A Woman Worth Fighting For
Page 9
“I see.” Aneko’s smile broadened a little. “So how do you explain that?”
She pointed at something on Adele’s neck. Adele felt for it until her hand touched the pedant of her necklace.
“What, this necklace? He bought it for me. It was an act of love.”
“He bought you a diamond-encrusted piece. If you were someone with class, I’d have assumed it was an act of love, but seeing as it’s you…I can’t help but wonder what kind of pity he must be feeling for you to spend so much money.”
This woman was a smooth talker, Adele had to admit. She spoke in such a way that Adele couldn’t help wondering if what she’d said wasn’t true. Her words resounded in Adele’s mind, setting off a conflict between what she thought was the truth and what she hoped was just a lie. Amidst everything, it was all she could do to try to stifle her hurt.
Adele’s eyes were starting to sting. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You sound just like Queen Marie Antoinette, lured into an elaborate scam with a diamond necklace.” The woman inclined her head, her dark-lipped smile growing even wider. “Is he trying to insure you in case things go sideways and you can’t be with him anymore? So, you can sell the necklace and make a few hundred thousand dollars when you go broke because he’s no longer there for you?”
For a moment, Adele said nothing, just stared at Aneko and tried not to completely break down in front of the woman. The thoughts filled her mind, each worse than the last. Peter hadn’t bought her an expensive necklace because he thought she might need money in the future, had he? Adele didn’t want to believe he would do such a thing, but now that she thought about it, he’d been giving her a lot of money lately. He’d decided to give her a raise when she told him what she’d done when Josh came to the restaurant.
Was that what he saw when he looked at her? A woman who wasn’t as “high-class” as he was? A woman he needed to help as much as he could? Adele was sure he loved her; she’d already sensed it. But that didn’t automatically mean he saw her as an independent woman, did it? He probably felt pity for her whenever he saw her.
“It hurts when you realize you’re not as special as you think you are,” Aneko crooned. “Not that I would know how that feels.”
Adele blinked rapidly, trying to keep her eyes from getting blurry, but the tears only formed faster. “I need you to leave, please.”
The other woman’s smug expression didn’t wane. “You know the Kleenex box is within reach, right? I mean –”
“GET OUT!”
Aneko didn’t look at all fazed or offended, but rather pleased. She flashed her a grin and rose to her feet. “Since you asked so nicely,” she said. She wrinkled her nose. “You’ve worked here so long, it’s already starting to smell like…well, like your kind.”
Adele’s chest heaved, but she somehow managed to keep herself from bursting into tears. She wanted to be alone right now. She wasn’t sure if it was what she needed, but at least if she was going to be with anyone, it wouldn’t be this woman who had reduced her to tears.
“I do hope you consider my offer, Adele,” Aneko told her. A thoughtful look flashed in her eyes and her expression managed to turn more malicious. “Oh, and I’ll be taking that.”
Before Adele could realize what was going on, she’d lunged at her. Adele jerked back in surprise, but Aneko’s hand had already caught on her target. There was a loud snap and the next thing Adele knew, Aneko had the diamond necklace in her palm and a triumphant expression on her face.
“What’s rightfully yours will come to you,” she said, shoving the piece in her purse. “Do think about everything I said, will you?”
She said it like her words hadn’t been resounding through Adele’s mind the whole time. Adele waited until the door had closed behind Aneko, then let the tears flow. It took Adele a while to stop crying.
With Aneko gone, her mind was a lot clearer now. Now she could see through Aneko’s words. They didn’t really make much sense now that she thought about it. Peter’s gifts were just what they were – gifts. She trusted him enough to know he wouldn’t do to her what Aneko had made her think he’d done. Peter’s days of deception had ended the day he pushed her against the wall in this office and kissed her.
Speaking of which…Adele reached for the box of tissues and wiped her tears, then whipped out her phone and dialed Peter. He picked up on the first ring, his voice deep and cheerful.
“Hey, babe,” he said. “What’s up?”
“I need you to come pick me up from work right now,” she told him. Then, she added, “Please.”
*****
“I let her get into my head,” Adele said.
He laid a hand on her arm. “No, she got into your head. You didn’t have to let her. My sister has a way of doing that.”
She and Peter sat in his Porsche outside her apartment that evening, Adele staring out the windshield. Looking at her, Peter couldn’t help feeling a surge of rage at his sister. What right did she think she had to go to his girlfriend’s workplace and harass her? If she wasn’t his sister, he’d have had her thrown into a jail cell the second Adele told him what happened. But Aneko was a Tanaka, which meant she had privileges like he did, so there was little he could do in that area.
Still, why was Aneko so determined to ruin his happiness?
“I’m proud of you,” he told her.
Adele looked at him, her eyebrows raised slightly. “Why?”
“Because you stood your ground.” He pulled Adele into his arms and held her for a moment, enjoying the warmth of her skin. Then a thought occurred to him and he said, “We should go upstairs. By now, Betty should have left for work.”
