Second Time Around (Yvonne's Naughty Story Collection) (7 page)

The snores coming from the bed reassured her that William wouldn’t be awake before she left. It was still dark outside which assured her that morning was still a way off. Finding her clothes had been somewhat of a treasure hunt. She was still missing one of her thigh-highs. She chalked it up to clothing lost in battle. Staring at the gorgeous blonde laying in the bed she felt a pang of loss. After yesterday, Erica knew she couldn’t see him again. Besides the fact that his family was deplorable and would always be a problem, he wanted children and a real family. That was something she couldn’t give him even if she wanted to. Risking a gentle kiss to his cheek, Erica placed a handwritten note on his nightstand.

Thanks for a wonderful weekend
.

The phone call wasn’t really a surprise. Erica just wished she had been emotionally prepared for it.

“I woke up this morning missing a certain beautiful woman. I know I didn’t dream her up because she left a note. Why did you duck out without saying goodbye? And how did you get home without a car?”

“I took a cab. As for ducking out, I woke up before sunrise with the inspiration I needed to finish the designs for my client on Monday and had to get it all on paper.”

“When can I see you again?”

“I’m not sure.”
Tell him the truth. That you can’t see each other anymore
. “I’m really swamped for the next few weeks.”

“I don’t think you can go that long without me.” He teased.

“Mmmm, well I’m going to have to try.” She tried to keep the growing sadness out of her voice.

“I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Each time the phone rang Erica’s stomach twisted in knots. The fear of caving and agreeing to meet with him made her send every one of his calls to voicemail. After the first few she didn’t even want to listen anymore. After two weeks William’s calls went from 5-6 a day to only one. Thankfully she had plenty of work to keep her busy. The next hurdle would be working avoiding both William and Cameron while working on William’s parent’s house. That probably wasn’t going to happen. Cameron wouldn’t seek her out but she was pretty sure William would. She put it off as long as possible but finally had to call. She arranged a meeting with Ms. Landers for the following Monday.

Tonight she just had to impress Samuel Carlton with her expert design skills. He had insisted that his schedule only allowed him to meet with her tonight so they would be meeting at Le Maison, a fancy French restaurant near the Fox Theater in downtown Atlanta. Black slacks and a white sleeveless blouse were her uniform of choice. She knew it had to be business and casual
because men like Carlton were always turned off by women that were dressed too “business” like in a social setting.

William returned his phone to his interior jacket pocket. Erica hadn’t returned his calls and when he went to her apartment her roommate assured him that Erica was alive and well and extremely busy. So she was running away because she wasn’t interested or because she was scared.  Either way he would be sure to conveniently show up at his parent’s house on Monday when Erica would be meeting with his mother.

“Hey,” a dark haired man punched his shoulder, “our table is ready.”

William shook his head at the man that had been his best friend since college. He looked around the dimly lit dining room. “Why are we here again? I was thinking beers at Taco Mac, not escargot.”

Troy slapped him on the shoulder.
He always was very touchy-feely.
“Because there’s a certain blonde that is a waitress here. I’ve been trying to get her to go out with me and I was hoping you could help me out by letting her know I’m not a creep.”

“But you are a creep.” He chuckled.

Troy placed a hand on his chest as if he was mortally wounded.

William held up his hands in truce.
“Okay, not a complete creep. You just like . . .”
Erica.
As much as he wanted to ignore her like she had been doing to him, he couldn’t ignore the laughter and the fact that she was having dinner with another man.

Erica was extremely grateful for Samuel Carlton’s professional attitude. Apparently he had business dinners at expensive restaurants all of the time. Once he had made a few tweaks on the designs she brought they had been able to enjoy a rather pleasant dinner. Carlton had told her about his grown children and his deceased wife while she simply listened, content to let him carry the entire conversation and keep William off her mind. And then it happened.

“William, Troy, how nice to see you two.” Carlton’s voice was warm and welcoming and his gaze was directed to whoever was standing directly behind her.

She didn’t need to turn around to know William who. It was him, her William. She could feel the energy he put off.

Carlton gestured to her. “Allow me to introduce Erica Mayer. She’s a very up and coming interior decorator.”

Erica forced a smile and turned in her chair. Her mouth opened but the words caught in her throat as her eyes met the icy gaze of her lover.

“We’ve met.” William’s voice remained casual. “Troy, this is the Erica I was telling you about. Erica, this is Troy Dawson, an old college buddy of mine.”

She glanced at the dark haired man and nodded hello.

“Troy, if you’ll order my drink I would like to speak to Miss. Mayer just a moment. Sam, you don’t mind if I borrow her for a few minutes do you?”

“Sure, just bring her back in time for dessert.”

Erica closed her eyes as Troy chuckled before making his way towards the hostess who was holding the table. Slowly she stood up and followed William towards the bathrooms. He led her to a small lounge area decorated with wallpaper in gold and pearl just off the bathroom area. Erica was thankful that the room was empty.

“Is this what you call working? This is why you’re too busy to pick up the phone or even text me?” The pain in his voice tightened her chest. “Did our weekend together mean nothing to you?”

Erica
forced the words from her throat. He couldn’t know what the real reason was because then he would try to fix her. “It was one weekend. One date unless you count the kid’s museum. What was it supposed to mean other than great sex?”

The stunned look on his face left her
feeling punched in the gut. Words wouldn’t come.

