Rachael Lost Love: contemporary romance Read online

  Copyright 2016 J K Ashley

  All Rights Reserved

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, are purely coincidental. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or other wise without written permission from the author.

  Rachael

  Lost Love

  Contemporary Romance

  By J K Ashley

  Table of Contents

  Note from the Author

  Short Summary

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Review

  About the Author

  Note from the Author

  Everyone remembers their first true love but unfortunately situations change and although sometimes cruel, life moves on as this intriguing romantic story reveals. I really hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

  At the end of this Novella and as a way of saying thank you, please find your Free Download Novellas and access to the J K Ashley Book Store containing current and new releases.

  SHORT SUMMARY:

  Rachael Lawson had been in love with her best friend, John Keeton for as long as she could remember. Thinking it was just a silly crush she buried her feelings for him, until one day he asked her out on a date. As their relationship developed, both Rachael and John came to understand just how solid their connection was. Then, one day, John was offered a place at a University abroad. When he left, they made a pledge to never allow the distance to destroy what they had worked so hard to create. But a year later, on her 21st birthday, Rachael doesn’t get so much as a card or a call from him. Then her greatest fear transpires, when John disappears from her life completely.

  Unhappy and feeling abandoned, Rachael still has hope that he will return to her, but as the years pass she finally moves on with her life, finding a new man to love. But as she prepares to get married, John unexpectedly returns. He wants to stop the wedding. But why? Is he too late? Can Rachael really move on, and what are John’s intentions? More to the point, where has he been all those years? Rachael Lawson has some big decisions to face. Contains sexual content.Intended for the mature reader.

  Chapter One

  James

  Conference calls are my least favorite thing, yet I do several of them a week. I resigned myself to this a while back, though it still gives me great displeasure every time I sit down at my desk and have listen to some idiot behind a desk drone on for an hour. I much prefer meetings. There’s something about sitting in the room with people you can look in the face. It’s much easier to get your point across, and I typically find those I work with in person are less dense.

  I’m alone in my office. A large, floor-to-ceiling window is behind me and the sun is streaming in. My back is sweating through my button up shirt, and I can already imagine the unsightly stains. I’m zoning out from the conversation so I snap my attention back to the guy on the other end of the line. He’s just giving me reports from the past week, something I know I should care about but just can’t work up the concentration to do so.

  My desk is sparsely decorated. My name plaque sits directly in front of me, facing two empty chairs and the closed door a few feet away. File cabinets and shelves line my walls, though I haven’t touched them in weeks. I need to get them moved out of here, they’re cramping my style.

  I run a hand through my tousled dark brown hair. It’s started to hang into my eyes, so I make a mental note to schedule a haircut later in the week.

  My phone lights up on my desk. It’s a text from my mother, so I pick it up and peer down at the text scrolling across the top of my screen.

  Join me for dinner? Rachael is welcome to come too. :)

  An involuntary smile breaks out across my face as I look down at my phone. My mother’s always been the sweetest of ladies. We didn’t get along very well when I was in high school and even less when I was in college, but since then I’ve smartened up and started appreciating her for the wonderful woman she is. She’s done more for me throughout my life than anyone else, and it makes me cringe to think of how I used to take her for granted. I’ve tried my best to make it up to her over the years, but I never feel like I do enough.

  I realize the other man has gone silent. I quickly apologize and ask him to repeat himself, making up some excuse that an intern came into the office and I put the call on mute. He sounds annoyed but I don’t have the patience to care, although I do feel a bit bad.

  “Alright, sounds good,” I finally say when the conversation starts to a close. “Thanks for the update Dave, talk to you next week?”

  I hang up the call and lean back in my chair with a relieved sigh. I have another conference call tomorrow with someone else, but until then I can relax and recharge. That’s when I remember my mother’s request.

  I call up Rachael, figuring I’d better ask her before committing us to anything. I did that once at the beginning of our relationship and it didn’t end well. Rachael doesn’t like surprises, apparently.

  “Hey, babe,” she says as soon as she picks up the phone. My stomach drops and does a somersault at the sound of her voice. We’ve been together for years now and she still gets me every time. “What’s up?”

  “Hey beautiful lady mind stopping by my office, I have a question.” I ask, grinning to myself.

  Rachael sighs on the other end and I can practically see her rolling her eyes. But I know she’s grinning. She loves it when I call her beautiful, but she gets embarrassed easily and doesn’t know how to handle it. I do it anyways.

  “Sure thing, James,” she answers. “I’ve just gotta finish up something quick and then I’ll drop by. See you soon.”

  I hang up the phone and kick back in my chair, waiting for her to arrive.

  Ten minutes later, I hear a soft knock on my door. Moments later it creaks open and Rachael pokes her head in, a small smile on her face. I beckon her inside.

