Romantic Promises (Alluring Promises Series, #2) (7 page)

I made a disgusted face before pointing out the obvious as I pretended to straighten up my desk. “She’s a stripper,” I bluntly stated as I took a stack of files from the corner of my desk and organized them, slamming the bottoms onto my desk. Unfortunately, a file folder slit into the palm of my hand causing a paper cut. It hurt like hell and I tried my best not to look at it or react to the pain searing through my palm.

He huffed. “She
was
a stripper. She’s smart. I thought you’re that type of business woman that makes sure women take over the corporate world. You know, rising women to the top and all. You’ve judged her now.”

My eyes flew back to his as I scoffed, “I’m not judging her.”

He stood up and placed both knuckles on the edge of my desk and glared into my eyes as he leaned in. He lowered his voice slightly to make his point to me. It was more of a low growl because I could tell he was really trying to drive his point across to me. “Yes, you are. Here’s a girl who’s trying to do something better with her life and you’re not giving her a fair chance because of whatever reason.” He stopped and that same corner of his mouth turned up into a smirk. “Are you jealous of her or something?”

I couldn’t hide my disgusted look that he would even think I’d be jealous of a stripper. I leaned forward meeting his expression as I replied, “So, because she doesn’t have the qualifications needed in order to be your Administrative Assistant, you’re going to throw some stupid male response in my face that I’m
jealous
? You are
very
full of yourself, Mr. Williams.”

He pulled back slightly and crossed his arms again, smiling. “Then give me one good reason, besides her bad career choice, why she shouldn’t be hired.”

I practically spat out the obvious, “She lacks technical skills and previous experience as an assistant.”

His smile brightened and he shook his head briefly. “Everyone needs to start somewhere. How the hell are you supposed to get experience if no one gives you that first break?” I hated that he had a reasonable point.

Done.
I was done with this stupid little tiff we were having. Tired of him trying to get his way and I just wanted him out of my office with his stupid smug attitude. I stood up and placed my fists on my desk, like he did previously, and leaned in. Of course as soon as I did that, his cute little eyebrow whipped up and a half smile crept over his face. “Fine. You want her as your admin without prior experience, you’ve got it.” I watched his eyes graze over my body and tried to ignore the excitement that started to well up inside of me. I took a deep breath to get my message through to him and hopefully get him out of my office. “But don’t come crying to me when she can’t figure out how to prepare your sales reports and data. You won’t get another admin.”

“Thank you.” He smiled, straightening his posture, as if he won. He perused my body one more time as he stood and sauntered towards the door.

As soon as he turned to grab the door handle, I called out, “Mr. Williams,” almost singing sarcastically.

He turned his head back to me waiting to hear what I had to say, still holding the doorknob. “I’m unsure if you’ve read our
Corporate Handbook
just yet. Please make sure you carefully review the section about our ‘No Dating Policy’ and our ban regarding relationships with a subordinate. Make sure you adhere to those policies or else it’s grounds for immediate termination, for both you
and
Ms. Leonard.” I gave him a sarcastic smile as I watched the smile fall from his face.

Pure victory.

“Can you believe he wants me to ‘push’ her through and hire her? She’s a stripper for God’s sake!” I scoffed.

Aubrey and I were seated at a table at the small bar in our building enjoying our Chardonnays. We both arrived back at our apartment after work and briefly discussed our hellish days. We realized we needed to go out tonight instead of waiting for our usual Friday night D&D – discuss and drink night.

“He’s just being a nice guy,” Aubrey said as she ran her fingers under her short jet-black hair. I always loved her hair, straight as a pin and cut blunt, just like she expresses her opinions – sharp and matter of fact. She was able to always point out the obvious and could usually calm me down quickly from my outbursts. Thankfully, she was usually around when my mother called too.

“He’s probably slept with her,” I retorted with a brief huff.

“So, what do you care?” She asked as she quickly scanned the room. She was always very observant and able to point out interactions between people and make a quick scenario or joke about them.

“I don’t. What I do care about is the fact that he wants me to hire some slut just because he’s friends with her and I don’t want to do that. I told him I’d hire her, but I’m thinking about going back and telling him I changed my mind.”

“Why? You said she had a decent résumé put together. She spoke very professional in the interview. Why wouldn’t you hire her?”

“She’s a stripper,” I practically barked out. “And because I’ve worked too damn hard to get to where I am. I’ve worked my way up, not sleeping with anyone, thank you. And I didn’t want to hire her just because Matt Williams walks in thinking he can weasel around and get his way.”

Aubrey glanced back at me with a small smile. She tilted her head to me in that sweet way that lets me know I’m wrong without making me feel horrible. Softly she disagreed, “She worked hard too. She took the time to better herself by going to school and getting her Associates’
degree. You need to give her some credit. Just because this Williams guy pisses you off, doesn’t mean you should take it out on her. You’re better than that.” She gave me a quick wink to lessen the blow of what she just said.

