by Joyce Jordan
“Sorry, it’s just so un-Conrad like. You’ve got to see it from my side,” he answered and chuckled.
“Lucas, I am going to hang up now.”
“Sorry, my friend. Let me answer your question,” said and coughed to hold back the laugh. “I’ll probably need more information, which I am guessing you are not sharing right now. But it depends on how in depth the meeting is.”
“No offense, but how in-depth can a food discussion be?”
“Well, are we discussing issues with suppliers like incorrect invoices, incorrect deliveries, inadequate food qualities, change in menus?” he asked.
“Okay, I hear you.”
“Care to clue me in?” Lucas asked.
“Not today.”
After promising to meet on Saturday morning, they hung up. And Moira hadn’t yet returned his call.
He had meetings to attend in the afternoon, and he hadn’t even done anything to prepare for them. A good thing all he needed to do was sit and listen in. Hopefully he would be able to ask intelligent questions at the end. He walked over to Janet’s desk and found her typing something. “What time do they start serving lunch downstairs?” he asked her.
“Eleven. Would you like me to get you something?” she asked with an open pad, ready to take his order.
“No, I think I’ll go downstairs today. But I can bring you something on my way back,” he replied.
“Thanks, but I had already made arrangements to go downstairs myself.”
Conrad looked at his wrist watch as he walked back into his office. How was he going to kill an hour until lunch time?
Conrad wasn’t sure how he ended up at his doctor’s office. One minute he was wondering how to kill an hour, and the next he was driving through traffic to see his doctor, and the next he was naked wrapped in a paper gown getting a physical check up.
“Thanks Dr. Hahn. So when can I expect the results.”
“In a few days. Do you want them via e-mail or mail?” his doctor asked.
Once he chose the e-mail option, he was out of the office and rushing back. It was now 10:45am and he was hoping to be one of the first in the 11am crowd. He preferred eating at noon or 1pm, but today he was trying to corner Moira since she had evaded him all morning.
He found her having a heart-to-heart with Jeff Myers, the biggest flirt if there was ever one. His face changed to anger instantly and he took longer steps. His intention was to grab Myers away from her. He didn’t even see anyone else in the café. His vision was focused on the couple at the end, ahead of the front of the serving line, a little further away, showing that they had already been served.
Conrad nearly toppled over Janet as she stepped in his path after unsuccessfully trying to get his attention. “Conrad? You seem like you are ready to kill someone.”
“Janet. I’m sorry I almost ran you over. I need to see someone. I’ll see you in the office later.” He side stepped Janet and continued on his way. Fortunately for the flirt he was a little calmer now. That less than a minute interruption from Janet had calmed him a bit. He hated to lose good people, but Myers better not fuck with him or he would just lose it.
Moira saw Conrad the minute he entered the café and his almost accident with Janet, before he continued on his way to where she was standing with Jeff Myers. The look on his face, made her glad that she was on the other side of the serving isle. She knew she hadn’t returned his calls, but what other answer did she have to his unmentionable proposal?
“Mr. King. Good to see you again. I’m sure you have met Jeff Myers before. Works in your marketing department. Jeff, you obviously have met your boss before today.”
After their grunts which she assumed were greetings - Men! - Moira jumped back into the one person conversation. “Jeff, I’ll see you on Saturday. Sir, have you come to sample today’s lunch menu?” Without waiting for a response, she added, “Please try the trifle for dessert. I guarantee you won’t go wrong with it.”
“Slow down Moira. It’s Conrad, remember. Or do we have to go through this everytime we meet?”
“Conrad, sorry.”
“Okay, now that we have that out of the way, how about I buy you lunch today?”
“Why thank you. That’s very generous of you. But I’m afraid I already have a lunch date.” Moira turned to look back into the kitchen. “Hey Linda, can you please fix Conrad a plate. And be sure to give him the trifle for dessert.” She then turned back to Conrad, “Sir, you are in the best of hands here with Linda. I have to go otherwise my date will not be happy with me.”
Moira grabbed the plates that she had underneath the serving isle and walked to the table Janet had grabbed. Good thing she had found one of the booth tables, which she preferred. They were just getting started when a shadow fell on their table. Moira didn’t have to look up to know who had graced them with his presence.
“Ladies, I hope you won’t deny me the pleasure of you company, otherwise I may have to sit alone and will look like the new boy in school all alone.”
While she would have preferred to tell him to go to hell, Janet welcomed him with both arms. When he sat beside her, Moira was glad that at least she wouldn’t have to face him knowing how he had stared at her the other day in his office. After that thought had sunk in, she thought that this was probably worse because now he had caged her in and she wouldn’t be able to leave in her own time. She would have to time her leaving together with Janet’s.
Surprisingly the conversation wasn’t so bad. Janet broke the ice and it wasn’t until she stood up and said she needed to leave that Moira realized she had actually enjoyed his company and everyone had shared a little about their families. When Moira made to leave as well, Conrad insisted he couldn’t stay and finish eating alone. If she stayed an extra five minutes he would be done, after all she is the one who suggested he get the trifle pudding. It didn’t help that Janet agreed with his reasoning, so she was forced to put up with the man.
