257Chapter Two – Never Like This
She wanted the pleasure he promised and she wanted it beyond reason. She couldn't even think of anything else except wanting his hands and lips on her.
Unable to speak and tell him what she wanted, she instead pressed against him, which was all Jamie needed for her to do. He deposited her gently on the bed and they looked at one another for a moment before she pulled him down with her. He shivered and groaned against her mouth. His body pushed and situated over hers until she felt his arousal hard against her hip. Her body temperature spiked a few hundred degrees and she gasped. He was so ready to take her, her head spun. Had Mike ever wanted her this much? She couldn't seem to remember.
He kissed her more gently, settling between her legs, as if reminding her that this was Jamie and not Mike. It would be best if she remembered that – especially now.
"Trust me," he whispered. One of his hands smoothed up her leg, disappearing beneath her skirt until he felt her naked hip. "You're beautiful." She opened her mouth to disagree but he kissed her instead. "Beautiful," he repeated.
He suddenly grabbed the edge of her sweater and yanked it off her body. She did not fight him, even as his eyes raked over her exposed skin though she did blush under his scrutiny. His mouth moved from her chin to her neck before burying his face in her breasts. His tongue touched the tip of one through her bra and she moaned, raking her fingers through his dark, slightly unruly, hair.
"Here," she managed to breathe and sat up slightly, unclasping the bra and tossing the offending material away.
He smiled but instead of resuming his caresses, he sat up. She gasped as he began tearing at her remaining clothes, his patience wearing thin. He struggled with her skirt and panties, ripping both in places when they wouldn't be removed more easily. He tossed everything aside and stared down at her body, now entirely naked for his eyes. The look on his face was one of awe and as if she truly was beautiful.
She tried to cover herself self-consciously but instead, Jamie took her hands and held them back.
"Jamie," she began to say, almost pleading with him. "Don't."
"Violet," he said, his voice husky from the effect her kisses and touches had on him. "I mean it. You're the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Believe me." He bent down and began planting kisses on her neck. "I can show you how beautiful you are."
His words only made her body even more hot and wet, waiting in both fear and anticipation for him. She hadn't been with a guy for a while. After they had gotten engaged, she told Mike that she wanted to stop having sex until their wedding night.
Now though, she was going insane just from the anticipation of Jamie inside of her.
"Ready?" He asked her against her lips, his fingers teasing her center.
He pressed his body into hers but he kept murmuring things into her ear. He told her how beautiful she was, how good she felt, how tight she was. He held her face in his hands and looked into her eyes. Violet's arms were tightly around him and with a single quick thrust, he pushed all the way into her and then held still. The only sound in the room for a moment or two was their harsh breathing and the swift pulsing of their hearts.
He groaned as her body accepted him and he rested his forehead against hers.
"Perfect."
Violet found that she couldn't speak but she nodded in agreement, reveling in how wonderful she felt. She felt whole and complete. And she wanted him to stay there, with her, locked deep inside of her body, forever. He moved, sliding back and forth. He gazed at her as he did so, breathing even heavier than before.
"You okay?" He asked, sounding concerned even while he thrust into her, keeping the same steady pace.
She smiled, nodding her head. "It feels… wonderful," she finally decided and he grinned.
"Hold me tighter," he requested against her mouth, kissing her.
She complied and once her brain pushed itself into working again, she caught onto the rhythm and moaned and breathed as their bodies rocked together in perfect unison, her hips lifting to meet his each time he thrust forward.
The pleasure eventually became too great and Violet cried out, her back arching off the bed and her body tightening around him, not caring whether or not her neighbors heard her as she came. Her body exploded everywhere and Jamie almost immediately followed, shuddering and saying her name.
His body was hot and damp as he lay on top of her and Violet's hands moved underneath the sweatshirt that he never did take off. They both lay silently, each catching their breath. She lay there underneath him, completely boneless at the moment, and her fingers moved lazily over his back.
