by Regina Frame
Who does this bitch think she is?
I squared my shoulders, giving her my best smile. “May I help you?”
“Would you please let Gray know that Bridget is here to see him?” Gray. She called him Gray. I didn’t need confirmation on where this was headed.
“My pleasure.” Pressing the intercom button, I waited for him to acknowledge before speaking. “Mr. Scrooge, Bridget is here to see you.” I cut it off, not waiting for his response. I grabbed my purse from my drawer and told her to go right on in.
GRAYSON
I felt like I’d been kicked in the stomach when Aubree announced that Bridget was here to see me. I knew why she was here, and I was pretty sure that Aubree did, too. Especially after the scene she walked in on a few days ago. I began the process of shutting down my computer and shoving folders into my brief case. Maybe if it appeared that I was leaving, Bridget would take the hint and leave. No such luck!
“Gray.” Her voice was silky smooth, and on any other day, that was all it would have taken for me to fuck her against the wall in my office, but not today.
“Bridget,” I responded from the chair behind my desk. No way was I going to her. “Did we have an appointment?” I inquired.
“Gray, since when do I need an appointment?”
She made her way around my desk and stopped beside me. That was when I noticed that she’d untied the belt around her waist, letting her coat fall open, revealing black lace panties, thigh high stockings, and a garter belt. She wasn’t even wearing a bra.
"You need to leave."
My voice was curt and demanding. I knew I was being an ass, but it was time to deal with the consequences of my behavior over the past few years. The one where I had sex in my office almost on a daily basis. Since Aubree had started working here, it just felt wrong. Bridget’s eyes widened in disbelief and tears welled up, but she quickly got it under control.
“Gray, what is going on here? You’ve never turned me away before. I’ve been your client for five years.” She was practically begging. I may as well rip the band aid the rest of the way off, because it wasn’t going to be any easier if I waited.
“That’s not who I am anymore.” The words were out of my mouth before I could pull them back in. Not that I wanted to take them back. “I’ll continue to watch the stocks and recommend investments for you, like always,” I promised.
“Is it because of her?” She tilted her head in the direction of Aubree’s office.
“It has nothing to do with her,” I lied. It had everything to do with her. “She’s from a temp agency, and she’s filling in for Maryann until her maternity leave is up and she comes back to work.”
“Well, don’t I feel the fool.” She wrapped her coat tight around her slender frame and knotted the belt around her waist.
“You have no reason to feel like a fool.”
She bit down on her lip. It looked as if she were trying to keep from crying. I felt like complete shit.
“Give me a call if you find new investments for me. You know I trust you completely.” She forced a smile and walked out.
I stood from behind my desk, ready to find Aubree and force her to let me give her a ride home. I didn’t like the idea of her taking the bus, and I didn’t trust that slime ball neighbor of hers. The way he was eying her a couple of nights ago made me want to knock him the fuck out. Just as I started for the door, my cell rang. I pulled it from my pocket, and a string of curse words left my lips as I saw my mother’s name on the screen.
“What do you want, Mother? I’m on my way out.”
“Grayson, what makes you think I want anything? Can’t I just call to see how my son is?” Her voice was syrupy sweet, rather than the usual ice cold tone.
“You never call unless you want something, so out with it so I can leave.”
She breathed a heavy sigh. I thought about just hanging up on her, but I didn’t. I forced myself to listen.
“I just wanted to discuss the menu you with you. Since we’ve never met your fiancée, we’re not sure of her food preference.”
“She likes most things. I don’t think you can go wrong with whatever your chef prepares,” I offered. “If that’s all, I really need to go.”
Just as I was about to hang up, she stopped me.
“You haven’t told me her name. I, at least, would like to know the name of the woman that has won my son’s heart.”
“Her name is Aubree Layne.” Holy hell! That just rolled off my tongue so easily.
“That’s a beautiful name. We can’t wait to meet her.”
There was that syrupy sweet oozing from her voice again. She was up to something. There was a hidden agenda behind this phone call, but, then again, my mother always had an agenda, and it was always one that would benefit her.
By the time I made it to Aubree’s office, she was already gone. Damn it! I knew she had to have taken the bus, because her car wasn’t in the parking garage that morning.
***
I climbed the rickety steps up to the second floor of the apartment building where Aubree lived. I was relieved to see that her slime ball neighbor was not outside in his underwear again. When I knocked on her door, I could hear movement inside, but she didn’t open the door, so I knocked again, this time a little harder.
“Yes?” she spoke from the other side of the door.
“Aubree, it’s me, Grayson.”
“What do you want that couldn’t wait until tomorrow when we’re back in the office?” She was still talking behind the closed door.
“Just open the door, Aubree.”
When she opened the door, my heart flipped and my dick was hard as a rock in 0.2 seconds; the time it took for me to see her standing there in a tee-shirt and a pair of lace boy short panties. I had to reach deep for enough restraint to keep from fucking her against the door.
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
Her mouth dropped open and her hand flew to her hip, pulling my eyes back to those skimpy little panties she was wearing.
