Chapter Seven

Jewell curled up in the corner of her couch, a pint of chocolate peanut butter ice cream in one hand and the remote control in the other. Despite the fact midnight quickly approached, sleep eluded her. Too many thoughts raced in her head when the lights went out and the apartment was silent.

How was she going to find another job? How could she explain leaving Bulwark? That was inevitable. Benjamin alone had enough reason to let her go. But there was no doubt in her mind that if Kevin Burke wanted to, he could push for her termination as well. Yes, he made crude sexual comments, but that was beyond the point. The truth was that he had been at Bulwark much longer, and held much more respect, and while it wasn"t right it was the way things were.

She tugged at the hem of her cotton shorts as she tried to get comfortable. They were her favorite pair, but she only dared wear them around the house because they were far too short to be worn in public. Some women might have gone out in them, but Jewell couldn"t bring herself to do it. She saved short shorts and tank tops for bedtime and midnight television viewing.

With a press of the power button, her countertop-sized television came on in the middle of an old horror flick. She flipped back her loose hair and dug into the ice cream with her spoon. Jewell almost wished Ruby would wake up. At least then she"d have some company.

The knock on the door came at a tense moment in the movie, and Jewell jumped, choking on her mouthful of ice cream. She shook her head and glanced at the clock on the television. Who could be at her door at eleven-thirty at night? And how did they get into the building? A nervous flutter hit her stomach. Her movie gave her lots of possibilities, none of them good.

She set the pint container down on the coffee table and stood up. Moving quietly, Jewell went to the door. Whomever it was knocked again. Jewell jumped despite herself. She didn"t answer but looked through the small peephole into the hall. Surprise brought her back. With quick hands, she undid the double locks on the door and opened it.

"Benjamin?" she signed, "What are you doing here?"

He stared at her, his eyelids dropping slightly as his gaze lowered a fraction. Right away he met her eyes again. Jewell felt immediately self-conscious. She wanted to cross her arms over her breasts but feared it would only draw attention to the fact she wore nothing under the ribbed cotton of her tank top. Her hair was mussed and haphazard, and she knew she must look a fright. Certainly not anything like she looked in the office.

Benjamin seemed to snap out of his trance. "I followed another tenant in through the front door. Did I wake you up?"

Jewell shook her head and opened the door further. "No, I was watching television. Come in."

He stepped inside, his arm brushing hers as he moved by her. Jewell nearly gasped at the immediate reaction of her body. Mortified, she finally did cross her arms over her breasts. She watched him walk down the hall to the living room. A small groan worked its way free of her throat.

Benjamin wore a faded pair of jeans that clung to the contours of his backside. His blue long-sleeved tee shirt fit close, but not too tightly. Enough to accentuate the defined muscles of his back and shoulders. Jewell"s breath caught and her throat went dry. She had seen Benjamin in professional suits and fancy tuxedos. All in all, she definitely liked him best in this relaxed kind of look. Jeans and tee shirts brought out the sexy shape of his body the other clothing just hid.

She shook her head to clear her mind of such dangerously ridiculous thoughts and followed him down the hall. A depressing realization hit her. Benjamin probably wasn"t here on a social call. Most likely, he was here to fire her and tell her not to bother coming in. Jewell wondered if he had heard about the incident with Kevin Burke. If he did, it would have obviously been Kevin"s side. A distorted and one-sided version of the truth. Just remembering what he said made Jewell angry all over again.

Benjamin stood in the middle of her living room and looked around him. He stopped and watched the movie playing out on the television. It was a particularly cheesy scene with some buxom blonde running through the woods from some unknown horror. She clutched at her heaving breasts to hold on to the flimsy shirt as it was torn away by tree branches.

He turned to her, a smile on his face. "High-quality programming."

Jewell touched the power button on the set and the screen went black. "There isn"t much on this late at night."

Benjamin looked at the clock. Shock registered on his face. "I didn"t realize it was so late."

