Alyson looks embarrassed, awkward and like a fish out of water.
“All of them, of course,” I state, standing up suddenly and coming to her rescue, holding her elbows from behind, guiding her to the exit.
“Have them sent up to my suite, charged to Chambers,” I call out cheerfully, and I guide Alyson to the nearest nook, just out of plain sight so I can kiss her deeply, my hands ravishing her through an outfit she still has on.
But not for much longer.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Alyson
I’ve never seen so many beautiful clothes. Never known anything to feel so good and actually fit.
Eduardo, the tailor assures me in between changes that, “Not all our clients are size six and we have a good range for classically beautiful shapes, which you are darling!” he gushes.
I feel flattered and can tell that Eric feels safe letting Eduardo so close to me, he doesn’t pose a threat, only sound fashion advice. He’s a sweetheart, though a little too interested in my man, but he keeps it professional.
Wanting to feed me again, I wonder if Eric isn’t trying to fatten me up.
“I really shouldn’t,” I protest when he asks me what we should have for lunch.
“What? You shouldn’t eat, to sustain life… to create a life?” he asks, looking down at my belly, and I see his eyes take on a special, proud look. Like he can see the future or something.
As if on cue, and totally betraying me, my belly rumbles loudly and Eric slaps his thigh.
“Ha. It’s settled. But something simple, yeah? I think I was maybe trying too hard with Angelo’s yesterday, even though I practically live there,” Eric observes.
“Angelo’s was fine,” I chime in, not wanting to sound picky, or like I’m trying to control Eric. He can lead the way if this magic carpet ride keeps going the way it is, just perfect.
Lunch is even better than the day before and Eric catches me being paranoid about getting anything on my new clothes.
“I’ll have you out of them soon enough,” he informs me, “and you can have fresh outfits with every meal if you want, you’re worth it, Alyson. I mean it.”
His voice gets lower and his face serious as he finishes what he’s saying.
It’s another one of those moments where the whole room, then the whole world just disappears and it’s just me and Eric, alone together again.
I love it when he focuses on me like this, I love him and I mouth the words so he doesn’t feel embarrassed.
“I love you more,” he reminds me, kissing my hand and smiling over to a couple who gasp.
The great Eric Chambers, spotted in public, kissing a fat girl.
I can just read the imaginary headlines already, and can’t seem to shake the habit of putting a negative spin on things still. Always putting myself down, but slowly figuring out that I have a choice whether I do that or not.
I do know that Eric only has eyes for me and we enjoy our lunch until I feel confident enough to pinpoint what’s really bugging me.
“When are you going to give me some actual work, Eric?” I ask, not being playful either. I love being treated like a queen, but I don’t expect a free ride. Not by a long shot. I can see how hard Eric’s worked to get to where he is and I don’t want him thinking I’m not genuine about wanting actual work to do as well.
He frowns for a moment, wiping his mouth then smiling.
“I told you last night, you already did. I have a memo drafted to put to the board. The amount of materials purchased versus the amount of waste after sales. It’s probably the one major report I’ve never seen an audit for from most departments, especially the hospitality ones.”
His look tells me I need more convincing.
“In time, you’ll learn to delegate, Alyson,” he says calmly, putting his huge hand over mine.
“Hard work isn’t always about doing everything yourself, and all those people who do the running around? They get paid well to do it.”
It does make me feel better, but not much.
“That cake for example, from last night,” he continues. “Say what was left over, what we didn’t eat times that by a hundred thousand, or even a million. That’s how much you might’ve just saved Chambers Inc. It’s something we have to look into, as well as how we manage waste. It’s common sense, not just big business.”
I feel my heart swell with pride, with love for him again. He’s such a great man, and open to everything.
“Your ideas, your observations are going to be critical. I’m going to have your paperwork drawn up today, too. Make everything official,” he says, sounding more like a boss but softening his tone as he registers my own look.
“It’s alright, Alyson. There’s a ‘you can screw the boss’ clause in there somewhere, I’ll make sure of it,” he says winking, and I’m left unsure if he’s kidding or not.
With Eric Chambers, anything’s possible.
“I do most things remotely, even from the restaurant, Alyson,” he says, and spends a few minutes showing me how he sends memos to various departments, getting major things done without having to be anywhere he doesn’t want to be.
“Hiring and firing,” he muses, his voice getting low again. “I thought I could leave that up to others, but since yesterday, almost losing you before I even got you all to myself? That’s an area we need to focus on, big time.”
Eric relays his version of events, and I flush hard as he tells me how close it came to me walking out and never being a part of his life.
“It meant that much?” I ask him, trying not to sound emotional.
“It means everything to me, Alyson,” he says intensely, “ you are everything to me.”
I feel his hand over mine again, and he squeezes it hard.
“I don’t know how my day would’ve gone if you hadn’t come down to get me,” I murmur.
His face falls for a moment, he looks ashen.