“Is this payback for what happened in high school? That’s why you slept with me? Some twisted sort of revenge?”

Please forgive me
. She didn’t want to hurt him but she knew that she could never be what he needed. “Yes. That’s exactly what it was. I wanted you to know how it felt to share such an intimate moment with someone only to be left completely alone when it was over.”

The look on his face
was as good as a knife in her heart.

“You bitch.”

“I know about you and Erica.” William dropped the information the moment Cameron walked into his office. “I know that you told her to sleep with you to get her ex-husband to back off.”

“So?” Cameron shrugged.
“There’s nothing you can do. Only Dad can fire me.”

He clenched his fists at his sides trying his best not to punch the smug look on his brother’s face. “So if I hear or witness any type of harassment of our clients or our staff I will report you to the ethics committee.”

Cameron snarled, “Is that how she got you to go to bed with her? By blackmailing you that she would tell people that I wanted to sleep with her. “

“No.” he wasn’t going to explain his connection to Erica to his
sleaze brother.

“Wait, I’ve got it. She told you how I slept with her in high school and then dumped her. Or maybe it was the pity party approach using her
emergency hysterectomy as her sob story.”

“What?! Get out.”

The smirk returned. “She didn’t tell you about that did she?”

William saw red. In moments he grabbed Cameron by the shirt and slammed him into the wall. “Keep your mouth shut and get the hell out of my office.”

William couldn’t remember getting to his parents’ house. He only knew that was where Erica would be and he had to see her. He had to know the real reason as to why she broke it off. Taking the stairs two at a time, William didn’t wait for the housekeeper to open the door. He barged right in. Voices in the dining room drew him in that direction.

“William,”
Ms. Landers’ surprise was evident, “whatever are you doing here?”

Erica renewed her interest in her notes.

“I’m here to talk to Erica.” His gaze stayed on the red head with her eyes on the notes in front of her, “Mother will you excuse us for a bit?”

“Sure, darling. I’ll be in the kitchen checking on lunch.”

The moment the door closed the words escaped his mouth, “Why did you break it off with me?”

She look
ed up, startled. “I told you why.”

“Bullshit.” He
grabbed her tablet and placed it on the table. “You skipped the part where you dated my brother in high school after you and I slept together. Is that why you don’t want to see me anymore or is it the fact that you can’t have children?”

“I take it Cameron has been spilling all of the dirt he has on me.”

He placed his thumb and forefinger under her chin forcing her to meet his gaze.
“Which is it?”

“It didn’t have anything to do with Cameron.”

“Putting aside the fact that you told me you didn’t sleep with him, why didn’t you tell me about your surgery? Surely you don’t think I would break it off with you because of something that’s beyond your control?”

“What am I supposed to think, William?
” she jerked her chin free from his grasp and took a few steps back and if she couldn’t stand to even be near him, “I barely know you. You didn’t even know my name the first time around and then I fell into bed with you on our first date. I’m supposed to just dump the no children thing on you?”

“You could have at least given us a chance to get to know each other before telling me about it. THEN I could have made a decision from there.”
“So I should have waited until we were in love with each other before springing on you the fact that I will never have children because that would have made our break up so much easier?”

“NO! You should have given me the benefit of the doubt dammit!”

“Maybe I didn’t want you to fall in love with me and settle.”

Stubborn
. Striding forward, he reached her in just a few steps. Without thinking he pulled her against his chest, dipping his head to press his lips to hers. She squirmed, keeping her lips pressed together. He continued his soft sensual assault on her mouth. A quiet moan escaped as she opened her mouth in surrender. Each moment that passed allowed him to convey how he much he missed her, how much he needed her.

Erica was the first to pull back. “Will, I . . .”

He placed a finger on her lips unable to contemplate the pain of her saying they shouldn’t be together. After weeks of sleepless nights and wondering where she was every minute of every day he couldn’t take it. “Give me a chance.” He whispered. “Give US a chance.”

The guarded look in her emerald eyes nearly stopped his heart. And then she nodded so slightly that he almost didn’t see it. Neither of them had heard his mother enter the room.

“Is everything alright in here?” The older woman was practically pulling the skin off of her fingers. The distress was clear on her face. Although William wasn’t sure if she was more upset about him losing a girlfriend or her losing a competent interior decorator.

“It’s fine, Mother. I just couldn’t stand to be away from Erica a moment longer.” It wasn’t an actual lie.

Erica slipped out of his grasp. “Ms. Landers, I just have a few more questions and then you can get back to whatever you have going this afternoon. “

“Nonsense. I have lunch being prepared as we speak. William I do hope you can stay for lunch. I haven’t seen you since our family dinner.”

William grinned. He had no intention of letting Erica out of his sight. “Of course I can stay. I wouldn’t dream of turning down lunch with two beautiful women.”

Erica picked up her tablet and proceeded to consult with his mother. Both were soon lost in a discussion of style, focal points and the function of certain rooms. Pulling out his phone he texted his secretary to cancel his afternoon appointments before scrolling through emails, answering the most important and forwarding others to his secretary. He was almost relieved when the maid brought lunch into the room on a serving tray.

“I thought you had a roommate.” William looked around at the small living room and kitchen.
Both of which could fit inside his own kitchen. He wasn’t sure what style it was supposed to be but the words Flea Market Eclectic came to mind.