Yes Man

I looked at Lydia for help deciphering what the blonde meant.

"We won't mind." Lydia saved my bacon. "Jason was being gallant when he asked me to dance, that's all."

"Nervous is more like it." I denied what she said.

"In that case, you should be nervous more often." Lydia squeezed my arm. "It suits you."

Cassidy saw that and glanced away, looking around like she was trying to find a reason to leave us alone. As she did her eyes settled on the heavy set man who'd accosted her earlier and was now standing nearby waiting for her to be by herself again. I could see she didn't want that to happen.

"I think there's finger food over there." I used my chin to point at a corner of the room where the drinks bar was located.

Both of them swivelled to look.

"If you want, I'd be happy to escort both of you ladies in that direction to find out." I looked at each of them. Lydia nodded and rested her free hand on top of the one that was still on my arm. Extending my other arm toward Cassidy I waited. She glanced at the heavy set man first, then the corner of the room again. Making up her mind she put a hand on my arm.

"Very well, let us proceed." I began to head through the crowd as they both walked next to me. Heads turned but I took a cue from Lydia and ignored them.

We were almost there when Cassidy leaned forward to look at Lydia on my other side.

"Is he always like this?"

"Like what?" I asked.

Cassidy glanced up at me then looked at Lydia again.

"Yes." Lydia said the one word with a tiny lift of her lips. "It makes it very difficult for me to say no when he asks for something."

Cassidy was silent as she looked up at me again. Finally arriving at the section of the room where the hotel had set up a buffet table, I looked the selection over. Mostly finger foods, dips with crackers and cheese, spring rolls, some little meatballs with toothpicks in them swimming in some kind of brown sauce, that sort of thing. Both Lydia and Cassidy took their hands off my arm at the same time.

"Jason?" Lydia looked to her left. "Would you mind checking if the bar has any champagne?"

"Of course." I looked at Cassidy. "Would you like something?"

Cassidy looked at me then back to Lydia who made a tiny urging motion with her hand.

"Champagne would be good."

I turned toward the bar and got only a couple of steps before I caught Cassidy's low voiced question.

"Do you? Tell him no?"

"No." Lydia's response wasn't suppressed. "Why would I?"

"So you're..." Cassidy broke off as she realized what she was saying to a woman she'd just met. "Sorry, that's none of my business."

"Any woman who says no after he asks, is a fool." Lydia answered the question anyway.

I didn't hear Cassidy's reply, if there was one. Returning with three flutes of champagne, I handed one to each of them. Lydia swapped me a styrofoam bowl, with half a dozen of the little meatballs in it, for her champagne flute.

"You haven't eaten anything since this morning." She pointed meaningfully at the bowl then took my glass from me.

"What about you?" I had to swallow before I asked, I hadn't realized how hungry I was.

Lydia gave me back my champagne and took one of the meatballs for herself, nibbling carefully while holding it by the toothpick so she didn't smear anything on her face. I held out the bowl to Cassidy in invitation. She hesitated.

"Only a fool." Lydia took another nibble but didn't expand on what she said.

Cassidy glanced at her, then looked up at my face. Slowly she took one of the meatballs from the bowl. Lydia took my glass from me again so I could eat too. Sipping from my glass instead of her own, she looked at Cassidy who stopped nibbling to look back at her.

We didn't get any further before the pair of men in too tight suits stopped next to us.

"Hello." One of them nodded in our direction. "We saw you dancing. That was pretty brave of you."

"Brave?" I had to ask.

The second man nodded.

"Letting everyone know like that."

"Know what?" Now I was confused again.

"You know, that you're..." He made a bumping motion with his hands. "Most people are more discreet."

I still had no idea what he was talking about.

"He means that because you danced with me, everyone now thinks we're sleeping together." Lydia gave me back my flute and took the last meatball.

"Oh." I looked at the two. "Don't you know how to ask a beautiful woman to dance with you?"

Cassidy choked and sputtered over a mouthful of champagne.

"Sorry." She held a hand over her face. "I think I need a napkin."

"Let me." I stepped toward the buffet table to toss the empty styrofoam bowl in the trash and grab several napkins from the stack there. Giving them to her I took her glass so she had the use of both hands as she dabbed at her face. Done she looked at Lydia.