“Don’t even think about it,” he says firmly and with a shake of his head, he’s dismissed the alternate universe where we never met and we both gaze into each other’s eyes, so happy that we’re in the right place now.
Me and Eric.
Eric and me.
Always.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Eric
The first memo I send involves the purchase order for her building. I want all available property at the address to be in her name, keeping her apartment hers and guaranteeing her neighbors have a good landlord as well as something of her own to start with from day one.
She’s gonna go far in this life, but a little nudge with some equity behind it never hurt anybody either.
The building I grew up in, right down the street from her, it was one of the first things I bought myself. I leveled it, making up for the impact it had on me, but I hope Alyson’s place holds fonder memories for her. I hope it reminds her of how we met, where we first kissed.
“I gotta go to the little boys room,” I let her know, scanning the last of my memos as I put my phone away, standing up. “You alright here for a minute?”
She nods, biting her lip as her eyes stray to bulge the in my pants.
“I think you mean the big boy’s room,” she purrs, and I feel my dick thicken, my heart racing again at the sight of her getting off on looking at me.
“Dammit woman,” I say. “I just need to use the restroom. I’ll be right back.”
Smiling to each other before I turn to go, I notice Timothy Sloane at the other end of the restaurant, quickly hiding his face with a menu as his eyes almost meet mine.
I glance at my watch, it is lunch. But Sloane at Angelo’s? On his salary, and the restaurant booked solid for months?
I file it away for further consideration, noting the blond at the same table, whose face I can’t see but whose hair looks familiar.
I pause at the bar, making sure the barman keeps an eye on Alyson while I step out. I can trust him, I know that much.
You can’t keep her wrapped in cotton w
ool Eric.
It’s called protecting the woman I love, not keeping her prisoner. I need to make sure she’s safe at all times, that’s all. Angelo’s, like my hotel suite is safe enough. But it’s still so new to me, I don’t want her out of my sights for even a second.
If I could take her to the bathroom with me, I would. Actually… I think she’d be more than happy to hold it while I go, but that would only lead to…
My phone pings while I wash my hands, and it takes a minute before I can check it. My mind already racing, hoping that Alyson is still safe, that nobody’s bothering her.
I need to learn to hold it better. I won’t leave her alone again. It’s not right.
I hurry to get a clear view of her again, she’s fine. I think. She has a strange look on her face, but at this distance I could be wrong.
I give her a wave as I dial a return call, she waves back but seems a little distant.
Or maybe I really do need glasses.
I’ve brushed off my Chairman, Dave Cowper a couple of times in the past twenty-four hours, I figure I should touch base, keep him up to speed. He picks up straight away, expecting my call.
“I think we need to have an urgent meeting, Mr. Chambers… some of the board, myself included feel…”
He’s whining.
But the way a fat cat millionaire whines. He wants things to go his own way, so does every member of the board. They’re always looking for that way in to try and push me out, even from my own company.
It’s pathetic, but it's how these people operate. It’s all they know. I still get regular vote requests to sell the whole operation, or split it up. For me to resign and be bought off like some moron.
It’s why I retain absolute control of the whole company. If these guys had their way, it wouldn’t be the same company, products or people I worked so hard to create.
So why don’t I just scrap the board and start over?
That's where Alyson’s gonna come in real useful, I can just tell.
By the time I regain focus, after having got closer and started watching Alyson again, imagining her without that new outfit on, sitting on my face instead of that chair, I can hear Cowper in my ear.
“…Did you hear me, Mr. Chambers? It’s potentially scandalous, we need to have your personal assurances that this new… woman has no bearing on the proposed direction for Chambers Inc.”
Apparently I didn’t hear him, but I am salivating at the thought, the memory of Alyson in my mouth.
“Wait a minute?” I ask, hearing the edge of aggression in my voice, “You want to hold a meeting with the board to discuss…?” I leave the question open for him to repeat himself.
“The young woman you hired yesterday, after demoting a long serving executive of twenty-five years and firing a perfectly qualified receptionist of five!” he barks, then starts to backpedal as soon as he picks up on my silence.
I thought it might take them a little longer before they got their knives out, but rumors and gossip, plans and schemes to topple people like me grow faster than anything I can act on myself in just one day.
Like finding and falling in love with the woman of my dreams.
“This is not boardroom material, Dave. If you’ve got a flea in your ear, then out with it. Don’t waste my time with a-”
But he cuts me off.
“I’ve watched you build this company, Eric. I respect you and will back you one hundred percent on most things but taking up with a… with some girl! It’s the kind of behavior that could see confidence in your position-”
It’s my turn to interrupt. My voice low and snarling now.
“I’ll see you at your meeting Dave, keep the door open too. There’ll be a few more folks going home early, for good too I think.”
He gulps and then huffs. I can picture his fish mouth popping open and closing, finally speechless for once as I hang up, trying not to let my anger show as I get back to Alyson.
“Everything alright?” I ask her, but her eyes don’t tell the same story as her mouth.
“Fine,” she says, straining a smile. “Can we go though? I have a headache.”
