CHAPTER TWO: THE FACE-OFF

“So you see I was really desperate,” Rachel concluded after having explained her current situation to her best friend since high school, Kyra Hart. 

“Well not that desperate I’m sure,” drawled a familiar voice from behind which she would have recognized anywhere.  Her heart slammed against her ribcage so hard that she feared anyone could hear it.  Closing her eyes briefly for a moment of recluse, she took a deep breath and whirled around with a jerk. 

There he was! Her worst nightmare.  Jake Crighton.  With much difficulty, she tried to control her erratic breathing.  God! Anyone hearing her heartbeats would think she’d run a marathon.  In one glance, she took in greedily his appearance.  His hazel-green eyes.  His high cheekbones.  Aristocratic nose.  Wide shoulders.  His long lean legs.  Muscular model-like body under an immaculate suit emphasizing his stance and status.  No, he had not changed.  Not one iota.  He was still as impressive as ever. 

It was only then that she realized that she was staring openly at him-gaping like some foolish schoolgirl more likely.  Snap! Her mouth went shut and she swallowed trying to say something-anything.  But before she could formulate a sentence, Kyra beat her to it. 

“Jake.  It’s nice to see you again.  How have you been doing?” 

While they chatted easily with each other Rachel had ample time to get a good grip on her composure.  What the hell was happening to her? It was only the shock of seeing him so unexpectedly, she reasoned. 

Kyra’s “What do you think, Rach?” broke her out of her reverie and unfortunately she had no idea at all what she should be thinking about.  Fearing she might pass for a bimbo in front of Jake, she threw Kyra a blank look knowing that the latter would never let her down. 

“Do you agree?” pressed Kyra eagerly. 

“Yah sure,” she replied wishing to hell she knew what she’d just agreed to.  “Just what have I agreed to?” she whispered to Kyra on the pretext of getting her coat. 

“To having lunch with the most eligible and edible bachelor in the universe,” her ‘ex’ best friend answered blowing her a kiss with a mischievous grin. 

“We’d better get going,” Jake said looking pointedly at Rachel who had no other option than to follow with thousands of questions racing through her mind. 

A lunch? Like in a date? Oh, stop it, Rachel.  Don’t be silly, she scolded herself.  Why would Jake invite her on a date? Was probably here to admonish her for having signed the certificate.  

“What’s the problem, Jacob?” she asked as soon as they got into his black Mercedes. 

She felt more than saw him flinch at her perverse use of his full name as he always did.  Well, good for him, thought Rachel wickedly.  For nearly two years now, Rachel had never called him by the name that everybody used-Jake.  Of course she had a very sane explanation for that.  Ever since Devin had wanted Jake to marry her, the latter had been shunning her like some plague as if it was her idea.  And that had hurt-like hell.  It was more than obvious that Jake did not deem it fit to marry her.  Why? Was she too plain for him? Fine! She was not interested either.  So, calling him Jacob was her way to show him that she did not want to get too close either. 

“The problem is…” began Jake stretching on each word.  “…how could you have agreed to such a marriage?”

“I had no choice,” she retorted back feeling anger seep through her.  That guy really had some gall! What did he think? That she was some desperate adolescence drooling over him, waiting for the mere opportunity to pounce on him? Okay.  Maybe she used to have a crush on him in school times but that had been ages ago.  She was through and through with him now.  Completely.  Utterly.  Undeniably. 

“Come on.  Don’t give me that!”

Rachel felt her cheeks going redder-if that was possible.  “Look I’m not more thrilled over this than you are.  Of course you don’t have to sign the papers.  I’ll find another way out.”

“Wait a minute.  I think we’ve got something mixed up here.  You mean to tell me that you were actually expecting me to sign the certificates?” Jake queried incredulously. 

“Of course not.  But…”

“But what?” Jake interrupted furiously.  “Do you know that if it hadn’t been for me you would have been married to my father right now?  Don’t you find that fact repulsive enough or what?”

“What do you mean?” Rachel frowned at him now completely confused.  Could it be that Jake Crighton had finally lost it? What did his father have to do in that whole thing? “There’s no way your father would have signed.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Well, because the codicil did precise that it was you my intended groom.”