Jamie's face was pressed in the crook of her neck and he inhaled her sweaty scent. She smelled amazing. Blueberries and sex. His breath was hot on her neck and his weight was heavy on top of her. It took a great amount of energy and effort on his part that he wasn't sure he had but he managed to roll off of her.
Sitting up, he tore his sweatshirt off and threw it onto the floor with the rest of their clothes. Finally as naked as she was, he fell backwards, his body bouncing slightly on the mattress. He turned to her and one of his hands moved to her cheek.
"Okay?" He asked.
She smiled, nodding her head. "Okay doesn't even begin to cover it," she said softly.
She kissed the inside of his hand then taking it, she placed it on her stomach. She turned away from him causing his arm to drape over her hip. Jamie stared at her with wonderment and drew lazy circles on her skin with his rough fingers. He pulled away for only a moment to gather the bed sheets and cover their bodies. He scooted up behind her and circled his arm around her waist to draw her close.
Weariness was tugging at her eyelids but Violet didn't want to sleep. She wanted to get her fill of him. The way the mattress sagged under his body, his arm protectively around her, his breath on the back of her shoulder, the warmth radiating off of him onto her.
She smiled to herself, listening to his deep steady breathing as he slept, smiling as his body leaned against hers. She decided in that moment that they would make love to each other again. After they had slept, it would be sweet and sleepy and slow with a morning laziness to it.
She ran her fingers mindlessly up and down his arm. She was finding herself in a mess. This was no one night stand and both of them seemed to know that. There was no possible way that tomorrow, after having sex again and preparing him a hearty helping of banana pancakes as promised that she would just be able to send him on his way with the possibility of never seeing him again.
At the same time, however, she wasn't absolutely certain that she was ready for something from him.
With Jamie, everything, every feeling, every look and word exchanged was so intense, it almost frightened her. Their connection was already so deep. Even in her bed, both had anticipated one another's moves. He had run his fingers over her body as if he had every inch of it already memorized. He knew where exactly to touch her or where she was ticklish. He knew it all and in return, she knew it about him. She had known him for less than five hours and already, it seemed that Jamie already knew her better than Mike ever had.
She sighed softly and he shifted behind her but remained asleep. There had been a time, just a very short time ago actually, when Violet had truly believed that Mike had been it for her. No one would ever replace him or fill the void in her life that he had left with his departure.
But she had been wrong because right then, lying with Jamie so intimately, his bare legs tangled with hers and his body pressed against hers, she felt, for the first time in weeks, at peace. Her entire body was relaxed and the knots in her shoulders had seemed to magically, instantly, disappear.
She lifted Jamie's hand from her stomach for a moment and pressed his fingers to her lips. She noticed an ink stain on his right middle finger. She smiled. He was everything Mike wasn't. Sweet and kind and funny and terrifyingly brilliant. And he was incredibly perceptive of her. When Jamie had seen those tears in her eyes, he knew that something was wrong. Mike, on the other hand, would have just shrugged it off as PMS or something and completely ignoring the cause of her tears.
It was always wondered by her friends and family as to why she stayed with Mike for as long as she had. And not only had she stayed with him, she was going to marry him and planned to spend the rest of her life with him. Violet couldn't really explain it though. Mike had been her first real relationship. He had been her first everything- first love, her first sexual partner. He would always mean something to her. No matter what he had done, or hadn't done for that matter, Mike would always be remembered in her memory.
Jamie released a heavy puff of breath on her skin and she chewed her bottom lip, smiling. This was wonderful. Honestly. She couldn't think of anything else happening at the moment.
As if reading her thoughts, Jamie's grip around her body tightened even more and pulled her back even more into his chest.
"Jesus," he mumbled. "How the hell are you still awake?"
"I've just been thinking," she admitted softly.
He yawned. "I didn't do a good job then. If I had, you would be passed out." She laughed, rolling over in his arms so they laid on their sides, facing one another. She rested a hand on his cheek and he rested his forehead against hers, staring at her. "God, I love your eyes."
