Sweet Jealousy (EPISODE 1)

by Garrity, Morgan

  The thought sent heat pounding through her body, and she felt herself starting to get wet.

  “So you want to get out of here?” Tyler was asking.

  “Get out of here?”

  “Yeah, we’re all going to go back to my apartment,” he said. “We’re going to listen to music, and maybe play a little.”

  “I don’t know,” Addison said. “It’s kind of late.”

  “It’s only eight o’clock,” Tia said, a little too loud. She giggled. “You need to learn to live a little, Addison. You’re acting like you’re fifty.”

  Addison thought about it. Maybe Tia was right. She was young and living in New York City. All that was waiting for her at home was Mr. Gold and her empty apartment. And the sooner she went to bed, the sooner she’d be waking up for work tomorrow.

  “Okay,” Addison said finally. “Let’s do it.”

  ***

  When they got outside, the four of them stood on the sidewalk for a few moments, waiting for a cab.

  Tyler was getting more and more touchy-feely. He slung his arm over Addison’s shoulders and leaned into her. He smelled like alcohol, and he was so close to her that she could feel his breath on her cheek.

  She turned her head, but he leaned in closer.

  “You should spend the night,” he breathed. “My roommate isn’t going to be home tonight.”

  She was trying to think of something she could say back to him, something that wouldn’t make her sound like a total uptight case, but would let him know that she definitely wasn’t going to be sleeping over, when a hand reached out and grabbed Tyler’s shoulder.

  “Get your hands off her,” someone growled.

  She turned around.

  It was Nathan Sweet.

  He was standing on the sidewalk, a calm look in his blue eyes that was a startling contrast to the forcefulness of his voice.

  “Jesus, man,” Tyler said, as he shrugged out of Nathan’s grip. “What’s your fucking problem?”

  “Addison, are you okay?” Nathan asked her, ignoring Tyler’s question.

  Addison nodded, dimly aware of Tia standing a few feet away, her mouth open in shock as she took in the scene before her. But Addison had more important things to worry about.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Tyler screamed. “Don’t put your fucking hands on me.” He stepped in front of Addison. “She’s with me. Who the fuck are you?”

  Nathan stepped close to him, getting right in Tyler’s face. “You stay away from her,” he spat. “Don’t even think about looking at her. Ever again. Or I will end you.”

  The color had drained from Tyler’s face now, all trace of his bravado gone.

  Addison didn’t blame him. Nathan was impressive, standing there in his suit, with his broad shoulders and dark complexion. He made you feel that underneath the expensive clothes and polished façade there lurked something dangerous.

  “Okay, man, it’s cool,” Tyler said, backing off.

  But Nathan was already grabbing Addison’s hand and leading her down the sidewalk and away from the crowd that was staring to form.

  Chapter Four

  He took her to a black stretch limo that was waiting around the corner.

  She climbed inside, and he took the seat across from her.

  She was silent, not sure what to say or do. It was unnerving, the way he was just staring at her like that. She shifted on the seat.

  “Are you okay?’ he asked finally.

  “I’m fine.”

  “What were you thinking, leaving with a stranger like that?”

  “He wasn’t a stranger,” Addison said. “He was Tia’s boyfriend’s friend.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Nathan asked. “He was Tia’s boyfriend’s friend? And what was his last name?”

  “Smith.” She’d made it up, and they both knew it.

  “That’s a lie.”

  She shrugged. “What are you doing?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, why did you do that?”

  “I didn’t want you to get hurt.” He seemed confused by the question, like the answer was perfectly obvious.

  “By hanging out with some friends?”

  He shook his head, looked at her like he couldn’t believe how naïve she was.

  “What do you think that boy wanted from you, Addison?”

  “He wanted to hang out with me,” she said. The shock of him showing up and whisking her away to his limo had worn off, and now she was starting to get pissed.

  Nathan had no right to show up and “save” her from whatever he thought was happening.

  She was a grown woman, perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

  “He wanted to have sex with you,” Nathan declared.

  “Oh, right,” she said, “as opposed to making me strip in his office and sit with my legs spread.”

  A smile played on his lips.

  He was fucked up, she realized. Yes, he was extremely good-looking and yes, he was extremely powerful, but there was obviously something wrong with him. She went to open the door. She was getting out of here.

  But the limo door was locked.

  She looked for the latch, but when she tried to unlock it, it wouldn’t budge.

  “It’s locked,” she said, looking at him. “Unlock it. I want to get out.”

  But at that moment, the limo started to move.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” she said, grabbing for her purse. She started pawing through it, looking for her cell phone. She’d call the police, tell them she was being kidnapped.

  If Nathan was bothered by the fact that she was about to call 911, he didn’t show it. In fact, it was completely the opposite. He had pulled a bottle of water out of a tiny refrigerator, uncapped it, and took a sip.

  “Would you like a drink?” he asked.

  “No, I don’t want a fucking drink!”

  “Addison,” he said, “put the phone down.”