“What the hell kind of question is that? It’s really none of your business.” Her green eyes sparkled under the light above her door. Her beautiful brown hair was draped over one of her shoulders. It looked like shiny strands of silk.
“Can I come in?” I didn’t feel comfortable discussing this when her neighbor could step outside at any time.
“No!” she snapped.
“All I need is five minutes of your time and then I promise to leave,” I begged.
She clucked her tongue and took a step back, opening the door enough for me to step inside. I didn’t like what I saw. Her sofa was almost threadbare. The carpeting looked as if it was the original from at least twenty years ago, if not more. When I turned to speak, she was staring at her bare feet. I knew that look. I saw it every morning when I looked at my reflection in the mirror. She was ashamed, and I didn’t like that.
“So, you don’t have a boyfriend?” I repeated the question just to be sure I heard her correctly. Her emerald green eyes flew to mine and narrowed.
“Yeah. I do.” My shoulders slumped as she continued. “It’s Carl next door.” The corner of her pouty lips curled in a smirk. My jaw clinched and the muscle in my jaw began to tick.
“Not funny, Aubree,” I growled.
“I think it’s extremely funny; the way the tops of your ears turn red when you don’t get what you want.”
“Humor me and answer the question honestly, Aubree,” I insisted.
“No. I’m not seeing anyone at the moment,” she finally admitted.
“I have a proposition. I would like for you to be my fiancée for three weeks. Just until after Christmas.”
Her little button nose crinkled, and then she laughed out loud.
“What have you been smoking? We don’t exactly get along.”
“Look. I wouldn’t ask, if I didn’t need this from you.”
That came out all wrong. Shit! She pursed her lips and lifted her hand. I braced mysel
f for the slap that I knew I deserved, but, instead, she placed her hand in the middle of my chest and gave me a shove.
“Hell no!” She began pushing me again, toward the door.
“I promise to make it worth your time,” I offered.
“You make it sound so appealing.” She looked at me with disbelief. “You have plenty of women that show up at your office almost on a daily basis. Just ask one of them.” She pushed me toward the door again, but I didn’t budge.
“I’ll pay you fifty-thousand dollars, if you’ll do it for me.”
She stopped pushing, but her hand rested on my bicep. The heat from her hand spread throughout my body, stopping at my dick, which was growing by the second.
“Why me? Why don’t you just ask one of your girlfriends to do it? I’m sure they’d be happy to.” “How many times do I have to tell you that they’re not my girlfriends? They’re clients,” I declared.
“With benefits,” she was quick to say. She glared at me for what seemed like forever before she finally spoke. “I’ll do it, but it’s going to cost you more than fifty-thousand.”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Name it and it’s yours,” I promised.
“It’s going to cost you a hundred grand.” Her pink lips curled into a devious smile.
“Done,” I agreed. “Pack your bags. Henry will be here at nine in the morning to pick you up.”
“Wait. What? Why do I need to pack my bags? I’m not going anywhere.”
“You’re going to live with me until after the holidays so that we can get to know one another. If I’m going to pull this off in front of my parents, we’re going to need to learn everything we can about each other,” I declared.
“I already know you’re an ass,” she replied.
“Not funny, Aubree.”
She flipped her long brown hair over her shoulder, revealing her slender neck. It took every bit of self control that I had, not kiss her there.
“If I’m going to be living under your roof for a couple of weeks, I have another condition.”
“More money? Just name it,” I told her.
“It’s not money that I want. You have to go to Christmas dinner with me at my parents’ home in New Jersey.” Fuck! Could I handle two holiday dinners? I guess I’d have to if I wanted this to work.
“Okay,” I agreed. She began closing the door in my face, but I stopped it with my hand. “Nine tomorrow morning. Bring your bags,” I ordered.
“Bossy much?” she voiced from behind the door.
I walked down those rickety steps to my car with a grin on my face for the first time in as long as I could remember. I was going to have Aubree Layne right where I wanted her—with me, day and night.
AUBREE
I slumped against the door and exhaled a heavy breath. What in the hell had I just agreed to? It was bad enough that I had to spend my days with him. Now I’d be with him around the clock. I may need to shop for a new vibrator. I was already on my second set of batteries, just since I’d started working with him a few days ago. The man gave off pheromones for days. That, combined with his dark hair and piercing blue eyes, was more than I could handle on a good day, and thinking about him had my body over heated. It looked like I was sleeping with B.O.B again tonight. I’d definitely need to stop at the store to stock up on batteries.
The next morning, Henry was knocking on my door at nine sharp. He grabbed my bags and was halfway down the steps before I got the door locked and caught up with him. Great. He knew I was going to be staying with Grayson, and when he held the car door for me, my face felt like it went up in flames.
“Where is Mr. Decker?”
“Mr. Decker will be driving himself today.” I think that had to be the first time I’d heard his voice. I’d said thank you at times, but he always just gave a nod.
