Forbidden First Times: A Contemporary Romance Collection
Page 45
“That man wants to sleep with you so bad,” Carla remarked as she steered me away and toward the tasting room. “He didn’t stop staring at you the whole time we were in there! Talk about making it obvious.”
I flushed and my face turned the same color as a ripe tomato. “Stop it,” I chastised her and shook my head. I couldn’t think like that. If I did, I might end up doing something stupid…
10
Quentin
What should have been an enjoyable and peaceful weekend had been completely disrupted by her. The moment I set eyes on Billie at the vineyard in her black chiffon dress, I was lost completely. She had her hair down for once and it flowed effortlessly down her back, showing off the length that was usually hidden in a braid or a bun. Her dress looked like it was a size too small, but that only made her look more enticing. The material clung to her hips and her breasts beautifully, showing off her luscious curves and fueling my naughty fantasies of her.
Could I really be blamed for picturing her when I touched myself that evening? It didn’t mean anything. It was harmless. It was just an outlet for the minor crush I was having on a co-worker. That was as far as I was willing to take things and I wholeheartedly believed it would relieve the desire I had for her.
But I was wrong.
Come Monday morning, Billie was still all I could think about. I pictured her sweet smile on the drive into work and I imagined her infectious laughter as I stirred the sugar into my morning coffee. It seemed that getting an insight into Billie’s life outside of work had only spurned on my curiosity. My little crush was growing instead of fading and it was bad. I needed to keep my distance as best I could, but how could I do that when we were forced to work together every God damn day?
I slammed my fist on my desk hard enough to shake it and my mug of coffee wobbled a little, spilling coffee on the document I’d been reading over. “For fuck sake,” I grumbled moodily before pulling open my top drawer and retrieving a pack of tissues. I quickly mopped up the mess and then reclined back in my chair in an attempt to force myself to relax and forget about the busty beauty who was driving me crazy.
It was a futile effort.
What was worse was that even my mom seemed to know what was going on. After my dad had returned from his little chat with Billie, he wouldn’t stop talking about her. Honestly, if I didn’t know how head over heels he was for my mom, I would have thought he had a crush on her! He kept rambling on telling us what a lovely girl she was and how well-suited she was for the job. It was driving me insane and I couldn’t help but stare after her as she continued her tour. When she finally disappeared, I turned my attention back to my family only to notice that my mom was giving me a knowing look – a look that said ‘I know exactly what you’re thinking’ – and it left me feeling uneasy to say the least.
So, as nine o’clock rolled around on the first day of the work week, I did my best to avoid her. Since I always arrived at work an hour before her, I didn’t run into her in the parking lot. At the office, I could communicate with her by e-mail instead of in person. It wasn’t ideal, but it would work. It shouldn’t have been hard to avoid her at all, after all, I was the boss. I was busy and I had plenty of work to keep me occupied. Billie also had a lot of work to be getting on with and she’d become comfortable talking to Peter about any issues she was having while I’d been off with Lincoln. Yes, it should have been so simple.
But as I busied myself in my office returning all the e-mails from potential customers I’d received over the weekend, my mind couldn’t help but wander back to her. It was nine-fifteen. That meant Billie had already arrived for the day. Had she gone to the lounge to make a cup of coffee? Or had she gone straight to the office to crack on with work? I was so desperate to know more about her, I was tempted to go and find out, but I caught myself at the last moment.
“Stop it, Quentin, you’re being ridiculous,” I said, scolding myself with a shake of my head.
It was probably my own fault for starting off with such a mind-numbingly boring task, so I moved onto something else. I headed down to the quality assurance office to oversee the tasting trials of a new product we were thinking of introducing. I got on well with the technicians and they were always happy to get the opinion of someone higher up, so thankfully, it went smoothly. It was a good way to take my mind off of Billie as I chatted with my employees and got myself involved in the wine-making process.
After I finished up there, I headed to the restaurant to see how they were doing as they prepared for the lunch rush. The head chef, Anton, was as pleasant and accommodating as ever as I looked around the kitchens, however, the sous chef completely derailed the whole point of me visiting them when I went over to check on her.
“The new girl, Billie, seems really nice,” Tracy told me with a smile as she continued slicing spring onions. “You made a good choice there, sir.”
Even hearing her name was making me feel hot under the collar and my mood soured. “Yeah, well, I wasn’t the one who hired her,” I stated grumpily.
“Oh,” was all the sous chef could muster. “Well, she’s lovely regardless. I think she’ll make a great addition to the team.”
“Yeah, sure,” I muttered before scurrying out of the kitchen as fast as I could.
It was natural that people would talk about the new employee, but I’d never been so sensitive to it before. I wondered what it was about Billie that stirred me up so much and whether there was anything I could do to try and avoid making an awful mistake. Questions consumed me as I returned to my office and buried my head in financial reports.
By the time lunch came, I was grateful for a reason to get up and stretch my legs. I’d been a bit worried about leaving the office again for fear of either running into Billie herself or hearing someone else talking about her again. I headed for the break area where the lounge and kitchenette were situated, tactfully avoiding looking in the direction of Billie’s office. I thought I’d successfully avoided the busty brunette who had been occupying my thoughts, but I was wrong.