  “No, I won’t put the phone down. You’re kidnapping me, which in case you haven’t noticed, is illegal. Really fucking illegal. Like, end up in jail for twenty fucking years illegal.”

  “Addison, no one’s kidnapping you.” He tried to hand her the bottle of water, but she shook her head. He shrugged and then put it back in the fridge. “My driver will take you home right now if that’s what you’d prefer.”

  “As opposed to?”

  “Coming back to my apartment.”

  Her hand was on her cell phone, her finger poised over the 9. But she hesitated.

  “Why would I want to come back to your apartment?”

  He shrugged. “So we can talk.”

  “About?”

  “About what happened in my office today.”

  She felt delicious tingle between her thighs. Why did she keep getting turned on whenever she thought of him telling her what to do? In a flash, she realized why she hadn’t done what he’d requested today. It wasn’t because she didn’t want to. It was the opposite. She’d wanted to so much that she was scared of what it would mean, where it would lead, how it would turn out. Something told her that if she’d sat in that chair and exposed herself to him, she’d be taking the first step down a dark and dangerous road.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” But she was already putting her phone back into her purse.

  “What isn’t? To go back to my apartment? Or to talk about what happened in my office today?”

  “Both.” He didn’t say anything, just kept looking at her with that penetrating stare. “Besides, I need to get home.”

  “You didn’t seem like you were in a rush to get home when you were hanging with that frat boy asshole.”

  “He wasn’t an asshole.”

  “Trust me, Addison, he was an asshole.”

  She tapped her shoe on the floor of the limo. It pulled to a stop. “Where are we?”

  she asked.

  “At my apartment.” He watched her, not saying anything. God, he was gorgeous.


  His hair was cut short, with just the right amount of gel to make it look polished but not pretentious. His shoulders were broad and his chest looked hard and muscular under his crisp white shirt. He didn’t make a move to get out of the car. “Would you like to come in?” he asked finally.

  She wanted to say no. But she couldn’t. For some inexplicable reason, she wanted to be around him. Even if she was scared of what might happen. “Yes.”

  He opened the door and led her out of the limo.

  ***

  His apartment was nothing short of spectacular. Everything was open and modern, with high ceilings, white couches, and bright, contemporary paintings. A large fireplace sat against one wall, and floor to ceiling windows were everywhere. The kitchen was filled with stainless steel appliances and dark granite countertops that sparkled under the recessed lighting.

  Addison caught her breath. She’d known Nathan was rich – he was a Sweet after all – but she hadn’t realized how rich. She remembered watching a show on HGTV

  called Selling New York, and marveling at how expensive the apartments had been.

  Four, five, six million dollars. And none of them had been anywhere near as amazing as this one.

  “Can I get you a drink?” Nathan asked. He was taking his suit coat off and laying it over a white leather chair.

  “Sure.”

  “What would you like?”

  “What do you have?”

  “Whatever you like.”

  “I’ll just have a Diet Coke.” The last thing she wanted was more alcohol. Not here. Not with him. She was dimly aware of the fact that no one knew where she was.

  Although, that wasn’t exactly true. Tia had seen Nathan leading her away to his limo.

  Oh, God. Tia. How the hell was Addison going to explain this to her?

  Nathan poured her a drink from the bar in one corner and led her to the leather couch in the living room.

  “Thank you,” she said as she took the drink from him. The glass was cold, and she resisted the urge to rest it against her face for a moment. Her whole body felt hot, like she was about to overheat. She took a sip of the icy, sweet liquid, but it did nothing to cool her off, or to quiet the butterflies in her stomach.

  “You’re welcome.”

  He sat down in the chair across from the couch. He’d poured himself a tumbler of something auburn-colored. It was probably some kind of alcohol that was ridiculously expensive, the sort of thing you had to have imported from some far-away country.

  “Would you like to talk about what happened in my office today?” Nathan asked.

  “What’s there to talk about?” She took another sip of her drink, and hoped he wouldn’t notice that her hands were shaking.

  “You seemed upset when you left.”

  “I wasn’t upset.”

  “You ran out.”

  “I didn’t… I mean, I left, yes, but I wasn’t running.”

  “Fair enough. You rushed out.”

  “Yes.”

  He swirled his glass around in his hand. “Were you upset by what I asked you to do?”

  Her breath caught, remembering. She felt the heat rise to her face, and again, that same warmth between her legs. Why the hell was she so turned on by him telling her what to do?

  “No, I wasn’t upset.” She shifted slightly on the couch, wishing she had something to do to keep her hands busy. It felt unnatural, the two of them just sitting here with nothing else going on.

  “Then why did you leave?”

  She shook her head. “We’re going in circles.”

  He smiled. “Are we?”

  “Mr. Sweet – ”

  There was a knock on the door. A loud, very hard knock.

  “Nathan!” a voice called. “Nathan, open up. It’s your father.” But before Nathan could react, the front door opened and a man came bustling into the living room.

  “Nathan!” he said. “What am I always telling you about keeping the door locked? You need to keep the door locked! There have been a lot of – ” He stopped short when he saw Addison. “Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t know you had company.”

