Bradley looked at me with those eyes of his that made me melt, “It’s a terrible idea.”
My heart dropped.
He kept talking, “If anyone knew…that you and I…with me being your boss...” He moved a lock of my hair out of my face, “It would ruin me.”
“No one will know.”
“And we hardly know each other…”
“We can start. You know we have a connection.” I was pressing my luck but I didn’t care.
Bradley seemed to be thinking it over but his phone rang again. This time he didn’t ignore it and got up off the bed, picking up his phone. He spoke a few sentences explaining he had had an emergency with the business and then he hung up.
“I have to go. I’m so late for the meeting.”
I sat up, “Bradley, we have to talk about this. Because the discussion we had thirty minutes ago held up for about five minutes.”
He was pulling his pants up, “I know, Serena. I just…”
“You can’t sleep with me, tell me that’s it for us, then come in and…we mess around again and dart off to a business dinner.”
Bradley looked at me and walked over in two steps and kissed me deeply. His mouth was warm and made my legs go numb again. He pulled away and his hand was on my cheek.
“You’re right. I know, Serena. Let me get through this week. We’ll talk after. I promise.”
I relaxed, his hand warm and comforting, “Okay.”
He kissed my forehead and finished tying his tie. Bradley left again and I watched him go.
The week went by without anything else happening between Bradley and me. I wanted him more than anything but we both tried to give each other space. I knew he was thinking about the situation at hand and I was as well.
Was I being too emotional in wanting him? How could I not be, when we lasted five minutes after we promised we were never going to touch each other again? What if we were just attracted to each other physically?
I was looking forward to talking with Bradley. The flight home we didn’t speak. We worked. I didn’t want to push the discussion right then and there on the plane. I found myself looking forward to seeing Greg. I had missed him and the nightly Face Time calls with him hadn’t felt like enough. As the week had gone by, I found myself missing him more and more.
By the time I pulled up to the parking lot of where my apartment complex was located, I was excited to see him. It was almost nine at night but my father let him stay up. I burst through the front door and Greg was there, running towards me.
“Oh, I missed you!” I exclaimed, hugging him tightly to me.
Greg started talking excitedly about his week. I listened to him intently as he yanked me into the living room. My father was sitting on the couch and I tried to say hi but Greg was talking a mile a minute.
It took me thirty minutes to settle Greg down and another thirty minutes to get him into bed. Once he slid into bed, he fell asleep almost instantly. I knew he was tired and I watched him drift off to sleep.
My father was still in the living room, getting ready to leave. He looked as though he had aged ten years in the last few months. We talked quietly for a little bit, catching up. My father had never been the same after my mother had passed away five years ago from cancer. He seemed even less like himself after the business closed and we had lost all our money.
I watched his figure depart, sadness in my heart. I wished my father could be happy. I wished I could help ease his burden. Soon, he was just a small shadow getting in his car and he drove off.
I spent the weekend with Greg and my father. We went out to the movies, went shopping and relaxed together. The break from work and from stressing about Bradley was a nice weight off my shoulders.
By the time Monday rolled around, I felt more focused than ever. I was ready to get into work and kick some serious butt. I had been distracted too much by Bradley. I didn’t want us sleeping together to make me think that I could stop working or trying my best at the job.
I have to admit that I did spend extra time on my makeup and outfit than I usually did. I was use to the girl at the front desk on floor one sneering at my out of date outfits. But I didn’t care about her.
With Greg dropped off and my hair and makeup on point, I rode the elevator up to the top floor. I kept playing with my jacket. I really needed to stop but I couldn’t help myself. I must have been more nervous than I thought. My hair was pulled up in a bun and my makeup was soft and highlighted my lips and cheekbones.
I exhaled slowly as the elevator stopped at the top floor. The doors glided open soundlessly.
And froze.
It was as though every inch of me had been doused in ice cold water. Bradley was kissing some very tall, very skinny, platinum haired dyed blonde. Her arms were wrapped around his waist. I must have made some sort of noise because she looked up from kissing Bradley.
“Oh, your little assistant is here.” She sneered.
I knew that voice. It was the same snarky voice that I let fluster me in my first week. It was Bradley’s ex-wife.
“Why is she just standing there?” She said, a smirk on her face, “Is she slow?”
What was her name again? I tried to remember from the e-mails. It was something goofy…December or…no, Winter. Her name was Winter.
I plastered on my phoniest smile, “Good morning, Mrs. Gable.”
Her features softened a little bit at my placating use of her soon to be ex-name, “I’ll go. Wouldn’t want to distract your little assistant anymore.”
Anger, embarrassment and sadness seemed to be going through me in waves. It was as though I was in physical pain at the sight of Bradley kissing his ex. How could I have been so stupid? Why did I let myself fall into such a silly situation? I thought about how I had let him kiss me and put his hands on me.
And now he was kissing Winter and her sneering, ugly gaze made my skin crawl. I wanted to slap both of them. I couldn’t believe what a fool I was.
Winter flicked her hair back and some of it hit Bradley’s face. Bradley’s face was blank. She strolled by me in her five inch designer heels, her perfume wafting over me, smothering me. The elevator doors closed behind me.