She was right. My dislike for Mr. Williams was keeping me from hiring her and I didn’t usually let things like that sway me from my hiring decisions.

Aubrey piped up to change the conversation, “Oh, look at the cute couple in the corner. I think they’re having their first date. Wait. Make it a blind date. Watch, he’s going to look at her boobs in….” She paused dramatically as we watched the cute perky blonde giggle and glance away. Sure enough, her date glanced down immediately and his eyes sparked. I guess he enjoyed what he saw. His eyes darted back to hers just as she turned back to his gaze. “And there it is. Perfect execution, cute blonde guy.” We both giggled at her detailed description of their interaction.

I looked down at my glass and began to swirl the contents around slowly. “I met Charles out for lunch today.”

Aubrey glanced over at me, pursing her lips together. “And how did that go?”

I nodded and took a small breath. “Amanda was with him. Eating lunch. He told me I shouldn’t have ordered the Reuben.” I said it all blunt and to the point. Something Aubrey appreciates.

“You know what I’m going to say. He doesn’t excite you. He’s what your parents want. Not what you want.”

I glanced away and wanted to roll my eyes, but didn’t. Because the truth is, I told Aubrey about lunch because I wanted to hear what she had to say. And I knew I probably wouldn’t like it or agree with it, but I know what she says is the truth. I needed to hear it from her.

“Amanda had a salad.” I added, still feeling sorry for myself for having to endure watching them together. 

“I bet it’ll give her the shits later,” she teased as she leaned over nudging my shoulder with hers. “Hey, you don’t have to marry him. You know this. I’ll call your parents if you want me to.” She smiled at me and winked again.

I nodded, pressing my lips together. “I know you would. I love you for that too.” I took a deep breath as I looked around the room.

“You’re just comfortable with him, that’s the only reason you’re with him. Stop being scared about dating. It can be a fun thing, you know.” She looked around the room and then took a small sip from her glass. “It’ll be like getting a new car.” Aubrey giggled and looked at me smiling. “Seriously, you can go with me to all those speed dating things and then we can laugh about all the guys later.” She swayed into me as she sang, “It could be fun.”

I gave her a brief smile and then looked around the bar again. Maybe the dating scene was also a factor for me. Charles knows me as well as all my quirks. Starting over and all that new dating stuff scared the heck out of me. Yes, I would rather deal with someone who didn’t excite me than have to go through all that. Not to mention, avoid my Mom and all the remarks from her I’d have to endure the rest of my life.

God, that sounds so pathetic to actually realize that. I took a long drink of my wine.

“I’ll find another doctor or lawyer for you.” Aubrey pushed her nose in the air and snottily said, “Someone of
caliber
for your snobby parents.” I giggled, hugged her and gave her a kiss on her cheek.

I sat back and took another sip from my wine. “Thank you,” I told her, barely loud enough that she would hear. She nodded with a small smile before looking back out to the bar. There were some handsome guys out there. Maybe it would be fun to date again. I definitely needed some sort of excitement in my life. Charles is…perfect. And I know I’m not.

“Did Charles give you an answer yet about the wedding next week? You know I love weddings and I still want to be your date,” She teased.

“Oh, I totally forgot about that wedding. I still don’t understand why I was invited. The architects my parents hired to remodel their home has nothing to do with me. Who invites their clients’ kid to their son’s wedding anyway?” I shot out. My mom insisted I attend this wedding since it was supposed to be a big society wedding and because she wanted me to see what should and shouldn’t be done at weddings.

“No, I forgot to ask Charles if he could go with me. I’ll call him tomorrow and find out. He should know his schedule by now. If he’s on call, I promise you can be my date.” I tossed a huge smiled at Aubrey.

“Good, because weddings are the perfect places to hook up. See. If you were single, we could
really
have a good time,” she teased and bit her lip as she shook her shoulders teasingly.

“I miss being with him. I feel like we haven’t had sex in a long time.”

“Vanessa, if he’s this boring now, think of what it’ll be like years from now. It’s only going to keep getting worse. Do yourself a favor and break up with him.”

“He’s just such a great guy though. I mean any woman would love to have him,” I defended him.

“Then throw him back into the waters and
let
some other woman have him.”

“My parents love him.”

“Then let your parents marry him,” she snarled as she rolled her eyes.

I’ve wanted to break up with him for quite some time, but the truth is, I can’t come up with a reasonable reason. He’s really perfect. Perfect hair, perfect teeth. Perfect job. Perfect grades. Fucking perfect. So perfect it could be sickening at times. He even folds his shirts…perfect. My parents absolutely adore him. My dad cannot wait to add him to his practice. Charles just needs more surgery hours under his belt before my dad extends an offer.

What is wrong with me that I want to break up with someone that everyone clearly adores? Well, except Aubrey. She’s my only true ally in this matter.

