The CEO

by Shealy James

  I started trailing kisses up his chest. “What kind of favors?” I asked before climbing on top of him and straddling his narrow hips.

  His hands trailed down my back and settled on my bum. He reached over into his nightstand and grabbed a condom, then asked, “When is your doctor’s appointment again?” as he rolled it on.

  He sat up and trailed kisses down my neck as I answered. “Wednesday. It was the earliest I could get and only because someone had just cancelled right before I called.”

  “I can’t wait,” he whispered as he rolled me onto my back and worshipped my body.

  We were so wrapped up in each other that we didn’t hear the alarm beep when the front door opened. We didn’t hear the high heels pounding on the wood floors, and we certainly didn’t expect Iris to open his bedroom door, only to find both Grant and me crying out in pleasure as our climaxes ripped through us simultaneously. Yes, we were seriously both moaning when she opened the door.

  “This explains it then.” Her voice was like pouring ice in the bed. I froze, and Grant whipped his head around. Oh god, oh god! This was not happening. This was not happening. “When you and your whore can be bothered to put some clothes on, I’ll be waiting in the kitchen.” This was happening.

  “Mother!” Grant roared while remaining on top of me, effectively blocking Iris from my view, and hopefully me from hers considering I was naked and now a hideous shade of red from pure humiliation. By the time the door closed, my face was buried in one of Grant’s stupidly expensive down pillows. “Baby?” Grant tried to take the pillow from me, but I gripped it tighter. “Come on, Eve. Move the pillow, so I can see you.”

  “No. Just go talk to your mother, and I’ll go ahead and die from embarrassment.” My words were muffled through the pillow.

  “It wasn’t that bad. She could only see me, although she probably heard more than just me.” He laughed.

  I removed the pillow so I could hit him with it. “Grant! This isn’t funny. Your mom just called me a whore!”

  His amusement quickly turned to anger. “Yeah. That won’t happen again. Let’s throw some clothes on and go face her.”

  “I’m not going out there!”

  “Yes, you are.”

  “No, I’m not.” I was considering jumping out the window of Grant’s top floor condo. Unfortunately, the windows didn’t open and the rooftop deck had glass windscreens, not to mention I would have to walk past the devil woman to get there.

  Grant grabbed my chin and made me look at him. “You’re my girlfriend, and we can do what we want in the privacy of my bedroom. You need to face her and show her that her bitchiness doesn’t affect you.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Not happening, Grant.”

  “Do it for me, Eve.” He headed to the bathroom after one of his motivating ass slaps. Before I could climb out of bed, Grant was back in the bedroom zipping up a pair of jeans. “Baby, either you get up and throw on some clothes or I’ll carry you out that way. I don’t mind either way, but I’m sure you would prefer to be wearing clothes in front of my mother.”

  “I don’t have any clothes, Grant. All I have is my dress from last night, and it’s a wrinkled mess. I wasn’t planning on staying here last night, remember?” I reminded him as I sat up in his bed and covered myself with his fancy sheets.

  He marched into his giant closet and brought out a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. “Put these on. I’ll take you to your apartment as soon as she leaves. When you’re out shopping today, buy some clothes to leave here, even though I like you in my clothes. I like you naked too. Either way works for me.” He threw the clothes at me before walking over and giving me a quick kiss. “I’m going to talk to her. You have two minutes before I come back and drag you out there.”

  I was about to have a conversation with Grant’s mother in Grant’s clothes. An hour ago I was the most relaxed I have ever been. Now I was trying to recover from possibly the most humiliating moment of my life. Oh, how the mighty do fall.

  I threw on his clothes with my bra. I ignored the panties I wore last night and rolled the pants so they wouldn’t fall off in front of Grant’s momster. They were still too long, but I did the best I could. I ran into the bathroom and brushed my teeth and combed my hair. I tried splashing cold water on my face, but there was no helping the mess that was Eve Bryant on this lovely morning. I sent an emergency text message to Nolan telling him to come get me ASAP from Grant’s. He replied back right away.

