‘All is well. Just relax, Mr Holder.’ I pinched my other nipple. ‘Speaking of relaxing, you forgot your wine.’
‘I was distracted, Lily.’
‘Trust me, I understand.’
‘What are you wearing?’ he asked, lowering his voice as though someone could hear him.
‘No, you didn’t,’ I said. ‘You so did not just ask me what I was wearing.’
‘I did. I’m about to segue into asking you to wear something a little more office-friendly tomorrow.’
‘You like the word “segue”, don’t you?’
‘It’s a good word.’
‘What’s wrong with how I dress? Besides my bad shoes. A problem which you and your assistant resolved for me today.’ The way I said ‘your assistant’ bothered me. It was kind of bitchy. But Beatrice Collins bothered me first.
‘Your clothes shouldn’t be two sizes too big.’
‘Nothing.’
‘Sorry?’
‘Then you’ll be pleased to hear I’m not wearing anything, right now,’ I informed him. ‘Not a stitch.’
‘No!’ Dorian sounded both delighted and disbelieving. ‘Are you in your living room?’
‘Yep.’
‘Are the curtains pulled? Your building isn’t in the best part of town.’
‘Nor is Agassiz Street the worst part of town, thank you very much. And yes, my curtains are pulled.’ I giggled. ‘Am I allowed to be naked in my own apartment? Or is that against your rules as well?’
‘I suppose you can, but don’t tell me about it when I’m driving.’ Dorian’s voice sounded croaky. He was so getting a hard-on, I could practically hear the finely spun wool of those fancy pants rustle, accommodating his engorged member. This excited me more than words can say.
I wanted to touch that thing so bad. Or even just see it.
‘Then I probably shouldn’t tell you that I’ve been playing with my nipples the entire time we’ve been talking.’ Wow. Where did that come from? Quit it, hussy.
‘Jesus, Lily!’ There was another loud honk. ‘I’ve got to get off.’
‘Me, too.’ It was as though I were possessed by St Angela, patron saint of sluts, whose name I took at Confirmation. ‘Badly.’
‘The phone. I’ve got to get off the phone.’ His voice was strained. ‘I’m going to crash the BMW, it’ll be all your fault, and then we will have a problem.’
‘Goodnight, Dorian.’ I hung up before he had a chance.
BMW. How retro.
Dorian Holder was nothing short of wonderful. Awful. Awfully wonderful.
* * *
‘Hi, you’ve reached Gwen Schneider. Leave a message if this is important. Otherwise just text me and maybe I’ll get back to you at some point. Muah!’
‘Hey, Gwen. Lily here. It’s important. And I’m going to text you. ’Bye.’
There was a beep, mid-text, and without looking I clicked ANSWER. ‘Gwen?’
‘No, Lily. It’s Dorian.’
‘Oh.’ I scampered to the bathroom and looked in the mirror again, as though he could see me. ‘Hey. We just talked.’
‘Indeed. I’m back home.’
Home?
‘Colorado?’
‘What? No.’ He was impatient. ‘The Four Seasons.’
‘Right.’ I shook my head. ‘Of course you are.’
‘Why the tone?’
‘Shouldn’t you be at a Holder Inn?’
‘Lily, between you and me, I’m only slightly less ashamed of the hotel chain than I am of Apollyon.’
‘Fair enough.’ I had taken advantage of my employee discount, and let me put it this way: even at half price, you don’t want to stay at a Holder Inn. ‘What’s up?’
‘I think you should call your mother.’
‘Seriously?’ Seriously.
‘Yes. When I spoke to her earlier, she panicked, assuming something had happened to you.’
Of course she did. I cringed. Poor Ma. I didn’t even call her back when she wished me happy birthday. What kind of daughter was I? A defensive one, that’s what kind. I didn’t bother keeping the sarcasm out of my voice when I said, ‘You called me to tell me to call home?’
‘As I mentioned, she’s a very sweet woman, your mother. According to her, you haven’t been in touch since Thursday.’
‘True story.’ I tried to digest this but had a creepy feeling. ‘That all?’
‘Not exactly.’ He was pacing around his schmancey hotel room, pouring himself a scotch, because I could hear the clink of glass on glass, and pictured him as though he were in a split-screen. ‘I also want an explanation of why Troy Matthews phoned you three times in a couple hours. Are you feeling harassed at the workplace?’
