The CEO

by Shealy James

He leaned in closer, and I could smell his sinful cologne again. This time he spoke quietly while his eyes trapped mine in their gaze. “Is someone waiting for you to come home to them?” Technically yes, but it was wishful thinking seeing as I had been trying to divorce the asshole for ten months.

  I shook my head because my mouth was suddenly very dry.

  “Why don’t you come join me for a drink?” he suggested.

  I cleared my throat and stepped away. I desperately wanted his lips on mine when he was that close. Distance was necessary. This was not the man to start dating again. With how I was feeling right now, there was no way anything with him would have been casual. “I don’t think so. I need to go. It was nice to meet you…um…” I realized I didn’t even know his name. “Yeah. Have a good evening.” I stepped out into the night and quickly walked to my car. I could feel his eyes on me, but I kept walking without turning back. It was drizzling out, but I didn’t bother with my cute red umbrella. I just wanted to get to my car. It was in the safety of my familiar little car that I finally felt like I could breathe again.

  Chapter 3

  I slept in the day after the lecture because I hadn’t fallen asleep until the wee hours of the morning. The sexy stranger’s face and words kept playing through my mind. I called my best friend, Holly, when I woke up in the morning. It had been way too late to call when I arrived home last night, and I needed the kind of pep talk that only an old friend could provide. I had never been more irritated with the time difference between Seattle and Georgia than I had been last night. She was my person who always made me feel better, and had I talked to her last night, I probably would have slept instead of obsessively replaying the evening’s events over and over in my head.

  I didn’t even get his name, but I knew I couldn’t let this go in hopes of never seeing him again. Considering I saw him at a work event, there was a really good chance I would see him again very soon. Realizing this could create an awkward situation at work, I agreed with Holly that I needed to tell Tara all about it over lunch to see what she thought.

  Unsurprisingly, Tara ate it up like my discomfort was the best gossip she had heard in years. When I finished telling the whole story, she was in hysterics. I mean laughing so hard tears were running down her face and people were staring at us.

  “I’m so glad my distress makes you so happy,” I grumbled.

  “Oh, it isn’t that. You have never been good at handling uncomfortable situations. I can only imagine what you were thinking. I hope this guy turns up tomorrow night. If he’s as hot as you described, I might give him a whirl on the Tara Tanner train.”

  “Please don’t. Then I’d have to face him over and over, and I think I’ve been humiliated enough for one lifetime.” I took a sip of my lemon water. “Let’s move on. How was your dinner?”

  She shrugged and placed her fork and knife on her plate in a ‘Q’, indicating she was finished, before primly wiping her mouth with her napkin. Tara’s manners were impeccable. “It was dinner with a bunch of pompous assholes who we have to wine and dine because they donate a fuck ton of money to the university, ensuring our elite status among the private schools.” Well, her table manners were impeccable. She still cursed like a sailor.

  “Mr. Mitchell, the son of the founders, was there. He’s a generally nice guy, but I heard he’s a shark when it comes to business. The president of the college was interested in the events we’re holding for recruitment during campus visits. He suggested we up the ante, so to speak.”

  “What does that mean?” I knew the college primarily recruited from wealthy private schools across the country, but the small number of students was more of a reflection of the high expectations of the students than the number of applications.

  “It means we need to show parents the responsible side and show the students the fun side. We need to come up with a way to give both the applicants and their parents what they want. Campus tours start in September, so start thinking of some ideas.”

  “I’m on it.” We paid the waiter and walked back to the office while bouncing ideas off each other.

  I continued to brainstorm and researched other college recruitment activities for the rest of the day Thursday before heading to the gym to burn a few calories. I always came up with my best ideas when I lost myself in a run.

  It happened to be sunny when I left the office, so I hurried home to change then headed over to Volunteer Park. I decided to wander around the park and see what I could before the sun went down. As I ran past the tennis courts, I heard my name called out. I kept my pace assuming I was mistaken since I only knew one person in Seattle and had my ear buds in, blocking the noise around me. However, when a man ran up next to me and tugged my ear bud out of my ear—scaring the shit out of me—I realized someone was indeed calling my name.

  I couldn’t tell you if it was a nice surprise or not, because my body was too busy trying to recover from the fright of having someone approach me like that. To make things more interesting, it was the sexy stranger who delivered the scare. He was a little sweaty and in workout clothes that showed off his lean muscles, but he still looked and smelled amazing. I, on the other hand, probably stunk and looked like a hot mess. Typical.

  “Jesus! You scared me,” I snapped as my other ear bud fell from my ear.

  “Come here often?” he said with a playful smirk as he crossed his arms over his large chest.

  I wasn’t even sure how to respond to him. “Uhh…no. I just moved here.” His eyebrows lowered as his eyes unashamedly wandered the length of my body. Payback for all the times I stood speechless staring at him, I suppose. I met the man last night, and here he was today flirting with me in the park while I was covered with sweat. This was not my ideal way to see someone I may or may not have a slight crush on. Still, my body responded to him as if we were both standing there naked, daring the other to touch first.

  After an agonizing moment of silent awkwardness, he spoke. “You shouldn’t run alone with music in your ears. You never know who will try to murder you.” That annoying grin spread across his face again.

