by Amy Brent
“I do not,” he said.
“Rick,” I said, sighing, “I’m seeing someone.”
“I heard you the first time,” he said.
“And I need you to understand that the guy I’m dating probably isn’t going to like—”
“What went wrong with us, Charlie?” he asked.
“Rick—”
“No, I’m serious. What happened?”
“You know exactly what happened, Rick. We just took two different paths. I was working to try and better myself, and you were just sort of okay with whatever,” I said.
“And that’s supposed to be a good reason to break up with someone? What about all the good times we had together?” he asked.
“Rick, every couple has good times, that’s how they get to be a couple in the first place. And, yeah, we had fun at the parties and stuff. But, I had to put the parties behind me. I had to grow up and find my way in life. College wasn’t all there was to life, and you just didn’t understand that,” I said.
I was hoping if I spoke to him clearly and plainly, he would get it. I was hoping if I didn’t talk around things and pray he read between the lines anymore, it would make this easier.
Unfortunately, all it did was make him angrier.
“I treated you well, Charlie. I gave you things no other man could,” he said.
“Rick, we weren’t right together. You needed someone who had the ability to support themselves and party with you. I didn’t have that ability. Not with where I wanted to take my career.”
“But, why did you leave me, Charlie? Why did you desert me? I just don’t understand it!”
“Rick, I’m not going over this anymore. I gave you the answers to your questions, and I don’t have anything else to say. We ran our course, and eventually we weren’t a good match any longer. There are other women, you’ll find someone, but not if you’re still having ideas about us,” I said.
“Yeah, like you found someone,” he said. I could hear the fire in his voice and I started to become uncomfortable with him in my apartment. In that very moment, I found myself wishing L was here, but I knew he couldn't be.
I knew he never would be.
“It’s time for you to go, Rick,” I said, going over to my door and standing by it.
“You really should think about giving me a key so someone can keep an eye on your cat while you go on your business trips,” he said, with a hint of sarcasm in the voice.
“The kennels will do just fine if I need someone. Goodbye, Rick.”
He huffed, storming out the door before I closed it, locking both the main lock and the door. Even though I stood my ground and wasn’t afraid of Rick, I could still feel myself shaking. I dropped Johnson back on his feet and threw myself onto the couch, and just as quickly as Rick had appeared, he fell from the forefront of my mind.
The image of L’s body filled my head once again.
Chapter 19
Ellison
I knew Michael would get suspicious the moment I stepped into the office. I was aware of the tan that I’d obtained in the Bahamas over the weekend, as well as the spring that was in my step. I tried my hardest to act normal and pretend as if nothing had changed, but the truth of the matter was that everything had changed. Everything. I told Charlie it would be best if we tried to stay away from one another for a couple of days until our tans died down a bit from the beach, but the only thing I could think about was how much I missed her already.
“Alright, L. Let’s cut the crap. Who is she and why are you keeping her a secret?”
“Hmm?” I asked.
“Put your files down and look at me,” Michael said.
“I’ve got way too much work to do to stop and indulge your sixth sense,” I said.
“It’s not a sixth sense. You’re tanner, which means you’ve been in the sun; you’re talking taller, which means you were probably in the sun with someone you enjoyed; and you were wide awake without your traditional two cups of coffee this morning. I haven’t even seen you get your afternoon cup of tea yet. Who is she and what does she look like?” he asked.
“Her name is ‘the project in the Bahamas,’ and she’s coming along nicely,” I said.
“Wait, you were in the Bahamas? And you didn’t update me on the project?” he asked.
“Nothing really to update, Mike. They’re still excavating the land and leveling it out a bit more. I don’t want it to just be luxurious, I also want it to be easy to navigate. People are lazy today. They don’t wanna walk hills.”
“And they’re on board with the designs?” he asked.
“They’re on board with whatever I tell them,” I said. “I’ll probably make another trip in the next three weeks or so. You gonna harass me about screwing the construction workers then, too?”
“It is possible for you to go to the Bahamas and work before you get yourself a little playtime in. You’re too happy to not be getting laid. Why aren’t you fessing up?” he asked.
“Because there’s nothing to fess up to,” I said.
“You screw an islander?” he asked.
“No, Michael.”
“A married woman?”
“No!”
“A cougar?” he asked.
“I’m not playing this game with you, Michael,” I said.
“So, why won’t you tell your best friend who you’re fucking?” he asked.
“If it will make you feel better, then yes, I’m fucking someone,” I said.
“I knew it! What’s she like? She went to the Bahamas with you, didn’t she?”
“First, that would be unprofessional. Never mix business and pleasure,” I said, feeling a pang of guilt bubble up in my gut.
