Instead, she got up, closed her door, and determinedly sat back at her desk, grabbing the phone and dialing before anyone else could stop her. The career came first, no matter what, and she had work to do.
CHAPTER 5
The meeting with the marketing agency had gone quite well, and Adrianna felt very comfortable with the team of creative minds working for them, whom she assumed she would be working with on a permanent basis going forward. John had praised her over and over, making her feel like a rock star rather than a hotel manager, and it seemed everyone else bought the hype.
Now, though, she was exhausted, and when Angela and her man-of-the-moment, Sean, arrived bearing Chinese food, she was actually relieved. Angela pulled out the food while Adrianna got plates and chopsticks, and Sean moved to the bar to mix a drink for each of them. They didn’t talk much until they sat down to eat, and Adrianna gave over the floor, a bit too tired and needing the sustenance before she could really involve herself in the conversation that much.
“I hate scheduling new clients sometimes,” Angela began as she filled her plate. “You know, the appointment setters don’t know any better, but there are some people who still harbor far too many misgivings about race.” Adrianna frowned at her in question. Angela was a stylist, a favorite at one of the most prestigious salons in the city. “One of my usual clients just moved to Maine, so that left an opening. Well, Montana, this cute little girl with a bouncing blonde ponytail and innocent smile that you just want to put in your pocket, schedules a new client for me.
“That was great. I was thrilled, until Little Miss Laser Beam waltzed in and took one look at me. Now, I went to school just like everyone else, so I know what I’m doing. I mean, celebrities come to me and my coworkers, okay? This woman has the nerve to turn to poor little Montana and say, ‘I can’t believe you would do something so stupid, little girl. Don’t you know that white women should have white hairdressers? I didn’t come here for dreadlocks.’ Now, how rude can you be?”
It was pretty rude, Adrianna thought, but she decided to play devil’s advocate. “She could have had a little more couth about it, sure. But tell me, Angie, would you like going to a white woman to have your hair done?”
Wrinkling her nose, Angela stabbed at her food. “It probably wouldn’t be my first choice, but I’m not racist. If she worked at my salon, I’d be fine with it.” It was probably true, since she was just as close to Terra, Lindsey, and Corinne as she was.
“Well, unfortunately, not everyone is that open-minded. For me, it doesn’t matter, because I have the likes of you, and that also means I’m setting an appointment to get these braids redone in about a week. Open up your calendar.”
Angela laughed, and Sean piped in, “Actually, one of the best haircuts I’ve had was by a white guy.”
Angela smacked his shoulder. “You just shave it all off, Sean. Quit teasing.”
He smiled, and though Adrianna hadn’t been around him much, she decided she liked Sean. Angela could be so serious sometimes, and someone with the sense of humor he carried around in life was really good for her. “Did Terra call you?”
“Yes, she left some hysterical message I couldn’t understand, and I completely forgot to call her back. Is something wrong?”
Adrianna shook her head. “Not at all. Tommy proposed.”
Angela gasped, covering her mouth with one hand and fluttering the other against tears. “Oh, that’s so wonderful!” She cast a furtive, sidelong glance at Sean. “I think it’s time our little group started settling down.”
The subject instantly became uncomfortable for Adrianna. “I’m happy for her. I told her she could use the hotel ballroom.”
“Tommy. I met him, right?” Sean asked, and Angela nodded. “He’s the one that’s deploying soon, huh?”
From the look on Angela’s face, she hadn’t known either, and Adrianna told her, “I just found that out the other night when we were having drinks. It’s a six-month assignment, and they want to tie the knot before he leaves.”
While Angela pretended to be a cold, aloof woman, she was an utter romantic on the inside. “You know, it’s too bad that boy doesn’t have a brother. He’d be perfect for you.”
Rather than discuss it any further, Adrianna dismissed it, saying, “With my luck, the brother would have gotten all the rotten genes and leave me pregnant and stranded in Harlem.” Changing the subject, she told Angela about the meeting earlier and listened to Sean talk about the new class he was teaching at NYU on contemporary architecture. The more Adrianna watched him interact with Angela, the more she wondered what was wrong with her. Why couldn’t she have a relationship with a man who cared about her?
All her friends were starting to settle down, build a family. Hell, Evan had married his partner, Greg, last year, and they were in the midst of adopting a child. She felt as if she was being left behind, and while she could point the finger and blame Tyrese for her reluctance to relate to anyone else, she knew she had just as much fault in this. After all, she was the one who made bad decisions like trusting Tyrese.
Maybe if she’d paid more attention, she would have realized that, when they first started seeing each other, he was already with someone else. Then, she might have shied away, knowing that a history of cheating on someone to be with you meant it was just as likely they would cheat on you to be with someone else.
Of course, she might have been too blinded by her own emotions to see that far in the future anyway. And who would predict they would find their fiancé at home, in your bed, with two other women? As if that hadn’t been bad enough, when she’d looked into it, Tyrese had never actually completely left the woman he was with when he and Adrianna got together, and they were engaged. He had been cheating the whole time, on both of them, and in the end, had intended to leave Adrianna anyway. He’d just come into her life because she made good money, as far as Adrianna knew.