  “I’ll take my chances,” I told him dryly.

  “How about you let me take you to dinner instead?”

  “No thanks. I thought I made it clear I wasn’t interested.” That lie was getting really pathetic at this point. A girl didn’t need an erection for her body to show when she was attracted to a man. My body was reacting so strongly that if this man didn’t notice, he would have to be blind, deaf, and gay.

  He stepped closer to me, his eyes focusing on mine before flicking down to my lips. The expression on his face made me involuntarily stick my tongue out to wet them. My breathing and heart rate picked up again at his proximity. I had to take a step back to gain control over my body, but he stopped me when his hand gently ran down my arm, leaving fire and chills in its wake.

  “I think you’re interested but won’t allow yourself to say yes, Eve.”

  I composed myself and actually moved away this time. “Think what you want. I’m still not going to dinner with you tonight.”

  He was completely unfazed by my retreat. “Fine. How about tomorrow then?”

  I needed to get away from this man before I let him ravage me right there on the grass of Volunteer Park in front of everybody and their mother. “Sorry. Busy. Look, I have to go.” I knew he didn’t have my number or know where I’d be the next day, so I just hoped there would be some time between then and the next sexy stranger sighting. I wasn’t sure my libido could handle another sighting so soon.

  It didn’t seem like it would be that simple, though. As I started again on my path away from the man who was too good-looking for his own good, I heard him shout, “See you soon, Eve.” The thought made me shiver even though I was pouring sweat from my run. That man was quickly taking over my brain.

  That night, I dreamt of the stranger whose name I still didn’t know. I was running and let him catch me. He lifted me from the ground and pressed his lips to m
ine. He walked over to a bright red blanket that rested in a field of green, green grass. He lay me down before settling on top of me. There, in the middle of the park lawn, the sexy stranger had his way with me. When I woke up, I was drenched in sweat and uncomfortably turned on. Fortunately, it was almost time to get up, so I went ahead and crawled into the shower. There was no way I was going back to sleep after that dream. I needed a distraction pronto.

  Work was a distraction, but more than anything I was thinking about the cocktail party that evening. I was looking forward to it, because Tara had said it was mostly young professionals who lived and worked in Seattle. It would be nice to meet some new people who I would see often for parties like this.

  At four o’clock, I was heading to Tara’s office to tell her I was leaving for the day to get my nails done before the party, when my cell phone buzzed and stopped me in my tracks. My attorney was calling at his dinnertime, so I immediately crossed my fingers, hoping for the news that Mark had finally accepted the terms and was ready to sign the divorce papers.

  I slid my finger across the screen to answer the call. “Martin. I hope you have good news for me,” I said cheerfully. Positive thoughts. Only think positive thoughts.

  “Hello there, Evie. I’m sorry to call on a Friday afternoon like this, but I just finished going through the revisions that Mark’s lawyer sent over. There are a few things I want to discuss with you.”

  “This doesn’t sound good, Martin. What does he want now?” I had already given him the house and all the furniture, his truck that had been in my name, and our dog. What more could he want?

  “Well, he doesn’t want to give you the inheritance back. He said the thirty thousand you invested in the house is part of the house, and since you were willing to concede on the property, he doesn’t want to give you the money.”

  “The house is worth well over two-hundred grand. Why isn’t he selling it to pay off the debt he owes to the credit card companies?” I was thinking out loud and meant to say that more to myself, but keeping my thoughts to myself had never been my strong suit.

  Martin knew the answer though. “He’s a little over sixty-thousand dollars in debt between the car and the credit cards. One would hope he plans to use the money for that.”

  “This is so frustrating, Martin. This should have been finalized months ago. He’s only doing this to drag it out further. He keeps finding something new to delay this as soon as I give in to something else. What do I do? Do I give up my grandmother’s inheritance, which was supposed to be part of my nest egg, because he can’t manage money?”

  I heard Martin sigh. “Evie, I have known you and your family a long time, and I hate to see you give up anything else to him. Typically we divide assets in half in divorce proceedings, and you have given him much more than half. Let me see what negotiations I can do for you. Are you sure you want to stay out of court? I know it’s expensive, and you’d have to fly home and face him, but we could get you half of what the house is worth at the very least.”

  “No, Martin. I appreciate it, but taking it to court could take months, and I’m really ready to move on with my life. See what you can do for me and keep me posted.”

  “Will do. How’s Seattle? Rain much?” He chuckled. The rain was all he would talk about when I told him I was moving here.

  “Everything’s great here. I love my job and my apartment. How’s Fran?”

  “She’s doing well. She’s been teaching the grandkids to bake, so I came home to blue icing all over the fridge yesterday and no dinner on the stove. That was fine by me. We had to go to the Outback for a steak.”

  “It sounds like she’s enjoying her summer then. Tell her I said hello. I have to head on now. Call me if you find out anything else.”

  “Sure thing, darlin’. Have a great weekend.”

  After I hung up with him, I sagged into my chair. Why couldn’t Mark just move on? He had no problem finding a new girl, but he couldn’t let go of the money? I didn’t understand. Like usual he wanted to make everything as difficult as possible. He probably said to his lawyer, “How can I make this more miserable for her? What else can I do to make her as miserable as I am?”

