The Precious Ruby (The Precious Trilogy Book 1)

by C Renee

  “Tiff, from the moment I saw you, I had to have you. Ever since the first date, to the first kiss, I was hooked. Four years later and I can’t imagine my life without you. From your soft sigh when I make you cum, to the cute hiccup laugh you have, or when your nose wrinkles when you’re mad. I crave days where I get all three. I’m a lucky man, but I want to be even luckier. So Tiff, will you make me even luckier and marry me?” I held my breath, waiting for her answer.

  She looked down at me with teary eyes, a wide smile and she softly said, “Yes!”

  “Jackie is fine, honestly. I have no idea why I bid on the other woman. Louise, she just… argh, I don’t know. She’s sexy as sin, and I wanted her.” Seeing Louise up on that stage did something to my heartstrings. I had a strange feeling and my chest tightened. I don’t understand why it was that emotion, I haven’t felt it in years. I didn’t want her going in the lion’s den to get eaten alive. That’s why I won her at auction.

  “Well, I suppose you don’t know who she works for, do you,” he asks me when I lean closer in my seat. I gape at him, waiting for his response. She wasn’t someone’s guest? Well this just keeps getting better. I’m in an awful lot of trouble.

  I can’t sit still anymore so I get up from my chair and pace in front of my father’s desk. “Who does she work for? I still have to claim the date I bought.” I smirk at him. I need to know so I can see her again. Touch her soft skin again. I can feel the bulge in my pants start to grow. Jesus the thought of her is getting me hard.

  “She works for Andrew Gates, CEO of Finance Funding. The very man who organized the event last night and they are our very loyal associates.” Well shit, this isn’t looking good. He gets up from his seat and walks over to where I’ve stopped pacing. He places a hand on my shoulder and looks me square in the eyes. “Alex, please stay away from her. I let you have your way with my staff over these last few years, but promise me you won’t do anything with Mr. Gates staff, especially with this Louise woman.” He gives my shoulder an encouraging squeeze before letting go.

  Sleeping with the staff hasn’t been one my finest moments in life, but they were all legal and willing. I didn’t want to say no to some ass, no matter who they worked for.

  I step out of the building with a new purpose in life. I inhale a large amount of fresh air to cleanse my dirty thoughts about the willing staff. I immediately start having these thoughts about Louise and they are making me itch to see her again, and making my dick grow hard. I need a quick release right now. I reach into my pocket to get my phone. The first number I call is Jackie to see if she’s up for a quick fuck. I need to relieve this built up stress before I’m back on call. I get her voicemail and remembered her mentioning a modeling photo shoot she had today. The next best thing is calling Reece; hopefully he isn’t on call today. A gym session is always an answer when I can’t get my dick wet.

  I’m grateful to have Reece in my life; he has been my best friend since we were kids. Growing up over the years we would lose contact but something about this friendship is we can always pick up where we left off like nothing happened. I’m just glad I know he will stay in my life for the remaining years I have left.

  “Hey man, what’s been happening,” Reece says as he picks up on the second ring. Thank God he answered.

  “Hey, I need to let some stress out from all this drama I’ve got myself into in the last 24 hours. Want to head to the gym,” I ask into the phone, holding my breath for his reply. I’m really hoping he says yes.

  “Yeah, man. I’m good to go. See you there in twenty, I’m on call, so let’s make this quick, yeah,” he asks before he hangs up the phone.

  I walk towards my black 2014 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport; she is one hell of a beauty. I grab my car keys from my pocket and unlock the car.

  It takes me ten minutes to get to Frank’s Gym, and I spot Reece’s car in the parking lot. I’m lucky I keep a spare gym bag in the back of my car. I get out of the car, do a small stretch to loosen up my stiff muscles, and head around to the back of my car to grab the gym bag.

  I look like a fucking idiot, walking into the gym with my suit on. I quickly walk to the men’s change rooms to put on my gym shorts, my Nike tank top with the slogan ‘I can do it’ and my Nike runners.

