The problem was, I still hadn’t convinced Candice to do this whole relationship thing, and I didn’t really know what a real relationship looked like.
Chapter 2
Candice
The week had been one of the most uneventful of my life. I basically just slept and worked, with nothing even remotely exciting in between them. It was just the break that I needed. I didn’t run into Josh after Monday evening, and I kept to my office the rest of the week. By Thursday, I had consumed four of the best manuscripts I could find on cyber romances.
I wanted to tell Josh about it, but I didn’t know if I really wanted to go talk to him yet. My mind and my heart were in a battle trying to figure out the best way to move forward.
If I wanted to truly have a professional relationship with Josh, all I needed to do was walk into this office and present the information about the book. I would keep it simple and tell him all the reasons why this manuscript would work as our first cyber romance. If I presented the case correctly, Josh would get excited to read it, and perhaps we would move forward with the plan to publish the book.
On the other hand, I could just write up my detailed analysis of the book and all the information as to why we should publish it. Then I could put it in his mailbox and just leave it at that. But it seemed the more professional thing to do would be to talk to him.
I went to the ladies’ room and looked at myself in the mirror. If I ever wanted to have Josh back, this definitely wasn’t the way to make it happen. There were dark circles under my eyes; my hair was back in a bun, and I didn’t have an ounce of makeup on. I looked very frumpy and plain, nothing like my usual self.
Oh well, nothing I could do about that now. I needed to move on and just present the manuscript to Josh.
It took me a little bit to decide which one I liked best, but then I rushed down to Josh’s office to tell him all about it. My heart pounded as I got closer and closer to his office. His secretary was gone, but I could hear his voice in the office and knew he was there. It sounded like he was on the phone, so I waited.
I sat in one of the chairs near his secretary’s desk and tried to listen to what he was saying, but I couldn’t understand him. Then I heard the voice of a woman. I had never heard a woman’s voice in the office with Josh. It was unsettling.
My heart sank. I knew he could be meeting with any one of a number of business women, but it still made my heart drop to my stomach when I heard her voice. It was sexy and seductive, and I had a very hard time believing she was a professional acquaintance.
The thumping of my heart in my ears drowned out my ability to actually hear anything that was being said in his office. As much as I wanted to eavesdrop on them, I couldn’t seem to hear anything that was going on.
I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to get the courage to knock on the door. Without his secretary there, I would normally have just walked in, but I wanted to keep things professional. I felt like I was second guessing everything with Josh.
I stood up and knocked on his office door.
“Come in,” I heard him say.
I walked in and found a tall redhead sitting on his desk. She was wearing a tight shirt and had her hair down around her shoulders. If she had been sitting in a chair or something like that, then I would have assumed she was a business associate. But she sat seductively on his desk, and I knew right away that she had been flirting with him.
Josh turned to look at me, and as much as I tried to hide my embarrassment and anger, it was pretty visible. I really didn’t know what I had just walked into, and I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to spend a second longer in that room than I had to.
“Here’s the manuscript you wanted,” I said and laid it on the table closest to the door and then left.
“Candice, wait.”
I turned around and waited as he asked.
“This is Vivian; she is my realtor. I’m looking at buying us a new building.”
“Ah, cool,” I said. “Nice to meet you, Vivian.”
Then I turned and left the room. I went quickly to my office and grabbed my things so I could leave. I didn’t want Josh to come after me, and I didn’t want to talk to him at all. I guessed since I broke off whatever it was that we had going on, Josh was just moving on. She was a beautiful woman and lucky to have her chance with Josh.
My heart sank at the thought of Josh with that woman. I knew he had been with plenty of women before me, but I still wanted him, and seeing him with that Vivian woman in his office just reminded me how much I wanted him. His tough exterior was just so hard to crack, and I didn’t want him back if he was going to be so aloof all the time.
I wanted to actually date Josh; just him and no one else. I knew that it would be hard to convince Josh that he also wanted a relationship. Actually, no; I didn’t want to convince him of anything. I wanted Josh to decide what kind of relationship he wanted.
When Josh and I were together, I could tell he had feelings for me. He wasn’t pretending; he actually had feelings that I could tell from the look in his eyes. There were only brief glimpses of the future we could have, but I could tell he thought about it.
I had waited too long, though; now Josh was moving on, and I should probably do so as well. It was over; we were over. My heart needed to close off so I could just work with Josh as a co-worker.
Josh
I hadn’t seen Candice all week, so I certainly didn’t expect that she would be the one who had knocked on my office door. I was caught off guard and wasn’t prepared to explain what was going on.
There was nothing going on at all, but I knew it looked otherwise. Vivian was a seductive woman, and she wanted to seduce me that evening in my office. She pulled herself up onto my desk and crossed her legs in the tight skirt she had on. I was paying attention, of course, who wouldn’t? But I didn’t want Vivian. For the first time in my life, I said no to a woman.