  “That’s because you just barged in.” Nathan’s jaw set in a straight line, and he put his glass down on the table. “Addison,” he said, “Will you excuse me for a moment?”

  “Yes, of course,” she said.

  “Don’t be like that, Nathan,” the man said. He crossed the room in two strides and held his hand out to Addison. “Hello,” he said. “I’m Arthur Sweet, Nathan’s father.”

  “Nice to meet you,” she said. His hand enveloped hers. His skin was cold, his grip strong.

  “What, all she gets is a drink?” Arthur asked. He had the same startling blue eyes as Nathan. In fact, he looked like an older version of his son. The suit Arthur was wearing was navy blue, and his hair was salt and pepper, but the planes of his face matched those of Nathan’s, and they were approximately the same height. “Sweetheart, next time you go out with this guy, you gotta make sure he buys you some dinner.”

  He gave Nathan a grin, but Nathan just looked annoyed.

  “Yes, well, I’m sure you have some kind of pressing issue you came here to talk to me about,” Nathan said.

  The tension in the room was palpable. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that there was something going on between these two men. Addison wondered what it was.

  Her relationship with her own parents was pretty normal. They’d been devastated when she’d left Georgia to move to New York City, but they were also very proud of her.

  Something told her the same dynamic didn’t exist here.

  The two men disappeared down the hall to talk about whatever it was Nathan’s dad had come here to talk about.

  Once they were gone, Addison wasn’t sure exactly what to do. She took another sip of her drink. From down the hall, she could hear the sound of muted voices.

  “It’s under control,” Nathan said. His voice sounded measured, like he was trying hard not to lose his temper.

  “Really, Nathan? Because it sure as hell doesn’t seem like it.”

  “It is,” Nathan said. “Now is there anything else? Because I have a life, you know.”

  “Oh, yes, I’m fully aware of that. Sometimes I think you have too much of a life.”

  Someone shut the door, obviously because they didn’t want Addison to hear what they were saying. She wondered if it was Nathan or Arthur who’d decided they needed privacy.

  Her phone buzzed in her purse, and she pulled it out and checked the screen.

  Three new text messages, all from Tia.

  The first one said, “What the hell was that about?” followed by one that said

  “HELLO?” and then finally, “Call me!!”

  Addison started to run excuses through her mind. She wondered if Tia would believe that she’d gone to Nathan’s to work on a project. Probably not, since it didn’t explain why Nathan had grabbed Tyler’s shoulders and told him to stay the fuck away.

  The sound of angry footsteps came echoing down the hallway, and Addison quickly shoved her phone back into her purse.

  She watched as Nathan led his father to the front door, not bothering to bring him into the living room to say goodbye. When the door shut behind Arthur, Nathan just stood there, resting his forehead against the wall.

  Addison’s heart clenched. He looked so small standing there like that, so vulnerable. For the first time, she saw him not as her rich, powerful boss, but as a man who’d just had a fight with his father.

  He turned around, walked back into the living room, and sat back down on the chair across from her. He undid the buttons on his sleeves, rolled them up, and then loosened his tie. His forearms were tan and strong, with just the right amount of hair.

  Suddenly, all she wanted was to make him happy, to take away the worry that was etched on his face.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  He nodded. “I’m fine.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked. “Becau
se – ”

  “I said I’m fine.” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t have brought you here. I’m sorry, Addison. This… this was a mistake.”

  Disappointment flowed through her body. He’d changed his mind. She hadn’t done what he’d asked her to do in his office and now…now she’d lost her chance with him.

  “No, it wasn’t,” she heard herself saying.

  “Yes, it was.” He shook his head. “I’m not what you think I am.”

  She stood up and moved toward him, put a hand on his arm. She stood there like that, not saying anything for a moment. He didn’t move. “I’d like to stay,” she said finally.

  He went to open his mouth, but she cut him off. “Please.” She heard the note of desperation in her voice. “I’ll do anything. Anything you tell me to.”

  It was light a light switch. The look in his eyes instantly changed from one of sadness and darkness to one of desire. His eyes burned bright blue, and she could see how much he wanted her.

  “Go back to the couch,” he commanded.

  She did as she was told and sat back down on the couch.

  “No.” He shook his head. “I want you to bend over the arm.”

  Her pulse quickened, but she did as he said, bending over until her ass was in the air. The fabric of her skirt rode up until it was just below her panties. She watched as he got up and crossed the room to where she was standing.

  His hand reached out and slid up her leg, his touch sending shivers down her spine. “You denied me today, Addison,” he said gruffly. “Do you know how that makes me feel?”

  “No.”

  “It makes me very upset. It makes me want to punish you, do you understand that?”

  “Yes.” Her voice was a whisper. She was afraid. She didn’t know what this man was capable of. The thought of what he might do to her was terrifying and exciting at the same time.

  “Do you know what a safe word is, Addison?” Nathan asked.

  She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.

  “It’s a word that will allow you to stop this and put a halt to anything that’s going on, no questions asked. Tonight our safe word will be ‘black.’ Does that sound okay to you?”