Too hot to handle: A curvy girl romance

by River Laurent

  I scowl at her. “What the hell are you talking about now?”

  “I’m talking about you having sex here in our suite with a fucking hooker!” She’s so murderously angry she shaking.

  Chapter 22

  Luke

  I can see her fighting back the urge to break down. I stare at her in astonishment. How would she even know about that? Was she in her room all day? Spying on me? Not that I have a problem with that. It tells me that she really was thinking about me. I guess the woman had been dressed fairly whorish. It wouldn’t take a detective to figure out what she was. Usually, this sort of misunderstanding would be funny, but right now, it’s not because Jade looks like she’s about to burst a gut.

  “How do you know about her?” I ask.

  “I ran into her when she was sneaking out, or whatever the hell she was doing. That’s why I was down there drinking in the first place. Carl came out of nowhere, and he was being nice. He wasn’t hitting on me.”

  “You’ve got it all wrong,” I explain.

  “I’ve got what wrong, Luke?” Suddenly, she sounds exhausted.

  “I didn’t sleep with her. You remember Mr. Hatanaka from the other night?”

  “Ugh,” she groans. “Was he in here, too?”

  “No, thank God,” I say, shaking my head. “I ran into him this morning at breakfast. He sat down with me. Your pitch worked. You sold him. His company is signing up with us. And he told me he had a present for me, and he specifically reminded me that rejecting a gift was rude.”

  “Yeah,” she says. “But what does this have to do with your whore?”

  “That whore was his gift to me. But I didn’t do anything with her.”

  She scoffs. “Funny thing about your story.”

  “What’s that?”

  “She told me you did fuck her.”

  I laugh. “I paid her two hundred dollars to pretend that we did. I wanted her to tell anyone who asked that I had a great time. I didn’t want Hatanaka to be insulted that I turned down his gift, as fucked up as it was. I had no idea you were going to have a chat with her. Otherwise, I would have told her to tell the truth if a beautiful woman named Jade asked what happened.”

  Jade narrows her eyes at me, but says nothing.

  I sigh and shake my head. “Jade, I know I have a reputation for getting with a lot of women in the past, but none of them have been prostitutes. You know me. I don’t do that. I’ve never done that. I don’t need to pay for it.” I look into her eyes. I need her to believe me because honest to God, I didn’t sleep with Hatanaka’s gift.

  She hesitates and I see the doubt in her eyes. She doesn’t believe me and that doesn’t sit well with me.

  “Jade, I know I’ve been an asshole to you. I know that I’m far from perfect. But I’ve never lied to you, even when the truth hurts. And I’m not lying to you now. I didn’t sleep with her, Jade. I haven’t even thought of anyone other than you since our first night together.”

  I need her to understand how much I love her, and how badly I’ve been wanting to fix things between us today. I don’t want her thinking for even a second that I don’t want to be with her, or that I want other women. Especially, not some bought and paid for prostitute.

  “If that’s true, then are we together or not?” she asks out of nowhere.

  I wasn’t expecting this from her.

  I still haven’t had enough time to figure out my feelings or what I want from her. I don’t know if I can respond to her. At least not the way she wants me to right now. I’m still lost and confused about how I actually feel.

  “Is this a real relationship?” she asks. “I need to know right now how you feel about me. I can’t keep doing this shit.”

  She’s on the verge of tears, and I have no idea what to do. I’ve never been through anything like this. Put me in any business situation and I’ll come up trumps, but nothing in my life has equipped me to handle a situation like this. So again, I tell her the truth, even though I know it’s not what she wants to hear. “I don’t know,” I say.

  Her face falls, and the tears she was trying to hold back begin to slip down her face.

  God, I must be broken inside if I can’t just say what she wants me to say.

  “You called me your girl downstairs, but now you won’t even tell me how you really feel about me?” she asks. “You know what, Luke?”

  “What?” I brace myself.