Bradley and I just stared at each other. The silence was heavy and thick.
I waited for him to speak.
Chapter 6
Bradley was still looking at me as though he had kicked a puppy and I hated it. I didn’t want his pity or the stupid way he looked at me as though he didn’t know what to tell me.
“Good morning.” I said, stiffly, trying to fight the urge to follow his ex-wife, Winter, into the elevator and leave.
“Serena, she kissed me.” He said.
“Are you kidding me?” I hissed through clenched teeth, “This isn’t high school, Bradley. You truly expect me to believe that line?”
He took a step towards me but I took one back, “I’m telling the truth.”
“I don’t believe you. You’re blocking my desk, please move.”
Bradley seemed taken aback but he moved out of my way, allowing me to get to my desk. I sat down, booting up my computer. I tried not to look at him and tried not let my emotions show on my face.
“Serena, we need to talk, please.” He begged.
“About what?” I snapped, looking up at him, “I saw you kissing your wife. You were right, with what you said in Vegas. We really don’t know much about each other. If I had known what I know now, I never would have let things go that far between us,” I turned my attention back to the computer, “You have a meeting in twenty minutes. You should probably get ready.”
Sensing that I had ended the conversation, Bradley went into his office, shutting the door quietly behind him. I stared at my computer screen. I tried to make sense of all the emotions I was feeling inside me but none of it seemed to connect logically. I had been such a fool. How could I have fallen for his lies and let myself be lured in to him? Was it just because he was good looking or was I truly interested in him
? The way my heart was aching made me think that it was because I had feelings for him.
But that didn’t matter because he didn’t feel the same. He was a slime ball. I had let him in out of a pure schoolgirl crush and he still had feelings for his wife. I thought of how Winter had flicked her hair back and sauntered by me. She almost had this knowing look on her face, as though she could see right through me and knew everything. I felt another surge of anger rush through me.
I knew I had to quit. There was no way I could work here. It would be ridiculous to stay and see him every day and try to act as though Vegas had never happened, as though my feelings had never happened. I glanced back at his closed office door. The money was nice…the money was very nice. No other job would pay me like this one and I couldn’t exactly put this down on a resume or ask Bradley for a reference. I would have to get a job that paid half this much due to my lack of experience. I chewed on that for a while, idly checking e-mails. Just as I was about to get up and tell Bradley that I was quitting, an e-mail came in. I nearly choked when I saw that it was from Winter.
I opened it gingerly, almost worried about what it’d say. It was sent only to me and all it said was Lunch at 12:30 across the street?
I stared at it and read it about ten more times. A sick feeling swooped up, from my toes to the tips of my fingers. Why in the world did she want to meet me? Had Bradley told her about us? There was no way. He would have let me know if he had, right? Maybe I hadn’t had the poker face I thought I had when she came in.
I stared at the computer screen for way too long, wondering how and if I should reply. But the curiosity was almost too much to bear. I emailed her back and agreed to see her, glancing back at Bradley’s office door.
At 12:30, I left to go the café across the street. Bradley hadn’t tried to talk to me and I still wasn’t sure if I was going to quit or not. I thought to myself that it depended on what Winter was meeting with me about. I knew Bradley would kill me if he knew I was having lunch with her. But I was furious at him and frankly the curiosity was overwhelming.
I saw her before she saw me. She wasn’t in the spot Bradley usually sat in. She was on the opposite side of the café, still in the back. Her hair was falling over her shoulders, dyed a deep platinum blonde — it appeared almost white. Winter was tapping away on her phone. Her nails were fake, deep red with an ornate gold design on the middle finger of each hand. I noticed she still wore her wedding ring. Her clothes were designer and she had a Burberry bag but her skirt was short, showing off a milky white thigh that would entice any man who glanced over. I felt out of fashion in last year’s clothes with my hair done up in a quick bun. I’m sure I looked tired and my makeup wasn’t nearly as polished as hers. I couldn’t guess her age. Was she younger than me? Even though I was only thirty, I felt old.
I tried to straighten myself up and walked over to her in what I hoped was a confident manner. Winter looked up as I slid into the seat across from her.
“You made it.” She said to me, looking at me with bright green eyes.
The waiter bustled over before I could reply. I ordered a coffee and a muffin and Winter just ordered a cup of tea. Barely a lunch, I thought to myself.
“Sorry about this morning,” Winter said, not sounding sorry at all, “I don’t know how much Bradley has told me about him and I, with our marriage, our divorce, everything.” She waved her hand, as though she was shrugging the details away.
“Not much,” I replied honestly, “He hasn’t brought you up at all.”
Winter’s eyes narrowed, as though she couldn’t believe that Bradley wasn’t talking about her all the time, “Well, I’ll explain a little bit before I get to the point as to why I invited you here,” She paused, eying cigarettes that had fallen out of her purse, “Janine didn’t tell you anything?”
“Janine?” I replied, slightly taken aback.
“I’ll take that as a no,” She flicked her hair back, “Fine, I’ll give you a quick rundown and that explain what I need.”