“Fine, fine, fine. The tan’s ‘from work.’ Got it. Is her pussy tight? You’ve got a nice little pep in your step, which means you’re probably going back for more.”
“We’re trying to figure things out,” he said. “She doesn’t want the attention with what her career entails and that’s just fine with me. A nice romp here and there without the necessary dinners is a nice change from the bitch gold diggers I’m usually with.”
“Dude, come on. I’ve gotta know. What woman in their right mind doesn’t wanna be wined and dined by the legendary Ellison James. She’s gotta be a bit nutso, right?” he asked.
“Drop it, Michael. I respect her enough to honor her wishes,” I said.
“Holy cow, she must have a very tight pussy. She got you on a leash and everything.”
“Don’t you have some work somewhere that I pay you to do?” I asked.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it can wait until I’m done harassing you.”
“Not if you wanna keep your job,” I said, murmuring.
“Alright, L. Enough for now, but I’m not done with you yet,” he said.
“Funny. That’s just what she told me,” I said, winking.
“Man, that’s just not cool. Now I wanna know even more,” he said.
“You will, if and when we both agree on it.”
I had to get this paperwork done for the meeting I had this afternoon. I told Charlie she didn’t need to be there, since it was just a meeting with all the VPs, but I actually didn’t want her there because a couple of my VPs were female. Women were always good at sniffing out that kind of thing, and I really didn’t wanna take the chance that one of them would latch on to the fact that we had matching tans.
I walked into the boardroom with a few figures drawn up, ready to introduce them to the final piece of the project. I still hadn’t formally announced which hotel setup we were going with, and I wanted to hold off on the meeting until I had all the figures. I passed out folders with images, schematics, blueprints, and possible numbers, then walked everyone through them. All of us needed to be on the same page if this was going to work, and this gave the VPs time to give me their gut reactions on everything from finances to safety codes.
“How bloated are these annual earnings figures?”
“Will th
ere be fire extinguishers in every room?”
“What about adding a little washer and dryer combo to each unit?”
“Are all the properties beachfront?”
“Do you think we could get away with putting a tiki bar on the beach?”
“What if some of the hotel balconies had hot tubs?”
“What about entertainment at the resort? Are those fees included? Can they pick and choose their shows to pay for?”
They all had wonderful questions and I was there to answer every single one of them. The meeting took close to two hours, but when we all left we felt like we had our fair share of information to digest. I wanted the VP of accounting to crunch some numbers about some fun ideas the VP of customer service had, and I wanted the VP of information technology to do some research into who would be the best provider on the island for television and internet.
“Make sure you get all your financial numbers to accounting,” I said. “I want these figures on my desk by the end of next week.”
We all went our separate ways and I was gathering my things, but before I could get out of there I felt a light touch on my shoulder.
And I knew exactly who it was.
“Hey there, Mr. James,” Sheila said.
“Miss Brown. What can I do for you?” I asked.
“As the VP of sales, I was wondering what your plans were for marketing this out to the public. I know you are probably going to have the stereotypical ribbon-cutting ceremony, but I really didn’t get a chance to ask before the meeting adjourned,” she said.
“Well, that’s why I asked if there was anything else before I closed the meeting, Miss Brown,” I said.
“By the time I realized what you were doing, it was already too late. Please forgive me, Mr. James, I was just writing down some figures and other information I thought would’ve been pertinent to me,” she said.
She slid her hand down my arm before dropping it to her side, and I knew exactly what she was trying to do.
And if she did it again, I’d have to say something about it.
Sheila Brown was the first woman VP I’d ever promoted within the company. She was a ruthless shark when it came to sales, and a fourth of my annual income was due to the quick decisions she could make and the way she could manipulate a room full of men. While rail-thin blondes weren’t really my type, she was for many men, and she was the only other woman I’d seen— other than Charlie—so skilled at throwing around her sensuality in a way that had men eating out of the palms of her hands.
“Yes, I do plan on having a ribbon-cutting ceremony of course, and then my plan was to market the luxury hotel with commercials and internet advertisements that simply juxtaposed some of the amenities we had along with others around the island while alerting potential customers to the fact that we allow them to pick-and-choose their own packages,” I said.
“Wonderful,” she said. “Question two.”
“Exactly how many questions did you reserve for after this meeting, Miss Brown?” I asked.
“Honestly? They’re just coming to me at this point,” she said, smiling up at me.
“Well, I do have a busy schedule. If you’d like to shoot me an email, I’ll answer it at my earliest convenience,” I said.
“Mr. James, the quicker I can get this information from you, the better I can do my job. You want to make money, right?” she asked.
“Of course,” I said.
“Then, let me do my job the best way I see fit,” she said.
“And that requires one-on-one time after a two-hour meeting?” I asked.