  “Hey man, glad you could make it on time,” Reece chuckles when he walks up to me.

  “Very funny, I wasn’t a minute late and you got a head start. Can we just work out? I need to let off some steam. You finished with the wedding you’ve been planning for this weekend or what? I need my wingman back,” I laugh when he pulled a cheeky grin. That’s my man.

  We walk towards the men’s weight room, and I lay down on the bench press, having Reece spot me.

  I’m bench-pressing 250 pounds when Reece fills me in on our plans, for this coming weekend.

  Reece is the best wingman there is, always helping me reeling in the ladies. He remembers the names of the women I’ve slept with when I don’t. He was there for me when everything went downhill with Tiffany. He gave me the time I needed, and then gave me a kick in the ass when it was time to get myself back on track. He is my best friend, and if I were gay, he would totally be my type.

  His hair is sun kissed blonde and he has these kick ass blue eyes. He has the straightest nose I have ever seen, and his jaw compliments his looks. He has muscles that can be seen popping through his shirts. The main thing I admire about Reece is that he has a heart of gold. I wouldn’t know what I would do without him.

  “So man, tell me, what’s been bothering you? I thought if you had problems you’d bury yourself in someone by now. Isn’t the new flavor of the week Jackie? How come you’re not with her instead of me?” he asks when I’ve placed the weights back on the bar after my fifth press.

  “Just, the charity event caught me off guard on Friday night, and then what my father said about leaving a certain woman alone. I can’t handle this much drama in such a short amount of time.” I get off the bench and let Reece take his turn, taking my spot behind him and guide the bar down to him.

  “What happened man? You’re never this unbalanced. Did the chick give you a run for your money?” He smirks when he does his first press set.

  “Ha, you could say that. Man this one woman has fallen to earth to doom me; every time I picture her I get this massive hard on and I can’t control it.” Reece puts down the weights and lets out this loud, throaty laugh. He clearly can’t believe what I’ve just said.

  “A hard on, huh? I didn’t need to know what happens down your pants brother, but jeez, I need to meet this woman and give her a kiss,” he says while looking me dead in the eyes, he is gauging my reaction. He wants to know whether this woman means something to me or not. She doesn’t, just someone I can sink myself into.

  It’s not the thought of sharing women with him because we have at the same time, but mostly at different times. There are no boundaries with us, except the whole man on man business, and then he can get fucked. No way am I ever going there with him.

  “Man, you’re fucked, but on a better note, good luck to you. What did the old man say to you?” He grabs the towel and wipes off his sweat. I do the same and throw the towel on the weights.

  “He said she’s from an important firm and I have to stay away from her.” I give him this look, a look which means I can’t stay away and I never back down from a challenge.

  We finish off our normal routine at Frank’s gym; finishing at the bench press, and then made our way to the back wall of the gym to do a couple of reps with the dumb bells. Reece has this habit of looking at himself in the mirror when he brings the dumb bell up towards his chin. He watches the muscles in his biceps tense when he lifts the weight up and watches it relax when he lowers the weight down, then we do a cooling off period where we walk on the treadmill for 15 minutes.

  We talk about the week that we had and the upcoming week. We are both scheduled to be on call later on the week. I’m looking forward to that.

  Our la
st exercise for the day landed us in the boxing ring. We are up against each other; we tap our boxing gloves together, to show that we will obey the ‘no foul no play’ rules.

  I widen my stance in the ring waiting for his first move. I block his jab and I do a left uppercut punch to his jaw. He blocks my right hook, takes advantage, and gives me a right cross.

  We go at it for another 10 minutes before we call it quits.

  By the end of the gym session I am very exhausted. I can tell Reece is just about to pass out. I shouldn’t have gone hard on him when he is on call tonight.

  We exit the gym together and the cool night air greets me. This is exactly what I wanted, to walk out of there, with a clear mind.