Without warning, the car screeched to a halt nearly propelling Rachel out of the car.  Jake turned sideways to stare at Rachel with such a look of disbelief that she almost pitied him-almost. 

“Jacob, you can’t stop in the middle of the road,” she urged and that seemed to awaken him from a trance.  Automatically, he started the car again and drove off. 

“I’m sorry,’ he said between clenched teeth after a moment of silence. 

Why the hell was he apologizing? It was because of her father that they were in this mess.  Not knowing what to say, she just stared at him speechless. 

“I think I’m going to kill my dad.”

“Me too,” answered Rachel, then realizing that her father was already dead, she amended quickly, “if he was still alive, that is.”

“You know,” he continued oblivious to Rachel’s gaffe.  “He’d actually convinced me that he was going to marry you.  And I fell for the whole thing like a fool.  Damn him to hell! He knew…he just knew how to make me sign the certificate in his place.  Oh how he must be gloating now! The rogue.  I could really…”

Appalled, Rachel was still staring at Jake as the latter still rattled on.  Of course! She should have smelled a rat when the name of Jake Crighton had come up.  Devin and her father had always wanted them married. 

Suddenly, Rachel broke into hysterical fits of smothered laughter.  Jake finally stopped babbling and frowned at her, “what’s with you?”

“You…we…we are…we are married!” she stammered in the end between gasps of wild hysteria. 

“What’s so funny about that?” Jake growled. 

Finally, Rachel sobered and wiped the tears from her eyes.  “That’s it.  It’s not at all funny!”

It was almost an hour later that they finished the lunch Jake had promised earlier and were sitting comfortably in his office.  By that time, they’d both gotten over the initial shock.

Jake was thankfully feeling less homicidal towards his father.  Casting a glance in Rachel’s direction, he noted with some kind of relief that she had too had calmed down to a more normal self.  After that earlier outburst he’d seriously feared for her sanity.  Anyone would think what hell of hardship it was to be, married to him! Well, he should be feeling ecstatic that he would not remain trapped into that marriage for long-at least not longer than necessary considering Miss Lloyd’s enthusiasm.  Instead, he felt queerly aggrieved. 

Running a hand through his hair, he tried to say something.  Well, it wasn’t easy.  With her head bent, hands clenched tightly on her lap, Jake could actually feel the tension her body was emanating.  Maybe he should say something to make her feel better. 

“I’m sorry Jacob,” Rachel suddenly said making Jake swallow down his own apology. 

“You’d better make it Jake,” he replied instead. 

“This is not the major issue here, Jacob,” she shot back with more emphasis on his full name and despite himself Jake flinched.  Damned if only he knew why she was so hell-bent on calling him by his full name.  It sounded so biblical.

“Ok,” he sighed resignedly.  “Why are you sorry for? It’s not your fault.”

 “I know but still I shouldn’t have signed that marriage certificate.”

“As you said yourself you had no choice,” Jake pointed out feeling they were getting nowhere with that conversation. 

As if reading his mind, Rachel said so. 

“So what do we do?” asked Jake.  Amazingly enough, he couldn’t find a way to tackle the situation.  Come on Crighton, he chided to himself; surely you can do better than that. 

“Well it’s a relief that neither of us is taking this marriage seriously.  And it’s really no big deal.  Just a feisty wedding.   Hell, there wasn’t even ceremony.  With luck, we could get an annulment before either of us can even say ‘I do’.”

Jake eyed her thoughtfully.  She was in a pretty hurry to end this marriage.  Was she involved with someone else? What the hell was he thinking? That was none of his business.  Somehow, he wasn’t glad that Rachel was so keen on getting rid of him. 

“Yeah but what about your shares in GEMS enterprise? Are you prepared to lose them?” he asked while they both knew the answer.  

Instead of replying, Rachel stared at him for a few seconds and then quickly looked away.  It was as if he made her nervous.  Almost involuntarily, his lips twitched wickedly and he grinned wildly.  Rachel’s heart did an impressive somersault at the sight of his hazel eyes sparkling with so much mischief that they appeared like two drops of water about to drop.  Oh Gosh! She didn’t think her poor heart could stand a chance against such sheer male beauty.  Swallowing hard, she bent her head and her long auburn hair falling on either side of her face like curtains. 

