by Claire Angel
Why do women always try to change men? Even Lolita knew that I would never be the party animal she wanted by her side. My daughter and my company were my top priorities. If only she could have accepted everything, she could have had everything handed to her on a silver platter and all of this would have been unnecessary.
But then again, I didn’t know if we would have had a happy marriage. Maybe I could have been accused of trying to change Lolita into a perfect wife. I had to control my emotions and keep my heart safely tucked away.
I washed my face and headed back to our table, determined to keep my distance from Diane. I just watched them laughing and dancing together. I could have joined them, but I was on dangerous ground. One wrong move and I could have ended up falling for her completely and I didn’t think that would be wise. It could spoil everything. I didn’t sign the contract to have my heart ripped out and trampled on once she got everything she wanted.
I’d never had a successful relationship for longer than three months, with the exception of Lolita. That was different, as she was pregnant. I had to fulfill my obligations. What if getting into a real relationship ended up in a divorce? That would have been more devastating to Kayla than just having no mother at all.
What if I never got a chance like this again? Not that I wanted to be married again, or to have a fake relationship, but what if that feeling I had was the real deal?
Michael came over to me and sat with me said, “I need to have a drink and rest a bit. Those three have endless energy.”
I gave him a half-hearted smile and nodded in agreement. He noticed my mood and asked, “What’s wrong? Aren’t you the one that suggested celebrating? Now you’re sitting here moping about?” I knew he was right, but I wasn’t in the mood to celebrate.
“I know what’s bugging you. You really like Diane and I can see why. She’s a good woman. Not sure why that upsets you, but I can only guess that it has to do with being scared of getting hurt again. But how will you know? Nothing is going to happen, not good or bad, if you don’t even give it a try.”
I looked at Michael and admitted to him, “I’m not sure what her intentions are. I thought she was only in it for money, but sometimes I’m not sure if I’m getting my signals mixed up. I’m sure she feels more as well.”
“If you want my advice, take it slow, but at least allow yourself to be friends with her. Running away each time things start to look good is just making her suspicious and weary. If you two are friends and allow each other to get personal, at least when it comes to the basics, this experience will be good for you. It might even soften your heart towards women in general.”
I nodded and I started thinking about everything Michael had just said. I’d always trusted his judgment and he was a steady level-headed guy. I’d never seen him with a woman before, but I was sure that he was interested in Mimi. I just hoped his judgment of my situation wasn’t clouded by his own rose-colored glasses.
“And you? Are you going to allow our horny friend Jared to get his dirty hands all over Mimi, or you are going to protect her and sweep her off her feet?” Turning the tables was a relief for a moment, but then I saw he was slightly hurt by my comment.
“Please don’t change the subject, Xander. Consider your own situation.” But then his face relaxed and he turned to look at the dance floor. I followed his gaze and I found myself hypnotized by Diane once again. The way she moved each curve of her body, her sexy ass and the shape of her legs in her tight leggings was making me fantasize. I wanted her legs around my waist, my hands on her ass and my lips on hers.
As she moved and her legs rubbed against each other, something inside me snapped. In a moment of weakness, I felt strong enough to take the chance. I stood up, placed my hand on Michael’s shoulder and nudged him to join me on the dance floor. “Let’s go and get our girls.”
Michael looked at me to check if I was teasing him and then he realized I was genuinely asking. We laughed at the irony of the situation. “Two sworn bachelors are falling in love at the same time with two friends. What are the odds?” I just shrugged my shoulders and we approached our respective goals.
Chapter 10
Diane
Xander was acting so strange. One moment we were doing great and we were friends sharing some quality time together and the next moment he acted as if I was poisonous. I was pretty sure I wasn’t leading him on, but why was he so cold towards me, especially whenever I felt relaxed in his company?
Mimi and I were still dancing as we usually did, full-steam ahead. Ever since we were in high school together, we’d been able to dance through the night with only a couple of stops that ended up being very cheap nights out. We’ve always joked that we didn’t need to be drunk to have a ton of fun, but tonight, I wish I had a few more shots in.
“Everything okay?” Mimi asked, leaning closer to my ear.
I just shook my head. “I’m not sure.” I didn’t even know what else to say.
Michael excused himself, explaining he had to get a drink. My eyes followed Michael as he was returning to the table. Sub-consciously, I wanted to check if Xander had returned, or if he was still missing in action. I saw him at the table, sitting with his back half-turned towards the dance floor. I could see the width of his shoulders, it made me wonder why a strong, handsome, wealthy man like him hadn’t been caught up by some blonde beauty. He could afford a trophy wife, but here he was, paying me to be his fake wife. I was no trophy and he was way out of my league.
I turned back towards Mimi and Jared. Mimi pushed Jared away softly, still teasing him. I could tell Mimi liked him, but she wasn’t really interested in a full-on relationship with him. At the most, she might play a bit, but then she’d let him go.