She blushed at the compliment and kissed the tip of his nose. "We should get some rest. I have plans for us later."
"Yeah?" He asked, his eyes already dancing with anticipation.
She smiled, almost laughing, and nodded her head. "And trust me." She kissed him lightly on the lips. "We'll both need all the rest we can get."
He couldn't get her out of his head, not that he expected to. She certainly wasn't the type of girl that one could just forget the instant she was out of sight.
He was supposed to be helping Dr. Kirkland with research for a literary article they were both writing for a magazine on the subject of Christopher Marlowe but he had been in the library for almost three hours and had barely gotten through one of the books he had piled around him.
God. He didn't even know her and she was driving him insane. He was supposed to be working and he couldn't. He couldn't do anything but close his eyes and think of her. Her phone number was tucked safely into his pocket and he wondered what the rules were. Would five hours later since he left her be too soon to call her and ask to see her again? He wanted to see her again. He needed to see her again. But there was doubt laced in his thoughts.
"Jamie!"
The shout echoed throughout the basement of the library where there were few people to actually disturb with the noise.
"Oi! James!"
"What?" He finally called out deep from amidst the stacks.
His response was followed with a sneeze as he was attacked with a sudden cloud of dust from a book he had pulled down from the top shelf.
"What the hell are you doing down here, man?" Ben Norfolk asked, entering the aisle and immediately staring at his best friend in disbelief.
Jamie was the only person he had ever met that enjoyed sitting in dark musty basements, going through old dusty books that seemed to belong to the land that time forgot. At the moment, he was sitting on the floor in between two stacks, his back resting against one, and a book open in his lap.
Ben shook his head at the sight. He didn't understand Jamie's fascination with reading and pouring over something a dead guy wrote hundreds of years ago. He personally didn't see the appeal to any of it.
"I'm working," Jamie answered without looking up as Ben plopped down on the floor next to him. "I don't know if you understand the concept. People work to earn money so they can buy essential things such as food and clothing..."
"I've heard of it," Ben grinned, taking a book from one of the stacks and flipping through it.
Ben was one of those few people in the country with millions of dollars to his name that actually didn't have to work a day in his life. His grandparents had started a textile company which his father had turned into something worth multi-millions, also buying a few hotels. When he died, all money was left to his only child, his heir, Ben. The hotels, North Star, were still one of the top chains in the country, run by people his father had hired and which brought in steady money for Ben.
But he didn't live as if he was a millionaire, besides not having a job. He lived in the same apartment building as Jamie and dressed in nothing but blue jeans and tee shirts and sweatshirts. He owned nothing extravagant except maybe his entertainment system and the watch he wore on his left wrist.
He didn't admit it to anyone except Jamie but he was saving a lot of his money for the family he wanted to have one day. He wanted to make sure his kids were taken care of. That, and when he met a girl, he didn't want her to know about the loads of money he had to his name until after she fell for him, not his fortune.
"So, how was Jen after I took off last night?" Jamie asked, his eyes scanning over the pages as he turned them hastily.
"Homicidal," Ben shrugged though he seemed to be quite serious. "I don't know what possessed you to ever get tangled up with her."
"Trust me, Benny," Jamie said, slamming the book shut and grabbing another one. "If I knew that she would be like this..." he trailed off as he began to read again.
Ben sighed. He was already bored.
"That girl you were talking to," he paused when Jamie looked at him. "She looked like a sweetheart. What's her name?" He asked, his Scottish accent making a brief appearance.
He had lived in Scotland with his parents, for his mother had been born in Edinburgh, up until the age of twelve and the accent would sometimes sneak into his speech. The women loved it.
"Violet," he said softly before looking back down at his book in his lap.
"And what do you think of fair Violet?" Ben continued to inquire. He grinned when he turned the page of his book to one that Jamie had dog-eared. "Do you love her?"
"What?" Jamie asked, now confused. He lifted his head, a frown dragging his lips down and a brow furrowed. "Where did that come from?"