She flipped her hand in dismissal. "Do you want something to drink? I don"t have much, but I have soda and juice."

He shook his head.

Jewell sighed. It was going to be a hit-and-run firing. If he had a drink in his hand, it could make the exit awkward. Her heart pounded against her ribs. She looked away to try and calm her nerves, only to have them electrified when she turned back. Benjamin stared at her, an intense seriousness darkening his face. His brown eyes roved quickly over her, and heat touched her exposed skin wherever his gaze fell. When he fixed his eyes again on her face, a small shudder moved through her. One corner of his lips moved up in his offhanded grin.

Jewell couldn"t take the stress anymore. "What did you need, Benjamin? It must be important to bring you out so late."

He motioned toward the couch in an unspoken request to sit. Jewell nodded and they both sat down. Benjamin sat at one end, his body turned towards her as far as the furniture would allow with his bent leg on the cushion and sneakered foot dangling over the edge. Jewell did the same, facing him. The couch was small, and despite her best efforts to avoid it, her bare knee brushed the soft denim of his jeans. It might as well have been his hand for the effect it had on her. Jewell wondered what she would do if she didn"t have these sweet sensations to contend with daily anymore. She knew nothing would ever happen between the two of them, but the sweet torment was almost worth the endless torture.

"Is your sister here?" he asked.

The question surprised her and Jewell blinked. "Yes. She"s in bed."

"Is she a sound sleeper?"

Jewell squinted, staring at him. Where on earth was he going with this? Or was this just small talk? "A hurricane won"t wake my sister," she answered, almost regretting he couldn"t hear the sarcastic lilt in her voice.

His smile was disarming. "No need for everyone to be awake." His hands rested on his thighs as he seemed to think about what to say. He drew in a breath as he raised his hand. "I wanted to talk to you about today."

Here it comes! Jewell folded her hands together in her lap to hide their shaking. He paused again, his gaze moving over her face and hair. It was as though he searched for what to say. How difficult could it be? You"re fired, Jewell. You"re fired. Not so tough.

"This isn"t something I do very often," he began again. "My father drilled into my head that men just don"t do this. Especially Roth men."

Jewell was confused. His father told him men don"t fire people? That made no sense.

He stared at the melting pint of ice cream before looking back at her. With deliberate slowness, he lifted his hand and made a loose fist. Benjamin pressed his fingers into his chest and made a circle. His tee shirt shifted beneath his hand.

"I"m sorry. I was out of line and had no right to take my bad mood out on you. It had nothing to do with the report or anything else you"ve done for me. You are doing a great job. I couldn"t ask for better work. What happened this morning, and for the last few weeks, is all me."

Jewell was in shock. She knew she stared, but couldn"t seem to stop. He was apologizing? April had told her never once had she heard the words "I"m sorry" pass his lips. No matter what he had done.

Benjamin"s smile widened and he reached out to nudge her knee. "Hello. Are you still with me?"

She nodded and laughed at herself. "Yes. I"m sorry. You just surprised me. I thought you were here to fire me."

It was Benjamin"s turn to look surprised. "Fire you? I can be stupid sometimes, but not that stupid. Why would you think that?"

"After this morning, I just thought you wouldn"t want to work with me anymore. When you showed up, I assumed you heard what happened with Kevin Burke?—"

His hand wrapped around hers to stop her signing. "Kevin Burke? What happened with Kevin Burke?"

Jewell explored his face. She knew by the confused look in his eyes and the way his gaze shifted over her expression that he didn"t know what happened. Good lord! Now she would have to explain. How could she tell him what kind of rumors were going through Bulwark? Could she say with a straight face, without bursting into humiliated flames, what Kevin assumed she was doing the day he came in? And what he—and many others at Bulwark—assumed was going on between the two of them.

With a fortifying breath, Jewell lifted her hands and explained. As she detailed the stories and rumors of their affair, his brown eyes darkened. Jewell tried to put a light air to the whole thing, saying how silly everyone was to take such innocent actions and make them into things they weren"t. "He asked if our fight this morning was a lover"s quarrel," she finished.