“One-on-one time is always better than a group setting, don’t you think?”
Her question rolled around in my mind before she stepped a bit closer to me to show me something on her paper. Her hair was fluttering around her shoulders and she was slowly scooting into me, and I cleared my throat before I took a step back from her.
“Miss Brown, you are aware of the policy I have regarding interoffice romances, correct?” I asked.
“Of course, Mr. James. You make it very clear every time you fire someone over it,” she said.
“Then it won’t come as a surprise to you when I tell you I abide by my own rules, correct?”
I looked down at the hand she had outstretched and placed on my arm, and she ripped it back quickly. I saw a slight red tint paint her cheeks before she cleared her throat, and she nodded in punctuation before I continued.
“As a leader, I have to set an example. My words don’t mean anything if they don’t mirror my actions. And while I’m sure your current actions toward me are nothing short of innocent, if something as simple as a rumor were to permeate the office environment, I would have quite a fire to put out.”
“I’m very sorry, Mr. James. In my career, I have found that light touches and shoulder brushings with powerful men help to keep their attention. Usually, when I am talking with someone, their minds are going a mile a minute on something else. Studies show that a physical touch helps bring someone into the present, which means I’m more likely to get the answers I seek without having to repeat myself and waste my time,” she said.
“I knew there was a reason, Miss Brown. I just wanted to alert you to the people currently glancing into the boardroom. They can see our physical reactions, but they can’t hear our conversation. It would be very easy to misinterpret this situation, and I have no time to put out interoffice rumors that do not coincide with my policies,” I said.
“Understood, Mr. James. I’ll shoot you an email with the rest of my questions. Just try to have them to me as soon as you can. I want to start drafting potential commercial ideas as well as how to advertise around the island. If we could create a package we could market at a cheap price to the islanders as well, that would help boost their own economy, which means we could officially dedicate the luxury hotel to a cause, so to speak.”
“There’s a reason you were the first woman VP I hired, Miss Brown. I’ll answer it as soon as I get it,” I said.
“Then I’ll go get it sent,” she said, grinning.
I watched her walk away before I gathered the rest of my things, and the pang of guilt I had felt before with Michael had now grown into a thunderous storm. I had just become the biggest liar and hypocrite in my whole company, and it had rolled off my tongue as if it was second nature. I’d always prided myself on being an honest individual, even if my company was run under very strict control. Those rules were in place for a reason, and the one person that should be abiding by them above all was skirting them. And lying about it.
If I was my employee, I would be fired on the spot. Even with that knowledge, I was still thinking about when I would next see Charlie next.
The thunderous storm of guilt made me so sick I had to sit back down.
Chapter 20
Charlie
I knew the reason L wanted us to keep our distance for a little while, but it killed me to be away from him. Whenever something came up that required going to his office, I would simply drop it at his secretary’s desk. I’d tell her I had a busy day and whisper that I couldn’t be bothered with the ramblings of Mr. James, and she’d giggle while trying to rope me into a conversation. I’d brush her off, not wanting L to see me before I left, and whenever I’d leave the view of his office I’d feel a drop in the pit of my stomach.
I hadn’t seen him at the office all week, and I was missing him.
I wished we could take our relationship public. Sneaking around and using burner phones like this was getting tiresome, and felt wrong, and I didn’t realize we’d be trying to do it while cultivating an actual relationship. If we were still just playing around, then I’d be all for it. But now, we were trying to create something real.
Something lasting.
Something monumental.
All the while sticking to the shadows and sneaking around as if we were doing something wrong. I was having trouble making peace with it.
Even still, I got it. His policy regarding
interoffice romance was the strictest around in the business world. When you mentioned the name ‘Ellison James,’ people would talk about two things; how the rare the rise of his empire was, and how he wouldn’t let his employees be distracted by the drama of interoffice romance. If word were to get out about him being involved with one of his employees, that part of his reputation would be smashed. The entire dynamic of his company would change. He would open himself up to lawsuit after lawsuit—and if there were enough of them, it was possible he could pay enough settlements to end up on the road to bankruptcy.
But even still, no matter how nervous it made me feel, every single time I thought of him I felt the heat stir in my pelvis and rise all the way up to my neck.
Hiding away from the public eye sometimes made me feel like he was ashamed to be seen with me, but the rational part of my mind knew otherwise. He was simply trying to protect the best interests of everyone involved while keeping his company afloat. I could surely understand that, and if this was the only way I could have L in my life, then this is what I’d have to do.
And I was alright with that.
I didn’t want to let him go, nor did I want him to feel as if he had to choose. I understood the passion and burning desire to own your company, and to see it flourish under your leadership, and I would never rip that from him. If anything, I supported what he was trying to do, even though I didn’t like being relegated to the shadows.