Ben cleared his throat and Jamie paled at the realization at what Ben was about to read. He was holding a book of poems by Goethe. Though it had nothing to do with his research, Jamie had used it to look up something earlier that morning.
"The Violet by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe," Ben announced, pushing Jamie's hand away when he tried to snatch it away and began to read the poem, stanza by stanza.
Jamie already had it memorized and couldn't help but recite it in his head silently to himself. Ben slapped the book shut and gave his friend an amused look, a smile upon his face that Jamie had the strangest urge to punch at until it went away.
"So, you must love her if you're looking up poems about her name," Ben said then laughed when Jamie slugged him in the arm. "Seriously. Are you going to see her again or did you find out that she's another Jen?"
Jamie shook his head as if trying to clear his thoughts. "I really want to see her again."
"But?" Ben asked, having sensed one coming.
"But she just broke up with her fiancé two months ago."
"Oh." He was silent for a moment as he thought it over. "What's the problem then?"
Jamie sighed, rubbing the balls of his hands into his eyes. "The problem is I'm pretty sure that I'm just some rebound for her. And that is not something I want to be with her."
Ben's eyebrows shot up. "You already know what you want from her?"
"I don't know, Benny," Jamie admitted quietly. "She's gorgeous and perfect and funny and amazing and she doesn't even know it and that only makes her all the more sexy. And I'm glad that her fiancé was an asshole because it helped me meet her and just by meeting her... she's the first girl I've ever met that I had an honest-to-God connection with. I didn't even know her but I felt that I did." He paused with a soft sigh. "You know something else? Violet's been the only girl that I've ever met that... that I wanted to see the next morning and still talk to."
Ben didn't hide his surprise. "Well, that definitely is something."
Jamie nodded in agreement. "But it really doesn't matter." At his words, his chest began suffering from the worst pain. "I should have known that nothing would come from it. I picked her up from the bar on the first night she decided to go out after finally taking her engagement ring off. What did I expect to come from it except sex?"
"Good though?"
"Mind-blowing."
Ben nodded his head then pondered silently for a few passing moments. "You really think that she was just using you as a rebound then?"
"The more I think about it... that's exactly what I think she used me as." Jamie reached into his pocket and pulled out the folded piece of paper with her phone number on it. He was surprised he hadn't memorized it yet. "She barely talked to me this morning and I had to practically pry this from her."
Ben took the paper and looked down at the number written down on the scrap of yellow paper. "Maybe she was just nervous. Some people aren't experts at the morning after like you."
"Maybe," Jamie said though his voice was doubtful. "Or maybe she wanted me to get the hell out of her apartment."
Ben honestly didn't know what to say so he didn't say anything. Instead, he handed Jamie back the number. "So, what are you going to do?"
Silence.
Jamie looked down at the number in his hand and sighed deeply. It figured that he met the girl of his dreams when she didn't think of him as the guy of hers.
He shuddered to think it but she was probably envisioning her ex when she was having sex with him. At least she called out his name instead of that asshole's. Thank God for little things. If Violet had called out for Mike, Jamie would have lost it. He would have fallen apart. He didn't even know Violet but he already knew so much about her and he only wanted to know more. She was an aphrodisiac. And put simply, he could not get enough of her.
He sighed heavily. Too bad he had had only one night with her. He was certain that he could have easily spent so many more nights, and days, with her, if she would have let him. But he seemed to understand that morning when she would hardly meet his eyes. She had regretted everything and just the thought of sleeping with someone other than her beloved Mike made her feel ashamed.
Well, fuck her if that was how she felt. He hated this. He hated knowing that he finally met a girl that could very well be THE girl and she saw him as nothing more than as a rebound, an easy and more than willing replacement for a night.
There was nothing else he could do. If Violet didn't want him, he couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't force her into wanting him. But for those few shining hours, he had honestly thought that there was something between them and that she had equally felt it.
He had been wrong though and Jamie was not used to being wrong.