He still wasn’t familiar with the building, so he let her lead him all the way upstairs to their apartment. When she opened the door, there was a loud meow and a cat jumped at her out of nowhere. Peter thought she would be traumatized, but she merely caught the cat in her arms and laughed, rubbing it behind its ears.
“I missed you too, Muffin,” she told it. “And I brought a friend.”
She shoved him in Peter’s face. The cat looked friendly enough. He spotted a note stuck between its collar and its neck and pulled it out. Written on it in scraggly handwriting were the words: DON’T FEED HIM AGAIN. I ALREADY DID. LUV, B <3.
“Efficient communications system,” he remarked with a smirk. Adele withdrew Muffin and set him down on the floor.
“Your sarcasm sucks,” she said, rolling her eyes. She drew closer to him, placing her hands on his chest. “Now that we’re all alone, what would you like to do?”
“I can think of a lot of things I want to do to you,” he said, and her eyes darkened almost instantly. Having made his point, he grabbed her waist and pulled her into a passionate kiss, locking his arms around her waist. He felt her hands reaching for his belt buckle, trying to get it to some free, and gave them some berth so she could free him from his pants. Gladly, he stepped of them, along with his boxer briefs, and broke the kiss so he could pull his t-shirt over his head. He stood naked before Adele, his cock stalwart and ready.
A gleam appeared in her eyes as she gazed at his meat. “That looks delicious. Mind if I get a taste?”
She didn’t wait for him to respond, but immediately went down on her knees and grabbed his cock, forcing a gasp out of his mouth. She closed her mouth over his pulsing head, flicking her tongue across it, then pushed further, easing him slowly into her mouth until he was buried to the hilt in her. He could feel the tip of him poking the back of her throat. Adele made gagging noises but didn’t take him out of her mouth. She began bobbing her head up and down his shaft, slurping sounds filling the living room, and stroked him with her hand. Peter’s mouth dropped open and his eyes rolled up into his head.
Muffin yowled and scampered out of the room, but he paid the cat no notice. There were more pressing concerns, like the fact that he was going to come loudly and wetly if Adele didn’t stop what she was doing soon.
But he couldn’t come yet. Not when there was still much to do. He held her head and slowly eased himself out of her mouth, moaning at the sight of his penis, which was now wet and slick with her saliva.
“My turn,” he said.
He pulled her to her feet and immediately hoisted her into his shoulder. She was a bit heavier than he’d expected, but not uncomfortably so. Peter moved through the house until he found the bedroom and dumped her most unceremoniously onto the bed.
“You guys don’t share this bed, do you?” he wondered aloud.
“It’s okay,” Adele told him. “Betty won’t mind.”
Adele giggled as he pushed her gown up her thighs and tugged her panties off her, exposing her pussy, which was already glistening. He shot her an evil grin, then went down on her, flicking his tongue across her clit.
In response, Adele moaned, her body bowing slightly off the bed. Peter didn’t stop there; he inserted two fingers inside her, stroking her spot as he licked her clit, and Adele’s moans grew louder. He felt her fingers rake through his hair and grab it, holding him against her cunt. Peter flicked his tongue faster, loving the way he made her feel, loving that he was able to please the woman he loved so well. In moments, he’d had her twisting and turning on the bed, her grip on him tightening and loosening as though she couldn’t figure out whether to push him away of keep him there.
When she came, it was with a loud cry, and her juices shot out of her, splattering his chin. Peter continued to pump inside her, lapping at her juices until she looked like she might pass out with pleasure. Then he quickly straightened and positioned himself at her entrance, grinning at her.
“The fun’s only just begun,” he told her.
With that, he shoved home and she gasped as she filled her, stretching her inner walls. Peter exhaled softly, marveling at how tight she felt around his cock. He began to move, pumping in and out of her like a piston, his breath hitching every time he felt her walls contract around him. Now, this was a lot better than coming inside her mouth. Peter pried her thighs further apart so he could push deeper into her, unable to resist a grin when he saw her sink her head into the pillow, her eyes squeezed shut.
He helped her pull her gown over her head, tossing it over his shoulder without a care in the world. He reached under her to unhook her bra, feeling his arousal grow when her breasts sprang free, seeming to bounce in every direction as he pounded into her, her dark nipples hardening when he stooped to nip them. Peter pulled out for a second to push her legs even wider apart, then shoved back in and resumed his strokes.
God, she was so beautiful, especially when she had nothing on. Her dark brown skin seemed to glow, and with her black hair splayed all around her head like a halo, she looked nothing but angelic. Looking down at her, Peter felt a rush of adoration. This woman was...everything.
“Oh, God, Peter,” Adele moaned, her hands clawing at the bedspread. “That cock feels so good in me.”
“I know it does,” he said, suddenly giving a sharp jerk of his hips so that she cried out. Without warning, he gave her butt a spank. “Tell me how much you like it.”
“I love it so, so much, Peter,” she cried out. “I love it almost as much as I love you!”
He looked down at her and she met his gaze, her eyes still wide from the pleasure he was giving her. They grew even wider, and he knew her moment was upon her. As her orgasm snagged out of her for the second time, causing her to scream, he kept his gaze on her face, and he couldn’t help but think how beautiful she looked in this moment of pure glory.
