by DD Prince
“Go to dinner with me tonight?”
I’m in absolute shock over it.
But, he’s charming and good-looking, and seems almost, but not quite shy about it. Maybe it’s not shyness. I can’t quite put my finger on it. He’s as handsome as a soap opera actor. He’s got a beautiful smile and striking blue eyes.
“But we already have a date,” I say, flirtily as Ally’s coming back to the table.
Austin’s eyes go wide and intrigued.
“Not that kind of date,” I tease “Just kidding. A girlie night out. Meryl from the Philippines is coming.”
He gives me a beautiful smile and it strikes me that he looks an awful lot like his brother. But he doesn’t have that bad boy edge about him.
Aiden’s smiles are rare so far but are always a little bit salacious.
Austin’s smile seems a lot more genuine.
“That was tomorrow, Carly,” Ally lies, giving me big eyes and a sneaky smile as she pours sugar from a packet into her coffee.
“We weren’t doing the girls night out tonight?” I ask.
“Nope. Definitely tomorrow,” she lies some more.
“Oh…”
“Then we’re on,” Austin says with a big smile.
My face goes a little flushed. “Yeah, I guess we are.”
So, I’ve said yes, that I’ll go out with him. But, I’m thinking it’s a terrible idea. Why did I say yes?
The three of us finish eating lunch together and walk back to the office together. Austin walks me directly to my cubicle and puts my number into his phone then recites his to me, so I can put it in my phone before he’s turning to leave, saying he’ll pick me up at seven thirty, if that’s not too late, since he has to work late.
“7:30 sounds good,” I say, smiling at him.
“Yo!” I hear.
Aiden’s in his office and his eyes are on his brother, who’s casually leaned against the full wall on the non-Ally side of my cubicle, his back to Aiden’s office. Austin looks over his shoulder.
“Here,” Aiden orders.
“Be right back, Carly,” Austin winks at me and my heart flip-flops. That wink just changed his demeanor from kind of wholesome to… something else.
Oh my.
I watch as he goes into Aiden’s office. Aiden shuts the door and is standing there; they’re facing off, kind of, because Aiden looks… alpha. Aggressive. Sort of sexy. Who am I kidding? Aiden always looks sexy. Austin has walked in there like he doesn’t have a care in the world. He’s not acting intimidated at all. He’s the same height as Aiden. Austin’s hair is a little shorter, a bit fairer, and he’s got blue eyes instead of chocolate brown like Aiden’s. They have a similar build. Or so it seems with them both being fully clothed. I’d have to see Austin in his underwear to be able to properly compare. Or a pair of grey sweatpants. My mind wanders to that potential image. No. Stop, Carly.
I turn sideways and call Ally’s name in a stage whisper. She pops up like a colorful jack-in-the-box, smiling at me.
“Did you hear all that?” I ask.
She nods rapidly, and her eyes are wide and shiny. She’s loving the drama.
“Pretend to talk to me,” I urge, jerking my head to the side toward Aiden’s office to direct her attention there. I want to have a pretend convo so that I can sort of keep my eyes peeled on what’s happening there. Other than the door, the whole office is windows so it’s easy to see what’s happening from this angle.
She pops back down and then up again, notebook and pen in hand. She clicks the pink pen. “Do you have any idea what font you’d like for that infographic I’m helping you with?” She is on the ball.
18
AIDEN
“What’re you doin’?” I demand, standing there, looking at my brother.
He gives me a confused look. “What do you mean?”
“You’re sniffing around my employee. My roommate.”
“Uh…” He looks over his shoulder at her.
She and Ally are both looking toward my office. Ally’s looking with her mouth open. They can’t hear us, but they’re watching.
Carly’s looking on with wide-eyed horror while both Austin and I are looking at her.
It couldn’t be more obvious that I’m confronting him about her. Fuck.
Carly quickly looks away.
“I’m takin’ her out tonight,” he says.