I said no when she offered one night of fun and nothing more. It would have been so easy to say yes. My body could have been thrusting inside of her and orgasming within moments, but I said no. For the first time ever, I didn’t want to just have meaningless sex. I wanted something more; I wanted Candice.
My mind was on Candice and something deeper than I ever thought I would want with a woman. I didn’t know for sure what it would look like, but I wanted to date Candice. I wanted to spend my evening with her. We had so much fun together; there really was no reason for me to move on when I was so happy with her.
I had already been struggling with how to make up with Candice; now I felt like the problem was even more. She clearly thought something was going on between Vivian and I. Even though I stopped her and introduced her, I could tell she was not happy.
I rushed after her to try and explain. I was ready for this fight to be over with, but when I got to the parking garage, I couldn’t find her anywhere.
Vivian was close behind me, and I could tell she was amused by the way I had chased after Candice.
“Oh, so that’s the woman?”
“Yes, but I messed things up,” I said as we got into my car to go to the offices we were going to look at.
“Because of tonight?”
“No, I thought things were getting too serious, so I tried to hook her up with a friend of mine.”
Even saying the words made me feel like a douchebag. It was a stupid plan, and even if I didn’t want to date Candice, it would be a horrible idea to have her dating a friend of mine. I really had just panicked at the thought of a relationship. It was too new to me; I didn’t know how to deal with things.
“Wow, I would have kicked my man to the curb if he ever tried something like that. Move on to the next guy.”
“I panicked. You know me; I don’t do relationships. I knew that’s what she wanted.”
“Did you know that when you started seeing her?” Vivian asked.
It was a deeper question than just what she asked on the surface, and I knew that.
“Yes.
”
“So you did want to date her,” Vivian said with a smile.
“You are so damn smart. I can’t believe you haven’t been taken off the market yet.”
“Well, I’ll get taken off the market when I find a man worthy of me,” Vivian smiled and squeezed my hand.
“So how do I fix it?” I asked.
“I’ll help you. But you have to promise not to fuck it up again. This girl has to be the right one for you. I’ve never seen you willing to run after a girl before.”
“I promise.”
Vivian and I continued to talk and discuss the best way for me to win Candice back. I needed some positive female advice and was very grateful that Vivian was there to help me. With her help and insight, I finally felt like I had a plan to get Candice and maybe even keep her.
My brain was swelling with all the thoughts of a future that I had never dared to dream of before. As fun as fucking around with a different woman every night was, in the long run, I wanted a family. I wanted a woman that would make me hard the second I saw her and still hold our family together.
Candice had been on my mind from the second I met her. She was funny and smart and the perfect woman for me. I didn’t know what I had been looking for and didn’t know when I would find it. But I had decided that I needed Candice back, and I was going to have to make that happen.
Candice was mad at me, but she would certainly cave in when I put my plan into motion. I knew if I could just get her alone for a little bit, she would see how much I cared about her. Candice would be able to see the connection we had together, and there would be no turning back for us.
I certainly didn’t know if there was a forever future for us, but I wanted to at least start to explore the possibilities. I wanted to hold Candice in my arms and make her feel safe and loved, which I had done a horrible job of so far.
My life had changed from one-night stands being my priority to having the woman that I wanted there with me every morning. I had to convince Candice that we should be together. I had to make up for my stupid mistake in hooking her up with my friend. It was a cowardly move that I regretted from the moment I did it.
I might even need to enlist the help of her friends to make this plan work. But I was convinced that her friends would love my romantic side and really get excited that I wanted to be back with Candice. If I was wrong about them, then my whole plan might not work.
They might actually think I was bad for Candice. Maybe they would want me to stay away from her; I didn’t know if I would be able to deal with that. I really wanted to give this a try with Candice.
Chapter 3
Candice
“You have to stop pouting and come out with us. You never come out and just have fun,” Alyssa said as we sat eating raw cookie dough.
“Oh, I plan to have fun right here. Cookie dough, movies, and drowning by red wine.”
“Well, I’ve decided, you are coming with us tonight. We are going to Power Play.”
I absolutely didn’t want to go to Power Play, which was where I had first met Josh. It would be horrible to be there and be reminded of him. I was already working so hard to forget about him. I couldn’t go to the club.
Another reason I couldn’t go to the club was it was way out of my league. The last time I was there, I felt like everyone was staring at me. I wasn’t dressed like them and looked like a gleaming yellow sun in the middle of the darkness. It was really uncomfortable to be in the club.
It wasn’t that I was opposed to going to clubs like that; I just wanted to fit in better if I was at one. I also liked to go with my friends instead of just showing up and trying to pick them up. It had been horrible to walk around the club looking for them.
“I can’t go there. It’s way too much for me. I don’t fit in,” I argued with Alyssa.
“Well then, let’s make you fit in. Why don’t you try for just one night to have fun? Pretend to be whoever you want to be and just have a good night.”
“Because I’m too shy for a place like that,” I said.
Did Alyssa not remember who I was at all? I wasn’t the kind of girl who could wear a tight dress and act all confident, that just wasn’t me.