As soon as I opened the door to the lounge, I was confronted by the sight of Billie relaxing on the couch. She’d taken her little kitten heels off so they laid discarded on the floor and she had tucked her feet under herself comfortably while she ate her lunch. I could see that her toes were painted a cute pastel pink and she’d taken her hair out of her ponytail so that the strands were hanging messily around her face. She looked far too alluring for her own good and I needed to look at something – anything – else. A quick glance at her plate showed that she was eating some kind of creamy pasta with one hand while the other was tapping away on her phone.
For a moment, I wondered what she was up to. Was she messaging someone? If she was, who was it? Did she have a boyfriend? The thought caused my heart to sink and a low growl to rumble in my chest. Bitter jealousy gripped me and I couldn’t bear it any longer. I needed to get away from her before I did something I’d regret.
Right then, however, Billie looked up from the screen and her dark chocolate eyes locked with mine. She licked a small bit of creamy sauce from her bottom lip and smiled at me. “Hey, boss man!” she greeted cheerily. “How are you doing? It’s been a while!”
I needed to get a hold of myself. It was taking every ounce of strength I had in my body not to close the gap between us and jump her right then and there. But I had to get away. It wasn’t good for her; it wasn’t good for me. This needed to be stopped before it even started.
In response, I gave her a curt nod before marching toward the fridge and grabbing my lunch. Once I had the paper bag in hand, I walked toward the table furthest from Billie and faced away from her as I sat down. It was too tempting to look that way. I practically ripped open the bag when I retrieved my lunch from it as pent up jealousy and arousal fought inside me.
Unbeknownst to me, Peter had entered shortly after me and hurried to catch up to me after he saw my strange behavior. “Quentin, what is your problem?” he hissed in my ear
as he sat down next to me. “She’s a nice girl. You don’t need to treat her like that. What do you think you’re playing at?”
I groaned and turned to face him. “I’m trying to do exactly what you told me to do: not sleep with her.”
Peter’s jaw dropped and his expression turned shocked. I knew he’d been joking originally when he said it and neither of us had known quite how attracted I would become to Billie, but now, it was serious and I had to keep my distance for both our sakes. However, the image of her looking so happy and relaxed as she rested on the couch wouldn’t leave me. It was something I imagined she’d do at home in her own space and it made me crave her in ways I didn’t truly understand.
Thankfully, Billie didn’t try to talk to me again throughout lunch and I was able to inhale my sandwich quicker than I’d ever eaten anything before. I barely even spoke another word to Peter as I ate and he’d instead begun to talk to the employee sat on the other side of him.
“I’ll see you later, Peter,” I said as soon as I was finished eating.
“Wait, Quentin…”
I didn’t wait. Billie was still in the room and I desperately needed some space. Instead, I practically ran out of the break area without so much as a cursory glance backward. When I reached my office door, I paused with my hand on the door knob. If I stayed in the office, Billie could come find me. If I stayed in there, my mind might betray me again and start daydreaming about her. No, I needed to take myself somewhere else, someone away from reminders of Billie.
I turned on my heel and headed down the stairs until I reached the lobby. I hurried past the reception desk until I reached the main glass doors and pushed it open. Fresh air brushed against my face as I stepped outside and I took in a deep breath until my heart beat began to slow down once more. The sun was obscured by heavy clouds that day and it looked like it was going to rain in the evening. It was perfect weather for a brisk walk.
Something I always did when I needed to think was walk amongst the vines in the fields. It was difficult for anyone to find me out there and it was hard to bump into any field workers since I knew their timetables and routines. As such, I headed toward the nearest field and let myself in through the small, wooden gate.
The scent of sweet fruit on the air was familiar and calming. I walked along one row of vines and let my mind clear. As soon as it did, however, I was confronted with images of Billie curled up on the couch eating pasta. It was such a cute and domestic sight that it stirred something deep within me. It was then that I decided I needed to understand what exactly had attracted me to Billie in the first place in order to undo it.
With that in mind, I spent the rest of the afternoon weaving around the rows of vines and concentrating my thoughts on Billie, trying to figure out exactly what it was about her that was driving me so mad.
11
Billie
By the time Thursday rolled around, I was beyond mad. I was pissed. I’d only spoken to Quentin once this week and he’d practically blanked me. I really didn’t get it. During the tour on Saturday, it had really seemed like he was interested in me. He’d stared at me for so long that I thought he might ask me on a date or something, but clearly, I was wrong. A date seemed to be the last thing on his mind since he refused to even speak to me! I was seriously beginning to doubt Carla’s intuition too. After all, she’d been the one who insisted he wanted to sleep with me—maybe he’d actually been staring at me so hard because he wanted to murder me. That was the only logical reason I could come up with for his impolite behavior.
“It just isn’t fair at all,” I grumbled to myself as I crossed my arms over my chest. “What did I ever do to him?” It was a question that had been on my mind all week so far. No matter how I looked at it, I just couldn’t figure out why Quentin didn’t like me.
