by Lexy Timms
“We never finished our conversation about my raise.”
“We did, I believe. I told you to talk to HR. I cannot raise your salary…not that I would.”
“Did you talk to them already? If I recall, you agreed to do that.”
He rolled his eyes and sighed. His phone buzzed. He looked down at it and saw that it was Emily…again. Fuck! “I don’t have time for this right now.”
“Who keeps texting you?”
“Once again, none of your fucking business. Don’t you have work to do?” The phone buzzed again.
“Maybe you should get that,” Sheri said. Eric narrowed his eyes at her and looked down at the phone again. Emily’s messages said,
“Eric, call me,” and “Damn it, Eric! Call me now!” He ignored Sheri and quickly text back,
“Or what?” The woman is a lunatic.
He looked back up at Sheri. She was gazing at him with a disapproving look. She looked just like their mother sometimes, especially when she did that. She could give him a look that said she knew exactly what he was up to and that she didn’t approve in one glance. Her dark brown eyes identical to their mother’s and the way she set her jaw when she was being stubborn about something too. He almost snapped at her again, but decided to try a different tactic, “I will talk to HR, okay?”
She smiled. “Thank you. And…you’ll leave Crystal alone?”
“Get out!” She was still smiling but she headed for the door. “By the way, I don’t want a fucking cinnamon roll in the morning. I want a donut.”
She rolled her eyes and said, “Yes, your majesty.” She finally left and closed the door. Eric received another text from Emily then. This one said,
“You know what. Do you really want to play this game with me, Eric? I’ll win…every time.” The bitch was three thousand miles away in Los Angeles and she was still controlling his life. He could almost hear that fucking maniacal laughter of hers. She was the absolute biggest mistake he’d ever made. She was the one person that he couldn’t control and she was the wild card. He stared at the phone. Fuck her! He wasn’t going to call her back until he was damned good and ready.
*****
Friday had already come and her work day was done. She was a bag of nerves. “Is it too short?” Crystal had on her favorite “little black dress” but all of a sudden it seemed too “little.” It fit fine…but it was so short. It fell just to the tops of her thighs and clung to every other part of her body.
“It’s really fine honey…you look gorgeous.” Debbie had been monitoring her progress step by step. Crystal was so nervous that Debbie was afraid she would call the whole date off. It wasn’t like she hadn’t thought about it.
“Maybe shorter heels, then it wouldn’t look so short?” She started digging through her closet.
Debbie laughed. “Stop it. You have great legs and you look perfect. If I had your legs I’d never cover them up. I like your hair up like that too.”
“You think so? Maybe I should wear it down. My neck looks really long, like a giraffe.”
Debbie laughed again. “That’s it, you’re way too nervous. I’m going to go for you…”
“Uh uh!” Crystal laughed. She suddenly realized that nervous or not, she really was looking forward to this. “I want to do this, but you’re right…I’m a nervous wreck. I’m just not sure about this.”
“It’s just dinner, right?”
With a heavy sigh Crystal agreed. “Yes, just dinner. He’s just so…assertive, I guess is the word.”
“Hey, I know you and you’re not going to do anything you’re not ready for. If you don’t want to sleep with him tonight, you won’t, no matter how “assertive” he is. If you do though, you know that’s okay, right? You’re a big girl.”
Crystal felt herself blush. “I know,” she said. She wasn’t a “one-night stand” kind of girl though. She’d had one once and it didn’t feel very good the next day. She’d rather not go there again. She got the feeling that Eric wasn’t looking for much beyond that so she had to ask herself if she was setting herself up for the fall. The doorbell saved her from having to think about it any longer however. She stood there frozen for a second and with a giggle, Debbie slapped her small black bag in her hand and gave her a little shove towards the door. When she still didn’t move, Debbie went out and answered the door herself. Crystal watched from the bedroom as her friend pulled open the door and Eric framed the doorway in a black, tailored suit with a dark blue tie that matched his eyes. His hair was perfectly styled and he looked better than ever. Crystal’s insides were shaking as she watched Debbie give him the once over.
“Hello,” Eric said.
“Hi,” Debbie sounded out of breath. Great, she’s as spellbound by him as everyone else.
“Hi Eric,” Crystal said from the doorway of the bedroom. His eyes locked into hers and for a second she could actually feel the heat from them.
“Hi Crystal. Are you ready?”
“Yes. See you later, Deb.” Debbie turned and gave her a wide-eyed look. Crystal tried to keep a straight face as she made her way over to Eric. She took his arm and let him escort her down the few steps that led up to their apartment and to the blue Jaguar that waited at the curb. He opened the door and she slid in to the comfortable leather seat. As he got in his side, his eyes went straight to her legs. She tugged at the hem of her dress, pulling it down as far as she could.
“You look beautiful Crystal…except for one thing.” He reached over and untied her hair and let it fall around her shoulders. “Don’t wear your hair up around me.”
She wasn’t sure how to respond to that. This was their first date. Did he really just tell her how to wear her hair? Finally she just said, “Okay.”
“Good girl.” Good girl? What the hell?