His powerful stare held hers, and no matter how hot her cheeks burned, she couldn"t look away. "There is something you aren"t telling me," he signed slowly.

Jewell had to close her eyes to break the connection, and opened them again to look down at her hands. When she looked back, she had to find a point beyond his shoulder to look toward. She couldn"t meet his eyes again.

"Do you remember the day he came in your office and I was…" She couldn"t find the words to explain their positioning that day without sounding like a fool. "When I nearly fell and you caught me? And Mr. Burke walked in…" Benjamin nodded. "He assumed I was…" She had to stop, her hands shaking. Jewell didn"t know the sign for what Kevin thought she was doing. How could you sign oral sex without looking crude, and without dying of embarrassment?

Her stomach clenched and a wave of nausea hit her. This was just too much. Anyone else and this wouldn"t be a problem. But Benjamin was different. Just the thought of…oh, God! Hot tears burned her eyes, and she looked away to hide them.

Benjamin touched his fingertip to her chin, gently urging her to face him again. "Jewell, look at me," he said.

Fighting the humiliation of the conversation, coupled with the devastating effects of his slight touch, Jewell looked at him again. His eyes had softened, and the special smile she liked to think of as her very own spread across his face. He caressed her cheek and his thumb brushed away the tear wetting her skin. He seemed reluctant to take his hand away to sign.

"What did he say to you?"She tried to shake her head, but his hand came back to her face, his palm against her cheek. "What did he say to you?"

Jewell swallowed hard, her throat now dry and rough. She couldn"t sign anymore and had to rely on him to know what her lips said. When she spoke, his eyes shifted down a slight degree to watch her mouth. "He said you"ve been around long enough to know you should lock your door before getting me on my knees."

His entire body tensed, his jaw clenching tight. But the touch on her cheek never changed. When he spoke again, it was through clenched teeth. "I"m going to?—"

Jewell laid her fingers to his lips, and his eyes immediately jerked back to look straight at her. She shook her head, and let her hand slip away before another warm breath touched her skin. His fingers wrapped around hers and he held them together on the cushion between them. "No. I made it very clear to him that I won"t put up with that. If he looks at me crossed-eyed, I"ll take it to Human Resources."

"Kevin Burke is an ass and an idiot."

"You won"t get any argument from me," she said with a soft chuckle. Her voice barely carried between them, her nerves fluttering with the contact.

"If he says or does anything, tell me."Jewell nodded, thankful he let it go at that. "Now," he said, his entire expression changing as he smiled. "Are we friends again?"

Jewell smiled back, relieved that that conversation had shifted away from her miserable day. "Again? Were we friends to begin with?"

Benjamin grinned and nodded. "Can I get that drink now?"

"I"m just going to change my clothes," she said, quickly indicating her scant shorts and tight top.

His smile took on an amused tilt. "Don"t change on my account."

Heat rushed over her entire body. Jewell stood and walked to the kitchen to get a can of cola for him. When she went back into the living room, Benjamin was reclined in a more comfortable position against the assortment of pillows on the couch. He had picked up a small photo album she kept on the coffee table and was looking through it, one ankle balanced on the other knee in a relaxed position with the album open on his lap. Instead of sitting on the cushion, Jewell put her knees on the couch and sat back on her own feet. Benjamin took the cold can from her and pointed at the album.

"You were a cute kid," he commented.

"How do you know which one is me?" she said.

Benjamin set the can down on the side table before pointing toward the hallway. "I saw your family portrait in the hall. You are the only one with red hair. You don"t look anything like the rest of the family. What? Were you adopted?"

Jewell touched her nose with the finger of one hand and pointed at him with another. "On the nose."

Benjamin"s face grew serious. "I"m sorry. I shouldn"t have said anything."

Jewell shrugged. "Why be sorry? We"re all adopted. All four of us."