"I need to go fix my makeup."

Lydia gave me her champagne glass. Now I had all three laced in my fingers again as the two of them headed for the ladies room together. Looking at the three glasses, I tipped Lydia's over mine and filled it with what remained of hers. Setting the empty flute on the buffet table where one of the hostesses would see it and return it to the bar, I sipped from my now full glass.

"Smooth." One of the pair commented.

"Was there something else you wanted to talk about?" I sipped again and introduced myself. "Jason Penterwast, I'm with Stanwood Perkins Global. If you're looking for a project engineer or architect, we can help."

The two of them looked at each other and sputtered like they had some kind of inside joke going on.

"He'll learn." One of them told the other.

"Eventually." The other replied and they laughed again as they moved away and left me standing alone waiting for Lydia and Cassidy to return.

EIGHT

"Don't listen to them." An older bald man with a younger woman on his arm walked over. "They're just a couple of troublemakers."

I looked at him then at the woman who smiled back.

"Ralph Northman." He held out his hand. "This is my wife Andy."

"Jason Penterwast. Pleased to meet you." I shook his hand. "Why do you say that?"

"Those two are always trying to stir up trouble for someone." He indicated the pair who'd just left and were now talking to a group of other single men. "There's no reason for it, no one really minds."

"Minds?"

"If you're having an affair." He looked at his wife for a moment. "If you come to these conferences with someone you're not married to, everyone assumes that you're having an affair with whoever you're with. No one really cares because a lot of people do it and it's the kind of thing that's sort of expected to be going on."

"Oh." I finally caught on.

"Of course, letting everyone know like you did is kind of blatant."

"Ah, I see." I did. "Actually, Lydia's my secretary and it's our first time to one of these kinds of conferences. I thought that asking her to dance would help calm us down instead of me staying as nervous as I was."

"Is that what you call it?" Andy asked. "It looked more like you were trying to heat things up to me."

I must have looked confused again because she blinked and turned to her husband for a second.

"We're back." Lydia rescued us from the awkward moment. Taking my glass from my fingers she sipped from it. "Hi. I'm Lydia Robinson, from Stanwood Perkins Global. I work with Jason."

The couple turned to her and then glanced at Cassidy who'd repaired the minuscule damage to her makeup while the two of them had been gone.

"Cassidy." She held out her hand. "Pleased to meet you."

"Ralph Northman." He shook her hand after hesitating for a second. "This is my wife Andy."

"Hello." Cassidy smiled brightly at the other woman after taking her champagne glass back once I held it out to her. "Is this your first conference too?"

"God no." She rolled her eyes. "Ralph does three or four of these things every year and drags me along with him every time."

"Sales." Ralph explained what he was there for. "Large or small, every business runs on sales. Without sales, it won't be long before you're out of business."

"That's the truth." I agreed with him.

Ralph and Andy looked at each other as Lydia nonchalantly continued to drink champagne from my glass. Reaching, he took his wife's hand in his before addressing the three of us.

"Well, we're off to talk to others. Enjoy your evening but pace yourselves too. There's a long week ahead."

"Thank you, we will." Cassidy smiled at the two of them. "It was nice to meet you."

"What was that all about?" Lydia asked as she drank the last of the champagne.

"They came over to tell me that everyone thinks we're having an affair because we danced together." I explained about Ralph and Andy as well as the two other men.

"You're not?" Cassidy finished her champagne before deciding to add to her question. "You're not sleeping with each other? Because it sure looked that way when you two were dancing. Wow, talk about sexy. You had everyone watching you."

"He asked." Lydia was the one who answered her. "I'm not a fool."

"Lydia?" I wanted to know why she was letting Cassidy know.

"I'm not a fool," she said it again. "If you ask me to dance, I'll say yes. Every time."

"I wasn't really talking about the dancing part." Cassidy told us.

"I wasn't either but he did only ask me to dance." Lydia glanced around the room. "It looks like everyone is starting to leave."

I looked around and realized she was right, there were fewer people in the room. Turning to her I held out my hand.

"There's still time for one more dance. If you don't mind."

Smiling she put her hand in mind and bent to kiss me on my cheek. Straightening she shifted our hands and swapped hers for Cassidy's.

"Yes, but I can always dance with you some other time. Dance with Cassidy instead."