“Sure,” I tell her, looking back at the barman, who shrugs. My eyes burning into him, demanding a reason for Alyson being anything less than happy, but he looks as bewildered as I am about it.
“What happened, baby?” I ask her, lifting her up from her chair with my hand.
“Nothing,” she lies. “I just have a headache. I actually think I might go home if you don’t mind.”
I’m still holding her hand, but I can feel she wants to move away from me, sending a splintering pain shooting into the center of my chest.
“Alyson,” I demand, and her eyes meet mine, brimming with tears.
“Tell me your mine, you said Eric. I actually believed I was the only one.”
I’m struck dumb for a second, not wanting to believe what I’m hearing and before I know it, she’s broken free of my grip and run out of the restaurant.
I look over to where Sloane was.
His chair empty, the one where the blond sat empty too.
Gone.
I smell a huge, scheming rat.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Alyson
I know it couldn’t be true.
In my heart I know it isn’t true.
It’s just the effect people like her have on me. They always have and I’m almost frightened that they always will.
Eric looks mad when he comes back from the men’s room and he’s been on the phone. My own imagination telling me the worst, especially after what that bitch just told me.
Not long after Eric left, I watched him walk out of the dining room and turn left, a familiar face planted itself right in front of me, those cold eyes narrowed with spite.
Cynthia, the same receptionist who made sure I didn’t get a chance with Chambers Inc. and then got fired once Eric found out.
“What are you doing here?” I ask her, surprised a secretary would be in a place that’s booked out for months, filled with all the one percenters.
She huffs, her voice is pure venom, but she keeps it low enough and her distance, so as not to arouse suspicion.
“You think you’re so clever, don’t you?” she hisses, and I feel a pang of fear, every run in with the cheerleaders, pretty blondes but nasty types from college come flooding back in an instant.
I wish Eric was here.
“You’re not the first, you stupid fat pig, and you won’t be his last. He does this every few weeks, for kicks. Picks a new hopeless case. Hires them, fucks them and then fires them a few weeks later.”
I feel like someone’s put a knife in my belly. A hot, searing pain travels up into my heart.
“No,” I whimper. “No, that’s just not true! Eric would never.”
But her cruel laughter cuts me short and she leans in close, her cold eyes only an inch from mine.
“Did he make you promise to be his? Did he make you say it before he fucked you?”
A horrified gasp escapes me and I feel stupid for letting her know she’s hit her mark.
She mutters something horrible, but I only catch the word that’s hurt me since I can remember fat.
My mind is reeling and my emotions are haywire, but I know it’s not true.
I know Eric would never even think anything like that, let alone do it.
He’s too busy to chase tail, it’s not even his style. Eric Chambers is a real man and I do believe him when he tells me I’m his.
I just know it.
But that bitch has planted the tiniest seed, the slightest kernel of doubt in my mind that’s already grappling with the idea that someone like Eric would even be interested in me, let alone-
“Everything alright?” he asks me, and I hear myself making silly excuses, even saying I want to go home.
I can see straight away that Eric is concerned, that he knows something’s happened.
But I can’t help it.
I know he�
�s the one. I know he’d never use me like that, but something makes me feel so overwhelmed, so out of place as that word echoes in my mind, that before I know it I’m running from the restaurant, up and out towards the plaza of shops where we were earlier, trying to find a way out.
I don’t get far.
New outfit, plus way too much to eat and then a stitch sees me collapsing onto a bench, right in the same little nook Eric kissed me so hard in just a little while ago.
What the hell’s wrong with me? Am I gonna believe everything some bimbo who just got fired tells me? Get a grip Alyson, Eric loves you, he told you so!
I huff back those tears that want to come, and reason there must be some other explanation. That cow Cynthia just happened to be at a restaurant like that, the day after she was fired, then telling me Eric is a player?
None of it adds up.
I see I’ve let the past, my college taunts and childhood bullies all loose in my mind once again.
It’s a tough habit to break, but years of being told your slow, clumsy, fat and ugly do take their toll whether I like it or not.
I decide to sit quietly for a minute, long enough to dry my eyes, then I’ll go find Eric again.
Tell him I’m sorry for acting so weird.
I’m just about to head back, when I hear the familiar, nasal twang of Cynthia’s voice, and a man’s voice.
Ducking lower behind the huge potted plant by the bench, I peer out.
It’s Cynthia, and that man from Human Resources, Sloane.
They seem pretty friendly all of a sudden and once I hear the beginnings of their conversation, I feel even more stupid.
Sorry Eric. I’m sorry I even doubted you for a second. But I’m not gonna miss the chance to make it right.
I quietly slip my phone out, and use the voice recording app to try and record what they’re saying.
I have no idea if it’ll work, but the bars are moving up and down in time with them speaking, so I guess it is,
I can hardly believe what I’m hearing, and I resolve to get back to Eric as soon as I can with this.
Her CEO: An Instalove Possessive Alpha Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 180) Page 6