You see, ever since I’d started working at Wendall Winery, I’d been nothing but a stalwart employee. I’d made a good impression with every member of staff I’d come into contact with (at least, as far as I was aware) and I’d spent every moment working hard to improve the accounting system. Quentin should have been pleased with me. I wasn’t looking for a pat on the shoulder just for doing my job, but he was barely acknowledging me! If Wendall Winery really valued fairness, then the boss should be enforcing it and not making his staff feel insecure all the time for no reason.
After his weird behavior on Monday, every time I’d run into him, he immediately went in the opposite direction. He didn’t even greet me politely or explain why he was leaving. He would just vanish. It was downright rude and I may have been a new employee, but I didn’t like being treated that way. I needed to do something about it before it spiraled out of control and I ended up being the pariah of the office.
I began to tap my pen on my desk as I sat in my office that morning wondering what the best course of action was. I glanced at my computer screen and pursed my lips. I could send him an e-mail, I considered. No, too impersonal. I shook my head and sighed. Even if Quentin had elected to start sending me tasks and information exclusively by e-mail, I didn’t want to follow in his footsteps. I wanted to get a straight answer from him and I knew an e-mail wasn’t the way to do it.
It would have helped if I understood what I’d done wrong, I thought as I pursed my lips and thought back through my first few days at work. If I had offended him in any way, then I could apologize and maybe bake him some cookies to make up for it, but I honestly had no idea. I’d been nothing but polite and professional to him since I’d started except for the coffee spill, but I thought we’d cleared the air about that. Besides, for the first week, he’d seemed absolutely fine with me—friendly even. What had changed?
I let out a frustrated groan and pushed myself up from my chair. I started pacing around the office with a finger to my lips. He’d seemed nice enough during that first week and I’d met his dad who was kind, funny, and charming. I expected Quentin to take after his father and this behavior didn’t fit that profile at all. None of it made sense and the irrationality of it all was driving me mad. One thing was certain, however, I needed to get to the bottom of why he was snubbing me—and fast.
“Aha!” I cried out as I came up with the perfect way to confront him. I crossed back over to my computer and opened up the office calendar. There was a management meeting every Thursday with the quality technicians in the basement. I found it and nodded to myself. If I waited outside his office until he came back, he’d have no choice but to talk to me. And if he tried to avoid me again this time, I’d just follow him.
“I’m going to make you like me, Quentin Wendall. You just wait and see!” I vowed before snapping my fingers triumphantly.
The hand on my watch ticked toward two o’clock and I huffed. Quentin was supposed to arrive soon and I still wasn’t sure I was ready for the confrontation. I’d been fired up about it, but now that it was here, I was beginning to grow more nervous by the second. It was true that I didn’t like being treated unfairly, but this wasn’t just anyone we were talking about here. Quentin was my boss. He had the power to fire me or worse, make my life here so miserable that I end up quitting.
The thought made me gulp and I could feel my resolve breaking just a little. No, you’ve got this, Billie. You’re a strong woman. You can’t let him push you around, I reassured myself and nodded my head. It eased my nerves, but it did nothing to quell my impatience. Hurry up, Quentin, I thought as I crossed one leg over the other.
It turned out that I didn’t have long to wait. After just thirty more seconds, Quentin turned the corner with his head buried in his phone and I stood up, my fists clenched in indignation. He was just as handsome as always, but today his stubble had grown a little thick, as though he hadn’t had time for a shave this morning. It suited him and I bit down on my bottom lip as desire overwhelmed me.
Get a grip, Billie. You’re here to get answers, not get laid!
I cleared my throat and stepped forward. “Quentin, I’ve been meaning to speak to you…”
Instead of even saying anything back, Quentin breezed past me and pushed his way into his office. He didn’t even say a word I couldn’t believe the audacity of that man. It reignited the fire inside me and frustration began to fuel me once more.
I can’t let him get away with this, I told myself. After I’d waited all this time to get an answer, he was still willing to just completely ignore me. Not only was it rude, it was damn right unprofessional for a boss! I refused to take it any longer. I should have walked away back to my desk, but I’d never been the type to give up on something I believed in.
Instead, I marched into his office behind him and slammed the door shut. “What the hell do you think—”
I couldn’t finish my sentence. The second I’d closed the door behind me, Quentin was pushing me back against it and his lips were pressing furiously against my own. He tasted like sweet coffee and it surprised me how much I liked it, but I was in shock and I barely had time to register much more than that. My eyes had flown open wide and I couldn’t move. What the hell was I supposed to do? This was totally unchartered territory.
My own boss was kissing me! Kissing me! It was totally crazy. One minute, Quentin had been completely ice cold with me and the next, he was kissing me with a fire that I had no idea he possessed inside of him. His lips were soft but insistent against my own and I felt myself growing dizzier with every second that passed. My eyes closed as I succumbed to the pleasure of his tongue dancing with my own. A kiss had never felt so good before, but just as I was beginning to melt into it, he drew back.