“No, you’re not,” I fire back.
“Huh?”
“You have a girlfriend,” I say.
“Nope. Ended it Tuesday.”
He sits down.
“You move fast.” I remain standing. Glaring.
“It wasn’t a big deal. Only dated her three weeks. No waiting period required with a three-week thing, Aid.”
I take a step closer and look down at him. “Make an excuse. Don’t go out with her.”
“Why?” He looks at me like I’m crazy.
“Huh?” I ask.
“Make an excuse? For what? Carly’s a fox. Just had lunch with her. She’s not only a fox, she’s cool. Somethin’ I don’t know? She psycho or somethin’?”
“She’s…” I stop and I’m momentarily lost for words.
“You want her?” He looks at me with unguarded surprise.
I glare at him.
“Shit. Didn’t see that one comin’.” He gives his head a scratch as his smile goes so wide he’s in danger of splitting his own lips.
“I didn’t say that,” I defend.
“You wanna fuck her or you like her, man? ‘Cuz if you’re just after gettin’ laid, that’s outside bro rules...”
“Just back off, Austin.”
I haven’t thought this through. I just reacted. That’s not like me.
“You like her.” He gives me a smile, a smile that’s about to become one brother ribbing another for liking a girl.
Austin knows I don’t do more than hookups. We haven’t been after the same girl since we were in our teens and we devised a loose understanding about calling dibs. It didn’t happen often, since I’m two years older, but it has happened a couple times.
“Don’t start bustin’ my balls, man. It’s been less than a week, but she’s in my apartment, skimpy clothes, fuckin’ barefoot and braless, and I have this view of her all day long, and have you seen her ass?”
He smiles. “Yeah. Why do you think I asked her out?”
My brother is definitely an ass man.
I roll my eyes. “Cancel the date.”
“Alright,” he waves his hands. “Didn’t know you were callin’ dibs.”
“Didn’t know you were single,” I point out. “So, didn’t realize I had to.”
“Well, we don’t talk much these days,” he says, and his expression drops.
I know. He’s right. We stare at one another a beat without a shred of humor before I look the other way. This is my fault. I know it is. And everything in me is suddenly screaming that it’s time to make it right.
“Tell ya what, Aid. I’ll make an excuse if you be my dinner date instead.”
“Buy me lobster and you’re on,” I offer.
He barks out a laugh. “You know what I expect in exchange for a lobster dinner, bro.”
I point at him, “I ain’t takin’ it up the ass, Auz. I’ll buy my own fuckin’ lobster instead.”
He laughs, rises, and slaps me in the arm. “Miss you, brother. Seven o’clock or seven thirty. Here?”
“I’m outta here at five.”
“What’s up?”
“Just a fast errand.”
“Yeah. I’m workin’ late tonight. Year end. Pick me up and we’ll go to Buchanan’s.”
“Meet me there. I’ll be on my Ducati,” I tell him. “Get a reservation?
“Will do. I’ll be there for seven thirty.” He slaps my shoulder as he passes me and steps back into Carly’s cubicle, leaving my door open.
She’s still facing sideways, talking to Ally who’s standing up and leaning over their half-wall.
<
br /> I see him lean against her cubicle wall and talk to her.
She aims a big smile at him and it feels sour in my gut.
And I keep watching as he walks away. He winks at me as he passes my office.
She doesn’t turn around. Not at first.
But, then after he’s been gone a good ten or twenty seconds, she looks over her shoulder at me, catches me watching her.
Don’t know why the fuck I put a stop to that, tipping my hand with her. Okay, so maybe I do. I’m planning on fucking her and don’t want Austin to cock-block me and get there first. But, I got this weird sensation in my gut when I saw how he was looking at her. How she was smiling at him as they talked, walking toward her cube. I didn’t like the way it felt in my gut. It felt a little reminiscent of that sensation I got when I saw Sienna with that dickhead in what wound up to be the end of us.
