a look. “I don’t want you to take the subway home tonight. Were you planning on working your whole shift, or were you going to hand in your resignation when you got there, and just leave?”

  “I’ll work my shift. I don’t want to leave them in the lurch. I certainly don’t owe anything to the owner, but the chef and I have become good friends and I don’t want to leave Catherine hanging tonight,” she said, referring to the head chef.

  “I’ll pick you up after work. That’s crazy, a woman taking the subway at one o’clock in the morning,” he muttered, as he pulled his car out the slot.

  “No. You’re not picking me up that late. You’ll be in bed getting your beauty sleep, Johnny Be Good. I’ve been riding the subway for a long time, so don’t worry about it, Daddy.”

  He was already shaking his head halfway through her speech. “No. This is your last night. Just let me pick you up, okay? It’ll make me feel better.”

  She looked at him for a moment and tried to keep the mood light, even though she was incredibly touched by his offer. She’d been taking care of herself for so long she almost didn’t know how to react when someone took control. “Is this another ‘guy friend’ thing?” she teased.

  “Yes…first of all, where am I going again?”

  She gave him the name and cross streets of the restaurant, and he pulled out into the city traffic.

  “I’ve been there. It’s a good restaurant.”

  “Yeah, in spite of the owner.” She paused. “You know, I’m not trying to sound ungrateful, but it really is gonna be late by the time I’m outta there tonight. It’s okay if I take the subway.”

  “Nope. Let’s not argue about it. I’m coming to get you. Done.” He looked at her and the look said Deal with it.

  She sighed and couldn’t help but smile on the inside. “If you say so. I think you’re just looking for excuses to drive this sex machine,” she said, touching the polished wood paneled dashboard.

  He barked a laugh. “Sex machine? Yup. You’ve finally discovered my dirty side.”

  “Mmm. JBG has a dirty side. I think I’d like to hear about that some time.”

  “Not until Day 41. I don’t think your girly parts would be able to handle it.”

  She chuckled and nearly hugged herself. She really liked this man. And she loved the fact they were getting to know each other without any strings. They had great banter and he really was becoming an actual friend.

  “What time are you supposed to be done tonight?”

  “12:30. I’ll text you a half hour before I’m ready to go, then you can just text me when you get there and I’ll run out. Does that work?”

  “Got it.” After a few moments, he said, “Since you’re changing some things on the job front, it may be good to sit down soon and look at your portfolio.”

  “Yeah, actually, I was going to ask you if maybe we could look at it this weekend some time. Do you have plans at all?”

  “I’m meeting with a client tomorrow afternoon and then another one Sunday morning, but other than that, I’m free.”

  “Okay. Now that I don’t have to work tomorrow night, we could do it then, or Sunday night. Do you have a preference?”

  “Why don’t we talk things through Sunday night? That’ll give you tomorrow to write down some thoughts and ideas.”

  Her ideas were already forming. “Remember, I want to thank you by cooking you dinner. You wanna do that Sunday night, too?”

  He looked over at her. “You don’t have to do that, you know. I would help you even if you didn’t give me anything in return.”

  “I would absolutely love to cook something in my new kitchen. And cooking you dinner would give me the excuse to use it. Does that make you feel less weird about it?” she asked, giving him a pointed look.

  He smirked then looked back at the street. “Hey, if you want to sweat over a meal in a hot kitchen in the middle of summer, then by all means don’t let me stop you.” He threw a sideways glance toward her.

  “So, what’s your favorite food? And you better not say pizza.”

  He smiled. “Actually, pizza is one of my favorite foods, but I would never do that to you. My favorite food is going to be too much to cook in the heat of summer. How about…?”

  “What is it?” she asked, not letting him finish his thought.

  “Let me come up with something else,” he said, thinking.

  “No. What’s your favorite? It’s not like we don’t have A/C, or anything. What do you like?”

  “It’s kind of boring.”

  “Nonsense. Everything I cook is spectacular. The word ‘boring’ isn’t even in my vocabulary. Except for when I’m dating accountants.”

  He smiled. “I hate to tell ya, but I’m a meat and potatoes kinda guy.”