‘He did?’ I failed to keep the excitement out of my voice. Being desired feels good to a gal, even if … even if. ‘Oh, I mean, did he? Why were you monitoring my calls?’
‘You didn’t answer my question.’
‘Seeing as you have called me twice within the last twenty minutes, I don’t know why a friend of mine shouldn’t be able to do the same.’ I cleared my throat. ‘Are you harassing me?’
‘Yes, Lily, I am harassing you, and I think you enjoy it.’
‘No comment.’
‘Please don’t take any more of Troy Matthews’ calls. I’ve got a bad feeling about that one.’
‘Do you, now?’
He was silent.
Wow. So Dorian Holder had a bit of possessive stalker in him, on top of everything else. ‘Thank you for your concern, Mr Holder. I have to go now. There’s another call coming in. Sweet dreams.’
Click.
Two for two. Nice hang-up, Lily, I thought. ‘Hey, Ma.’
‘Ma?’ Gwen’s voice was sotto voce. ‘It’s Gwen. What’s going on?’
‘I’m not fired. Why are you whispering?’
‘Got company.’ She snickered. ‘Know what I’m sayin’?’
‘Tell David hello.’
‘If it were David, I would.’ Her whisper got exaggeratedly soft. ‘It’s Marky-Mark.’
‘The new kid, Joe? Who you imagine looks like Mark Wahlberg?’
‘Yeah, there’s a story. Listen, I’m so glad everything’s OK, and I want to hear all about it, but there’s a sexy beast waiting under my sheets.’ She tittered. ‘Talk tomorrow?’
Before I could answer, she hung up.
Thanks, Gwen.
Time for a long bath, and to finish up what was left of the blackberry wine. I needed to pamper myself while flashing back to the events of the strange evening with Dorian. Sure, the detachable shower head will be more than happy to assist me in completing what he started. I was betting Dorian would also be happy to assist me were he present. Too cool.
Too scary, and I shouldn’t even have entertained the thought. That was a one-time perfect kiss and an awkward follow-up phone call, which Dorian made strictly so I wouldn’t worry about weirdness at work. Maybe he wasn’t an entire asshole.
Oh, God. I liked him. I really, really, really … needed to accept that nothing else could or would happen. But how could I? He liked my proposals, believed I had potential for advancement and apparently thought I was some kind of hot. Why couldn’t I have left it at that, and been satisfied?
As the flowery Body Shop scent from the tub lovingly filled my bathroom, I texted mercurial Gwen:
Dorian totally came over and kissed me tonight.
Some messages are just too wonderful for shorthand.
I lowered myself into the steaming water, immersing myself in bubbles and warmth.
I closed my eyes, picturing Dorian Holder, CEO in his Jacuzzi or whatever awesome bathroom thing he had going on, stroking his long, turgid cock, while thinking of naked me.
I grabbed the shower head, rested my head on the bath pillow and surrendered myself to the fantasy with wild abandon.
A girl’s got to dream.
Chapter Five
The Other Side
The next day I awoke before my alarm cheepe
d, which, as Dorian Holder might say, was unprecedented. Despite a night of extremely hot dreams, I was fully rested. For the first time in I don’t know when, I was so excited to go to work I could have spit. While my Amazing Green Goddesshake whirled away in the Cuisinart, I checked my email with eagerness and butterflies. There was a ton of letters filling my inbox, but the two that caught my eye first? Dorian Holder and Dorian Holder.
Oh, my!
The first one from last night’s subject line is:
Your Phone
Boring. That would just be him saying he was coming over. But the subject line of the second read XXX, sent that very morning. Immediate toe-curl! I decided to wait and savour that one. Triple-X!
So I read Gwen’s first.
Hi, Hon! Glad you weren’t fired. To say the least.
Fucked the shit out of new boy! He’s totally spent and sleeping. David made the mistake of not calling back, so … whatevz. I never made any promises!
In other news … Holy fucking fuck! Mr Holder kissed you? How? When? Totally called that one on the subway, right? I need details, but don’t trust this Joey-Marky guy for nothin’, not after the ratfink he pulled on Colossimo yesterday. So no-can-do-talky long as he’s here. Let’s meet in the café for shit-joe on the early side?