And now I’m in an even worse mood than I was that morning.
Because the minute I agreed to go to dinner with Auz, deciding it’s time to let him in on a few truths, it puts me on edge about how it’s gonna go. I’ve been avoiding the truth too long.
“You got that Franklin competitive analysis back yet from Blake?” I call out, because her eyes are still on me.
She startles out of her daze and shakes her head. “Not yet.”
“Follow up. I want it today,” I snap, and my eyes go back to my laptop.
19
CARLY
My phone makes a text alert.
Ally “Wtf? Did Aiden really just stop Austin from taking you out tonight?”
She obviously heard Austin tell me he had already made plans with his brother that he’d forgotten about. And she doesn’t want us to get any more attention for talking.
Me: “Looks like it.”
Ally: “Holy fucking shit!”
Me: “Yep. Steakhouse back on?”
Ally: “Absolutely. I’ll go tell Meryl.”
Meryl is working on the third floor. She’s supposed to get off work at 3:30.
Austin came back in after that whatever it was in Aiden’s office looking sheepish.
“Sorry, Carly. I forgot I had something with my brother tonight. Can’t do dinner after all.” He then looked genuinely remorseful.
But, how weird was that?
“No problem.” Talk about relieved!
He smiled. He didn’t tell me we’d reschedule. I looked at him a beat too long before saying anything else, so he looked like he’d been about to make some lame excuse that’ll sound like he’ll call me when really, he won’t, because his brother just put a stop to it. I saved him the trouble.
“I’m really not ready to date, anyway. I just got out of a two-year relationship just over a week ago.”
“Oh.” He looked uncomfortable.
“I’m sort of relieved. No offence. I’m flattered. You seem like a real… uh… catch. It’s just too…um…soon for me.” I smiled at him.
He smiled back. “Not a problem. Friends then. For now.” He winked and walked off.
For now?
I have a strong feeling Austin is way less than 100% wholesome.
***
Aiden wasn’t just an asshole the few times I’d dealt with him that afternoon. He was an asshole supreme. I could hear him on the phone ripping someone a new asshole from what I’m guessing was our New York or maybe our Miami office.
And then he yelled at Blake, the intern that works with Stacy about the competitive analysis not being detailed enough. He was so horrible to Blake that Blake, a fresh-faced recent college grad, looked on the verge of tears coming out of Aiden’s office!
And then a woman turned up and was in his office and his door not only got slammed, his blinds got closed by that woman.
I only caught a glimpse of her going in and a slightly better look at her coming out five minutes later. I’m guessing it was his mother, a very attractive (though obviously had quite a bit of plastic surgery) woman with blonde hair and blue eyes who then went into Mr. C’s office.
Aiden’s office blinds were down the rest of the afternoon. And it was kind of a relief because I felt like I had actual privacy for a change.
Meryl worked until five, so she came home with us in the cab. I’ve told the girls I’m going to go to the gym in the building and work out before we go for dinner. I haven’t had a decent workout since I got here, and I want to check it out.
The lobby is empty of Seth. When I get up to the apartment I change into shorts and a crop top as well as sneakers.
I grab my keys and phone and head down to P1 for the gym.
***
The workout room is awesome. There’s also an indoor pool here. How did I survive almost a week here without knowing about this? There’s a hot tub and a sauna, too.
I do twenty minutes on the elliptical and then after I’ve gotten started on the weight machines, the lights suddenly go out.
I jolt. I’m doing chest presses and I have the weights suspended so I carefully put it back into place and reach around the dark floor until I find my phone. I press the button and it lights up and I let out a breath.
“Got ‘cha’” I hear in the dark and I gasp. The lights go on and Seth the security guard is in the doorway.
I’m gasping. I’m reeling. He nearly gave me a heart attack.
“Omigod.”
He’s laughing. His eyes then slowly peruse the entirety of me and the look on his face makes my blood run cold. I suddenly feel very vulnerable down here.