“Not tonight. We are going to make you over into a hot seductress.”
“We?”
“Yes, Robin and Anna are on their way here now.”
I refused to get up off the couch until there was a knock at the door. Sure enough, it was Robin and Anna. I knew there was nothing I could do to stop the makeover from happening. The three of them were going to win for sure.
The three of them didn’t give me a choice at all; they went straight to work on my hair and makeup and totally transformed me. It was a little fun to have them pampering me like that.
My hair was sleek and straight and then pulled back into a tight ponytail. They added false eyelashes and contoured my cheeks so I looked like a friggin celebrity. When I looked in the mirror, I honestly couldn’t believe it was me. My face looked flawless, and I felt ready for a professional photo shoot.
“Well this is all nice, but I don’t have any clothes that I could wear with this. I only have sundresses and work skirts.”
“Oh Candice, you underestimate us,” Anna said as she pulled a black leather dress out of her bag.
“Is that a tank top?” I asked as I looked at the small piece of leather. “There is no way that dress is going to fit onto my body.”
“Oh, you always say that. Trust me; this is going to look insane on you,” Alyssa said as she started to go through my drawers.
She found a sexy black bra, and I grabbed a pair of thong underwear and went into the bathroom to try and fit the dress on. I pulled and tugged the leather over my body until I couldn’t move at all.
Finally, I walked out of the bathroom to find Alyssa, Robin, and Anna standing there with their jaws wide open.
“What? Is it horrible?” I asked.
“You look insane. Every man in that club is going to want you,” Alyssa said. “Now let us get changed, and we will go show these boys what fun looks like.”
I didn’t know if I would be able to show anyone what fun looked like, but I did feel great. It was going to be a fun night. I tried to get my mind ready and pretend like I had confidence. The leather dress certainly made that a little more plausible.
“I need help pretending to be sexy,” I hollered out as we were getting ready to leave the apartment.
“No, you don’t. Just picture every guy as wanting you and only you,” Anna said.
“Yes, focus on the man in front of you. Smile, relax, and try to pay attention to only him,” Alyssa added.
“The guys will make you feel sexy; don’t worry about it,” Robin said as she grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the apartment.
When we got downstairs, we all piled into a cab and headed over to the club. It was only a few miles away, but there was no way we were going to take the subway all dressed up in our sexy outfits.
I was nervous. Beyond nervous. I had never dressed like this and gone out with my friends before. I hardly ever went out with them at all. It was going to be really hard to blend in with the crowd when I was dressed so seductively. Blending in with the crowd was what I usually did at the bars. I really had never gone and actually socialized with anyone except my friends.
As we pulled up to the club, we went to the back of the line to wait to get inside. It was where everyone went because the club was always so busy that they couldn’t let everyone in at one time. Sometimes people got turned away on a business night like that night.
We stood in line for all of about two minutes before a bouncer came and got us.
“You ladies can go in,” he said as he looked the four of us up and down.
“Thanks,” Alyssa said, grabbing my hand and pulling me with her and the others into the club.
I had never been invited to go to the front of the line, ever. Not at that club or any other; it gave me a shot of confidence that I hoped
would help last me the rest of the night. I certainly needed some confidence if I was going to make it through a night of drinking and partying at Power Play.
As we walked toward the bar to get a drink, I saw the men look at me. They looked at me in a way I had never been looked at before. There was desire and lust in their eyes. It made me blush before anyone had even come to talk to me. I wasn’t used to being so overtly desired. I was much more comfortable being the wallflower in the corner.
“Dance with me,” a tall, athletic-looking blond guy asked.
I looked at my friends and then back at the man.
“She would love to,” Alyssa said as she forced me to go with the man.
Josh
I didn’t see Candice at first, probably because I was looking for that same sweet yellow dress I had seen her in on the night we first met. But when I saw Alyssa and the other girls, I finally noticed Candice. She was drop dead gorgeous. Her body was beyond sexy in that little black leather dress. I couldn’t stop staring at her breasts as they overflowed from the top.
It took every bit of my energy not to jump up and wrap my arms around her. My pulse quickened as I watched her walk toward the bar, and some guy came to talk to her. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to go forward with this plan.
She looked sexy as hell, and I knew every guy in the place was going to try and get with her. But I had to wait. I had to wait until Alyssa gave me the signal to move in. The guy was smooth and had Candice on the dance floor before she even had a chance to get a drink. I hated the look I saw in his eyes, and I was sure his thoughts were disgusting.
I watched helplessly as he put his hands on her body and danced seductively with Candice. My only condolence was that she did not seem very interested in him at all. She smiled and was pleasant with him, but she kept looking over to Alyssa and the other girls to save her.
I couldn’t help laughing. She was cute as hell. As soon as the song stopped, Candice said goodbye and made her way over to her girlfriends. They all laughed and teased her, and I saw that familiar red flushed face that she always got when she was nervous.
The Billionaire's Assistant: An Alpha Billionaire Romance Box Set Page 13