by Joyce Jordan
She was almost falling asleep when she remembered she would need to leave in a short while. “I need to leave by six. What time is it now?”
“It’s 6:30pm,” he told her.
“Okay,” Moira replied. Suddenly she woke up from her dreamy state and jumped of the sofa. “What? Oh God! If Sam gets home before me… Oh, I need to leave now.” Moira rushed to his bedroom and pulled on her leggings then skirt. Her bra had done a disappearing act. She thought about leaving it, but with the t-shirt she wore today it wasn’t an option to go braless. “Don’t just stand there. Help me look for my bra,” she screamed at him.
“Here,” Conrad said handing it over to her.
“It’s not funny,” she grumbled to him when she saw him smirking at her. She looked into the mirror and almost screamed at her hair. It was definitely broadcasting a day of sex. She pulled her brush through it and pulled it into a ponytail. She thanked Conrad when she found him holding her coat. She quickly put it on, then turned and kissed him solidly on the lips and ran to the door. He followed her and they got onto the elevator together. “Where are you going?”
“I’m taking you downstairs,” he told her.
“You don’t have to and I doubt I will get lost,” she bristled.
“Don’t get testy with me. Besides, this is not something open for negotiation Moira.”
Moira huffed, “Okay. Whatever.”
Conrad pushed the lobby button then slammed Moira against the side and took her mouth in a hot and hungry kiss. “Don’t spoil the day by fighting with me,” he threw at her. As she opened her mouth to respond, Conrad trembled and stopped any words coming out and took her mouth again once more. Moira responded and kissed him back like it was her last kiss on earth. They broke apart when the elevator announced the lobby floor. She walked out on shaky legs and were it not for Conrad’s support, would have fallen down. After a few steps she had gotten herself under control, then she walked more confidently.
He pulled her to the Coincierge desk where he introduced her and told one of the guys there to make her a key for the elevator. Conrad knew them all by name and she wondered how he could keep track of them. But then he probably made it his business since he owned the building and needed to make sure he employed people who were discreet. What better way than to know them and engage in conversations with them from time to time, which was evident when she heard him asking one of the guys about his daughter.
They left when she was told it would be ready on Monday and would be given to Conrad if she couldn’t pick it up. By the time she got outside, her car was ready and waiting for her. As Moira got in, Conrad told her to call him when she got there. She peeled out and drove fast hoping it wouldn’t be one of those days where every ten cars was a police officer.
What better way of avoiding an explanation than to come bearing groceries. Moira stopped by the shops and tried to remember what she was running out of. She was pretty sure the pantry was fully stocked and the fridge too. So she got some baking items for something she had always wanted to try. Armed with a little shopping of a few items, she got back in her car and arrived home barely ten minutes before Sam.
Sam found her deep in flour and other crazy baking ingredients all over the island. Whatever he was about to say didn’t make it when he saw the food processor almost overflowing with what he assumed was his chocolate cake. “Mine?” he asked.
Moira raised her eyebrow and said, “Maybe.” She laughed. “Depends. Have you been a good boy today?”
“The best,” to which they both laughed.
She poured the cake mix into five round cake trays and placed them all into the oven. Then she cleared space and made a salad for dinner. As she put that into the fridge she grabbed two steaks and placed them on a grill pan.
Then she took the ingredients from the store and started the mix. When Sam came out of his bedroom, he took over the steaks and set the dining room table since she had commandeered the island.
‘What’s that?” Sam asked as he made his last trip of collecting glasses.
“I’m trying to make strawberry fudge. If it comes out well, I can add it to my Valentine bag of sweets I am doing for King International. I managed to convince both Kings to give each employee a bag full of Valentine treats,” she told him as she poured the mix into a tray.
Moira washed her hands then joined Sam at the table. She steered conversation from her by asking about the hotel’s plans for Valentine’s Day. She knew most hotels usually tried doing something on special days. While the hotel was not so much of a nightmare, Sam was worried about the Valentine themed drinks Lucas had planned which seemed to already be drawing lots of interest. It was going to be a red and white affair, from head to toe. Sam told her how the men were scrambling around looking for white shoes.
When the timer rang Moira jumped up and switched her cakes for the fudge tray. She came back to the table and told Sam that they probably needed to take photos and put them on their website. Free marketing and advertising for the following year. When they were done, Sam cleaned up their dinner dishes and she took care of cleaning the rest of the kitchen. A few minutes later she took out her fudge tray and placed it on the cooling rack.
From the five cakes, she took three aside and stacked them, then layered icing on top and to the sides. Then she used pink icing to make a heart and placed it in a glass cake dome. After that she took the other two cakes and followed the same process. She took her plastic cake dome and snapped the sides closed then found an empty place in the fridge for it.
Time for bed. Moira took a quick shower then fell into bed and was immediately asleep.
Chapter Twenty
Moira woke to the smell of coffee. After her shower she joined Sam in the kitchen. He was just finishing making his breakfast. She declined his offer to make some for her, but accepted a cup of coffee. When he told her he was going to work, she asked him to take the second cake from the fridge and give it to Dr. Ryan. He said he liked the strawberry fudge and agreed to take some to work for an opinion.