How is it possible for some women to be so confident in their own abilities that they don’t even worry about a little heartache?
Mimi had already told me before she just wanted to have a bit of fun until she met Mr. Right. Her argument was that if you gain a bit of experience through some practice, one can never go wrong.
Why can some women just be happy to take whatever love they get and not have the need, or untold responsibility, to keep themselves pure and true to that one love, the man that completes you and makes you the stronger version of yourself? He doesn’t have to do everything for you or fix everything, but he has to encourage you and make you believe in yourself. He has to be your better half, the one you can turn to for advice when life throws everything at you.
Is it possible that in the whole mix up of our own agendas that we could possibly find love? This situation was so dangerous where each one could be hanging on by a thread and the next moment everything could burst into flames. One missed opportunity and everything would be for nothing. I didn’t want to miss out on life, but I also didn’t want to settle for just good enough if there was something even better out there.
I’d never been like that. My world was too black or white and at this moment Xander was a definite gray. Maybe the fact that he turned cold so often was a blessing in disguise.
I couldn’t help but look in his direction and both Michael and Xander were looking at us. Xander was looking at my ass and then his gaze slid down my legs. I couldn’t help but feel appreciated.
I turned back towards Mimi. She’d made some space between herself and Jared, almost putting me between them. Michael moved into the space she had created and I immediately knew she was looking at Michael. She’d known he was returning to the dance floor and she wanted to create a space for him to fill.
The next moment I felt someone’s hands on my hips from behind. As I looked down, I knew whose hands those were. It felt natural just to lean back into him and as I raised my arms to allow his hands to explore, he followed my intentions. He moved his hands up towards my waist. Each of his fingers smoothly flowed upwards over my ribs until his hands were on my shoulders. He turned me around and as I turn to face him, he bent down and kissed me. My arms slid around his neck and I kissed him back.
It felt like I was melting into him. All my senses were awake, but all I could think of were his soft, warm lips on mine. His mouth explored my lips and then his tongue slipped passed my lips to meet mine. I moaned softly and I wished he would take me all the way, but that nagging siren started blaring in the back of my head.
At first, I ignored it and kissed him back. His hands were on my back holding me close to him and then one hand started to move down towards my ass. He pulled my body closer to his and I could feel he was hard with desire. I moaned again, slipping my tongue deeper into his mouth. I wanted to have sex with him and that’s when the alarm went wild and I had to pull away.
“Fuck, I’m sorry. I got carried away. Shit, I didn’t mean to.” Xander looked dazed as he dropped his hands to his side.
I took a step back and realized that this was bad, this was awful. I looked back at him. “This shouldn’t have happened. I don’t think this is a good idea.” Xander was taken aback by my sudden resistance, but he soon apologized as well.
I turned towards Mimi, “I have to go. We’ll chat soon.” I gave Michael a hug and thanked him for being there today and then Jared, telling him to take it slow. I avoided meeting Xander’s eyes as I couldn’t bear to see the disappointment, or the disgust, in his eyes at the moment. I walked to the table, grabbed my purse and almost ran out of the club. I had to get home, away from this insanity. What was I thinking? This could only end in heartache.
As I walked to my car, my eyes were burning and it wasn’t long before a tear escaped and I was crying all the way to my car. I was such a big mess. I never should have agreed to this; now I was married to a man that only needed me until he has his daughter and I’d sold myself for money.
I’d always seen myself as strong and independent. I didn’t need a man to make me complete and after the last break-up, I promised myself I would never fall for another man so quickly. He would have to fight for me and convince me of his worth. And here I was literally falling head over heels for a man I’d only met a week ago. This was madness!
What about the rules I’d made for myself? I’d never broken my own rules and never did my conscience have to speak so loudly before I listened. He was making me weak and I was losing my values.
I would do anything for my mother, but I didn’t think selling myself was the answer and she would never have accepted that. If she found out what I was doing, she would be very disappointed. How did my mother do it all alone all those years, raising a daughter and running a successful business, all by herself?
I wished I could speak to her and tell her everything, but it was too late. I felt so ashamed of myself. I wasn’t even sure I could face her and tell her of my brilliant blunder.
As I walked into my house, I saw that my answering machine had a message. Maybe it was Mom asking me where I’ve been. I pressed the button, but it wasn’t my mother’s voice. It was Xander’s. Before I could listen to the message further, I just pressed the delete button and heard, “You have no further messages.”
Chapter 11
Xander
Since the moment my eyes had opened this morning, I’d been thinking about last night. I left her a message after I arrived home to apologize, but she still hadn’t replied in any way. Maybe she didn’t get the message, or perhaps she doesn’t listen to her voicemails. Many people these days thought that if it was important enough, they’d call back later.