“Hey! We still haven’t discussed where we are supposed to spend our honeymoon!”

As expected, Jake wasn’t a bit disappointed.  Rachel’s had shot up and she gaped at him as if he’d lost his mind.  Repressing to laugh outright at her facial expression, he pressed on, “What do you say about hmmm…let’s say the…Bahamas?”

Propelling a hand under his chin, he leant over the desk giving her a mega-watt smile knowing that the poor Miss Lloyd would not recover so soon. 

What he wasn’t prepared for was the gigawatt smile the ‘poor’ Miss Lloyd flashed him.  “You’re pulling my legs, right?” she asked shyly.  

The breath was whooshed out of his lungs as he gazed into Rachel’s face.  It was so lively, so fresh.  And there was some striking aura of innocence that soothed his soul.  Whoa! Wasn’t he getting a teeny weeny bit poetic here? Hell! What was the matter with him? He’d only had two glasses of wine and surely couldn’t be already drunk, could he?

“Hmm Rach, let’s pretend,” he said impulsively and wished to hell that he could immediately take back his words. 

“What?! You mean we should behave as a married couple?” asked Rachel poleaxed. 

 “Well, it’ll not pose any problem.  At least we both know the scores.  No forever shit.  Only temporary arrangements until the shares are transferred to your name.  Then, we’ll get the annulment.  What dayasay?”

That sounded reasonable enough to him.  After all, what would they lose in pretending? They were both sensible adults with no intention of falling in love or interested in any commitment.  It was the perfect solution. 

“But I don’t understand,” Rachel said frowning.  As he opened his mouth to explain, she quickly added, “I mean we’ve signed the papers and that was what the codicil required.  So why the fuss? My dad’s not around to see whether the condition is being fully respected or not.  I’m afraid I don’t see the use of pretending.  We can both go back to our normal lifestyle.” 

“Aren’t you forgetting someone here? Someone responsible for this whole mess in the first place?”

“Who? Your dad?” asked Rachel perceptively.  At Jake’s nod, she shrugged nonchalantly.  “What can he do now?”

“As if you don’t know him.  He’ll find some way, trust him.” 

“Well, we’ll see then.  For now, why don’t we both keep to our daily routine?”

Jake should have felt relieved as hell that Miss Lloyd - no Mrs. Crighton had finally found a solution.  Instead he felt reluctant to agree.  Too shocked to reply, he merely nodded his agreement. 

“So that’s settled then,” said Rachel stretching her long legs offering him a bright smile seeming in an awful hurry to get away from him. 

Wow! That was close, thought Rachel as they concluded their deal and was heading towards Jake’s car.  Inside, she’d been so nervous that she had to watch herself not to blurt out something stupid.  And the fact that Jake seemed confused was even more worrying.  She’d never seen him in that condition; he had always been so confident, so in charge.  How he must have been shocked.  His worst nightmare had finally become true.  She could not really blame him.  And she could not help feeling offended either. 

At least, he couldn’t accuse her of being involved in that strategy.  That Jake had known about her crush on him was enough to last her a lifetime of humiliation.  Oh, he hadn’t been unkind while refusing her.  On the contrary, he had patiently explained that she was too young for those things.  She’d felt insignificant and out of place.  That had been the time when her relationship with Jake had deteriorated.  They had never talked about it again and probably never would.  It had been years ago when Jake was doing his last year at high school and she’d only been a sophomore.  Thank God it was all water under bridge now. 

Maybe that was why she had been trying so hard to make it a point that she was no way interested in this marriage.  Although she no longer harbored such kinds of feelings for Jake, she preferred to play it safe.  And as for the pretend-game, it would be better to keep it as a last-minute lifeline. 