He pulled away from the curb and as he drove he said, “You can change the radio to whatever you like.” She reached over and put it on a hip hop station. When she sat back, she pulled at the hem of her dress again.
“Your dress is fine. Why do you keep pulling at it?”
She shrugged. “I’m just worried that it’s a little too short.”
He reached over and put his hand on her thigh. It was warm and tingly and although she knew it probably wasn’t a good idea to let him leave it there, she didn’t want him to move it. “It’s perfect,” he said.
Crystal sat perfectly still as they drove through the city. She’d never been out with anyone who was so assertive before. Maybe it was because he was older than most of the men she dated, or maybe it was just his personality…she wasn’t sure. It made her both nervous and excited at the same time. It seemed like the drive was taking a long time and she was just about to ask where they were having dinner when he pulled the jaguar up in front of a tall, luxury apartment building. He got out and handed his keys to a valet before coming around and opening her door.
“Where are we?” she asked as he led her into the building past the doorman. The lobby was huge and ornate. It had white and black marble floors and white furniture.
“At my penthouse,” he said, leading her into the elevator. He put a key into the slot that said, “P”
and pushed a button.
“This is just dinner…”
He smiled. “Of course. Sheri ordered dinner in for us from my brother’s restaurant.”
“Oh…your brother owns a restaurant?”
“Yes, it’s called House of Steel have you heard of it?”
The elevator stopped and the doors slid open into a smaller but equally as plush lobby. “Of course,” she said. House of Steel is one of the most upscale restaurants in Manhattan. Everyone had heard of it. Crystal had never eaten there. It was a little stiff for Ryan’s blood she was sure and he used to hate it when she paid for things. “Is your brother a chef?”
Eric shrugged and said, “He fancies himself one.” He laughed then and said, “I suppose if you take into consideration the success of his restaurant that most of New York does too.”
“Nice,” she said. “I’m not much of a cook, but I always thought it would be fun to learn.”
Eric led her through a set of French doors and they were suddenly in the largest apartment she’d ever seen. She realized then that it took up the entire top floor of the building. The walls were made of glass and the entire New York skyline was visible. “This is beautiful,” she said.
He smiled again. “Thank you. I like it. It’s my haven up above all of the crap that goes on down there on the streets every day.”
She nodded. “It must be hard for you to deal with what you do every day and not bring it home with you.”
“It’s something you learn,” he said. “For survival sake you have to be able to leave most of it at the door when you leave the building downtown. How are you dealing with it…you’ve seen a few ugly trials since you’ve been with us.”
“I guess like you said…I try to leave it there. You see so much more of it, and John. It seems like it would have to affect you.”
“It does,” he said with a wink. “I used to have a sunny personality.” She smiled and he said, “Are you ready for dinner?”
“Yes, thank you.” She followed him through the ultra-modern living room and into a formal dining room. The table was large but had only been set on one end with their two plates and bowls and white candles in the center. The plates and bowls had silver covers on them. Eric pulled her chair out for her and she smoothed her dress underneath her as she sat down. He took the other seat and then pulled the covers off their meals. Crystal was still so nervous that although the meal looked delicious, she wasn’t sure how she was going to eat with the butterflies taking up so much space in her stomach.
Chapter 12
Eric looked at the beautiful, nervous woman and had to ask himself what was different about her. She was the first and only woman he’d ever brought back to his place. If the woman didn’t have a suitable place for them to fuck, he rented a hotel room. Sometimes he left and let her stay and other times like with Sheila he sent them packing. He never slept all night with one and he’d never had dinner brought in for one either. He’s taken dates to charity events where he actually dined and danced with them of course…but the rules still applied after the event was over. He also didn’t take overnight trips with them. He wanted to be clear from the start what he was looking for…pure, unadulterated sex. He liked it rough and he loved to be in control. If they had a problem with that he had no problem with them leaving…although they rarely did. He looked at Crystal and wondered if she would object to his “tastes.” He really hoped not. He couldn’t remember ever wanting a woman this badly. As he poured them each a glass of wine he said,
“So Crystal, do you have any siblings?” He wanted to put her at ease. Maybe talking about mundane things would do that. She looked like she was going to rabbit any second.
Smiling nervously she said, “No, I’m an only child.” She took a sip of her wine and then a bite of her salad. She even looked cute when she chewed. “My parents had me later in life after they got their careers on track…or after Mother got hers on track and helped my dad start his business. They didn’t want to have any others and be raising kids in their fifties.”
“Lucky you,” he told her with a grin and a wink. “I sometimes wish my parents had stopped at one.” He cut off a piece of his steak and popped it in his mouth.
“Do you just have Sheri and the chef brother?” He finished chewing and wiped his mouth before saying,
“No, I have one other brother. The “chef” is Greg. He is thirty-two. He’s always loved to cook even when we were kids. He had an easy-bake oven and I remember giving him a lot of shit about it. Now he caters food for celebrities, so I guess he has the last laugh there. My other brother is a firefighter. His name is Brent. He’s thirty-five and he’s always been the athletic one. I’m the oldest, the brainy one,” he said with a grin. Sheri is twenty-eight and the baby…spoiled rotten, of course. I had it to do over again I would have insisted on being an only child.”
