by Claire Angel
“How,” I finally said when I was done, “how... just how?” I gestured to my empty plate, and Xavier looked at it from across the table. He shrugged and looked humbly at his buffet of breakfast food.
“I don’t really know what to tell you,” he half-mumbled. “I thought everyone could do this.”
I shook my head emphatically. “Not like this. This is extraordinary. Did someone teach you?” I asked, reaching for another blueberry.
Xavier looked out the window to his right and got a far-off look on his face. He didn’t say anything for a few seconds, and I worried I’d said the wrong thing, but then he looked back at me and was trying to fight off tears.
“My mom did,” he said quietly, poking at a piece of egg with his fork. “I used to spend hours in the kitchen with her, copying everything that she would do. She was the best cook in the world, and I’m glad I got to spend that time with her.”
I could tell from the tone of his voice and the tears he was fighting off that his mother had probably passed away. But because we were only in the beginning stages of our relationship, I didn’t want to press him further about her. So I just let the statement hang in the air for a minute, and then I put my hand over his gently and said, “If she taught you all of this, she must have been a very talented woman, indeed.”
Xavier looked up at me, and for a moment we locked eyes. He stared deep into my soul for a brief moment, and then we both looked away at the same time. I was dying to hear more about his private life and his mother, but I knew better than to press too much too fast.
“Thanks, Erika. I am feeling better today. I was having really bad days for the past two months, and I had nobody around to share my problem. Thanks to the alcohol, I was able to open my heart in front of you.” He sighed and looked at me slightly smiling.
“And, what we did in the shower. That was... amazing,” he blurted and suddenly looked at me and I didn’t know it was coming. I had been trying to avoid talking about it. “I mean…I am sorry. I know I am still married, and I am not the type of guy who sleeps with every woman he meets at the bar on the first day.” He tried to explain and I could feel my cheeks turning red. “I don’t know how I lost control. I am sorry if I hurt you. Thanks for everything.”
I was once again struck speechless, but thankfully, I was saved by my timer going off. I jumped a little when it buzzed, and Xavier immediately apologized and turned it off.
“I should get dressed,” I said suddenly, giving myself a quick out from the conversation. “But please, make yourself at home while I-”
“I should probably be going, actually,” Xavier interrupted, but not rudely. He was suddenly shy and anxious to go. He stood up and pushed in his chair at the dining room table, running his fingers through his hair as he did. “Thanks again for all you did for me.”
He looked at me, both shy and embarrassed. It seemed that the cockiness he exhibited last night was because of the amount of alcohol he had in his system, because now he couldn’t even talk about it. The look on his face told me everything I needed to know: it had been great, but it was a one time thing, and we should never speak of it or try to do it again.
I just smiled and nodded back. “I’m sure our paths will cross again sometime soon.” Xavier walked to the door and collected his things, which I noticed were now in a fancy overnight bag.
“By the way,” I called to him as he was going out the front door. “How did you get that change of clothes, hair cut, and shaving this morning? Where did that bag come from?”
Xavier chuckled. “I have many people working for me. I’ll be sending someone by in a few minutes to clean up from lunch and prepare dinner for you. Have a lovely day.” With that, he swept through the front door, and I knew I shouldn’t be looking at his ass, but I couldn’t stop as I still remembered how good he felt inside. He was not only handsome but also sexy as hell.
The door clicked shut behind him. I was left blinking in surprise in the front hallway, processing everything that he had just said and also what had transpired in the last twenty-four hours.
And suddenly when I realized it, I shouted, “What the fuck? What’s wrong with you, Erika?” I had to rush to grab the pill as I didn’t want to be pregnant right now.
Chapter 5
Erika
Two weeks Later….
I honestly didn’t think that I’d ever see Xavier again. What happened between us was a chance meeting and a chance having sex, I suppose, and that I should move ahead with my life. However, over the next two months, we kept running into each other.
I was sitting in my office scrolling through my social media accounts after a long busy week. When I did, I discovered that he had found all of my personal accounts and had followed each and every one of them. He hadn’t gone as far as to like any of my posts or tweets or anything like that, but I got butterflies in my stomach just knowing that he cared enough about me to want to follow me on there. I followed him back and confirmed his requests.
I had just posted a rather vague tweet about some problems a few days back that I was having closing a deal at work and I discovered that I had a direct message from him within an hour. “Is there anything I can help you with? I know I was swindled out of a great deal by my own brother, but prior to that, I was a top-notch businessman.” I giggled like a school girl at my desk at work, and I guess I did it a little too loudly because Natalie was sitting in the chair in front of my desk not a moment later.
“What did you do?” Natalie asked, plopping her store-bought salad on my desk and cracking it open.
“What do you mean?” I asked innocently. “I was just laughing at this video of a puppy that my sister posted.”
Natalie shook her head. “That’s a lie. You only ever laugh like that when you’ve done something that you shouldn’t have. So, come on. Spill, Heatherington,” she ordered, as she shoved a pile of lettuce leaves, cranberries, and mandarin orange slices in her mouth.