She was the one for him. She’d been the one for him for a long time, but he’d only recently come to terms with it. And now that he was aware, he would make sure he never let go of her.
Peter pounded harder into her, and soon his orgasm hit him like a sledgehammer. He threw his head back and yelled her name to the ceiling, feeling the rightness of their joining as he spilled his seed inside her. He covered her mouth with his until he had released his last, then simply lay there with her, basking in the afterglow of their lovemaking.
He rolled off her onto his back and tried not to think.
Chapter 9
Okay, Enough with the Misnomers
Josh phoned the next day, and the day after that. And the day after that. It got so much that Adele couldn’t leave her phone anywhere for five measly minutes without her phone buzzing with his call. By the end of the week, Adele was more than ready to toss the phone into the nearest pool or river she could find.
She should’ve known being manager of a Tanaka restaurant would bring problems like this. Josh must’ve gotten her phone number from the staff. And he’d been disturbing her ever since. What was this guy’s problem? At some point, she figured she should probably pick up his calls, but she decided against it. Clearly, he wanted to talk about what had happened with Sheri. It became even more evident when he started sending her angry texts:
HEY.
Pick up your phone, will you? I need to talk to you.
Oh, so you think you’re too good to pick up my calls? I want to talk to you, dammit! You’ve ruined my relationship! Sheri isn’t speaking to me anymore!
Adele nearly laughed at the last message. Ruined his relationship? If anything, she’d done what anyone with a conscience would have done. Couldn’t this man see how toxic and manipulative he was? He had to be playing victim. That made sense, considering his other no-so-appealing attributes. She ignored his messages, and soon the angry voicemails came in. It was almost as if this man was bent on driving her crazy.
At work, she switched off her phone, praying desperately that he wouldn’t decide to drop in on her at the restaurant. She could easily ask security to throw him out and make sure he never returned, if he did show up, but that would mean he showed up. Adele didn’t want to have to confront him at all. But it wasn’t Josh who came bursting into the restaurant that Tuesday.
The door of her office swung wide open and Peter hurried in, his face clouded with expressions of both worry and annoyance. When he laid eyes on Adele, who had been calmly sorting through the files on her desk, he got a look of astonishment on his face.
“What in the world…?” he trailed off for a second, his hands on his hips. Then the annoyance was back. “You had me worried. I’ve been trying to get through to you for ages, but the calls never got through.”
He sounded so much like a parent worrying over a teenager, Adele couldn’t help laughing. “I’m sorry. I switched off my phone so I could concentrate on work.”
Peter heaved a sigh. “Well, that’s enough work for you for today. I’m taking you out on a date.”
Adele arched an eyebrow in confusion. “But it’s still morning.”
He looked at her like she was a child he was trying to explain math to. “Adele, I may be your boyfriend, but you also work for me. I own the freaking restaurant chain. I kind of get to decide whether it’s too early to stop work or not.”
*****
They didn’t go to the restaurant at the mall this time, which was fine for Adele. Instead, Peter took her to an Italian restaurant not too far from work. Their date was nothing short of perfect. There were no interruptions, no women she thought she should know about kissing Peter on the cheek, and although she could hardly pronounce some of the meals on the menu, Adele thought the place was alright.
Afterwards, Peter said he wanted to take her to his home.
“That would be awesome.” Adele nodded, then blinked at him in surprise. “Wait, what?”
He’d once mentioned that his sister was living with him indefinitely. The last thi
ng Adele wanted to do was run into Aneko, especially after what had happened the last time the two women were in the same room.
“Don’t worry,” Peter assured her, laughing as he turned on the car engine and they pulled out of the parking area. “She won’t be home for several hours. She’s out with Cho and some of her other friends.”
Adele cringed. “How many of them do you reckon there are?”
He scrunched up his face as if trying to think. “Ten, maybe fifteen of them.”
“Oh, the horror!” she exclaimed, and they both burst out laughing.
The ride to his house was surprisingly short, or maybe it was because they were both talking so much, they lost track of time. They got finally got to his home and Adele’s jaw nearly fell onto her lap. The place was huge.
“So…when your sister isn’t around, you live here all by yourself?”
“Sometimes Brian stays with me.”
Adele had forgotten all about Peter’s personal assistant. “Oh.”
He pulled into the driveway and brought the Porsche to a stop in front of the house. Peter came around to the passenger side to get the door for her, but she’d already climbed out and was gazing at the building, with awe in her eyes.
“It’s beautiful,” she gushed.
She wondered what it would be like living with Peter. For as long as they’d been dating, they’d never once slept and woken up together. Adele hadn’t brought up the topic yet, but it nagged at her often. She wanted more out of her relationship with Peter, besides the sex and the dates. She wanted to feel like she was actually with him. She wanted to go to bed and wake up beside him, have breakfast together.
It suddenly occurred to her that what she kept thinking about sounded a lot like marriage.
Marriage. Was she even ready for that? Adele wasn’t too sure about that. What would married life with Peter be like? Would she even be able to handle it? And what were the odds Peter was even big on the idea in the first place?