  “You know you don’t need to go by all those formalities,” I tell her, getting up from the chair and giving her a peck on the cheek. “You’re my fiancé, not some normal employee.”

  “I know,” she says, blushing. I love when her cheeks get all pink like that. It’s positively adorable. “But I don’t want to interrupt anything. You’re the boss and I know you’re a busy guy.”

  “I always have time for you,” I say with a shrug and a smile. I gesture for her to sit down before returning to my seat. I watch her for a moment as she settles into her seat.

  Rachael is the most beautiful girl I’ve ever laid eyes on. I thought I’d seen beauty before I met her, but when you meet that one person your entire outlook on life changes. It’s not just that she has perfect features and a perfect body—I’m drawn to her because she’s just the person for me. There’s no other way to explain it.

  Her long dark hair falls past her shoulders, a few tendrils of it grazing her cheek on the way down. The shade of her hair changes depending on the time of year, and now that we’ve been in summer for a few months it’s taken on a light fawn colour. Once it starts getting colder and she sees less sun it’ll return to a rich brunette. Her blue eyes sparkle in the sunlight that’s still streaming in from behind me, and her cheeks and the bridge of her nose are dusted in freckles.

  She’s wearing a light blue blouse which compliments her eyes in the loveliest way. She also wears a black pencil skirt,
and some modest heels. She catches me looking at her and smiles, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

  “What may I do for you, sir?” she says with a smirk, shifting in her seat. “Have you called me down for a work-related issue, or is something else on your mind?”

  Rachael leans forward exposing her firm cleavage, then props her chin on her hand looking at me curiously. I’m always calling her down to my office for one reason or another, and scolding her for treating me too formally just because I’m her boss. I think she does it now just because she knows how crazy it drives me.

  Truth be told, I call Rachael down so often just because I want to see her. I usually have an excuse but most of the time she can see straight through it. Work is long and hard, and I enjoy breaking the long slog up with visits from my beautiful girl. It just so happens that I have an actual reason to call her down today, though.

  “Don’t be silly,” I answer, raising an eyebrow at her across the table. “Why would it be work-related? You know I always call you down here just to see you.”

  “I do know that,” Rachael responds, fighting to keep a grin from breaking out across her face. “I just like to keep the semblance of a normal working relationship going, don’t you?”

  “Not particularly,” I say with a shrug. I watch the way her hair falls beside her face, brushing her cheek lightly before resting on her shoulder. I snap my eyes back to her and see that she’s watching me as well. “I like to see you. Is that so bad?”

  “I don’t think so, no,” Rachael murmurs. “Seeing each other is good. I think you’re quite right.”

  Her words transport me back to another time.

  Rachael and I have known each other for years. We weren’t that couple that met late one night when we were both hanging around the bars and looking for someone to pass the time. No, that wasn’t us at all. I’d known of Rachael for a long time, but had never met properly her until she started working at the company.

  I started my own company fresh out of high school. I went to college on the side, focusing on business, but I also did a lot of my own side research and wanted to tackle things as soon as possible. Lucky for me, things went well and I managed to build a successful business. Following college things began to take off. It was also after college that Rachael started working here.

  We weren’t an office romance, either. Our story is quite unconventional, honestly. I began seeing her around the office but I never once spoke to her. Rachael intimidated me because she was so beautiful and she carried herself so confidently, that’s why I was so drawn to her. It took months for me to piece things together and realize who she was, as she was a person I’d known of for most of my life.

  Our parents had been friends for nearly a decade. They were very close, but for some reason we never got the families together. My parents were strange like that, they liked to keep the worlds of their family and friends separate. I only met Rachael’s family a handful of times, and the rest of the time I observed the friendship they had with my parents as an outsider. I heard about their outings only after they had happened, and I heard all the gossip about their lives. I knew that they had a daughter named Rachael Lawson, but that was all I knew about her. I had no idea what she looked like or who she was as a person, and at the time I frankly didn’t care.

  I heard Rachael’s name around the office once by chance, and suddenly became obsessed with figuring out who she was. I mostly thought it was a fun coincidence that we’d both ended up at the same place of work after our parents had been friends most of our lives. I didn’t imagine she was the cute girl I’d had my eyes on for several weeks.

  Once I found this out, I couldn’t stop thinking about Rachael. Finally, I went up to her during lunch, right up to her cubicle. She looked up at me with this surprised look on her face, and I remember her blue eyes were so wide and round.

  “I think we should go out sometime,” I’d blurted out, my words all rushed and mashed together and my face growing red as I stared down at her, sitting behind her computer at her desk.

  “I think you’re quite right,” she’d answered.

  That was the day everything changed for me. Rachael and I went out on a date and I knew immediately that this was the woman I wanted to marry. She was perfect for me in every way, and luckily she felt the same way about me, though she didn’t let on to that for quite a while. Rachael likes to take things slow, which was why I had to play it cool and act like I wasn’t totally crazy for her for months. Otherwise I would’ve scared her off.