  Nolan: Problem in paradise? On my way.

  “Eve,” Grant yelled.

  “Coming,” I called back and headed out of the bedroom to face my doom.

  When I walked into the kitchen, Iris was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee. She was wearing another Chanel suit, pale blue his time, and her hair was flawlessly pinned into a sleek French twist. “Well, well, well, I was wondering if you would join us.”

  “Mother…” Grant warned. He seemed to do that a lot.

  I was taken aback by her hostility. I thought Grant was going to talk to her. “Oh, umm…I was going to hide in the bedroom, but Grant didn’t want to face the music alone. It takes two to tango, so to speak.” I laughed uncomfortably. Oh my heavens! Could this be any more humiliating? No. No, I don’t think it could. Thankfully, Grant laughed and wrapped his arm around me.

  “Yes, it does. Maybe next time you decide to tango, you could do it with someone—”

  Grant cut her off before she suggested that I find someone else, someone who wasn’t her wealthy son. “Mother, that’s enough. You will not insult my girlfriend. Get on board or go away.”

  “Don’t you dare speak to me with that tone, Grant Mitchell. This has gone on long enough. You are too old to be fooling around like this. Time to grow up.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” Grant said. “Did you come here to dish out insults and ruin everyone’s morning, or did you have a real reason for stopping by?”

  I didn’t hear her response because the house phone rang. Grant answered and quickly hung up. He turned to me. “Nolan’s here to pick you up?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. Grant was no fool. He knew what I had done. Surely he could understand how badly I wanted to escape this nightmare.

  I did the only thing I could do. “Shopping,” I sang then sprang into action. “Don’t worry. I’ll change before I go out in public.” I ran back into the bedroom to grab my dress and purse.

  Just as I grabbed my shoes, Grant walked in the room and leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest. “What are you doing?”

  Without looking up I shoved my panties in my purse like the cliché that I had become then explained, “Going shopping for the party. Do you not want me to go anymore?” Deflection attempt number two?

  He let out a deep breath. “Of course I want you to go.” Success!

  “All right then. I need to get a dress. I need to make sure I look good if I’m going to be on the arm of the prince of Seattle.” I smiled mockingly. “I have to go. Good luck with your mother.” I kissed his lips quickly and darted toward the door.

  “This isn’t over, Eve. I know you called Nolan.”

  I laughed. “I don’t know what you mean,” I said as innocently as I could.

  I avoided the kitchen and ran out the door barefoot, carrying my dress and my platform pumps. When I arrived in the lobby, Nolan was waiting for me looking sharp and grinning at my distress. “Not a word!” I snapped. “Car?”

  “Right out front, Georgia girl.” We walked outside to a blessedly empty sidewalk and he let me into the passenger seat of my car. Once we were on Alaskan Way, he said, “Spill it.”

  “His mom walked in.”

  “Walked in where? When?”

  “You know when.” I glared.

  “His mom walked into the penthouse while you two were going at it?”

  I nodded and covered my face as I relived the mortification of the morning.

  “Where were you? In the kitchen? Living room? Rooftop deck?”
r />   I shook my head to all of those. “Nope. We were in his bed.”

  “She walked in his bedroom?”

  I closed my eyes and nodded again.

  “Then she deserves what she saw. No mom should ever walk into her thirty-two-year-old son’s bedroom. What was she thinking? I think the only sex uptight Iris has had was when her children were conceived. I don’t know how Harrison puts up with her unless he’s getting some tail on the side.”

  “Ew. Moving on. I think she was thinking she could humiliate me into leaving him.”

  “Isn’t that what she did?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “No. I left to avoid Grant’s credit card. Avoiding her insults was only the icing on the cake. I was pretty much done with the woman after she called me a whore.”

  “She called you a whore?” he squealed.

  “I was naked in bed with her son at the time. I can see why that would be confusing for someone of her closed-mindedness.”