Crystal laughed. “It has its advantages I guess. It can get lonely though. When I was young and my parents were working a lot I would have liked to have siblings to keep me company.” He watched her take another sip of her wine. He wanted to run his tongue along her lips while they were wet with it.
“To fight with,” he said about the siblings with a grin. “That’s all we ever did…still do.” That wasn’t exactly true. He only really fought with Sheri and that was because she wouldn’t stay out of his business. He didn’t see his brothers as often as he would like. They were all really busy. “What did…do your parents do?”
“My father is a contractor. He owns his own business in Jersey…” Eric was grinning at her. “What?”
“Jersey, that’s the accent. I just love it. It’s so sexy. It makes me have…naughty thoughts.” She blushed. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been with a woman who actually blushed.
“Thank you,” she said, sounding a little flustered. She took a long drink of her wine before saying, “My mother was a criminal psychologist. I’m sure you probably knew her…Susan Reid.”
“Oh yes! I never put the name together. Your mother was a huge asset to us. It must have been hard on you losing her the way you did. I’m sorry for your loss.” He really did have a lot of respect for Susan. A lot of his cases had been made due to her diligence. He suddenly realized why John seemed so protective of Crystal. It made perfect sense now. He and Susan were so close. Eric hadn’t really known her on a personal level, only on a professional one.
“Thank you. It was hard… at the time we weren’t close. I was angry with her for…well, now that I think about it, silly things. I’ve found out a lot about her since I’ve started this internship that I didn’t know. I have a renewed respect for her. I wish I would have realized when she was alive what amazing work she was doing.”
He nodded. “She was a genius at what she did. I loved having her on my side in the courtroom.” He was being completely honest. They’d all lost something precious when Susan died.
“Was she ever on the side of the defense?” Crystal asked. She was so curious lately about what her mother did. She got tidbits from John, but it seemed to make him sad to talk about her.
“Rarely was she on the side of the defense,” he said. “She was impartial, don’t get me wrong. But, your mother always gave her 100% honest assessment and generally when you’re working with criminals that puts you on our side of the desk. She kept a lot of lowlifes from being re-released into society too soon but she was also honest enough to say when she believed the rehabilitation had worked. I see now why you’re so smart…and beautiful.” She blushed again. Eric wanted so badly to push dinner aside and take her right here on the dining room table. He pictured her naked and open to him with her pale skin and flaming hair offset by the dark, shiny wood…He forced himself to be patient. He didn’t want to scare her off. The only thing his sister was right about was that she wasn’t like most of the women he’d been with. That didn’t mean he couldn’t have her…that only meant he had to be more careful with this one.
“Thank you,” she said again. “What about your parents. Do they live in New York?”
“They do. They live upstate. My father is in the oil business and my mother is…well, she likes to spend my father’s money.”
Crystal laughed and said, “I’m sure there’s more to her than that. She raised four kids, right? That couldn’t have been easy.” Crystal put her salad aside and took a bite of her steak.
“No, you’re right. There is much more to her than that. She’s actually an amazing woman in her own right. She runs at least three charities that I know of and she dedicates her time to several others as well. She did raise four kids…three of them weren’t all that bright and were terribly annoying.” She laughed and he said, “I’m completely serious. I’m the only one who amounted to anything.”
“Right,” she said with a smile. “You and She
ri seem to get along well. It must be nice to work with your sister.”
“Nice? Hmm…that’s not the word I’d call it. Torturous…maybe, that’s closer anyways.” Crystal smiled and took another bite. After she swallowed and took another drink of wine she said,
“Sheri’s been really nice to me. Some of the other assistants…”
“Marla is a bitch, right?”
She didn’t look like she was sure if she should agree or not. Finally she said, “She seems really protective of you.”
He laughed. “You can’t say an unkind word, can you?”
“Oh I can. Tanya…she’s a bitch, straight up.”
He laughed. “I have to agree there too. I know that Marla is a bitch to other people…but she is one of the few people who could put up with me the way she does and still do a stellar job, so I overlook it. I’m not sure why John puts up with Tanya. He’s just too nice to let anyone go, I think.”
Crystal pushed her plate back. “Dinner was amazing, but I really can’t eat another bite.” Eric looked down at his and realized he’d been eating while they were talking and he hardly remembered tasting it. It was hard for him to concentrate on anything else when Crystal was around. That was new for him…and he wanted to explore it more.
“What about dessert?” he said.
She put her hands over her flat belly and said, “Oh no…I couldn’t.”
He leaned over close to her and with his mouth only about an inch from hers he said, “I wasn’t talking about cake or pie.”
She pulled back slightly so she could see his face and said, “Just dinner, Eric…” He felt like he wanted to scream. He wanted her so fucking bad. He wasn’t used to being denied what he wanted. Something about Crystal told him she would be worth it though. He smiled.
“Just dinner,” he said, pulling back. There was no way he was okay with that. He wasn’t giving up…not by a long shot. “How about a drink then?”
She laughed. “Okay, another glass of wine.”