She wouldn’t leave herself open to emotions that opened her up for scarring like that ever again.
By the time her friends left, Adrianna was so far beyond tired she barely managed to plod into her bedroom and fall on the bed before she was out. Her hormones were a mess, and that was only adding to the exhaustion caused by long, stressful days at work. If she didn’t sleep, she’d be miserable, and that would make her a terrible hotel manager. No, a few hours’ sleep was exactly what she needed.
CHAPTER 6
“Why are we doing this?” Adrianna fell back in her chair as Corinne continued to fill out a profile on a dating website.
She didn’t even slow down the clicks on the keyboard as she responded, “We both want to get out there, right? And you can’t trust a guy you just meet randomly in a bar. The last time I went out with one of those, he turned out to be a sleaze with a fetish for eating clipped fingernails.” She shuddered. “Here, if they have that sort of interest, you get advanced warning and can block the creep.”
She didn’t know how she’d let Corinne talk her into this. She watched the girl, who looked like she was still in junior high with white-blonde hair piled on top of her head messily and a long, thin neck and understood why, even as a very young novice lawyer, she was already building a reputation for herself. Her powers of persuasion couldn’t be denied.
“People can lie just as easily or even more so over the internet than in person, Corinne. Besides, what difference does it make how many times a week I like to stay in?” Adrianna wrinkled her nose. The truth was, the question was a little too close ot home. She really did prefer staying in and reading to going out, unless there was a particular reason to do so. And admitting that also meant admitting she had made it easy for Tyrese to cheat while she was wrapped up in literature.
“It is highly relevant, Adrianna. If some guy wants to rock and roll all night and party every day while you just want to kick back at home and pick something off the shelf.” Her friends knew her all too well, Adrianna thought.
Sighing, Adrianna continued watching in silence as Corinn
e filled out her profile for her, until she started to type something disagreeable. “Looking for epic romance? No way, Corinne. That’s not what this is about.”
Corinne finally turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow with a very serious expression. “Would you rather I say something along the lines of ‘looking for a physical relationship, no strings attached’? I mean, for all that it may be true, it’s not the best way to find a decent guy. Every creep online will jump on that, and you’ll get responses from all the weirdoes.”
Adrianna suddenly regretted sharing her desires with Corinne. She’d counted on Terra’s help until the girl had gone nuts over her upcoming wedding, so she’d turned to Corinne. But she felt like this was a hostile takeover of her entire life. “Listen, Corinne, maybe this is just a really bad idea. It’s not right for me.”
With a sigh, Corinne slouched. “I’m just trying to help you. You have so much to offer, I can’t imagine you’d have trouble taking your pick of the litter here, Adrianna. You have the most beautiful mocha skin in the world, a great body, and a beautiful mind. You’re smart and sexy, and whether they want to admit it or not, that’s what men are really looking for, even in a friends-with-benefits situation. After all, if you’re going to be friends, you have to have something to do other than screw. It takes a girl with brains to have a conversation.”
Adrianna dropped her head and covered her face with her hands. “Alright, fine. Let’s just finish this.”
Looking happier, Corinne typed her little made-up invitation and set the profile live. It made Adrianna’s heart beat a little faster, anxiety filling her from head to toe. She shouldn’t be nervous about this, but it was so out of her comfort zone she couldn’t help it. She’d never gone hunting for men. She’d had plenty of boyfriends throughout school, and she’d met Tyrese at the first hotel she’d worked in.
“I installed the app on your phone, so you’ll get notifications when someone sends you a message.” Corinne checked her watch and frowned. “I actually have a coffee date to make in about twenty minutes, so I’m going to take off. If you need anything, text me.”
Adrianna nodded and saw her out, then turned off the computer and muted her phone. If she got messages tonight, she’d check them in the morning. This was all too weird to think about right now. Instead, she went to her comfort zone – her shelves full of books. She perused the titles, looking for something relaxing and peaceful. She found an old favorite by Nora Roberts and smiled, deciding that was exactly the therapy she needed.
As she curled up on the couch and started reading, though, she frowned. She’d read this book at least five times, but this was the first time she’d associated the details of a character with someone in real life. For some reason, the hero of the book acutely reminded her of John. It wasn’t even about personality; it was height, eyes, and body. It was as if Nora Roberts had walked into her hotel, spotted John from a distance on one of his visits, and used him as a basis for her hero.
Shaking her head, Adrianna closed the book. She had no reason to be thinking about John right now. He was out of town, and she wouldn’t see him for days, maybe a couple of weeks. That was fine by her; she could manage the hotel with her eyes closed and didn’t need him hovering over her.
But sometimes, his presence was comforting, and now that she was expecting a promotion, she couldn’t wait to see him again. The more often he was around, the more she could prove herself capable. Waiting for him to reappear had her thinking about him constantly, about the meeting with the marketers and how he had practically turned the account over to her as they left their company.