Chapter 7
Winter leaned back briefly so the waiter could place her tea in front of her and he dropped off my coffee and muffin.
“I knew Bradley back in high school. We were high school sweethearts. We were the couple of the school. We were on homecoming court and prom king and queen,” She smiled at the memory, “But we broke up when we headed out to college. We went to separate colleges and the distance just wasn’t working out in our favor. I married a guy I met in college, Bruce. Bruce was involved in electronics for smart phones and he ended up crossing paths with Bradley through business. Bradley was just starting out, you see. I met up with him through all the business dinners. Well,” Winter exhaled, “One thing led to another and we were hooking up. Bradley was single but I was still married to Bruce. We had affair for about a year. Finally, Bruce caught us. He said he was going out of town for a trip and I faked an illness. Bradley came down and he caught us in bed together.”
The thought of them in bed together hurt more than I hoped I was leading on. I thought of Bradley entangled in Winter’s body, her legs wrapped around his waist as she pumped her hips against him. I tried to dispel the image, not wanting to think about it anymore. I hoped I looked caring or understand and not slightly sick at the thought of them sleeping together.
Winter went on, “Bruce and I divorced. Bradley and I married six months later. We had an amazing wedding in France. By this time, his business had taken off and he was absolutely loaded. Money was not an object. It was an amazing wedding. Oh, I think I still have some photos on my phone.”
Winter clicked a couple of things on her phone and leaned over slightly. I got a whiff of her perfume and a glimpse of her cleavage. She showed me a photo. Winter, in a long, gorgeous white dress with beads along the bodice. The beading was ornate and seemed to glow under the lights from the camera. It was a ball gown style of dress and it was breath taking. Her hair wasn’t the platinum locks she had now but a deep chestnut brown, which personally, I thought suited her better.
But even though Winter looked beautiful, though I hated to admit it, my eye was drawn to Bradley. He looked younger but still dashing, handsome in his tailored suit. I felt my pulse quicken as I looked at him.
“You look gorgeous.” I said honestly.
I could have stared at that photo forever but Winter took her phone away and kept talking, “We were together for three years. He’s trying to divorce me. He doesn’t want to, you know that right? I mean, I don’t even have to tell you that — you walked in on us kissing. He wants me back but won’t admit it. I’m the best thing he will ever have.”
“Why is he trying to divorce you then?” I attempted to keep my tone neutral but Winter’s eyes narrowed for a moment.
Then she spoke, “I don’t know. Well, you want to know what he is claiming - That he doesn’t have feelings for me anymore. That I’m controlling and I try to manipulate him. That I spend all of his money,” She shrugged, “It is just all lies. He wants to be with me. He has cold feet.”
“Cold feet about what?” I said stupidly.
“About me wanting kids. He doesn’t want kids. Or so he says. He wants kids. He wants my kids.”
I tried to follow what Winter was telling me. That she sounded like a wife from hell and Bradley wanted out. That she wanted his kids and he didn’t want hers. That he still wanted her because he was kissing her in his office. But that still didn’t answer why I was here with her, in this café, talking about this.
“Anyway, Janine and I had a deal. She’d keep tabs on him for me, let me know what girls he was seeing, all that stuff.”
“What?” I said, probably sounding stupid again.
“Janine,” She said impatiently, “She’d keep track for me. If he was seeing a girl, she’d let me know who. Let me know where I could run into him. I think he’s seeing someone again and with Janine gone, I need you to take her place.”
“You want me to spy on Mr. Gable?” I asked in amazement.
>
“Spy seems like a harsh word for what I’m asking.”
“Janine did this?”
“Yes,” She said slowly, “I’ve told you about three times now. Listen, if your moral compass is telling you that it is wrong, take a day to think about it. I’ll give you an extra five grand every time you give me information I can use.”
Winter stood up abruptly. She hadn’t touched her tea and I realized my coffee had gone cold. She towered over the table in her large high heels.
“Think about it.” She said and then strutted out of the café.
I stared at my cold coffee. I was trying to digest what she had told me but it made my head hurt. There was no way to get around the fact she was asking me to spy on Bradley. Now I wasn’t so sure that what I saw was what I had thought it was. He might have been telling me the truth, judging from Winter’s story.
But, a nagging voice inside me went, what if she was the one telling the truth? What if everything Winter had said was true? I didn’t want it to be but to push it out of my mind would have been foolish.
I stared at my food, realizing that Winter had left me to foot the bill. Lovely.
As I walked back to the office, I tried to figure out what I should do. I had calmed down enough that I didn’t feel like punching Bradley in the head. Winter had made me even more confused. Who was correct here? Something about Winter’s words rang false to me.
As I took the elevator ride up, I decided that I wouldn’t be fixating on what was true and what wasn’t. I had gotten Winter’s side of the story. Now it was time for Bradley’s. I marched across the office and knocked on his door three times and then walked in.
Bradley was looking out the massive window behind his desk. He turned around and looked at me in surprise.
“Serena!” He exclaimed, turning to face me.
“Hard at work, I see.” I said in return, knowing I was crossing a line but not caring enough in case I was going to quit anyway.
Claimed by the Billionaire: Lust #2 Page 3