I looked out my massive window to my right and wondered if there was any way I could get out of telling Natalie what I’d done. It was a stunningly bright, warm day outside, and from where I sat, I could see all of the office workers on their lunch breaks, sitting in the park. I thought that maybe I could make some excuse to Natalie about needing some fresh air and then sneaking by her and out of the office, but she wouldn’t have bought that for a second. And so, I decided to tell her the truth.
I told her everything about what had transpired between Xavier and I, except for the juicy details about our time together in the shower, and the reason why he had been so broken when I found him in the bar. When I finished my story, Natalie looked so shell-shocked that I wondered if she was going to be able to speak at all.
But of course, she was completely capable of talking back to me, and boy, did I ever get an earful. “You... you slept with Xavier Franklin, one of the richest men in the world, and you didn’t tell me until now?! What is wrong with you? I’m your best friend! If you left this out of our daily update sessions, then what else are you hiding from me?”
I leaned back in my chair and clasped my hands over my stomach. “Nothing, absolutely nothing,” I reassured her. “I just wasn’t ready to spill this to you until now because...”
Natalie looked at me expectantly. “Because you’re worried he’s too perfect? Because you think you might have too much money if you got together? I can take some of it off of your hands if you’re really worried about it, Heatherington,” she offered ‘generously’.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks, Nat,” I said sarcastically. “No, I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think it was going to go anywhere. I thought it was going to be a one-night stand and that was that. But now...”
I showed her the message he had sent me and told her that he had followed me on all of my personal social media accounts. “Are you kidding me?!” she cried, yanking my phone out of my hand. She started looking through it madly, a
nd then said, “No man follows you on your socials after you’ve hooked up if he doesn’t want something more to happen. I know that you might be a bit of a fool when it comes to love, Heatherington, but I think that even you might be able to tell that this guy is falling for you. Hard.”
I rolled my eyes. “You can stop sounding like an after-school special any time now, Natalie,” I told her. “I’m a grown woman, this is a grown man, and-”
“You’re both acting like children,” she said. Then, she typed something into my phone, dramatically clicked a button, and then handed it back to me. “There,” she said proudly. “I just got you a second date.”
“What?!” I cried, frantically looking through my phone to see what she’d done. I could hear Natalie laughing to herself as I searched. I finally discovered that she had replied to Xavier for me. She’d written ‘I’d love the help. Discuss it over dinner tonight?’
I slammed my phone on the desk, making Natalie jump and stop laughing. When I saw the fear on her face, I quickly retreated. “Sorry,” I mumbled, “I just... I wanted to do this myself.”
Natalie picked at her salad rather pathetically and shrugged. “I was only trying to help. I thought that was what you wanted,” she said quietly. “You always have such a hard time making a move with guys that I thought I could just make things a little easier on you.”
I gave Natalie a long, hard look, and she didn’t look up at me once. And then I sighed, let down my defenses, and responded, “And I’m grateful for that. Thank you. I just wanted to be able to move as slowly as I wanted to with Xavier. I hope that makes sense.”
Natalie was still focusing on her salad, but she nodded enthusiastically. “Of course, I totally get that, and I’m sorry I did that.” She finally looked up at me and I saw that there were tears forming in her eyes.
“It’s alright, come here,” I responded, standing up and pulling her into a big hug. When we pulled away from each other and returned to our respective seats, Natalie dried her tears.
“Well, that was dumb,” she said, laughing a little. “But, I’m glad you met Xavier. He sounds like the kind of guy who could really use some you in his life right now.”
And then, I heard the bing of a notification on my phone. Natalie and I looked at each other and froze. I slowly looked down at my phone, unlocked the screen, and saw that to my delight and horror, Xavier had responded.
When I looked back up at Natalie, she eagerly said, “What did he say, what did he say?!”
I picked up the phone and read his message aloud. “Great. I’ll pick you up at 8. Smiley face.’”
Of course, he didn’t write ‘smiley face’, he had used an emoji, but Natalie needed to know absolutely everything he had written. “You see?!” she cried, taking my hand and squeezing it. “All this relationship needed was a nudge in the right direction! I knew he would respond!”
“Yeah,” I said reluctantly, “but maybe he’s just agreeing to this in a professional capacity. I bet he’ll just want to talk about my work problem, and then he’ll go home. End of story.”
Natalie looked at me dubiously, but said nothing. I knew that she thought he felt things for me, but I couldn’t be so sure. I was going to go into this meeting tonight with zero expectations.
“Can you ask the driver to get the car? I will go home to change my dress.” I looked at her and, as expected, there was a big teasing smile on her face.
“Sure!” She winked at me. “You will look hot in that red dress we bought last time on our Europe trip.”
“Shut up, Natalie!” I tried to give her a stern look but smiled immediately when I looked at her. She always tried to help me. I loved her so much. She walked out of the office while talking to the driver.