My other “issue” with Charles is our sex life. Everything seems so monotonous. So…basic. So…boring. I’ve tried to spice it up several times, only to be told I’m getting a little too “wild.”
What man says that?
Don’t most want something more? Not Charles. Or so it seems. To make matters worse, these past couple days I’ve been really wanting…more. And I’m not sure why.

I took my phone out as Aubrey made eye contact with a cute guy at the bar. “I think he’s coming over,” she whispered to me out of the corner of her mouth. I glanced up and watched an attractive, slightly older guy come over to our table. I keep telling Aubrey that most people we meet here live in this building and for her not to hook up with anyone she doesn’t want to see again.

The one thing about Aubrey that I’ve always tried to understand is that she
needs
sex. We’ve talked about her addiction to sex before and she’s even tried going to meetings. Yep. Sexaholics Anonymous. She tries on and off to stop. She’s always had a rule that she doesn’t bring them to our place. We’ve lived together since college and she has always kept to that rule.

He leaned against our table and placed his glass filled with ice and dark liquid on our table. “Hello, ladies. How are we doing tonight?” I inhaled a deep breath knowing what was going to come next. Aubrey was probably going to get some tonight. If I heard her say “we’re doing fine,” the poor guy wasn’t going to get any. If Aubrey says “it’s been a rough week,” the guy was going to get lucky.

I glanced down at my phone and began scrolling through my text to Charles’ name. Aubrey sat back in her chair a little and shook her hair, with a small pout on her pretty ruby lips. “Well, it’s actually been a pretty rough week.” I couldn’t help but snicker. Aubrey flicked her hand against my thigh. I must have done that louder than I thought.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Tell me all about it.” I let them continue their conversation as I sent out a text to Charles.

Me:
How about Saturday night? I’m feeling like we need to get together
.

He didn’t respond right away. He usually doesn’t if he’s making rounds or studying.

I sat back and listened to Aubrey closing her deal while scrolling through my emails. They were leaning into each other, touching each other every now and then. Aubrey tapped my leg and I nodded. We’ve been doing this since our second year of college. Her tapping my leg was my signal she was going to let the guy get lucky. I watched Aubrey drink down the last of her wine and take the guy’s hand as she gave me a quick wink. I smiled at her, happy that one of us was going to have sex tonight.

My phone rang out a text and I checked it, anxious and a bit apprehensive at the letdown I knew was going to occur. My heart skipped a beat and I couldn’t help but smile when I read the text.

Charles:
Actually, I’ve got a little down time right now. Mind if I come over?

Mind? My God, I felt like it’s been at least a week since we’ve had sex. I thought about it a little more and realized it was a week and a half, because we started to have sex when he was on call and he received an emergency call and had to rush out.

Me:
Would love to see you right now. I’m already waiting. Impatiently
.

Charles:
On my way
.

I drank down the last of my wine and hopped off my chair, hurrying to the elevator.

In my room, I opened my lingerie drawer and began searching for my blue baby doll nightie. Charles’ favorite color is blue, so I had a pretty nice array of blue lingerie. This one, I noted last time, was his favorite. I jumped in the shower really quick before donning the nightie. I heard a knock on the door and grabbed my silk robe, tying the sash very loosely before opening the door.

Excitement coursed through me as I opened the door, as if I were about to open my present at Christmas. No, that’s not exactly right. My panties never became damp at Christmas over a present, so this was definitely better. I tried to stop myself from beaming when I saw my fiancé. Charles stood there in a golf shirt and dark jeans, leaning against the door with a perfect dazzling smile and his brown eyes sparkled as they drank in my body. I bit my lip trying not to show too much excitement.

He immediately slipped his hands around my waist as he stepped inside, bending down to kiss me. I opened my mouth expecting a full passionate kiss. Instead, he chuckled and pecked my open mouth. Awkward kiss. I had hoped for so much more. He shook his head as he stepped inside the door further. His kiss made me feel like an old familiar friend.

“I missed you,” he said as he smiled at me. He then gave me a small Eskimo kiss.

I smiled back at him and replied, “I missed you so much too. Lunch was too short today.” I gave him a small pout.

“I’ll make it up to you,” He said with a grin. He turned my body and gave me a slight nudge so we would walk to my room. He closed the door behind him as I turned around and slowly began to untie my sash. I carefully pulled my robe off my shoulders and then let it fall slowly down my arms before finally cascading onto the floor. A slow sexy smile on Charles’ face gave me the reaction I was hoping for as I watched his eyes light up while they lingered on my breasts.

He took a step towards me and I took a step back, slow and sexy with a coy smile. I sat on the bed as he stepped closer and I began to unbuckle his belt. His hands sifted through my hair and one dropped down to my shoulder making soft circles on my skin. As I undid his jeans and pulled them down, I grazed my hand over his hard cock through his boxers.