  She examined him and narrowed her eyes, then nodded her head. “Yeah, I can see that. You’re steady, stable, serious minded. Yup. Meat and potatoes, it is. How about dessert?”

  “You’re totally going to laugh. Especially after the meat and potatoes thing.”

  “Just tell me, chicken shit!” She pushed at his arm.

  He looked at her then sheepishly said, “Oreos. I fucking love Oreos.”

  She blinked then let out a loud laugh. “You are so stinkin’ cute. You’re like a little boy,” she smiled, enjoying herself. “Okay, so meat, potatoes, and Oreos. I can definitely swing that, champ. Let’s do it Sunday night. That way I can go shopping tomorrow after Janie’s gone and get crack-a-lackin’.”

  “Nice. I’ll bring the wine. Just let me know what kind goes with Oreos.”

  She clapped. “This is going to be so much fun! My very first kitchen, and my very first meal to cook. I’m so excited,” she smiled, and her eyes glittered.

  “You look good when you’re happy,” he said with a lazy half smile.

  “Well, then I must look absolutely fucking fantastic right now, because I am happy. Day 27 is turning out to be a really good day.” She smiled widely, and settled her head back on the seat to sigh.

  They drove the rest of the way in comfortable silence and when they got to the cross streets, she told him to stop so she could hop out.

  “Thanks again, JBG. You can pick me up right in front of the restaurant. I’ll see you later tonight. I’ll text you,” she said as she got out.

  “Have a good one.”

  She got out and skipped to her last day of work.

  ……

  Hours later at the end of her shift, she stepped into the Owner/Manager’s office and knocked to get his attention. Jonathan had texted a couple of minutes earlier to tell her that he’d found a parking spot outside in front of the restaurant and was waiting for her. She hadn’t bothered texting him back, knowing she would only be a minute.

  She had already told the chef she was leaving and although Catherine was sad to see her go, she was thrilled about this new change for her. Now Ayanna just needed to hand in her resignation letter to Robert Rivera, the owner, and she’d be good to go.

  “Hi, Robert. Do you have a sec?”

  The middle aged man looked up and smiled. “Hi, Ayanna. I always have a sec for you. Come on in.” He cleared his papers from his desk and pointed to the chair in front of him.

  Rather than sit, she stayed standing and handed him the envelope. Just as s
he did that, her phone went off in her satchel again. She was sure it was Jonathan. No one else would be texting her that late and she had already kept him longer than she’d intended.

  He looked down at the envelope then looked up at her. “Don’t tell me this is what I think it is.”

  She gave him an I’m afraid so smile and said, “I’ve had another job offer I’m really excited about. I’ve enjoyed working here, you know that. I just can’t turn this one down. Tonight is my last night, I’m afraid.”

  He sat back. Robert was a paunchy, balding man. And truth be told, she had never really liked him. He settled into his chair, his beefy arms resting on the chair arms. “We should’ve moved you to head chef ages ago.”

  Ayanna, a bit surprised by his comment, said, “No, Catherine is great. You did the right thing in choosing her. It’s just time to move on and try something new.”

  He looked at her for a beat, then said, “Well, I can’t say we’re not gonna miss you something fierce, little lady.”

  Ayanna internally rolled her eyes at his remark. He was an okay manager if not a little flirty, but definitely antiquated when it came to his endearments with the women working for him. Ayanna may have been an outrageous flirt with men in social settings, but she was the consummate professional in the work realm.

  “I’ll miss you guys, too. I left my uniform in the locker room by the washers.” Then she put out her hand to shake his.

  Instead of shaking her hand, Robert stood up and walked around the desk. When he stopped in front of her, he reached his arms around her and hugged her, pressing his entire front to hers. She was a little shocked and stood stiffly.

  She pried her way out of his arms and stepped back. “O-kay. I gotta get going, Robert. Thanks for everything.” She turned, but felt his hand on her arm.

  “You know, Ayanna. I’ve always thought you were a great girl. You have so much going for you.”

  Aww, fuck. Where was he going with this?

  He stepped around her to close the office door, but she side stepped him and stopped the door from shutting. He looked at her with a look she recognized and her defenses immediately went up.