Chapter 21

21

E LIZABETH

The following week.

We only have a few days.

A few days to make this work.

A few days to spend in Colorado.

A few days before heading to Singapore.

He made up his mind.

I’m traveling with him for two reasons. He wants me to be with him. And he also wants to cut his trip short.

He’s already put everyone on notice.

Today, Tuesday, is the first day I’m supposed to work in his office.

Things unfold quickly.

Everybody knows I’m working for him––my cousin included. Frankly, no one seemed surprised when I told them the news.

Somehow, because of David’s reputation, no one thinks I’m more than this.

People still think he is the unbreakable man with walls guarding his heart that are taller than this building.

The kind of man who’d never look at a woman for anything other than to have fun.

A lot of fun we had this weekend.

It was amazing. Incredible. A story I didn’t want to end. We made love, drank coffee, had breakfast, walked outside, danced at night, and had sex again.

Sunday night came too quickly, and I felt sad we had to leave but not entirely crushed because he came to my place.

He was serious about moving in.

Yes, the big bad wolf has moved in. The hotshot. The Billionaire. He’s now just another guy.

He wears sweatpants around the house, cooks scrambled eggs in the morning and shows me how hard I get him every time I step out of the shower.

He uses one of his less conspicuous cars, leaves early in the morning, and arrives late at night.

He comes from work, and I can’t contain my joy when I see him in the doorway.

My little old house is no longer empty, longing for scraps of life. Two people and their budding love occupy the space.

He helped me select my outfit this morning before we fucked in the shower, and I suggested a certain tie for his suit.

The man came prepared with a few garment bags straight from the cleaners.

A courier brought a few more things, and I did my best to create space for him in the closet.

My favorite part of the day, or night, I should say, is when we hit the bed. It’s not the biggest or the comfiest bed, but we make it work.

He spoons me, and I sleep like a baby.

I start to like this. I really do.

“Elizabeth Fox?”

The receptionist, a woman in her twenties with a big smile on her face, stretches her hand out.

“I’m Jennifer. Welcome to Sexton International. I’ll show you around before the afternoon meeting starts.”

What happened to Julie?

I think it’s only smart to keep my questions to myself, so I follow the woman.

I wear a light gray dress, black shoes, and a red jacket.

She and I chat all the way to the cubicles. She introduces me to a few people before taking me to a specific office.

The door is slightly ajar when she knocks.

“Julie? Are you here?”

There we go.

“Come on in,” a voice says.

Jennifer opens the door widely and invites me in without joining me.

“Julie will take it from here.”

I thank her and spin around. A woman with blue eyes and pink hair looks at me with interest.

A smile spreads across her face.

“I’m Julie. David’s assistant. You must be Elizabeth.”

She tosses the last words while spinning around and going to the wooden desk. It’s a spacious office, heavily decadent, the opulence telling me this must be his office.

She moves around with ease, not hindered by his instructions.

She must be the assistant who wakes him.

Striking girl.

I take a few steps toward the massive desk while she slides into his chair, I suppose.

She clicks the mouse a few times, her eyes on the computer screen while I study her.

She wears a crisp white shirt and black pants. The top is fitted, emphasizing her tiny frame. Her blue eyes remind me of David’s. The same color, shifting their tones depending on the environment. Something else catches my eye, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

There’s something familiar in the symmetry of her face. Well, for one, she’s pretty, and the way she arches her eyebrows and puckers her lips makes her face very expressive.

She finishes what she is doing and moves her focus to me.

“This is for you,” she says, sliding a tablet across the desk.

She taps her finger against the tablet.

“Do you know how to use it?”

“Yes, of course.”

I pick it up.

“Just hold onto it. There’s not much for you to do right now. David will send you the things he wants you to work on.”

She keeps her eyes on me for a second, a secret smile curving her lips, unrelated to what she just told me.

“All right,” she says. “That’s it. We’re having a meeting in ten minutes,” she adds, checking her phone. “You can go to the conference room or wait here.”

“All right.”

I pivot while she rounds the desk and heads to the door.

“Is he doing this with everybody?” I ask. “Letting people use his office. I suppose this is his desk?”

I point to the piece of furniture.

“No. It’s only you and I,” she says, grinning before winking at me playfully––liking me too much, too fast––and walking out the door.

ELIZABETH

I lean back into his chair, swivel, and look out the window.

The sky is lit in the distance, touching the peaks of the mountains, and gray and heavy nearby, with snow that is about to fall.

“Do you have a good time, Elizabeth?”

He startles me and makes me spin, almost falling from his chair.

Great.

My hand jumps to my chest, a smile tugging at my lips.

“You scared me… Damn it,” I say, laughing.

He wears a dark blue suit that catches the ceiling light slightly, a white shirt, and a blue tie. The one I picked.

His hair seems darker, all brushed back, his eyes alight, his lips tilted in a smile.

Our eyes stay locked for a little longer.

“I’ll see you in the conference room?” he says quietly.

“Yes,” I murmur, pushing out of his chair and sweeping my tablet off his desk.

His eyes go down.

“You look perfect,” he says as I close the distance between us.

He’s in the doorway, the door blocking everyone’s view from outside when I stop.