  “If you don’t know what we are, or if you can’t be with me, then you can’t act like this. Either I’m yours, or I’m not.” She runs out of my bedroom and into hers. She slams the door shut behind her. The sound of her lock clicking closed is loud.

  I feel so awful. I keep breaking her heart a piece at a time, and I’m not sure how to fix it.

  I feel like a volcano about to erupt. I need to burn this excess energy off. Either I break down Jade’s door and fuck her or I leave the hotel.

  I walk down the street in the midday heat. My shirt sticks to me but the walk is good for me. It helps burn off some of this restless energy, and allows me to clear my head. Things with Jade are worse than ever. No wonder, I’ve stayed away from real relationships. This whole situation is frustrating and confusing. I can never seem to do the right thing.

  I have embarrassed her twice now. I can’t stand myself sometimes.

  I see a liquor store. As I walk past it. I stop and go back to the entrance. Inside it’s busy. I have to wait in line. I choose some unrecognizable brand of vodka because I don’t really care. I might have a hangover tomorrow, but what the fuck? I deserve to suffer as penance for hurting Jade.

  I don’t open the bottle as I walk, because that’s something my dad would have done. He was an alcoholic. A major one. He drank whenever, and wherever. I’m surprised he ever managed to run a business.

  I swore I’d never be like him. I’m no a drunk. I’ve never even been a big drinker. And there are so many other differences between the man he was and the man I am. I’m not him, I repeat to myself.

  I focus on that one thought because it’s true, and I’m finally realizing this.

  I don’t have to fear everything that he did. I can fall in love with my assistant without thinking I’m as despicable as him. Unlike him, I’m not married to anyone. I won’t be destroying anyone’s life if I decide to be with her. Jade means everything to me. She’s the woman for me. I don’t care if I have to give up everything I have worked for all my life to achieve.

  Jade is my life.

  Screw what other people think and screw who my father was. I refuse to let that bastard fuck up my life any more than he already has. I never should have let my memories of him control me this way. I should have told Jade exactly how I felt yesterday morning.

  I can still tell her before it’s too late, but it’s not enough to knock on her door and say the words. Words are cheap, and after the way I’ve behaved, they won’t be enough. I have to show her in a big way how I feel about her, and in a way that leaves no doubt in her mind that I truly love her.

  An idea comes to me.

  When I get back to the hotel, I go up to our suite. I open the bottle and take a couple of swigs. It’s cheap stuff and it burns my throat. I chuck it in the bin, and sit down at the table with my laptop.

  Chapter 23

  Jade

  It’s the last day of the seminar, and it’s almost time for Luke’s speech. This is the huge finale to the whole convention. Everybody will be there. Well, lah-di-fucking-dah, and good for him. He’ll be the star of the show. I feel extraordinarily bitter today, as I should be. I don’t know how I will sit there and watch him give his speech. I know this is my own damn fault for hooking up with my boss.

  I won’t be able to do this when we get back to the states. I can’t be his assistant if he can’t even respect me enough to tell me his feelings. He can’t just keep stringing me along until he’s ready to make up his mind about me.

  I know he has feelings for me. Maybe not love, but certainly some sort of af
fection and desire for me. But the fact that he won’t tell me bothers me. It’s like he’s ashamed he has feelings for me, and I think that part hurts the worst.

  I stayed up half the night, crying and looking for a new job.

  I walk into my bathroom, hoping I don’t have to see him for the rest of the day. I don’t want to talk to him. I just want to get through the rest of this trip and go home. I’m so over this entire episode.

  Before we came on this trip, I wanted to be with him so bad that I would have sacrificed almost anything to make it happen. I would have done whatever he asked me to so we could be together. That had been a mistake. I never should have given my heart away.

  I just want the pain, the hurt, and the anger to stop.

  I want it all to go away.