"Oh no, I couldn't." Cassidy shook her head and took back her hand from where Lydia had put it in mine.

I looked at Lydia who tipped her head toward Cassidy. Turning slightly to face her, I held out my hand again.

"Cassidy? Would you like to dance?"

Cassidy's eyes went from me to Lydia to me again, lingering on my face for a long time before she tentatively put her hand back into mine. Carefully I escorted her back across the conference room, standing at the edge of the open space in front of the band and waiting for them to finish whatever they were playing. As that musical score ended, I held up my hand to catch their attention again.

"Something slow that we can dance to, please." I gave the instruction then turned to Cassidy and set my frame for her.

"Yes sir." The band began playing softly as Cassidy stepped forward.

We danced.

Smoothly and easily we moved around the space just like I had earlier with Lydia. Several people stopped talking and watched us, a few making comments which caused Cassidy to blush as we overheard them.

"Ignore it." I swung her away toward the center of the open space. "You dance very well."

"Lessons," she kept up with me as we passed the band again. "My mother insisted that I learn. What about you? Most people these days don't know how to dance like this."

"It was something to do on Friday nights instead of stay home alone." I answered her.

"Clubs or at a school?"

"Both." I moved us across the floor for another lap around the tiny space. "When I could get someone to dance with me anyway, which wasn't very often."

"Why?" She looked up at me.

I just shrugged and twirled her in a controlled flourish pirouette as the music came to an end. "That was wonderful, thank you."

"I enjoyed it." She smiled at me making a dimple show up in her cheek. "Really."

"I'm glad." I escorted her back to where Lydia was waiting for us before releasing her hand. As I did I realized that the hall was now only half filled with attendees. It looked like the evening was over.

"Dinner?" I looked at Lydia. "Those meatballs weren't really enough."

"Yes." She smiled at me and turned to Cassidy in silent question.

"Oh, I can't." Cassidy shook her head.

"You wouldn't be intruding." I assured her. "Please, join us."

She looked at me, then Lydia, then down at her shoes before looking up again.

"Okay, yes. I would like to very much."

"Now that that's settled, where should we go?" I offered my arm to the both of them again and waited.

"I know a place." Cassidy told us. "It's not far so we can walk there and back."

The restaurant turned out to be the little place Lydia and I had been the evening before but neither of us said so. It wasn't nearly as empty either and we had to wait for a table. Lydia and Cassidy abandoned me in the lobby while they went to freshen up, talking about hair when they returned.

"Well, I think it suits you." Cassidy was saying as the two joined me.

"I'm still thinking of growing it out. Not much, but some." Lydia's hand went to her hair.

"I think you're hair is beautiful." Cassidy replied as they both stopped next to me. "It frames your face and makes you look elegant. Unlike mine."

We both turned to look at her bubble curls.

"You have no idea how many hours I have to spend on it every day with a curling iron."

"Why?" I couldn't stop myself from asking.

"Because long straight hair like mine is a pain. It gets in my face from the wind or when I'm trying to eat. On top of that I'm always sleeping on it, or having to braid it so I don't, and that makes my neck ache from sleeping on what amounts to having a rock tied to my head. Plus it's just plain boring to look at unless I get a perm and that ruins it over time." A sigh followed her explanation. "I hate my hair."

Again, I couldn't help myself. I gave Cassidy a fast scan then turned to look at Lydia, my eyes going right to her hair. Shiny straight black hair cut short but still long enough to brush or comb into a style that enhanced her features. Sophisticated, yet giving her a softness over all in her looks and appearance.

Lydia gave me a raised eyebrow in return for my look. There was nothing I could say that wouldn't get me in trouble somehow but I was saved by the hostess telling us there was an open table. I gestured for the two of them to proceed me and followed. Three steps later, Lydia's stride changed and she stiffened just a little bit. Cassidy saw it and gave a quick glance back at me but didn't say anything.

"Chablis," Lydia gave her drink order once we were seated. Looking at me she waited.

"Beer for me." I avoided her because I didn't want to create a confrontation over something I had no idea what it was about in the first place. "Dark."

"A French 75, please." Cassidy put in her request after I did, explaining after she saw all of us, including the waiter, looking at her. "It's just gin, champagne, simple syrup, and lemon juice. The bar should know how to make it. It's in the book if they don't."