  “Have a good one tonight Reece. I hope no one gives you any trouble,” I call out when Reece reaches his truck.

  I head towards my car with the weight from today lifted off my shoulders.

  Tonight I had hoped to feel emptiness and dream of darkness, but instead I dreamt of beautiful gray eyes, ever flowing red dresses and blood red lips moaning my name.

  Chapter Eight

  Louise

  I CAN’T BELIEVE THE day I’m having, nothing seems to be going the way I want it to. The photocopier machine got jammed, my stapler spring went missing and I spilt coffee on my skirt. I was lucky enough to be wearing a black skirt so you couldn’t see the stain but what an embarrassment. Last week at work was fine up until I had to attend that charity event on Friday night. I loved my dress but once I went online to look at photos from the event I couldn’t help but wonder if Matt has seen any. Would he even be searching for me now? Then I had the weekend alone with my thoughts about the photos and what if Matt showed up, and the deadline I was on for Monday, and then I couldn’t keep my thoughts innocent about Alex. I heard something on the radio about the local Police had to check out complaints at Matt’s nightclub, Paradise. I thought I heard it wrong but then I heard the same story again the next day. It makes leaving him so much more real. I hope he never finds out about me being alive.

  Steph went to a day spa all weekend that she had planned a few months ago with a work friend, I think her name is Stella. I met her once when we went out for drinks after work one night. She seems likes a nice girl.

  Stella is as tall as Steph, has blonde hair cut into a pixie hairstyle, crystal blue eyes and she has her nose pierced. You never see her without a smile. She has incredible fashion sense and she will be wearing the latest trends and brag about it.

  The only frequent thoughts I had all weekend were of Alex. No matter what I tried to do, I couldn’t get him out of my head. His amazing green eyes, his perfect smile and I can’t seem to get the way he looked at me out of my head. It was as if I was a precious gem.

  Wednesday rolled around too quickly and I’m back to work. This morning I was informed by Mr. Gates’ secretary that there is going to be a board meeting this afternoon and I was invited to come along.

  The last two days at work had been on repeat. I just sat at my desk filling papers and thinking about the huge meeting that was coming up. I had my fingers crossed and I wished that I would get invited to it. But all my wishes and having my fingers crossed did work, I got invited this morning.

  Mr. Gates secretary, Gina, explained to me that there are three new companies that will be hopefully joining our firm and will be attending this meeting and what I would need to prepare for it. She is a lovely woman in her late 60’s. Gina has been working for this firm for about 30 odd years. She is the oldest staff to still be employed and is a stylish old woman who takes pride in her work and how she looks.

  There is a knock on my door and Nick pops his head around the doorframe.

  “Oh hey sugar tits. How is my girl today? I heard about the meeting for this afternoon, the whole floor is talking about it.” He walks forward and sits down in the chair opposite me.

  “I am so nervous, what if I fuck up or worse, make a fool of myself. How can I continue to be here? Nick, please take my spot in the meeting.” I give him my puppy dog eyes.

  “No can do honey, you go in there and kick some ass.” He gets up off the chair but before he turns to leave he says one more thing,

  “How about drinks tonight or tomorrow night, I need to go on the prowl for potential man candy. What do you say?”

  I raise my right eyebrow; he really wants to find man candy?

  “Sure, why not? That sounds like fun.” I groan when he turns to leave my office.

  I get back to taking notes before this meeting in 20 minutes and I have a few good points to pursue before I have them to take this firm into consideration. That’s if Mr. Gates calls upon me to present them to the businessmen.

  I’m standing outside the boardroom door when Mr. Gates approaches me. “Miss Carter, it’s a pleasure to have you here, I’m glad that you have settled into this firm like it’s your second home but I have to also congratulate you on the charity event. You were so brave to stand on that stage to be auctioned off. That bidding war was absolutely amazing.” He gives me this speech of the century.