The excitement made it hard to be still, hard to sleep, and she decided, what the hell. Reluctantly, she turned the computer back on and logged into the dating site, finding that she already had three messages. It could be a very long night, she thought, as she started filtering through them and viewing profiles to see if there just might be a prospective winner.
CHAPTER 7
Adrianna stared longingly at the images on her computer screen. Terra had emailed a link to this site, wanting her to see where the honeymoon would be. It was an all-inclusive adult-only resort off the Atlantic side of the Dominican Republic, and the beaches were pristine. She could use a little R&R in the shade of a palm tree growing through the white sands of a beach that meets crystal clear water. Hell, getting out of the country to a place like that might actually help her meet the right kind of guy to meet her needs.
She’d put her dating account on hold and called Corinne this morning to tell her in no uncertain terms that she had no further interest in online dating. Over the past week, she’d received no reasonable requests and no messages from decent men. Half of them had been desperate, another quarter of them had been incredibly unattractive, four or five had been flat out insane, and the rest had been a combination of those things. She much preferred playing the odds in person.
“You look like you’re a million miles away.” The voice brought Adrianna out of her reverie and made her jump in surprise. She looked up to see John in her doorway and couldn’t help smiling at how good the man looked in business casual attire. He rarely dressed down like that, and even though he still wore a button down with his khakis, it really did make a difference. “What’s on your mind, Adrianna?”
Shaking her head, she stretched and told him, “You realize that our business is making people comfortable and helping them relax on their vacations, but we never get the same in return? I haven’t been on vacation in years.” Laughing nervously at her rambling, she explained, “I was just looking at my friend’s honeymoon destination. I’m jealous, I guess.”
John sauntered into the office, closing the door behind him. Adrianna wasn’t sure what to think; he’d never closed the door before. “I would suggest you take a vacation in the next couple of months, Adrianna. It won’t be long before you really won’t have time to get away.”
Her heart pounding as he lowered himself into the usual chair, Adrianna cocked her head to the side. “Why do you say that?”
He linked his fingers together, his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward. “Listen, Adrianna, you’re smart. I think you know where this is going. Just between the two of us, though, here’s the deal. I’m moving up the ladder, taking an international position. That leaves my spot open, and the owners took recommendations for my replacement. I only had one, and that was you. So, I’m going to be grooming you for the role for a couple of months and then officially announcing your promotion. Once you take over my job, you’ll be doing enough traveling that you won’t have the time, energy, or desire to go anywhere on vacation. Any time you have off, you’ll want to spend on your own couch.”
Adrianna wanted to stand up and cheer, dance across her desk, hug and kiss him like a child. Having actually received the news made her soar as if she had wings. Instead, she swallowed the urges and clung to a much more mature approach. “That’s incredible, John. It makes me happy that you have that much confidence in me, and I’m elated at the opportunity.”
John laughed, the sound rumbling up from his chest in a wholehearted, honest way she hadn’t heard from him before. “Bullshit, Adrianna. You have more spirit than that. Tell me how you really feel.”
She hesitated, then unceremoniously stood and rounded the desk to hug John’s neck. He stood and hugged her back, and it was one of the best feelings Adrianna could remember in a long time. Before she could get used to it, she started to pull away, only to have John’s hands drop lower on her back and pull her back against him.
She looked up at him, her mouth open to ask what he was doing, and his lips covered hers in a kiss that rocked her to the soul. His tongue found its way into her mouth, sensually tangling with hers, and she melted against him, glad her arms were around his neck to keep her from sliding to the floor. She kissed him back fervently, her attraction to him boiling over. She could feel the hard muscle beneath his shirt, and below that, the growing erection that spoke of his attraction to her.
All sane thought and any objections she may have had disappeared as John’s fingers pushed at the hem of her shirt, moving it up her body until his fingertips caressed the bare skin around her stomach. It made her skin tingle and the juncture between her thighs heat, and she no longer remembered any reservations she kept in her mental moral handbook.
John must have taken her lack of objection to heart as he drew the shirt up and over her head, coming back down on her mouth instantly, his hands falling to her bra and molding her breasts beneath the lacey material. She moaned into his mouth and began unbuttoning his shirt, wanting to see that expanse of chest that teased her on a daily basis. Her suspicions that he was just as ripped as he looked, as solid as any romance novel hero, were confirmed as she pushed the shirt back off his arms and to the floor.
John backed her up and lifted her onto the desk, and Adrianna spread her legs so he could get between them, maintain the skin to skin contact that made her flesh burn in a way she hadn’t felt in years. John’s mouth moved down the angle of her jaw and across her throat, and she panted in appreciation of his careful but heated touch. His fingers crawled up her spine until they closed on the catch of her bra, releasing it with a twitch of his wrist as he thrust his hips forward so his erection pressed against the center of her.
She throbbed, ached for more, and for all her fantasies about knee-buckling sex, she somehow imagined this was going to be even better. She nearly clawed his arm when he stepped away, but he merely went to lock the office door before coming back and placing his hands on her lower back to bring her forward so his hips were braced against her inner thighs.
The Boss's Baby (Interracial with Baby) (BWWM) Page 3