“So care to tell me why you never returned my calls?” he asked her.
“I was quite busy this morning. And since I had already given you my answer two days ago, I didn’t think it was necessary to return your calls.”
“And I told you, I wouldn’t take that as your final answer.”
“I can’t talk about this in a café full of people who might overhear and stretch the gossip.”
“Nobody is sitting in the boothes on either side of us. So feel free, unless you care to come back to my office?”
“No thanks. And what do you mean? Is that why I saw Linda placing reserved signs earlier on?”
He smiled like someone who had done a good thing. “Yep. So what’s the final answer?”
“Well that is the only answer you will get, the only one. At least from me. Look around you,” Moira said to him. “Look,” she said again when he kept staring at her.
“Okay. What am I looking for?”
“The females who are all going ga-ga over you. Just pick one and you will get all the sex you need.”
“Well, except for one problem.”
“And what would that be?” she asked him.
“None of them make me as hard as you do.”
Moira went all hot and wet instantly. As crude as it was, it flattered her that this was a possibility with a playboy like Conrad. “You know, I seem to remember you being paired to some woman in the last few months. Elizabeth Moffat. Does she know you proposition women behind her back?”
“No committment remember. But since you brought her up, she dumped me.”
Moira laughed. “Can’t imagine why. But more power to her. And pray tell, why did she dump you?” She couldn’t believe he was smiling at his dumpee status.
“That’s a conversation for another meal. How about dinner tonight?”
“Very smooth and original Conrad. But sorry to say I already have dinner plans.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Sorry, I have a very busy social life,” she lied.
“You ha
ve dinner dates every evening?” he asked surprised?
“Well, a girl’s gotta eat, right?” she countered.
“Well, I’m not letting you leave until you can squeeze me in. Either breakfast, lunch or dinner.”
“You know temper tantrums are indicative of single children. Though I can’t picture William putting up with such behavior.”
His laugh brought their table to everyone’s attention. Not that people hadn’t already noticed that Conrad King, CEO of King International was sitting with the new pastry chef. This conversation had to end sooner rather than later.
“You are right on that note. Dad would probably pull my ear and ground me for a week.” He smiled at her, then went on, “So when is our next meal?”
“Look Conrad…”
“I’m serious Moira. I won’t allow you to leave unless you either change your answer to yes, or you find a day we can share a meal. And I don’t mean sometime next year.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you are tiring?”
“Nobody. But then everybody always agrees with me, so we never get to the tiring stage.”
“You need a therapist. And I probably too for agreeing to this stupid proposal of yours.”
“I knew you would come around.”
“Just to clarify, a meal, not the sex thing. But I need to check my calendar and I’ll let you know. I may have to move something around, unless we can do it end of next week?” she asked hopefully. And hopefully by then he would have forgotten all about her. Playboys don’t have great attention spans. No wonder why they are seen with different women every few days. As sexy as sin as he may be, Moira had no intention of being a woman in his bed today and tomorrow forgotten. Not even worthy of a memory. They might be in different social classes, but she would at least prefer to be with someone who would remember her for a while. A year would be good enough.
“Well, that’s a start. Has to be this week, and I’ll be waiting.” And with that, he immediately stood up and waited for her to get out. They parted ways with Conrad’s parting shot of “Ciao babe.”
Chapter Six
Moira didn’t know why she had agreed to squeezing him into a meal, per his words. Neither breakfast nor lunch were acceptable because they would have to be in the café and she didn’t relish another company wide stare from both males and females. Dinner sounded like the only option, despite the fact that she didn’t want to use her personal time to cater to his whims. If not for the man’s arrogance, Moira thought they could actually be friends, because he was quite funny and interesting to talk to.
Her friend – Serenity was coming into town tonight after work and they were supposed to spend Saturday shopping with some clubbing later that night before she went back to Orlando the next day. Since she was spending all next week’s evenings training someone at Stu’s main office’s, the only option was going to be tonight or the week after next week, which she didn’t think Conrad was going to accept. Well, if tonight is too short a notice for him, then tough luck, Moira said to herself. Today she had been in the café kithen at 5:30am. After turning and tossing all night and not being any closer to an answer or rather a possible day to pick, she had thought it was wiser to get to work and be productive. Over the last couple of weeks she had received requests to make more pastries on Fridays for people to buy and take home for the weekend. Moira had suggested that people place orders so she would have an idea of how much to make so they didn’t end up with too much of certain items. Today was the first Friday that she would be making the made to order pastries and desserts. Unless previously agreed on, the orders would be ready by 3pm.
Moira placed the baking trays in the oven and put the rest away for baking later that afternoon. She or one of her team members would place the remaining trays in the oven a little after 2pm when the lunch crowd usually started to trickle down. Someone wanted a triple layered chocolate cake and another a cheese cake with various flavors. With the short day she was planning to be at the café she hoped everything would go smoothly.