I leaned back on my chair thinking about meeting Xavier. I was already having knots in my stomach.
As I was sitting back in my car, I checked Xavier’s social profiles. He had so many pictures and videos there. He had won so many awards, and I was really impressed. I scrolled further and found his gym pictures. He had a big female fan following. He was the man that every woman would dream of.
Why the hell does he have to look gorgeous all the time?
How can someone be so perfect?
The train of my thoughts stopped when the driver stopped the car, and I realized I had reached home.
I went inside my house, and before taking a shower, I noticed I had drained my phone’s battery. I plugged in my charger and attached the cord to the mobile.
While I was in the shower, I kept thinking about when he was here in the same bathroom. It was strange I didn’t use the toy after that day. I didn’t feel like using it, and it was all Xavier’s effect on me.
I got out of the shower, dried my hair, and moisturized my body with my most favorite moisturizer which smelt of roses. Then, I reached my wardrobe and put the same red dress on as suggested by Natalie. It wasn’t too revealing and looked really elegant. It reached just above my knees, and it had really sleek straps. I loved it so much.
I put light red color on my lips and my favorite brown mascara on my lashes. I was ready to go. Before I reached for my mobile, it chimed and my heart started beating faster as I saw his name flashing on the phone. I was not the one who easily got nervous in any situation. One last time, I combed my hair and walked out of the house, locking the door behind.
When I was outside the main gate, he was already waiting for me, leaning against his car. He didn’t look less than a Greek God in his black suit. I couldn’t stop devouring him and undressing him with my eyes as I licked my lips as if I was thirty.
“Hey, Erika.” He waved at me, and thank God, I was not caught in the action.
“Hey, Xavier. Good to see you,” I said as he smiled and moved closer to hug me. The similar addicting fragrance of his perfume entered my nostrils when we hugged, and I kind of lost my senses for a few seconds. He pulled back and asked if we could leave for dinner.
He opened the car door for me just like a gentleman, and I enjoyed being treated like that. I was impressed as I looked at his limousine. It was Mercedes Maybach. I remembered the last time it was a Rolls Royce when we met at the bar. I could tell this man had a great taste in cars.
I slipped in the passenger seat, and he closed the door for me, and then took the driver’s seat. It was comfortable with a nice feel. “Nice limo, Xavier.”
“Yeah! Thanks, Erika. I like to travel in this car as it is my most favorite car among all,” he said as he drove.
After a few minutes of silence, he said, “Erika, you look beautiful in that red dress.”
“Oh! Thanks, Xavier. Even you are looking really hot in this black…” I blurted, and I suddenly realized what I just said.
“Thanks.” He laughed when he looked at my flushed red face. Then, I just smiled to keep things lighter as I didn’t want an awkward dinner.
When he stopped the car, I looked up. It was the nicest restaurant in the city, El Pueblo, which was on the top floor of the illustrious Oliveri building. I had been there a couple of times.
We parked the car and he opened the door for me. Then, we headed toward the lift and we entered in to reach the top floor. We were the only two in the lift, and my naughty mind couldn’t stop thinking how it would feel if he suddenly pulled me in his arms and did naughty things to me. I swallowed hard as I thought about it. I didn’t want him to know about the dirty things running through my mind.
I knew I needed to hold my horses; he was married to someone. What if some day he thinks of forgiving his wife and giving her a chance?
“I can tell you have amazing taste about everything. I am impressed.” I complimented him and smirked at him.
“That’s really nice to hear. Thanks,” he said, while he opened the button of his coat. So, tell…” Before he could speak, the door of the lift opened.
When the restaurant staff saw Xavier, the manager immediately came and led us to the table. As soon as we
sat down, we ordered our food as we both were hungry.
“So, Erika, tell me about what taste you were talking about in the lift?”
“Umm… Well… There are so many, like your choice of this black suit, the car, this restaurant, etc.” He laughed and he looked devilishly gorgeous with those sparkling eyes.
The food arrived and the waiter served the food. While we ate, we talked about so many current issues and business-related topics. I could tell he was an extremely intelligent man who had an in-depth knowledge of the market. But a person loses all his wisdom when he or she was cheated by someone very close. He had been backstabbed not only by his brother, but by his wife as well. I could completely understand how he reached from one hundred percent stake to twenty-five percent stake.
The conversation turned to personal matters very soon. We never actually ended up discussing my deal-closing problem that I was having at the office until much, much, much later when we both had a few drinks in us. We both kept fighting the physical attraction throughout our conversation.
He immediately called someone from his mobile, and within one hour, my problem was solved. How did he even manage to do that? I had been trying to figure it out for months, and now he sorted everything in one single hour.
We had a few more drinks after the good news while I knew we already had consumed enough for the day. “We should get home now, Erika.”
“Yes, sure. I feel so sleepy. What’s the time?” I checked my mobile and it was already 2:30 A.M.
Chapter 6
Xavier
