I stopped pulling back toward the door and tried to relax.
Josh grabbed my hand and led me into the small dining room at the front of the restaurant. It was very small with only four seats at the counter and then six small tables in the main room.
There were three other couples sitting at tables, and Josh pulled me over to the far corner table. The other couples looked far more sophisticated and worldly than I felt.
I looked around the room and took in the details of the small restaurant. It appeared to be some sort of noodle house and very authentic. I never knew it was even in this part of the city, and my mind instantly thought that they needed better advertising or a Facebook page.
A young woman came to our table.
“Nǐ hǎo, wǒ kěyǐ bǎ nǐ de dìngdān?” she asked.
I had no idea what she said, except I knew that Nǐ hǎo meant hello; I instantly looked at the small menu to see if I could just point to the food that I wanted. Unfortunately, there were no pictures on the menu, and all the food was in Chinese.
“Lāmiàn liǎng wǎn hé liǎng gè hǎiyù. Xièxiè,” Josh responded.
The woman smiled at him and ran off behind the counter. I looked at Josh with wide eyes and waited for him to say something. It wasn’t every day that I ran into a man who could order dinner in fluent Chinese.
He just looked over at me and smiled.
“So, you speak Chinese?” I asked.
“Not really, just the basics so I won’t starve while on business trips.”
As an avid reader, languages had always intrigued me. I never really got the hang of any of them too much, but I had tried my hand at both Spanish and French. I envied his ability to so fluently speak a language that he hadn’t tried for four years to take classes for.
“You look amazing,” he added.
I looked down at the ground and smiled. It was hard to look at him when he had such intensity in his eyes. I felt like all he was ever thinking about was dirty thoughts.
“Thank you,” I said.
“You don’t even know how beautiful you are, do you?”
“I think you might be a bit delusional.”
“I run a billion dollar company, delusional is not one of my characteristics,” he said firmly.
I felt like I offended him with that statement, and we sat in quiet for a few moments until they brought the ramen out to us.
The bowls were huge, and the noodles perfectly arranged inside of them. There were flavorings sprinkled on the top, and even a slice of chicken. It was by far the best looking bowl of ramen I had ever seen.
As I sucked in my first taste of the noodles, I realized everything I knew about ramen noodles had been a lie. The boxed noodles I had eaten from the stores were not in the same realm as the noodles I tasted there. The fresh handmade noodles were the perfect texture and tenderness. The sauce was filled with the ideal combination of spices, and I was in love.
We continued to sit in silence as we both consumed our bowls of ramen without a single word to each other. It was nice.
My body felt relaxed now, and I didn’t feel like I was quite so nervous around Josh anymore. I don’t know what I had expected our date to be like, but eating in an old rundown noodle shop was the perfect date. I knew he had money and could have taken me to any fancy restaurant in the city, but eating in that one was much better.
The quaint atmosphere and quiet room were very intimate; it was by far the best first date I had been on in a very long time.
Josh
She didn’t even understand how sexy she was. As we drove to the restaurant, I suddenly changed my plans and knew I couldn’t take her to some fancy four-star restaurant, that wouldn’t impress her at all.
Candice wanted my undivided attention, I could tell. Showering her with an expensive dinner would have made her feel uncomfortable. It would be too far out of her comfort zone.
As nice as she looked in her tight little dress, I could tell it wasn’t something she normally would wear. She looked like a jeans and T-shirt kind of girl. She certainly didn’t look like she was comfortable, especially in the shoes she had on. Although, I desperately wanted to see those shoes flying in the air as I thrust my body into her on my bed.
It was impressive how she wanted to get my attention, though. I liked that. It meant that it would be much easier for me to get her to come home with me. Perhaps I wouldn’t even need a second date.
The true nature of this date was purely to gauge how much work it would take to get her into my bed. I wanted her, my whole body ached for her, but I wasn’t about to play house with the girl. If she needed a forever after before she hopped into bed, then I was going to have to cut my ties and let things go back to being a professional relationship.
As we ate our noodles, I watched her awe at the restaurant and the people who worked there. She truly seemed to enjoy our visit.
When it was time to leave, I scooped her up and led her back to the car. We hadn’t actually talked much while in the restaurant, but I could tell she had started to feel more comfortable. The flushing of her cheeks had dissipated, and I was ready for phase two.
“So would you like to go out on another date sometime?” I asked.
Her eyes lit up with a look that I had seen before. It was not good. Her pupils dilated, and she swooned a little at my invite. Instantly, I knew what had to be done. I had seen a similar look in women before. It meant they thought I was their Prince Charming. I was nothing close to her Prince Charming, and I didn’t want to go down that road with Candice.
I had to cut things off. I knew it in that very moment. She wanted her happily ever after ending, and all I wanted was a great night in bed.
I couldn’t take it a moment further. This girl wasn’t looking for a fun date. She wasn’t going to be able to have some fun sex and then move on. This girl wanted the white picket fence and the kids running in the yard.