After convincing him she was going to spend the day at the mall with some old friends, she managed to leave the apartment before he left. Conrad was right, this sneaking around was a lot of unnecessary work.
When she got to his penthouse, breakfast was just about ready. He was looking sinfully sexy in another pair of jeans and tight t-shirt. A leather jacket was all that was missing for him to be labelled a rock star.
Sadly to say, Moira was still feeling sore. So they spent the rest of the day in bed fooling around and watching more dumb criminals on TV. A lot of actual sleeping was involved and by the end of the day, Moira was feeling quite relaxed. Not knowing how and where they would meet during the week, their goodbye was long and hard. Conrad left her all wet and frustrated, saying it was incentive for her to find a way for them to meet before the week was out. He refused to spend the next five days spotting a hard-on at the office. She squeezed him through his jeans as they descended down in the elevator. She waved at the Coincierge desk on her way out and once again found her car ready for her.
After the talking to she had received the day before about speeding out, she drove more sedately and saw Conrad grinning in the rearview mirror. This time she got home at last two hours before Sam and made baked macaroni which was one of his favorites. Feigning tiredness from the day at the mall, she didn’t spend time watching TV after dinner. She took a nice leisurely bath and added more of the bath salts Conrad had given her. She spent the next thirty minutes soaking and reading from her kindle.
Moira went to bed early not because she was tired, just the opposite in fact, but because she knew she had busy days for the next two days. She arrived at work on Monday, super early and fell into her day with a bang. The Valentine’s bag of treats was great motivation for her team to work at super fast speed, and before long they were done with their menu for the day, then they fell into preparing the treats for the next day. Jeff & Vinny went to Moira’s car to collect the
Valentine’s clear wrapping she had found, and stored it away for the next day. They made batches of heart shaped dark and white chocolate slabs, poured chocolate into heart shaped trays, vanilla and strawberry fudges and placed everything in the walk in cooler.
The next day they completed their ensemble to everyone’s excitement. At ten, Moira recieved a delivery of a gigantic arrangement of flowers in a vase, the size she never knew existed. She had an idea of who had sent them, although she had not thought he was the type to believe in the trappings of Valentine’s. Everybody who was in the cafeteria at that time did a 360 with Moira, around the flowers, both to admire them and see if they could find out who sent had them. Moira finally found the card and was blushing as she pulled it from the flowers and opened the little envelope.
Oh, how cute. In his handwriting. ‘To the most beautiful woman who agreed to give us a chance’. She smiled and quickly put the card in her pocket, out of sight of prying eyes. People around her cried in disappointment, but he just brushed them away and claimed it was a secret admirer who had written some pretty racey stuff. That got people off her back, but everyone started throwing out possibilities which just made Moira blush harder, and wonder if letting them read the card would not have been better. She escaped the crowd for a while and closed herself off in the office. Inspiration hit Moira as she was about to dial Conrad. Instead she sent him a text with instructions of how he could win by solving an anagram. By solving the anagram, he would get exactly that word. Moira told him she would be sending him a total of seven letters, a letter an hour, starting at noon.
Moira set an alarm on her phone for 12 noon and got back to work. They started bagging their treats, and with over a thousand employees, it was quite a challenge. Moira had asked Janet to pave the way for her with the deaprtment heads and so with the correct tally of numbers for each department, they arranged the bags onto their serving carts and were ready to go as they completed each count. For the next hour and a half they worked tirelessly and were glad they didn’t have to serve the lunch dessert so could continue with their little project.
Jeff and Vinny took the first two carts that were ready and went to deliver the bags as labeled. Christi and Moira continued the bagging and by the time both boys were back, they were almost done. Once everything was bagged, she had all three deliver the rest of the treats. It was now almost noon. Perfect timing Moira thought and, so Moira sent her first letter.
e
An hour later, she sent the second letter.
x
Conrad had watched Moira when the flowers were delivered and was glad he had followed Lucas’ advise. The pleasure on her face was well worth it, let alone the talk of the company. John gave him a sly look when they met later for a meeting, knowing he was responsible for the flowers. He just grinned like the cat that ate the cream. Conrad couldn’t dispute that the bouquet also stopped Myers in his steps and any other bozos who may have been having funny ideas of hooking up with Moira.
His day was filled with back to back meetings and as he met with different personnel, they all raved about the Valentine’s bag of treats. Conrad deferred the praise to Moira and his dad. Despite the success, no way was he willing to be tied to some love-fest holiday.
He kept glancing at his cellphone and couldn’t understand what Moira was getting at with her silly anagram. But he was willing to play and when the third letter tinged onto his messges, he opened the message to read the letter.
b
Conrad played around with the three letters to find out if he could solve the anagram sooner rather than later. If he was going to win something, he was all for it, but it better be good. Maybe a weekend away somewhere just the two of them. His cock had been twitching all day since he had seen her smile, when she had received the flowers. He wondered if she was going to come to him before the week was over. He had promised not to pressure her, but this was killing him. Knowing she was so close by and he could easily sink his cock into her. He wondered if he could lure her to his office for a lunch of sex.