  It occurred to me that if I had just agreed to go to court months ago, I might already be divorced. I also thought about the fact that I could have manned up and asked him to sign the papers myself. Maybe if he actually had to face me once, he might have finally given in to the divorce. It was doubtful considering Mark hadn’t been sober a single day in the last three years. Rational thinking was a thing of the past with him, but at this point the what-ifs were killing me. I desperately wanted to be divorced, but I wanted—no, needed to do this without having to ever see my husband again. If anyone could break my resolve to move on, it was Mark. He had done it so many times before. He would beg and plead, which never worked. Then something would happen that would remind me of our high school days. It would give me hope we could get back to that happy place. After the millionth disappointment, you’d think I’d be immune to his manipulations, but no. He knew every weak spot I had.

  “You all right?” Tara’s voice came through my doorway and snapped me out of my reverie. She was leaning against the door with her arms crossed.

  “Yeah. I just talked to my attorney. Mark wants every penny we ever had even if it didn’t belong to him. Pretty soon he’s going to tell me he wants my kidney and a piece of my liver before he’ll sign the damn papers.” I slammed my pen down on the desk then slumped back in my chair.

  “That jackass. He didn’t even have a job for part of the time you were married. What right does he have to claim all of your assets? Take him to court, Eve!” Tara was being a good friend. Just the mention of Mark rubbed her the wrong way because she was protective of me. She was like this with all of our friends when the topic of ex-boyfriends came up. It was easy for her to write off people who had broken her trust. I, on the other hand, was stuck with remembering all of the good times and caring about people I wished were out of my life. Damn compassion.

  “I knew that if I ever wanted out, I would have to forfeit some things. I just didn’t realize he would drag it out for this long to make his point.”

  She came in and sat in the chair I had come to think of as hers since she was the only one who ever sat in it. “Why aren’t you getting angry? I want to ring his neck, and I think I only met him once or twice.”

  “I don’t know. I guess it has always been easier to give in than get angry. It’s easier to not deal with it.”

  “That divorce and your inheritance must not be very important to you. I know you, Eve. I may not have spent the last eight years living in a dorm with you like before, but I know you. When you care about something, you don’t stop until you get your way. You aren’t fighting him. You need to get angry if you want him to sign the papers. Get forceful!” She stopped, and a slow smile spread across her face. “You know what you need?”

  “What?” I asked, tuning out her rampage and taking a sip of water.

  “An orgasm!”

  I spit my water everywhere. “What?” I grabbed some napkins to clean up the mess. Tara continued to sit in her chair comfortably as if she were telling me how to knit a sweater. She completely ignored the fact that I had spit water all over my desk in surprise.

  “Yeah. You need an orgasm. That’ll help you get fired up. One good orgasm can motivate you to do a lot of things.”

  “That may be true, but I don’t think it will help in this particular situation,” I said dryly while trying to keep my cheeks from turning a bright shade of red.

  “When is the last time you had one? Maybe it’s been too long.”

  “Uhh…” There was no stopping the red staining my cheeks this time. “Well, it’s been a while.”

  “How long?”

  “A long time.”

  “Days? Weeks? Months? Years?”

  “Never,” I said as quietly as possible and cringed while I waited for her outburst that was sure to fol
low.

  “No…I…no…I didn’t hear that correctly. Did you say never?” Her high-pitched squeal at the end gave away her disbelief.

  “Yes, okay. Never. Can we not talk about this at work?” Or ever.

  “Oh. We are talking about this right now.” She tapped her red fingernail on my desk to emphasize her point. “What about when you do it yourself?”

  “Please stop,” I begged.

  “Well?”

  “I can’t believe I’m talking about this.” She kept staring me down, so I gave in. “Nothing really happens when I do it myself. It seems to be going somewhere, then it’s just gone, and I’m done. Not everyone can orgasm, you know. Only, like, a third of women do, or some statistic like that.”

  “No. I think it’s about a third of women have trouble having one during sex. You’re saying that you never have one. What was Mark doing down there?”

  “We just got it done and moved on. He tried in the beginning, but nothing was happening, so he stopped trying.”

  “Are you saying that he essentially used your body to masturbate?” Her shock was palpable.

  “Well, I wouldn’t say that. Sometimes it felt good, but I just never had an ending…a moment.”

  “I’m so…I don’t even know what to say. I…never? Holy shit! That’s it! Tonight, we are getting you an orgasm.”

  “Uhh…Tara, I love you and all, but I don’t want you anywhere near my downtown.”

  She threw a pen at me. “Not from me, you idiot. We’re finding you a new man!”

  “No, no, no. My divorce isn’t final, and I’m not finding anyone new until I’m free from the last disastrous relationship.” I didn’t want her hooking me up. If I was going to date again, it would have to be on my terms.

  “I didn’t say you had to marry him. You’re going to have sex. Good sex. I’ll help you find someone who knows what they’re doing.”

  “I don’t want anyone. Please,” I implored, knowing that it would go unheard. Her head was already elsewhere.