All the alarms in my head started to go off because of that one simple look she gave me, but by this time it was too late. I had just asked her out on a second date.
“Yes, I’d like that,” she said as her eyes swooned, and she looked at me with admiration.
I felt myself backing away from her both physically and emotionally. I didn’t want anything that even resembled a relationship, and that appeared to be exactly what she wanted. I couldn’t do this. Not if I wanted to have her work for me, and I really did think she would make a great manuscript reviewer.
No.
I had to walk away.
Then she looked at me with her ocean blue eyes and bit her lip as she smiled. My strong self-control failed me, and I lost all semblance of a plan not to date Candice. Just that quick I had fallen down the rabbit hole and into a lip lock with her.
I pressed her up against the car and let my lips pound down onto hers. Our tongues intertwined with each other, and for a moment, I couldn’t tell where I stopped and she began.
I felt her breasts as they pressed up against my body, and my cock reacted by standing at attention for her. I tried to stop myself, but it was too late. I needed to have her. My body physically needed her, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to forget about her until I got to feel her smooth skin lying against mine.
My hands moved up her legs, and I pressed her blue skirt out of the way. I wanted her right there.
I kept moving my hands up and pulled her skirt higher and higher until I felt the fabric of her panties. My hands grabbed at them and tugged them to the ground. I waited for her to object to my forwardness, but she did not, so I proceeded. I pulled one foot up at a time to release the white lace of the panties, and I put them in my pocket.
She pulled me toward her, and I felt my cock pulse even harder. Candice wanted me just as bad as I wanted her. There was no way for me to stop myself.
I opened the back car door and got into the car, then grabbed her hand to pull her onto my lap. I needed her. I had to feel myself inside of her.
“I can’t,” she said sud
denly as she stood outside the car and looked in at me.
My disappointment was evident, and I was annoyed as hell. She let me take her panties off just to start acting like a goodie-goodie. I should have stopped myself before it got that far. I shouldn’t have kissed her at all.
I was annoyed at her as well as myself for letting things get out of control.
“Alright,” I said as I got out of the car and opened the passenger door for her.
I didn’t want to act like an asshole, but inside I fumed with rage. I wanted to feel her body and mine together so bad. It was too much; I felt like my cock might actually explode from the buildup of desire that I had for her.
We drove back to her place without a word. I couldn’t talk. All I wanted to do was convince her to let me have her. I couldn’t think of anything else to say, so I stayed quiet. It was awkward, more awkward that any ride home I had ever given a woman. In fact, the word awkward couldn’t even describe what had just gone down. Candice got out of the car and walked up to her apartment without another word.
It was a horrible end to a wonderful date.
Chapter 3
Candice
Confused and embarrassed, I walked back up to my apartment and went straight to my room. First, Josh wanted to date me, and then he didn’t want to touch me, and then he tried to fuck me in the back of his car.
I was embarrassed for not stopping him sooner. My body longed to feel his hands on it, and I just got swept up in the moment.
I knew he wanted to fuck me; that wasn’t a surprise. The surprise was that he had been such a gentleman all night long, and I thought he actually liked me. But when we got to his car and he pulled my panties off, it was really clear that he just wanted to bang me and then move on with his life.
Even though my body wanted him, I had to say no. I didn’t want to be with a guy who was only in it for the sex. Even if he was a great guy, I had to refuse him. My brain knew I had to refuse him, but my body didn’t. My body wanted to feel Josh in every way possible.
No way did I save myself for some guy to treat me like that, though. Did he really think I was going to fuck him in his car? I could have screwed my old boyfriend; at least he put in some serious time with me. At least he took me to a bed before trying to sleep with me.
Josh wasn’t interested in anything but sex; that was very clear. In fact, the more I thought about it, the less confused I was. He wanted sex; he thought I was going to give it to him, and I didn’t, so he stopped talking to me.
The problem was, he was about to be my new boss. How on earth was I going to navigate my new work environment after what had just happened?
In the morning, I would have to show up at work and move forward with my dream job. Somehow, whatever was going on between us would just have to be put to the side so we could move forward as co-workers and professionals.
I took a warm shower and tried to calm my thoughts before I headed to bed. I had to get a good night’s sleep and be ready for work bright and early in the morning.
As I lay down to sleep, I felt exhausted; both emotionally and physically, I was exhausted. Luckily, that exhaustion led to a great night’s sleep, and I felt renewed in the morning.
It wasn’t that big of a deal what had happened. It was probably better that it had happened the way it did. In the light of morning, I was able to see the situation much clearer, and we could move forward with the professional relationship.
The new perspective made me feel liberated. I didn’t want my first time to be with a guy in the back of a car anyways. It wasn’t a bad thing that our date had ended the way it did. I got to see what Josh was really like, and I clearly knew we were not a good match. We had figured that all out before any sex had happened, so now there didn’t have to be awkwardness between us.
I put on a professional outfit and headed into my new job. I was determined to talk with Josh and smooth over the awkwardness from the night before. My optimism was high that together we could talk about the situation and move forward.
