A Designed Affair

by Cheryl Barton

  For a second, Loren’s mind wandered to the hot, lust-filled nights she’d spent with Mike, but quickly dispensed those thoughts knowing she couldn’t let on that things between she and Mike were more than just a friendly business arrangement.

  “It’s coming along fine. His house is beautiful and he’s loved all of the ideas I’ve had for the space.”

  “I’m going to miss having him around all the time when he finally moves. He’s like a son and I love having him over for dinner, attacking his meals like he never gets a homemade meal.”

  Loren’s smile withered as she thought about the possibility of Mike actually moving. She’d been so busy living in the moment and enjoying her time with him that she hadn’t had time to think about what would happen when his time in Atlanta would be up. What would they do about their relationship? She knew they needed to talk about it.

  “I know he thinks of you as a second mom and will miss being around too, but I’m sure he’ll make many trips back to Atlanta. This is still his home.”

  “That’s true, but I’m hoping, just as I do with my own children that he’ll settle down soon with a wife and some babies and then he’ll have less time to spend traveling back and forth.”

  Loren watched her mother work in her garden and dismissed any thoughts of Mike marrying someone let alone, having babies with anyone that wasn’t her. The thought that he could do that made her tremble and not in the sexy, hot way she did when she thought about him. She trembled knowing that it could be a possibility if things didn’t work out for them. She shook off all thoughts of him with anyone other than her and headed toward the door to spend some time with her dad.

  At her back her mother smiled knowing she’d hit a nerve with her remark about Mike getting married and having children with someone. Her kids thought they were able to hide things from her, but just as with her other children, she knew everything about her daughter. For now, she would keep quiet about her suspicions regarding Loren’s true feelings for Mike. She would let Loren come to her. For now, she smiled knowing that one day, she hoped Mike would be more of a son than he already was. She knew Loren was thinking about the idea of Mike with someone else that wasn’t her and she also knew from Loren’s silence that the idea of that, wasn’t sitting well.

  ~~~

  Mike was happy and everyone around him noticed the change in him. It’s not that he wasn’t a happy type of guy to begin with, but he had to admit even to himself that his happiness was over the top since he and Loren had been seeing each other and had somehow been able to keep it from everyone. They were learning more and more about each other and when he was away from her, he thought about her constantly.

  He was currently in his office making plans to take a final flight out to California before the final move which was scheduled to take place in about three months. His cell phone rang interrupting his thoughts. He looked at the display and noticed it was Shelly calling again. He had not seen her in weeks and she was getting persistent about seeing him. He had spoken to her a few times to let her know that they would not be seeing each other anymore. She apparently didn’t take the conversation too serious because she continued to call him and allude to them hooking up, something he no longer had any interest in with her.

  He didn’t know what else he needed to say to get her to understand that things were over between the two of them. They weren’t involved in any type of relationship; they had been sex buddies for a few years and on occasions when he needed to scratch an itch, like she did, they would hook up without any notions of commitment. She was a beautiful woman, but he was no longer interested. Lately, her calls had been much more frequent and she was becoming agitated that he didn’t want to see her anymore. He tried to explain to her that he was in a committed relationship and did not spend time with other women anymore, including her. Rather than have another conversation with her that would lead nowhere, he decided to ignore her all together. He hoped she’d get the point and stop contacting him.

  There was something strange about Shelly that he couldn’t quite put his finger on and it had to do with odd sightings of her while he was out and about. He thought he’d seen her a few times when he and Loren were able to sneak in a late night movie or have dinner at an out of the way restaurant. If he didn’t know any better he would think that she was stalking him. He figured that soon she’d realize that he was serious about Loren and had no plans to go back to his old ways of hooking up with women for pleasure. Loren was all he needed.

  Thinking of Loren had him smiling again and his thoughts turned to a Saturday afternoon they recently spent indoors all day. He seldom had Saturdays where he could do nothing. Loren with her interior design business never had Saturdays off, but with the new help she had hired, she was able to make more free time for herself and for them.

  On this particular Saturday, he was finally able to get a look at Loren’s sex toy collection that she kept hidden in her bedroom. He took great pleasure in how sexually liberated Loren was becoming around him. Nothing was off limits between them and she had no problem expressing to him what pleased her. He loved introducing several of the toys in her collection into their sex life. He believed just like in business, you have to constantly reinvent your sex life as well in order to keep it fresh. That was something they certainly did.

  Thinking back on that day, he now felt the urge to see her. He reached for his cell to call her when his assistant told him he had several messages from Shelly. Now that he’d been ignoring her calls to his cell phone, it now appears that she was calling him at the office, something she never did and something he had no plans of tolerating. He was going to have to have a face to face conversation with her so that he could be sure she understood things were completely over between them. That would have to wait because right now, his mind was only on Loren. He thanked his assistant and when she walked out of his office, he tossed the messages in the trash. He didn’t want to think of anything, but Loren so he called her to see if they could have a movie night. Since dating him, she had gotten over her fear of scary movies, especially after watching them, he was always there with her in the night if she had a nightmare.

  He called her cell phone and when she didn’t answer, he called her office, something he seldom did especially since they were still keeping things pretty quiet.

  “LKnight Designs, this is Bria, how may I help you?”

  “Hello, this is Michael Bailey calling for Ms. Knight. Is she available?”

  “Hold please.”

  Mike waited patiently until Loren came on the line.

  “Hey baby, I was just thinking about you,” Loren said excitedly.

  “I hope you were having wonderful thoughts about me like the ones I’m having about you.”

  “Whew, you have no idea,” she replied while fanning herself.

  “That’s what I like to hear sweetheart. I was calling to see if this was going to be a late night for you. If not I’m thinking Chinese food, movies and you tonight.”

  “I think I am going to have a late night. I just received a major shipment in today for four different jobs I’m working on. I need to get things catalogued and separated. The two local projects will need to be loaded up in the truck so that my assistants can deliver those. There were some serious mix-ups in some samples I received for two clients coming in tomorrow and I haven’t put their portfolios together yet of my plans for their new offices, so yes it looks like it’s a late night for me and I’m already exhausted. I’m going to let everyone go home early so that we can get an early start tomorrow, but I’ll be here sort of late. I’m sorry because you know I really wanted to see you and spend time with you tonight.”

  Mike was concerned hearing how overwhelmed she was with work.

  “Loren, you need to slow down some. You’re going to wear yourself out.”

  “I know. I missed my spa treatment this week which normally helps me get relaxed when my week gets crazy. I seem to have so much going on at one time. I told you abo
ut that job I have going on in Barbados. I finally received the shots of the layouts for the lobby and now that everything is complete and I’ve everything shipped, I’m going to need to take a trip there to be sure everything is ready for the re-grand opening at the end of next week. Having a quiet night with you sounds so wonderful, but I still have so much to do here at the office.”

  “Don’t worry sweetheart. We’ll do it another night. I know how it is to have so much that you need to have done in a short period of time. We can definitely do this another night.”

  “Thank you,” Loren said. “You are the best. I’ll call you later?”

  “Call me when you need a break.”

  Mike disconnected the line after talking to Loren. He was genuinely concerned that she was doing too much. She had a lot to do and at the same time, he felt like she needed some relaxation as well. He had a plan in mind and put in a call to Jason, his favorite supper club owner.

  “Hey Jase.”

  “Mike, what’s up man?”

  “I need a favor. Here is what I need.”

  Mike gave him a rundown of what he needed him to do.