  But we dated for nearly two years and finally I couldn’t contain myself anymore. I went out and bought a ring, and took her out for a fancy dinner. Then I got down on one knee.

  So now, we’re engaged. The wedding plans though are still very much in the works, but for now I’m happy to see that ring glittering on her finger every day, as I look down at it now.

  “What did you call me in here for, then?” she asks, looking at me curiously. Her tone is not accusatory, not irritated or in any way negative. She is just purely curious. It’s one of the many things I love about this woman, her positive and unassuming attitude.

  “My mother wants to know if we’d like to join her for dinner,” I say, observing Rachael’s face carefully. She’s never expressed any displeasure towards my mother or any member of my family, but sometimes I can’t help but wonder. It’s not uncommon to have issues with your in-laws. We may not be officially married yet, but my parents are essentially her in-laws already. They’ve been formally introduced and our families spend time together. At holidays, we alternate which family we spend time with, and it’s always assumed that at family events Rachael will be with me, in good spirits as always. One time I showed up at a family barbecue without Rachael, and had to deal with questions as to her whereabouts all night. It wasn’t even a special event or anything, so I didn’t expect that kind of reaction. But no, my mother and my father and my aunts and my uncles and even cousins who hardly known Rachael—they were all pestering me about her.

  Rachael’s well-loved, that at least is obvious. But she’s never expressed any sort of opinion on my family other than warmth and kind regard, so sometimes I can’t help but wonder when putting forth these kinds of requests whether she’d rather stay home, but is too polite to say so.

  “Tonight,” Rachael asks, blinking at me. I nod and she looks at the clock, and then peers over at the calendar hanging on my wall.

  “Are you busy?” I ask, feeling suddenly nervous. I’d hate to disappoint Mom.

  “No, not too busy,” she murmurs, before turning back to me with a small smile. “I’m taking next week off for wedding planning, remember? I don’t have a lot on right now as the business of putting together a wedding hasn’t started just yet, so I should be able to swing it.”

  I beam at her and breathe a sigh of relief. Silly of me, to let myself get so worked up over nothing. Of course, Rachael is fine coming over. But then I remember that she hasn’t officially said yes yet, just that she’s not busy. I give her a pointed look and raise my brows.

  “What?” she asks. “Oh! Yes, yes, that means I can come. I’d love to see your mother. We haven’t chatted in a while. Your dad will be there too, I assume?”

  “I assume,” I say with a nod, laughing. “When is my dad not around for my mother’s cooking? The man would starve if it wasn’t for her. She’s a saint, really, for putting up with that.”

  “Like you’re any better,” Rachael teases, her eyes twinkling at me from across the desk. Warmth fills my chest and I have a sudden urge to embrace her. “You know even if I said no to dinner you’d still be over there with a napkin tucked into your shirt, waiting at the kitchen table like a little kid.”

  Before I can throw a witty comment back at her, Rachael’s standing up out of her seat. I admire the way her clothing hangs on her body, accentuating everything that I find perfect about her. She’s such a beautiful woman, and that’s not just a star-struck man talking. She walks around the desk and bend
s down, unknowingly displaying her firm cleavage and gives me a quick peck on the cheek. The sensation of her lips on my skin lingers for a moment as I stand up to pull her back to me.

  We embrace and kiss passionately, our tongues entwined. As we kiss she unbuckles my belt then kneels to release my zip. Her soft hand reaches out guiding the shiny head of my shaft into her warm and tender mouth, then begins teasing it with her tongue bringing me to a near instant erection. A few moments later she is sat astride my desk inviting me to please her, displaying a delicate shade of blue silk panties covering a slightly protruding mound.

  I leant down into her open thighs and gently pulled her panties to one side showing off a neatly trimmed bush. Something I find very sexy. She placed her hands around the back of my head and pulled me firmly onto her mound, my tongue began to search and separate her sex lips slipping deep into her wetness, darting in and out in quick succession as she moaned and squirmed enjoying the moment.

  Both in a high state of arousal, I stood up as she then reached out and guided me to the entrance of her eagerly awaiting opening. With one push, I was deep inside and began to fuck her vigorously as she murmured “harder, harder”. As I obliged, her delicate hands began gripping my arms tightly, and within moments cried out as she reached an intense orgasm, as I too came in complete unison.

  With her pelvic muscles continuing to milk my still throbbing shaft, I slowly and gently moved in and out until she reached the end of her desire As I pulled away she slid off the desk and onto her feet to adjust her clothing, I in turn pulled up my pants and buckled up. Rachael looked at me with a cheeky grin on her face before leaning forward and whisper in my ear, “See you later, babe,” she says sweetly, wrinkling her nose at me in the cutest way before bounding out of the room. The door shuts softly behind her.