  He laughed as he parked at my apartment. We walked inside, fortunately bypassing any of my neighbors who might witness my walk of shame. I let him into my apartment. “Text Tara and tell her to meet us here, and then we can all go. I’ll be ready in a half hour. Make yourself at home.” I didn’t think I had to worry about Nolan coming in my room when I was showering. He wasn’t interested in what I had to offer.

  After I showered, I was ready for dress shopping. Once I had my wedges buckled, I stepped out of my bedroom expecting both Tara and Nolan in my living room. Needless to say I was surprised when neither of them were there, but Grant was in the kitchen rifling through my refrigerator.

  “Can I help you?” I asked.

  He looked up from his search. “I was hungry. I didn’t get to eat breakfast because I was explaining to my mother why my girlfriend ran away dressed in my clothes.”

  I ignored his outburst. “Where’s Nolan?”

  “He’s going to pick up Tara. I told him that I would drive you to Barney’s where you will be meeting him and Tara and a personal shopper.”

  “What? No!”

  “Yes, Eve.”

  “No, Grant.” Here we go again.

  “Eve, you agreed. I’m giving you my credit card in case you don’t find anything there, but Leila has an account set up for you at Barney’s. She’s already pulling dresses and a few other things for you. You’ll pick out whatever you want. Tara and Nolan will help. If you don’t buy anything, I’ll take you back tomorrow.” He was in his alpha mode again. While I agreed it was hot when he took charge, I did not want him buying me clothes. It was a little too Pretty Woman for me. His job was even similar to Richard Gere’s in the movie too. To top it off, I would probably send the snails flying across the restaurant if he tried to feed me escargot. If only I were a hooker, we could recreate the whole movie. Lovely.

  That thought just pushed me over the edge. I was completely aware of how crazy I was being. However, knowing I was being loony and stopping the train wreck that was about to occur were two very different things. To be fair, no one ever said I was rational when I was upset.

  “You know what, Grant? You can take your credit card and your personal shopper and shove it up your ass. I like my clothes, thank you very much, and I don’t need some rich playboy, whose mother already thinks I’m a whore, buying me clothes. Go to the party alone, because there is not a chance in hell I’m going. Better yet, take one of your mother’s girls. That should get her off my back.” I followed up my tirade with an angry stomp to my bedroom where I dramatically slammed the door and locked it.

  As soon as Grant cursed and started trying to talk to me through the door, I stripped off my dress and threw on my hideous hot-pink sweat pants and another old sorority shirt. I climbed into my bed with my cheap Target sheets and turned on my small television and one of my rom-coms that I had on DVD. All the while Grant remained on the other side of the door. I knew it wouldn’t be long before he unlocked the door, so I hunkered down in my little fortress to wait for his assault.

  He was fuming by the time the door flew open, but I didn’t care. How many times could members of the Mitchell family insult me today? Whore. Tramp. Hooker. Whatever. I decided I was going back to bed to start my day over.

  “What the fuck was that?” he asked breathing heavily, his tone menacing.

  “That was me hitting my limit of the number of times I can handle being called or implied that I’m a prostitute.”

  “What are you talking about?” His hair was a wreck from him running his hands through it. For some reason, that made me smile.

  “You’re sending me to a personal shopper to buy new clothes. What’s wrong with my clothes? Too cheap for you and your mom? Too slutty? What?”

  “Stop it! You know that was not what I was implying. I want to buy you things because I want you to have everything you need or want. I want you to have clothes at my place, so when you wake up in the morning, you can just get dressed. How does that make me the bad guy?”

  I sighed disappointedly. “I don’t want your money or your personal shopper, Grant. I thought I made that quite clear. Look, I’m tired now. I have only been awake for a few hours, and already this day has been hell. You have work to do, so just go. I need to call Nolan and Tara anyway.”

  “No. Stop fucking pushing me away! Why are you this upset about the damn money?” he roared as he stepped closer to my bed.