Before he could talk himself out of it, he took a deep breath and ripped the piece of paper into shreds, making the number unreadable. He now didn't know her phone number and he didn't even know her last name so when he felt regret, which he knew that he would, he couldn't look her up in the phone book.
He stuffed the pieces into his pocket. "Well, I guess that's that."
Violet sighed. Two weeks. It had been two weeks and she was certain that it had been the longest amount of time in her life. She was certain that time had never moved so slow for her before but now, it had taken an eternity for fourteen days to pass.
Every day after work, she raced home to check her machine but there were no new messages. She didn't know why she hadn't gotten his number when she had given him hers. If she had his, she certainly would have called him by now.
But maybe, Jamie thought of her as nothing more than someone he spent a night with. She had gone out in search of a one night stand and now, she didn't understand why she was so upset when Jamie had given her exactly that. He had left with no strings attached and after leaving her that morning, he had left her behind for good it seemed.
It bothered her to no end.
She knew she had acted odd after they woke up, barely having the courage to meet his eyes but that was only because she was terrified that when she looked at him, she would see regret staring back at her. Jamie would never want her. She didn't have one night stands and therefore, she had obviously read too much into everything. Nothing she had shared with Jamie had been special. It was casual and simple and nothing more would ever come of it.
She pulled her cart to a stop in the produce section of the grocery store she had stopped in after work and began to carefully choose her selection of apples.
Mike had always teased her for taking the longest time when it came to picking out her fruits but she had just ignored him. She loved all types of fruit and only wanted the best selections. She wondered if Jamie would sigh and grow impatient with her when it took her fifteen minutes to just pick out apples. Or maybe he would try to help her and she would tease him for picking pears too hastily.
With a shake of her head, she sighed softly. She didn't know what she was doing, having daydreams about someone she hardly knew. But she had known him. It was so odd but one night with him had meant so much more to her. She had felt as if she had known him for years instead of just mere hours. It wasn't possible but it had very much happened.
He should have called. She was certain that he would. She didn't even know his last name so she couldn't look him up in the phone book and call him herself. She had gone back to Humpy's with Toby with the hope that he would be there but he hadn't been. She had felt an unexpected flare of jealousy at that. Perhaps he was warming someone else's bed that evening and couldn't be bothered with going out to the bar.
She wanted to see him so bad and it frightened her. Who was Jamie in her life? He was nothing more than a terribly intelligent, perfect gentleman she had met and for a few hours, had made her feel more beautiful than Mike had ever managed. When Jamie had told her that she was beautiful during their time between the sheets, she had actually believed his words.
Mike hadn't been so eloquent, usually just commenting her on hot she looked before grabbing her ass. It used to make her blush when he manhandled her but now that she had seen another way that she could be treated, it was now the way she craved. Jamie was like a drug and it was pure torture on her body to have one taste before him disappearing completely from her life without a trace.
She prayed for some hint of a trace.
Bagging four apples, she moved onto bananas, though now every time she looked at that particular fruit, she thought of banana pancakes which she had promised but had never delivered on. She had all but pushed him out the door in the morning. She had been too nervous to see what would happen if he stuck around.
She imagined what could have happened if Jamie had stayed. She would have made him breakfast and he would have helped, or at least tried to before they wound up making love somewhere in the kitchen. He would then eat his pancakes, kissing her and commending her for a job well done before they spent the rest of the day either in bed or maybe on the couch, making love again and again, not caring about the time or even the world outside.
Their world, for that day, would consist of only each other.
But she had been so scared. She had turned away.
"Violet?"
She immediately turned to the person who had said her name though she couldn't say that she recognized him. She had an impeccable memory when it came to names and faces but she didn't know him.
"Yes?"
He sighed with relief. "Thank god. I only saw you for a few seconds from across the bar that night but..." he trailed off when he saw the confusion on her face. "Sorry," he offered her a smile. "I'm Ben Norfolk."
He stuck his hand out and she politely shook it, still looking at him with a bit of confusion and now a little bit of hesitation.