"I will check to be sure." The waiter finished writing our drinks order and bowed before leaving.

NINE

It was late by the time we walked Cassidy to her room after we returned to the hotel. Waiting until she unlocked the door with her keycard we said good night before heading back to our own room two floors down. When the elevator doors opened on our floor Lydia stepped out of the car first and kept going. She didn't wait for me to catch up, instead shifting back into the stiff walk she'd been using in the restaurant as she led the way down the hall toward our room and definitely letting me know that whatever the cause was, it was still on her mind. And somehow, my fault.

By the time I got into the room she was in the bathroom, the door closed for the first time since we'd arrived. She hadn't spoken to me after we dropped Cassidy off at her room but even before then it was only as part of the general dinner conversation.

"Lydia?" I called through the door softly. "You ok?"

Silence.

"Lydia?" I tapped twice with a knuckle. The toilet flushing was the only sound from inside the bathroom.

Heaving an internal sigh, I went to sit on the edge of the bed and take off my shoes. I was down to my underwear, and had already tucked the last suitcase underneath the second bed so she could use it instead of sleeping with me again, when she came out. I glanced in her direction and then turned my back after I saw what she was wearing. Some kind of long baseball jersey that barely made it half way down her thighs. It was gray with vertical blue stripes and had some team logo on the front. I didn't look long enough to see what team.

"Jason..."

"It's okay," I told her when she paused. "I get it and I'll see if they have an open room in the morning. If they do, I'll move and you can stay here. Or vice versa. In the meantime, you can have the clean bed and I'll sleep in this one. How's that?"

"I'm sorry." She apologized for whatever it was that I'd done wrong, just like almost every other girl I'd asked out in the past. Even the words were the same. The pain from the rejection certainly was.

"I told you, it's okay. I understand." I kept my emotions out of my voice and readied myself to get into bed.

She didn't say anything as I turned out the light and laid down to sleep.

"Good night."

"They say that the worst thing you can do is go to bed while you're mad at each other." The words came out of the darkness. "I'm sorry I hurt you. I didn't mean to act like a jealous bitch."

"Don't worry about it." I rolled over to face away from her. "I'm used to it."

She didn't say anything else and I could hear her sit on the other bed. There was the sound of fabric rustling in the dark and then she slipped into bed with me. The warmth from her body told me she wasn't wearing the baseball shirt any longer.

"I'm sorry." Gentle fingers touched my shoulder. "I had this fantasy in my head that you'd be mine for the whole week and I could have you to myself like I've wanted to for a long time. When Cassidy showed up I got jealous. I don't want to share you. You dancing with her is probably where it started."

"It was your idea." I kept my back to her.

"You paid them and then asked me." Warm hands slid down my back. "How much did you give the band anyway?"

"A hundred."

"For two dances?" She sounded shocked.

I didn't say anything because there didn't seem to be anything to say. It wasn't the money, it was the fact that she'd danced with me that made it important.

"Come here." The gentle fingers tugged as the words were whispered into my ear from an inch away. Continuing to tug at me, she insisted that I roll over to face her and didn't let up until I did.

"I'm sorry." She put her face next to mine and kept whispering. "I really am. I promised you and all I ended up doing was hurting you like everyone else does."

"I don't understand." I didn't. Why was she apologizing? "It's not like I didn't know this was going to happen. I'm just a fling for you. An itch you said you wanted to scratch. That's all."

"Not now you're not." She cupped my face with both of her hands. "Yes. Absolutely and definitely yes. Anywhere, anytime, you can have me whenever you want me. You don't even have to ask, the answer is yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Get it?"

I didn't want to say I got it when I didn't. I had no idea what she was trying to tell me. Other than the obvious.

"Jason," she kissed me softly. "I'm in love with you."

"No you're not."

Another kiss in the dark and I could feel her nod her head afterward.

"I am. I shouldn't be, but I am." A third kiss. "I'm still in love with Ben and I'm not going to leave him for you, and I don't expect you to believe that I will, but I am also in love with you and that's why I acted the way I did."

"You didn't do anything."

"I did." Hands slipped slowly down my chest. "I got mad at you over you wanting to sleep with Cassidy because I love you and I don't want to share you with her or anyone else."