  Finally I sat up and looked at him. “I’m not upset about the money. I’m humiliated your mother walked in on us this morning, and you forced me to listen to her treat me like I’m nothing but the scum beneath her feet. I’m pissed that you want to buy my clothes so I can look like all your little playthings. It makes me a little unhappy that you sent Nolan away just to fight with me about money I don’t want, and I’m really sick of the uncertainty that comes along with being your girlfriend. I have enough shit going on in my life. I don’t need all of this.” I was out of breath by the end of my little rant. I didn’t mean to express all of the madness inside my head to him, because some of it I was still unwilling to acknowledge myself. Once I started, though, the words just came pouring out of me.

  He sat down on my bed and rested his elbows on his knees. When he spoke, his voice was deep and regretful. “I’m sorry about my mother. I know she was horrible to you. I told her to either find a way to be civil and kind toward you or find a way to stay away from me.”

  I gasped. That wasn’t at all what I wanted. She probably hated me more now. Now I was the whore who was trying to take her son away.

  “I don’t know why you’re so upset about the shopping thing. I really don’t get it, but I’ll let it go if you buy something for the party on the fourth. I have to go to the party for work. I’d like for you to be there with me.”

  “I don’t want to cause problems between you and your mother,” I told him.

  He turned to look at me. “Eve, baby, you aren’t causing problems between me and my mother. My mother is causing problems between me and my mother.”

  Just then his phone started ringing. “Nolan,” he greeted brusquely. “Yeah. She’ll be there in a half hour.” He hung up and looked at me. “Get dressed. They’re waiting on you.”

  I was tired of fighting for the time being, and I knew he was still in stampede mode, so I did what I was told. I was only getting a dress for the dreaded Independence Day party, no matter what Tara, Nolan, or the personal shopper said.

  Chapter 15

  Grant led me to where Nolan and Tara were trying on party outfits before leaving for work. He barely said a word, which was fine with me. I had said everything I needed to say.

  Nolan, Tara, and I had a blast picking out our red, white, and blue ensembles. Those two were the perfect distraction to make me forget about my troubles with Grant, but I didn’t forget about him completely. I made sure to get him a red tie for his navy blue suit for the party. He bought my dress, and only my dress, so I felt like I owed him a little something. It was not an apology in any way
.

  By the time we were all squared away with our purchases, I still hadn’t heard from Grant. I tried calling him to see what his plans were for the evening, but naturally he didn’t answer. I wasn’t deterred, though. It wasn’t like we had to hang out every night together anyway. With that in mind, I asked Tara and Nolan if they wanted to get cocktails somewhere. They happily agreed and both called their men. Of course, Maddox and Daniel answered their phones and happily agreed to join us. I enjoyed the company, but once again I was the girl with the problem relationship. It was all a little too familiar.

  We went to a Mexican cantina that Nolan loved. He was raving about their pomegranate margaritas, which was all it took for Tara and me to agree. Daniel showed up first and immediately wrapped Tara in his arms and gave her a very warm greeting. “Oh my…” Nolan said as he watched the pair kiss like they hadn’t seen each other for weeks. I knew for a fact they were together last night, because I was there too, but I didn’t remember them being quite so affectionate.

  Was our double date only last night? After the day I’d had, the double date seemed like a lifetime ago.

  By the time Maddox showed up, Nolan and Tara were already on their second margarita and telling me to hurry it up. I wasn’t exactly in a party mood, and binge drinking was the last thing on the agenda. Maddox walked around the table, greeting Nolan with a quick peck on lips before hugging me and lifting me off my feet. “Where’s the hotshot businessman tonight, Eve?”

  “I don’t know. Working, I guess.”

  With a quick glance, I caught the look Nolan gave Maddox that told him not to press the issue. Maddox understood Nolan’s silent communication and introduced himself to Daniel and Tara, and the night moved forward. The five of us ordered, which did include another drink for me. The conversation was lively, and I was fine to sit back and listen while Maddox and Daniel discussed phone apps, and Tara and Nolan discussed local real estate. Not only did I have nothing to contribute regarding either of those topics, but I was also busy checking my phone, obsessively thinking Grant would call or text.