So engrossed was she in her thoughts that she started as Jake bent over her.  Instinctively, she backed away until her back found something hard.  At his nearness, her heart leapt in her throat at a speed, which would have defied that of light.  Only then did she realize that Jake was only opening the car door behind her.  She colored as she had thought that Jake was reaching for her and bent her head to hide her distress trying desperately to ignore his aftershave teasing her nostrils. 

Whether it was intentional or not, Jake leant closer until her breasts pressed gently against his chest and to her horror, her nipples hardened.  Embarrassed, she looked everywhere frantically praying desperately that Jake would not feel the erratic beat of her heart.  Almost intoxicated, she could feel her blood pounding in her head and her legs turned wobbly. 

Throat sore, lips parched, she tried to look at him but somehow couldn’t bring herself to do it.  Never in her whole life had she felt like that.  It was as if her dormant self had awakened to a new sensual awareness.  And to top it all, a point in her belly was sizzling like a drop of water in an ultra-hot frying pan.  How could that be possible? Virgins never sizzled for God’s sake! She’d read that somewhere. 

Whoever had stuffed cotton in her mouth? All the muscles in her body seemed to be frozen and she would have given anything for that moment to pass without any comments.  But how lucky can one get?

“You know,” Jake began in a voice dripping with so much repressed laughter that Rachel braced herself from his mockery.  “I don’t know if you think I meant it when I said that one day I’ll eat you up but I was just kidding.  No need to get so scared.”

Flustered, her eyes flew to his, full with indignation and she knew then that she was a goner.  In a flash, the laughter died out of his eyes and in open fascination Rachel watched as they changed from hazel to green then deepened to an intense stormy green.  What she read in those green pools made her breath catch and she could hear her heartbeats.  Their breaths mingled and she felt caught in a whirlwind.  As his gaze moved to her lips, time seemed to stop. 

Lord! She wanted his kiss more than she willed her next breath.  Her whole body was gripped with a need so urgent that she felt on the point of fainting.

The sound of a faraway horn broke them apart abruptly and they both jumped guiltily like two kids being caught red-handed for doing something stupid.  Feeling embarrassed as hell, she fixed her eyes to the ground beneath her feet while Jake cleared his throat and thankfully moved away.  Like a puppet being controlled by strings, she moved away from the circle of his arms.  Still avoiding his eyes, she scrambled into the car and busied herself fastening her seat belt as if it was a task of utmost importance. 

The silence that stretched between them was loaded with so much tension that she began to feel reckless.  How could she have reacted so shamelessly? To a man? No, not to any man.  But to JACOB CRIGHTON?? When would she ever learn? For Heaven’s sake, what had she been thinking of? She’d never felt that way about Jake.  Never.  Not even when she had been infatuated with him.  So what the heck was wrong with her? Now?

At the age of twenty-five, she’d never met someone who she’d felt was worth spending the rest of her life with.  And like Kyra, she was not one to have casual sex.  For them, making love meant to be committed, to love and be loved.  Neither had questioned their lack of sexuality simply because they’d never been interested.  Not surprising since they had other priorities in life like their families, their careers and of course their friendship. 

No wonder it was coming as a shock to Rachel’s virtue.  Unlike other women, she’d felt proud of still being a virgin, of not even feeling the need to sleep around.  But suddenly she felt her good morals being questioned.  Was she still pure because of lack of opportunity? But she had plenty of chances in her youth, still had.  Had she only been waiting for marriage to unleash her sexual desires? Not that it was a marriage in any sense of the word.  Well, she’d better keep in mind that their marriage wasn’t for keeps.  And she wouldn’t settle for less. 

**********************************

“Hey Jake! It’s all over the town how you got hitched.  Finally.  Is that why you look so terrible? Or is it because you forgot to invite someone I could mention?” admonished Jacob Ashton Cooper as soon as Jake Crighton entered his condo. 

Not in a very good mood, Jake scowled at his best pal.  Having known him for more than one-third of a century, he’d discovered that Jacob Ashton Cooper was the kind of friend, brother even whom he can trust with his life but sometimes could be a real pain in the butt.  Like he was acting right now. 