  There’s a knock on the bedroom door, and I hold my breath, but it’s obviously not important because there isn’t another knock. There aren’t sounds of him clearing his throat or any desperate declaration of love. My breath comes out in a rush. At this point, I have to admit that there never will be.

  I turn the shower on, setting it all the way to hot. I step inside and quickly suck air in through my teeth. The water is almost scalding. It stings my skin like cleansing fire. It’s a good way to burn away my feelings.

  The bathroom is steamy already, and I haven’t even been in for very long. I wash my hair and then my body, trying to free myself of what I’m feeling inside. Of what I’m thinking. I stand and let the water fall over my body for a long time. I’m soaking up the heat. I know I’ll have to face him again when I get out.

  Finally, when I can no longer put it off, I reach down, and turn the water off. I slide the glass door open and snag my towel off the nearby rack. The cool air sweeps across my naked, wet body, leaving goosebumps in its wake. I towel off and look for what I will wear.

  It takes me almost an hour to get ready, but that’s because I’m dragging this out. I have to go to his presentation, regardless of how I’m feeling. I have to sit and listen to the man I love talk to hundreds of strangers when he refuses to talk to me.

  When I emerge into the lounge, I see that everything I laid out for his speech yesterday is gone, and so is he.

  I wait until the last minute to head to the auditorium. I’m nervous. My stomach is in knots. God, why am I so nervous? I’m not the one who has to give the damn speech. I’m not the one that has to stand up in front of hundreds of people and make my company look good.

  I walk over to the giant convention center that’s attached to the hotel. My heart feels fragile as I think about how excited I was when we first got here. Everything seemed like such an adventure. My first trip abroad. Being with Luke. My heart had been so carefree and so full of expectation. I thought I was going to have fun.

  I place my hand on my stomach. I still don’t understand why I’m so nervous. I smile politely at people who smile at me as I enter the convention center. I’ll die before I let any of these people know I’m not okay.

  My eyes dart around the room. I don’t see Luke, but I assume he’s in the back somewhere waiting. He should be starting in just a few minutes. I find a seat towards the front. I wanted to sit in the back, but I know I need to be close, just in case he has issues with any part of his speech. Broken or not, it’s still my job to be his assistant, and I owe him that much. I won’t just leave him high and dry up there if things go tits up.

  I only wait five minutes before someone comes up to the podium. It’s one of the people we met when we got here. Something that now seems so far away. A distant memory that maybe one day I won’t even remember, along with the rest of this trip.

  The guy introduces Luke and the room claps. He’s a big name, and everyone here has been looking forward to his presentation. I have to catch my breath when I see him. He looks so gorgeous, so hot, so distant. It seems incredible to think that I had sex with him. I woke up next to him. My heart starts to race. I hate that I have to stare up at him for the next hour or so when I cannot have him. My eyes fill with sudden tears. It’s dark in the hall and I surreptitiously wipe my eyes.

  He smiles at crowd before stepping up to the podium. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. For the three or four of you who don’t know me, I’m Luke Remington, CEO of Omega.”

  A wave of laughter sweeps through the room. He’s already got them eating from the palm of his hand.

  “I’m so glad to be in this beautiful country, talking to you today. It’s been an honor to come here, to learn about the culture, and meet a lot of cool people. Although I mostly came for the Thai food.”

  The crowd laughs again.

  I look around at the hundreds of people here, all watching Luke. I wonder what it’s like to stand up there and have all of them staring at you. It’s got to be nerve-wracking. But Luke is as confident and commanding as he is in a personal meeting. Despite everything, I’m impressed.

  “I know that I’m supposed to be up here talking about business,” he says. “I’m supposed to make you guys trust me and like me. I’m supposed to make you trust my business. But there’s something else I want to talk about. Something far more important.”

  I’m confused. None of this was in the notes I prepared for him. He’s going off book, and it’s really irritating me because I worked so hard on it. It’s almost like he’s kicking me when I’m down. Like, ‘Hey, Jade. Let me stomp on your heart some more. This speech you worked so hard on is useless.’