“Havin’ a good workout?” he asks.
“Uh, I was, until you scared the crap outta me.” I’m annoyed and not hiding it, but I’m also feeling my heart gallop in my chest as I really don’t like the look on his face. Nor, the fact that I’m in the bowels of the building with him between me and the doorway.
Everything strikes me as just wrong right now.
“You all sweaty?” he jerks his chin up and then he licks his lips.
I hear something in the distance, and Seth turns to look out into the hallway. That’s when I hear Ally’s voice.
“There’s a freaking pool down here?”
Oh, thank God.
He looks annoyed for a split second, but then winks at me. “Later.” He slips out of the doorway.
Ally and Meryl are both in workout clothes and now they’re in the room with me.
“Heyyyy,” Ally says.
I let out a big breath and reach for my bottle of water.
And then I fill them in on that, that… whatever it was.
They both agree it was creepy and we decide to come down here in pairs from now on.
After my workout is cut short, we all hang out with our feet in the pool, and decide we’ll come down for a swim together on the weekend.
***
I get back up to the apartment and head into the bathroom, strip, then turn the water on for the shower. Or, I try. No water comes out.
Hm.
I need a shower, and this shower seems to be broken. I look at the soaker tub. I really don’t want to sit in a bath when I’m all sweaty and I don’t have much time. Should I go down to Ally and Meryl’s to get a shower? They have one full bathroom and one half bathroom so that’s probably a bad idea as we all have to get ready to go out. I have two and a half bathrooms, two of them with showers. But, one is in Aiden’s room.
Hm.
Darn.
What to do?
He’s not here. I could be in and out in ten minutes, right?
Fuck it.
I wrap myself in a towel and grab extra clean towels and my shower essentials and I go in.
His bed is unmade. Satin sheets all rumpled, his comforter half hanging off the bed. His room is messy. Clothes on the floor, closet wide open with some stuff hanging, loads of stuff on the floor, two suitcases that are sort of exploding on the floor in there, and a mess of shoes. Like… more shoes than I even own.
I step into the bathroom. There’s an overflowing hamper and two towels on the floor, lik
ely from that morning. His shaving stuff is on the vanity and the sink is filled with stubble, dried shaving foam, and toothpaste.
What. A. Slob.
I lock the door and test the doorknob to make sure it worked. Last thing I need is him walking in on me in here.
A quick test and I see that his shower works. And it’s the freaking bomb. It has multiple heads pointing from several directions.
I brought my bodywash, bath puff, my shampoo, conditioner, and my razor so I look for places to line up my bottles, so they’ll be in reaching distance. There’s a shelf on the wall with a bottle of men’s head to toe hair and bodywash.
I put my bodywash beside it and my hand touches something jelly-like. There’s a … is that… no.
I blink at it, making sure my eyes aren’t playing tricks on me.
A head honcho? Flesh light? Elastic Lassie. It has many names and I’ve only ever seen them online before but, yep, this is definitely one of those. It’s a clear jelly-like flashlight-shape with a distinctive vagina-looking jelly top opening.
Oh shit. I cringe and back up.
And then I envision him using it. Pumping it on his dick. I can’t envision his actual dick, since I’ve never seen it, but I’ve seen a lot of the rest of him. The sexy v of his hips. His thighs. His bulging muscles that’d ripple as he pumped his man meat.
Whoa. I’m doing the opposite of cringing now.
He would totally freak if he found out I was in here. Totally. I’ve invaded his privacy.
I can’t abandon my plan, though. I have to meet the girls in the lobby in twenty-five minutes. I’m going to have to make this a super-fast shower and make sure there’s no sign I was here, run to my room, dry my hair super-fast, and get moving.
20
AIDEN
Dealing with my mother in the office just added insult to injury with the shitty day and my foul mood.
She strutted in and shut the door hard.