He steps in to slide the door behind him and kisses me on the cheek. The smell of his cologne blends into my perfume. Spicy, woodsy tones and oranges––the best.

“You smell good, too,” he says, his hand on my neck. “I’ll see you tonight,” he adds, bringing his hand to my cheek and slowly rubbing my skin.

I kiss his palm and watch genuine love flood his eyes.

I see it so clearly now, and I’m astonished that I was so blind and looked for it in other men’s eyes, not ever crossing my mind that I couldn’t see it because it simply wasn’t there.

“All right…” I say quietly before a few voices grow louder behind him, and I step back while he pivots toward the door.

“You met Julie?” he asks in a different voice as if someone has stopped nearby.

“Yes. She went over everything with me.”

Not much, frankly.

“Good. Keep up the good work, Miss Fox,” he says in a bossy tone, and I smile while he gives me a soft nod and turns his back to me.

Once he steps away, the man behind him comes into view.

“James,” I murmur, my voice strained.

“I’m glad he brought you in, and you work for us, Elizabeth,” he says in an indistinguishable raspy voice. “David is a well of knowledge. You’ll learn a lot from him. He also has an eye for talent.”

I can’t say there’s innuendo in his voice, yet David’s cheeks suddenly seem flushed.

Without another word, the two men walk away from me while I stare at their backs for way too long not to feel like a fraud.

ELIZABETH

Thursday

Oh, man.

This is harder than I thought.

It’s not the job.

My job is easy.

He hired me as a business writer. Hooray to that. I’m finally making money with my writing. I have flexible hours and good pay, and I can work remotely.

I don’t know how he justifies my traveling with him–– something that not even Julie does––but he does it.

Not all the time, anyway.

It’s his business, and he can do whatever he wants.

The most difficult part is juggling school and this gig and then running into Eve and Dahlia. They work here, too.

Now they’re talking about a big party as we head into the holiday season, and everybody is invited.

Luckily, David and I are supposed to fly out next week.

Chloe is busy at work, although I think she’s reconsidering taking a gap year.

Terry is over the moon with this new development.

My job means a lot to her.

She thinks this type of work adds a layer of credibility to my dream of becoming a writer.

Forget about living an artist’s life with tall lattes and endless hours in my favorite coffee shop while crafting a spicy, memorable tale about love and human tribulations.

This is real.

There’s a paycheck, and no matter how meager it is next to the fees I collected while playing that game with him, it makes sense to her.

She still doesn’t know about my double life, in which I have a second car and a man who lives with me.

And I was lucky that no one had blown my cover yet.

I don’t know what stopped Chloe from showing up without notice at my house or my mother from dropping some groceries at my door on her way home.

It may be the snow, the wind, the fact that neither of them wants to get out of the house, or they think I’m settled.

I think it’s the latter.

David arrives like clockwork before midnight.

There are things he does in the evenings. Work. Business dinners. More work.

He crams everything he can in his schedule so we arenot burdened by these tasks when we head to Asia.

It feels so natural to make such grandiose plans, although I’ve hardly ever traveled.

I’ve never visited Nebraska, let alone Singapore.

Furtively, I check the time on my phone.

I should be out of his office in about ten minutes. Before I go, I just want to glance at him one more time. The need to be with him is real, burning through my soul, marring my skin, warming my blood.

We are two poor decisions away from having sex in his office.

He’s not hinting at it. And I wouldn’t dare to bring it up, but I can see it in his eyes.

He was a bad boy once, and I’m not such a good girl either.

“Elizabeth?”

I flick my eyes up from my tablet, wearing––I bet––a guilty expression.

Julie looks at me from the doorway.

“Have you seen David?”

I try not to let out more than I already have.

“Not today. No.”

I saw him when he walked into the firm.

I pretended I was focused on my job when, in fact, I was drooling over his green tie. My nipples pushed against my dress, and they do that even now as I think about it.

He promised to eat me out in the morning, but he got an early call and walked out of the house without touching me. I had a lingering desire between my thighs the entire morning, and things aren’t better now.

I clench my thighs under my desk, which technically is his desk.

Even that thought makes me horny.

Julie’s gaze is still on me. Blue like his. Reminding me of him. As if I need another reminder.

Please, no.

“How are things?” she asks, entering the room, hesitant to a degree.

I don’t know what that means if anything, and I have no space in my head to mull over it.

“Things are good,” I say.

She rocks a blue pantsuit today. It’s made in dark blue, good quality fabric, and paired up with a pink dress shirt.

She looks fantastic.

I’m wearing a black skirt and a pinstripe fitted dress shirt. Black background with a silver thread woven through it.

David liked how it looked against my hair when I showed him my outfit last night before he peeled off my robe and fucked me on the kitchen counter.

The memory puts a smile on my face.

It doesn’t go unnoticed.

“That good?” she asks, and I realize I’m not alone.

“I’m sorry. I was thinking about something else.”

I avert my eyes.

Her silence makes me lift my gaze, though.

She seems consumed with something else, like I am.

“All right. I’ll go looking for him,” she says in a firm voice, her focus back. “Oh,” she says, her index finger going up. “That’s him,” she says as male voices ring outside.

She spins around and vanishes out the door while I keep longing to see him again.