Both their fathers Devin Crighton and Nash Cooper including Trevor Lloyd had been ardent fans of a certain tennis player Jacob Stevens during their adolescence.  Inadvertently, all three had the desire to name their future sons after their idol and had fought over it.  Finally, it had been decided that the one whose son would be born first would be given the name.  To make matters worse both Susan Cooper and Anastasia Crighton had been pregnant during the same period.  Nothing could have contributed to make the competition more vigorous between the two fathers-to-be.  Eventually, the suspense had been broken when Devin had held his newborn son first and the disappointment for Nash even greater when only two hours later his son was born.  But Devin had shrugged off his worry in his usual off-handed manner and had told him that there was no law that inhibited them from naming their sons alike.  Hence, they both bore the same.  However, the two boys being closer than blood brothers since kindergarten had found it confusing to share their names.  And when even Susan and Anastasia had had enough, everyone found it better to call the Cooper junior by his second name.  Thankfully, Trevor Lloyd didn’t have a son and forgot his fantasy else there would have been another Jacob.

“Cut it out, Ash,” Jake’s scowl got even fiercer.  “I’m really not in the mood.”  

“What happened to make you give in this time, buddy?” asked Ash chuckling well aware of Devin’s tactics and handing Jake a can of iced tea, flung himself on the couch. 

“The old scoundrel tricked me,” Jake groaned out frustrated and poured out the whole story from the first telephone call to his latest discussion with Rachel.  By the time he’d finished Ash was holding his tummy suffocating with laughter. 

“It’s not funny, believe me,” groaned out Jake indignantly. 

“Why don’t you what’s really bugging you? The fact that you got tricked or that you got hitched to someone who doesn’t want you?” Ash asked after he’d sobered. 

“What the hell makes you say that?” Jake’s scowl deepened. 

“Be-cause,” Ash answered emphasizing on the two syllables.  “I happen to know you well and from what I’ve heard a can guess that your ego has taken a blow by the indifference of Miss Lloyd-oh sorry Mrs. Crighton.”

Jake narrowed his eyes menacingly at the dig and let out a loud breath on seeing the innocent look on Ash’s face.  “Ok,” he finally conceded against his will.  “Maybe you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right! Sometimes I’m so smart that I surprise myself,” Ash answered smugly. 

“Some people have not heard of the word ‘modesty’ yet,” Jake teased although his mind was pondering over Ash’s statement.  He was right.  Hell! Anyone in his place would have taken offense in the way Rachel had behaved towards him. 

“So?” queried Ash after a few minutes of silence. 

“So?” repeated Jake with a blank look. 

“Soooo what are you planning to do?” he asked with exaggerated patience as if talking to a child. 

“Well, I guess I’ll just accept Rachel’s wish.  I mean she wants me to leave her alone,” Jake muttered trying hard to keep the hurt out of his voice. 

Of course Ash picked it up.  “What do you want?”

“Well, in case you haven’t noticed I don’t seem to have a choice in that matter,” Jake sighed heavily. 

“Uh-oh.  I know that sigh.  It says that something is really bothering you.  But it’s okay if you don’t wanna talk about it,” Ash assured him with a friendly pat. 

Jake scowled again.  It was the best thing he did when he was in a foul mood.  “I…I…I think I’m…hmm well attracted to Rachel,” he finally whispered uncomfortably and watched as Ash’s eyes popped open.  It was the reaction he’d anticipated.  Hell! It had been a shocking discovery to him.  How could he be attracted to his little baby doll for God’ sake? And yet the fire that had flared through him in the parking lot had been unmistakable.  He’d become hard by merely looking deep in her exotic eyes and was still embarrassed.  It usually took a long time for him to be turned on.  So what was his problem?

“Attracted?” Ash asked dazedly.  “You mean attracted? As in physical attraction?”

Jake nodded. 

“You mean you desire her, right?”

“Ash…” began Jake menacingly. 

“No kidding!” he exclaimed rubbing his hands gleefully together.  “This is getting way better than any of those Hollywood movies.”

“If I didn’t know you better I would think that you’re having fun at my expense,” Jake scowled. 

“Hell Jake! You are in a real mess.  What are you going to do?’ Ash mused worriedly now. 

Damned if I know!”