  I want to walk out of here and never look back. Instead, I stare at my nails, trying not to let my anger show.

  “You see,” Luke continues. “I came here on a business trip, hoping to get some new clients and expand my business. What I didn’t come here for was love.”

  I freeze and look up at the stage. He’s looking right at me. He found me in the dark! I’m not sure what he’s doing, but I know I’m supposed to be listening. I continue to make eye contact with him while he continues his speech.

  “Today, is a momentous day for me,” he says. “Because I’m going to make an announcement to you all. I am madly in love with my assistant, Jade. And before everyone freaks out as to why this matters, I’ll tell you why it matters. I hurt her. And I’m sorry.”

  I vaguely hear gasps and muttering from the crowd, but it’s all white noise in the background. Tears sting my eyes, and I’m trying hard to hold them back. I don’t want to cry in front of all these people.

  “I hurt you, Jade. And for that I’m sorry, but I need you to know something.” He looks around the room. “I need all of you to know something.”

  He gets off the stage and walks over to me. Whoever is running the stage lights follows him with the spotlight.

  “I’m in love with you,” he says, standing in front of me with the mic still around his head. “I love you, and I want to be with you. I’m ready to take the leap if you are.”

  Chapter 24

  Jade

  I feel hundreds of eyes staring at me, but I don’t care, because the only eyes that matter in this moment are his. He gazes down at me, and there’s no more fear or uncertainty there. All I see is love. And then his perfect lips press into mine.

  At first, there is stunned silence, then the crowd goes wild. Cheering, clapping and whistling.

  My heart feels as if it will burst with happiness as I kiss him back and cling to him desperately. In my kiss is everything I want him to know. I forgive him. I want to be with him. We pull apart because we’re still in a room full of people.

  He stands up tall and waves to the crowd. “Thank you all for allowing me to share this with you.” Then he grins sheepishly and adds, “Um, creating wealth is great, but always follow your heart, I guess is my message.”

  He tosses the microphone to a guy standing nearby, and grabbing my hand, whisks me up the walkway toward the doors.

  People are still cheering for us, and it feels amazing. It’s the affirmation I needed.

  We fly out the doors, back into the hotel, and into the elevator. The door
s barely close behind us before we are all over each other. His mouth is on my mouth. His hands are on my body. He’s touching me, feeling me, loving me.

  I want him. I want him so fucking bad it hurts. I press into him, and I can feel his hard cock sinking into my hip.

  He pulls back and looks at me. “I want to be with you. Fuck what my dad did and fuck whatever anyone else thinks. I was so stupid for doubting that things could work between us. I should have listened to my heart and never pushed you away. I love you, Jade. I love you, like I’ve never loved anyone or anything before.”

  “I love you, too,” I say. Tears are falling from my eyes again. “Judging from the crowd’s reaction, I don’t think anyone thinks any less of us for being in love.”

  Luke gently brushes my tears away with the tips of his fingers and smiles. “I know. Trust me. I feel like a jackass that I ever thought they would. Can you forgive me?”

  “After that speech, I suppose I can give you another chance to make it up to me.”

  The elevator doors open. He grabs my hand, and we run down the hall. He shoves the key card into the slot and throws the door open.

  We go inside of the suite, and our lips lock together again. I hear the door close on its own, shutting us away from anything but each other. His hands rove over my body, touching me the way I’m dying to be touched.

  He moves his hands to my ass and squeezes.

  “I love this dress,” he says against my lips. “But I want it off.”

  He spins me around so my back is to him, and his fingers clasp the zipper. He yanks, and the dress opens in the back.

  The air feels cold against my flushed skin, and goosebumps pebble my flesh.

  “I want you so much, Jade,” he says as he helps remove the dress from my body.

  I pull my arms through the sleeves and then shimmy out of it as he drags it to the floor. I’m only wearing panties since the dress has a built-in bra.