  ~~~

  Loren could feel that every muscle in her body was tight and every bone ached. She had been busy at work since the wee hours of the morning. It was now nine o’clock at night and she still had a lot to do. Her staff had left a few hours ago and she was thankful for their dedicated work. If it had not been for them, she wouldn’t be as far ahead as she was with organizing portfolios for new projects and getting displays of new samples ready for setup in the lobby of her shop. Her displays were small scale examples of how the space in a room could be used more efficiently. It wasn’t just about colors and furniture. It was more about how to place the furniture and the best colors to use for the space depending on what the customer wanted to use the room for. Once she set up a small scale design of a room for them, she worked out a budget that includes product, supplies and workman hours. She loved what she did, but there were times when it was exhausting and today was one of those days, she thought. She was upset that she wouldn’t get to see Mike tonight. They got to spend so little time together as it was and she liked having him to herself whenever possible.

  She was about to work on the next display case when she heard a knock on the locked door to the business. She went closer to see who would be showing up at this hour and saw Mike standing on the other side.

  What was he doing here? she thought. She opened the door to let him in and noticed him carrying an armload of items, including a picnic basket.

  “Mike, what are you doing here? I thought you were going home for the evening,” she said.

  Mike walked past her into the lobby.

  “I was and then I decided that you needed a break and I’m sure dinner as well, so I thought I’d come and bring you both.”

  She got a closer look at everything he was carrying. Besides the picnic basket, he was carrying a couple of blankets, a pillow and a large bag that appeared to be full of items as well. Her heart swelled knowing how much he cared about her.

  “Michael Bailey, what is running through that head of yours and what’s in this bag and the basket?” she said, trying to get a look inside each one.

  “Lock the door Loren and follow me.”

  Mike already knew his way around, having been to her shop many times. He found his way to the rear of the shop to find the perfect spot for a night of romance.

  Loren watched as he started moving things around to make a clearing. She stood silently while he laid the blankets down, then the pillow. He opened the bag first and took out candles, an IPod with speakers which he plugged in and put on some soft jazz music; her favorite of course. He then reached back into his bag of tricks and pulled out a short, silk white robe for her and a black one for him and several massage oils and towels, placing them on the blanket. She then watched as he removed two bottles of wine, one white and one red, from the basket along with some freshly sliced fruit, containers of Chinese food and two hefty slices of apple pie, another of her favorites. When he was done removing the rest of the items, he turned to her.