  “Thanks, Mr. Gates. I had a lot of fun that night and I’m glad I could do my bit for the selected charities, which reminds me, I would like to thank and let the person who bided on me know my selected charity. Would you happen to know who that would be,” I ask him while we make our way into the boardroom. Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing to listen to our conversation.

  “Ah, that was Alex Knight. He was a very generous man that night, winning two beautiful women at the auction. His father and family are well known around this firm, they have been partners of ours for some years now.” He looks around the room and I notice that the entire board members nod their heads in agreement, can this get any worse? Not only do I keep thinking about Alex, he had the nerve to talk to me that night and knew full well he won me at the auction and didn’t say anything about it.

  “Well then, I would like to get in contact with Mr. Knight and get everything sorted before it slips my mind,” I say with a tilt of my chin up towards him.

  “Certainly, I’ll get my secretary send you the details after this meeting.”

  We all go back to discussing the new companies that will hopefully be joining this firm and who will be working alongside them.

  After the meeting I’m shaking, I went and saw Gina to get Alex’s contact details. I can’t explain the amount of butterflies I have flying around in my stomach. I can’t sit still in my office chair knowing I have the piece of paper containing the contact details. I really should call Alex to thank him and to let him know about the charity I have chosen but I can’t bring myself to do it.

  I jump in my seat when I hear a knock on my office door. Steph walks in with a spring in her step. She takes the seat opposite me and gets comfortable, like she will be here for a while.

  “Well done you, sitting in on your first board meeting. I did notice you seem like you have a stick up your ass. What’s up with that?” she asks with her eyebrow raised.

  “Oh, you know a pending date night with Mr. Knight Junior himself, and not only did he bid on me, but he won me at auction and another woman. I’m sorry but that really doesn’t sit well with me. I do not need this kind of drama in my life,” I say as I stand, I walk around my desk and pace the short space in my office. I am well aware that Steph is watching my every move. She knows me well enough to know something is terribly wrong.

  “I don’t know what to tell you, this is a big deal for the firm and for yourself. Getting the status you will get even with one date with Alex. Honestly, I don’t know why you are so stressed about this. Just call him.” She puts her feet up on my desk. I want to push them off but I don’t.

  I was right she is staying, well at least until I’ve made that phone call.

  “I don’t want to. If he so desperately wants this date with me, to pay the large amount to my chosen charity, then he can get in contact with me, and if he doesn’t then he has shown his true colors. A classic asshole, on
e I do not need in my life, ever. This is the end of that discussion. Now, if you don’t mind, I have to get back to writing up the contracts for the three new companies we spoke about today so we can have them start immediately.” I sit at my desk and open up my laptop, hoping she takes the hint. I want to be left alone. I want to be left to unscramble my thoughts in peace.

  I’m not sure how I want to handle things with Alex that can remain on a business level. No strings attached. “Fine, have it your way, but I am here if you want to talk about it.” Steph gets up, gives me the once over and leaves my office.

  A few hours later and I’ve finally drawn up potential contracts for the companies we discussed today, they are all vital towards our firm. I really hope we get them. It’ll put my status up there with Steph’s and that way I can start going on business trips to different countries to meet up with the CEO’s of huge companies.

  In between writing up the contracts, I’ve picked up my phone and put it down again. I can’t decide if I really want to call Alex or just wait for him to find me, either way I’m going to lose my mind waiting.

  I make the decision to attempt to call one last time before I head home for the night, the phone is in my hand and my breathing has picked up. I dial the number from the piece of paper in my hand. The amount of times I have opened it and crumpled it again I’m lucky I can still make out the digits. I dial his number on the office line and I hear the first two rings before I hang up. Nope, not doing this tonight, I’ll wait for him to contact me. From all the pictures I have seen of him I doubt he will even remember me, he is the playboy of the century.

  I get up from my desk and I start to gather my things ready to head home for the night when the office phone line rings.