His eyebrows arched. "All of you? That explains why you don"t look alike."

Jewell laughed. She scooted closer and pointed at the people in the array of pictures. "You"ve met my sister Ruby. This is my older brother Garnett. And the blonde-haired angel is our little sister Pearl."

"Your names are Garnett, Jewell, Ruby, and Pearl?"

Jewell nodded. "My mother"s name is Opal. Daddy figures it was fate that we should all be named after precious gems. Garnett"s legal name is just that. Put that with Mom"s name and next thing you know, we"ve got a pattern forming. Daddy says it was providence because they considered us all to be extra precious gifts, so we needed extra special names. They had our names legally changed: myself, Ruby, and Pearl."

His expression softened and this time when his attention skimmed over her features, she didn"t feel the heat of embarrassment. Her cheeks flushed under his gaze, but not from embarrassment, and she held her breath as he touched the feathery ends of her hair where it hung over her shoulder. "Jewell is a perfect name for you."

She touched her fingertips to her lips and lowered her hand, palm up. "Thank you."

Benjamin went back to the album, smiling at some of the photographs taken more recently. As the pages turned, Jewell explained who everyone was and when each snapshot was taken. One of the last was a picture from her father"s sixty-third birthday party just two months earlier. She and her siblings stood around him, each of them kissing some part of his head. The funniest part was her brother, who had to push down Cecil Kincaid"s thick hair just to be seen.

"Your parents couldn"t have children?" he asked.

Jewell shook her head. "No. My mother had Reyes Syndrome as an infant. She nearly died. As a result, she couldn"t have children. She"s also deaf from it."

Understanding crossed his face and he nodded. "I wondered where you learned to sign so proficiently."

Jewell leaned into the back of the couch. It was amazing. The tension and stress of the last three weeks were gone in a matter of ten minutes. Once again, the comfortable camaraderie between them was back.

"I went to live with my parents when I was four. I don"t think the actual meaning of deaf hit me until I was eight or nine years old. I was so young and felt so much love from them from the moment I arrived, it just didn"t matter."

"You were four?"

Jewell nodded. "I bounced around in foster homes up until then and wasn"t eligible for adoption until I was three. My parents adopted the kids no one else seemed to want. They took on challenges no one expected them to be able to handle. Most of us were older, which in itself is a disadvantage when you"re in the system. My brother Garnett was six years old. His parents and four other siblings were killed in a car accident.

"Ruby was younger. She was two. But she came from an abusive home. She says she doesn"t remember any of it, but I wonder sometimes. Pearl was almost two. She was diagnosed as profoundly Deaf at eight months old. Her mother was poor, and there was no father named, so Pearl"s mother signed off all parental rights and put Pearl up for adoption. My parents got a call right away, and she was home with us within a week."

"It seems your parents were very open and forward about the whole thing."

She nodded. "It was never a secret. And really, it didn"t matter."

He laid his warm palm on her bare knee when he finished his sign. She looked down and examined in awe the difference between their skin tones. Benjamin"s flesh was darker and warmer, but something less than tan. Her skin was pale and translucent in comparison. Even after a full summer of sun, she remained fair and freckled.

His fingers pressed gently into her thigh. The pad of his thumb ran back and forth across the sensitive skin of her knee. A liquid heat stirred inside her, and spread out to her limbs. The heat worked down her leg as if seeking out the source of the ardor. She fought down the desire to reach out and test the wave of his hair. Was it as soft and thick as it looked?

"What about you?" he asked. "You explained about your brother and sister."

Jewell met his gaze. This wasn"t something she spoke about often. Her memories before Cecil and Opal Kincaid loved her were fuzzy, but unpleasant all the same. Years after the fact, she realized how thankful she was to have a new name. The old name seemed foreign and mismatched. For that reason, she didn"t tell anyone what it was. It wasn"t her. Very few knew Jewell wasn"t her birth name. What spurred her into telling Benjamin, she wasn"t sure. She swallowed against the dryness in her throat

"My mother was a heroin addict when I was born, and Child Services took me away immediately. I bounced around in foster care until Mama and Daddy took me."