Muah,
Gwendolyn
I wasn’t ready to respond to that Gwen energy, yet. It was time to open Dorian, and hang on to his every word. Overanalyse everything. Deep breath.
Dear Ms Dewitt:
Please take the rest of the week off. It isn’t what you think – God knows what that is, but I must curtail what appears to be your permanent case of mind virus before you go spinning. There are a few kinks I need to work out on my end before you return to Apollyon. I’ll ring you at some point this afternoon, after reviewing your notes. Which I’m sure are quite brilliant; yesterday I was most distracted and only skimmed the surface. Very much looking forward to diving deeper. Please forward me your staff’s drafts, as well.
Thank you again for the vino. Bartlett’s, you said? As in the book of quotations?
All Yours,
Dorian Holder
All mine. I loved that.
But I was also disappointed, since for once I was pumped for work, and had even planned an ensemble I hoped would please Dorian. Sad to say, I also had no idea what to do with a week off, completely broke, while my handful of friends were working. The idea of sunbathing in Harvard Yard was actually kind of dumb. Knowing my luck, I’d get hit by a wayward frisbee. Now that I had the Dorian Holder bug, flirting with li’l trust fundies held no appeal. I just wanted to go to Apollyon and make up all kinds of excuses to go to the thirteenth floor.
Maybe Dorian guessed as much, and wanted me to settle down before returning to the office. What could he possibly have in store? I wondered. Was this just some weird kind of thing where he never ever wanted to see me again because I went all slutty on him the night before? Would he make sure that we were never in the same room between now and whenever he was heading back to Colorado?
By ‘slutty’ I didn’t mean the hot kiss (which was pretty much his fault), but my follow-up sex talk on the phone – classic dirty Lily. Dirty Lily whom I supposedly left at Jerry Fitz’s pad many moons ago, to make room for twu wuv. Dorian Holder was not a man anyone in her right mind would want to love, unless she were an emotional masochist. Maybe I still needed to be taught a lesson now and again, but should guard my heart as though it were the Shroud of Turin. Would it be possible for us to work out an arrangement without me walking away heartbroken and stupid? Because one thing was for certain: Dorian Hartley Holder was not a man who fell in love. I wondered if he used to be. I wondered if he ever would be.
Dear God. What had I done?
Remember what he said about ‘mind virus’, Lily, I told myself. I’d never heard the expression before but it was fairly self-explanatory – and a malady to which I have always been very vulnerable.
The phone rang at just the right time, and – uncool as a European cucumber – I picked it up at once.
‘Lily?’
That voice. ‘This is she.’
‘Dorian Holder.’
‘I know.’
‘You haven’t responded to my message yet. Is everything all right?’
‘What? Yeah, I’m fine.’ I peeked at the screen. ‘It looks like you only sent it twenty minutes ago.’
‘I’m not a patient man, Lily.’ He let out an exaggerated sigh, and I pictured him rubbing his temples. ‘There’s a lot going on at Apollyon today, so I can’t be distracted by anything, including you. Scratch that. Especially you.’
‘Is that the real reason why you don’t want me to come in?’ There it was.
‘No, but I can’t deny it plays a part. Today I want you to find some office-appropriate garments. Something decent and respectful. I’m sending you to the shopping district.’ He waited. ‘Lily?’
‘I’m here. But Dorian, I’m also broke, so this spree will have to wait until my next paycheck. Even after payday, I can’t afford Newbury Street.’ When he was silent, I add, ‘Or Downtown Crossing. Ever.’
‘That won’t be an issue. You have an unlimited spending account, and can charge everything to the company. I’m sending a car, and have already given Benton an envelope with the paperwork.’ He paused. ‘You don’t need to get everything today.’
‘Benton? That’s your driver.’
‘Benton Worthy. He’s quite looking forward to making your acquaintance.’
‘Is that his real name? Classic.’
‘As I mentioned, you’ll have a few days to yourself,’ continued Dorian, ignoring my blather. ‘Looking over your work history, I see you’ve accrued four weeks of paid vacation, of which no one has informed you.’
‘Seriously? That’s awesome. But maybe I’d rather go on a trip somewhere than go shopping. Never thought of that, didja?’