When I arrived at the office, Grayson was not there. I pulled the little miniature Christmas tree from my purse before placing it in my desk drawer. I placed the little tree on the other side of my computer, where he couldn’t see it like before when it was by my phone. I fired up my computer and looked at his schedule for the day. It looked as if he didn’t have anything scheduled until the afternoon.
***
“Aubree, I need to see you in my office.”
His delicious scent of spiciness and man floated through the room and tickled my nose. He was wearing black slacks, a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled half way, revealing strong forearms and some sort of tattoo that was usually hidden beneath his suit jacket. It gave him even more of an edge, and that, to me, was the icing on the cake, because I loved a man with tattoos. I wanted to remove that tie, unbutton his shirt, and get to the bottom of that tattoo.
I grabbed my brand new iPad and followed him into his office and sat across from him.
“You won’t need that.” He removed his tie and tossed it on his desk, and when he unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt, I had to cross my legs and clinch my thighs. I could practically feel my panties melting as he spoke. “You gave Henry your bags?” I was speechless while looking into those pale blue eyes. I was expecting my ovaries to explode any second now.
“Uh-huh.”
Well spoken, Aubree.
“Good.” He grinned and, good lord, there was that dimple in his chin. He really should smile more. “I have a meeting with Phillip this afternoon, so I need you to print the investment reports for our newest clients and place them in the conference room.”
“I should’ve known you’d have her in here all to yourself,” Phillip teased, winking as he walked into Grayson’s office. I swear I heard Grayson mumble asshole under his breath.
“Shouldn’t you be in the conference room, waiting for me?” Grayson snarled.
“Went there first, but there were no reports and you weren’t there,” Phillip replied to Grayson, but his dark brown eyes were on me.
“I’m sorry. I’ll print those now.”
The sooner I could escape all that testosterone, the better. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had whipped out their dicks to see whose was bigger. It was obvious there was some competition there, but for what? Me? Why me? I had nothing to offer anyone.
***
GRAYSON
Phillip and I worked in the conference room all afternoon, going over numbers that eventually all began to run together. Every now and then, I’d glance to my right, watching Aubree through the floor to ceiling glass wall. My dick was so hard at one point, I thought I’d be better off to go into my private bathroom and rub one out.
“Why don’t you just ask her out?” Phillip said, breaking me out of my trance.
“Fuck off, Phillip,” I grumbled, shuffling the papers in my hands. “She’s not like the rest.”
“No shit. She’s got class. The rest of the women you see are cougars, trying to make themselves feel young again, and the younger ones are gold diggers.”
He was right on all accounts, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. His ego was already big enough. Besides, he had no idea what I had planned for Aubree. I was going to claim her body in every way possible.
My eyes began to blur, and I found myself watching her again. She was walking around the office in that slender fitting black skirt that hugged her tight light ass and those black heels that made her toned legs look twice as long. My eyes flew to Phillip when he started laughing. He was leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head.
“What?”
“Man, you’ve got it bad. I just told you that we should shift all of Prescott’s money into cotton candy and you agreed!” He right out belly laughed this time. “Hell. I stopped talking for thirty minutes and you didn’t even notice.”
“I was listening,” I responded.
“Alright. What did I say?” The smartass smirked.
“Nothing.”
When he began laughing again, I flipped him off.
Once we finally finished with the last of the paperwork, I was ready
to start the evening with Aubree and get to know her better. When we walked out of the conference room, Phillip turned in the direction of my office instead of his. When he stopped at Aubree’s desk and began to flirt with her, the muscles tightened in my shoulders and I clinched my hands into tight fists. He was pushing my buttons, and if he didn’t back off, I would put him on his ass.
“Are you busy this evening? I’d love to take you to dinner.” He was sitting on the corner of her desk, smiling down at her. Her cheeks blushed a bright pink, and she spoke up before I had a chance to put him in his place.
“I’m sorry. Maybe another time. I have to work at the coffee shop this evening.”
What the hell? I had no idea she was working two jobs. I had to put a stop to this. “Don’t you have to be somewhere, Phillip?” I barked.
“Looks like that’s my que to leave. Have a good weekend, Aubree.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and threw me a smirk on his way out. Aubree opened her desk drawer, pulled a pair of black flat shoes from her purse, and dropped them on the floor in front of her chair.
“Oh hell. I swear it was a man that invented heels just to torture women,” she mumbled as she began rubbing her bare feet. I dropped to my knees in front of her, taking her small foot in my hand, and began massaging her foot. “Mmmm. Oooh,” she moaned as I dug my thumbs into the arch of her foot, and with each little sound that escaped her luscious lips, my dick grew harder. “Where did you learn to do that?” As soon as the words left her mouth, she jerked her foot from my hands and shoved her feet in her flat black shoes. “Never mind. I don’t want to know!” She hissed, grabbing her purse from the drawer.
I was still on my knees, looking up at her, when she stood, putting me at eye level with her sex. Her smell was intoxicating. She was as turned on as I was. It was so tempting to lift that little skirt and eat her pussy right there at her desk. That would give her something to think about every time she sat behind her desk, but judging by the tone of her voice, she’d probably snap my neck.