Although the smile never left his face, Jewell caught the slight tensing around his eyes, creating tiny lines fanning from the corners. His thumb stroked across the skin of her knee more rapidly, with just a little more pressure. "You were happy." It wasn"t a question as much as a statement, something he"d decided.

Jewell nodded. "Very happy."

His hand left her knee so he could set the book down on the coffee table. "Show me another one. I want to find something I can use for blackmail later."

Jewell laughed and stood up to retrieve another album from the bookshelf behind the television. The early morning hours slipped away.

* * *

Benjamin"s groggy mind acknowledged the stiffness in his back before he ever opened his eyes. When he did, he had to blink against the light coming from the lamp from just behind his head. For several seconds he remained disoriented, glancing around the unfamiliar room.

He looked down and drew in a sharp breath. Jewell curled against his side, sandwiched between himself and the back of the couch they both lay on. Her cheek rested on his chest and her fingers curled against his tee shirt. Waves of auburn hair cascaded over his arm that sat across her shoulders.

Then he remembered. He came here last night to apologize. Somehow the conversation extended late into the night. Benjamin recalled the heavy, dreamy look in Jewell"s eyes around three a.m. After the fourth or fifth yawn in as many minutes, she didn"t even argue when he touched her shoulder and silently urged her to lean into his side.

She fell asleep almost instantly. Amid a sign, her fingers slowed and rested on his chest. Benjamin remembered the deep breath that pressed her breasts against his ribs as she sank into slumber.

He didn"t doze off until after four. Benjamin spent an hour memorizing the facets of color in her hair. Shadows of deep gold, rich red, and burnt copper mingled in a mesmerizing pattern of light. His fingers explored the softness of her skin. The sparse spattering of freckles on her bare arms made him smile. She smelled so sweet, fresh, and feminine.

Benjamin shifted enough to look at the analog clock on the wall over the television. It was nearly half past five. He had only slept about an hour and a half. Yet, somehow, he felt refreshed. The only negative was the catch in his spine from the angle they held against the arm of the couch.

He tried to shift into a more comfortable position. As he did, Jewell stirred and he felt a soft vibration against his ribs. She rubbed her cheek against his chest and drew a bent, bare leg over his thigh.

Benjamin held his breath. What sweet torture!

His hands itched to touch her, to stroke her silken hair and learn the fullness of her breasts beneath his fingertips. Benjamin let his head fall back into the pillows and pressed his eyes tightly shut. How many personal rules had he broken so far? Too many to count, that was for sure. They had crossed the "professional" boundary long ago.

Reluctantly, Benjamin slowly worked himself out from beneath her slight weight. With her cheek cupped in his hand, Benjamin crouched beside her and positioned a pillow beneath her head. A slow, soft smile bowed her full lips when Benjamin paused to touch her temple and smooth back her hair.

He pulled a small afghan off the back of the couch, draping it over her bare thighs and exposed midriff. Jewell didn"t stir. She had to be deep in sleep. Benjamin contemplated lifting her off the couch and carrying her down to her bedroom. In the end, he decided against it. What if he met Ruby in the hall? How would he explain that? Hell, how would he explain it should Jewell wake up in the process?

Benjamin sat back on his heels and stared at her. She was beautiful in her sleep. Her cheeks held a soft glow and auburn lashes curled gently along her eyelids. How incredible it would be to wake up to that angelic visage every morning.

He shook his head slowly. It did no good to think about Jewell in any way other than his EA. Now that he no longer had her warmth against him, fatigue worked its way into his body. Benjamin"s limbs were heavy and his back ached. What he needed to do was go home, take a long, hot shower, and try to get through the day.

Benjamin leaned forward and pressed his lips against her temple. With a rumble in his chest and an ache in his thighs, he stood and looked down at her before he turned and walked to the front door.