by Bella Grant
I tried to push Seth from my mind and returned to the computer in front of me. I didn’t even respond to Kelly’s message. If she hadn’t involved me in this mess, I wouldn’t be worrying about what Greg was truly after and why Seth hadn’t responded to me.
Maybe he’s waiting for me to text him first. At the thought, I took out my phone, and before I could change my mind, fired off a text message to him,
-Hey, how are you? Hope you’re not working too hard. Just checking up on you since I haven’t heard from you. Which is okay. Hoping you’re fine.
I sent the text before reading it over, and when I did, I groaned. I sounded desperate. I wished I could undo and think about it properly before hitting the send button, but it was already done. He would either respond or he wouldn’t. Either way, life would go on.
“Robyn, step into my office for a few minutes, will you?”
I did groan then since I had stopped hiding my dislike and disgust for Greg. After what he insisted on doing to me, I didn’t see a reason to care. I just wanted one big break to hand him my resignation, but I didn’t see that happening any time soon. He would only try to block it by spitefully giving me a bad recommendation.
Swiveling my chair from the desk, I stood and took my sweet time entering his office. I left the door open slightly. I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. Greg had few scruples and I had a feeling he was going to get worse.
“What may I do for you?” I asked stiffly before he could ask or say anything.
“Close the door,” he responded, his tone challenging me to defy him. “What I have to say to you must not be heard by anyone passing by.” When I didn’t budge, he smiled at me knowingly. “Or do you have no problem with everyone in the office knowing your sister is a drug addict.”
“Kelly is not a drug addict!” I exclaimed as I pulled the door shut behind me, then turned towards him. “Yes, she’s easily influenced, and I don’t doubt you targeted her. Question is, what exactly are you after?”
The seconds ticked by in which he said nothing. I stood a few feet from the closed door staring at him, refusing to look intimidated. Eventually, he sighed and walked around to sit on his desk in front me.
“I have an apology to make,” he started, and I cocked my head in suspicion. “I should have never tried to manipulate you or blackmail you into doing what I want. I did it for a good cause.”
“Not that I believe that apology for even a second,” I returned, “but what is the good cause?”
“Seth is my best friend,” he explained, his shoulders slumping. “We’ve always been friends, even before the accident. You saw him, Robyn. What do you think of him?”
I shrugged. “What’s there to think? He’s a nice guy.”
“And his scars don’t bother you?”
“No,” I answered with honesty. “Why are you asking me these questions? Aren’t you supposed to be telling me how blackmailing me was for a good cause?”
“I’m getting to it,” he responded, scowling. “All Seth wants is to settle down and have a family, but most women are shallow. The ones who don’t mind his scars are not genuine. They accept him for the wrong reasons. He was about to give up.” He stretched his hand toward me as though pleading for me to understand. “I want my friend to be happy.”
“What does that have to do with me?” I asked, shifting my weight from leg to leg in impatience.
“Because you’re different and I could see that,” Greg told me. “You’re different from most women, and that’s a good thing. You never encouraged my flirting as other women around here do, and I knew that you had depth. You’re the kind of woman who could love a man like Seth because you see him and not his scars.”
I wanted to hate him and stay angry at him despite the sincerity in his voice. His words rang true as I remembered Seth’s reaction when he sent me a picture of himself. He had believed I wouldn’t show up, and later when we talked, I could hear the sadness in him.
“So, he knows about this?” I inquired, gesturing between us. Was that the reason he had stopped talking to me? Because he found out that our meeting had been orchestrated by Greg?
He shook his head. “No, he doesn’t know, and our deal must remain a secret. Seth is proud and wouldn’t like the idea of us setting him up, even if he admitted to me that he likes you.”
“He did?” I caught myself about to smile and sobered. “Wait a minute, what do you mean by us? I was forced into this by you.”
“But now that you’ve met him,” he stated, observing my reaction intently, “could you see yourself continuing to date him without my blackmail hanging over your head? It’s not my intent to blackmail you.”
I wanted to believe him so badly but didn’t know how to. Would I date Seth without the blackmail? I certainly would. The chemistry that existed between us was no joke.
“I’m not sure he’s interested in me anymore,” I admitted, pushing the hair from my face behind my ear. “He hasn’t spoken to me since our date, and he gave me some excuse about going out of town on short notice.”
Greg smiled at me knowingly. “Trust me, he likes you,” he affirmed. “And he really is out of town on a business retreat. It’s a yearly thing he goes to, but he had planned on sending his second-in command, who suddenly fell ill. He had to fill in last minute. No phones allowed.”
“Oh.” I couldn’t help the smile then. I was relieved Seth hadn’t lost interest in me as I had thought. So pleased, in fact, that I felt lighthearted all of a sudden.
“Look, to show you I mean what I say,” Seth announced and walked over to his desk drawer. “I’ll give this to you. I’d advise you to flush them down the toilet.”
He took out the little polybag with the colored pills and handed them to me. I didn’t want to take them, but it was my chance to get Kelly out of trouble. So I took it from him, intending to do just what he had suggested and flush it down the toilet as soon as I was out of the office. I wanted to get this nightmare behind me.