To me, this was important enough. I’d called back three times already and texted her a few times, but still no response. I wasn’t sure what to do, but one thing was for certain: I had to get to the office for my meetings. I couldn’t postpone them again.
As I parked my car in my parking space in the basement, I realized just how hectic the past few weeks have been, with the court case and the signing of the documents and it just felt like everything was colliding all at once. At least on the bright side, Kayla was healthy. We went to the clinic two days ago and she was still reaching each of her milestones.
Again, my mind turned toward Diane. If she didn’t want to go ahead with the deal, I would never be able to forgive myself. I placed my daughter’s future on the line last night, just to give in to my carnal desires. I pressed the button to call the elevator down. Shit, but she was fucking hot last night. Honestly, I couldn’t blame myself; her body was so delicious.
I imagined her on my yacht, but this time we were far out to sea and she was wearing a skimpy bikini. The wind was blowing her hair and as she turned to look over her shoulder at me, I could feel my cock swell. Not just in my fantasy, but actually in reality as well. The elevator ping announced its arrival and I hoped there was no one in the car, as that would be an awkward moment.
I released a huge sigh of relief as the lift was entirely empty and as I stepped in, I tried to relax and think of work, just to get rid of the fantasy and its effects. By the time I reached the tenth floor, I was calm and relaxed, which was just as well, as the elevator stopped and two women got on. One looked me over and smiled at me shyly. I returned a half-hearted smile out of politeness.
I got off on the twelfth floor. As I stepped out, I could hear them giggling behind me as the door closed. Why did some women act like they were still in high school? Did they really think I would fall on one knee after a friendly smile? Fuck, no, I wasn’t won over that easily. The fake wedding ring on my finger suddenly burned me and brought me crashing down to earth. Diane caught me with less than a smile.
Things could not continue like this. I had to make sure she was still committed to the contract, but I also wanted to know if we stood even the slightest chance of being real. But first, I had to get my head into the game. I was about to meet with two new inventors who wanted to demonstrate their latest invention. If I didn’t focus entirely, I might miss a money-making opportunity or buy into a disaster waiting to happen and I couldn’t afford any failures at the moment.
I had to be on my best behavior if I was going to impress the judge. Hopefully, with a happily married fake wife at my side and not an angry woman upset about our contractual agreement who wanted to get away and stay away from me. What type of message would that send the judge? I’d be doomed, Lolita would walk away victorious and she would enjoy every moment of rubbing it into my face.
∞∞∞
I was quite impressed by the presentation and they were able to answer all my questions sufficiently during the meeting. They were excited about my recommendations and promised that they would be back here to present a final product with all the enhancements that I suggested. They were still new to the industry and very eager to please, so I told them they had three months to finalize their product before coming back to present it again. I told them that at our next meeting, I would be joined by my lawyer and two of my colleagues, who would be working with them on the finished product.
I also dropped the idea that they could join my company and have so much more knowledge and technology available if they were interested, as I’d always enjoyed surrounding myself with brilliant minds like theirs. A little sweet-talking had worked wonders before and soon they would be eating out of the palm of my hand and producing state of the art technology in-house at a fraction of the price.
It wasn’t all one-sided; they would benefit from my company’s excellent reputation and all of the knowledge I had already recruited over the years. I loved the saying “don’t employ talented people if you are going to rule over them.” I loved it when they had free reign, then the results were boundless creativity.
Maybe I should use the same strategy on Diane; perhaps I could convince her to join my team. I was sure she would be an excellent addition to my family. I took a look at my watch and was quite surprised at the time; the day had gone by faster than I expected. I still had time to get to a flower shop and make it to the café before she should be gone.
I parked my car on the side of the road in front of the café. I saw Diane walking towards the door to turn the open sign to closed. I got out of my car a
nd locked it before walking towards the door, assuming that she probably noticed someone walking on the sidewalk. But as soon as Diane saw that it was me, her face dropped and she looked confused. By the time I reached the door, she was still standing inside, staring at me and probably deciding if she wanted to let me in. I showed her the flowers and she shook her head from side to side while she started walking towards the door.
The door swung open. “Please promise me you are not here to preach at me for not returning your calls or to try to buy me with flowers. I’ve had a rough day and I’m tired of hiding behind a big smile. So if you’re man enough to handle my mood, you’re welcome to stay. If not, I recommend you leave. I still have the shop to clean and there are orders that I have to place for tomorrow.”
“Let me help you, please. I won’t mind if you’re quiet or even distant. I just want to talk to you and make sure that we’re still okay.” She stood there considering my offer and then invited me in with the sweep of her hand.
For the first few minutes, she was completely silent; just packing chairs and wiping tables. I quickly picked up her rhythm and started from the opposite side, copying her every move and making sure that everything she did, I did the same on the tables that I attended to. When we met in the middle, she looked past me at the tables I did and then smiled at me. “You did well, but you forgot to make sure each flower faces the entrance.”