  “Loren, I know you have a lot of work to do tonight and I’m not trying to distract you from that, but I wanted to help you relax. You sounded stressed on the phone so for a few hours, I’m going to help take your mind off of work while I give you a massage, followed by a delicious dinner. Then I’m going to stay and help you finish up whatever work you have to do.”

  She couldn’t believe what he had taken the time to do for her tonight. She was speechless.

  “Thank you,” was all she could get out without shedding tears of joy.

  Loren went to Mike, placed her arms around his waist and leaned into him, loving the closeness she now realized she needed from him all day.

  Mike kissed her forehead and handed her a robe.

  “Now, go into your office bathroom, remove everything and put this robe on. In the meantime, I’m going to finish setting everything up.”

  Loren excitedly did as he asked, being more than grateful for him.

  When she returned, she found him sitting on the blanket in his black robe, surrounded by lit candles. He had turned off all of the other lights so that the candles would cast a romantic glow in the room.

  When Mike saw Loren enter, he couldn’t help but notice how exotic she looked in the candlelit space. He was happy that he decided to do this for her tonight.

  “I want you to lay down flat on the blanket. You can take your robe off.”

  Loren was already getting turned on at the romantic atmosphere he’d set up.

  He whispered in her ear, “No thoughts of sex tonight baby. You know I can read your expressions. My plan is to focus on getting you totally relaxed. We’ll save the sex for another night. Tonight is all about romance.”

  Loren felt a chill, a shiver as he spoke. He was crazy if he thought he was going to set all this up and tease her. She would wait to see how the night played out.

  She laid down on the blanket while Mike grabbed the oil, straddled her legs and started massaging her neck, then her shoulders. She was already feeling relaxed as he began working the kinks out with his magnificent hands.

  While he continued to relax her, Loren could only think of how thankful she was for a man who was as thoughtful as he was, even if she couldn’t tell anyone about it. Just like tonight, he’d always shown her that he was always thinking about her. She would get deliveries of flowers or come out to get in her car and find a card or a note from him. He did lots of things to make her feel special and tonight was another she could add to the list.

  Mike could feel when Loren finally started to relax. He began to sing to her softly as his thoughts turned to how appreciative he was for this beautiful woman whom he would do anything for and grateful for a great friend who put all of this together for him with just a phone call. He continued to massage her as watched her close her eyes and as he felt all tension dissipate from her body. This was his one and only plan for the evening.

  Chapter 14

  Loren was ecstatic that things had actually worked out between her brother Duron and Taija. She was concerned at one time when it appeared they weren’t going to be able to repair the damage done to the relationship due to miscommunication.

  Duron had spotted Taija’s ex-boyfriend at her house and assumed the two had resumed their relationship. Now that things were finally cleared up, she couldn’t be happier for them. She was thrilled that today, her brother was marrying Taija and she was serving as one of two maids of honor. The other was Taija’s friend Victoria from Boston. She was also looking forward to seeing Mike at the wedding since he was serving as one of the groomsmen.

  They had been secretly seeing each other for over six months and so far other than Taija and Jase, who agreed to keep their secret, no one else has realized they had something going on.

  Even with the happy occasion taking place, she felt saddened because after a few delay, Mike was finally makin
g his move to California and didn’t expect the rush of emotions that flowed through her every time they talked about his move.

  She had taken additional trips to the west coast, first to do a walk-through of the house that was just about completed, with the exception of some add-ons he wanted from the contractor and then to continue with her designs for the finished spaces.

  She loved her trips their where the beaches were beautiful and she could do her own star gazing. She was tickled when she decided to shop on Rodeo drive one day and literally bumped into Denzel Washington. It never mattered to her how much older than her he was, he was still the finest man she had ever set eyes on, well that is except for her baby Mike. None compared to him.

  She couldn’t wait to see him later today. She knew he was going to be the finest brother in the place in his tuxedo. This was the second time they would be at a major function with her entire family and they had to watch their interaction. She still wasn’t ready to tell anyone that they were seeing each other. Everything was going great and she didn’t want to rock the boat. She did have to admit that things between the two of them were better than she ever thought they would be. He treated her like a queen and he put his all into letting her know that she was everything to him. If it were up to Mike, everyone would know.

  He had been pushing her more lately to come clean with her family. He was ready to deal with the backlash that he knew he would get from her brother Duron, but he was ready for it. Mike had been telling her that even Duron had been sensing something different about him and that he had not noticed Mike with any women lately. He assumed Mike was either getting tired of the womanizing or that Mike was so busy with work, that he didn’t make as much time for pleasure as he had in the past.

  He was preparing to move to the west coast soon and she knew that when Duron inquired about his personal life and he had nothing to tell him, he figured it was due to the move and never drilled him on it. Even now, knowing how well things were going, she wasn’t ready for anyone to know. They had some issues to work out.