“Thank you,” I said sincerely. “I wish you had just told me all this before you scared the crap out of me thinking about my sister going to prison.”
He waved me off. “I wouldn’t have gone through with it even if you had called my bluff,” he explained. “You have to understand this means a lot to me. Seeing Seth happy. He’s been a great friend and would give you the shirt from his back. I think you’re perfect for him.”
I blushed a bright red at his compliment, then frowned. “I don’t like having to lie to him about the circumstances behind how we met. Surely he’d see that we meant well?”
“No!” he said emphatically, shaking his head. “Whatever you do, you cannot tell Seth about this. He would end things simply because he’ll question if what you feel for him is real.”
“I don’t know,” I hedged.
Greg walked to me, gripped my shoulders and shook me. “You cannot tell him. Ever. It doesn’t matter how you met. You both like each other. You do, don’t you, Robyn?”
I sighed, unable to deny it. “I do, but it’s still too soon to even know if anything will come of this.”
“Trust me, something will,” he remarked, releasing me. “Now, I have some work to do. Go flush those pills before anyone gets a hold of them.”
“Right.”
I hastened from his office and didn’t stop walking until I was in the restroom. I flushed the pills and disposed of the bag in the trash receptacle. Thank God that was over with! I washed my hands, feeling at peace for the first time in a long while.
I returned to my desk and removed my phone from my bag to call Kelly to tell her we didn’t have to live in a state of perpetual fear anymore. My heart skipped a beat when I saw I had a message from Seth. Excited that he had responded, I unlocked the phone and read the message, tripping over the words in my impatience.
-Back in town for a short while. I’ll be off again soon. Are you free to grab drinks later?
I was a bit disappointed in the message. I�
�d been expecting something more along the lines of how much he missed me and couldn’t wait to see me again. If I read his bland message at face value, I would have thought he wasn’t interested, but he wanted to meet, so that had to mean he wanted to see me again, I rationalized.
After processing the message, I replied just as succinctly.
-Sure. Where do you want me to meet you?
I was about to place my phone on the table to wait for his response but didn’t need to. His message was quick.
-I’ll pick you up. Send me your address and be ready at eight.
-Okay, see you then.
I sent him my address and glanced at the time. I had an hour left at work and then I could go home and search through my closet to find something suitable for our date. I was going on a date, after all, wasn’t I? He’d said drinks, so no dinner date, which I was happy about. I didn’t really dig the going to a restaurant to eat thing as ideal for a first or second date. We had botched our first attempt, although it had turned out to be the best date I ever had.
The hour took forever to pass, and as soon as the long hand was on twelve, I was packed and walking through the front doors of the building. It didn’t matter that I had three hours to go home, find an outfit, shower and fix my hair. I knew how quickly those hours could go by when one needed every second.
When I arrived home, I barely yelled a greeting to Kelly, who was cooking something scrumptious in the kitchen and headed straight for my bedroom. I had just walked into the closet, searching through the racks, when she followed me into the room. I had to say that, if anything, she seemed to have learned a lesson. I had been all for telling her we no longer had to worry about it, except now that I thought about it, she might return to her destructive behavior if she knew. I decided to keep that tidbit of information to myself for now.
“What are you searching for?” she asked as she watched me pushing clothes around the racks.
“Something to wear tonight,” I answered distractedly.
“Where are you going?”
“Out for drinks.”
“You drink?” Kelly quipped, giggling.
I paused to stare at her. “Yes, but not to the same extent as you. I do know when to stop.”
“But continuing is the good part,” she returned.
“If you want to be pawed at in your drunken state. Nothing good about that.” I located a dark green, semi-formal dress and held it up for her to see. “What do you think of this?”
“Hmm, too fussy,” she answered. “I’ll help you find something. In fact, I’ll help you get dressed, fix your hair and stuff.”
I smiled at her in appreciation because she was way better than me at primping. “Thanks, Kelly.”
She frowned at me. “You like this guy, don’t you?” she inquired a bit hesitantly. “Do you think that’s wise, you know, with everything?”
“It’s too late,” I admitted to her as well as to myself. “He’s just so different, and he’s everything a man ought to be. At least, I think so.”
“Just don’t get hurt,” Kelly warned out of concern. “You’re not like me, you know, love ‘em and leave ‘em.”
I smiled at her, and before she could protest, grabbed her in a tight hug. “Thank you. For caring.”
Seth
Anxious on the way over to pick up Robyn, I missed her turn once and ended up driving another ten minutes before being able to make a turn off in the right direction. I had no idea why I was so nervous about seeing her again. Perhaps one of the myriad of thoughts swirling around in my head. Of all these thoughts, one overpowered the others. Did the chemistry I remembered between us truly exist? Was I exaggerating the feelings her lips on mine had evoked in me?
The four days that I had been at the business retreat had been hell. I didn’t expect to go this year because I had signed up another member of my senior management to attend. However, Rod had come down with a stomach virus and someone had to represent us at that retreat. It wasn’t an event anyone was looking forward to, so instead of subjecting any other employee to the event without sufficient notification, I had chosen to represent Armstrong Co.