‘Consider this a bonus week, since Apollyon has essentially been stealing from you. I am a businessman, Lily, and the last thing this company needs is another lawsuit. Not that we would lose – we never do – but legal tangles are such a headache.’
Like I would press charges on Apollyon for anything. Dorian was trying to keep me from feeling like a charity case, and I appreciated the gesture. He must have picked up on my pride.
‘You really don’t have to do this.’
‘Just say, “Thank you” and do as I say.’
‘Thank you.’ I rolled my eyes, as though he could see me. ‘Do as I say,’ indeed.
‘I’ll be sending Ms Collins along to help you with your selections.’
You have got to be kidding me. ‘Uh, actually, I like to either solo-shop or take my friend Gwen.’
‘Bea– that is, Ms Collins bought your new shoes yesterday, and you seemed pleased with them.’ He sounded surprised. ‘She has exceptional taste.’
‘I’m sure,’ I said, trying to keep the snarkiness out of my voice, and considered throwing my new kicks in the trash. ‘But if I need any assistance, I’ll consult the saleswomen. Sir.’
‘As you wish.’
‘Cool.’
‘Your car will be arriving in twenty minutes. Enjoy the day.’
‘Thank –’
But he had already hung up. Head spinning, I slipped into a pair of lacy white panties, matching push-up bra, peach silk camisole top and favourite jeans. Hmm. I yanked on my million-year-old cowgirl boots and tugged my cuffs over them because it made me look tall. Well, taller than five foot four, anyway. It was a lip-stain and gloss kind of morning, a sweep of mascara, and my hair could be as tousled as it wanted. Seeing as I was about to get the Julia Roberts Pretty Woman treatment, I could look just as sexy and undone as I pleased, as well. Right?
Right.
So I waited on the stone steps for Benton Worthy’s grand arrival. I’d never ridden in a Town Car before, though when Danny Sedgefield and I went to senior prom together he rented a limo. It was wonderfully tacky. We d
rank Welch’s grape soda and Smirnoff; I puked all over the back seat. Some things never change. Anyway, here came the car, slick and black as a scarab. The bushy-eyebrowed man, who could only be Benton Worthy, quickly circled the Lincoln Continental – so old school! – and opened my back door with a flourish.
‘Hello, Mr Worthy,’ I said.
I reached out to him, and it was awkward because he didn’t seem to expect it. But he smiled and grasped my hand in a firm shake. Benton was nice-looking for an older dude. Smooth skin, though he clearly tanned, which I thought was hilarious. Ma would have loved him. She always had a thing for elderly gentlemen. I wished Benton Worthy would give me his chauffeur hat, because it would make for a cute yet saucy accessory on one of my rare nights out. Which was precisely why Dorian was sending me on a mandatory shopping spree. Twentysomething girls should not be wearing drivers’ caps, under the false impression they look ‘playful’.
‘Benton,’ he said. ‘I will be your driver.’
‘And I am Lily Dewitt. I will be your passenger.’ Somehow, I resisted the urge to salute.
‘Miss Dewitt.’
‘Lily. Nice to meet you.’
My driver? How many chauffeurs did Dorian have? Like one for all of his friends? And the girls he was trying to shag? By now I understood that he had a soft spot for riding trains, cruising around in retro Rich Guy cars and trespassing in SUVs. So why all the drivers? Perhaps, if I could have them, I would too. Drive and be driven. How must it be to have everything you wanted, to have a whim and just go with it? That could make someone dangerous. I ducked into the car and ran my hand across the sleek, soft leather seats. Benton rolled up the tinted window between us, not saying a word.
And I thought about the girls Dorian would be trying to shag. He must have Lilies planted everywhere. Maybe some right here in town. This train of thought made me blue, and I should have shut that shit down, since I had zero claim on Dorian Holder. Nor had I any plans to have sex with him. Flirty emails, best kiss of my entire life, and dirty phone talk were enough to keep a nice buzz going without things getting weird.
Maybe one more kiss.
My pussy warmed as I recalled the sensation of his dick rammed up against me. How, even through our layers of clothing, the insistence of it was so tempting, how he was hard as a diamond. I closed my eyes as the low throb in my jeans became distracting. Sigh. Tinted, soundproof window between Benton and me notwithstanding, I would not masturbate in the back of a Lincoln Continental.
Reaching Lily Page 8