"Violet Littleton," she said quietly, staring at him. He did look a little bit familiar but she really couldn't place him for the life of her.
"I'm a friend of Jamie's. I was at Humpy's the night you two met," he explained.
"Oh!" She exclaimed. "I'm sorry."
He shrugged. "We weren't exactly introduced. Don't worry about it."
Violet stared at him. He was handsome with slightly messy black hair and incredible sapphire blue eyes. They were the kind of eyes that seemed to look through a person rather than at them.
"I saw you at Humpy's a few nights ago," Ben continued, not the least bit uncomfortable under her scrutinizing eyes. He acted as if he was used to it. "So I got your phone number from your friend, Toby. And then today, I called but another girl picked up and told me where you were."
"Oh," she said, wondering how to tell him that she wasn't interested, especially since she couldn't get her mind off of his friend. And she would have to kill Olivia for telling strangers her whereabouts. "I'm sorry Ben but..."
"I gave it to Jamie again and now I'm here to give his phone number to you," he explained, biting back a smile. He wasn't the kind of guy to hit on a girl his best friend was pining after. "I need to tell you something."
She nodded her head. "What is it?"
He took a deep breath. "Jamie tore your number up." Well, that got her attention, Ben thought as her eyes flew up to meet his. "He thought that you only saw him as a rebound and he... he didn't want to be that to you."
"But he's not!" She let out quickly then sighed. No wonder he hadn't called. He had more than likely taken her behavior the morning after as her way of wanting to get rid of him. Nothing was further from the truth. "Will he talk to me if I call him?"
Ben shrugged then pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. "Won't hurt to give it a shot." She looked at him curiously when she heard a hint of an accent. "Oh. Scottish."
She smiled then. "I bet the women fall at your feet."
He shrugged again, giving a bashful grin. "I haven't had a lot of complaints so far."
"I can only imagine," she laughed. "You're a good friend, Ben," she said with a smile.
He felt his stomach give a quick flip and he managed a shaky smile. No wonder Jamie liked her so much. Her smile alone could make a man fall to his knees and beg her to give another one. Her eyes were hypnotizing and there was something about her that could make a man want to stick around and find out everything about her.
Who the hell was her fiancé if he couldn't see these things?
Ben cleared his throat. These were not appropriate thoughts to be having.
"You should try to give him a call while he's home for dinner."
"Is he going somewhere tonight then?" She asked, trying to be casual about her curiosity.
Ben grinned, hoping she didn't take it as he making fun of her. "He's been working his ass off on his newest project. Something about Christopher Marlowe or someone like that." He shrugged then grinned again. "His work bores me to tears."
Violet nodded her head with a smile. "Somehow, I think for most people it would. But Jamie..." she trailed off, pausing to find just the right word. "It scares me over how smart he seems."
He sighed, almost grinning. "It scares you? It terrifies me. Sometimes, when we're talking, I'll realize that I have absolutely no idea about what he's talking about. And he's always slipping some reference or something in his sentences."
"He managed to talk about a character from 'Great Expectations' like it was the most normal thing in the world. And at White Castle of all places," Violet added.
"But," Ben said. "He may be the intellectual type but he never rubs it anyone's face."
"I didn't think he would," Violet shook her head.
Ben smiled again. God. She really was a sweetheart. "Well, I'll leave you to your shopping. I just wanted you to take the initiative and call him since he's too stupid to do it himself."
Violet nodded her head but she bit her lower lip. "Will he want to talk to me? Are you sure that I'm not just one of the many other girls to him? Like Jen?"
He almost laughed but he controlled himself. "You are nothing like Jen. And no, Violet. You're not one of the many. Jamie told me that himself. He was just scared that he was a replacement for the night."
"The first time I saw him," she said softly. "I knew he would be something much more."
Jamie yawned, leaning back in his chair and stretching his arms above his head. His body ached and he was exhausted but he couldn't go to sleep just yet. He had to get through this book and he still had at least another two hundred pages to go through.