His concentration short and his cock fighting with his zipper, Conrad sat and drank cold water hoping that would ease his pain. It did and as he glanced down to see the fourth letter he tried to re-arrange the letters.
r
He thought he was in the clear when suddenly the door to the conference room opened and in she walked, pushing a serving cart with all sorts of cakes and white chocolate covered strawberries.
“Sorry for the interruption, ladies and gentlemen. We were told to serve tea and coffee at exactly 3pm,” Moira said and smiled sweetly at the group.
The two guys who came in with her went around and poured everone a cup of either tea or coffee, as Moira made her rounds and placed a little plate beside everyone, already filled with goodies.
Conrad hadn’t seen how short her red and white polka dot dress was until she started moving around the room. He saw some of the looks she was receiving from the men, both married and unmarried. John laughed at his scowl and engaged her in a short conversation. He commented on her flowers and asked if her boyfriend had sent them. She smiled and told him a secret admirer has sent them.
When she got around to his side he engaged her in a whispered conversation, “Do you realise how short your dress is?”
And she just ignored him as if he were a child throwing a temper tantrum, “I’m glad you noticed,” she said and pulled his plate closer. “Try these, they are also red and white inside.” Then she walked to the next person.
Fuck, he was screwed. A good thing everybody else who heard her comment assumed she was talking about whichever treats she had bee pointing at, yet he knew she had been talking about her underwear.
Conrad realized he was double screwed when all conversation stopped around the table when she dropped a napkin. Those close to her couldn’t be gentleman enough to pick it up for her. If he could have walked, Conrad would have taken the few steps to reach her and pick it up. But he was fighting his own battle with his cock which wouldn’t just listen and shrink.
“Oops,” she said and squatted then picked up the napkin and threw it in the trash. Conrad could have laughed if he had the energy when he saw the disappointed faces around the table. He was surrounded by sleazeballs. At least the single guys had a reason, like him. But the married ones were another matter. He wished he didn’t have the restriction of not being able to shout to the whole world that he was dating Moira. That would surely put some people in their shoes.
A few minutes later they were done, and they left. Conrad quickly brought the meeting back to order when he realized the group would rather spend the rest of the time discussing the sexy little pastry chef.
As they concluded the meeting at 4pm, Conrad saw the next word show up in his messages.
e
When he left his office a few minutes later, he met Lucas at his hotel. A line was already forming at the club entrance. Way too early Conrad thought. But then Lucas must have something extra special planned for the night to garner such attention.
Since his sex life was on a temporary hold, he had agreed to meet Lucas, have dinner and spend the evening at the club. Lucas had mentioned something about a Valentine’s theme evening where everyone was supposed to be wearing red and white. He smiled thinking of Moira’s dress and matching Valentine’s themed underwear. After Lucas assured him he was excluded from the dress code, did he agree to keep him company for the night.
Since the night was still too young, they stayed away from the strong stuff and stuck with beer.
“You keep looking at that phone like a teenager, are you expecting Moira to call you?”
Conrad laughed and looked sheepish. “Not exactly. She has been sending me letters to solve an anagram and the next one should be popping in any minute now.”
Lucas laughed. “So now you are doing puzzles? At least tell me you get points for that?”
“She said something about me winning whatever that word spelt. But so far, I am not hopeful the
letters even spell anything that I would want to win.”
Lucas put his bottle down. “Okay let’s see what you have so far?”
“She said no cheating, and I am not sure I could get away with a lie,” Conrad replied.
“Okay, I get it. I won’t give it away, but let me see what you have,” Lucas countered.
Lucas picked up a pen as Conrad scrolled through his phone and gave him the letters.
e, x, b, r, e
“So how many more letters are you expecting?” Lucas asked him.
“Just two more, and here is the sixth one,” he said as he opened the text.
a
“And when do you expect the last one?”
“In another hour,” he replied.
“Did she say if it was one or two words?”
“No, she was very cryptic. Except that it was something that was on my wish list.”
“Okay, so let’s run down your wish list.”
“Are you fucking kidding me Lucas? How the hell do I know what’s on my wish list? It’s been decades since I was a kid.”
“Well, don’t shoot the friend who is trying to help you out,” Lucas laughed and took a sip from his beer. “Not my fault that you are sexually frustrated.”
“Well, sex is definitely on my wish list.”
Both men grappled for the paper with the letters. “Well, unless the next word is an ‘s’, sex is definitely not on tonight’s menu.”
Two beers later, another text message came through. “Is that the last letter?” Lucas asked.
“It’s not yet six, but I sure hope it is because I am slowly going crazy,” he replied as he opened the message.
Moira: I’ll be sending the last letter in a few minutes. Text me the answer and if it’s correct, I will text you the address where you can collect your prize. FYI-the prize expires at midnight.