By the time Moira heard some of the King International employees, and some of her co-workers come in too, she was already placing the last breakfast batch pastries into the oven. At 8am, Moira closed herself off in the office to catch up on some paperwork and rest her feet for a while. If she was going to spend all day shopping tomorrow, she needed to rest her feet as often as possible. Knowing Serenity, they would most likely walk the whole mall. And then there was the clubbing later on. If she could get away with wearing flats, she would, but Serenity would never let her leave the apartment with anyless less than three inch heels. A huge compromise from the six inches she insisted they wear.
Over the last several months, Moira hadn’t been out much, and she had promised her best friend she would make up for those months. And now she needed to pay the piper.
When Christi opened the door Moira realized it was time to start preparing the desserts. “I’ll be right out Christi. I’m done here.”
“Sure.” Somehow Moira was failing to see why Christi was so excited and kept making signals she couldn’t interpret.
“What is it Christi?”
She giggled then said, “You have a visitor.”
“Is it Jeff Myers?”
“Thanks Christi. I’ll take it from here.”
Moira sighed before she said, “It’s fine Christi. Can you guys go ahead and start?” Then she turned to her visitor. “Conrad. Do you need something?”
“Who the fuck is Jeff Myers to you?”
Okay someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Moira didn’t need this, not with the time schedule she had. “A friend.”
“What kind of a friend?” Funny how that sounded like jealousy.
Why the hell he needed to know, Moira had no idea. But she decided to play along and see where this was going. “Close friend.”
“You realise Myers is the biggest flirt in all of Miami?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Moira don’t try my patience. It’s already thin as it is,” he said softly with a barely controlled leash.
“Then stop asking questions that are none of your business,” she told him. As a police witness, Moira would have sucked in relating what happened next. He had her pressed against the wall and her lips fighting with his lips. He pulled her head back and her face tilted and raised to meet him. The man simply took what he needed, no questions asked. Moira felt his erection the minute he had plastered her against the wall and she just surrendered. Her pussy throbbed and her nipples ached. He pulled her t-shirt out of her skirt and took her nipple straight into his mouth. Moira cried out and held his head to her breast. He moved to the other breast and all thought fled her.
The laughter from the other side of the door broke them apart. Moira moved away and straightened her clothes before tucking her t-shirt back into her skirt. Working in the kitchen was hard to keep up with make-up, so fortunately she had none to repair.
“You shouldn’t have come here. And why are you here anyway?”
“Sorry, for mauling you like a lion.”
Moira couldn’t help smiling at that description. And unfortunately it just gave him a bigger head. “You still haven’t said why you are here.”
“Oh that. I texted you my number yesterday after lunch, and I expected you to respond to me with that break, lunch or dinner date.”
“Let me see if I got this right.” She took a few seconds to breathe in and out. “You sent me a text with your mobile number yesterday. And since I didn’t text you back the information you needed, you, Conrad King, CEO of King International, decided to take time out of your CEO busy schedule to come and find out why I hadn’t sent the text yet. A billion dollar busy schedule I might add. Is that right?”
“Well actually…”
“It’s a yes or no answer,” Moira asked him.
“Yes.”
“Ever heard of using the phone?” Moira asked him.
“Yes, And to my defense, I tried that yesterd
ay and you didn’t return my call.”
“Well, I was busy yesterday. And so am I today as well. I am trying to feed your employees so they can continue to make those billion dollars for your company.”
“Okay. Glad to know. And since I am here, how about that date we discussed yesterday?”
“You are seriously exhausting. I have been here since 5:30am, and yet you come in here, and within two minutes I am already exhausted.”
“Is that a good thing or bad thing?” he asked ernestly.
Moira opened her mouth but no words came out. Finally she said, “Tonight 7pm. Text me the name of the restaurant and I will be there.”
“Why don’t you give me your address and I will pick you up?”
Moira raised her eyebrow at him. “Why don’t we just forget about the whole thing?”
Conrad raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. I get it. Just wear something short so I can see those sexy legs of yours.” And with that he opened the door and rushed out.
Moira couldn’t believe he had just said that. Rushing out she called after him. “Conrad. You forgot something.”
Conrad was almost out of the kitchen area and entering the café section when he heard her voice and stopped.
“Sir, I’m sorry I almost forgot your pastries,”she said all smiles at him. Turning to call Christi from her work station, “Hey, Christi! Sorry, can you help Mr. King with his order? He needs one of each of the available pastries. And he was kind enough to offer to pay dessert for everyone today, so we need to make sure whoever is working at the check-out stations is aware and we send a separate bill for all desserts to his office later on.”
Conrad couldn’t believe what was coming out of Moira’s mouth. He could only gape, but didn’t recover quickly enough to contradict her. And even if he had, he couldn’t have done it.
“Thank you sir. That was such a generous offer. I will be sure to send Janet the memo so she can distribute to everyone. Now I really must get back to work,” she told him. “I’m sure we will be selling more desserts than ever before today,” Moira stated before she quickly skipped along to help with the day’s dessert menu items.