One of the rules of the retreat was that no phones were allowed, and no contact with the outside world. We were able to take our laptops for business purposes only. The days had been torture as I’d lain awake at night, wondering what Robyn was doing, trying to recall every conversation since we’d met online. I had examined the kiss over and over until I’d worked myself up to two extremes, thinking the kiss had been damn good or thinking I was imagining and exaggerating. Surely kissing a woman couldn’t feel so good. I didn’t remember any other kiss being as impactful. Granted, I didn’t have a long list of lovers since those were hard to come by with my scars, but I’d managed my fair share.
Or maybe the intensity of the kiss had stemmed from my ease around her and having no need to worry if she was after my money or if she really liked me. She couldn’t know about my wealth, but she still enjoyed being with me, which was the sexiest part of her. She made me feel as though I was normal and didn’t have to avert my head to present the good side to her.
All through the retreat, I fretted that she would change her mind about us. Four days was long enough for her to change her mind. Seeing her message when I boarded my private jet had made my day, and I’d just had to call her to arrange a date with her. I had to look at her, face to face, see her and tell myself that this beautiful woman was interested in me.
I finally slowed down at her house and glanced at the piece of paper where I had scribbled her address to ensure I was at the right place. The house was modest and well-kept as far as my eye could see. With a deep breath, I got out of the car. Tonight I wasn’t driving Greg’s old car but my Bugatti because I genuinely believed I didn’t have anything to hide with her. She had agreed quickly to a second date with me, and I was sure she could get better offers. If my eyes hadn’t fooled me the last time, she was stunning.
I walked up to her front porch and after taking several deep breaths rang the doorbell.
“Coming!” I heard her voice from inside.
I pushed my hands in my pockets, trying to seem cool and unaffected as I waited for her. The door was opened after a couple of minutes and there she stood, as breathtaking as I remembered. No, she was even more beautiful. She smiled at me, her cheeks tinted a light shade of pink as though she had been anticipating our second date as much as I had.
She looked hot dressed in a pair of stretched, black, skinny jeans that ended at her ankles. Paired with a batwing yellow top tucked into the high waistband of the jeans and a pair of wedges, she reminded me of the hot girls around campus when I was in college. I never had the nerve to say hi to any of them. What made me think I could win Robyn?
“Seth, hi!” The breathless way she said my name was all the answer I needed. God knew what she saw in me, but I was glad she did.
I never thought of what I would do when face to face with her again, but I was guided by my gut. I stepped towards her, placing my hands on her hips. Her lips parted in surprise a second before my mouth descended on hers. She melted in my arms and all doubts fled. She moved closer, wrapping her hands around my neck, playing with the hair at my nape, which sent shivers down my spine.
She moaned, the soft sound filling my mouth. I deepened the kiss, plunging my tongue into her mouth. She ran her hands over my shoulders, her fingernails digging into my flesh.
“Ahem.”
I pulled away from her, although reluctant, when I became aware of a third party joining us. Robyn’s face was flushed with desire, her eyes so murky with want I wanted to dismiss whoever was here and ask her for the nearest bedroom.
“Robyn.”
I tore my eyes away from Robyn’s face to examine the new person standing behind the woman in my arms. I instantly knew she had to be Robyn’s sister.
“Oh sorry,” Robyn said, laughing. “This is my younger sister, Kelly. Kelly, this is Seth.”
“
Hello, Kelly, nice to meet you,” I greeted her sister with a hesitant smile as I extended my hand towards her. I half-expected her to recoil or show some sort of alarm, as many women do, but like her sister, she didn’t react negatively at all. She returned the smile and shook my hand as I still held her sister to me.
“Hi, Seth.” Her smile became a grin. “Robyn’s been in such a tizzy about seeing you tonight.”
“Really?” I asked, pleased.
“Kelly!” Robyn scolded and moved out of my arms, but I didn’t let her go far. “Stop fibbing. Was there something you wanted?”
“Yes,” she answered and waved a pack of condoms that she opened Robyn’s hand and slapped it into. I cleared my throat and looked away in embarrassment.
“What in the world!” Robyn exclaimed. “We’re just going for drinks.”
“Yeah, and a few drinks too many can lead to other things,” Kelly pointed out, closing the door as she spoke. “Enjoy your date. Nothing wrong with wanting to bone each other. Just do it with protection.”
She closed the door, and I heard Robyn’s growl, which prompted a laugh from me. She punched me lightly in the gut. “This is so not funny. She did this out of spite.”
“That’s kind of obvious,” I answered, plucking the condoms out of her hand, because she was holding the box as though it was dynamite. “Have you always had this playful relationship?”
“It has its ups and downs,” she answered as I slipped the small pack of condoms into my pocket. “The past few days have been better since she started living with me.”
“I see. Well, let’s hit the road.”
When we reached my car, she stopped and oohed. “Wow, did your retreat result in a raise?”
I chuckled. “I’ve had this car for a while.” At a sudden thought, I turned to her. “Do you want to test it out and drive us to the lounge?”