We were both adults; there didn’t have to be awkward interactions. I would just tell him that we would have to be professional, and I didn’t think of him in a romantic way, and he would just have to be alright with it.
The problem with this plan was, I did think of him in a romantic way. I wanted to have sex with Josh, and if we had been in a private location, like his house, I probably would have said yes.
My body wanted him, and my mind did also. I couldn’t help getting excited at the thought of our bodies moving together, and I just wanted to feel what sex was like, especially with him.
Josh seemed so experienced, and it would have been great to be with him, but I wanted more from my first time. I did want someone who I could see again. I did want someone I could go on a date with and call my boyfriend, but that wasn’t what Josh wanted. He appeared to just want some fun.
I walked into my new job with my head held high and full of confidence that we would be able to work together in a professional manner. We would be able to see that not having sex was the best decision we made.
“Ms. Richards, welcome. Mr. Henderson would like to see you in his office before you go to human resources,” the front desk secretary said as soon as I walked in the door.
My heart sank instantly.
Maybe he wasn’t going to offer me the job now. Perhaps things had been so awkward that he changed his mind and didn’t want me to work there anymore.
My heart started to skip beats. My breath quickened, and I felt a bead of sweat form on my brow.
My legs felt weak as I made my way to Josh’s office. I didn’t know what he wanted to talk to me about, but I felt like it wasn’t going to turn out well.
I just had to keep my cool and keep things professional.
Josh
I needed to talk to Candice before she was officially hired and make sure she was going to be alright with working for me. She obviously didn’t want to fuck me, so it was highly possible she wouldn’t be able to keep a professional relationship going at work.
“Hello, Candice.”
“Hi Josh,” she said quietly.
“I wanted to talk to you about yesterday.”
“I’m so sorry about last night. I didn’t mean to let things get so far. I like you. I shouldn’t have said yes to a date, though. I think I’m looking for something different than you are.”
Candice rambled on for a little bit, and I could tell she was nervous. She was also sexy as hell when she was nervous.
I watched her blue eyes as they darted from me to other areas around the room. Her hands moved nervously in her lap, and I wanted to just scoop her in my arms and tell her it was alright. But that was the last thing I needed to do. She wasn’t ready for a man like me. I had to let her go.
“Candice, it’s alright. I want you to work here. I think you will be great. We will just move forward as co-workers instead of anything else.”
I saw the relief wash over her as I finished talking. Her sweetness was even more evident as her shoulders relaxed, and her whole demeanor changed.
“Yes, yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking also. I’m glad we are on the same page,” she said as a smile finally moved across her face.
As she relaxed, Candice uncrossed her legs, and I got the tiniest of glances at the black panties she had on. Instantly, and without warning, my body reacted. My cock got hard, and all I could think about was bending her over my mahogany desk and having my way with her.
I thought about the feel of her smooth skin as my hand held onto her hips and I thrust deep inside of her. She would scream out with moans of desire and want me to go deeper and deeper. I would give her what she wanted until I exploded with desire inside of her.
“Alright, well head down to human resources now,” I said as I pointed to the door.
It probably seemed a little rude the way I rushed her out of my office. But I had to get her sweet sexy ass away from me before I really did grab her and throw h
er on my desk.
Certainly, I was happy that we had established our relationship would work as a professional one, but I still couldn’t stop thinking about her. My body had a desire for Candice that I couldn’t stop.
I knew she was too innocent for me. I knew the thoughts in my head and all the things I wanted to do to her would scare her to death. She didn’t want to be my sex play thing; Candice wanted a boyfriend who would take her out on dates and snuggle with her while they watched movies. I couldn’t be that guy.
My life was tied up in my company and all the obligations that came with running a company. I didn’t have time for the daily upkeep of a relationship, not for Candice or any other woman. That’s exactly why I had relegated myself to picking up women at dance clubs like Power Play; those women didn’t want relationships at all.
The women at those clubs wanted to be taken. They wanted a strong man that would give them a good fucking and make them scream with excitement. Those women weren’t interested in feelings or emotions, and those women certainly weren’t virgins.
I was used to those club women.
I wasn’t even close to being comfortable around a woman like Candice. Her innocence made me feel disorganized and unfocused. That kind of mental discord just wouldn’t work for me and building my company into the huge firm that I wanted it to be.
No matter what, I had to stay focused on the real price; my company. Nothing could distract me from that end goal. Not even the sweet innocence of Candice.
Especially not the sweet innocence of Candice. My mind was already disorganized from work as I thought about her consistently the last couple of days. There was no way that could continue. My mind had to stay focused; I had to keep work as my priority and forget about Candice.
My mind would work hard to try and forget her.
My body would have to work even harder. Just remembering the touch of her skin on my hands sent electricity through my body and throbbing in my cock. I needed her; I wanted her. As much as I felt I had to have her, I needed to use my willpower.
The Billionaire's Assistant: An Alpha Billionaire Romance Box Set Page 5