He couldn't put it off until the next day either. The deadline for his portion of the article was due in three days and he hadn't even started writing it. He had filled up a legal pad with jumbled notes but he hadn't actually sat down at his laptop to begin to official, final copy of it.
The phone rang suddenly and his sleeping massive Bloodhound, Selby, began to bark from his place on the floor.
With another yawn, Jamie stood up and grabbed the phone from the kitchen.
"Yeah?" He looked at the digital clock on the microwave. It was nearly two o'clock in the morning. It was probably Ben reporting in for his nearly nightly drunk call.
"I never thought of you as a rebound."
"What?" Jamie asked, confused for just a moment before he realized that it was Violet on the other end. He didn't even have time to wonder how she had gotten his phone number before she was talking again.
"I know that you think that I didn't want to see you again but I did. I do," she quickly corrected herself. "I was just acting weird that morning because I didn't know what to do and so I didn't do anything."
Jamie sighed softly and went back into the living room, sitting down in his armchair again. It seemed that his research would have to wait. "Violet, you didn't even look at me and when I asked for your phone number-"
"I know," she interrupted, her voice on the edge of sounding desperate. "I was just so scared and..."
"You were scared of me?" He asked, his stomach dropping. That didn't sound too good.
"Of course I was scared of you!" She exclaimed. "I mean," she paused. "It was good, wasn't it?"
He couldn't help but chuckle. "Yeah. Yeah, it was really good."
"Mind-blowing," she decided on and Jamie didn't want to tell her that that was the exact word he had used to explain their night together. "And that was what scared me. You and me had this incredible night and the next morning, I was thinking that you would never want to see me again or that you hadn't felt what I did and it was just something that was in my head."
"You didn't imagine it," he said softly, cutting off her mindless babbling though he did find it to be adorable. "I'm sorry for thinking I knew what you were thinking. And for not calling you."
"I'm sorry for not just telling you," Violet let with a sigh.
"Okay," he grinned. "So we're both sorry. Now, how the hell did you get my number?"
She laughed and Jamie tried to imagine what she was doing, where she was sitting, what she was wearing. "Your friend, Ben."
"I should have known," Jamie grumbled and she laughed again. At the moment, Jamie made it his mission to always try to make her laugh. He was certain that heavenly angels didn't sound as lovely as Violet did when she laughed. "I suppose I should thank him."
"I think I did that enough for the both of us. So, what are you working on?" She asked and she sounded genuinely interested.
That surprised him. Most girls heard what he did and immediately fell asleep. But Violet had asked because she was actually curious.
"I'm working on this piece for a literary magazine. Some think that Christopher Marlowe wrote William Shakespeare's sonnets and I'm researching that."
"Read me something," she requested.
"Anything?"
"Something that you're reading. I want to hear your voice when you read," she explained, not the least bit embarrassed by telling him what she wanted.
Jamie grabbed the book he had just been reading and flipped towards the beginning again. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath.
"Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields.
And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;
A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;
A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.
The shepherds' swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love."
He was silent for a moment and he heard Violet sigh on the other end of the phone.
"That was beautiful, Jamie," she breathed softly.
He couldn't argue. "Yeah. Marlowe definitely knew what he was doing."
She laughed again but it was soft and Jamie closed his eyes, reveling in the sound.
"So, what kind of research do you have to do?" She asked after a moment of silence.
"I've been buried eyeball deep in books on Marlowe and then I'm reading all of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets then cross-referencing the sources he claimed to use..."
"Stop," she interrupted. "I'm tired and that's just from you explaining it."
He laughed. "Imagine how I feel."
She was quiet for a moment. "I want to see you again," she said quietly.
Jamie closed his eyes and smiled. "I want to see you again, too."
..XX..
A/N: I wrote this story a couple of years ago for another site and I guess I just love Jamie and Violet to want to bring them to life again. Their love story is sweet and simple and oh, so corny. lol Thanks, as always, for reading.